The Bok and Roo Blog

Weekend in Sydney – Easter 2013

Del — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:33:29 +0000

After much planning (planes, trains or automobile), we finally set off to Sydney at 1.30am on Easter Friday. The kids slept most of the way while it was dark and watched DVDs during the day, so the trip was pretty uneventful. Ten hours later, we arrived in Sydney’s West where we were staying with friends.

The afternoon was spent recovering from the drive – on the couch watching TV or in the pool enjoying the sunshine. We spent Friday night drinking cold beer and reminiscing about the ‘old days’ in London/UK/Scotland/Wales/etc

Saturday morning was a relatively early start and we caught the train into the CBD. We wandered around Circular Quay, the Opera House and the Botanical Gardens for the rest of the day. Our kids have never been to Sydney before and I reckon Josh would have taken about 300 photos on his camera! The joys of digital!

Lunch was at the Opera Bar – it was OK (not great, considering the prices) and the kids enjoyed running around underneath the Opera House.

That night was BBQ, more cold beer and much more catching up – photos even came out this time!

Sunday morning we drove to Windsor to catch up with another old friend of mine – one of the first Aussies I ever met in London. We ate fish n chips in the local park, wandered through the market and then went for a walk along the Hawkesbury River before heading home and hitting the pool again.

Monday morning we packed the car again and took a slow drive home, stopping in Holbrook to stretch our legs and check out the HMAS Otway, a genuine fish out of water! A submarine, 400km from the nearest bit of ocean!

Ten hours later, we were back at home. What a great weekend away!

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Jump in!

Del — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 23:10:40 +0000

An afternoon of fun in the sun and the pool after the temperature hit 38°C

Jump in! from DelBoy on Vimeo.

2012 in review – Gangnam Style

Del — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 23:42:22 +0000

Riding Silvan Forest

Del — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 05:37:06 +0000

Last week I went for my first mountain bike trail ride of the new season – and it was awesome! I’d forgotten how much fun it was to ride the singletrack!

I filmed the whole 2 hours of riding and edited it down to the video below.

Melbourne Half Marathon Race Day!

Del — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 02:21:56 +0000

The big day finally arrived! Race day! It was a cold 9°C as we waited around for the starters gun – all 10 000 of us! The shot fired at exactly 8am and the slow walk towards the starting line began. The congestion was horrendous as I passed through the “Start” arch. Dodging left and right, onto the pavement, back onto the road – it didn’t stop for at least the first 2km (why do the slow runners start at the front!??!)

St Kilda Road was a long steady climb followed by the flat section around Albert Park (The Grand Prix track for those that don’t know). From Albert Park there was a short climb back up to St Kilda Road before a nice downhill section. The loop around the Arts Centre and the climb back up to the MCG was the hardest part with my pace dropping down to 7min 30sec as I hit the congestion on the bridge again!

My official time for the Melbourne Half Marathon was 2:00:23 but my GPS showed that I had run 21.7km with a Half Marathon time of 1:57:32! Chuffed as my target was 2 hours!

PS: My friend who ran it in 1:34 also had a GPS reading that differed – his read 21.45km!

: Coming up to the Finish line

: The final climb up the footbridge

: Finish line congestion as the Half and the Marathon finish together

Route map available on Endomondo

101 ways to open a beer!

Del — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:19:15 +0000

Loved this video! Especially the last method. I’ll never complain again about not having a bottle opener!

Bottle Cap Blues from chris sumers on Vimeo.

This is a short film that I was a part of for Adam Young’s solo Art Show at Common House Gallery entitled: Songs of the Early Riser. Adam had a concept for a video installation. I took his concept and put it into a video. We originally had 4 different edits looping at the show in his installation, but this edit is a compilation of my favorite clips from the three day shoot. This has been the most fun project I have been a part of to date. Sitting around with your friends killing a couple of six packs of beer trying to think of different means to open your next drink is pretty fun. I encourage you to try it.

Adam’s art is amazing. If you have an opportunity to pick up one of his pieces, I suggest you add an original to your collection. He is one of the best dudes ever…

More information/ reviews about the show can be found here:

http://common-house.com/2012/05/14/songs-of-the-early-riser-2/

http://www.vice.com/read/kill-the-engine-the-weird

2012 Grape Run

Del — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 06:57:38 +0000

On Saturday I ran my first race in 20 years! It was also my longest race ever! The 13km Yarra Valley Water Grape Run takes you from the picturesque town of Healesville through the vineyards of the Yarra Valley to the town of Yarra Glen. Not that I saw much of it. I was too busy sweating!

The 13km race started at 10am. It was still a little chilly and quite a few runners started with long sleeve T-shirts or tracksuits, but by the time we hit the 1km mark and the climbing started, most of the runners started to strip down!

The direction of the race switches every year and this year was supposedly the downhill race – BS! We climbed and climbed and climbed. I didn’t even notice the downhill sections. The temperature hit around 20°C, but without a breath of wind to cool you down, it was hot!

By the 6km mark, my legs were turning to jelly, but I knew there was no turning back! When I saw the huge roundabout (traffic circle for the South Africans out there) at the 10km mark, I realised I was nearly home! When I spotted the Yarra Glen Racetrack at the 12km mark, my little legs started to go as fast as they possibly could (which, at that stage, wasn’t very fast any more!) One hour, eleven minutes and seven seconds after crossing the start line, I had finished the 13km race – 41st in my age category. Not bad for a 90kg rugby player!

Some notes from the race -

The most common running shoe that I spotted was ASICS (about 80% of runners ‘surveyed’), followed by Brookes and Saucony. Only spotted 2 pairs of Nike and 2 of these!
After wearing skins for training, don’t run without them! I chaffed BAD! My fat rugby thighs are raw!
13km without any music is like running an ultra marathon – LONG and BORING!

For stats, route map, times, etc see here.

Fishing tales

Del — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 06:51:26 +0000

The wife and I had last Tuesday morning off so we went for breakfast at a local coffee shop. While we were eating, she asks me what I would like to do. As a joke, I reply: “Let’s go fishing.” (Fishing doesn’t interest her in the slightest. )

“OK,” she replied. I nearly fell off my seat! But before she could change her mind, we were on our way to the local trout farm. Well, I wasn’t going to let her get bored on her first ever fishing expedition! The plan was to make sure she caught something so that she would want to come again!

We finally arrived at the Australian Rainbow Trout Farm in Macclesfield, picked up our gear and headed for their 2 acre lake. After 30 minutes of not even a bite, she started to get bored. Quickly we moved to the trout farm lakes – shooting fish in a barrel I believe the term is.

Well, she managed 2 decent sized trout in the next 15 minutes before we headed home again. I cooked them up and the whole family had delicious trout for dinner!

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“Back to the ‘G” entered!

Del — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 02:43:13 +0000

I’m in! I’ve entered the Melbourne Half Marathon officially last Tuesday. I have put down 2 hours 15 minutes as my target time. My race number is 17155. (Link to course map)

Not content with one race, I have also entered the “Yarra Valley Water Grape Run 2012″ which is on September 1, 2012. It’s 13km from Healesville to Yarra Glen and I will use it as a training run for the Melbourne Half Marathon. This is the Official Website: Yarra Valley Water Grape Run 2012

Below is the route map:

2012 Grape Run

The return

Del — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 03:34:37 +0000

It feels like a life-time since I last blogged. It’s not that I haven’t had anything to say, I just haven’t had time to write it down!

Well, in less than two weeks we finally move into our new house. For those that don’t know, we sold our place last November and bought a new place almost immediately, but the new place required a long settlement. After a money deal was done, a date was decided (15 June) and we moved from our old place into the in-laws place! I hear you all cringe…

The last 5 months with the in-laws haven’t been that bad – actually, my mother-in-law has spoilt us! Meals ready on the table when we get home from work, kids bathed, shirts ironed, washing done. Couldn’t ask for more really. We’re going to miss these things when we move. But, all good things must come to an end and it will be nice to have our own space.

Now the packing starts all over again. How can one family acquire so much new stuff in 5 months?!! Plus we have been selling stuff on eBay and Gumtree! Are modern day humans born to hoard? What happened to the simple life of bare necessities?

And then of course the utilities - water, gas, telephone and internet need re-connecting. And the week after we move in, we are having solar panels and solar heated water installed.

This will definitely be my last move! Ever!