Sydney 2026 - Andrew's Amazing Marathon! (And Froth Town, Freo, The Odyssey)

Andrew just completed his first marathon in Sydney, in 2h 56m and 49s! That means 4m 12s a km, for 42 km, which just absolutely boggles my mind. I am so damn proud of him!

As always, Andrew planned the trip very well, with the very conveniently located Woolstores Hotel. Well, maybe not for the convention, but for the race itself. The convention was great, very well run and organised and the crowds and lines were never overwhelming. First night in was a big carbo load at Gigi's, best GF pizza base I've had, even beats Monstrella!

After a quick breakfast at the hotel (I was still full from dinner but Andrew twisted my rubber arm for a hash brown), we headed to the convention. The convention was great, very well run and organised and the crowds and lines were never overwhelming. Andrew picked up some cool merchandise (Sydney themed shoes and Belega socks), and found his name on the marathon cylinder things amongst the other Burtons!

Carbfest at the Motion Festival was really just some food trucks (but good ones) and a DJ (but a good one), so we didn't stay long and Andrew got some chips, while I ate pimentos di padron and patatas bravas at the hotel tapas bar.

Andrew had an early morning, with hydration and nutrition prep (including a bagel flown in with us from Perth), and headed off after a big hug and good luck. I snoozed a bit more, then walked to see the leading pack close to where the hotel was, and then Andrew for the first time! He looked a million bucks.

I then made my way towards Hyde Park, aiming to see him again across the road from the art gallery, which was an excellent viewing location with an easy landmark, and two chances to see him since it was an "out and back". Still looking a million at the ~38km mark!

I tracked his finish on the app, then caught him at the recovery zone. He did so well, I'm so bloody proud of him! What an amazing effort, his hard work and intense training really paid off, and he was really happy with his time. What a beautiful day, and final location for a first marathon!

Squeezing in some photos of Froth Town, where Andrew managed to avoid picking up any viruses thank god, and the cup holders were used for pretty much everything except for that, the footy (go freo!) and Chich after The Odyssey with my dad. Off to a nice dinner tonight the Canberra tomorrow!

Easter, Canberra, Music, HBF RFAR, Front Garden Overhaul

Just realised that it's been a while since an update!

Freo is doing so well, fingers crossed!

Easter was a fun family event as usual, the oua rosi turned out fab.

Cute photo from Mel's birthday!

Cute photo from Corey's training day, patterns and grounded type workshop.

Jacinta and I worked hard on the front garden, pulling up the grass and replacing it with native plants from the city of Stirling. We learned the difference between a spade and a shovel (but I've now forgotten), and that getting rid of a huge pile of sand is probably the hardest part of a job like this (Andrew's dad's trailer to the rescue)! So happy with the result, the plants are mostly doing great but are now sharing the mulch with some weeds (oxalis is the bane of my existence).

Ginga (the old Casa Bianci) was pretty good, and so was Uncle Billy's and Rocky Ridge snuck in there too.

Electric Island was a fun dance party on the sand, it's such a fun festival! Armand van Helden and Flight Facilities were both great.

Oh there was that time Herdsman Lake caught on fire, yep, the lake.

The HBF Run For A Reason, Ember, and drinks tradition is another year strrong.

Dry Cleaning at The Naval Store was an awesome gig.

A quick weekend over to Sydney and Canberra for Olga's birthday was really fun! So happy to see her, she's getting cuter and cuter, and she can hula hoop! And I think rings training together is in her future too.

A Cave Yoga and Hike in Yanchep with Amy (last years' bday present) was an excellent chance to catch up and relax in nature. We were really prepared for the hike; we had all the gear, packed snacks, and were ready to go. We even bumped into Jacinta who loves hiking, and was also kitted up in all her hiking gear. When we arrived, there were 3 guides who reassured us that they would be with us the whole time, with two guides at the front, and one at the rear to help with any issues we might have, provide first aid, and they promised us that there would be some refreshing juice at the end to revive us. We started getting nervous about the difficulty of the hike, but we were still feeling positive! As we started the hike, we realised that about 10m in, we could still see the car, and hadn't left a paved path. About 20m into the "hike" (which is now starting to get some inverted commas around it), the guides pointed out some of the local wild life which included two ducks. We then visited the koala enclosure (we saw some koalas!), and we could also still see the Yanchep park pub at this point, while the guides were still reassuring us there would be juice. As we neared the end of the "hike", we started questioning what "yoga" and "cave" might mean, as we drank our end of "hike" juice (it was great juice). It turns out the cave and yoga were both pretty good representations of each of those things. Overall a fantastic day, but now we hike everywhere (including to the bathroom) and expect juice at the end.

Look at this beautiful flower one of our succulents made! But it broke, which was sad.

And the obligatory Glamrdip dump and the end!