Big walks in Dunedin!

Christmas wasn't spent just sitting around eating and drinking.  No sirree!  With a view like this from my sister Kate's house in Highcliff, Dunedin, and the weather being amazing how could we not go on some nice big walks? 

Our first walk was down the road to Larnach Castle and back, then we took a track down to McAndrews Bay.  After a brief fish and chip stop (how could we not indulge in some good old Kiwi fish and chips by the sea?) we walked it off by climbing back up the hill!  A bit of a tough climb it was, but great hill training, and we worked out it would have been about a 16km round trip.

A couple of days later, the whole lot of us (6 adults, 3 kids and a dog) took a walk up Flagstaff.  The weather was amazing and it was a pretty easy walk.  Had a picnic at the top.  Here's the view:

A couple of days after that we took a trip down the Buskin track to the coast.  Normally you could get right to the beach but it is Yellow Eyed Penguin breeding season so it was closed off.  Still, some great views on the way down.  It took us about one and a quarter hours with a nice climb back up the Paradise Track.  This is Anton near an old hut:

The last walk was a quickee up the hill at the back of the kennels.

We have realised from doing these walks that we need to do:

A) More hill work!
B) Longer walks (will build up from 2-3 hr walks to 6-7hr walks)

That's all for now, roll on 2012 and more training and fundraising!  6 months to go!!

XXX
Helen

Picnic at Hanging Rock

Me and Anton did a nice train mission out the Woodend on Saturday morning.  Stopped for a few brews and lunch at the Holgate Brewery (would have been rude not to!)  We then decided we should walk it off / get in some Kilimanjaro training by walking out to Hanging Rock (8kms)  The first part of the walk was great as it was on a track meandering through trees.  However the track soon ended and we found ourselves with no choice but to walk along the highway.  Still, it was nice to be out in the fresh country air.  We saw 2 dead snakes and a dead wallaby but no living wildlife apart from a coloured parrot and some magpies.  Not to worry.  The walk took us about 1.5hrs.  Climbed up to the top of the rock when we arrived.  A nice steep but short climb.  A lot more people there than I thought there would be.  It started to rain when we were on our way back down, and we weren't able to fill up our water bottle anywhere do we decided to hitch back to Woodend rather than walk.  A bunch of guys in a ute picked us up as soon as I stuck my thumb out, so that was good luck.  That afternoon in Kyneton Anton proposed to me, so it looks like I'll be trekking up Kilimanjaro with my fiancee!  :)

We are off to NZ in less than a week for Christmas.  My sister lives in a semi-rural area on the top of a ridge overlooking Dunedin so there will be many opportunities to go on nice long walks down to rugged beaches etc.  Looking forward to it!

I have an RDO today so plan to call around a load of businesses to request donations of prizes for our raffle.  Wish me luck!

Helen

Film fundraiser review and other fundraising ideas

Well, after chasing up people and hounding them to buy tickets to our film fundraiser at Nova screening The First Grader last night, we ended up with 31 attendees.  Not too bad a result, but not a huge amount of cash raised for all the effort involved.  The film was lovely and heartfelt though (if a bit predictable) and a few of my friends walked out sobbing (the pre-screening red wine consumption may or may not have had something to with that!)

My training has taken a back seat this week as I have come down with a horrid headcold so I am dosed up on Codral and hoping it is gone by next week so as I can do another 13km walk to work.  Anton walked 16km home from work on Wednesday and doesn't seem to have endured any of the post-walk crippling muscle pain in his legs that I had (yet!)

Had a phone conference with a lovey lass from Inspired Adventures today about our future fundraising plans.  So far we have come up with:

-Raffle with some ace prizes (hopefully an ipad, a bicycle, a weekend away, a restaurant dinner or two, some boutique beer or wine and a tea gift pack)  This is my wish list anyways and it remains to be seen if I can get some generous businesses to donate.

-African Dance Party in Feb or March featuring some great African bands and dancers, The Real Hot Bitches 80s Dance troupe (I run it!) and the Danceteria DJs Whiskey and Leather have agreed to donate their skills. 

-Quiz night(s) with ace prizes (need to approach some more giving local businesses!)  I reckon we could do 2 - 3 of these before June 2012 with some fun games on the night.

-Wine and cheese evening.  Who doesn't love wine and cheese?  No one.  Nuff said.

So that's a start!

Now to get onto those prizes!

Helen

The mega walks begin!

Yesterday I decided (since I start work at 12.00pm on a Wednesday - at least until my radio course finishes) that it would be a grand opportunity for me to walk to work.  I live in Reservoir and work in Collingwood, so the walk was 13kms.  I put on running shoes and set off around 10 mins past 9.00am.  It was a humid sticky morning (around 25 degrees) and the rain was off and on (the umbrella almost being more of a hassle than it was worth)  But I headed down High Street with my ipod blaring.  It has only been working off and on lately, and thankfully it was working this particular morning.  It was great heading down High Street (which runs all the way from Reservoir to Westgarth)  I hadn't walked the entire street before so it was good to take note of different cafes and op shops to check out in the future.  Google maps told me it would take me 2.5hrs and it took exactly that.  I was feeling pretty good when I got to work, although my thighs started aching in the arvo and are still a bit stiff now.  I will bike off the stiffness this morning on my way to work.  There were virtually no hills to climb on my walk to work, but me and Anton are planning a trip out to Dandenong at some stage to do the 1000 steps.  Probably after Christmas as the time between now and then is packed full of weekend events.  I plan to walk to work every Wednesday for the next 3 weeks until my radio course finishes.  I start at 12.00pm because I am currently doing a radio course at work which goes from 6.00pm - 9.00pm)  Not sure if I can bring myself to get up at 5.30am for a 9.00am start time after that though!!

Our film fundraiser is this time next week and we are struggling to sell the 20 tickets we need to get the discounted group price.  It's not as easy as I thought it would be and at $160.00 profit between the two of us, hardly seems worth the effort!  It will be a great film though.  I am really looking forward to seeing it.

Me and Anton have a jar we normally put our 'silvers' in, and it has now become Kiliman-JAR-o.  Anton's funny idea of course!  Here's a picture of it:

That's all for now!
Helen

The decision

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from Amnesty International inviting me to join the 2012 Kilimanjaro Challenge.  After a wee bit of deliberation I decided to do it. If I didn't take the opportunity I was sure I would regret it.  People suffering an abuse of their human rights throughout the world don't have the middle class luxury of deciding whether or not to climb a mountain in Africa.  I have huge respect for the work that Amnesty International do and I think this is the least I can do to help them raise essential funds to continue their work.  I have also convinced my partner Anton to come along for the ride!

It will be hard.  It will be a huge challenge to fundraise $10 000.00 before June 2012.  I don't have the luxury of a circle of wealthy friends or a rich family.  I don't work in a highly paid corporate job, so I can't 'whip around the office' or really do anything work based to raise the funds.  I work at a community radio station which runs on a shoestring budget, and I don't want to divert fundraising money from the station to my cause.

So I have to think up inventive ways to fundraise.  So far, me and Anton have organised a film fundraiser at Nova Carlton Cinema on Thursday November 17th screening the premier of 'The First Grader'.  Check out the link on Facebook HERE for more info and to purchase a ticket:

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=227521067311669

This is just the beginning and I will keep you updated on my progress (both physical and financial) here.  If you would like to donate to my fundraising efforts, please do so at the link below.  You will get a warm fuzzy feeling for giving to a fantastic charity and will be issued a tax deductible receipt to offset against your tax bill, and I will be eternally grateful:

http://amnestykilimanjaro2012.gofundraise.com.au/page/helenohoward

Helen