DAY 25.................WEDNESDAY 10 MARCH 2010

G'day,

Yep, have successfully completed day 25 of at least 28 with absolutely no alcohol. Finish line is in sight.............I mustn't falter............ hahaha!

I am prone to often caving into goals when the finish line is in sight............thinking I'd done well so stopping short won't really matter!

WRONG of course!

Like last year of getting and staying under 68kg but getting as close as 68.4.........., feeling rapt, excited and fit..........then bang, I slip backward in a big way. I've done that many a time!

Actually this no alcohol goal is rather easy but the mental aspect is tough at times. I've still decided I'm not going to plan a gathering or have a drink this Sunday..........day 29! It's a pretty stupid idea of celebrating 28 days of total soberity with a drink or many the following day! I haven't decided when my next drink will be,..........most likely in the next couple of weeks at a party or small social gathering or with my BF if we/I feel there is something to have a drink to! My best mate turns 30 on 3 April............I sure look forward to having a drink or two or three that evening and may continue to resist till then!

Whatever the case...........at this point I feel I've achieved what I wanted by this exercise so am happy about that. But it's a change I need to keep on top of.........like all others that require discipline and commitment!

Have been doing some running and resistance training this week, - just not happy with my performance on long runs, (or runs longer than 5km at the moment). Need more practice! But not too bad and I'm sure consistency and time will improve speed! Muscle strength.............pretty good but! I just hate training outdoors and being passed by other runners most of the time. I like to be the one doing a little of the passing of others myself!!! Running at the 7-8km mark past the Swan Brewery while many were partying all glamed up enjoying the drink on the river was tough as I was sore and frustrated with my time yesterday and had too many runners passing me! I kept going though!

Weight has entered the 71's, (71.8kg today). That's pleasing. And waist a comfortable 30.5 - 31 inches first thing in morning. I tried on the next wave of jeans which were fitting perfect around the 68.4 - 70 mark last year. All can get on/done up but just feel a little firm with a little bit/not massive amount of muffin top. So another couple of kilos will do that trick........and also getting that waist measurement to 30 inches, then under! The stretchy Lee jeans I could almost get away with. Biggest problem area seems to be the lower stomach below waist, - the rest is toning up OK. Must say lower stomach does look better than it did a while ago though!

Food nutrition.............OK but not spot on but nothing to be embarrassed about, very liveable and flexible. Probably am averaging around 1500 cals a day when I do a rough mental calculation and keeping control well. I discovered a new way to make a divine hot chocolate drink this week at work. 2 tsp choc powder, 2 marshmallows, 1 squirt of flavoured caramel syrup which we add to customers coffee. The rule is we have this in the SMALLEST cup, and after we place the above ingredients in the cup, we fill half the cup with boiling water and stir well, then add steamed skim milk to the other half of the cup and stir! A sure sweet sugary hit that tastes great with the caramel! HOWEVER...........just make it in the smallest cup, and fill half of the cup with boiling water and don't get into the habit of having them on a too regular basis! (Trainers on the Biggest Loser would say NEVER at all.....), - I say don't say NEVER, just IN-FREQUENT. I've had 2 of them over the last week, so will now back off and stick to my skinny flat whites with no sugar/one a day/no more! Some go as far as to say skinny flat whites are BAD, and go for black coffee instead, with sweeteners if needed. I don't consider skinny flat whites bad, they may have carbs but I balance the 100-150 cals a cup into my diet and consider it a way to get calcium and I need carbs!

I smashed another $220 off debt today and got some other bills paid. Stuck to my $100 budget last week for food/groceries/bus fares, entertainment and all discretionary spending. Am looking set to do the same this week and made do/didn't buy groceries today so my budget only has to span 6 days instead of 7! I can't wait to get rid of this debt, just a few more weeks! My 30th birthday party fund is now at $200 and I also have a $25 Vintage Cellars voucher which will go toward that!

I best be going, have a few jobs to do! May just look to target nutrition and training a bit more to drop those few kilos and get all round fitness levels up.

I dedicate this weekend to some good tri training!

Talk soon,

Pip :-)

DAY 21 of NO ALCOHOL...................

G'day! Am up to day 21 of my goal of at least 28 consecutive alcohol free days in a row. Am successful so far. It is having the desired effect. I still feel everyday..........I'd like a wine or whatever but am managing to overide that urge! The first week and weekend was the toughest. Now it feels like the norm not to have any.

So..............next Sunday (in 8 days) will be day 29. I am not allowed to plan on a few drinks that day for no reason or the point of this exercise is lost. Therefore from day 29 I am only allowed to drink alcohol if I choose to at social events/occasions that will be memerable in a way, (an event, party or celebration and am only allowed to drink alcohol socially with mates who are also drinking alcohol). I'd like to be able to recall most occasions I allowed myself to indulge with alcohol at the end of every calendar year.

My current 21 days is the most amount of consecutive days I'd gone with NONE at all in 10 years I now realise. My second best attempt since then was in 2006 when I once lasted 2 weeks.

So habit changing seems on be on track there. I made sure I DIDN'T give into having any diet soft drinks either as I quit them over 2 years ago. I reckon if I went back there and had 'just one' I'd find excuses to drink them again all the time cause of their lack of calories. Last week I did have about 5 cans of full strength soft drink over the week, this week just had 2 full strength ones however at the cost of about $1.50 a can. Not out of control! Because they have full sugar and calories I am satisfied after just one can. But............no more than 2 cans of full strength coke or lemonade a week and ideally none is better!

Am staying on track with budget. Couldn't pay anything off debt this week as I had rent week and other bills. I still have a couple of bills next Wednesday but am aiming to smash at least another $180 off debt, - maybe $200. By then my birthday party savings account will be up to $200 as well as I'm sticking with depositing $25 a week there. Being tight with money is hard at times LOL!

Also.............being more patient is something I have to deal with. When I have something on my mind I want to buy or want to say............I just feel a strong urge it HAS TO BE NOW! If I get a mindwave about a holiday I want to plan sometime..............it's on my mind and the first thing I do when I have time is research it. Or as soon as a bill arrives, I want it paid as soon as poss to get it outta the way. Such as if I wanted to try a particular wine.............it couldn't wait, it had to be that night after work! But on another level I'm very patient as I still haven't got any close to that Hawaii or big overseas holiday or goal of building a beachside home! But.............we can't live on impulse or credit cards seem to burst at the seams!

As for weight I'm sitting between 72.5 and 73kg in mornings at the moment. That's 160 lb, (or 159.8lb to be precise!!!) Another 5kg I will be smidging under the 68kg/150lb mark which will happen by July!

Have done some good training this week, managed 10 consecutive pushups on toes this week which equals my best and got a couple of good cardio sessions in. Work, active and busy!

Gotta get housework finished, then some more training today!

Pip :-)

Hello readers! Can't believe we are into March already. The downer.............goodbye summer for another year! Luckily it will still be warm here for a while and winters here don't get really cold!

So what's been happening:

* My back is getting better. It's about 90-95% now, getting better everyday. Just still a tiny bit sore in some positions but am pretty much moving freely now and intend to start training again a bit harder this week.

* The new shop is going well, getting busier every day!!! Great people to work with though. Only thing is it's in a kinda dodgy location so I hate the trip there in the early mornings. For the earliest starts I will try to get taxis but they usually only have about a 50% reliability rate from my place and I ring/book and call them the night before and have tried all the different companies. Just hope I don't get bashed or worse while going to work but it is a concern to me.

* I definitely LUV long weekends!!! Beach, swimming, kayaking, hanging out, sleep ins etc!!! Have enjoyed watching the Olympics!

* Am up to day 16 out of 28 with drinking absolutely NO alcohol! That meant over the weekend declining a few (which was slightly tough). I am undertaking this in an attempt to drink less alcohol in general and spend less money on it. This is the longest I've gone with completely none in several years..............over the half way point! Day 29 I'm not allowed to plan on a bottle or wine or anything similar but! The idea after the 28 day ban is to only drink if I choose to in party/social occasions. One little confession I'll make though is that I have had a few drinks of full strength Coke, Solo and lemonade over the last couple of weeks! As I completely gave up diet soft drinks over 2 years ago I made sure I didn't take a step back and buy one of those...............so instead bought the full strength type which have lead to a few over the last couple of weeks.

* I got rid of one credit card and seem to be getting much tighter with how I manage my money day to day but still can do better. Just under $1000 and one credit card until I say 'good riddance current credit card debt'. A few weeks ago that figure was $1600.

* I found a cheap place to get a hair trim, ($19.50) and coloured my hair myself for $15.95. Indeed I like it! So if I do that every 3 months instead of going to hairdressers at a cost of at least $200 a pop thats a great saving!

* Am using cheaper skincare.

* I did buy and like ideas from Michelle Bridges new 'Crunch Time' cookbook! Rather economical meals! Her salmon patties and salsa rocks! She has good versions of meals most from a family would like!

* I weighed in TONIGHT on the home scales after showering with wet hair and all feeling good, not full or not hungry. Result: 73.7kg/162.4 lb. Am 1.71m high. That should be a few hundred less grams in the morning/dry hair/after loo which means I have plateaued in Feb rather than gained anything! BF's scales had me looking between 74-74.5kg (which always have me about half a kg more than mine) on his non digital scales yesterday morning which I didn't expect as I seemed to slacken off in the last few weeks. Maybe.......................if ya don't give up carbs completely in the first place one's body doesn't rebel by 5kg or more if ya have a can of soft drink and half a cup of rice and a filled bread roll in one day haha!

MISSION NOW...........

* Clean up those loose ends such as full strength soft drink, chocolate, gelato and cheese that seemed to creep back in a bit.

* No weighing now until 12 May, (day I intend to have debt shot in the head by). I want to give it my all.................aiming to read under 68kg/150 lb on that date! Will be stoked with being under 70kg though!

* That will mean discipline with training as well as watching the food thing as I'm looking to push some new fitness targets strength and tri training wise.

* New clothes and new shoes are things I want..........I want new runners as I wear my current to work as well, new fine black heels, new jeans and some nice tops, new dresses, new training clothes, a suit.............endless really. I can see that all up costing a couple of thousand almost so will need to prioritise and wait. One thing I'm aiming for is: no more clothes till under the 68kg. I can see I still have quite a bit of blubber I can still lose, (but when looking at what I had can see there is less).

* On the clothes front I like less items but quality and things I really like as opposed to more cheap stuff. So Levis jeans for me over target jeans. I'm not really fashion concious, - I like those brands that always look good but seem to look and feel trendy always such as Levis, Nike, Asics, Icebreaker, Oakley and for dressy clothes I like anything, - often Ojay however! I have black ankle boots I've worn for years and have a pair of chunky black heels I bought 10 years ago for $19.95 which are still my going out shoes, have seen thousands of kms of walking over the years but won't break! I will still keep them but want to buy some dressy black finer heels, (not too high, fine or uncomfy) over the next year! But seriously, I'm a chick who lacks shoes, mostly I'd rather spend my money on other things!

* Can't wait to start saving more for investing, holidays, overseas travel etc when debt is gone. To do this expenditure on alcohol needs to consistently be slashed the most, as do phone calls, as do things I buy cause I'm unorganised like bottles of water on the run, as does snippets of time where I spend to much on junk food, and also cheap clothes ranging in many different sizes cause of fluctating.

* 20 weeks exactly today to enjoy remainder of my 20's, then the big scary 3-0 arrives.

Talk soon all!

Pip :-)

BACK PAIN

Hello all!

Well, sore back? Yep, yesterday evening I noticed my back being tender when I walked, sat, bent or anything. I can't think of injuring it at any particular moment, - and thinking 'OUCH'.

I was just cruising along going about my thing and thought....................my back is sore, wonder why. I went to bed etc last night, woke up and OUCH! Sore all the time. Getting outta bed took a number of mins. Walking was done very slowly and with each step, - 'ouch'. Bending or squatting takes lots of manouvering and grabbing of walls around me. Can't say I've ever had back pain like this and I don't know how I've done it!

My big bike ride out for a day therefore hasn't happened!

Last time I had a sore back was about 5 years ago and it lasted 2 days but it wasn't this bad.

I am supposed to be starting work in a new company store tomorrow so out of all days, this would be the most invonvenient time ever to have to take off.

Well, lets see! When others have on-going back issues I feel sorry for them and glad its not me.

Talk soon all!

Pip :-)

SAVING MONEY...............

Can be, (or is) a drag!

I had better be more positive. It's a fact of life that we need to 'live within our means' and then save some if we want to start building 'wealth' for our future and even more if we want money to do big exciting adventures with.

Not living 'within our means' indeed means debt and all the interest charging price tags of being in debt, (living off credit).

SO, - obviously if we find ourselves in personal debt, (debt for something that doesn't increase but instead decreases in value) first priority has to be to pay if off as quick as poss!, - and finding ways to either decrease the costs of our lifestyle or earn more income or both.

However we still wanna have fun..............but somehow have to prioritise.

Right now I'm looking at ways to reduce my lifestyle costs without hurting too much:
Here goes some:

* Quit visits to the salon every 3 months for cut and colour. Colour being permanent and foils plus treatment. Cost is normally over $200, - sometimes over $250 when I buy shampoo, conditioner and product. Say $1000 a year.
Today I found a place in Subiaco doing womens basic cuts and trims for $19.50. Another option could be to check out local tafes searching for trainee hairdressers wanting 'models' to practice trims and cuts on for cheap prices. If wanted, buy our own permanent home job colour. That's $40 every three months max. Just I'm not to have foils or go lighter or try a colour more than 2 shades darker. Saving of at least $800 a year.

* Not listen to marketing about excessive anti aging skin products! Sure, I want to not age, and want nice skin! But is some of it a marketing ploy?
I have reduced my facial skincare to: a basic cleanser, - a supermarket brand whatever sounds good and seems cheap with research, a tube of 'tinted Invisible Zinc' which is a moisturisor, SPF 30 plus sunscreen and foundation all in one, a chap stick and a supermarket brand anti-aging night cream, (perhaps I'm still sucked in there). I have eye cream to use up but am debating whether I will continue to buy it. Probably sun protection (or less sun but that's not likely to happen with me) are best strategies for anti aging and good skin! This will save me $800 a year.

* Drink less alcohol! It's only for occasions! Some too easily leads to more and makes it more tempting for us to relax our standards on other things. For those used to a couple, (sometimes more than a couple) of drinks at least 4 nights a week at home ask ourselves................at the end of the year are we really going to feel deprived if we didn't drink alcohol non socially those 200 plus days over the past year. An interest in wine in particular is an expensive one!

* Only use our banks ATMs, don't pay extra in fees

* Really watch mobile use, - not waste $$$ on it and look at and practise ways to get our household bills down.

* Look after possessions as much as poss as losing and breaking stuff is annoying and costly.

* Be disciplined with budget. Once money is spent, it's spent, it can't be spent twice.

* Re-use water bottles, always make sure I'm carrying enough water so I don't need to stop and buy it.

* Just don't use credit cards!

* Don't get sucked into things we don't need, of course prioritise, (that seems the key word).

As per everything discipline and commitment seem to be the key words!

Pip :-)

19 FEB 2010

Well, now that this blog is accessible to all those on facebook I've really got to think even harder about what I write. If it's about my long term plans/goals...........DON'T. Also if it's whinging about general small day to day stuff............DON'T. In all honesty I like to announce my future short and long term fitness, money goals etc and without a big list on here I feel a bit naked in way. Achievements and definite short term plans will be talked about on here though.

I have been enjoying watching the Winter Olympics, am soon to watch the Women's Half Pipe snowboarding final! Very skillful stuff! Dunno how these comopetitors have the gumption they do!

Talk soon!

Pip :-)

HELLO

Hope everyone is having a good week. Just letting ya know I have just put my blog link up on facebook, a slightly scary move but something I've wanted to do for a while! I have lots of friends and contacts I speak to everyday who don't know I have a blog, - even my best friend in Perth has no idea I have a blog so now it's out there.

This has lead me to delete some of my prior posts and also delete the 2010 DOINGS blog.

My reason for deleting these posts is as while my blogs have never been private or had any excessively juicy info or anything..........I'm not sure I wanted my facebook and other mates who have no knowledge of my blog going through my past archives which were mainly accounts of yoyoing with gaining/losing weight and fitness, talking about the way I manage money, (or maybe don't manage it) and a few too many posts stating lists of my goals and plans with less long term accomplishments.

I accidentally deleted a few more photos than I meant to but think they are up on facebook as well anyway. I have left some momentus and perhaps newsy posts or headlines.

I intend this blog to now cover momentus events, (photos at times will be included), holidays, interesting bits of day to day life.

I will do my best to quit complaining here about day to day stuff and making lists or stating my 'goals/plans'. Better to talk about the successes after I've achieved them.

Talk soon all!

Pip :-)

Here goes as of today, 30 Jan 2010, not just after a workout LOL. But I can't find my old tinted foundation ANYWHERE! My good foundation is all gone, hence the uneven skintone. They are the cut off Levis size 13 jeans I bought 5 years ago, now have just cut them into shorts.

Pip :-)

These pics are the aftermath of training today. A 5.29km thirty minute run on the treadmill as fast as absolutely possible today, Australia Day. So please excuse the sweat, wet clothes, awful hair and no makeup! Other activity involved a bikeride to beach for swim!!! I look something typical to this after most my workouts haha!

Other news: I'VE REGISTERED AND PAID FOR THE WOMEN'S TRIATHLON AT HILLARYS ON 28 FEB 2010 TODAY! Am doing the middle distance but was tempted to give the longer one a go. For mine the swim is either 250 or 350m, the bikeride is 7km and run is 3km. The longer one is a typical sprint distance, (750m swim, 21km bike and 5km run). There is another triathlon at Hillarys being held on 11 April the day after this tri course finishes. I have full intent of doing the longer sprint distance for that.
All scary as I don't have the flash bike shoes, clipless pedals, cleats or anything but am wanting to give it a whirl and not feel outta place!

Other news is I threw out lots more old magazines today. Now I don't have any 'Oxygen mags' or 'Womens Health and Fitness' or 'Slimming' or 'Weightwatchers' mags in the house. I still have my triathlon and multi-sport mags and outdoor pursuits type mags as I find these really interesting. I still have a couple of 'Australian Women's Health' ones, - I like these along with a couple of the free 'Fitness First' ones. I'm sure I will be in Borders reading and flicking through new editions of Oxygen and the like but am banned from buying them! The continuous job of trying to de-clutter!

Am really not looking forward to starting work at 4am and cycling there. I'm worried about lots of drunk and drugged people even more than normal tomorrow cause of Australia Day and taxis are unreliable. It's such an un-natural time to get up. I can handle getting up at 5am but not hate getting up before then!

2km TIME TRIAL..............

Today as part of our group triathlon training course we had to run either a 1km or 2km time trial, - we could choose either 1 or 2km. We had to run up to an exact 500m disc thing inserted in concrete and back, (once or twice) so this was the exact distance. Many tri clubs and top runners etc use this area for time trials.

If doing the 2km we got our 1km 'split' time read out.

Of course I had the normal Monday 12km hilly bike ride to and from this outdoor training location after work, then a warm up jog, stretching, running drills then this time trial.

My 'off top of head' goal was hopefully under 12 minutes for the 2km, anything around 12 mins would be reasonable and the more under the better!

WELL I was totally stoked with my first km split time being 4:55!!!
I did slow down in the second km, particularly the final 500m but still finished the 2km in 10:19!

We were told before the 2km trial to aim to not slow down in the 2nd km, instead make it quicker than the first. However, - am pleased with that time at this stage! However I was totally totally buggered at the end, - if I had to do another couple of km I would have slowed to a slow jog!! I felt at the end like I do after an intense run or after if I gave my 'all' in the beep test!

I am still one of the slower runners here but, (a few behind me) but many way way ahead, everyone is rather fit!!!. My goal for the 2km time trial at end of the course now is under 9 minutes I've decided. Gotta aim high, - under 4:30 splits for 2kms!!! YEEHAA!

Other new skill I'm mastering is cycling for a few seconds taking my hands off the handlebars for a few revolutions. I can even cross them sometimes on flat paths for a couple of seconds!!! I'd always wanted to do that for some weird reason as I think it looks cool seeing cyclists casually cycling along with their arms folded! As part of my 'cycle skills' course were were encouraged to try cycling with just the balance of one or two fingers, (in attempts to loosen our grips etc) as well as spinning/weaving techniques etc.

I think I made it a good 12-15 secs with arms off handlebars with them crossed maybe 5 secs a few times while turning the wheels on the journey home from the running session, backpack on back and all. If I fall over and stack it badly I may give up on this, but it's fun seeing this skill improve, with staying balanced while not touching the handlebars for a bit!

Best get going!

Happy Australia Day tomorrow everyone! Sleep in on agenda, - yay! Then cleaning and bikeriding!

Talk soon!

Pip :-)

Gidday!

I'm now at BF's and finally able to upload some pics onto blogger! These are me, as of last week. Say 69kg in these even if I was in the 68's earlier in the morning. Interesting to compare with a pic of me 20kg heavier at 89kg. If daring enough flick to the December 2007 archive and scroll down right to the bottom of the photos and the bottom two pics there show me 20kg more than now.

68.4...........................

Whoohoo!!! Yep, this was sure my weight, (kilos) this morning before brekkie hahaha!

And infact my lowest scale, (on my scales) read since um 2006 when I got down to 66.8 at one point! Last year my lowest read was 68.5 which lasted one morning before I fell off the rails. But no extreme pigging out or off track behaviour today so that's a start!

SKINFOLD UPDATE!!!!!

Skinfold Total today: 115mm
Skinfold Total at First Visit with Fitness Coach 54 days ago: 183mm
Eventual Skinfold Target set by Fitness Coach: 70mm
Weight loss to date since first visit with coach: 8.8kg in 54 days.

So here has it. I'm pretty happy with that! 70mm sounds an awesome goal but me being way more modest had 100mm as the biggie to get under and 120mm to be a great target to stay under.

TRIATHLON NUMBER 2, DONE, - WAZ FUN!!!

Today was the day, - I was honestly rather nervous about it, mostly the thought of swimming in the potentially cold Swan River which at times isn't all that clean!

I did the Enticer Challenge Series triathlon which was a 300m swim, 10km bike ride and 2.5km run. My completion time all up including the transitions as well was 54 minutes, 28 seconds. The 300m swim: 10 mins, 9 secs, transition one: 2 mins 55 secs, 10km bike ride: 23 mins 43 secs, transition 2: 1 min 18 secs and 2.5km run: 16 mins 21 secs.

That is much better than my last triathlon 4 weeks ago where with a 250m swim, 8km bike ride and 2km run my total time was 58 minutes something!

Enticer females started the swim at 7.03am! We climbed down some stairs, across a floatie mat thing and jumped into the water! 24 degrees so much warmer than expected, - no wetsuit required or allowed! Not long before we were OFF! After the last swim out at Champion Lakes 4 weeks ago I decided it mandatory to get some GOGGLES! Best decision ever! The swim seemed much easier with them!

Transition was nicely marshalled and laid out. So out of the water, ran through transition to find my bike! I found it OK, and took off cap and goggles, put on shoes and socks and helmet, unracked bike and ran with it out of transition to where we were allowed to mount! Up on it and now away! The wind was in my favour on the way up and I was cruising along at around 35kmph on the bike according to odemeter on the way up, -awesome! Then at the turnaround we had a head wind so speed went down to a bit less but still over 20kmph, still I reckon that's good!

At end of cycle was the dismount, then ran bike back to appropriate rack in transition, chugged some water, then off for the run. Jelly legs a bit to start with as well as the stitch for first few hundred metres but I ran it out. Still am slow at running but felt a bit faster than my last tri effort! Then the end, - AWESOME! I wore a bra and black bikini bottoms for the event! HAHA! Over the bra I wore my black rashee with pink ROXY written across bust and my black cycle lycra shorts with a padded bum for the bike. I wore that costume for all three disciplines and I felt it was a good choice!

I've just watched the Olympic distance and Elite races, - WHOAH! Definitely I want to get fit with this sport! The determination and speed and all round 'fit bodies'. I really enjoyed it and it was awesome to see international class triathletes here in Perth!

Also I'm very pleased I decided to get a roadbike with curved handlebars rather than a flat bar bike! I LUV my bike!


Talk soon!

Pip

HOLIDAY......................

Hi! Firstly the holiday was FREAKIN AWESOME!!! We stayed up at Monkey Mia in Shark Bay! All of Shark Bay feels like a tropical island, somewhere else on island time! It is part of the mainland haha but is on what looks like a peninsula that is narrow enough at the entry point to almost be an island.

On Thurs night BF and I went up to stay at a property near Lancelin where we met up with BF's sis and her BF. We crashed the night and were up and left at 6am for the big trip to Monkey Mia. The place where we stayed near Lancelin was BF's sis's BF's parents place! Confused haha? Anyway the parents lent us their nice comfy flash ute for the trip!

We stopped off at Geraldton on the way up for a look and to do some jobs, then headed up to Monkey! Very exciting for me cause of new territory as I'd never been north past Geraldton, (except when I flew up to Broome for a holiday in 2007). We stopped off at Shell Beach for a pic! This beach has no sand, - is completely made of shells and goes for over 100km! And I aquainted myself with what WA roadhouses look like! On the way into Monkey we dropped into Denham for supplies, then headed in! Swim was first on agenda, followed by meeting up with BF's sis's mates and having a BBQ and drinks with them!

Following day we were up early morning to watch the ritual dolphin feeding in Monkey Mia! Here about 5-6 dolphins come to shore every morning! We aren't allowed to touch them but we got some awesome photos! I LUV dolphins! After a BBQ brekkie we all headed off to Ocean Park near Denham where we saw and learnt about lots of marine life! Quickly ya know sea snakes aren't dangerous, (I wouldn't swim with them but)! We even saw sharks and I have pics! Plus much more!

Next we headed off four wheel driving down the beaches through sand tracks where we stopped off at some awesome various beautiful beaches for some swims and we also were lucky to see much sealife in it's natural state as the water was so clear! These beaches are a combo of red rock, sand, reefs, water of different colours and the bright blue sky and the odd bit of greenery! BF owns 2 snorkelling sets and we both went for a snorkel on the reef which was awesome and we saw some good stuff! One of the guys went fetching oysters and got some!

On the way back we ducked into a hot pool, (like a thermal type of thing). This was when the day had cooled down from about 38 degrees to 28 celcius in the early evening haha! We had tea and a couple of drinks down at the resort and bravo me crossed something else off my 'to do' list that night hahaha! Anyone who can make a correct guess gets a 'thumbs up' from me!!! So come on, have a punt???

We had a bit of a sleep in, (and me a walk) the next day, then headed to the restaurant for brekkie! Next we organised ourselves to hop on a sailing boat at 9.45 for a 2.5 sailing cruise to watch out for sealife. The guides yelled when there was something like a dolphin or dugon say 50 metres away in whatever direction it was, then those that wanted to jumped up fast and tried to race to best area to take a pic or wait for sealife to pop up for a breath. We were given polarised sunnies to wear for the trip. I wasn't quick enough to get any decent photos here but saw lots!!! And the sailing boat had a nice strong rope hammock in middle to lie on!

Next was lunch at resort, then we headed into Denham for a 3 hour quad bike safari trip!!! On road, on dirt tracks, 4 wheel drive motorbiking on hilly sandy seaside, contending with uneven tracks and rocks! BF couldn't wait for this one adventure!!! I admittably was shitting myself a bit about this as I'm very lets say inexperienced on motorbikes and have only driven a motor vehicle twice last year, (then not for years before)! I do have my licence so was able to do it! We all had our own motorbike!

I started out very slow and tour guide started giving me a little shit on how nervous and slow I was and hoped I wasn't that nervous in a car! Anyway I soon got a bit faster on the straight and reached a top speed of 47kmph on dirt track and cruised at that. I was a little slower on all the tight corners and uneven surfaces but! I learnt to accelerate hard and go up steep sand hills, (did get stuck once though and guide got me out by reversing bike!) What goes up must come down so we got to go down steep sand hills with the odd small rock to swerve around! There was one particularly scary corner where the track was tilted one direction instead of flat so if sitting upright I'd feel I'd fall off the bike. Was instructed to lean the other way and I made it round the corner! We stopped at various points along the way for a rundown and photos! A very scenic trip! I was rather impressed as I managed to start and stop the bikes by myself! Anyway, had a ball on that trip and so much fun and I'm up for more motorbiking now!!!! It's excellent fun!

We had a big tea together at the Heritage restaurant at Denham, very nice!!! Then we drove back into Monkey, packed, then bed for an early 6am rise to get on the road early! We left at Monkey at 6am, got back to the place where we stayed at near Lancelin at 1.45pm! Then a BBQ lunch, then back into Perth! BF and I went down to the sky show in the evening.

It was all fabulous! I've uploaded a heap, (25 pics) to facebook! Am not sure if my profile is available for public view or not, (will look). So search Pip Dodds if keen! Here are a couple anyway!

108.75km BIKE RIDE TODAY!!!