A Pretty Wicked Day

Background: MY friend Katie joined the tri club here in Wollongong and has met a ton of people. I was intending on going to the Australian Long Distance Championships in Huskisson and renting a car to get there. I heard a couple of weeks ago that she was getting a ride to the race from a gentleman on the team so I asked if I could tag along also. I got the green light so I was excited that I didn't have to pay for the car rental!

We met Ian at his place at 7:30AM and once he was finally all packed up we hit the road around 8ish. His son Matty came along too, a 7 year old with way too much energy. This whole day, from the onset was awesome. I was sitting up front with Ian and on the way down to Huskisson (where he grew up, about an hour and a half's drive) we got a great history of the different towns along the way and the landscape and such. Really interesting stuff.

We got to the race and I was itching to get down to the transition zone/start/finish/expo area to see all the excitement. We got down there and I heard on the loud speaker that Craig Alexander was 2 minutes down during the run. We got there about 3 hours into the elite's race so they were all out running and we'd see them finish soon. I killed a little time in the expo tent, checking out some stuff and picked up a BodyGlide stick as it was something that I was looking for in particular. Then we went back out and waited along the finishing chute for the pros to come in. First it was Pete Jacobs, a name I recognized and the new Australian Long Distance Champion. Then a short while later, the man, Craig Alexander came through, and then a bunch of the other people, who really cares? So I got some good photos of Pete and Craig finishing and hung around the back of the finishing area to see if Craig would come out as I wanted to get a photo with him real quick. That didn't really happen, he spent a ton of time in there giving interviews and getting massaged. So then we went over and watched some of the tri club people finish and I met a ton of them, all very nice people. Katie and I went back to the expo area and were checking out tri suits as she was looking for one. We found some at a good price and she started trying them on. I saw a pair of Orca race bottoms for $35, which back home retail for like $80 and grabbed them up as I only have one other pair.

A short while later we left the race and started again on a little tour of the area. First we went for food. Then down to a little beach area where I saw some MASSIVE pelicans, but we were truly on a hunt for Kangaroos. So we were told to head down to the St. George's Basin (maybe I'm wrong on the name) Golf Course. So on the way Ian spotted some in a field and we pulled over realy quick and got some photos of them! They were fenced in and a good distance away but it was still super cool to see. We got back in the car and continued to head down to the golf course. Finally we found it and there were TONS on this one hole, maybe 20 - 25 or so, and some with babies! We got TONS of photos and videos and got up real close to a few, it was really cool. The one in the photo with me was the largest of the bunch.

We returned via the mountains and got stuck in a little traffic but it wasn't too bad because it was interesting to just listen to what Ian had to say about the area.

I got home and showed Tunes the photos and she is very jealous. :)

The End.