Oct 2012 - Learning to Scuba

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Parent Category: South Australia
Category: Adelaide
Created: Friday, 26 October 2012 11:22

There are a great many things I intend to do in this life, and I am rapidly approaching the end of the trial phase. Soon, I will move onto the phase 2, which is lifestyle. Phase 2 can only begin though once I knock off a number of experiences:

1. Travel to all fully populated continents (Antarctica is on the list but is not part of phase 1) - Done

2. Under my own steam, hike to altitude and see the world above - Done (currently 4700m, but I'll top that in Phase 2)

3. Enter the bowels of the Earth and the world below - Done (Naracoorte Caves and Kelly Caves, Kangaroo Island)

4. Fall to the Earth without dying - Done

5. Explore the world aquatic - In Process

I have chosen to pursue Scuba Diving through a local PADI Dive store that was recommended by a couple of friends who said they were the best and most friendly dive store in the state. The PADI Open Water licence has a few stages to it - Theory, Confined Water, and Open Water. When we signed up, we received our PADI theory kit and as part of the training package our first dive kit:

1. Mask

2. Snorkel

3. Fins

4. Boots

The theory part involves reading through two books, highlighting points and answering quizzes to gather the technical information required for the exam. Sometimes this is done in class or you do it in your own time (as we did) and go to a class for a quick refresh and exam. The part that I had the most difficulty with is the hand signals. It's not that the gestures are unfamiliar, just that the meanings are different. The sign for 'going up' is the same as 'OK' from my experience. A small hindrance but not much of one.

The refresh and exam took around 3 hours and it was here that we met our instructor Adam. The revision was quick and the exam relatively easy. There was a question that I read differently than intended to which I had to explain my reasoning thus highlighting that I understood the various conditions but other than that it was all good.

As we left the dive shop, we gathered our kit for the confined and open water dives:

1. Wetsuit

2. vest with hood

3. BCD (Buoyancy Control Device)

4. Regs (Breathing, monitoring and control apparatus that you connect with your air cylinder)

5. Weight belt (For humans are surprisingly buoyant, especially in a wetsuit)

6. Air Cylinders

There's quite a bit that goes into a full dive kit and it weighs a bit, but if you want to breathe underwater safely this is what you need.

The following Night we met up with Adam at the Aquadome in Elizabeth for our first confined water dive, our first chance to take the theoretical and make it practical. The first step is construct our kit and test to make sure that it works.

Next comes the proof that you have the minimum physical fitness required for Scuba - swim 200m in any stroke in any time without stopping, 10 minutes treading water without stopping.

Then comes the exciting part - breathing under water - well almost, you have to get into your gear first. The first time you try to get in a full body wetsuit (7.5mm or more thick) is an interesting process. It's very tight and difficult to get yourself into without looking like a beached fish flopping around on the shore (getting out is just as interesting as you try to find the peel points of the suit). Suit on, boots on, time to take the BCD, mask and snorkel, and fins to the edge of the pool to finish dressing. One thing that must be accepted about Scuba is that there is very little chance of moving suavely on the surface while in your kit, at least not at first and probably not for quite a while. Getting the rest of the kit on is a clumsy process but nothing like the floundering of the wetsuit. And before you know you know it your fully dressed, in the water, regulator in your mouth and face down breathing.

Its an odd experience, aside from having something in your mouth against your gums, the air that flows into your mouth and lungs is crisp, cool and thick. You can actually feel the air moving inwards, filling up your cavities. Once you release the draw, air begins bubbling out of your nose and mouth, oxygen and nitrogen tickling skin. A second later you are exhaling and the small trickle becomes large orbs floating out and upwards, erupting in sound as well as sight. The trick with breathing under water is to go slow, deep and steady and never hold your breath (It's a safety thing as when you descend the air gets more dense and ascending brings expansion due to the changes in pressure).

You then move in to a number of skill drills: swapping out your reg and replacing it underwater, clearing your mask, signalling to your buddy, safety moves with and without your buddy, buoyancy skills, changing your BCD and weight belt under water and at the surface, emergency manoeuvres. There are quite a few different ones to practice and pass although, the likelihood of ever needing to use some of these is apparently very low (but low doesn't not mean never).

Adam says that the most important skills to walk away with from these drills is buoyancy and breathing. If you can control where you are in the water and keep control of your breathing very little can go wrong that you can't control.

6 October 2012 - Trailblazer Challenge

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Parent Category: South Australia
Category: Adelaide
Created: Wednesday, 10 October 2012 07:57

trailblazer1The Trailblazer Challenge is an annual multi stage team fundraising event held in Adelaide. This year saw it celebrate its 10th anniversary. The event is held over two days and has legs of 18, 34, 50 and 100 kilometres. The event raises funds for Operation Flinders, a program to help children at risk aged between 14 & 18. Operation Flinders takes the children out to the Flinders Ranges for an 8 day exercise and attempts to give them life skills through a range of activities. It's an excellent program that has had some great results. It also takes these kids to an extraordinarily beautiful part of the state that many city kids wouldn't get the opportunity to enjoy. If anyone wishes to donate towards Operation Flinders (it is tax deductible for Australian Residents) please go to our team fundraising site http://everydayhero.com.au/peregrination which should be up until November 2nd. 

There are multiple stages you can sign up for:

18km – Adelaide to Athelstone via Linear Park West

34km – The Above then on to Morialta

50km – The above then onto Mount Lofty Summit

100km – The above then onto Kuitpo Forest

back 50km – Mount Loft Summit to Kuitpo Forest (Starts at 7pm and goes through the night)

Each stage has a different cost associated with it to enter and a different minimum fundraising target.

This year is the first time I've taken part and my partner and I decided to do the 18km. I also decided that I would do this with my house on my back, this time around adding cooking equipment and small first aid kit to the mix raising the weight to around 14-14.5kg.

Registration is at Pinky Flat in the city and runs between 5:30 and 6:30am. According to the presenters there were some 1250 of us there that morning on the shores of the Torrens, the sun softly shining through thin cloud. There is a small military band softly playing with the presenter occasionally overriding with updates. It is a great morning for a walk and even with a thousand of us, it doesn't seem crowded. That is until...

trailblazer2At 6:55 we take our places. Fast runners at the front and walkers at the rear. With the crowd condensing around the start gate, it feels like a full event.

trailblazer3

7am and the canon fires and away we swarm. A tsunami of people cover the trail and hill, surging forward, filling every space visible going forward. It felt strange to be in this pack, making my way forward along an asphalt path maybe 3 metres wide. I wanted to stretch out my legs, get my rhythm rocking and make a go of it but couldn't. There were no openings. It actually took until around the 4km mark before the crowd thinned out enough for a relaxed walk.

It's a pretty and relaxing walk and it seems that most people are having fun with it the way it should be. Linear Park East is very nice stretch of park leading up to the hills along the River Torrens. It is well signposted and is paved almost the entire way. This path is also an excellent track for a bike ride as well, although more people do the Linear Park West which goes from the city to Henley Beach.

Trailblazer Challenge 2012

trailblazer4There are a number of playgrounds with toilet and barbecue facilities along the way. Trailblazer have also set up a hydration point halfway along the way to help those that haven't brought enough water, or who rely on the stations to keep them light.

trailblazer5

At the end of the 18km is the 1st checkpoint and where our journey ends this time, finishing at 3 ½ hours. All participants are scanned in and their times recorded enabling the organisers to track their status. We are given a medallion to celebrate the conclusion. The checkpoint is in a nice open park and they have an excellent set up here with a tent offering fruit,snacks and water with electrolytes. Another tent offers fresh bacon & egg rolls for a $2 donation.

Many participants sit and enjoy the surrounds and a light snack, relaxing before starting up the next leg or heading home.


The Trailblazer challenge is an excellent day out, well organised, and just the right size. I very much look forward to doing it again next year, hopefully with the 34km or back 50km. But that is in the future and great deal can happen between now and then.

If anyone wishes to donate towards Operation Flinders (it is tax deductible for Australian Residents) please go to our team fundraising site http://everydayhero.com.au/peregrination which should be up until November 2nd. Apparently Trailblazer have raised almost $200,000 this year for Operation Flinders which is a great outcome for the program and helps ensure that it will continue to do great work into the future.

16 September 2012, City-Bay 2012

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Parent Category: South Australia
Category: Adelaide
Created: Saturday, 15 September 2012 14:53

citytobay2012The City-Bay is an annual event held in September in Adelaide that celebrated its 40th Anniversary this year, a Community Fun Run/Walk with a few participation options of 3/6/12 kilometre Runs/Walks as well as one for wheelchair . The primary objective of the even is to support athletics in South Australia, but over its 40 year history a range of other charities have taken part and begun to use it for their own fund-raising purposes. The event costs $40 per adult, less for Children and there are group concessions as well.

For some history on the event, have a look at their history page beginning in 1973 and following the events expansion from 1600 participants to 39000 in 2012. The event aims to be a fun day out with everyone walking for a good cause and you get quite a few people dressing up for the event in Costume. Over the past 3 years that I have taken part I have seen Super-Heroes, Animals, Star Wars characters, people in bright colours and capes, princesses and many more. There are some that do take the event seriously as there are prizes for winning, but I'd like to think that for the most part people don't care about that aspect and just want to do something good in the outdoors. The City-Bay Organisation do make pictures available through Sports In Focus and they use the bib numbers to enable a quick search for participants to find their photos.

The walk itself starts in the CBD by the Festival Centre and heads through the centre of town, before heading to Anzac Highway and on to Glenelg (or the Bay as it is colloquially known).

This is my 3rd year taking part and my partners 2nd. This year I decided that I was going to up the stakes a little for myself and use it to up my training a bit for a future trip by carrying my backpack with me. I packed our 2-person tent (2.95kg), 2 Sleeping Bags (2.4kg), 2 sleeping mats (1.2kg), 2 pillows (0.1kg), 2 sleeping bag liners (0.3kg). So I had 7kg of kit before I added water (3 Litre bladder), 1 Litre backup bottle, and fruit. The pack itself is around 2.5kg. So all told I started with around 13.5kg on my back that would reduce as I drank water down to around the 10kg mark by the end. This also helps limit my ability to surge ahead and thus stay with my team (A valuable skill to developnow that I walk with a companion). My new philosophy regarding these events is: I don't train for events, the events train me.

We started at the very back of the 12km walkers and gradually made our way through the crowds. The strange thing for me this year was how little the crowd opened up, the entire way had a good chunk of people. I'm used to the field opening up for a bit more weaving and overtaking by the 2km mark rather than the 6km and even then it wasn't much. The walk is quite nice down to the Bay and there is a great satisfaction that comes from blocking one of the main thoroughfares for a few hours on a Sunday. The weather was a little brisk and overcast and there was a bit of rain in the middle that made things a bit slippery until it dried out.

City to Bay Fun Run 2012



We completed the 2km in 2 hours 1 minute 6 seconds, which is pretty good considering we had two toilet stops (Hint: Do not over-hydrate, it slows you down due to long line-up at every toilet along the way).

Probably the biggest disappointment for me in regard to this event is the size. It is so big and so many corporations, organisations, and charities are involved now that when you get to the end and want to rest, there are tents everywhere with barbecues and tables of food and drink that you have to be a member of their group to visit. There are no small businesses selling out of their vans and you have to go to a nearby restaurant or takeaway place that is packed to the gills. It would be nice if it were easier to get food, but that's the way it is these days. It's a small complaint when you think that this gets almost 40,000 people out and about together on a Sunday morning.

All participants get a free bus or tram ride out of the Bay and for us that's what we do. Head straight back to the city and get on with our Sunday. All in all it's a great day out.

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