Winter, Spring and Summer Update - Been a while since we posted!!

Ok so we have been rubbish at blogging over the last few months, we have been busy so here is a summary.

It was winter, it rained, now summer its sunny!

Ok so we have done a bit more than that.

Last time we wrote we were both in the Pilbara, me working, Naomi not working (as usual). The good news is we are both back in Perth now, I started a new job in July based near Perth Airport, this means a lot more time for a social life, however does mean that we have a bit less time for travelling around Oz.

Final Flight out of the Pilbara- I will miss those sunsets!

The good news is more time for biking to work, and with a commute along the riverfront; could be a lot worse!

Saturday Morning breakfast dates!!! 

The last few months have seen a few new arrivals to the Stack household. First to arrive was Geronimo, my new mountain bike, a treat to myself after getting my new job.

Geronimo's first outing to Jarrahdale. He had fun!

The next arrival was under slightly sadder circumstances, poor Java, Naomi's trusty old steed was stolen from the hospital, leaving her bikeless after finishing her shift at 3am. Another trip to the bike shop was arranged and we came home with Fitz Roy. Another giant with a giant name (big mountain in South America).

So some time ago now we decided to take the plunge and sign up to an Ironman, for those that don't know this is a 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42km run. Sensibly Naomi decided to seek the assistance of a coach to set a training plan, as we figured it would need a little more than our usual couple of runs, quick dip, go out for a few beers before and wing it approach. So we signed up with F4L coaching in Perth Hills and well that has basically been our life for the last 4/5 months. Going from a couple of rides/runs at a weekend to training everyday with one rest day if we are lucky every fortnight was a shock to the system to say the least, but we have loved it so far. We have met some great friends and have been on some great sessions along the way.

In August we headed out to the East of Perth to a place called... York! I have to say it bears no resemblance at all to its namesake in God's Country, but still a picturesque typical Aussie country town. Blink on the highway and you will miss it!

We were here to do the York Cyclo Sportive. Armed with one weeks training I decided I was Chris Froome and set off at a pace, forgetting we had a team of two compared to all the other teams consisting of 8 or 9. This made a big difference in sharing the effort. We died a little on the second lap, but it was good to get a few miles back in the legs after a cold wet couple of months.

Next up on the calendar was the City to Surf Marathon. Last year I did the 12km event, along with the whole of Perth's population. This year time to step it up and do the full Marathon. This meant an earlier start in the dark on St Georges Terrace in Perth CBD.  It was a stunning course, the first half flat as a pancake along the Swan River, before entering back into the city and climbing up to Kings Park (A killer hill with 22km in your legs already), then around Kings Park (hillier than you think) before heading out to the finish at City Beach. The hardest part was at 34km where we passed right past our front door, it took all of our strength to not pull out and grab a beer. Naomi especially was struggling at this point having smashed a half marathon PB was starting to pay for it after the hills of Kings Park. She soldiered on though to smash her Marathon PB by over 20mins. I came in just under my Manchester PB with a 3.27, pretty happy on a hilly course after 12months of FIFO.

All smiles at the start

Look out for Naomi bright orange vest!

Our new diet for training, chuff loads of clif bars. (I take sneaky ones for breakfast sometimes but don't tell Naomi!)

 For a rare break from training we headed down to Freo to watch the Dockers in the play off series. Last year the Dockers got all the way to the  final and were narrowly beaten, so expectation was high. The atmosphere on the Cappuccino Strip was amazing, everyone out in their colours, and the road was painted purple for the game. In the end they lost, but we had fun and now have jerseys for next season!

The winter seemed to drag on this year with lots of rain, storms and facebook profile updates from the UK of Tour de France, friend's weddings and general summer fun. This led to a bit of winter blues and an onset of home sickness, however as Spring sprung and the sun came back out, we realised how lucky we were to be living on the doorstep of one of the world's best parks. We headed out into Kings Park with the whole of Perth for the first sunny weekend and enjoyed a nice ice cream on the lawn listening to live music, not a bad afternoon at all!

So September came around and we were treated with a last minute visit from some ugly bloke from Yorkshire! In true Yorkshire fashion his first stop was to the WACA to show the Aussies how to play cricket!

This all proved a bit too much for him and....

After sleeping off the jetlag we headed out for a road trip to the Pinnacles, north of Perth. Dad was amazed by the nothingness once you passed the Northern Suburbs, and he couldn't wait to see an Emu, after I told him we couldn't move for Emus last time we headed up North. Well all day passed and no Emus! We did see a lot of rocks though! 

After our road trip it was back to work for me for a few days, which gave Naomi the chance to play tour guide. This mainly consisted of walking 100kms per day, knackering dad out then treating him with an ice cream! We nearly had to call in air ambulance when he collapsed up Kokoda Steps in Kings Park!

Whilst Dad was here we managed to prise him away from providing a detailed and comprehensive comparison of cheap souvenir tshirt shops in Perth for a little while and even found 5 minutes where he wasn't in Paddy McGuires (our local Irish Bar) to have a fake 60th Birthday! As we would be missing the real one in December (Only 12 days away as I write this you old git!), we had some Caaaakeee as Horace likes caaaake and got approval from the fire service to light the candles!

To end the trip, we headed over to our favourite place Rotto! We hired bikes and headed off to the far side of the island. Dad was flying, he looked like Wiggo! Well for about 5kms anyway and then he remembered it had been a while since his Tour de France days! Another day, another near resuscitation of Dad! He made it around though and we were treated to an amazing show from a group of whales flapping around in the ocean, and even a pod of dolphins! (This scored major points on the animal spotting game!)

The peleton!

Whale watching

Dolphin Watching

PELICAN!

After Rotto it was nearly time for Dad to head back home for winter. We had one more day to explore so we headed up into Perth Hills, where I promised we would see Emus and Kangaroos!

Sure enough we saw both and even stopped at the Camel Farm for a quick scone and ice cream!

Was great to have Dad over, and show him around even if we did lose him in Mandurah! Paddy's were sad to see him leave!

So after the excitement of a visit from home it was back to normality for Team Stack, more training and race prep. The next race on the calendar was the Augusta Adventure Race, the largest adventure race in the world. This consisted of Swim, Bike, Run and Paddle. Pretty typical for an adventure race, although the UK versions usually don't have swims. Having signed up to this months ago we finally read the details, 13km ocean kayak!!! Oh dear this is a bit longer than the token novelty kayak that are usually involved in UK adventure races. We read a bit further... competitors must supply their own kayaks! Ah problem. 4 weeks out, never kayaked and didn't have a boat! 

After a couple of last minute lessons in a Kayak with a local instructor we decided to ignore his expert advice and get surf ski type kayaks. Now these are super tippy, and falls are inevitable, however they are much easier to get back in so we decided to take the risk.

We looked on gumtree and found two identical Skis, Sharkey and George! One problem they were 5.2m long. Our house is 4.2m wide, we have no garage, out back yard is around 4m square, storage was going to be an issue! We decided the only thing for it was to have some new furniture in the front room!

I eventually showed my engineering skills and found a more suitable location for them! They are still up as well, not fallen down yet!

We managed to get one weekend of very quick paddling sessions in prior to the race. We headed to Freo and practised in the wake of the boats passing along the river. Stack score... Chris 6 Naomi 0. This worked out at 1 stack per km for me. A new training metric I would use to gauge progress!

So the first weekend in November we headed down to the Margaret River Region and found our Chalet! Pretty cool and surrounded by Roos!

Car looks pretty cool, although we could do with an estate!

We headed to Gnarabup our favourite breakfast spot on the Saturday Morning! Followed by a quick first outing on the ocean in Sharkey and George! No stacks for Chris. One for Naomi!

We then headed down to Augusta to drop off the gear at transition. It was a gorgeous day, clear skies, ocean was calm and still, no wind perfect racing conditions for those doing the Mini Race. If only it stayed like this!

Car getting unloaded

Bikes in transition

Team stack ready to go

The race was great, the run was incredible hopping from rock to rock from the famous Cape Leewin lighthouse. This is the South Western tip of the country where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. After a hard 13km run we headed for the swim through some stunning reefs and 1.9km later made it to shore. Now for the dredded kayak. It started OK we headed out on the calm river but then we hit the river mouth. Stack 1... simultaneous stacks from both of us as we were wiped out by a wave. We soldiered on and rounded the buoy about 8km in. This is where it got tough. I was knackered, my arms were dead and core (or lack of it) was aching! The wind had picked up and we were now heading straight into it, and the waves that came with it. I fell in a few more times (I think 5 or 6 in total), and was met by the jet ski asking if I was OK (AGHHH EMBARRASSING!!) We finally made it around the 13km course and I was never more glad to be back on dry land.

Next was the mountain bike, my favourite and I had a new lease of life especially with my new race machine! The kayak and torrential rain had taken its toll however and Naomi struggled out of transition. She settled into a rhythm though after heartbreak hill and we finished strong. 30km done and now just a wet soggy 2.5km run along the beach to finish.

We were by no means winners in this race, losing around 1/2 hr on the paddle, but we had an amazing day out and would recommend it to anyone to take part in. Have a look at the highlights video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNO1I1jVpRw (short version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIEwvWadnGk (long version)

The aftermath. So much kit to wash!

So that was spring, now heading into the Aussie summer and it was the start of the Triathlon season. First big race of the year was Ironman 70.3 Mandurah. Mandurah is around 75km South of Perth, so we set off and cycled down there for our long Sunday ride. There were a few of the F4L team competing and also one of the best pro line ups seen for these events.

3 x Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander

It was a scorcher of a day, nearly 40degs and tough for the guys out there on the run especially. After cheering the guys over the finish line, we headed back up to Perth stopping for a cheeky ice cream to fend off the heat exhaustion!

Next race was the first local race of the season the Left Bank Sprint Tri. This was a short race, only 400m swim, 19km bike and 4.5km run, but it was flat out from start to finish. The F4L team smashed it and came up with 4 podiums in the age group catagories, including 2nd for me in the 20-29 group.

I unfortunately missed the medal ceremony as I was too busy eating breakfast and catching up with Fiona who was visiting!

Luckily I got my chance 2 weeks later as this was followed up by another whitewash at Power Station Tri with 7 podiums, including 4 1st places (3rd for me this time!)

Naomi unfortunately has been working for the first couple of races, but is making her debut next weekend... watch this space.

So that brings us up to date for now. A lot of training, racing and not too much sightseeing this time, but we have some time off over Christmas so we may have a couple of trips to write about.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas and we will try to update you a bit more regularly!

Team Stack

x

Outback Adventure

Last week my friend Annie and I decided to take a trip up North  to visit Karijini National Park.

Annie came out to Perth from the UK last year at the same time as me to work in ED. After a year of sunshine, beaches and code blacks, she decided to head home to spend the rest of her career in the NHS making kids better!

She's managed to see a fair bit of Australia this year, but had one more place on her Bucket list...Karijini. Karijini (also known as the Hamersley Range) is a huge national park in Pilbara in the north of WA. Its a landscape of hills, waterfalls and gorges with the odd mine here and there. But as the locals like to say..Karijini doesn't offer up her beauty easily...you have to work for it! And we had our fair share of challenges over our 4 day visit to the Outback!

Just getting to Karijini is difficult. Its a 2 hour flight from Perth to the nearest airport Paraburdoo. Paraburdoo is basically a metal shed with an X-ray machine! You then have a further 3 hour drive until you reach the National Park, and most of this is on unsealed roads. The nearest town is about 80km away and the nearest hospital is...well.. Perth! 

Paraburdoo Airport

We decided to pack our camping gear and head north for Annie's last week in Australia.

I had arranged to hire a UTE in Paraburdoo so that we could drive the rough roads to Karijini. However when we went to the rental place, the women sorting out our UTE was off sick leaving us with no vehicle! We managed to persuade the car washer man to let us take the UTE but he had no idea how to organise payment, excess reduction or adding on an extra driver. Eventually we agreed that I could take the UTE if I left my credit card details so the owner could sort everything out when she returned. I left feeling a little uneasy about the whole situation....but at least we were no longer stranded at the airport.

Brunhilda our UTE (she had a flag!)

When I finally found our UTE in the car park, we realised it only had 2 seats and a tray so we had nowhere to pack our camping gear. Annie managed to persuade the car washer man to give us some rope so we could tie our bags to the back. Little did we know this rope would save our skins on a few occasions!

So eventually we set of to Tom Price, a small Outback town to pick up some groceries before we headed into the national park. The sprawling metropolis of Tom Price had 1 Coles (Aussie Tesco) supermarket, 2 bottle shops, a volunteer fire station, a school and a petrol station. We didn't stay too long.

Before long we got to the unsealed roads where Annie expertly drove us all the way to our campsite. There are 2 campsites in Karijini...one at Dales Gorge costing $10 per night and has no showers and long-drop loos or the Eco Retreat costing $20 where you get cold showers and flushing loos. We decided to treat ourselves to the flushing loos!

Our campsite in Karijini 

 The Eco Retreat

Pretty tree

The campsite was amazing, just beautiful views of the red, rocky desert! However we soon learnt that camping in a rocky desert is not easy....we could not pitch our tent on rocks because our tent pegs would break the surface! After about an hour of struggling with the ground, we managed to string up our tent with the rope and some boulders. Thank God we had the rope!

With the tent finally sorted, we decided to spend the afternoon walking around Joffre Gorge. All the walks in the area are graded from class 1 which is easy track to class 5 which involves lots of climbing and river passes. Joffre Gorge soon turned into a class 5 as we scaled down towards the water below. After my wilderness explorer course, I was very well prepared for the trek with compass, map, whistle etc etc...Annie on the other hand thought she would make it in flip flops! The gorge was beautiful and the climbing was fun. Later in the week though, we learned that one lady had fallen from the climb and suffered serious head and neck injuries. We took the class system much more seriously after hearing that!!

 Annie sat overlooking the gorge. Another trekker makes the climb back up.

Beautiful stone (Yes I am a rock geek! Love me some geology!)

The sun went down and we were treated to an amazing view of the Milky Way, then we headed back to the tent for a very chilly night. The temperature dropped below zero and our bloody tend wouldn't close because of the ropes holding it up! My body is not used to such cold any more!!

The next day we set off in Brunhilda (our UTE) to explore some of the other gorges in the area. We did a beautiful 3 hour hike around Dales gorge where we saw some water falls and swimming spots. 

 Overlooking Fortescue Falls

We then drove on to Knox gorge for a picnic and a swim. Unfortunately disaster struck on the way and our trusty UTE Brunhilda got a flat! I have never changed a tyre on a car before never mind a UTE! So we eventually found the jack and tyre iron and set to work changing the wheel. Fortunately a very friendly farmer came to our help and we had the tyre changed in no time! Unfortunately the replacement tyre was also pretty flat but with no other option we had to leave it on as the nearest petrol station was about 100km away back in Tom Price!

I was really hoping the rental company had sorted out our excess reduction!

With that disaster over, we carried on to Knox gorge where we had our picnic then started the very sketchy climb down to the swimming spot below. It was so beautiful that we couldn't resist a swim....even though it was freezing!

 Annie with Fortescue Falls in the background

 Circular Pool

 Dales Gorge from above

Knox Gorge swimming spot

With the sun starting to set we climbed back up out of the gorge and went back for a cold shower and BBQ fajitas before another sub zero night in our tent!

Karijini Sunset

The next day was the best day of the trip, and one of the best tours I have ever been on. Annie had booked us onto a canyoning trip whilst back in Perth. She chose the 'middle tour' which I was ok with even though I really preferred to take on the hardcore tour. But as it turned out, luck was on my side and due to the weather they were only running the hardcore tour! YES!! After a little persuasion Annie agreed to give it a go! And we had the best time! We met up with our guides Brenton and Freddie and got geared up in wetsuits and harnesses. This was the worst part because it was so cold and the wetsuits were still wet! BRRRR! We then headed to Weano gorge where we climbed, tubed, swam and abseiled our way through the gorge. The highlight was abseilling 40m down Weano Falls!

 Canyoneers Ready!

 Could have done with this tube for the UTE!

 Practice abseil

 Annie takes on Weano Falls...and gives a lesson on how to pose!

 Top of Weano Falls...not nervous....honest!

I have a new respect for rope.

Annie facing her fear of heights!

It was a full on day and we were exhausted by the end. With just a short class 5 trek back to the top of the gorge, we came across a group of kids and their Mums swimming in one of the pools and jumping in. It made me feel very old because I couldn't look as the kids flipped off the rocks into the water below (I'm sure I used to do this sort of stuff all the time back home!).  I felt very overdressed in my full-on harness all roped up with the kids just in their swimmers! We soon passed them, but as we were climbing out of the gorge we heard a scream and kids crying. Then came the shouts for help! Annie and I both feared the worst....I was expecting compound fractures. We ran back (looking for anything to act as a splint along the way). When we eventually got to the kids, the screams were coming from one girl who was freaking out having seen blood, the injured girl was her sister who had fallen and cut her head open. Brenton carried the girl out of the water to some nearby rock where Annie and I checked her over and bandaged up her head. Everyone soon calmed down when they realised our group of 6 canyoneers contained 3 emergency doctors! The kids were fine but Brenton had words with the Mums about letting their kids do stupid things so far away from any help! Thats when we realised just how isolated we were...medical help would have to be flown in and this could take up to 24 hours!  I made a mental note to ensure I carried my first aid kit everywhere from now on!

Adventure medics to the rescue!

Another disaster averted, we climbed out of the gorge and headed back to camp for a well earned Milo (aussie hot choc!).

On the last day of our trip we took the advice from Brenton and Freddie to climb Mt Bruce before driving back to the airport. Mt Bruce is the highest point in Karijini and promised beautiful views over the national park. We set off early and started the class 5 route. The guide time was 5 hours hike (challenge accepted!). The hike started off easy as a normal trail, we were soon wondering why it was classed as a 5. However about half way up we learnt why! To continue up you had to climb up over some rocks. The climbing wasn't particularly difficult, it was just that there was a sheer drop of about 100m below! After a bit of discussion, we decided to keep climbing...not knowing what else was ahead of us. I wished I still had my harness! We made it up ok and carried on the trek, the journey back down always in the back of my mind! The rest of the trek was ok, just steep rocky uphill. We made it to the top in under 2 hours and we rewarded with spectacular views! We had a quick bite of lunch then started the trek back down towards the corner of doom! On the way back down we came across more hikers who all had struggled with the corner of doom, some choosing not to risk it. When we finally got there, I very carefully lowered myself down, trying not to think about the big drop below. We made it down without a problem but with a whole load of respect for Mt Bruce!

 Half way up Mt Bruce. Chinaman's Hat in the background.

 Rest stop marks the end of the easy trail and the start of the climbing!

Summit of Mt Bruce 

Annie..always on the lookout for shade and water stops! 

Some of the easier climbing...I didn't dare get the camera out of the tricky stuff!

I had given us a target time of finishing the trek at 1pm which would be 4 hours hiking. We made it down at 1:01pm! Good work! Then we quickly set of back to Tom Price to fill up on petrol before driving back to the airport.

We finally made it back to Perth and treated ourselves to a Jus Burger (best gormet burgers in Perth!).

Karijini is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and it certainly helped take my mind of my ever-growing homesickness! For Annie it was the perfect last look at Australia before heading back to the homeland. 

See you next year Annie!