Jodes's

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New Zealand Biking Adventure – Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail

The helicopter whirred away over the river and was gone. We were on our own now. And in the middle of nowhere. Surrounding us were the rugged brown mountains of New Zealand’s Southern Alps, and beside us, the braided Tasman River, its main channel winding south through the grey stones like a long turquoise serpent. On a nice day this would have been a great spot to view Mt Cook, but on this particular day the mountains were all wearing...

To LA in style – complimentary pyjamas and guaranteed hot breakfast!

I’m sure you’ve been there. Sitting in the airport departure lounge watching while the Business and First Class passengers board the plane before you, imagining the luxuries that await them and wishing it was you. Well, there was one time when I was one of those lucky people! I scored a Business Class seat on a Qantas flight from Sydney to LA. I was super excited to say the least! What I was looking forward to the most was that the...

5 reasons why trail running rocks (and is better than road running)

I may get yelled at by the road runners for this so I’ll first just say that there are some pretty great road runs out there. I run on the road myself and always enjoy it. But between road and trail, my favourite is undoubtably trail. Here is why: 1. Well, there’s the scenery I really needn’t go any further. This reason alone should be enough to have you chuckin’ on the trailies and heading bush. It has to be the...

Izintaba – 5 reasons why it is the perfect African getaway

It’s really hard to be stealthy when there is a thick carpet of dry, crunchy leaves under your feet. No matter how softly I placed my foot down, in the quiet of early morning it sounded incredibly loud. A bit like when somebody is trying to open their choc top wrapper at the movies during a really quiet bit. The only other sound on this morning came from the creature I was stalking, who was tucking into its breakfast. Keeping...

10 tips for using the toilet in Antarctica

I’m going to talk about poo and wee. If this offends you, look away now. But if, like me, you find toilet stories quite entertaining, please stick around. If you go to Antarctica you will probably go by boat. You will probably sleep on the boat and spend most of your time on the boat. You will likely have some lovely flushing toilets to enjoy. Or you may go to Antarctica and stay at a research station. Here you will also...

Dungog Dash & Dawdle – Second date with Daisy

If you read my post from last years’ Dash & Dawdle, you’ll know what a supremely talented athlete I am. I run at such an elite level that I am surprised the Australian Olympic Committee didn’t send me a personal invitation to Rio. I can only assume it was lost in the mail. Sorry. Winning the 6km Dawdle last year may have gone to my head a little bit. The fame and fortune that came with the event was obviously too much...

Scott Base, Antarctica – A Haven on the Ice

It’s minus 15 degrees Celsius outside (it is summer after all), but it’s a lovely 18 degrees inside. I sit in the cosy lounge room with a hot chocolate, looking out the window. Outside, the sea ice on McMurdo Sound is starting to break up, exposing dark patches of frigid water. The ice extends across the sound to where the Transantarctic Mountains raise their snowy peaks into the sky. Beyond the mountains is the vast, windswept, icy interior of Antarctica....

Race Report – Frozen Bonsai Half Marathon, New York

The Uptown “C” subway train took us to East 103rd Street. We knew we were on the right train because the carriage was filled with people in running gear and running bibs just like ours. From the station, Central Park was a few blocks west and we quickly found the large group of people and marquees that indicated the race start. Now, first things first. Where are the toilets? We followed the signs and found ourselves walking past a long...