Loving Life

Wheeling the Balmoral Burn

May 30 |17:26

burn burn2

I love community events. In a world full of whingers and whiners they restore your faith in human nature. They remind you how powerful a community can be when they pull together and the sense of joy in being part of a community.

The Balmoral Burn is just one event which is good for your soul. It’s a 420 metre dash up Sydney’s steepest street to raise money for the Humpty Dumpty Foundation which buys medical equipment for children’s hospitals across Australia and in East Timor.

The Burn was the brain child of former Wallabies hooker and captain Phil Kearns who saw a “Humpty” sticker on a piece of equipment saving one of his children in hospital.

This year was the Burn’s 10th anniversary. Literally thousands of people compete across a range of events from the elite athletes and aged base races through to school and corporate teams and even dog and owner burn up the hill.

But one of the feature events is the Para Burn which is for wheel chair athletes. For the last couple of years this event has been won by Aussie Paralympian Kurt Fearnley.

You all know what I think about Kurt. He is one of our greatest Australians and has done so much in inspiring young disabled kids to believe in themselves and their ability to do anything.

This year Kurt challenged me to do the Burn with him. It’s a long story but I told him he couldn’t crawl the Kokoda Track in 11 days because I’d found it tough enough just walking it in 7 days. If he did it in the 11 days then he could set me a challenge… that was the bet.

He did do Kokoda in 11 days and I had a date with Awaba St today… in a wheelchair.

Thanks 7pm Project!

May 27 |15:43

I thought I was doing it pretty well, until the 7pm Project guys took it a different way...

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Spectacular...

May 11 |09:17

Last weekend was just spectacular beach

Now before you judge this as just another narcissistic recount of what someone did on the weekend, let me promise you there's a point to it.

My weekend was just one of those weekends where everything else fades into the background.It was spent watching local rugby, eating with friends, and picnicking with family at the beach with good wine and good conversation. With everything that happens during the week - the early mornings, the constant deadlines and appointments and issues - all it takes is some fish and chips, a picnic rug and some good company, and they just don't seem to matter. I know I sound old and cliched, but watching the sun set just does wonders

I've recently decided to stop listening to AM radio purely because I'm sick of the whinging. I'm fearful that we are becoming a society of whingers, where every little facet of life is taken so seriously. Of course I'm generalising, and there is room for thoughtful and constructive discussion, but I don't want to hear constant misleading generalisations about migrants, politicians, police, teachers etc

It's important we keep things in perspective and remember what makes us happy. Anything else is trivial.

Antarctica!

Visiting Antarctica was the fulfilment of my wife Libby’s 50^th birthday dream. A once in a lifetime adventure to the end of the earth. I am stunned at the impact it had on us. We came away with an incredible respect for the Antarctic. I just had no idea how important it is.

The fifth largest continent, the driest, the coldest, the windiest, contains 90 per cent of the world’s ice and 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water. The impact it has on the weather and sea currents is just so critical.

It’s almost like the globe’s heartbeat. You leave it realising it can never be abused or controlled by any one country. It’s just too important.

Before we left home a bloke told me that, as an experience, he rated climbing Mt Kilimanjaro as a 9 out of 10, trekking Torres del Paine in Patagonia as a 10 out of 10, and Antarctica as 20 out of 10.

At the time I didn’t believe him. I do now.