6 year wedding anniversary

22 August 2010- 6 years since Jason and I were married in Noosa Australia. It really doesn't seem like that long ago at all. But when looking back I see all that we have achieved in those 6 years...To commemorate the day and the journey leading up to the day, I thought I would share some of the great memories we have.

It started with the engagement. We were heading to a Jazz Festival at Church Road Winery in Hawkes Bay and decided to stay overnight in a lovely hotel in Palmerston North. At 3am (and far too excited to sleep) Jason woke me up to ask me to marry him. I can't recall (at all) what he said, but I said a big YES. The next day I was into planning mode, lists upon lists upon lists.

Fast forward 5 months and we were ready to head off to Noosa for a couple of weeks with 36 close family and friends. On the eve of our flight out a massive storm hit Wellington and closed not only the airport, but all the major driving routes out of Wellington. At this stage we were uncertain as to whether we were even going to be able to fly out. The airport opened the morning after, and after a few more hiccups at the airport we made it out of Wellington. They held the plane in Auckland for us and we were on our way.

Once we arrived in Australia it was all go. Meeting the photographer, finalising the venue, hair and make up trials, picking flowers with Mum, making the gifts for our guests, folding and adding the ribbons to the napkins, meeting the celebrant and having all the necessary rehersals. Finally, after a whirlwind few days we were ready to go.

The night before was really relaxing for me, a manicure and pedicure, followed by a lovely dinner with my bridesmaid Josie. Jason and his grooms men played poker, drank bourbon and smoked cigars all evening.

As our wedding day dawned I went for a good long walk on the beach before we started to get ready. Here I am with my girls- my sisters Camille and Tiffinee and my friend Josie.
We were transported to the ceremony (which was at the Noosa rivermouth) in style- the 1969 Valient and two late model V8 Holden Utes. Here are some photos of the ceremony.Yay, we are married.Some black and whites of the wedding party, and me and Jason.
More photos as the day progressed. Jason's groomsmen- Lorry, Sam and Mark.
It was a fantastic day, light winds (by Wellington standards), about 25 degrees and our closest friends and family with us.
We were lucky to have the reception at a great restaurant on the beach front.
And finally, three of my favourite photos from the day.
It was a wonderful day and I may be slightly biased in saying this, but it was the best wedding I have ever been to. Here's to another 70 odd years of marriage and many more memories to come!!

Stirling Ranges trip

Firstly, sorry for the lack of posts recently. Time has just gotten away on me and I haven't had that much to blog about... until last weekend that is. So last weekend two of
my very good Perth friends (Sandy and Richard) and I went down south to the Stirling Range for the "Hugs and Hills Tour 2010".

The Stirling Range is a range of mountains about 350km South East of Perth. Some of the main peaks (all of which we intended to summit over three days) are:

• Bluff Knoll - (1095m)
• Mount Hassell - (847m)
• Mount Magog - (856m)
• Mount Trio - (856m)
• Talyuberlup Peak - (783m)
• Toolbrunup Peak - (1052m)

Sandy and I started Friday morning with a 20km run in Perth before we headed off on our adventure, just so we could get our weekly mileage up before some hard running in the hills.

On our 5 hour drive we stopped in the mighty metropolis of Kojanup for lunch... population doubled by the arrival of the three of us hehe.

So here we are on our drive down, at the Gateway to the Stirlings, and doing some recycling! We managed to spot some Emus on our trip down as well, however, they disappeared off into the scrub pretty quickly so no photo opportunities.

This was my first glimpse of the Ranges themselves and coming from relatively flat Perth I was pretty excited!!!We all got more excited when we stumbled across the first Canola field... we ran around like little kids (after trying to elegantly scale the barbed wire fence).
The Australian bush is amazing, check out these plants recovering from a bush fire. Ina year or so time, these will have re-sprouted and will be back to life totally.
So after a 5 hour (or so) drive, with a stop off for some supplies we arrived at the Stirling Range Retreat and our rammed earth cabin. After making ourselves at home, cooking up a quick Moroccan Chicken on rice with poppadoms (yum!) we settled outdoors around a little camp fire and started roasting marshmallows for dessert.

You cannot believe how great it was just hanging out outside, under the stars, and being away from city life, knowing that I had three days of fun times and running in the hills ahead of me.

Saturday morning dawned and we were all looking forward to the day ahead of us. Our plan was to head up Toolbrunup Peak, which is the second highest peak in the ranges. At just 4km return but predicted to be 4 hours I should have been a little more worried about the difficulty. Instead I went off all carefree and rearing to go. Here is the first sighting off Toolbrunup... the literature is correct in noting that it towers above other peaks. The track was also listed as a 5 (out of 6) in terms of difficulty.
It was on our drive that we first encountered the Army. They were in the middle of a SAS training week. 6 days of climbing, walking and sleep deprivation for the hopeful SAS recruits. It made for some interesting times for us as well meeting up with the trainers at the top of the peaks and coming across the recruits on many of the climbs that we were doing.

The brochure from our accommodation said that Toolbrunup is "a wilderness trail with steep loose rock and scree over the last quarter of the trail, before reaching the summit half the size of a tennis court with magnificent 360 degree views". Let me tell you, Toolbrunup was tough!!! My calves were in agony and it made me realise how much hill fitness I have list since living in Perth! But I was LOVING it!!!

Here are some of the amazing views that we encountered on our trip...
Here's Sandy and Richard!
Us at the top of the peak. WICKED is all that I can say.

Halfway up the mountain there was a mountain risk warning, noting that we shouldn't proceed unless fit and agile.... it was tough and at times we were using all fours and moving up the peak is a style reminiscent of a crab. But I am happy to say that we did the 4 hour trip in 1 hour 46! Even the SAS trainers at the top were impressed with our ascent time.
After our morning hike we relaxed back at our cabin- lunch, music, photos, laughs and fun times all round... and of course diet coke for me...

Later in the day we were all feeling a little less fit and agile... we had all stiffened up somewhat, but we started our preparations for our evening ascent of Bluff Knoll (perhaps the most famous of all the peaks and known as one of Australia's 25 best hikes). It was the most "commercial" track. We had decided to summit this peak and watch the sun go down from the top.

It was touch and go as to whether the weather would clear for it. But we decided to head up anyway. I left my camera in the car but Richard had his camera. As we were anticipating it being cold at the top we were rugged up for this trip... and within 3 minutes of the climb we were all sweating and dropping layers of clothes.

Near the top we came across two more SAS trainers waiting for more of their recruits, they were pretty well camouflaged and laughed at how long it took us to spot them.

Once we made it to the top we settled down, putting on all our spare clothes and waited for both the weather to clear and the sun to set. We weren't disappointed at all... the weather cleared long enough for the sun to put on its show. What a great way to end the day.

The descent was also pretty wicked. There's nothing like night tramping. It was just us, a beautiful night and nature. Loved it, loved it, loved it. After the second effort of the day we were home for a great pasta dinner and bed.

On Sunday we all awoke with some different aches and pains, the bodies, while we are all fit, were not used to some of the rough terrain that we were encountering.

We planned to climb both Mount Magog and Talyuberlup on this day. On the way to Mount Magog we came across a nice sight. The dull morning leading to some pretty good photos.
At the bottom of Mount Magog we came across about 15 SAS recruits who were waiting to be picked up as their training week had finished. They were generally in good spirits, but were desperate for some real food. We offered some food from our eskie (uh oh- Aussie lingo now hehe) but they were not allowed any outside assistance.

The start of the trek started with about 2.5km through a valley, Sandy and Richard were much faster than me as I ambled along, running some, taking some photos and generally just enjoying life really. The SAS trainers were hiking out and asked me if Sandy and Richard had left me behind, I said that they were much fitter and that I told them to go on ahead, they laughed knowingly and said that they would slow down pretty soon... and they were right... it was tough. We had about 600m of ascent over less than a km.... tough on my already battered calves.

Halfway up the climb I got a little sad at the fitness that I have lost over the year (its taking me a while to adjust to being a "normal" person and not being world championship fit) so I had a little cry. Herein came the Hugs part of the Hugs and Hills tour... I felt much better after a mid climb hug.

We were nearly at the top and we came across a mission rock scramble that required some reasonable bouldering skills. I was a little apprehensive about getting back down over these rocks, but it was time to enjoy the third peak of our trip... with some pressups- one armed and normal hehehe.

The reverse trip down was tough... and I really had trouble at one bit, taking about 10 minutes to go around 5 metres... I just froze up there and was scared. But Sandy and Richard talked me through it. Nothing like pushing boundaries with great friends.

Halfway down the climb I started to play to my strengths (down hill running) and just opened up on the track. My legs felt a little clumsy at first but not long into it I was flying. I love down hill running, having to think ahead 5 or so steps and just loving the free feeling of running. I pulled ahead through this section and felt free from all the pain from climbing. Again, the trip was great for the soul.... slowly but surely I was letting out all the negative tension that had been building over the past few months and smiling, laughing and feeling free from worries and work pressure.

After a 45 min break, we did the second climb of the day- Mount Talyuberlup. A tough, but short climb and perhaps the best views and amazing rock formations of the lot. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera for this trip as I was tired and my camera weighs a lot!!!

That evening we planned to head out to the local- the Borden Tavern. Taking a few touristy shots on the way. Here is the Dutch Lilly Windmill, with the magnificent ranges in the background.The ranges and more canola fields...
Just having fun... Me taking a "bath"... or wanting one at least. There was a lot of larking around at the "Nudists Crossing Here" sign- I'll leave that one up to your imagination.
And more shots of the windmill and ranges for you...
We made it to the local for what was initially planned to be one drink, then back to the Bluff Knoll cafe for dinner. But as all epic nights out go, this one was unplanned, but one of the most fun nights I have had for years. We had a few shandies... and the rest they say is history.

Monday was our last day of our trip and we had left the two easiest peaks till last. Up till now the weather had been on our side so we started early to try and get in a sunrise from Mount Hassell. Unfortunately, no sunrise for us, but the climb was good. So after a few more one armed pressups we were on our way back to the lodge to pack up.

So after a good breakfast, packing up and check out we headed off to the last peak of the trip. I am happy to say that I was really tired and if one person had said that they didn't want to do the climb I would have faltered. But we all did it and once we had started it was ok. A few hundred steps on this track and then it flattened out for a nice easy 1.5 km to the top. A great way to finish the trip!!!

We drove home a slightly longer way, via a number of small country towns... and then stopped off for the biggest (and at the time) the best burgers ever!!! We were all REALLY hungry by that stage.

Anyway- this was one of my best weekends away with friends for a long, long time. I really wish Jason had of been able to enjoy some of what we did, but it's not really his thing! Sandy and Richard were great company, I had an absolutely wicked time and over the last couple of weeks since the trip- if I am stressed, tired or sad, all I need to do is look at my photos and they make me smile!

Its a long hard road regaining lost fitness

For the past 6 years I have trained solidly for triathlon and for the 10 years before that I trained solidly for Canoe Polo. So back in March I decided on a change in focus. I wanted to just do something to see if I could... so I trained for and ran a 59.8km running race. This took some massive running weeks- up to 145km of running some weeks.

That training and the race itself took a lot out of me, both physically and mentally (this was on top of well over a decade of top level sport). So after the race I had a bit of down time from training and racing, and a bit more, and a bit more. Suddenly I realised 12 weeks had passed- 12 weeks without any real training and a non-structured eating regime. This 12 weeks also coincided with an extremely busy time at work with heaps of catered meetings and late nights. So low and behold... here I am at the most unfit I have been for years.

So two weeks ago I decided that I was over being unfit and a some (undisclosed) kilos heavier than I really want to be. So I started back on the exercise bandwagon... and boy its hard to get the fitness back. I also struggled with running for running's sake, so I entered the City to Surf half marathon for 7 weeks time. Its good to have a goal again (just to finish and have fun) and its good to be back running again.

Jason has said that I seem to sleep much better now that I am training again- which is great news as I had been having some very broken nights of sleep. Which, for those of you that know me, is very odd for me!

So the first proper week back I ran just over 40km.... and it hurt. I was unfit, struggling for breath and my legs felt REALLY weak. The week just been saw a good increase in my mileage, up between 60 to 70 km for the week (I even had Jason out with me for a run on Thursday night). My breathing has eased somewhat while running but my legs are still weak- especially on the hills.

The goal for the coming week is to get to about 85 - 95km of running which I aim to hold for the next couple of weeks while my body re-adjusts to regular exercise again.

Lots will tell you that with a reasonably quick uptake in running comes a risk of injury, but I have been good- the knees, ankles and hips are all feeling ok. BUT... I did have a small mishap. When Jason and I were running I misjudged the distance between me and a pole... I ran into it and gashed my thigh (see below)... I hit it good and proper by the depth of the bruising!
So I'll keep you posted on the progress towards the city to surf and regaining the fitness!

Things I love right now...

After getting an idea from Megan Maloney, a ex workmate from M-co in New Zealand and fellow blogger at M.N.M.s, I have decided to do a "things I love right now" blog post.

So the things I love right now:

1. Colours. I really love the amazing contrast of the winter trees against a winter sky in Perth (blue.... much like summer hehe).


2. Perth Winters: I love Perth winters, its not a miserable time, there is no horizontal rain or gale force winds (or both at the same time). From a Perth tourism website " ...the mild Perth winter begins at the start of June and finishes at the end of August. It is generally a rainy season, mingled with cool sunny days. There are however occasional storms, characterised by downpours of rain, lightning or thunder".

So here's a Perth winter first hand- We do get cool mornings, Monday was just 0.7 degrees, however I was only wearing a cardigan and a scarf still, no jacket, gloves or hat. It warms up to about 17 - 21 degrees during most days and on the weekend Jason and I were both just in t-shirts and jandals and we enjoyed lunch in the sun and sitting on the beach- by the way there were people swimming still.

The evenings are deliciously cool (compared to the 20's of the summer months) which means that (finally) I can sleep under a duvet- although we still have a window open.


3. Picassa. I love picassa for my blogging. Picassa is an application (its a free download from the web) for organising and editing digital photos. Apparently the name "Picassa" is a blend of the name of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the phrase mi casa for "my house" and "pic" for pictures (well according to Wikipedia anyway). I use picassa to create collages for my blog posts. It cuts my blogging time in half, means I can display more pictures and I really like the way it looks.

4. Slow cooker food. I love my slow cooker, coming home after a long day at work to steaming hot, beautiful smelling, deliciously cooked beef and lamb casseroles, Moroccan chicken or pea and ham soup. Its just so easy and so yummy.

A weekend in Perth: 2009 and 2010 in contrast

Its now been 8 months since the World Triathlon Championships and 3 months since my ultra marathon, and since then I haven't been following a structured training programme. I do what I feel like and when I feel like it. Which lately has been very little. However, my body is now craving some hard physical work now and I will start some more regular training/exercising now.

However, it has made me stop and ponder how life has changed since this time last year... This time last year my weekend consisted of:

Saturday 2009:
My day started at 6am with a 5 hour cycle in the Perth Hills at 80% of my power threshold, this ride included 6 * 5km tempo efforts with 5 min recovery. This was immediately followed by a 5km run off the bike at 4.20/km pace. I arrived home about midday-ish and immediately nourished my depleted body- I took a look in my food diary for that day and I had poached eggs, silver beet and tomato salsa on soy and linseed toast.

After just 2 short recovery hours I dragged myself down to the local pool and swum am easy 4km set... all with a band and pull buoy, so a major arm workout. Funnily enough the swim helps the recovery. I wrote in my training diary that I felt better after 2.8km and that I got some tan lines in early July!

While I have no record of what I did on this Saturday evening, I can guarantee that it entailed a DVD, nourishing food, a couch and not much else.

Sunday 2009
Sunday started a little later than Saturday with a 2 hour 15 min bike ride and a 75 min run off the bike. The run included 4 * 2km intervals at 3.55/km and 3 min recovery at 4.40/km. So a shorter session, but generally harder on the body due to it being the end of the week and the running intervals.

After resting my wearied legs in the Swan River for about 10 minutes I can guarantee you that I would have bought a diet coke and the Sunday paper on the way home from training... lunch was 2 minute noodles (baked not fried version) mixed with frozen veggies, a can of lemon pepper salmon, sweet chili and soy sauce.

I would often rest for a couple of hours and then head out to do our weekly grocery shop with Jason.

This year's weekend couldn't have been more different...

Saturday 2010:
My day started at a leisurely 8.15am, the only reason it was that early is that I had a hair appointment. By 9.15am I was sitting in at my hair dressers in East Perth on a massaging chair having my scalp massaged. Following my haircut I visited Farmer Jacks where I picked up some fresh bread, fresh coffee for Jason, a paper and diet coke.

From here I flicked through the paper while waiting for my friend Sandy to pick me up. We were off to a Vintage Sale (see below) and a lunch of bread and dips and refreshing white wine.
After the lunchtime outing Jason and I went and scouted out a car he is considering buying (see below). This was about an hour round trip for us.
After checking the car out, Jason and I stopped in at the claremont shops for some new ink for my printer and a birthday present for the party we were heading to on Saturday night. We got home in time for an afternoon nap for me and a couple of games on the computer for Jason.

On Saturday night we went out for Richard's 33rd Birthday, dinner and drinks at the Oxford Hotel in Leederville (see below). We got home around 11.30pm and stayed up to watch the Tour de France prologue. Finally heading to bed around 1am.
Sunday 2010
Sunday started a little later than Saturday considering the late night. I think that I got up around 9am. My morning started with a quick trip out for some milk (normal for tea and chocolate for Jason), the Sunday paper and I'm sure there was a diet coke in there :-)

The rest of the morning was spent reading the paper for me and pottering on the computer for Jason.

Around midday we headed into Fremantle for lunch- prawn and avocado salad for me and a red beef curry for Jason. We topped this off with a treat (mini apple pie for me and mini chocolate mud cake for Jason) on the beach. It was a stunning day on the beach and we just sat there for around 1/2 and hour.

I watched a movie during the afternoon while working on a creative photo project (which will be revealed in a few weeks time) and Jason played Battlefield with his clan. Finally around 5pm we headed back to Farmer Jacks for some groceries.

So there you have it, two contrasting weekends!!! My how things have changed.

Drum Tao- I want to be a Japanese drummer

On Friday night Jason and I went to a performance of Drum Tao at the Perth Concert Hall. We were treated to an amazing performance: from powerful drumming, to athleticism, to to simulated fight scenes, to playful drumming all of this interspersed with soulful flute work.

The drummers are incredibly strong, graceful and skilled. Some of the drummers look like the aren't moving their body at all (including their forearms) yet the drumming is going a hundred (or more) beats a minute!! At times I was totally spellbound and others I was tapping my feet along with the rhythm. One set of drums was so deep and strong that I felt it in my heart during the performance.

Unfortunately no cameras were allowed so no photos for you. I am also struggling to explain how fantastic the show was. So here is a link to where you can see some promotional clips on Drum Tao.

A day in New Norcia

This weekend just been Jason and I decided to head out of town. We headed north east and found ourselves in New Norcia. New Norcia is about a 2 hour drive from Perth and is a little piece of Spain that emerges from the Australian bush. New Norcia is home to the Benedictine Monastery (founded in 1847) and is still home to a community of monks living a simple life of prayer and work within the monastery. The town's motto is Pax, see below:
The town of New Norcia has buildings in a Spanish style of architecture, along with some other historical sites. Among these are the two old Boarding Schools, St Ildephonsus' and St Gertrude's (both now used for accommodation and various social functions), the Abbey Church, an old mill, a wine press, a hotel, and the monastery itself. Below is some of the architecture found at New Norcia...as you can see we had a beautiful clear day, albeit a little cool for Western Australian standards, we only got to about 17 degrees...from top left going clockwise: the monastery (first two photos), St Ildephonsus (Boys Boarding School), the Abbey Church (*2), St Gertrudes (the girls Boarding School), and the Abbey Church again.
We started the day with a visit to the art gallery and the museum, which is housed in the Old Convent. This is where the nuns lived and looked after the Aboriginal orphans. Unfortunately no photos allowed from this section of the visit. We bought some New Norcia bread (wholemeal and fruit) and some macadamia and almond panforte. We should have bought some of the local olive oil as well. As an aside, the last Spanish Benedictine monk of New Norcia died in January 2010, aged 99. He continued to prepare the bread for the monks and olive oil almost upon his death.

Following this we headed out on a guided tour of the town, firstly visiting the Monastery Chapel and the Abbey Church. The Monks prey 6 times a day as well as holding a daily Mass. The prayer times are: 5.15, 6.45, 12pm, 2.30, 6.30 and 8.15. Following the 8.15 mass the Monks descend into silence until 8.30 am the following day.

The Abbey Church was home to a unique depiction of the stations of the cross (as well as other pictures). These were etched into the stone walls. Check out the purely Australian nativity scene in the bottom left- grass trees, a kangaroo, the stars from the Australian flag and the Aboriginal.
The public is free to walk around the village, but by taking the tour we got to see inside some of the buildings not actually open to walk ins. See below for some of the stunning architecture and beautifully frescoed interiors.
At the end of the tour we wandered up to the New Norcia Hotel for lunch. I had a salad of Honey roasted butternut pumpkin, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and baby spinach leaves drizzled with a honey, mustard and lemon dressing. Jason had a beef burger and fries and also enjoyed some of the Monk's own specially brewed Abbey Ale. A good end to a good day.

A little bit of homesickness

So yesterday Jason and I went round to a friends place and watched the All Blacks vs Wales Rugby game. As the All Blacks ran out through the tunnel I had this overwhelming sense of homesickness. This led me to think about the things that I really miss about New Zealand, and in particular Wellington.

Firstly, I find Wellington to be a stunningly beautiful place. Check this out:It has huge contrasts. Its not a place everyone wants to live due to the weather, but that was what I loved about it. Wellington taught me to be thankful for the good things- a core saying of Wellingtonians is "you can't beat Wellington on a good day" and its true, on a good day Wellington is superb. In Wellington you had to make the most of the good days as sometimes they were few and far between. In saying that it was the character of Wellington that I loved, the forcefulness of the weather, and the uncertainty over what each day might bring. Check out the waves at Lyall Bay during a Southerly storm. Another advantage of Wellington's weather is that the wind, the hills and the cold made me a very strong athlete. I was happy in the knowledge that during a race I would not be faced with anything worse than what Wellington dished out on a regular basis. This held me in good stead for a number of races, in particular the 2008 World Champs in Vancouver where we experienced 11 degree water temperature with lots of chop... just like Wellington Harbour really.

One of the biggest things that I miss from Wellington is our house, the glorious deck on a summers day, the wood burner in the winter. I miss the view from our house over some of my favourite running areas: Otari Wilton Bush, Karori Cemetery, Johnstons Peak, Makara Peak, Wrights Hill, the Wind Turbine and the Radar Ball. I miss waking up to the alternating sounds of the tuis and sounds of Sunday morning rubgy wafting up from Ian Galloway Park. I miss pottering in the garden at the end of a hard training day. I miss the privacy that we had from being set in the bush. I just miss having a place that's ours. I think that a first home will always be special and 100 Pembroke Rd was special.
WA has some beautiful white sand beaches but I miss the sheer ruggedness of Makara Beach and the South Coast. I loved running anywhere around this area and some of my fondest running memories are of night time runs up the tip track and back via Red Rocks. Mind you the night running means that you miss out on the stunning views. Jason and I often went walking out at Makara when we were short of something to do and Makara was the scene of my first ever foray into photography.
I said earlier that you can't beat Wellington on a good day and photo below is one of them. Check out Wellington's harbour. This photo was taken from Jason's office on a cell phone, so doesn't really do the harbour justice at all... but how beautiful is this.
I have spent many hours on and in this harbour, from canoe polo training, to swimming to a few sailing trips. I also lived on Oriental Parade pretty much just behind the fountain in this photo. I have so many great memories of Wellington Harbour and I miss the camaraderie of meeting my training buddies at Freyberg pool.

I consider Wellington to be my home town although I only lived there following University. I have fantastic memories of all of Wellington- From my first apartment on Vivien St with 5 girls and 1 boy to living on Oriental Parade in a massive 5 bedroom house to a cute 3 bedroom house in Normanby St, Newtown. Following this I lived with Jason's parents and then Jason and I moved to Tawa. Finally, after a 2 year stint in Tawa we bought our own house in Northland.

To me Wellington means a place of beauty, a place of character and passion, a place that helped shaped me into the person that I am today. Wellington is rugged and not everyone understands it. I have cycled and run over much of Wellington and know it inside out. So as I sit here with tears running down my face I think I'll leave my post at this, because I just miss it all so much. Thanks for letting me ramble and post my musings about a place very dear to my heart.

My next post will focus on the things I love about Perth and will contrast Wellington and Perth.

Reigniting the love for Bikram Yoga

Bikram Yoga, commonly known as hot yoga is a system of yoga that was developed from traditional yoga techniques . Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class runs approximately 90 minutes, incorporates a series of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises, and is practiced in a room heated to 40 - 42°C.

Bikram yoga aims toward general wellness and claims the heated studio facilitates deeper stretching, injury prevention, and stress and tension relief. Bikram yoga is claimed to systematically stimulate and restore health to every muscle, joint, and organ of the body.

I used to do bikram back in wellington but its been 2 years since I last practiced a class. Perth is sometimes in the 40s outside and I haven't been that keen to do hot yoga to date. However, this evening I was talked into doing a class in the newly opened Scarborough Beach studio. I REALLY enjoyed it but it made me realise how weak my body has got over the last two months without proper training. Time to get back on track I think!!!

Here are the 26 poses practiced in Bikram...I am good at poses 3, 4, 20 and 25. I really need to work on poses 8, 22 and 24. The rest I am ok at.

Now, rather than going into a long spiel about my experience with Bikram, I'm going to list a few first-hand pointers for those of you who are curious and may be interested in exploring Bikram.

1. Bikram is HOT. I mean really hot. As soon as you open the door to the studio, your face will slam into a wall of hot air. Get to the studio early so your body can adjust to the temperature.

2. You SWEAT a whole lot. Be prepared to sweat a lot. Bikram says that you shouldn't wipe it away either, you need to be disciplined to let the sweat keep dripping.

3. Bikram STINKS. Bikram requires that all studios use carpeting - no wood flooring. Why? Because it's the only flooring approved by Bikram... and because they're crazy. Sweat soaks into the carpet and the smell builds over time. The studio I visited tonight was brand new, so it did not smell.

4. HYDRATION. Drink lots of water before and after your session, but not during. Too much water during upsets your stomach and makes the remainder of the class uncomfortable.

5. Bring a LARGE TOWEL. Lay the towel over your yoga mat, aligning the top of the towel with the top of your mat. This is so it catches your marvelous yoga sweat.

6. Wear VERY LITTLE CLOTHING. Clothes get in the way with Bikram. No large shirts or long pants. They'll be a soaking mess five minutes in. Keep it light.

7. DO NOT EAT for a couple of hours before class. At least nothing heavy. You'll be twisting, turning and flexing those stomach muscles. If you're storing too much food in there, it may want to make an exit.

8. TAKE A BREAK when needed. Seriously, if at any moment you feel dizzy, faint, weak or like you're about to hurl, just sit down on your mat.

9. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF. After you're done, relax. Take it slow. Drink a lot of water. Take a shower. Eat something. Go to bed. Sleep.

After today's session, I felt completely wiped out. I also felt like I have removed a layer of residue and toxins from my body. Time for me to start looking after myself a little more again, I miss being really fit and strong.

Searching for a little soul...

So the hunt for a second car is on it our household at the moment. We have been needing a second vehicle for a while now and its going to be "Jason's" car. So instead of the nice sensible small economical car that I had in mind to supplement the 4 wheel drive Jason is now in search of something a little less sensible. He wants a car with character, a car with some soul... a car that sings to him as he drives it. Call me a girl, but I just don't really get it...

So if Jason had his ultimate non-sensible car it would be the 1969 GT500 Mustang Fastback... shown below:However, the budget doesn't stretch this far quite yet, so Jason has decided he would like to buy the car that he learnt to drive in (only slightly better). So he is after a 1983 VH Holden Commodore, but with a V8 in it. Luckily enough for Jason Holdens aren't too hard to come by in Australia so for the last 3 weeks I have had regular emails from Jason with links to potential cars for me to comment on. I think so farI have said "that's a nice colour" a few times, haha. Anyway, I'll keep you posted on the search for the car with soul as it progresses.