Final Visa Run- Sydney and Penrith, Australia

For our final visa run of the year, Naomi and I headed to Australia. We had planned our trip to coincide with the Junior and U23 world canoe slalom championships in Penrith and to meet my cousin, Alexandra, had flown out to catch up with me and to help cheer on team GB.

Requirements for the week:

•  Civilisation
•  Hot showers
•  Comfy bed with a duvet
•  Fish and Chips
• Easter Egg- we failed to find one anywhere!

After a 12 hours bus journey from Lahad Datu we had some hours to kill, so headed into Kota Kinabalu (KK) city centre to get some internet and to meet Gwen, a fellow Cardiff student, who is on a marine based placement in the city. We negotiated the hop-on hop-off buses and headed for Starbucks, on the water front, where we knew we could get internet and a good milkshake, and settled in their to catch up with the world! What we weren’t prepared for was the freezing temperatures inside Starbucks, the aircon was set so low that even the staff were shivering, and despite trousers, t-shirts and hoodies we were still cold! After a hour or so we decided that we were too cold and so we headed outside to defrost and to wonder around the shops. Although we had been in Malaysia for nearly 9 months this was the first free time we had spent in KK and the first tourist shops we had come across! Later in the day we met Gwen for a late lunch and a catch up, and craving western food we headed for Little Italy. After an extremely satisfying fill of pizza, we grabbed a taxi to the airport for our over-night flight to Sydney.

We landed in Sydney at 9.45am local time and had arranged to meet Alexandra at central train station. We were quick getting through customs and immigration and hopped on our first ever, double-decker train into Sydney.

We've arrived, reunited in Sydney train station

We spent our first day in Sydney centre, seeing the sites and acclimatising back into civilisation. We walked down to the harbour area to see the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera house before wandering around to the Botanical Gardens. At 16.30 Al, Naomi and I had booked to do the Sydney harbour bridge climb, as the entire climb takes 3 hours this was listed as a night climb, but it turned out to be a fantastic dusk climb. Romeo lead us out on to the bridge and we ascended the steps to an amazing sun set over the blue mountains, reached the top of the 1,332 steps as darkness set in and descended in the dark with fantastic views out over Syndey, all lit up. An amazing experience which was well worth the money.

Fantastic views out over Sydney at night.

After a fantastic bridge climb we jumped back on the train and headed for Penrith in the blue Mountains, this is where we were based for the next five days, watching the kayak racing. We stayed in Penrith town at the Chifely Panthers hotel with luxuries of a hot shower, a kettle, a tv and a proper bed with a duvet!

Qualifications Day 1 and 2

With 5 days of racing at Penrith White Water Centre the agenda for the week was a jam packed one, kicked off  by our own Welsh Steffan Walker, who was the first racing boat down the course on the first morning. He definitely set the bar high and showed the world that the Welsh mean business, with a fast, neat run. 

The first 2 days were qualifications and the rest of the GB team followed his example with all 14 U23 boats, including Steffan, the half Welsh C2 containing Rhys Davies, and 5 of the 6 junior boats qualifying for the semi finals! As the unofficial GB support team we spent these 2 days running down the side of the course cheering all the GB paddlers down each of the runs, this totalled 39 lengths of the course run by us,  Adam Burgess getting the wrong start time and missing his first run saved us running the extra lap!.. he won’t be doing it again that’s for sure!

Steffan Walker making us proud to be Welsh.

Taking 5 minutes break between GB paddlers
and enjoying spectating from the bank.

On the second afternoon of qualifications we took the afternoon off running and headed for Featherdale Wildlife park with some of the GB families that were out supporting the team. The wildlife park was our first encounter with the Australian Marsupials and we saw everything from the generic Koalas and Kangaroos to the amazing Cassowary and a crazy tazmanian devil. The park was also home to a huge freshwater crocodile and many native birds and reptiles. The park was split into sections allowing us to walk in amongst and feed the grey kangaroos and to have our photos with some of the koalas. My favourite animal from the park was the Southern Cassowary, these flightless birds are in a similar situation to the banteng in that they are found in the ever-decreasing tropical rainforest and are therefore threatened by habitat loss, humans and diseases.

In the evening I braved a swim in the hotels outdoor, unheated pool, it wasn’t quite brain freeze temperature and it was good to get back in the water and do some lengths! Dinner topped off a great day as Naomi, Alexandra and I joined the Westleys and Beth’s mum for dinner in ‘The Outback’, this brought back childhood memories of numerous dinners in ‘The Outback’ in America with unlimited pink lemonade refills and bloomin onions!

Semi-finals, Finals and Teams- Day 3, 4 and 5

Friday saw a new course design for the first day of semi finals, finals and team runs, with the U23 kayaks and C2’s competing. With 11 GB boats racing it was set to be a busy day from the off. The U23 kayaks and C2’s put down very quick semi-final times but unfortunately a few mistakes meant only 3 boats made the final, 2 K1W and one C2. In the final a fantastic run from Beth Latham earned her a bronze medal, the first of many medals for the GB team.

Late afternoon saw the GB U23 kayak teams putting in 2 fab runs to land the boys a silver medal and the girls a fantastic gold, beating the Australia team on their home course.

As the U23 kayak and C2 paddlers were finished for the week we decided to have a few drinks in the Panthers resort, a few turned into quite a few and before we knew it the live band we playing and we were into the early hours of the morning!

A brisk wake-up jog into the white water course killed any hangover that was looming, before getting back down to business cheering on the junior kayaks. The gruelingly hard course had the better of all but one junior kayak, with only Zac Allin making the final, and finishing 9^th overall.

In the afternoon we headed for Katoomba to see the ‘Three Sisters’ and the Blue Mountains, unfortunately some bad timing by us meant we didn’t end up arriving in Katoomba until 5.30pm, only just before sunset. A speedy walk across town to the lookout point meant we only caught a glimpse of the Blue Mountains at sunset, but could still see the Three Sisters which were well-lit by a huge spot light. The train journey had given us great views out over the mountains  and area surrounding penrith in day light, so the trip wasn't a complete loss. Our escape to the mountains did mean we missed GB getting another medal, with our only junior team, the K1M getting a bronze.

Alexandra and I at Katoomba lookout! 

K1 junior Lauren Strickland
 and I modelling our  GB flags.

By the final day of racing my voice had gone completely from shouting and I’d hurt my knee running up and down the course, nothing Ibuprofen and strepsils couldn’t fix for a few hours!  The final day was all single canoes and with some fantastic paddling in the semi-finals all 8 GB boats made the finals! The finals were very tight for us as supporters as two of the men and all three ladies were running back to back. On a 100-second long course and with 90 seconds gap between each start time, this meant for a few crazy couple of minutes in order to cheer everyone on! In the final the U23s put down many podium worthy times but some silly rolls and touches meant that only Tom Quinn made the podium receiving a bronze medal.

The 2 junior canoes both put down brilliant semi-final runs and to make the finals. In the final Sam put in another great run to land himself a 4^th and Rachel held her own on the tough course and finished a fantastic 6^th, with many of the girls in her class missing multiple gates or swimming.

GB team encouraging each other down the course.

To end the week the U23 canoe girls team landed themselves a silver medal, despite their run not going completely to plan, bringing the GB medal total to 6, with 12 of the 20 boats being in the finals, it looks like it’s going to be another great season for GB canoeing. 

After the medal ceremony the evening had already drawn in and the weather cooled off, so we said our goodbyes to the paddlers and parent and headed back to the hotel. What a week, so many fantastic times by the paddlers and 75 lengths of the course run by each of us. Great job team GB! 

It was hot showers all round before heading out for pizza followed by chocolate pudding and ice-cream in ‘The Outback’.

Monday

We checked out of our lovely, comfy bedroom in Penrith and headed for Sydney center, where we stayed one night at ‘Wake up, Sydney Central’. After dumping our bags in the hostel we decided to head for Bondi Beach, stopping for lunch at ‘Pie Face’ where I had a steak and ale pie- this may sound boring but after months and months of rice a pie was amzing!, before catching the underground and then a bus down to the beach. 

Bondi beach was everything I expected and more, being a ‘Bondi Rescue’ fan, yes I’m actually admitting it, being there was a bit surreal. The weather wasn’t boiling, but warm enough for shorts and a long sleeved top, so we sat and ate our ice creams on a bench, overlooking the beach, before walking back along the sand and dipping our toes in the sea.

As the evening drew in we headed back to Sydney central to fulfill our need for fish and chips, yes pie and fish and chips in one day! Luckily we found a little corner pub, with a great pub grub menu, which included the much wanted beer battered fish with chips.. success!

After 9 months in Malaysia the fact that there was a bar under the hostel was driving me crazy, so I persuaded Naomi and Alexandra to join me for 1 drink. I kept my promise and reluctantly after my 1 drink I headed back up to our room with the girls who were ready for bed! To my rescue came 3 Irish lads, who knocked on our bedroom door and asked if we wanted to go out, to which I replied ‘Yes’ and the girls ‘No’! So I started pre-drinking with them in the next room and was later joined by Naomi and Alexandra who decided to stop being boring.. hehe! After a few Vodka and Cokes we headed back to ‘Side Bar’ below the hostel, where we chatted and danced into the early hours of the morning before retreating back to our bunk beds!

Tuesday

On our last day down-under we headed to Manly Beach, after the busy week a few hours of relaxing and lying on the beach was an easy mutual decision! We wondered to the marina and caught the ferry over to Manly before Naomi and I collapsed on the beach and watched Alexandra have a go at surfing! In the afternoon we had yet another ice cream, then headed back to Sydney for an early tea, before collecting our bags from the hostel and going to the airport.

It was a tough saying goodbye to Alexandra after the amazing week in Australia, but with less than 3 months left in Malaysia we knew it wasn’t long until I would be back. Time to head back to hot, humid Sabah and back to work, for the final time.

Penrith and Sydney 2014, what a week to remember.