What a difference a year makes.

Last September I weighed 98.5kg, and was an inactive unenthusiastic lump.
If you have been following my blog, you will know that a lot has changed since then.
Only 8 days into this September, and I have achieved a couple of amazing things this month alone. 

First of all, my hubby and I went on a 3 night 'Lifestyle' cruise, a cruise to nowhere out of Brisbane. My first cruise, something I had always wanted to do, and it's now ticked off my bucket list (I plan to go on a longer one now I know I can handle my sea legs). The best thing being, the cruise was free... a competition prize I won.  I prefer to think of it as the Universe rewarding me for making such positive changes in my life.

HERE'S TO MY NEW LIFE

SAILING AWAY

WATCHING BEAUTIFUL SUNSETS WITH MY MAN

Now today I ran in "The Stampede" I signed up months ago, as a challenge to myself, and all these months I was secretly packing myself... until today. Today it was truly excitement, not nerves. 

I decided that any obstacle I encountered I would tackle, and I did, every last one of them, from crawling through mud under barbed wire, jumping over burning logs, climbing over a bus, to running through live electrical wires (yes I willingly got zapped by 10,000 volts - and it hurt!) - and that is to name only a few.

No times, no medals... just downright dirty fun, and my goodness was it ever. I am exhausted now, my feet hurt, and I am still finding mud in my hair, ears, and other bodily crevices, and I can't wait to do it again. 

BEFORE

AFTER

The old me would never have had the courage to do this, would never have believed that I could. If I can make such huge changes in a year, I can only imagine what I can achieve in 2 years, or 5 years,
Anyway, September is here, the Sun has decided that our Spring should be more like a Summer, and we are definitely going to make the most of it.

Next big adventure?...I'm booked in to go abseiling on Sept 29th. 

Glorious Gold Coast

I've been lucky enough to have lived on the 'Gold Coast' of Australia for the past 6 years, and while I still love my home town of Tauranga, NZ... the Gold Coast is just such an awesome place to be, especially for someone who is trying to be more Active and Healthy.

Take this weekend for example, It's August 11 & 12, officially winter. It's not spring for another 3 weeks, but the sunshine is out, and families all over the coast are out and about.... including us.

We started with Park Run, my daughter and I went along to a new venue closer to home in Coomera.  Nice location, but the course involved some hills... eeek!  Still we did our 5km timed run at 7am, and the weekend was off to a great start. 

Saturday was also 'sign on' day for our girls at their local Athletics club.  They have been going to Little Athletics for 3 years, and had a lot of success.
The Helensvale Little Athletics club had an open day, for kids to come and have a try at shot put or Long jump etc, and sign up for this season, which starts on Friday.
My girls are super proud of their club, one of the reasons being that Olympic Gold Medallist Sally Pearson went to their club as a girl.  My 12 year old is even more impressed as Sally also went to her High School, and through the same Sports Excellence Program that she is attending.
In fact, because the Gold Coast is such an amazing place to be active, it is the training base of many other London 2012 medallists, including kayakers Tate Smith and Jacob Clear (Gold Medal K4 1000m), Matt Belcher Gold Medal winning sailor, 16 year old Diving Silver Medallist Brittany Broben, and Gold & Silver Medal winning swimmer Melanie Schlanger...  and Swimmer, World Record holder Sun Yang (Representing China) also chooses the Gold Coast as his training base. 
With the Gold Coast winning the bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the city is a buzz with excitement, and potential.  I wonder how many Helensvale Little Athletes will be representing in 2018... I know it would be a dream come true for my two.

Sally Pearson - a huge inspiration for my girls

After a busy day at sign on, we took our dog for a walk around the lovely man-made lake that we are lucky enough to live by.  My youngest daughter is constantly, and I mean C-O-N-S-T-A-N-T-L-Y doing handstands and cartwheels, so I took some fun photos of our afternoon in the sun.

My Daughter having fun in the sun

Parks like these are all over the coast. Plenty of outdoor fun to be had, and lots of opportunity for free family activity. 

Free Excercise Equipment

Kayak anyone?

Sunday, we headed out to the Southport Broadwater Parklands where the Gold Coast Council was hosting a free family fun day promoting their Active and Healthy programme. Each year the council provides a booklet (downloadable from the link) full of free or low coast family activities.  We have booked in for free orientation and archery in the Gold Coast Hinterland, for a Kayaking tour to wavebreak island for $5, for Stand Up Paddleboarding for $10, plus diarised for the many activities where bookings are not required. 
Today's family fun day also included a free 30 minute Zumba class by none other than my favourite Instructor Kassy! My daughter got to the top of the Rock Climbing wall, and they had a whale of a time at the Jumping pillow!

Zumba Kass motivates the Gold Coast public

My Daughter tackles the Climbing wall

Woo Hoo!  And its a permanent fixture

So while visitors come from all over to visit the Gold Coast, and cram in the Theme Parks, Zoo's and beaches into their stay, this is how local Gold Coaster's spend a winter weekend... Can you imagine what a summer weekend is like?! Bring it on, I can't wait.

Breakaway

I'll spread my wings, and I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes till I touch the sky
And I'll make a wish
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway 

Kelly Clarkson

Well peeps, I'm taking a well deserved week off from work... apparently it's well deserved, so my workmates say... I'm just pleased to be away from that desk -  for 9 whole days it's somebody else's problem.

Anyway I managed to get a last minute timeshare week , 2bedroom apartment at Boambee Beach Resort for $199 (perks of the industry  suppose) and on Saturday we packed up the car and headed off on the 4 hour drive to Coffs Harbour. We couldn't stay the whole week, but decided a long weekend would be enough.

On arrival, I was impressed with the resort. The apartment was roomy, clean, with everything we needed... including the spa bath!

After a quick trip to the local Toormina shopping centre for supplies, followed by a twilight explore of the resort facilities, we settled in to watch the the first night of Olympic competition. 

I got up early-ish (we are on holidays after all) and went for a run, and found myself exploring the picturesque Boambee Creek Reserve.  After breakfast, we headed off to the Coffs Markets, 3 lots on a Sunday.  Not the best markets I have seen, but we did discover Dutch Caramel Waffles... Yum!

At the Jetty Foreshore Markets, Coffs Coast Camels were doing Camel rides for $10, and when Isabella asked if she could have one, I decided that I would too... It was on my Bucket List, and I always imagined doing it somewhere exotic overseas, but I thought... Why not here? Why not now? and why not share it with my daughter. She was quite thrilled to do something special with Mum, and I was quite thrilled that I wasn't worried about being too heavy for them.

After the Markets we went to the Plantation Hotel for $8 lunches, followed by a Baskin Robins Waffle cone, before lumbering back to the resort for a swim.

Trying out my new swimsuit, the pool was heated but still cold, and the spa was warm, but after a while I braved the cold water and did lots of laps.  Another family joined us in the spa, and my husband whispered to me "how does it feel to not be the fat one anymore?".... it felt bloody awesome!

Day 2 we hit our favourite Coffs Harbour attraction, the Pet Porpoise Pool.  Its a small place, but you interact directly with the dolphins. The Dolphins choose to interact with you.  After the show, we just hung around and watched them play, and one dolphin brought his ball to my daughter and threw it at her, wanting to play catch. We stood for the next hour playing ball with Zippy... one of the most rewarding experiences ever.  The girls had been before when they were younger, but I am pleased we took them back now they are older so they can remember it.

The best thing about this holiday for me, was that I got involved.  Rather than sitting on the sidelines watching my family experience things... I WAS DOING IT.  I ran, I swam, I played Tennis, I played basketball, I played Mini Golf, I rode a Camel, I played with a dolphin... and unfortunately I ate a lot of bad food... but that is a different story.