Progress!

The big news is that John made HUGE progress! And, I am very happy to say that I told you so! You see, all week John has been freaking out saying that he cant sail in the difficult choppy conditions. Meanwhile, I have maintained that it was a problem with the foil set up and not his sailing. Well, surprise, surprise - I was right! And I even got an apology from him after all the grumbles what would I know etc.

The consequence of a broken centreboard yesterday meant that he had to get a new one - and it works like a dream!!! No somersaults at all today! Very happy.

While John was having a successful day sailing, The Panda, Ipod and I went for an adventure...

Fist stop was Malcesine with Scott and John to buy boat stuff and have a coffee. Beautiful little town on the lake.

Then after dropping the boys back at the club, I took off towards the other end of the lake.

Next stop was Garda (the town) where I indulged in looking at the local market and the town.

Then onto Lazise which was unplanned because all the guide books don't give it much of a mention. But as I drove past it was so beautiful - a walled city on the edge of the lake. I walked through the streets while eating my watermelon gelato.

Final stop for the day was Sirmione. It is on a thin spit of land that juts out into the lake. There are hot springs there which have attracted people to this spot for centuries. I explored the the Roman ruins of Grotte di Catullo, the Old Town and Castle Rocca Scaligera.

One thing that is striking is the difference between the North and South ends of the Lake.

Up North where we are staying in Torbole (near Riva), there are huge mountains all around and the Lake itself is extremely deep.

Down South the countryside is quite flat and the Lake is shallow. Also, it is quite built up with a lot more people.

Well, that pretty much sums up the day apart from dinner with John and Scott which is non-stop Moth talk..

Italy by pictures #1

Its a little cooler this morning, but the locals assure me it will be hot again - yay!

Yesterday was a cracker at the beach, and today its off to see more sights for me. I am more confident with driving on the wrong side of the road now, so I am going to venture further around the lake (as I chant stay to the right, stay to the right, stay to the right...)....

The good news in the sailing arena is that yesterday John made some progress with the sailing - he is not too far off the pace up wind (provided he hikes!), and downwind he assures me that its 4 minutes between summersaults instead of 2 minutes - this is progress.

Oops. Technical issues. Cant add all pics yet... Will update with all the others when we get home.

In the mean time, there are places to see in Italy!



The beach at Monterosso on the Cinque Terra where we spent some time soaking up sun!







On our 12km walk between the towns at Cinque Terra - the view was spectacular!








Our trip to the beautiful Portofino...












Torbole on Lake Garda where we are staying and the regatta is being held...





Relaxing on the beach at Torbole on Lake Garda where I can even watch the racing!

Italy so far...

Well, we have had a fantastic trip so far!

It started off extremely well with an upgrade to business on the Sydney - Singapore leg, but then it was all down hill. Our flight was - Sydney, Adelaide, Singapore, Bankok, Zurich then to Milan.... I almost lost it at one stage....

Once at Milan, we had to pick up the car. And what a car it is! A Fiat Panda - 1.2 litres of pure performance! It is quite exciting belting along at 150km down the highway with trucks and Audi zooming past, beeping, flashing lights etc. The joys of driving in Italy.

After 36-40 hrs of travel we arrived at Monterosso on the Cinque Terra. Stunning.

The next day we stretched our legs with a 12km walk up mountains and down clifts with a walk between the 5 towns. Breathtaking views, beautiful little towns. Unfortunately for John he spent the next 3 days in pain and struggled to walk! He claims walking is a different fitness to cycling...

After the walk, a day chilling out on the beach was in order. Demolished a few books and soaked up the sun. Bliss!

On Monday we went to Portofino which was stunning. The town is really beautiful, the harbour was full of super yachts! We walked out to the light house and went to a museum. It was a great day and definately worth a visit. Except that the going rate for a Bellini is 25 Euro!

The following day we had to make our way here to Lake Garda - again an eventful 4 hours belting down the highway in the Panda! (John loves the Panda. His favourite game is Panda spotting... we have seen everything from 4x4 to the very old... Oh the Panda!).

So here we are at Torbole on the shores of Lake Garda. This place is stunning and I would definately come back. We are only a very short drive to Riva which is a beautiful town. Not only that, there are beaches here!

Anyway, we arrived to find Scott had purchased a swanky new Canon camera - which I consequently hijacked and have become the team photographer. You can see some of the pics off Scotts camera at www.flickr.com/photos/scott-b/

Unfortunately I have not yet downloaded the photos off my camera, but stay tuned!

In the mean time, Team Bladerider has been eventful. See Scott's blog for an update. Basically, there have been a lot of foils breaking which is a problem because there is still 4 days until the racing even starts! Lets hope they can get more sent here before its too late....

On the lake, the wind is blowing but by the afternoon the chop gets quite big. The problem is that John does not know how to sail down wind in the chop - he is the king of cartwheels! Consequently he spent all night awake thinking about it... Hopefully he will work it out soon!!!!!!!!!

As to who will win - I think it will be the English guy Simon Payne. He has a Prowler boat (the opposition!). The consensus is that the Bladerider is quicker up wind, but the Prowler is quicker down wind...

We will wait and see.

A WIN!!

Finally! I come through with the goods (again). Yes, it is true, I won Settlers... right under Andrew's nose. However, I give it to him - a cracking dinner of roast chook!

It has been an entertaining evening. Apart from winning Settlers (did I mention that?), Andrew and Sandy have set up a Blog too. So consequently Andrew has been going Blog mad!

I assisted with my expert blogging skills and being photographer so Andrew could get that one Ethan Hawk photo - smashing (check it out! http://andrewandsandy.blogspot.com/).

A little unhappy that we will miss out on next Sunday night's Andrew dinner and smashing them all in Settlers!!!!!!!!!!! Again!!!

However, it's not all bad because we will be in ITALY!! YAY!! SOOOO excited. Only 2 more days of work then the big flight, then Italia!!!

Later.

Yoga

I wanted to add a note about Yoga because it is such an important part of both John and my lives.

It helps keep me fit and flexible, but also helps me focus and has a mental calming effect. The beauty of it is that it does not matter what age you are, everyone can enjoy and benefit - from the young to the old and everyone in between!

Our fellow yoga'ers are Sandy and Andrew - but we will miss them terribly when they leave for the US at the end of the year!

At the moment, our teacher is Cassandra McGann who practices Ashtanga yoga. She does a type of yoga that is very strong, yet flexible and calming. If you are interested she can be contacted at cassandra_mcgann@hotmail.com.

She also teachers at the Boy Charlton Pool on a Saturday morning - see http://www.yogabc.net/. The other teaches at BC are also very good.

I encourage anyone and everyone to make it part of their life...

The Birthday

Well, Wednesday was John's birthday! Happy birthday my boy!

It started as a normal day - coffee with Andrew then work. But in the evening we had a lovely dinner with Sophie, Andrew & Sandy. A big thanks to them for helping to make it a special day - and to all the friends and family who phoned, sms and emailed. We are lucky to have such great people around us!

(Note - pictured: Andrew and John in his 'gay little hat' and warm bike riding jacket - both presents from Andrew and Sandy.)


This upcoming long weekend will be devoted to keeping warm and dry, getting ready to go away to Italy and John getting very frustrated that he can't take the Moth out in 40 knots of wind (I can't wait)!

Kick-off

Fancy that! I have a Blog!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, sorry, "we" have a blog - don't we John!
Hilarious!
Anyway, I have managed to set it up, add some friend's blogs, some other web links and a photo! And so my blogging has begun...
Stay tuned.