12th August 2007: City 2 Surf

Although I didn't reach the starting area until about
25 minutes before the start, I managed to get quite close
to the front of my starting group by jumping from
a wall at the side of the pack. The winter sun was nice and
warm even though the run started at 9.00. It was a
huge event with 64,000 runners, divided over three
starting groups. I finished the 14 km between Hyde Park
and Bondi in about 67 minutes (forgot my watch for a
more accurate time...).

The finish was right at the sea front,
with plenty of space to cool down.

Vincent, me and Vince's mate Bob.

5th August 2007: Walk in Blue Mountains with Bill

We were planning a big walk to Mount Solitary in the
Blue Mountains and set off at 7am for Katoomba. From
Narrow Neck Plateau we descended the Golden Stairs
into the rainforest down in the valley.
It was all easy walking until we had to climb Mount
Solitary, which very much looked like a plateau, but it wasn't
quite like that. In fact we had to scramble a lot and had excellent
views throughout. We couldn't work out where we were exactly
on the map, so after lunch at about 1 we turned back to make it
back to the car before dark.

Pascal, Sandra, Kim & Anouk in Sydney

1. Aankomst in Sydney om 9 uur 's morgens, redelijk fris!

2. Gelijk de eerste dag al druk, wachten op de boot naar Manly.

3. Strand van Manly.

4. Featherdale Park.

5. Walibi aaien.

6. Zee-aquarium in Darling Harbour.

7. Zaterdagmorgen: snorkelen met "The Boys".

8. Port Jackson shark.

9. Pascal had de wet suit, was wel nodig in water van 16 graden.

12. Op de rotsen tussen Gordon's Bay en Coogee.

13. Narrabeen.

14. Royal National Park, bij Wottamolla.

15. Garie Beach.

July 1 - 5: Green Chemistry Conference in Delft (NL)

Conference dinner in front of tens of thousands of sea containers....!

Montfoort

Cycling tour in the Dutch hills

Lunchtime in a typical Dutch tavern in Amerongen


Windmill in Wijk bij Duurstede, on a dyke in stormy weather

Oudegracht, Utrecht

The famous "Domtoren"

Aussie style dinner at Faith's place with the Utrechtse Avant Garde

Sunday afternoon, High Tea with the book reading club

My niece Anouk

Sunday morning at Gordons Bay

With winter approaching rapidly the water in Gordons Bay is getting too cold for some of us. Today I tried out my brand-new wetsuit and managed to stay in well over 30 minutes, it does make a huge difference and makes the experience a lot more enjoyable. It was another sunny day with fairly good visibility and loads of stripey/spotted/big blue-lipped fish.













































































After a much needed lunch in Coogee I walked back to Gordons Bay to give it another go.