Race Day - Ironman Cairns

As usual the boys were up way too early... before 5am.  It didn’t help that Jason was up getting ready for his race and he doesn’t know how to be quite!  Now we know where the boys get it from!  There was no hope of any of our fellow campers getting a sleep in so we got ready to go and watch Jason start his race. 

The day stared out badly with one of our fellow grey nomads telling us off for driving down the wrong way of the caravan park (like there is so much traffic that we are causing any issues!)  Another reason why we are not big fans of caravan parks.  There is always at least one oldie making sure everyone is following the rules!

There was limited space near the swim start so we waited on the esplanade until he came through on his bike.  This is not the best spectator’s race and we knew we wouldn’t see him again until at least 4.30pm back in Cairns on the run leg.  We went back to the camp site and the boys spent the day doing activities, riding their bikes, colouring in and generally driving me crazy!  Just kidding, I must say they were very well behaved and I even got to spend some time reading my book.  They certainly have come a long way since our trip last year.

We ventured back into Cairns to watch Jason run the last little way.  It started pouring with rain but we were well equipped with our rain jackets.  I have to give Zander some credit, he is Daddy’s biggest supporter!  While everyone was hiding from the rain, he was out there along the course making sure he didn’t miss him come past.  We even sat out in the rain along the finish line for about 2 hours waiting for Jason to finish.  It certainly was a struggle dealing with one child who wants to stay and the other who wants to go home!  Mav ended up falling asleep while I was carrying him for about an hour.  Let’s just say I feel  like I have done an Ironman today, my back is killing me!  Mav woke up just in time to whinge more about the rain and finally see Daddy finish!  Thank goodness!

We headed back to camp as soon as Jason was ready to get the two “Feral Merals” to bed.  Z Mann went to bed without a fuss but of course Mav played up big time!  He is definitely a creature of habit that one!  Any change in his routine and he doesn’t like it!

As soon as Jason’s head hit the pillow he was snoring away!  I have never loved my dry, warm bed so much in  my life!

Nat

 

Z Mann pumped, Mav not so much....

Just in the nick of time

Today was always going to be a good day because Nat & Zander were coming to town.
Mav slept in Nanna & Grandad's van and I had the bed to myself, not that it had me sleep any better...so I was up early making sure all was good for their arrival.
9:45 they landed and it was great to see the smiles on the boy's faces when they saw each other, although within minutes the competitiveness came shining through. Great to see Nat and looking forward to getting this race done and relaxing.

I didn't get to have a swim, or run because by the time I got them back to the campsite I had to get the tyre fitted and hope that it set OK to race. Tomsy is the expert on gluing tyres so I let him do it & I have someone to blame if they fail.
Uncharacteristically I have been very disorganised. No transition bags packed, nothing organised in terms of nutrition, I didn't even know what I was wearing....and it was 12:30 and I had to be racked by 3pm.
After realising I didn't have a race belt or hat, I knew I was going to get touched up at the Expo in buying them...which I did. I got there in the end, as you always do. Funnily, a good mate of mine Steven Newman only arrived at 1pm and he had to assemble his bike and do everything in that time, so my life isn't so bad after all.

The day went pretty quickly given I was focused on getting it all together, but something tells me it didn't quite go so fast for Nat. She loves the couple of days leading to, and the day of the race when it comes to IronMan, something about selfishness etc etc yada yada yada.......

Pasta for tea and an early night if the boys finally calm down and go to sleep.
Big day tomorrow and hopefully the bike will go OK so I can get home. It will be nice to have Mum & Dad at the finish line also, a sub 11 would be nice to impress them with.....

Did I mention after tomorrow I have 5 weeks left travelling before I start a new job?

Life is good.

Us.

Have a safe flight Zander & Mummy



My campsite

Daddy's support crew

Daddy's ride

Only just made it

A Bung Vittoria Tyre

Today we rose as always at sparrows given Mav is a morning person....a very early one at that....
It is a lot easier keeping one child quiet at 5am in a campground that is for sure, but he also eats up the 100% attention from everyone which seems to improve his listening ability.

Breakfast, clean up, brush teeth & then down to register. As I drove out the Toms were just surfacing....8:45am mind you. They must be on holidays!! Nanna & Grandad looked after Mav, with the help of Zac & Emily Toms who have continued to be great with him. He follows them around like a bad smell.

I met up with Rich, Emma, Brad & Anika and we got registration out of the way, then returned to get ready for a ride with the boys only to find my rear tubular tyre is stuffed and I cant ride!!
Nat is happy to bring my spares down tomorrow so no harm done, I just need to glue it on and hopefully it will set in time to race Sunday. Not ideal but there is always something with me & my preparation.... The downside is that I won't get much of a ride in, nor much time to check the bike is running perfectly. I have to rack by 3pm and I think I may have relaxed a bit too much in this taper week....I think I have had 4 days without doing any training....
Lets just say my holiday to the cape seems to be taking front and centre in my mind....

Carbo welcome party tonight, is great to have Mum & Dad here to watch Mav, they enjoy it & he loves the time with them too. Apparently he was asleep by 6pm, no dinner or tooth brushing, he was just smashed from the day roving between everyone's campsite and chatting. Lookout Cairns Holiday Park, his older brother arrives tomorrow and he wont be outdone.
The food was great at the party tonight, the best I have had at a carbo dinner. Cairns Convention Centre was a great venue also. They have the awards night there and something tells me I may be a little late getting home.

The Cahill's were in the Toms's annexe upon my return so I went and said hello. Judging by the amount of Tooheys cans on the table Rich & Darren are not racing IronMan Sunday.

I feel so left out.

Jase & Mav....still loving the boys trip.

Cairns finally

In total only 320klm today so much better than the last couple at around 700klm.
2.5 days in the Prado with overnight stays, while not uncomfortable, is certainly exhausting so it was great to get to the van park and set up.  It's not often I look forward to Caravan Park stays but this one serves a purpose with IM on Sunday and the ability to charge everything up.

After a 6:30 take off again and we had our eyes set on a 10:30 arrival until the Toms family (up here to support club members in the triathlon) sent out an SOS to pick him up from Tully as they were having mechanical issues. Long story short it looks like the vehicle won't be ready until next week which will mean some reorganising of their Cape Trip to exclude the first two or three nights perhaps. They are, with Darren's parents, travelling north with us so while disappointing they say things like this happen to test us and this surely had Dags a little testy.....not that he showed it.
After settling in Mav hung off Zac & Emily like the typical 4 year old does with older kool kids, and just loved it. They are very patient with him so thanks guys for taking him under our wing and letting me get sorted. Be aware here is another 20 odd days of it to come.....

After 2 days we finally got to have a shower which was good, and then Nanna watched Mav while I went to register for the race on Sunday. The line was 100m long and after waiting 15mins they told us all to go home and come back tomorrow as we wouldn't make the cutoff. Golden service, heaven forbid they work past 5pm to accommodate the couple of thousand athletes who paid $800 to enter the race 1 year ago. They wouldn't have made a cent of interest with that coin in the bank for so long .

Back to the camp site and there was this shonky dude selling prawns and fresh fish out of  the boot of his car cheaply. He looked like a homeless dude with an IGA shirt on. We reckon he was pilfering the goods from work and distributing them to trusting grey nomads in caravan parks.
They tasted good anyway so for $5 for 400g I wasn't complaining.

Darren and I ran 30 mins which was good because I was a bit stiff after sitting down in the car for so long. A ride in the morning, register, and perhaps a swim with Mav and I will be good to go for
Sunday.

5 nights here with the rest of the family arriving Saturday morning. Can't wait.

Jase & Mav

Registration line

Grandad catching Mav enjoying the moment

Bluewater Campground

Another 700klm today found us free camping at a place called Bluewater 35klm north of Townsville. This was on the advice of The Toms Family & they were spot on as it was perfect, a couple of hundred metres from the highway, a big playground for Mav, toilets and concrete tables just outside most of the campsites.
We were lucky to get one of the tables and true to form Mav fell off the seat and hit his head on the concrete. Dead set he must have a hundreds dings in that cranium of his, it's always getting a hammering but it doesn't seem to phase him much.
He then (with a dint in his head) made friends with some teenagers by just saying "my name is Mav, what's yours and can I play with you?" Definitely Mr Sociable my little Mann is, and to the boy's credit, they were happy to play with him.
Once again he travelled well, we stopped in Home Hill for some food and unlike yesterday we got away at 6:30 and it gave us a good run at it. Roadworks still slow you down but unlike yesterday we were set up and fed well before dark ready for the footy.
After trolling through the web to try and find free live streaming I was out of luck, they all wanted money to watch so we went to sleep at 7:45 and I set the alarm for 10:30 to watch the replay on Foxtel GO until the wee hours. My sleep is not going to get much of  a run tonight again. Trucks all of last night and if I am lucky Mav will again tonight use my back to dig his knees into just to keep me honest......
Lucky we will be in Cairns late morning tomorrow with a planned early start again & I might be able to arrange a siesta in the arvo with Nanna arriving around the same time as well.
All good so far.

Jase & Mav.


The playground Bluewater

Mav sitting on replica Burdekin Bridge

Trying to scale Everest (Home Hill)

Cane Harvester

Campsite Bluewater

Daisy Hill to Yaamba - Day 1

Mav & I got away 45 minutes late this morning and we didn't really think it would be an issue until we hit countless road work stoppages. What should normally be an easy 7 hr drive to Rocky turned into 9 with a couple food of stops. Rather boring...
Not once on last year's trip did we set up in he dark but today we christened that process & Mav was all over it. Everything new is an adventure for a 4 year old so that makes it pretty cool.
680klm all told today & after a quick meal in Rocky we moved north 35klm & are sitting at Yaamba Rest Area - a packed roadside free camp 20m off the highway. B Doubles have an indescribable  impression they leave on you when you can not only hear them, but the draft sways the trailer as they pass by.
Mav was great today, no complaints until the roundabout into Rocky because he was hungry. He is quite the traveller & also conversationalist now, we chatted much of the way and he probably only managed to watch one half of a DVD. His ABC book, toys and stickers stole the show.

A few memorable quotes from the day:-

1klm into the journey....."Daddy, I think I can see Cairns....it's over that hill"
30 mins in..."Mavvy, did you do a fluffy?"
"No Daddy, The Mann Vann did it"
Gin Gin Main Street getting bread.... "Daddy, I think I can smell Cairns"
Before Miriam Vale..."Daddy, I think I need to do a poo"
"Can you hang on till the next town mate?"
"OK Daddy, but it will be coming in 100 minutes"
460km in....."OK Daddy, this is taking a long time"


He certainly had me in stitches.....

Townsville tomorrow and somewhere we can watch the footy. Early start is inevitable...

Jase & Mav

Can't wait to go Daddy

Morning tea north of Gympie

Mav & Dad in bed eating Freddos

Here we go again

Packing up to go away on another trip is so much easier now. Anything longer than a few days is always a bit harder to plan for, but after doing the trip last year we really know what we need and what we don't.
Maverick and Dad will hit the road tomorrow heading north to Rocky, we will push further to Townsville Wednesday, and then into Cairns Thursday lunchtime. Mum & Zander will fly up and meet us Saturday before Dad will try and finish the IronMan Cairns triathlon on Sunday.
We will continue north toward the Cape on Tuesday the 11th with Nanna & Grandad, the Toms family who are currently touring themselves, and their parents also.
We can't wait......