Treatments and Adams Park Meeting

Thursday was the half day of treatments and doctors. Well, it was supposed to be.
Went to radiation. The computer did not registered that i had checked in. So the therapist and I were waiting for me at different areas. Part of my treatment schedule is blood draw on Wednesday so they are available for Thursday Chemo. Late start on radiation. Then quick chat with the doctor. That is going well, other than the burn I am getting.
Checked in for chemo, eventually vitals and to the treatment room. Finally, the nurse came in, said has to call my doctor because one of the blood counts is low. They are too low for treatment, so went home without chemo treatment. Hmmmm, you think they could have told me later yesterday or earlier this morning?

Later in the day, It was time for the meeting at Adams Park. The meeting is where THOR (our trails group), Activate Omaha, The Omaha Parks Dept, and National Parks Service advised the community what is happening in their park. The partnership brought in the Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew.
In the photo above, Trail Care Crew members Steve and Morgan Lommele and discussing the efforts with Adams Park Community Center Director Orentheian Everett.

Sunrise Over Cuesta

Cuesta Sunrise, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Twelve hours after the sunset hike yesterday, I was up on the ridge again, but this time for sunrise. The sunrise wasn't as dramatic as the sunset as there were no clouds to catch the light...hopefully they'll be there next time!

Luna Noctiluca

The moon illusion doesn't work very well here.
We're in a valley, and Selene is already well on her journey before she rises over the mountain.
The clouds played hide-and-seek, and it was all quite lovely anyway.
The moment the first shiny diamond chip of a moon slipped over the top of the trees, it was as if a cue had been given, and coyotes began howling in the distance. Chillbumps and laughter!
I suspect the show continued all night, but we slept through it.

We woke just in time to see her making way for Eos and Helios, early this morning.

River Spey, Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day walk was under a grey sky, with just a glimpse of a pale lemon sunset in the west. The Spey was sludgy with floating ice.
To the north, hail showers drifted over the lower slopes of Ben Aigen.

A last shaft of sunlight brought out warm colour in the willows by the river, but the water reflected that unique icy blue of the midwinter sky.

Green

The sun badly messed up the above shot, but it took a lot of work to get there. Yesterday was one of those ultra-humid days that only happen in Queensland. It was a day in which you could cut the air with a knife if you could only find one sharp enough, a day on which breathing felt like swimming underwater. Some might scoff at the wisdom of cycling 238km on such a day, but since I was going to feel the same regardless, I decided I'd ride anyway.

I started off heading south, but taking detours, firstly along the Tweed River, followed by the Tweed Hinterland. This area really is very scenic, and a place I never get tired of riding. On the other hand, I probably didn't really need to accumulate over 1,000 metres of climbing by the time I reached Mullumbimby.

This was where the ride really started. A steep climb out of Mullumbimby led to another world that I hadn't realised existed previously. A world of rushing creeks flowing through forests, of mountains covered in a green carpet. It might have been stinking hot, but the surroundings compensated.

I also found a little cafe tucked away in the hills. For such an obscure place, the food was surprisingly good, and surprisingly filling. It's not often I order a meal I can't finish. In fact, the only time that's happened since childhood was a particularly bad Greek restaurant in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley (even then I ended up ordering a Pizza from somewhere else instead). This, on the other hand, was a genuinely good feed. I would need it going home.

Once I returned to Mullumbimby I realised I was going to get blasted by the northerly wind that made it so hot and humid in the first place. I took a hilly route home through Burringbar, Urliup and Bilambil (finishing the day with over 2,500 metres of climbing). That offered some protection, but for the most part it was just a case of trying to be the immovable object in the face of the unstoppable force. Stalemate.
Fortunately for me, I'm sufficiently boring to find Stalemate to be a remarkably invigorating concept, one that can keep me amused for hours. This is probably just as well, because my physical fitness isn't really what it should be right now, and it really DID take hours.
In that respect, I'm glad to have this ride behind me with the ASH Dash now just a week away. On the other hand, it's unlikely to be anywhere near as hot and/or humid as this in Hobart. I'll look for a bit more climbing through the week to finish off the preparation.

Lake Hawea - Gladstone track & short section Breast Hill track

According to my garmin the walk was around 4 miles each way. We set off from Johns Creek and followed the track above the lake shore. Brilliant flowers growing wild - lupins, roses, orange Californian poppies, as well as other less ostentatious flowers. New Zealand flax, pines, silver birch and the odd blue gum, as well as some deep pink mesembryanthemums, clearly flourishing on the rocks in the sun. The wind was strong today.


Map of the walk in one direction is here.
14 Dec Hawea walk

The wind has whipped white horses all over the lake, and the waves hit the shore with a crashing sound as stones are rolled back and forth. It sounds like the sea.

We're going to take the track to Lake Hawea village. It runs just in from the shore, through pines, and along cliffs. Today we're pushed along by the wind, but the sun shines and there are flowers everywhere - self set feral flowers?

Lupins, predominantly pink and purple, but with large patches of wild yellow ones too. Californian poppies, with their delicately shaped flowers of rich waxy orange. Wild roses, with their small pink flowers and arching branches. Two different types of yellow flowers, both growing as tall spikes. A blue flower, with pink on it - another spike. Even the birds foot trefoil is bigger and lusher than at home. There's a rocky slope where deep pink mesembryanthemum are sunbathing. The kete flax is everywhere, and we have pines and eucalyptus too.
We stop for coffee at the General Store and Café on the corner of Capell Avenue and Parry Crescent. The way back is against the wind, but still bright and exhilarating.

15 December - short and steep

Uphill a bit . . .

I walk along the Timaru River road, from Johns Creek for about a mile, then for a very short stretch of the Breast Hill Track, part of a long distance walking track.





I meet a man coming down who says it's about an hour to get to the ridge, and very steep zigzags.It does climb very steeply, and one of my excuses for turning back is that my old trainers are not exactly suitable footwear.

The track leaves the Timaru river road

Looking over Lake Hawea

Garmin map

Construction Update - Wabash Trace

Paving continues in Silver City. The construction company is anticipating they will complete paving in the Silver City area by the end of the week.
Next week, plans are for paving starting in the Malvern area. That should take about 3 weeks (weather permitting).