swimming

SUPING SYDNEY

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I had been wanting to try out SUPing for ages, so when I was back home for Christmas last year, my dad gave me an IOU voucher as part of my Christmas present, thinking I’d get a chance to try out whilst back home for the summer last year. I never got around to using that voucher and lo and behold I actually tried out SUPing this summer in Japan and got hooked.

During my most recent trip home, I redeemed my voucher. Check out my dad’s mad computer skills (Word and google image search).

From SUP Balmoral

My dad took me to Balmoral where I SUPed and he kayaked. I got to have my own photographer for the day. He took heaps of photos of me in action. It was crazy windy on that particular day which made SUPing really difficult, and had to weave through all the moored boats. Was not so fun paddling with the wind.

When it’s not windy, Balmoral is incredibly flat. It’s more like a bay. It’s not a surf beach. It’s actually home to a sailing club.

From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral

Sydney water is so clean and clear. So beautiful and refreshing.

From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral

Lots of action SUP shots:

From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral

All that paddling is hard work. Taking a break:

From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral

Sydney, Sunshine and Smiles:

From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral

On the other side, is the leisure swimming area. Just so happened to be school holidays back home so the place was pretty crowded for a Thursday daytime.

From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral

White sand. Blue water. Sunshine. Seriously, get yo arse to Down Under.

From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral

Aussies: we’re a hardworking bunch:

From SUP Balmoral
From SUP Balmoral

SUPing in Sydney is pretty SUPer.

SUPer Manly

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I’ve just come back from a week in Sydney. Was great to feast on good food, sunshine and hang out with family and friends. It was a jam-packed holiday.
Was able to get in a couple of days of SUPing in Sydney.

One of my favourite things to do in Sydney, is taking the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly. Blessed withe awesome weather, my good friend Nell and I had a nice chillaxin day with a couple of hours of SUP thrown in.

Prepare to Get Jealous. Enjoy the photo tour.

Harbourside:

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Relaxing on the ferry ride:

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Cruising through Sydney Harbour:

From Manly SUP

Approaching Manly:

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Check out this stingray!!!

From Manly SUP

Silhouette v Stingray:

From Manly SUP

Gotta love the clean, clear water of Sydney.

From Manly SUP

Wharfside:

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Out on the water, SUPing:

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Out in the sunshine, in and on the water – I’m in my element:

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Nell SUPs for the first time:

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

I’ll tell ya what, it was a bit windy and the current was against us. We tried to paddle in to another couple of beaches, but we just couldn’t get in against the current. Had to stick closer to the shores.

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Sydney water taxi:

From Manly SUP

Manly even have a SUPball club – a game played on SUP boards. Definitely something I’m going to check in when I move to Sydney. But man, it looks tough!

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Right by Manly wharf is where you can hire SUP boards and kayaks:

From Manly SUP

Don’t these people have jobs???

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

I heart Sydney:

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

After SUPing, it was time for some swimming. Water was a little fresh. Not yet summer in Oz. But water was super clear.

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Spot the fish:

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Spot the mermaid:

From Manly SUP

Worked up an appetite after all that time in the water.
Seafood and wine by the water. It’s a hard life, but someone’s gotta do it!

From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP
From Manly SUP

Ferry ride back after a great day out at Manly:

From Manly SUP

Da Opera Haus:

From Manly SUP

Lake Biwa OWS

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Having already cycled part of Lake Biwa, and SUPed on Lake Biwa, on Sunday it was time to swim Lake Biwa.

From Biwako OWS

The Lake Biwa open water swim race is annual race, and has been on my bucketlist for a while now.
It’s Japan’s largest lake, and it was also an excuse to cross off another prefecture to my tally, bringing it to 35 prefectures (out of 47). I’ve got another 12 prefectures to go!

On the Sunday morning, I was not looking forward to getting back on a bike saddle. That damn mamachari. A 60km cycle and a couple of hours of stand up paddleboarding was probably not the best thing to before a swim race.
It was thankfully only about 20min cycle to the race venue.

I got to see the local Nagahama castle along the way:

From Sunday Biwa cycling
From Sunday Biwa cycling

Again I cycled along the bike path around the lake this time in the opposite direction (north, anti-clockwise):

From Sunday Biwa cycling
From Sunday Biwa cycling
From Sunday Biwa cycling
From Sunday Biwa cycling

To my left was the lake:

From Sunday Biwa cycling

And to my right were rice fields and mountains:

From Sunday Biwa cycling
From Sunday Biwa cycling

How very Sound of Music of me to be cycling through the countryside.

From Sunday Biwa cycling

The Lake Biwa open water swim race was held at Minamihama swimming spot. I cycled there from Nagahama. The previous day I had cycled from Nagahama to Shiga and back.

From Biwako OWS

I got to the race venue and parked the bike in the shade and settled in for a long hot day.

From Biwako OWS
From Biwako OWS

I usually do beach swims, but a freshwater lake swim was going to be a nice change. None of that saltiness.
The most surprising thing about this swim was how disgustingly warm the water was. It was 30.5 degrees. It was in truth, a little dangerous. Especially when you’re going flat out, air temps were about 35 degrees, and you gotta swim 3.2km!

The lake though is pretty flat so conditions were pretty good for swimming, apart from the heat factor.

From Biwako OWS
From Biwako OWS
From Biwako OWS

I was entered in the 3.2km race which didn’t start until about midday.
It was 600m straight out, 700m across, and then 300m back in, times 2 laps of that course.

From Biwako OWS
From Biwako OWS

Race number 514:

From Biwako OWS

It was a super hot day. Most people had brought along tent shades to camp out for the day:

From Biwako OWS
From Biwako OWS
From Biwako OWS

Here are some action shots from the 500m race:

From Biwako OWS
From Biwako OWS
From Biwako OWS
From Biwako OWS
From Biwako OWS

Eventually it was my time to race. There was about 200 people in the 3.2km swim.
I swam pretty fast and overtook a lot of people. The water was dangerously warm though. Not good. Not good at all.

Ended up with a time of 58minutes for a 3.2km swim which I was super happy with. I barely ever break the hour for a 3km swim. I felt dizzy and lightheaded afterwards though….a bit of heatstroke I think. I came 19the female overall (out of 35), and I think I got between 4-6th place in my age group. No prizes but I did walk away with a PB.

From Biwako OWS

Swim Lake Biwa. Check.

From Biwako OWS

Watch this space. There is talk of a Lake Biwa swim crossing next year which a friend or two and I are tossing around. There is an annual Lake Biwa crossing swim race – 16km, but it’s a relay event. We are thinking about solo crossings….whether this will actually happen or not, I’m not sure….

Only one more swim race of the Japan summer season to go….but there will be an Aussie swim race to report back on later in the year . I’m excited about that one!

Yo wasSUP

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Have found a new hobby that I’m addicted to: Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP).
So much fun! I’ve gone two weekends in a row now.
It’s been something that I had wanted to do for ages but never got around to until this summer. I had a sneaking suspicion that I might be half decent at it. I tried it for the first time a couple of weeks ago down at Koshigoe (near Enoshima). I got a lesson for a couple of hours and then had a bit of practice on my own. I was on an air SUP board which is a little trickier. And it was down at a surf beach where the conditions were a little tougher. Paddling is easy. The hard part is standing and balancing. I fell off the board so many times and ended up with major knee rash from the amount of times I had to heave myself back on the board.

Fast forward to the weekend just gone. I spent the weekend at Shiga prefecture for another open water swim race (that’ll be a separate post). I spent my time at Lake Biwa. With my newfound addiction, I researched on the Internet for SUP board rentals at Lake Biwa. I was in luck!

Found an awesome little water eco sports outfit that did SUP board rentals. Super cool, nice people. They even gave me a free ice-cream! They drove me down to a nice area of the lake where I went and SUPed. It was only my second time and it was out on a flat lake so it was soooo much easier. And I had proper board. Managed to not fall off once!

SUP is such a good workout! Really works the calves, and if you look at talented SUPers they have well-built calves. Being short (like myself) also helps because you need a lower centre of gravity to maintain your balance. It’s also quite the core workout. Being short and stocky, I have a bit more natural advantage, so I didn’t find it so difficult. I just need more practice and practice to work on my speed. Haven’t quite got up to SUP surfing yet!

Having since partaken in SUP, I’ve gone all OCD and have been researching all about it on the internet – mostly places where I can get rentals (SUP boards are expensive to purchase!). There are also SUP races which I might be tempted to do next year. In particular, there is an awesome event called “Paddle Mix” which is a 1km open water swim + 1km SUP + 4km run. That is totally my cup of tea!!!! I definitely want to enter it next year.

It’s such a bummer I live too far from the beach. It takes 2 hours to get to the closest beach from Tokyo. And it’s an expensive hobby. I guess it’s a little bit like snowboarding but on the water.

Here are some action pics of SUPing at Lake Biwa, ah fun summer days!

The shores of Lake Biwa – the largest lake in Japan:

From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP

Out in the middle of the lake (I had my waterproof camera with me):

From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP

Nice flat waters – ideal for starting out.

Me out on the water:

From Biwako SUP

A pro SUPer in the making, mark my words:

From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP

It’s so relaxing, just being out on the water, paddling away.

From Biwako SUP

Sunset over Biwako:

From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP
From Biwako SUP

What can I say, I had an uber SUPer weekend!

Life’s a beach

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週末のために生きている。
I live for my weekends.

Spent an awesome day at the beach yesterday.
It’s not often I get to enjoy a lazy day at the beach.
My trips to the beach are usually to compete in open water swim races.
Was nice to finally do a lazy summer beach day.

Headed out all the way to Onjuku Beach – the far side of Chiba.
Totally worth the 30buks and 90min train ride to get there.

From Tokyo station, you can get the express train “Wakashio” and ride the train in air-conditioned, reclining seat comfort.
Note: the train departs from Platform 1 at Tokyo station. There are TWO platform 1’s as we discovered the hard way as we stood waiting at the wrong platform and had to sprint through Tokyo station, the whole 500m to the other platform 1 to make our train. We literally got on the right train on the right platform in the nick.of.time. *You will want the Keiyo line, platform 1 and not the Chuo line platform 1.

From Onjuku Beach

You know you’ve reached Onjuku beach when you see the camel statues:

From Onjuku Beach
From Onjuku Beach

Onjuku Beach is one of the best leisure beaches I’ve been to. Way better than the Shonan beaches. The water was beautiful and clean and clear. We parked ourselves on the sand for 5 hours enjoying the sun, surf and champagne (BYO champagne).

From Onjuku Beach
From Onjuku Beach

This is how you beach, in style:

From Onjuku Beach
From Onjuku Beach
From Onjuku Beach
From Onjuku Beach

We rented a beach umbrella for the day. The sales assistant not only carries the umbrella to your beach spot, but even digs a hole in the sand and sets up the umbrella for you. At the end of the day, you just leave the umbrella and they’ll pick it up at the end of the day. Bless, Japan. And the beach has beach shacks which sell food and more importantly, beer.

Beer, books, the beach. Bliss.

And just when you thought the day couldn’t get better, the day was topped off with an onsen. There’s an onsen right by the beach. The water was amazing. It was a dark brown colour (the colour of coke)…it was like a bathtub of coca cola. It made your skin feel amazing.

The day was so ridiculously awesome, that I plan on doing it all over again next Sunday (except maybe try and get to the beach even earlier!)

Inage OWS: Medals and mullets

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Without any swim training, I went along to yesterday’s OWS race at Inage, Chiba. A beach it is not. The Inage seaside park OWS race is in fact in Tokyo Bay. At least the race venue was close to get to. Can’t say much about the scenery though.

I had signed up for this race at least a month ago, and with the burn injury in early June, I haven’t been able to do any swim training. It was painful to wash in the shower, let along jump in the pool. In spite of lack of training I went in the race – my first swim since the burn. I wore a wetsuit, mostly because I was dubious about the water quality of Tokyo Bay. Water temps were pretty warm though. Actually, this race was probably had the highest number of people competing without wetsuits that I’ve seen so far in the last 3 years.

The Inage swim venue is surrounded by industrial factories and airplanes overhead from both Narita and Haneda airports.

From Inage seaside OWS

The water was super flat on arrival, but got pretty choppy by the time it came to race:

From Inage seaside OWS

The conditions got too choppy and the wind really picked up, so they had to shorten the race distances – the 1.5km would only be a 1km race, and the 3km race would only be a 2km race. I was a little relieved. I had signed up for the 3km! Was grateful that I would only be doing 2km especially without any swim training.

From Inage seaside OWS

The “beach” had more pebbles than sand. One of those rocky beaches.

From Inage seaside OWS
From Inage seaside OWS

I ended up swimming not too badly, all things considered. I swam the 2km course in a time of 35minutes and 7 seconds, which was decent for me. I got second place in my age group, which was enough to score me a medal.

From Inage seaside OWS

I got 6th place female overall. Granted, there were only 10 of us. The girl who was first female, I later found out is currently training for the Olympic Games — pretty impressive. But I actually did pretty well, out of all the competitors – of which there were about 60.
A couple of friends even came along to the race to watch and we had a bit of chill out day at the beach.

I think the highlight of the day, was not the medals, but rather the mullets. Yes, plural!
The only thing better than a mullet on a Japanese kid (or any person for that matter), are twins with matching mullets!!! Pure gold. Twice the mullet, twice the fun. You know what they say about mullets – business at the front, party at the back!

From Inage seaside OWS
From Inage seaside OWS

Just too goddamn adorable. Twins and mullets. Just kill me with cuteness now.

Seriously, what did these kids do to deserve such a hairstyle? Do their parents take joy in child cruelty?

Mikurajima: Dolphin swimming

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Ticked off another of the Izu islands over the weekend – Miyakejima.
We camped on Miyakejima island, but went on a boat out to Mikurajima for some dolphin swimming.
Despite my burn injury I was determined to go on this trip. It had been in the works for a while and I had already paid for it, and I couldn’t not go and see dolphins.
We took the overnight ferry from Tokyo, and arrived on Miyakejima island at 5am. We got shuttled to the campsite, pitched up the tent, and after some bumming around and lunch, we went out for some dolphin swimming.

With the burn injury, I had resolved that I would not end up going in the water and would be confined to the boat which would have been a real shame. Much to my luck, I was able to rent a drysuit so I could at least get in the water for a quick dip.

I’ve never worn a dry suit before and geez, what an ordeal that was. It took TWO people to help me get into it. On top of that I had waterproofed up my burns. I did not want to think about getting out of the dry suit. I was afraid they might have to cut me out of it.

Anyway, the highlight of this camping trip was the heading out to Mikurajima to swim with dolphins. Mikurajima is a small island, home to only about 200 people, but what they lack in human numbers, is made up for with a population of about 100 or so dolphins that live in the waters surrounding the island.

From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming

Mikurajima island:

From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming

Feast your eyes (not your appetite) on these dolphins:

First up the underwater shots – which was a little tricky. It was pretty impossible to freedive in a drysuit. I was super bouyant and just floundering on the water’s surface. Some of the dolphins got quite close and even saw a couple of baby dolphins.

Mama dolphin and baby dolphin:

From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming

You can very faintly see the dolphin:

From Dolphin swimming

Two dolphins get close:

From Dolphin swimming

Spot the dolphin:

From Dolphin swimming

I couldn’t stay too long in the water, so eventually had to go back onto the boat. Got to see pods of dolphins.

From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming

Why do dolphins have to look like sharks on the water’s surface. It’s deceptive!

From Dolphin swimming

Seven dolphins in the one frame:

From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming

Some of the dolphins got real close alongside the boat:

From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming

Humans in the water:

From Dolphin swimming

The dolphins come to play:

From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming

Sun between the clouds:

From Dolphin swimming
From Dolphin swimming

Will definitely have to go back there at some point, when I am burn-free.

Matsuzaki-Iwachi beach OWS

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Another week, another swim.
After last’s week double race in one day, less than a week later I was off doing another swim. Unfortunately, it was my worst. swim. ever.
The day, however, was still awesome nevertheless.
Awesome location, stunning weather and fun company.

I’ve finally found a group of ocean swimming friends in Tokyo. Happy days! It was quite the gaijin brigade. There was about 15 of us who swam on the day.
We even rented a van for the day to make the 4-hr trip down to Iwachi beach (Matsuzaki in Izu). We had to meet at a ridiculously early time, but yay for road trips and meeting new people. Beats taking the train down on your own. You might recall I did the same race last year.

Last year, I did the 3km race in 45minutes. I think the course was quite short. This time around, I did the 3km in nearly double the time. I was over an hour out there. I think I barely scraped through the time limit of 90 minutes. Results aren’t out yet but I was at least 75 minutes, I reckon. I felt every minute of it. I was slow-going out there. Two laps of a 1.5km course – I was beat after the first lap. And still had another lap to do. My elbows were getting sore and tired and I definitely felt the slow swim. So much for a goal time of 60 minutes. I have not actually worked up the distance this swimming season. I don’t swim much more than 1.5km per swim session. I haven’t done a 3km swim since last year, so I struggled doing the 3km this time. Definitely need to train more! Me thinks I’m getting old.
Still had fun though. The water was beautiful.

Ready to swim:

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

Off we go:

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013
From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013
From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

Approx. 75 minutes later, I emerge from the water. You can call off the search party!

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013
From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

59th place out of the water (about 116 registered), so about middle of the pack:

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

Looking pretty freaking happy after that 3km ordeal. Slowest time ever. Pretty embarassing.

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

Location was stunning:

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013
From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

After the 3km swim was the 1.5km race. Got to take some action shots:

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013
From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013
From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013
From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

LIfesaver pow wow:

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013
From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013
From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

Later in the day, I also swam in the relay. We had 4 teams entered from the gaijin brigade. It was a 3km relay with the first person swimming 500m, the second person swimming 1km, and the third person swimming 1.5km. I did the 500m leg. Another slow swim from me. My poor teammates had to work hard to make up for lost time. The boys did well and were superfast. We ended up getting 5th place (no thanks, to me!).

Relay team:

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

The day was topped off with the obligatory group photo:

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

And there’s nothing like bonding than getting in the tub together (onsen boat by the water):

From Matsuzaki Iwachi OWS 2013

Medals, prizes and a PB: Iwai Aquathlon

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Summer is here! And you know what that means — the open water swimming season is open.

First race for the year was a sprint aquathlon – the Minami Boso Iwai beach aquathlon. I participated in this race last year and was back again this year.

I left home with a towel and goggles, and came back wit medals, prizes and a PB.

Getting up early on a Sunday morning is no fun. It was a 2.5 hour journey but at least I got to enjoy the scenery.

Crossing the Sumida River, with the Sky Tree in the background:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Crossing the Edogawa river:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Chiba countryside:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Finally, the coastline in view:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

The beach was deserted apart from us swimmers.

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Race course is set-up; yeah, this is not what I call a surf beach.

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Water temp was a fresh 20 degrees. Swam without a wetsuit as per usual. But I did wear my tri-suit. The locals like to wear wetsuits though. Granted, I probably have more natural insulation than most people!

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

The cloudy morning gave way to a nice sunny day complete with blue skies:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Where’s David Hasselhoff when you need him?

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Warming up:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

So first up, I did the sprint aquathlon. A 500m swim followed by a 5km run.
I am quite proud of myself. I came second out of all the females! I was actually leading the WHOLE race (out of the females), and was pipped at the post in the last 30 seconds. My swim gave me a really good lead in the run leg. Damn my shoddy running. I was so far ahead of all the other ladies. Got out of the water quickly and had a super fast transition. Whilst EVERYONE was struggling to get wetsuits off, I just took off on the run.

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

I held the lead in the run, and was overtaken right near the end.
Don’t have the swim and run splits yet, but my overall time earnt me second place female, and also second place in my age group. (Will update split times later when they become available).
My time was also a PB for the run which I did in about sub-30 which although is not fast by any standard, was good for me.
Total race time was: 40min, 41 seconds.
My time for the same race last year was: 47min, 45 seconds. I definitely was a lot faster and stronger in the run this time around.

2nd overall female:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

In addition to the aquathlon, I also decided to sign up on the day for the 1.5km open water swim as well. I needed the practice, because I’ve got 2 more 3km swims this month. My need to go fast in the run was partly motivated by the fact that I had signed up for the additional swim. The aquathlon started at 12:00pm and the swim started at 1pm. The faster I ran, the more break time I would have between the next race starting. I would only have about 15 minutes to spare.

After guzzling as much water as I could after the first race, I then braced for myself for a 1.5km swim. Man, I was so hot and thirsty.

The moved the buoys out further for the 1.5km swim and we had to do two laps of the course. Was definitely a lot slower on this swim having gone all out on the aquathlon.

I got second place female for the 1.5km swim.

Come the award ceremony, I got 2 medals and 2 prizes.

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

I still haven’t actually opened up my prize bag yet. I think it’s something like a year’s supply of acai power drink. Seriously, lots of acai products. They were the sponsor.

I am a STARfish:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Also took home a ridiculously bright orange race shirt (included in entry fee):

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

All paths lead to water:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Iwai beach is a really nice beach…probably one of my favourites. I love swimming out there. I’ve done about three races there now.

The day turned out to be really warm, I even spent the day there chilling out and went for another dip in the water. Practically had the place to myself.

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

I need to explore more of the Minami Boso region – they’ve got the ocean to the right, and the mountains to the left:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Stay tuned for more swimming reports this summer. Although don’t expect any more medals or prizes. That’ll be the last placing this season me thinks.

Sydney Pool Crawl: Harbour Bridge Walk

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Part II of the Sydney Pool crawl was walking the Sydney Harbour Bridge. From North Sydney Pool I thought it would be a good idea to walk all the way to my next pool – the Andrew “Boy” Charlton (ABC) Pool. I did not realise how far that was!

From North Sydney train station, you can walk along the entire length of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Blessed with blue skies and sunshine, it was the perfect day to tale in the sights of Sydney’s main attractions – namely the harbour, the Bridge, Opera House and Circular Quay.

Near North Sydney Pool – Under the Bridge:

From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge

Luna Park:

From Walking the Harbour Bridge

Circular Quay:

From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge

Start of the Bridge walk:

From Walking the Harbour Bridge

Sydney’s harbour bridge has a pedestrian walking path on one side – open to walkers, joggers and the occasional person with a bicycle, and train tracks on the other where the North Sydney train line runs.

Over and across the Bridge:

From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge

Great views of the harbour from the bridge:

From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge

I love harbour cities!

From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge

Not only can you walk, train, drive, cycle across the bridge, you can also climb on the Bridge – if you do the Bridge Climb Experience (definitely worth doing!).

Here are some bridge climbers:

From Walking the Harbour Bridge

You can also walk up to the Bridge lookout pylons (an $11 entry fee to walk up 200 steps).

From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge

A typical Sydney summer’s day:

From Walking the Harbour Bridge

Circular Quay:

From Walking the Harbour Bridge

From The Rocks:

From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge
From Walking the Harbour Bridge

Walking route from North Sydney Pool, across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, around Circular Quay, around the Royal Botanical Gardens and to the next pool (approx 5.3km – 1.5hours at a leisurely pace):

From Walking the Harbour Bridge