9 August 2006

Am sitting in Changi airport (Singapore) waiting for our flight to Dusseldorf via Dubai. We've had 24 hours in Singapore fitting in as much as we could. Today (9 Aug) is Singapore National Day, and the entertainment, crowds, food, traffic, fireworks, bands, more crowds, and heaps more food has been just wonderful!!! We went to the Zoo this morning, then Snow World and the Singapore Science Centre, then Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling, then the Esplanade for the fireworks and the fly-over by the airforce. Wow! What a day!

We've eaten Malaysian, Singaporian, Japanese, Thai, and KFC!!! Weird KFC... Chicken Chops, mushroom sauce, raisin coleslaw....hmmmm... weird! We've shopped til we dropped, we've walked the soles off our feet, we've tried the MRT, taxis and buses, we've got lost and found again, and we've appreciated the friendliness and helpfulness of the locals.

Met up with an ex-student of mine here.... she's working for a Japanese company and missing her horse-riding heaps! Although there's no endurance riding here, she does get to ride occasionally at the Singapore Polo Club!

Good luck to all who are heading for the Qld State Champs.... especially Matthew and Angela! We'll be eagerly awaiting the results!

12 August 2006

We arrived safely into Dusseldorf, jumped into a hire car, and drove to out hotel.... which is in the Netherlands! So our grand plan of having a interpreter on hand (Clio) went out the window, as she doesn't speak a work of Dutch! But our hotel is great, with luxurious rooms overlooking a green, manicured and uppercrust golf course.... looks like a perfect galloping opportunity!

The girls followed some hoof-prints through the forest yesterday and found a riding school, so today they're all off for a burn through the forest on some Friesians.... the horse type, not the cow type! Such excitement!

We visited the stables yesterday... purpose built for the Australian team, and truly lovely! Brook and Archduke were there, and Archie looks great. The other horses are expected to arrive today (Sat) I believe. Then they will all be transferred to the official stables at the ride base about 3 days before the ride.

We lucked out yesterday while driving around getting our bearings, and were able to attend a Dutch bikie wedding! WOW! Lots of bikes, sidecars, tattoos, smoke, military-style helmets, noise, drinking, etc.... and the bride wore white! It was soooo fun!

Then we investigated the local shopping scene, and chased each other through several malls. Last night was spent in our beautiful hotel living room, downing a couple of bottles, and telling stories.... it certainly wasn't us at the casino!!! (Maybe it was the Brieema mob.)

Quite a few of the crew are here, but many more expected over the next few days. Already the hotel is used to our bright gold shirts and our Aussie flags everywhere! Driving is fun... cyclists have right-of-way, and the roads are quite narrow.... hmmm, a recipe for disaster when trying to remember to drive on the right hand side of the road at the same time as looking out for the bicycles! So far, so good........

13 August 2006

A big day today, getting ready for the crewing! We had to draw detailed maps of the ride stages, so that we know how to get to the crewing points..... lots of coloured lines on huge maps that John Simpson had got copied in Australia prior to departure. Now we have to study these maps, then drive the routes several times, then learn how to do it all faster and better!!! Without being pulled over by the local cops!

Meg arrived with Schuska today, and the mare is now enjoying the beautiful stable area. They drove up from France, arriving here about 2pm.

The 5 girls (Brit, Bridget, Yuko, Clio and Emma) went for their forest ride today.... by all accounts a most successful outing. Galloping through the forest at top speed on huge horses! And yes, they were wearing helmets! All 5 came back with extremely high adrenalin levels, and it was some time before they were able to talk coherently again!

The big news over here today was that Matthew Gadsby won the Qld State Champs! Yuko, who trains his horse, was just over the moon with the news, and everyone has studied the completions eagerly. Congratulations to Kelsey Irvine for first Mwt, and congratulations also to Angela Hawks for first Ltw placing!!! And congratulations to all who completed..... sounds like it was a rather challenging ride.

Tomorrow we're off to do a bit of sightseeing in Belgium, then on Monday we really get down to work.

14 August 2006

After a morning spent cleaning up and digging drains at the stables (due to a heavy rainfall, some of the stalls were flooded), our little group ventured into Aachen for the first time. There are horses EVERYWHERE in Aachen..... big ones, small ones, little ones, tall ones....

It seems as if every shop in the city has designed their own horse for the occasion... the toy shop has displays of toy horses (some are obviously WEG souvenirs), the jewellry stores have brilliant jewelled horses, the fabric stores have wonderful creations, the chocolate stores have chocolate horses, the cake shops have gingerbread horses.... the list goes on and on! We spent hours wandering around looking at horses of all descriptions... as well as the cathedral, the town hall, the square, the spa, etc....

And although it was Sunday and most of the shops were closed, we were treated to wonderful street entertainment and we people-watched heaps of different cultures.... including running into a couple of the UAE guys at a coffee shop, who greeted us with great enthusiasm once they realised we were endurance people too!

Then it was back to the hotel (have I mentioned how NICE it is?) for a few beers in the bar, before heading to Trish's room for pizza and movies. The movies were actually a sneak preview of the course, as filmed by the Dutch team 2 years ago, and then a film of the Jerez ride. The pizzas were hot, tasty and plentiful... in fact, I think we're eating pizza again tomorrow night!!!!

I am looking forward to tomorrow.... we are off to the Three Borders, which is where Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands all meet. This is where the remote vet gate will be for all but 2 of the ride legs, and it is the highest spot in the Netherlands, so the views are said to be very nice. Once we have an idea of how to get to this spot, we then have to determine the fastest way to get to the crewing places on all of the ride legs... another challenge in the land of bicycles and 130kph speed limits on the Autobahn!

Well, it's nearly midnight, so I better get into bed in preparation for a big day tomorrow...

15 August 2006

Another WET day in the Netherlands.... and we were travelling around a bit today. The day started at the stables, where we managed to shovel about 3 metres of fine wet beach sand into a couple of stables. Then it was off to the WEG stadium for a walk around the Vet Gate area.... but the stadium is still in the process of being outfitted, so we weren't supposed to actually be there at all. But being Aussies, and being quite bold in a land where we can plead ignorance of the language, we just went around the back way, parked in the construction-worker's carpark, and then did what we wanted to do......

Checked out the Vet Gate area, walked around the route that the horses will have to take from the finish line to the Vet Gate, ogled at the sheer quantity of trade stalls that are being set up, ducked out of the way of some heavy equipment moving stuff around, and then snuck back out the way we came.

Then it was off to the 3 borders area, where the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany all meet. It was raining, foggy, and miserable.... so we didn't spend the money to climb the 1000 or so steps up to the lookout tower, as you couldn't really see much at 30 metres, let alone across an entire country! But we did get to see the remote Vet Gate, and paced out the crewing area, etc. Then we ran into a happy bunch of British endurance riders and crew, a couple of whom wanted to buy John Simpson's boxing kangaroo cap.

We arranged to swap shirts with a couple of them after the event, although stipulating that there would be a premium on gold-medal-winning shirts!!!! :)

After lunch at the restaurant there (delicious!), we headed back to our hotel by a much shorter route than previously known.... then it was off to a team meeting where Trish announced the official nominations:

Peter Toft on Murdoch

Penny Toft on Justice

Jennifer Gilbertson on Harriet

Brook Sample on Archduke

Meg Wade on Schuska

Additional horse: Tora Blay-Zay with Penny Toft

Reserve rider: Joyce Corbett

No real surprises there, I guess....

The team members were then presented with their official uniforms, as supplied by the EFA, and also a bunch of Zilco gear (from Zilco of course). A couple of speeches, and the formalities were over. I went back to my room to work out the crewing points and routes to drive, and got it sorted (I think!!!). We'll give it a physical run-through tomorrow to iron out any problems.

Mal and Robyn Caldwell arrived to day after a harrowing trip (with the obligatory lost piece of luggage), and went straight to bed with exhaustion. The Brieema team also had a harrowing day, getting well and truly lost, although not quite knowing in which country they were lost! They ended up travelling half-way to Paris before getting their bearings! Poor things.... the Baileys was disappearing quickly when last spotted finally relaxing back home again! But all is well that ends well, and I know that tomorrow will bring some sense to the road system and the foreign road signs here!!!!!!!!!!

16 August 2006

Bridget's day started with a ride on one of Peter's spare horses along the route of the 6th leg of the ride! She was soooo excited to be invited to ride along with Peter and Penny, and they were very kind to offer such an opportunity to her!

For the rest of us, today was spent sorting out where EXACTLY the crewing points are on a couple of the ride legs. What a chore! The roads through the little villages are winding and narrow, and travelling in convoy is a bit hair-raising! But we think we found a few of the crewing points.... it's a bit difficult when it looks like the crewing point is in a parking lot, or just alongside the road!!! And I think that these ARE actually the right places, although nothing is marked as yet!

Joyce and Shay Corbett arrived today, and have settled into the hotel well.... I think Joyce is currently having a nice cuppa before heading for an early night.... Yes, I know that's very unlike Joyce, but the travelling has really knocked everyone about a bit!

We all had lunch at the three borders area again today... I think we'll be spending a fair bit of time there as that is where the away vet gate is. Yesterday the main area was only just starting to get sorted out, and today there were two huge sheds erected (for the hold stables), as well as a couple of other buildings.... the construction progress was mind-blowing!

We were lucky enough to meet the Vet Gate Manager and the overall Endurance Manager from the organising committee today.... wow, what a big job these folk have! And they were extremely friendly, welcoming and happy to show us around. After lunch (I recommend the mushroom soup!), we returned to our hotel via the Stadium (for another quick look around) and a supermarket (in order to buy Clio a birthday cake!). Yes, Clio turned 25 today, and although we spent most of her birthday driving around, we made up for it by eating a wonderful creamy cake made of rice (!), and then downing a couple of drinks at the bar.

But now for the big news.......... I was informed this morning that I am to be the Assistant Crew Manager!!! WOW, what an honour! Of course, John Simpson SAID it was because I was intelligent, beautiful and honest, but I know it's really because noone else wanted the job!!!!! But he insisted, even after I said that I was a rotten "chief", and would probably beat up all the "indians"!! Actually, the group that will be crewing for this ride are all just great people, and the Splendacrest group have all made lots of new friends amongst these other fabulous folk!

16 August 2006

Today was a busy one!!!! At 8.30am I set off to guide one of the crew teams to their crewpoint on the far side of Aachen... a job successfully completed within a couple of hours! We arrived back to the stables and set about completing the crew maps before then setting off again to visit every crewpoint and determine the best ways to drive between them! Our guide today was a Dutch rider, Desiree, who made the road system a bit more easy to understand!

The ride route meanders through fields and along roads through little picturesque villages. The horses go from sandy patches to cobblestones, to lush green paddocks, to hard bitumen roads, to concrete paths.... and in one place they are required to ride down a path that seems to be made totally of broken bits of pottery and glass. John tells me that this track has been made by the local farmers throwing down all their old pottery, etc, in order to make an all-weather access road!

The route also crosses some quite major roads and highways, and these crossings will apparently be manned by the police. Our crewing areas are designated places, and most seem to be along these busy roads! So it will be important for our crew to know exactly where to park, where to have the crewing gear, and how to get out of the area when required.

We met a French rider out on one of the legs today... she came up and asked us where we were from, and then laughed when we said Australia. She had just been riding along the first/fifth legs, which are coloured green and yellow respectively, and there are green and yellow ribbons hanging up all along the trail. She said that she had just been thinking that this leg was the "Australian" leg, and then she saw us in all our green and gold gear! She then wished us luck, and rode off into the distance.

Another highlight of the day was having smoko at the only mountain cabin in the Netherlands! This is a little cabin-style coffee house, set near the top of the highest peak in the Netherlands... which really isn't very high! The coffee shop looks like it should be at about 3000 metres altitude, but it's at about 300 metres!! Anyway, they serve delicious coffee and cake, and spectators for the endurance ride will be able to sit there and watch the horses go by.

That's another interesting thing about this ride.... because the riders will be riding through many little villages, the locals are all quite keen to see them. We kept running into people who asked us about what was happening, and who wanted to know how many riders to expect, what time they would be coming past, etc.... We also found several beautiful spots that would make great backgrounds for photos of the riders.... old half-timbered and brick buildings, cobblestone courtyards, winding forest trails, water crossings, etc. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that we will get time to take many photos, and our media representative, Mal Caldwell, had all his camera gear in the only bag that he lost coming through Heathrow!

Tonight 37 people from the Australian team got together at a local restaurant to celebrate Joyce and Clio's birthdays. The food was plentiful and delicious (I can personally vouch for the schnitzel), and the birthday cake was a confection of cream, fruit and sponge like I haven't had since my grandmother's baking days!!!!!

The cake was cut, the birthday song was sung, and everybody departed for their accommodation with bulging bellies.

17 August 2006

Have you ever tried to buy 40-odd 10 litre buckets in Europe? It is nigh on impossible! And especially when everyone else and their dog is trying to buy buckets too!

This is the procedure..... 1st, find a supermarket, discount store or Aldi-type shop; 2nd, find the plastic-goods area; 3rd, find the buckets and their price tags; 4th calculate the exchange rate; 5th, watch in dismay as someone else comes up and takes half the stack of buckets; 6th, grab the rest of the stack and proceed to the cash registers; 7th, pay for the buckets and enquire if they have any more in stock (the answer is always no); 8th, start the process again from step 1.

But shopping here is not all bad..... there are heaps of bakeries, patisseries, cafes, and displays of sliced meats and cheeses everywhere. For those of you who don't know me, I am a real food-aholic! So I find it very hard to just walk by! And the displays are fabulous.... fruit tarts, cream buns, savoury croissants, etc, etc, etc....

And speaking of dogs (well I was in the first paragraph)... there are dogs everywhere! I:ve seen dogs in restaurants, shops, cinemas, baby carriages.... everywhere! The dogs in the restaurants are supposed to sit quietly under the tables, however I've seen several dogs sitting up on the chairs being fed by their owners! And speaking of dogs....

Dog shit! Everywhere! This morning we had to do some crewing practice on a strip of land that is used by the locals to walk their dogs.... but before we could use the area, we had to rake it clean of the dogshit first! What a great job that was!

We:ll do more crewing practice this afternoon, and then we have a team meeting at 7:30pm. We also met the Australian Chef d'Mission this morning, and he was very happy to see our beautiful stables and meet everyone here.

18 August 2006

I solved the bucket problem!!!!! The big problem was that I was trying to buy buckets in the Netherlands, when I should have been buying buckets in Germany!!! (Where I have Clio to interpret for me!!) So, we were driving around in Germany, and she screamed at me... "There's a hardware shop! BUCKETS!"

The point was that this particular hardware shop uses plastic buckets as small carrying baskets for customers who want just a few small things.... instead of the shopping baskets that we are all used to. These buckets are bright orange, and have BIG letters on them saying OBI.... the name of the store. So we asked if we could have 30 of them, and they said YES! Got home, and printed OZ BUCKETS, INC. on them!!! Instant crew buckets!

Then our next job was to source water in bottles for crewing... shopping in the Netherlands was OK, but the least expensive price for a 1.5 litre bottle of water was .45 euros (about 70 cents). Shopping in Germany, we found the same bottles for .19 euros (about 26 cents), so of course I said to load 'em up! Got to the cash register, and we were charged .44 euros per bottle, so I enquired why??? In Germany the bottles are recycled!! So you pay .19 for the water and .25 for the bottle!! But you get the .25 per bottle back if you take the bottles back to the collection centre!!!! WOW.... tightarse me immediately thinks about all the bottles that are going to be lying around at the crew points.... and so I immediately bought a roll of big garbage bags so we can collect everyone else's bottles too!!!!!!!!

And the weather forcast is not looking too good for Monday (race day).... so, as we came prepared for summer conditions, with very little cool weather gear, we also sourced some rain ponchos (from a Crazy Clarks - type place).

Basically all is going pretty well here.... the crew points are sorted out, the crew people know where they're going, the crew cars are already loaded with the gear needed, and the riders have all let us know what they expect of us at the crewing points.

The Vets are all working hard each day, and one person who is working her butt off is Emma Kirby, the team physio... she is working on both horses and riders just about constantly... poor girl arrives back at the hotel each evening absolutely stuffed! But it's good to know that she's here and able to help the horses out!

Trish Annetts is doing an absolutely marvellous job, and is to be congratulated on her dedication to the team. Mal Caldwell spent most of today trying to track down some replacement camera gear, although I believe that his bag was eventually found in Bangkok, and is on its way to rejoin him.

Tomorrow we have an easy day, so will probably spend it in and around Aachen doing some sightseeing, etc. The trade stalls at the main stadium won't be open for business until after the opening ceremony on Sunday evening, so everyone is really looking forward to that!

19 August 2006

Today was a free day for our crew.... so of course we had to go shopping! After one last fond look at our crew point on the way to Aachen, we then headed for the main centre of town. We started at a big mall, moved to the cathedral area for lunch, then finished of with a walk through the side streets.

The centre of Aachen is quite quaint, with lots of little pedestrian walking malls radiating out around from the main central square. The streets are narrow, and curve around constantly... I don:t think I:ve seen a straight street since I got here! The pavement is mostly cobblestones, but of varying sizes, from very small mosaics to large polished square stones. I was reading a novel last week about the diggers in WW1 having to walk along the cobblestoned roads with their 100lb packs, and about how they would trip and twist their ankles because the roads were so uneven. Well, I can see why! BTW, the book is "The First Casualty" by Ben Elton..... a good read!

And there are bakeries everywhere! Which is a bonus for me.... the bakery pig! Truly, I just can:t go past them... but you should see the displays in the windows! Great piles of glazed fruit tarts and confections with custard and cream, lots of strawberries and blueberries, cheese croissants, chocolate eclairs.......hmmmmmmmmm.... yep, I'm a pig!

But the outdoor cafes are also just wonderful... the weather has been a bit patchy, but when it's nice, the locals and the tourists just hug the sunny patches! Another fun thing is that all the pubs have outdoor beer gardens where you can sit and watch the world go by. Today there was a big soccer match in Aachen, with the local team playing their arch enemy, and the local supporters were out in force from about 10am drinking beer and singing their team songs! (And they really were being hooligans!)

So on to the shopping: Emma was straight into a shoe store, and ended up with a pair of Birkenstock sandals (German made and heaps cheaper here than at home) and a pair of gorgeous boots, Stacy was straight into a toy store and bought heaps of dinosaurs and horses (!), Yuko hit the sports store, Clio bought Havana cigars for her Dad, and Bridget bought jodphurs (well, actually they are running pants, but sooooo cool!). I didn:t buy anything, because I am holding out for the trade stalls to open at the WEG stadium!

But I window shopped heaps! So, if I have any money left after raiding the trade stalls, I'll be back!

Lunch was at an Italian restaurant.... pizzas the size of serving platters, salads the size of icecream containers, and icecreams the size of brandy balloons! The entertainment on the streets today was just incredible! Lots of street musicians, jugglers, fireeaters, etc! I wandered around just enthralled at the atmosphere....being Saturday, the streets were crowded, and everyone was happy.

After another swing around the shops, we headed back to the hotel. Then I took Mal Caldwell out to a really top spot on the first leg of the ride, where he will be able to get some great photos on Sunday. At 9.30 tonight we had a crew meeting, and confirmed all the times for the Vetting tomorrow, and the official photo shoot. Then at 3pm tomorrow the Opening Ceremony commences. Everyone is getting pretty excited now!

20 August 2006

This morning we all set off for the main Stadium to witness the pre-ride vetting... what a scene! Each nation was brought into the vetting area in alphabetical order, and the trot-ups were done quite quickly. All the Aussie horses were great, and we saw heaps of different styles of horses! The European horses have such a wide variety of body shapes... it:s amazing to see them all one after another. There were some lovely big horses (over 16hh), and some lovely little horses (under 14.2hh). There were 2 vet-outs: one from the Netherlands and one from Belgium.

The trade stalls opened up after the vetting, so we had a few hours in which to shop! There were sooooo many good things to buy! Of course we stopped at the merchandise tent, and we all picked the waterproof black jacket (cos it was raining!). I looked at everything, and also picked up a bit that I've been after for over 12 months. One saddle maker offered me a saddle to try, but unfortunately I won't be able to take him up on the offer! (The saddle cost over 1400 pounds!)

A few of the crew caught up for a photo: 

BACK ROW: Sarah Adams, Jay Randle, Robyn Mather, Peter Hicks, Bridget Nottle, Stacy Nottle

FRONT ROW:  Shay Corbett, Yuko Crease, Emma Kirby, Clio Rauch, Bonny Burgess, Tora Thomas

Then it was off to the stadium for the Opening Ceremony! I don't know how many people were in the stands, but it was a lot.... I'd say over 30,000.... maybe even 40,000! The countdown for the last 10 seconds until the start time was just a roar from the crowd!

The first thing that happened was about 20 Arabian mares and foals were led out into the arena and let go! They just floated around accompanied by cheers and gasps of delight from the crowd. After they all exited, we were treated to a history lesson: first came Charles the Great with his followers (Aachen was the place that Charles, aka Charlemagne, was crowned), then came a display of heavy horses pulling wagons of all types (covered with polished harness and horse brasses), then a display of ladies riding sidesaddle, and then the French influence of Napoleon and his army. This was followed a display of horsedrawn vehicles showing the Prussian influence, with wondeful Hafflingers pulling them.

After this part of the entertainment, we were then treated to a display of the mounted police in the fantastic black and gold uniforms. But little did we know that we were about to see an awesome sight that will never be repeated: 64 matched stallions from the ten state studs paraded in under saddle, and proceeded to put on the most fabulous display of drills that I've ever seen! They paraded in pairs, fours, eights, single file, circles, pinwheels, crossovers, etc, etc, etc.... All 64 horses were so well mannered and schooled, and the display was just mindblowing to watch!

This exhibition was followed by a whole team of young local riders who came in to do a display of the 7 FEI disciplines.... little showjumpers jumped little jumps, little dressage riders did little dressage passes, little endurance riders trotted around the arena, little (mini) horses pulled carriages around, little kids did twirls on reining horses, little ballerinas did vaulting on lovely horses, and little eventers raced around like mad things!!!

Then the announcer said that the top German riders in each discipline were coming into the arena to join the kids.... and in came a lovely dressage horse, an excellent showjumper (who just popped over the little jumps), a carriage with matched horses raced around, the top reiner did circlework in the sand, a vaulter dressed in skin-tight silver did amazing things, and the top eventer stirred up the little mad things even more! Note.... the endurance rider did try to get his horse into the arena, but the horse had other thoughts! You could see it peek around the entry gate and say, "no way am I going in there with all that noise and all those people!"

After the horses had finally exited the arena (with those mad eventers doing one last loop of the arena at top speed), the Parade of Nations commenced. All competitors marched in under their flags, and the crowd just went wild..... especially when the German team arrived in the Stadium. We all screamed and stamped our support for the Aussie team, and they looked a treat in their official uniforms.

Then Princess Haya (FEI president) made a lovely speech and declared the games OPEN!!! Big cheer from everybody!!!

But it wasn't over yet..... King Charles returned to the arena on his mighty steed, and declared the city open to visitors. Then 7 carriages towing the biggest bunches of balloons I've ever seen rocked in, and let go all the balloons... each carriage probably had about 1000 balloons!

The mascot of the Games is a stuffed horse called 'Karli', and I've been wondering how/why they named it so.... but now, it all makes sense! Karli is a familiar form of Charles, and Charlemagne was an important figure in the history of the city of Aachen.....

Overall the Opening Ceremony of these games was well-run, just fantasticly amazing, and well-worth seeing. The music was specially composed, and played by the Aachen symphony. The displays of horseflesh were over whelming, and the talent of the cast was excellent.

So to celebrate our great day, we headed off to the Australian pub down the road for a quick drink, a speech from the Australian Ambassador to Germany, and a bit to nibble on courtesy of the EFA. Then it was off back to the hotel for an early night in preparation for the big day tomorrow!!!!

21 August 2006

Just back at the hotel after a tiring and exhilerating day!! We started at 4.30am, loading the ice (that we never needed!) into the eskies (that we never needed!). Actually, as I am rooming with 'Little Miss Enthusiastic' I got to be woken up at 3am... just in case I overslept or something!

Then it was off to the local stables to pick up provisions for the day, before heading out to our first crewing point..... a muddy path through deep forest, with stinging nettles, holly bushes and knee high ferns everywhere. The crewing area was about 140 metres long by about 3 metres wide, and located in the Netherlands. In this area we jockied for position with the other 42 countries.... winning out by some underhand tactics, good humour and lies.

Suddenly the front runners were upon us! They galloped by so fast we didn:t even know who they were!! Then came Peter and the spotted one, also going pretty fast, followed by Penny (who couldn:t take a bottle of water when offered because her reins were so wet and slippery that she couldn:t hold Justice and a bottle at the same time!). Shortly thereafter we saw Meg and Brook, who both slowed down enough to take water bottles, and Jennifer followed close on their heels.

Wow! That was fast and exciting! So, we packed up and headed for our next crew point, only to be caught in the mother of all traffic jams because everyone else was doing the same thing! Rather than be caught up in what could become a major problem, I took the advantage of a handy driveway to do a U-turn in (funny how it's always the Aussie drivers doing U-turns on these bloody narrow roads!). We decided to head for the remote Vet Gate, knowing that the Brieema team would take care of the crew point that we should have been going to.

The Vet Gate is at the border of the three countries, and we totally lucked out with a good parking spot within easy walking distance.... which was something that other would-be parking space hunters were swearing at us for! The finish of Leg 2 was happening, and 3 Belgian riders raced in, followed by a fellow from Qatar, followed by Peter and a British woman. The Belgians had troubles strapping, while Peter and the Qatari went into the Vet Gate pretty quickly. Murdoch looked great, but the Qatari was required to trot out a second time, and was then eliminated. Suddenly Peter was in the lead......... how exciting!

Brook, Penny and Meg all showed up very shortly thereafter, and all their horses went well although our hearts were in our mouths when Justice had to trot-out a second time... but all was OK! All of a sudden, we were called to fill in at a crew point where the crew had to leave because the field was spreading out a bit. We arrived at our new assignment just in time to see Brook come in... what a sight! The crew point was located in a little village in Belgium, where the riders came out of fields and straight over a street into a grassy area near the main square. The riders were surrounded by urchins on bicycles, matrons doing their shopping, old men leaning on walking sticks, and young people dressed to the nines... all cheering and clapping each time a horse appeared. I saw the shock and delight on Brook's face as he crossed the square and started waving to the spectators.... and a big cheer went up!

After Jennifer went through (she was a bit behind the others by this stage), we packed up and headed back to the Vet Gate, arriving in time to hear the announcer saying that Peter and the spotty horse were expected at any time. The atmosphere was tense! Suddenly another rider arrived, followed by several others that weren't expected, and yet, no Peter! Then several more riders came in, followed by Meg and Brook, but still no Peter!!!! Then finally Peter and Penny arrived....... Peter was extremely ill, vomiting, dehydrated..... I don't know the final diagnosis, but I'm sure it wasn't very pretty!

At this stage we had to leave to get to our next assignment, which was back at our original crew point to crew the riders heading back to the Main Stadium for the last leg. Meg and Brook went by, and out of the blue came Peter!!!!! He had made up a great deal of time, and Murdoch looked like he'd got his second, third and fourth wind all at once! Penny followed a fair way behind, and Jennifer bought up the rear on Harriet... taking it nice and easy in what was now torrential rain and cold conditions.

WE then followed Jennifer to her next crew point, and were rewarded by her lovely smile and Harriet being eager to eat and drink.... a bonus!! Then it was back to the main Stadium for the finish!!!! The leaders had already arrived by the time we got there, but we saw Meg, Brook and Peter come in, vet through successfully, and commence their celebrations! Then Penny and Justice also successfully completed, and then Jennifer came in just before the cut-off time, to also get through a demanding and exhausting ride. Unfortunately however, I must report that Archie was required to attend the Vet Hospital within 2 hours of finisihing the ride.... so therefore I believe that this is considered to be a Vet Out.

As each rider finished the ride, they were required to ride around the main arena (which I last told you about when talking about 64 stallions!). This was truly spectacular, but a bloody long way from the finish line back to the strapping and vetting area. Of course, their riding time finished in the main arena, but by the time the horses got back to the vet gate they had travelled an extra half a kilometre at least!

And it was pouring rain! Everyone got soaked to the skin, and dreams of hot baths were a common denominator in conversation! And COLD! And we were all hungry!! And COLD!

I must congratulate Trish Annetts for being a wonderful and organised Chef d'Equipe, and Anne Barnes, Pat Hodgetts and Robyn Mathers for being knowledgeable and approachable Vets. The strappers did a great job, and the other people in the organising area also worked their butts off. John Simpson worked hard to get the crew organised, but as a crew member it would be remiss of me not to mention that I think we had the best crew ever!!!!

AN APOLOGY, BUT GOOD NEWS...

22 August 2006

Hi All

I must apologise for my post at 1pm this morning!!!!!! I was exhausted, emotional and I made an error of judgement!!! Archie was taken to the Vet Hospital, but the treatment was not started until AFTER the 2 hour window of time!!!!! So, all 5 of our riders/horses vetted through successfully!!!!!!!!! Congratulations to all!!!!!!

And my deepest apologies to you all, and to Brook!

22 August 2006

Today I got lost in the streets of Aachen!!! First time since I've been here, and we were on our way to the Presentation Ceremony, and I get lost!! BUGGER! Don't really know what happened... but them's the breaks! Actually, the security on the gate wasn't going to let us in until we started pleading about getting to the Presentations... although we knew we'd already missed the boat... and then we had to show that we were all wearing our Aussie shirts under our jackets! Then a nice guy opened the gate and waved us through.

Anyway, we had an hour or so to look at the trade stalls again, and then we headed back to the hotel. Oh, we also cashed in all our collected empty water bottles on the way... got 37 euros for them (about $50 or so). That paid for a tank of petrol, at least... oh yes, petrol prices here are around 1.45 euros a litre (about $2.20).... maybe that's where we are heading???????

Tonight a dinner was organised at a local restaurant for the whole team, and what a place it was! All you could eat buffet-style cook yourself BBQ..... fish, steak, lamb, ribs, kangaroo, etc, etc, etc... and prawns.... and then all you can eat salads and chips and fried mushrooms and heaps of other stuff, and then all you can eat ice cream and cream and stuff and then all you can drink beer and wine and soft drinks (serve yourself from the bar) and then all you can eat anything else you could think of!

We couldn't believe it! Everyone was just in party mode, and the food and the atmosphere was fantastic. It is Denise's 60th birthday next week, so a birthday cake was arranged, and it came out with fireworks on top!!!! Just amazing!

Then John got the management to do a slide show of the photos he had taken along the way for the past couple of weeks... also a blast!!!! Most of the rest of the crew are currently in the bar drinking on, but we are leaving here early tomorrow... so it's off to bed soon for me!!!

A few things have really stood out for me while here:

Jennifer Gilbertson's smile

Hans Pueker's sense of humour

Emma Kirby's BAH!

Yuko's shopping frenzy

Bob Puniki's generous spirit

Janette Puniki's gentle manner

Stacy Nottle's grace under pressure

Robyn Mather's ability to party

Lissy Verity's good sense

Peter Toft's determination and passion

Meg Wade's friendliness

Brook Sample's calmness

Anne Barnes' stories

26 August 2006

Well, we've left Germany, and I'm now at the ride in France. What a totally different type of place! The ride base is a beautiful area with huge old trees and lots of green... I've really got over my green drought over here!

There are two rides here... the 160km was held yesterday and the 120km is tomorrow. Yesterday I was fortunate to travel here with a British bird... Tora Thomas, who crews for Meg Wade in European rides. Tora is very familiar with the ride here, and has been showing me around the town and surrounds. Yesterday Tora arranged for us to go out with one of the French crews on the final leg of the ride, and that was an experience in itself! Even with only 10km left in the ride, 13 horses came galloping through the crewpoint within 2 minutes of each other. The atmosphere was electric!

Tora was crewing for the fellow who came 9th overall. I was standing out of the way biting my fingernails. The horses were flying past, and the riders were showing extreme determination and guts. All day I had been watching a Belgian girl on a lovely grey horse, who eventually came 2nd in the ride. I actually got my notebook out and started taking notes about her team's crewing techniques.... it was an eye-opening experience!

The ride itself wound it's way through the King's forest (15,000 hectares)... this is where the King would go hunting for boar and deer with his entourage. There are avenues throughout the forest where the ladies would follow the hunt in their carriages, and these avenues are signposted with extraordinary stone signposts about 10 feet tall. The crew cars hoon down these avenues, and along the roads, ignoring road rules and with our driver (a gorgeous Frenchman called Jean-Michel) swearing at the stewards! Not really something we would see in Oz!

The gallop finish was spectacular! The finish line was on the race track, complete with finishing post as you would see at a thoroughbred race. The crowd gathered in the stands, and the cheering and yahooing was very loud! After 160km, this was a true gallop finish, with the leading 3 horses battling it out until the very end. The race was won in an average speed of 16.5 km per hour.... with the final leg being run at a speed of 23km per hour.

Today we have seen the presentation ceremony for the finishers, and heard that the Belgian horse got the best conditioned award.... well-deserved in my opinion!

Tomorrrow is the 'Young Horse' Championship ride, for horses 7 and 8 years of age. this is a hotly contested race, and although is only 120km, is being looked forward to with even more interest than the 160km ride. In order to qualify for this ride, these horses must complete 4 x 90km rides, and they are given points for their overall position, pulse and speed during these rides. There are, on average, over 200 entries in each of the qualifying rides, and entries to the Championship ride are limited to the top 100 or so qualifiers. So, the interest in this event has been building over many months.

Tora has arranged to crew for one of the French horses tomorrow, so I should be able to send back a report from ground zero, as it were!!!!! Talk again tomorrow!

29 August 2006

The 120km ride for 7 and 8 year old horses was just fantastic! It was won by a French guy, in another gallop finish down the racetrack, narrowly beating a French girl. The horses all looked great at the end, and had great recoveries. The chap I was crewing for vetted out at the first Vet Gate, unfortunately, but that gave me a chance to closely observe other riders and their crews throughout the ride.

Once again I learned heaps.... I'm soooo pleased that I took the opportunity to go to this ride! I was also able to swap shirts with a number of people.... ended up with New Zealand, Belgian, Qatar, French and Great Britian team shirts. What a haul of loot!

While I was at Compiegne, Emma, Stacy and Bridget travelled to Clio's parent's place in southern Germany, and then on to Hanna Bourdeaux' place near Munich, and got to have a good look around away from the horses! And Yuko headed to Paris tocatch up with her sister and her parents. They were a bit over the whole endurance thing after WEG! Stacy and Bridget caught a train to Paris, and we met up in the airport prior to our flight to Dubai last night. The best thing was the evening departure out of Paris... it really is the City of Light! The views of the Eiffel Tower all lit up were fantastic!

We arrived in Dubai at 6.30am, into 40 degree heat! Straight to our hotel and into the shower to refresh.... the cold water tap spits out warm water!!! Then breakfast, a quick look at my email, and now we're off to do a bit of snowboarding! Yes, anything is possible here!!

We'll be back home on Thursday... our adventure is winding down now!

30 August 2006

Well, we're in the Dubai airport on the final leg of our journey... back to home, back to work, back to reality!

Yesterday we had a great day, and saw lots! Firstly it was off to the Mall of the Emirates, a huge shopping centre that contains Ski Dubai... a ski resort complete with several runs, a ski lift, a snow park with tobagganing and tubing, a mountain coffee shop, a restaurant with log fires.... the whole shebang! It was FREEZING cold, and quite wonderful!

Then we hired a taxi (very cheap.... about $35 for 2 hours) to take us to the Gondolphin gallery at the racetrack. The driver assigned himself the duty of tour guide, and we also saw camel stables, camels being trained on the 20km racetrack (huge!), and fit in a visit to the Camel Souk (market) for some souvenirs. We also saw horses in their yards, but the racing season has not yet started here. The Gondolphin Gallery is a museum containing photos and trophies of the Maktoum family's successes in the racing field.... well worth a visit! I would recommend that anyone interested in horses have a look at this gallery.... the Dubai Cup (about 1 metre tall and GOLD!) is on display here too!

Last night I spent several hours walking around the Gold and Spice Souks.... lots of lights, smells and sights! Although the gold sellers were very persausive, I refrained! One of the sights that will remain with me for a long time was to see the local women... dressed head to toe in black gowns and veils, display their approval at some particularly magnificent piece of jewellery, and then sit demurely by while their husbands haggled with the seller. Never in all my life have I seen so many men so enthusiastic about buying jewellery! Maybe Aussie men should pick up some hints??????

I am sorry to be leaving Dubai... one day is just not enough time to experience all there is to see here. I could quite easily spend more time just looking around.... and it is not an expensive destination, either! In fact, it's quite a relief to be here after the excesses of Europe and the Euro!

Gotta run.... they're calling my flight!

1 September 2006

Well, I'm back sitting at my own computer, and really still getting over the past three and a half weeks!

We arrived into Brisbane yesterday morning and were very surprised at the rain!!! Wow! It was like being in Europe! The drive home to Toowoomba was a pleasure, as the green tinges are beginning to show through.

Splendacrest looks good! While I was away we had over an inch of rain, and it drizzled on and off all last night too. The green is a welcome relief for me. My little dog, Jacquie O, nearly turned herself inside out with delight when she saw me. What a wriggler! She kept running up to me all last night as if to check that it really was me! I love her.

The horses all look good, and that requires a huge thanks to Shane Hopkins and all the girls who kept them working while I was away. So, thanks to Tarni, Lisa, Angela, Kirra, Jessica, Lynda, Beck, Amanda, Sam and Trudy! You are all just wonderful!

Thanks to all of you who have sent through messages of support to me. I really loved writing the reports from WEG, and hope that you all got something out of them. I know that my trip over there was well worthwhile, and that I learned heaps from the experience. If you have any specific questions, I would be happy to answer them privately.... don't want to clog up the list any more!

I'd like to thank both Trish Annetts and John Simpson for working so hard. These two, along with a cast of many others, really made this trip happen for me. I'm already planning my future trips to Malaysia and Kentucky!

But what about you? ANYONE can go along to these events! And Team Australia needs all the help it can get from dedicated and enthusiastic endurance people! If you are interested in attending future events like this, make your interest known to the people who organise them.... particularly the International Committee. Or just ask me! I'll keep hounding you to save the money and to improve your skills... yes, I'm still in "Chief" mode.... hahahahaa.

Sure, there are drawbacks and disadvantages to attending such events, but overall I believe that the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. Sure, you will hear horror stories about this and past WEGs, however you will also hear of the wonderful experiences and highs that were available for the asking. Sure, you will hear about personal disagreements and outright fights, but you must also ask about the personal development and insights that were gained. And you can be a part of it! Just ask!