06 April, 2010Alexander Jacob BonannoHe weighed in at 3.8 kg and measured 53 cm (or 8 lbs 6 ounces & 20.9 inches for the metrically challenged). Mum Michelle, Dad James and big brother Dylan are all extremely happy to welcome him into our family. Unlike last time, our stay in hospital was brief and was spent entirely at the birth centre (luxury as far as hospital rooms go!). Michelle's contractions began just after midnight and we arrived at the birth centre just after 2am, where she got into a nice warm bath as soon as she could. When Alexander's little head first started showing it took me by surprise! In less than half an hour his head was fully out, which mildly freaked both of us out as it was still under water!! A few minutes and a couple of pushes later, our new baby gently floated up to the water's surface. He was placed on Michelle's chest and immediately took his first breath with a good healthy cry and opened his eyes to look at the world. We had another baby boy! I cut the cord after it stopped pulsing and then held him in my arms. He looked into my eyes for the first time...then he grimaced! I hope I didn't scare him too much with my ear to ear grin :) Michelle moved back to the bed and Alex had his first feed, resting comfortably and content in her arms. Dylan came to visit us later in the day and was immediately smitten by his new baby brother! He found it hard to control his excitement and was probably not as gentle as he could have been but we're still working on that! Now I'm sure Michelle's side of this story would not make it sound so simple, but even she was surprised when everything progressed so quickly. She was extremely happy that she achieved the water birth that she was hoping for. A big thankyou to our doula Gwen (www.hunterdoula.com.au) and midwife Fiona. The midwives had her on a precautionary drip to avoid any complications with bleeding and she was kept under observation overnight. We left the hospital on a very Good Friday. 23 March, 2008Dylan Harper BonannoOur new baby boy, Dylan Harper Bonanno (the baby formerly known as "Spud") was welcomed into the world at 10.21am on Thursday 13th March 2008! He weighed in at 3.51 kg and measured 52 cm (or 7 lbs 12 ounces & 20.5 inches in old speak). Below is a little summary of the happiest and scariest few days of our lives...I might be indulging just a little and it may be a little graphic at times, so you may choose not to read it, but remember it does have a happy ending! When Michelle got her first signs that labour had commenced (~11pm) we tried to stay as calm as possible (I even had time to have a quick shave). Employing the breathing techniques picked up in our calmbirthing classes, Michelle was able to relax in the bath and breathe through the waves as they passed through her body. This continued for about six hours until we made our way to the birth centre at 5.30am (traffic on Parramatta Rd was great). By this time labour was well established. We constantly kept reminding ourselves that it would only be a matter of time before we would actually get to meet and hold Spud! Michelle says of this time: "I wasn't really aware of time as I laboured in the bath, just of the presence of the midwives, our doula and most of all James. I am not sure if all his words filtered through to my conscious mind, just that I felt secure and without fear." She had resisted the incredible urge to bear down and push for some time, instead, letting the waves of contractions do the pushing for her (mostly, sometimes pushing was impossible to resist). When the time to push came she gave it absolutely everything, but something wasn't right. Spud's heartbeat was intermittently dropping low and the decision was made between ourselves and our midwives that he needed to be born as soon as possible. We were rushed across to the labour ward where the midwives and doctors did an amazing job to uncurl the umbilical cord that had wrapped around his neck and deliver our purple little baby boy, Dylan! He recovered on his own without resuscitation and pretty soon let out a very welcome cry. Unable to move, Michelle asked me to go welcome our son to the world. I touched his chest with just my fingertips (he looked so fragile) and spoke to try and calm him, he opened his eyes and looked into mine and he stopped crying. I picked him up, carried him over to Michelle and laid him on her chest, where he peered out from under a blanket up into his mother's eyes, instantly transfixed! Despite the wonder of this experience, Michelle's battle had only just begun. The need for forceps and a non-cooperative placenta meant that she'd lost almost a litre of blood at the delivery. Virtually unnoticed, the bleeding continued into her uterus for a few hours. Our concerned midwife insisted that a doctor come down immediately! When the doctor eventually did, she managed to remove a massive blood clot. Michelle, who is normally already quite light skinned, was now looking extremely pale and feeling very weak, barely able to keep her eyes open. Her red blood count was extremely low...not surprising considering she had now lost an estimated 2 litres of blood (out of about 6 litres in total!!!). Throughout this whole ordeal, after receiving his first few feeds, baby Dylan quietly looked out at us through the side of his basinette barely making a sound. It may sound like a silly thing to say but it seemed like he somehow knew that this was not the time for him to be a troublesome little newborn...? We were transferred to a ward where they could closely monitor Michelle while they pumped her full of saline to try and replace all the lost fluids. What we found out later was that there was a real threat of cardiac arrest with her red blood cell counts as low as they were. After a day or two of monitoring it was recommended that a blood transfusion was probably the best idea. We considered and weighed up the risks and consequences of this and eventually said yes. On Sunday afternoon Michelle was given just over half a litre of blood and was able to leave her room and take a walk with baby Dylan and myself for the first time in 3 days! By Monday morning her red blood cell count had improved to a point where we could go home when we wanted to. Michelle says of this time: "James did a wonderful job looking after Dylan. Lying there I could see how Dylan looked at James with such love and of course how much James loved Dylan already. I remember waking up one night to see my big man (James on the pull out sofa) and my little man (Dylan in his bassinet) looking so alike. I felt such a mixture of protectiveness and feeling protected. I am still amazed by James' compassion, strength and calmness, in what must have been a terrifying experience for him, first with the drop in Dylan's heartbeat and then through all the unexpected complications of my hemorrhage. I am so happy and proud of my expanded family." During these five days, Michelle uttered not one word of anger or complaint (apart from the odd "Ouch! That's really sensitive!!!", and "Can I have some more Panadeine Forte now please!"). I am still amazed by her courage, determination, strength, calmness, and sense of humour throughout, and just wanted to let the whole world know how happy and proud a husband and father this experience has made me! 03 April, 2007Trapped in Mahuranipur - diary entry from 16/11/2006"16/11/2006 Trapped for 4 1/2 hours (10.30 -> 3pm) in a town on the way to Orchha from Khajuraho(Ma who ra ne pur??) [sic]. Tried to leave 3 times -> didn't work, got our tyres slashed and a brick in the windscreen. Eventually left when they started letting buses through -> don't know why. Our guide Naresh said the mob was due to a religious statue being beheaded and no one had been caught. He then said it was an area with lots of crime and the fact that we were tourists made us look like easy targets for robbery, so we spent the 4 1/2 hours in the stuffy bus with windows closed and curtains drawn (except for toilet breaks). Our first attempt at freedom involved convincing the mob that Sandra was ill and needed medical attention. A few young boys from the town were riding shotgun, screaming "Patient! Patient!" to the mob. They had barricaded the road with a bus and a truck and when we slowed to get around, they set upon us and started banging on windows and shouting at the bus forcing us to turn back. We stopped and waited, curious youths crowding around our bus. Naresh informed us that he had called the embassy and they had spoken to the town leaders. We tried escaping again, this time with an older man who i assumed was some authoritative figure (we later found out he was the town's mayor that the embassy had spoken to). We had gotten our tyres slashed in our first attempt and had to change two tyres. Our second effort was no different. Naresh went outside and dissapeared into the crowd. We later learned that he was assaulted by someone who ripped his jacket, hit him in the back of the head and told him to stop trying to be smart! Our tyres were slashed again so we sought refuge in the guarded petrol station to change them and to make toilet runs. After more waiting around, Naresh gathered an auto-rickshaw full of armed police and a policeman rode shotgun in our bus (actually I think it was probably a semi-automatic rifle!) for our third attempt. We tried leaving the same way we came in, but the mob seemed incensed by the police presence. One guy shaped to throw a brick and when I looked back up he was hurling it at our windscreen, right towards the armed cop! Luckily it hit at the base and only partially shattered it. We were freaked out completely by this stage. We limped back to the petrol station and waited again. The hour or two that passed was very tense indeed! Gina started arranging her immediate flights out of India, Susan sent a cheerio sms to her family, and I sat there wondering how much of a fight I would put up if it came down to that...with countless scenes from Bruce Lee movies drifting through my mind! When the flood gates eventually opened, on our way out of town we saw others that had fared even worse than us, a government bus parked across the road with every window smashed was probably the worst. No idea what happened to it's occupants, we were just relieved to be out of there and on our way to the Orchha, with hearts in our mouths every time we passed through another small town and saw a crowd in the street! 02 April, 2007Mzungus in the Mist - diary entry from 8/10/2006"8/10/2006 Mzumbus[sic] in the Mist. Traveller's Rest Inn, Kisoro, Uganda. Another once in a lifetime day today. We spent the morning tracking mountain gorillas in Parc Nationals de Volcans in Rwanda. There was uncertainty about the length of time we would need to trek before seeing the gorillas...so much so that we placed bets on it the night before. The winner gets free banana gin all night. Michelle was extremely optimistic at 45 minutes, and I figured 6 1/2 hours would be a fairly bad days trekking! As it turned out we only had to walk for just over 1 1/2 hours before we were told to put down our backpacks and take out everything we would need for the hour we were to spend with the family. The trek in was reasonably hard. The first part was through some potato fields that backed on to the National Park, before eventually ascending one of the many volcanic peaks in this spectacular part of the world. The bamboo forest paths soon gave way to thicker vegetation, vines, stinging nettles and a fair chunk of mud thrown in for good measure. We were accompanied by the gorilla tracker/guide Francis, (who had, the night before, given us a detailed and moving history of Rwanda, the genocide, and how they are dealing with the consequences of it now, as well as some stories about the mountain gorillas), a couple of other trackers, some Rwandan army dudes, packing sub-machine guns and a machete wielding guy I dubbed "chop-chop". The trek in was definitely worth it. After putting down our packs and grabbing our cameras we were led around a corner into a clearing to be face to face, literally only about 3 metres away, from Ubumwe, the huge silverback....the dominant male of the Amohoro group of gorillas. It is so incredible to look straight into his deep black eyes from this distance. I have heard it described as looking into our own past, and I agree that there is a certain humanity to their gaze. The new camera started working overtime, the 12 x zoom getting some great shots (although I later found out that I must have accidentally dropped the resolution to 3 megapixels?? So pissed off!!). The further we walked into the clearing, (probably only about 15m x 5m), we could see more of the group, which consisted of the silverback, some young blackback males, some mature females, some adolescent females and about 4 babies. They were all in various states of just chilling out. The silverback (Ubumwe) was just sitting by himself, keeping a casual eye on everything around him. Others were sleeping, (completely slabbed out in some cases!), others were playing or feeding...it was like we'd stepped into their family room! One of the young males surprised us by coming out of the bushes behind us, pushing Craig out of the way and picking up Ingrid's gloves before sniffing them and tossing them away! We continued to move around the clearing to either get out of their way or just to get a better vantage point. As they got more comfortable with us they began to interact a lot more. The silverback started getting a fair bit of attention from some of the babies, and then one of the females started getting really friendly....and we were lucky enough to actually see them mating....quite a surreal experience....and all captured on video with running commentary (see below). We got to spend an hour with them before we had to head back, slightly exhausted, but with huge smiles and a thousand memories." Click here to watch the video! Meeting our sponsor kids in Uganda - diary entry from 6/10/2006"6/10/2006 White Horse Inn, Kabale, Uganda. It's so hard to believe that we've only been in Uganda for 4 days. We have done and experienced so much that it feels like much longer. Meeting our sponsor children has to be the highlight. We visited Michelle's sponsor child, Margaret on 3/10 in the Luwero district just outside of Kampala. The Plan representative Tony and our driver Eddy picked us up from Sophie's Hotel in Entebbe (where we were staying in the Sudan room! All rooms were named after African countries). We were taken to Luwero via "shortcuts" around the Kampala "jam". Being our first real taste of Africa it was both confronting and amazing. The sight of thousands of people walking, cycling or cramped into one of the hundreds of mini-van taxis through the suburbs of Kampala is a sight to behold. Dirt-track, pot-holed streets serve as the main thoroughfares, lined with market stalls and what at first appear to be makeshift shopfronts, selling anything that you could possibly want. Butcher shops are most impressive, with whole sides of beef/goat/pig hanging out in the open air. Beyond this were the somewhat quieter streets of Luwero where we visited the local Plan office and met the office manager Ellis and also the local representative Flavia, who would travel with us , Tony and Eddy to the community. We were driven through narrow access tracks to Margaret's family home, a small, (possibly 2 rooms totalling about 6m x 3m) brick house that houses about 8 to 10 people! Meeting the sponsor child is quite overwhelming for all involved. The child is shy, we are nervous, etc...The initial greetings were quite awkward, but after being welcomed into the home by Paskali, Margaret's father and also Harriet, her mother, we were introduced to the entire family (and extended family). The warmth of the welcome and genuine thanks from Paskali was overwhelming. We exchanged gifts...Michelle gave Margaret and her family a skipping rope, a frisbee, some pens and some balloons. In return they gave us a chicken!! Michelle was shocked and didn't know what to do. She was told by Tony that it would be ok to give the chicken back to the family to take care of on our behalf. It seems that everyone is happy with this so that is what we did. After showing (unsuccessfully) Margaret how to throw a frisbee, and then blowing up a few balloons for her and the kids, they showed us how they used the skipping rope. I convinced Michelle to have a go and she did good for a couple of jumps but eventually got a good giggle out of the family. We sadly then said goodbye to Margaret and her family before visiting other projects in the community that have been created/assisted by Plan, including a medical centre and the local Primary school that Margaret normally attends. The reaction of the children to our presence was so incredible. For many of them, this was the first time they had seen a Mzungu (white person), so when I reached out to shake their hands, they practically swarmed in and around and all wanted to shake my hands with such joy and excitement! I didn't think this could be topped until the next day when I visited my sponsor child, Alex. We had to get dropped off in Jinja, the source of the Nile River, approx. 80 kms west of Kampala. This was quite a trip and we were extremely grateful to the Plan staff for arranging it. We stayed at a great little guesthouse (2 Friends Guesthouse) in Jinja, where they had a great little wood-fired oven (Pizza was a little average though...not that I expected it to be otherwise). The next morning we were picked up by the Plan rep for Tororo, Jackson, and the driver, Asaba, and driven to Tororo, about 120 km away through sometimes driving rain, on extremely pot-holed roads, (some potholes were across entire lanes!), and quite ridiculous traffic. Ugandan drivers are downright lunatics! But anyway, we had a hilarious conversation with Jackson and Asaba on the way. We met Christine, who is the team leader for the Tororo Plan office and she introduced us to practically everyone, workers and volunteers in the Plan office. We met Godfrey, the local area rep who travelled with us to the community. We started off by visiting Alex's school, which is where I met Alex for the first time. I recognised him straight away and introduced myself before all of the formal introductions by the school Principal (probably a bit rude in hind sight). We had the privilege of being allowed to sit in on one of their English classes, although the kids were more interested in us than in their lesson. I was allowed to address the class, and told them how happy I was to be there and how grateful I was that they had accepted me so warmly and with such beautiful smiles. After several photos, I gave the principal a gift of some pens and some tennis balls to be distributed to the children before we bid goodbye to all the kids, again getting practically bowled over by their enthusiasm to shake our hands. We took Alex and went to meet his family at their house. Alex's family looked to be in a worse state than Margaret's family the day before. I was very happy that the Plan staff suggested we buy some gifts from town to take to the family, a blanket, some sugar and a mattress, on top of the soccer ball (Sydney FC supporter's ball), pump, frisbee and balloons we already had. The additional gifts seemed much more appropriate, although our original ones were quite well received too. I explained to Francis, Alex's dad, how the pump worked, and I showed Alex (successfully) how to throw a frisbee...they all got a few giggles out of my attempted trick throws and catches as well. Francis then welcomed us into his house and I could see that a chicken was being rounded up. No worries, I thought, I've seen this before and I know exactly what to do...I started explaining that we couldn't take the chicken back to Australia and that I thought that they should look after the chicken for me....Tony leaned across and whispered... "Ummm....no! Take the chicken!" After a quick about face, I think I managed to not cause too much offense by re-accepting the chicken and assuring the family that I will do everything I can to ensure Australian customs let it back into the country!! It was quite a tragically funny situation that I will find hard to get over! Tony eventually gave the chicken to his cousin in town... Alex's brothers, sisters and cousins were all lining up for the balloons that I handed out earlier. We could only blow up a handful at first, so throughout the visit tiny little hands would reach out to us with deflated balloons for us to blow up for them...it was really special. We had to drop Alex back at school and say goodbye. His shyness was still there, but there was a look in his eyes when he waved goodbye that hit me right in the heart. From here we continued on to visit some of the other community projects that Plan is involved in. We visited a centre that offered medical assistance, family planning advice, STI prevention and HIV/AIDS care, counselling and treatment. It was here that we met the Tororo Post-test club (PTC). In Uganda, and many other African countries, there is still a big stigma attached to people who have HIV/AIDS. Because of this, many people are afraid to get tested. The PTC consists of men and women who have been tested, no matter whether they tested positive or negative. They meet regularly to discuss living with HIV/AIDS, caring for others with HIV/AIDS and also to support each other. The strength and courage of these people amazes me. When I shook their hands in appreciation for welcoming us I pretty much broke down. Reading stories about the AIDS crisis in Uganda is what made me sign up to sponsor a child with Plan in the first place and so the moment had added significance for me. My only regret is that my tears may have been misinterpreted as sadness about their situation, rather than just an outpouring of genuine admiration for their courage and the realisation that in my small way I had helped them. In general, this feeling was the overriding emotion of the last two days. My contributions allow the numerous people we met make better lives for many others., yet for the last 4 tears, I had never truly, deeply thought about this. I hope to spread this feeling to as many people as possible, that such a small contribution from our point of view, is put towards such noble and worthwhile projects and is appreciated so, so much by the people implementing and receiving the benefits of these projects!" 22 December, 2006Back to/from reality...? Part 1 - Africa
26 September, 2006The time has come...Only 3 days of work remaining until our big trip! The last few days have been pretty frantic. A couple of mild panic attacks brought on by looking at all the stuff we have to pack, but I think we're over the worst of it. Have put together some links to aerial views of some of the places we're visiting, might as well post them here as well: Hope to update more from the road... 27 June, 2006Useful advice for our Africa trip..."Camping in public campsites can be very dangerous. One night there were lions just in front of our tents, 20cm from the gauze. They were looking inside the tent, being curious about what was happening. We were lying there, looking at the contour of the head of the beast, praying to god that it would leave. Fortunately people had told us, in such a case, do not move just STAY IN YOUR TENT. Before I went on this trip, I couldn't imagine this kind of thing happening to me! I'm certainly happy I'm back in Europe alive and kicking. Carna Van Hove, Belgium (Sep 02)" We have decided to give up chocolate and pizza, in fear of looking too appetizing!! 21 June, 2006Excuses....We've finished most of the planning (and paying!) for our big adventure to Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Malta, Egypt and India in October and November this year. Michelle and I are both nervous and excited by this trip. My mind blows when I simply think about it... experiencing it will be something else altogether, and I can't wait to share it with you. I've been stocking up on all the necessary new technology to help document it, hence I have a new camera and portable mp3/storage device to pack! Stay tuned. Once the planning for our trip was pretty much finalised we had just enough money left over to also buy ourselves a new home :) I've worried a little about our priorities, but regret nothing! We were looking for a place on and off for about 6 months (I guess you could call it research...?), and when we eventually set our limitations and got serious we found a place and had our offer accepted within a couple of weeks...pretty efficient I reckon! We're still in the middle of all the legal business and don't actually own the place yet, but we're hoping for a house warming/going away bbq in around September. 16 January, 20062006!January is another big month, with weddings, babies and a shit load of great live music...stay tuned! 18 November, 2005Oh my...what a night!!What an amazing game of football/soccer on Wednesday night! I can't believe Australia's going to the World Cup in Germany!! I'm still recovering from the whole experience. The crowd was just so incredible, many of the players credit the Aussie fans for getting them over the line. I was at the game with Bryan, as well as my Mum, Dad & sister, and we were seated right behind the goals with the Green & Gold army...best seats in the house if you ask me!! I was tense all week leading up to the game, especially after the 1-0 loss in Montevideo on Sunday morning. This meant Australia would need to win by at least 2-0 in Sydney, to go through after 90 minutes...of course this was far from what actually happened! There was a real buzz in the air around the ground before the game. People seemed genuinely happy to be part of the whole experience, but also looked pretty nervous. Everyone knew that just one goal to Uruguay (or U R Gay as some yobs preferred to pronounce it) would make it virtually impossible for the Socceroos to come back. The Aussies and Uruguay were greeted with cheers and jeers respectively, when they came out for a warm up...I get the feeling that this crowd wasn't going to be content to sit back in their seats and just enjoy the game. No! We were here to be part of this game, to support our team, to support our country, to give them every little bit of home ground advantage that we possibly could. The stadium was a sea of yellow, anyone that didn't wear yellow was simply drowned out. The tiny pocket of light blue Uruguay supporters seated at the far end of the stadium, looked virtually insignificant. Bright yellow flags with the southern cross and aussie coat of arms were handed out at our end of the stadium to the delight of all that got one. These flags would eventually serve many purposes before the night was over. The teams made their official entrances and it was finally about to begin. Crowd mission No. 1: To let the Uruguayan team know that we don't care too much for their oom pah pah band style national anthem...mission accomplished. The unknown tenor singing the anthem tried hard but I seriously did not here one note as he was completely drowned out by our boos and whistles! Some may say that this was not very sporting and not the Australian way...but whatever...in my opinion gamesmanship and sportsmanship need to be used in context. In the end, sport at this level is about winning. Crowd mission No. 2: To let the Australian team know, although we have a pretty dicky national anthem too, that it can still be belted out with more volume and passion than ever before, in support of what they were about to do...mission accomplished. This soccer mad crowd, a true cross-section of the Australian population, (not just the blazer wearers and private school boys at the rugby or the bogans at the league...yes, I know I'm generalising), made Advance Australia Fair sound inspiring! No easy feat. By now my voice was already shot, reduced to a low rumble if I tried to talk at anything near normal volume...For this reason I continued to shout for what seemed like about 80% of the game...thinking back I can't even remember what I was shouting...I guess there were numerous expletives aimed at the referees and Uruguayan players or officials, lots of shouts of encouragement to the aussie players and generally lots of Ole, Ole Ole, Ausssie, Ausssie action! When the first goal came after about 35 minutes the entire place erupted and there were high fives and low fives and hugs and kisses flying everywhere, not that there's anything wrong with that...the bright yellow flags were waved enthusiastically by all...I can't wait to actually watch the TV coverage of the game...it must have looked pretty special. If anything I think the goal made the game even more tense...apart from some initial chances early on, the Uruguayans weren't really looking like scoring, but every now and again either on the counter or from a free kick or corner, our hearts were in our mouths...but still we screamed. YOU...SHALL NOT....SCORE!!! No nothing that geeky, but I did made a point of trying to razzle star Uruguayan, Mr. "Divine Right" himself, Alvaro Recoba with a few well timed chants of "Rec-o-o-o-o-o-b-a-a-a-a, Rec-o-o-o-o-o-b-a-a-a-a", I'm sure he heard me as it obviously worked and he failed to score or set up any goals, and the coach eventually pulled his mentally disintegrated ass off the field....so thank you, thank you very much to me! The final few minutes of regulation time were agony. As the game neared extra time the crowd seemed to hush in anticipation...we could all sense where this was going...but we weren't quite there yet. Australia and Uruguay both came close to scoring in extra time...leading variously to leaps of hope and cringes of fear...but the 30 minutes of extra play seemed to fly by and the moment had finally arrived...the dreaded penalty shootout, depending on whether your team wins or loses, you either love them for the drama they provide or loath them as a round ball Russian roulette. The yellow flag was now draped over my head...not quite sure why? A defensive/protective instinct I guess? We were all hoping that Mark Viduka would win the toss and that we, the crowd, would still have a part to play. Thankfully the referee pointed to our end of the ground, as he and the players made their way towards us. The crowd again went wild, yellow flags waving in the air, screams and whistles. Harry Kewell stepped up for Australia to take the first penalty, time for hush and calmness behind the goal, and I made sure everyone put their flags away. Goal to Australia!! Uruguay up next...out comes the flags, time to raise our voices again.... Schwarzer saves!! 1-0 Australia. Next two shots from both sides go in, although Schwarzer came so close with one. 3-2 Australia. Up steps Aussie captain Mark Viduka, a stuttery tense run up and a tentative shot that goes wide...still 3-2 Australia. Uruguay have 2 shots left, Australia 1, it can still go to sudden death... Schwarzer saves again...even better than the first save!!! Still 3-2 Australia and 1 shot each to go...John Aloisi steps up, knowing that if he scores Australia is through to the World Cup in 2006...no pressure at all. He shoots, the net moves, the crowd goes absolutely bananas, I still have no idea what I screamed or who I kissed or who I hugged. Simply, it was one of the most amazing moments not only in my life, but also in the history of Australian sport. A night I will never forget. Can't wait for Germany 2006!! Photos will be up soon. 08 November, 2005Roxy flashbacks...The night kicked off in the usual way, Michelle and James eating way too much food...I had no idea that the pesto pizza crust I ordered for entree would actually be a full sized pizza with pesto and cheese! No excuses for the Chocolate Sticky Date Pudding for dessert though... Got inside at around 8.30 and caught Mess Hall doing their two man band show, ala Local H/White Stripes. Always amazes me how much noise 1 guitar and a set of drums can make on stage...gotta love rock & roll! I liked the songs I'd heard on the J's and they were supposed to be pretty good live, so I'd been meaning to see them for a while. They didn't disappoint. It took me a couple of songs to warm to them, but they go good. We were all very excited about the main act. Hype is not always a good thing, you know how the saying goes...but so far I'd made my own mind up about Wolfmother. I thought they rocked from the first wails of "Woman" pumping on my car radio late last year, but managed to miss every opportunity I had to see them live...until now. You've got to love a band that ain't afraid to wear their influences on their sleeves. Wolfmother do that, but give so much more. They manage to channel the sound of Led Zeppellin, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden (sometimes in the same song), and yet still manage to sound fresh and original. They not only capture the sound of an era, but the feeling and the energy as well, just like some of the best modern day bands such as The White Stripes & You Am I are able to do. And all this without too much attitude, just lots of strutting, jumping, guitar twirling and helicopter riffing. They pretty much played every song off their debut EP and album, with one or two not so familiar songs as well. One of the most enjoyable aussie gigs I've been to in a while and can't wait to see them at Homebake and the BDO 2006! After the gig, the smell of sausage and onion drifted through the air, drawing us nearer..."Yes, Michelle, I think I will have a sausage sandwich with our coffee" was a decision that my brain obviously had no part in making...can't believe I squeezed this in on top of the pizzas and beers from earlier in the night...such is the tragedy of my belly! I blame Bryan... : ) Ooh...almost forgot to mention that Michelle and I also went to see Californian stoner and comedian Arj Barker @Newtown RSL on Thursday night...an absolute cack!!! We'd caught Arj at the Melbourne Comedy Festival a couple of years back and I don't think I'd ever laughed so hard in my life, so couldn't wait to see him again. He didn't disappoint, and I highly recommend his show! Just spoke to Mum, who is still doing well. Sorting out all her appointments for the radiation therapy, can't wait to see the look on her face when we catch up with her for dinner this Thursday night and give her her b'day present!! 24 October, 2005The "C" word...A bi-annual mammogram had picked up a small lump in her left breast and she'd just received confirmation that it was cancerous. In order not to worry anyone unnecessarily she kept the mammogram result quiet until she got the test results back. From all my mum had been told, the prognosis was potentially not that bad. The lump was very small, 9 mm, which is classed as early breast cancer, and she was reassured by all doctors and nurses that of all the cancers that she could have, this was the best...?! The shock of it all was still a little too much and she was understandably very scared and very upset, as were the rest of us. I immediately went into information gathering mode and scoured the internet for as much info as I could find. Statistics were an obvious place to start, although interpreting them is always very subjective. The one that kept ringing in my mind was that for early breast cancer cases, the 5 year survival rate was over 85%...at first it gave me the reassurance that this will be treatable, that, as the doctors said it isn't all that bad. Then my mind performed the inevitable "glass is half empty" reversal...1 in 10 women will not live beyond five years! I chose to focus on the side of optimism...it's what my Mum would need me to feel. A very good booklet on early breast cancer, with information on it's treatment and answers to many common questions was given to her by the doctors, but Mum seemed too overwhelmed by all of this info right now. Different potential treatments had been briefly discussed with her doctor, but in her mind it seemed that the most drastic of these treatments, a full mastectomy, was what she saw as her only real option! I tried to reassure her that all that I had been reading suggested the opposite. In most early cases, like my mum's, a "lumpectomy" along with radio therapy was the recommended treatment. I left her with this information and suggested she read through the material and come up with a list of questions for her doctor before her next visit. After her next visit, I got a call and she sounded a lot more positive. The doctor explained the lumpectomy procedure and she had decided that this was the best option and everything was booked in for the following Wednesday!! Only a small amount of breast tissue surrounding the lump, along with some lymph nodes would need to be removed. Post surgery they would then need to run some tests on everything to determine whether the cancer cells had spread through the lymphatic system. Obviously, we were hoping that they hadn't, and that the cancer was localised to the lump in her breast. I was a nervous wreck on the Wednesday of the operation, calling my Dad regularly to get any updates. My last call was answered by a very groggy sounding Mum. The operation went to plan, but no test results would be available for a week. Michelle and I, and the rest of the family visited her that night in hospital and she seemed in really good spirits. Complaining and whinging about the nurses and the other patients just as I'd expect my mum to :) The week long wait was hard on everyone, but in general, I think we were all very positive. Mum was a little bit tired, bruised and itchy from the operation, but had recovered really well and the inevitable nervousness wasn't showing. Come Friday, though and my nerves were a bit of a mess. Critical problems at work paled into insignificance and I found it hard to concentrate on work whenever my mind wandered to my mum's fate. Keeping myself busy was the best I could do. An afternoon phone call with caller id showing my Mum's number and my heart skipped a beat. Once again, Mum's voice gave it all away...it was good news this time. All the tests came back clear! What a huge relief! My mum crying on the other end of the phone, and I couldn't help but join her. Of course, she still has to get radio therapy and will possibly be on some medication, but her spirit is now strong enough to be able to handle the extra treatment. I've already lined up her birthday present...something she has always wanted to do is to jump out of an aeroplane! Luckily she doesn't have access to the internet, hopefully everyone reading this can keep quiet. 20 September, 2005A week of ups and downs...part 2I decided to take it a bit easy on Wednesday morning...for a little while at least. My neck was still a little stiff, and the doctor said to be careful because range of movement would be affected by any swelling, therefore any impacts may not be as well cushioned as they normally would be. I took a few runs down Front Valley and Happy Valley in the morning, nice easy green runs and all seemed good. Met up with Michelle again for lunch and she was so happy that she'd actually gone up a lift and had skied down Front Valley with her class!! We caught our first chair lift together in the afternoon and I took her down to Happy Valley and showed her some of the easy tree-lined runs around here. I was so proud of how in control she was, although she confessed that it was mostly due to intense concentration!! Very hard to get any emotion out of her while we were on the slopes but she was absolutely ecstatic when we finally called it a day. She was loving the skiing much more than she thought she would and was progressing faster than she had expected. Not even the cold, blizzardy weather could dampen her spirits...the beanie, goggles, scarf, thermals, gloves and socks we'd invested in had sure paid off!! I felt a little more adventurous on Thursday and thought I might head over to Blue Cow, unfortunately Top-station was closed and so there was no way of getting there(apart from jumping on the skitube). Instead I headed over to Sun Valley in the morning...bad idea...complete and utter white-out, foggy and snowing. I could not tell where the sky finished and the snow started, no discernible horizon and only about 2 metres of visibility...not really what you want on one of the steepest blue runs on the mountain. I slowly traversed my way down until visibility improved and decided to go in search of something more sheltered. Found myself at the bottom of Pretty Valley again, contemplating whether to make my way down to the base of the Interceptor quad chair around at Nth Perisher, this was an alternate route to Blue Cow. Ground cover on the access trail was limited and so I had to pretty much pick up my skis and walk! After a couple of runs down here I realised it was getting too late to go to Blue Cow, so I headed back over to Pretty Valley and did a couple of runs there...the snow was in great shape and visibility was good, so I thought it would be a great place to bring Michelle in the afternoon. She loved it! I headed up high on the ridge to look for some fresh snow and try to get to the Copperhead Road run, a long, fast and narrow tree-lined green run. Got some really good photos of Pretty Valley from up on the ridge. After a bottle of wine over dinner, I lost a game of pool to a couple of 9 year olds....better to retreat back to my room and go pack...we unfortunately have to leave tomorrow. Friday morning was glorious, our reward for a week of cold, windy and snowy weather. I decided to start my day on a high. Olympic, the steepest black run on the mountain, caught my eye in the morning sun as a bright white wall of fresh snow just begging to be carved out with fresh tracks. I got off at top station and made the steep traverse across to about mid-way up Olympic and skied down the lower section...my skis felt great and didn't let me down as I put in some strong turns. I'd promised little pool shark Brendan and his dad, Ian, that I'd show them some good blue runs and hopefully I didn't disappoint. Sun Valley has been my favourite run all week, even in adverse weather, so with today's improved conditions it was simply perfect. Groomed to perfection, it was an absolute dream run, I couldn't resist just gunning it down the lower sections and I don't think I've ever skied faster...what a rush!!! Brendan and Ian loved it as well. Brendan must have been one of the only kids on this side of the mountain and he was handling it really well, only a couple of little spills (not counting the couple of times on the T-bar with me...ooops, sorry Brendan!!). Brendan told me how he was born deaf and that he'd had an operation as a baby to restore his hearing...what a great story, it sure hasn't slowed him down! He was one of those kids that you meet that have a real spark, and real charisma, and you can tell that their mind is always ticking, absorbing everything around them. After a few runs on Sun Valley I suggested we try the Towers run on Mt. Perisher, one of my favourite runs. Unfortunately it looked like the groomers had given this a miss overnight and the snow was really slushy and slow...and not much fun. Ian's legs were still burning though...Towers is always good for that! I took the opportunity to take Brendan and Ian to my favourite spot on the mountains...the top of Mt. Perisher! On a perfectly clear day like today there is no better view than looking out over the main range of Australia's highest mountains. So we took off the skis and trudged upwards through sometimes knee-deep snow to look out over the back of Mt. Perisher. They weren't disappointed! I had to go meet Michelle and so I took this opportunity to say goodbye to Brendan and Ian. Was very touched when Brendan told me that I was the best friend he'd made all week...what a great little person! I told them that I'd decided to take on Olympic...from the top this time. I've probably mentioned this before but Olympic is one of the steepest black runs in Australia, and a real challenge for a non-expert skier like myself. With steely determination and a fair amount of bravado, I caught the dog-leg T-bar to the top of Back Perisher Mountain and joined the ranks of skiers and boarders teetering on the edge of the concave cliff face. After some photos and video to capture the moment, I took a deep breath. Hurtling down the face at a million miles an hour, carving aggressive lines through the soft fresh snow and hitting the bumps with some jumps would have been a really cool way to die! So instead I took the first few metres nice and easy before slowly putting in some hard, aggressive parallel turns all the way down the mountain, following the steepest line that I could. I was so puffed at the end...really hard work, but wow, what a buzz! I'd had problems keeping my skis attached during previous attempts at this run, but everything felt perfect this time, my bindings were on a harder setting and the flex and power in my Salomon CrossMax 700's was great...did I mention that I loved these skis! Still buzzing, I met Michelle for lunch and told her all about my great morning and promised that I'd challenge her skills this afternoon. We decided to ski out the rest of the day instead of heading back to Sydney early. I took Michelle up to Top-station and on the Blue Cow Expressway and Copperhead Road runs down to Pretty Valley. After taking her on a few ridge traverses and pushing her to her limit a few times (and over it on maybe one or two occasions) I was really proud at how far she had progressed. Her determination had sure paid off, and I promised that I would take her over to Mt. Perisher to take on some blue runs...this caused hardly a flinch!! This girl is up for anything! First up was Sun Valley...not in as good a condition as the groomed paradise of this morning but still a considerable challenge for someone who had only been skiing for less than 5 days! Michelle handled this run pretty well, with only a couple of spills to complain about. I felt completely unbreakable after conquering Olympic this morning and must have done my largest carve stop ever at the base of Sun Valley, just showing off to Michelle I guess! I decided to take Michelle to Eyre next, the scene of my accident on Tuesday morning. I later found out that this was quite a difficult double-blue run, no wonder Michelle got a tiny bit cranky at me...but she was still determined to conquer it, even after a spill going up the T-bar, which again was possibly my fault...did I say this girl was tough! Of course, what better way to end our week than with a walk to the top of Mt. Perisher. After a few complaints about tired legs I finally convinced Michelle that it would be worth it...and she wasn't disappointed. Some clouds were rolling in over the distant main range but it just added to the spectacle. On this note we bid farewell to the mountains and made our way back to the Ski Bunny to collect our luggage, drop off our rental gear and catch the skitube back down to Bullocks Flat. The plan was to head back home to Sydney tonight, and after a pizza craving driven dinner stop in Jindabyne, it looked like we wouldn't make it home until well after midnight. A close encounter with head-on crash death on the road to Cooma convinced me that this would not be such a good idea. It continues to anger and amaze me how people can pay so little respect to their lives and the lives of their family and others when put behind the wheel of a car. They think they have a right to disregard speed limits and no-overtaking lines for whatever petty reason is in their tiny little minds at the time their decisions are made! A night's rest in Queanbeyan before heading home on a beautiful Saturday was just what we needed... 19 September, 2005A week of ups and downs...part 1For Michelle's first true skiing experience (not counting the near tragedy of our little Swiss incident), I decided that it should be as pure as possible. No waking up at ridiculous hours every morning to scrape the snow and ice off the car, strap the skis to the roofracks and drive the possibly icy Alpine Way, just to be the first person to drag all your gear and squeeze onto a packed skitube carriage for the journey up the mountain. Instead, I thought staying on the snow at Smiggins would be ideal, and I wasn't far from being right. We arrived in Jindabyne at around 2pm and headed up to the Skitube terminal at Bullocks Flat, where we left my little black Audi for the week and jumped on the skitube to take us up the mountain to Perisher. When we got there and had a look outside, I was shocked to see that the entire Perisher Valley was brown instead of white!! Apparently a huge downpour of rain on Friday and Saturday washed much of the snow away and conditions on the slopes weren't much better! We got a lift to our accommodation for the week, the Snow Bunny Ski Lodge in Smiggins Holes, dropped off the luggage in our room, lucky number 7, and went to pick up our hire gear, with grey clouds gathering over the mountain. The line up at the hire place was almost out the door, and having pre-booked didn't earn us a place at the front of queue. I was quite amused by somebody's observation that we were lining up for Snows hoes...check out the photos in the gallery to see what I'm talking about! While we were waiting there were murmurs in the crowd that it had begun snowing! Curious to see for myself, I headed outside and found that in the half-hour or so that we'd been waiting, about 2 or 3 cm of fresh snow had fallen outside and had started covering the big brown patches of mud. Excellent! By the time we picked up our gear, about 2 hours later, the valley had turned into a classic winter wonderland, about 10 cm of fresh snow covered just about everything, and it was still falling! I was now getting very excited at the prospect of fresh powder on the mountain the next morning! We had the first of many great meals back at the Snow Bunny and bedded down for the night in anticipation. I woke at around 3am! The heating seemed to be broken and the room was absolutely freezing! I rugged up a bit and tried to get back to sleep. The alarm went off at 6.30am and we hopped in the shower...no hot water!!! What was going on? Not too happy about the lack of heat but all was forgotten when we looked out our window to all the fresh snow that had fallen overnight! After a big breakfast and a converstaion with little Brendan(more about him later) we collected our gear and jumped on the bus for Perisher, as all lifts were still closed in Smiggins. Michelle met up with her first timer's class and I headed up the mountain for my first carve in over 3 years! I felt a little rusty at first, especially with the poor visibility higher up and the deep, heavy cover on many of the runs. It didn't slow me down too much though and I spent most of my morning tackling the blue runs in Centre Valley, Mt. Perisher and Sun Valley. Caught up with Michelle for lunch and was happy to find that she was really enjoying her skiing, although a little bit frustrated that she still couldn't make turns! I spent a bit of time with her on the magic carpet at the base of Front Valley, but she was determined to get an extra lesson this afternoon and she apparently scammed a free level 2 lesson!! I decided to look for some shelter out of the wind and snow and thought that Pretty Valley might provide this...I was wrong. Virtual white-out over here as well, still had a good time though. Michelle and I decided to build a snow chicken outside our lodge...quite a pathetic little thing really...?!! Hot water was back and running and so I thoroughly enjoyed my first hot shower! Brendan, the little nine year old I'd met at breakfast had challenged me to a game of pool, but in order to be fair to all the other kids we decided to team up and and take on some of the other little pool sharks...seriously these kids were good!! Went to bed early all rugged up prepared for the cold night ahead...unfortunately the heating worked fine tonight, so I completely overheated at around 1am and couldn't get back to sleep!! Woke to beautiful blue skies and some more fresh snow...couldn't wait to take on Mt. Perisher's groomed Tower's run this morning. When I got there the weather was starting to close in, but I managed to get a good run on Towers before I was talked into heading across the mountain to the Eyre T-bar, conditions were apparently fantastic with lots of fresh stuff to carve up. It turned out to be a bad decision...Having skied groomed runs for the first two hours of Tuesday morning in relatively good visibility I was definitely getting the groove back, feeling very strong and balanced in my turns, and probably feeling a little bit too over confident. I headed across to Eyre and found the conditions not too different, although the cover was a little heavier and visibility had definitely deteriorated. I thought that I'd tackle the Eyre Bowl, a natural half-pipe just to the right of the regular Eyre run, that I'd skied the day before and found quite heavy, maybe some softer stuff today. I really should have checked it out before entering it at speed...I went up one lip, turned and was heading for the other when my right ski caught in some heavy snow and spun me around, causing me to ski backwards for a few metres before crashing and snapping my head backwards heavily into the snow. My goggles and beanie came off in the impact and I was a bit dazzled and confused by the sudden brightness. The first sign that something was wrong was a deep burning, tingling sensation all through my left arm and a dull pain in my neck. Hmmm...not good! Silly bugger that I am, thought I'll just twist my head from side to side and try and "crack" it back into place...pain override stopped me from trying that again, and now I was a little bit worried. I waved down a passing snowboarder and told him to get some help. The feeling in my arm had reduced to a dull tingling (something I'd been more than used to over the last few weeks), but the pain in my neck was getting more noticeable. I gathered my gear and formed an "X" with my skis and stocks and rested on my backpack. After a few minutes, I'd gathered my thoughts and figured that I was probably ok and that I would be able to walk again!! Just as I was gingerly getting up and about to put my skis back on, ski patrol found me. I explained what had happened and was told that as a precaution, all neck injuries had to be stretchered off the mountain with a neck brace and strapped to a back board. I'd always joked about how cool it would be to be carted off the mountain by ski patrol in a stretcher...but was quite embarrassed when it was happening for real! The ride down was surprisingly smooth and they got me into a transport vehicle to the medical centre in Perisher Valley. It was really weird getting the cliche TV medical drama "patients eye view" of the ceiling and looking up doctors and nurses noses, etc...quite surreal! I had a chat to the nurses about what happened and also explained the recent medical history about my neck problems. X-rays were taken and I was told that any abnormalities would mean I'd have to be transported to Cooma or Canberra for CT scans! The nurse was a bit concerned with some of the narrowing between my vertebrae on one of the early films and said that he'd seen people sent for CT scans for much less. He tried again and went outside to consult with the doctor. I really felt like I was okay, but the uncertainty over my X-rays was starting to worry me...had I caused more damage than I thought? After a few nervous minutes I spoke to the doctor who explained that given my past history, the X-rays didn't indicate that there was any recent spinal injury. He told me that he had a 100% record on spinal injuries and that he thought I was ok. The neck brace was removed and I was able to stand up-right for him to show me the X-Rays. Apparently, he had broken his neck previously, but his X-Rays didn't look as bad as mine did!!! Thanks doc!! If he hadn't have known about my pre-existing neck problems I would have been on my way for a CT scan! He recommended I take the afternoon off, but that I should be ok by tomorrow morning...sweeeeet!! I rang Michelle to tell her I'd be a little late for lunch and that I had a bit of a story for her!....more tomorrow 18 September, 2005First TimerDay 1. Learnt how to put my skis on and stand over without tipping over sideways (on a flat slope). Had some serious problems learning how to do a basic snow plough turn so I thought I would try to talk my way into another Level 1 lesson in the afternoon- got the free lesson but it was into Level 2 instead and I spent 2 hours finding out that slamming your head on the snow is not as painful as it sounds! Day 2. After all the tumbling yesterday I hesitantly turned up to my proper Level 2 lesson today. Went surprising well. Did a snow plough all the way down the slope- greatest feeling! I stood beaming at the bottom of the slope asking my group mates if they agreed that this is the best feeling in the world! Then I quickly followed that up with incredibly slow snow plough turns down the slope- I was on my way! Went to "Jax" pub for a well deserved lunch at noon. I was settled at a table, with my muscles slowly stiffening when I received a call from James. He told me he would be a few minutes late and had a story to tell!!!??? - but I will let him tell you his tale............ Spent the afternoon practicing snow plough turns down the little Level 2 slope- I must have gone up the "carpet" (like an escalator) and down the tiny slope over 20 times. What a great sense of achievement, though I did use the barrier at the bottom as a brake twice. Day 3. Skied down my first real run today- Front Valley (green, beginners run). Spent the afternoon skiing down Happy Valley (also a green run) with James and discovering how it feels to slip on ice, go over bumps and avoid rocks and trees. Day 4. The week is going too quickly! Spent today working on parallel turns and going faster- my lack of speed is giving James a lot of spare time for taking photos- check them out in our photos section! Day 5. Lessons again this morning- I have made it to Level 4! In the afternoon James took me up to some blue (intermediate) runs- did Sun Valley pretty well first time but it took me three tries to do Eyre without tumbling. Special thanks to James for allowing me to take some of my frustration out on him during my first two attempts! We both meant to leave shortly after lunch to begin the long drive home to Sydney but neither of us could leave. We dragged ourselves away at 4pm. By the time we returned our gear, said goodbye to our new friends back at the Snow Bunny and had a game of pool (my first but James was a well known "pool shark" with the young boys at the lodge), it was 5.30pm when we set off for the snow tube back to Bullock Flats. Snow Bunny, the place where James and I stayed at Smiggins, deserves a special mention. The staff were great and the meals absolutely fabulous!! All the guests at the lodge and all the people that I met in my lessons and just generally on the snow were great- except that girl that I shared the t-bar with once on Happy Valley - she knows who she is. Our ski trip was an amazing experience, and I feel inspired to tackle more new activities now. James' concern, that I may not love skiing, has definitely been put to rest! I am already saving my pennies for the next trip! 10 September, 2005I have built it...will they come?This will become a portal into our lives over the next few years, as I'm sure we will have some wonderful adventures to share with everyone...can't wait. Kevin John Mizzi (1977 - 2005)I stopped asking myself why. The time for crying is not yet over, moments of quiet reflection will inevitably lead to a tear being shed. Tears of sadness for a life taken, tears of sympathy for his immediate family and loved ones and tears of regret for the missing years. If anything positive could possibly come from Kevin's death, it is that family's can put aside their differences and unite in support of one another. Who knows, maybe this will be a catalyst for family to look forward, start afresh and forget the mistakes of the past. I sure as hell hope so, anyway... 03 September, 2005First post!Heading out to watch 4th grade in the first prelim finals later this afternoon, unfortunatley Michelle has to work today, UNSW has a careers info day! Still working out what to do tonight...maybe the football at the SFS, Australia vs. Solomon Islands, otherwise Charlie & the Chocolate Factory looks great? Definitely want to see Charlie, I'm a big Tim Burton and Johnny Depp fan. We spent much of last weekend listening to Triple J's "Impossible Music Festival" on the radio...what an amazing weekend for anyone that loves good music! The concept was simple, but only a station like the J's could pull it off. An entire weekend of live recordings from the J archive from 1975 - 2005. Some amazing sets, including my highlights, INXS from 1983 when they were still a bunch of unpretentious young musos from the Northern beaches jamming in a pub...pretty sad to see what they've been reduced to in 2005, Jeff Buckley at Sydney's Phoenician Club in '95, one of the gigs that I really regret not having gone to...the same can be said about Nirvana from '92, if only I knew then what I know now, I would have given a kidney to be there! Some of the gigs I was at, System of a Down at 2002 BDO, pure power, absolutely awesome, Placebo at the Hordern in 2004, if you listen hard enough you can hear one or two of my inappropriately placed "Woooooooooh's", and Faith no More in 1995, probably the last time they toured. There was a lot more that I missed, although I worked out that I'd actually been to see about 30 of the 50 artists on the line-up anyway. I hope that Triple J makes this a yearly event. |
