Turners Beach

I so love 'running' my circuit around Turners Beach. As close it is to civilisation I feel like I am there alone and noone hears me cough! Running past the Berry Patch and across the railway, through the fields, a few miles along the beach,... loving it!

Bus driver Wally

Betcha didnt know I had a bus license? Here I am driving some Devonport Hashers to the OnOn. Below is a random picture of the Carols by Candlelight evening in Devonport.

Normally this is held at the Soundshell on the Bluff (very nice there), but this year Devonport City Council decided to hold it on some
flat oval as there was construction going on near the Bluff. The council has really ruined the festive season in Devonport. No Christmas tree, no fireworks, major road construction (in two places) going on... Not a pleasant place for tourists or locals alike right now.

Devonport Show

Time for the Devonport Show! Last year the second day was such a wash-out that entry was free! This year wasn't too bad. Rain on the afternoon of the second day added a nice touch to the agricultural show with the smell of rain, food and manure all nicely mixed and wafting together. The Loane's livestock was well represented and they even had their own pavilion for the judging!

Always interesting to watch the travelling interstate 'show people' with their sideshows and stands at the show, the other animals, and the people that attend. I helped catch a budgie, Ree smuggled water into a cage for a thirsty rabbit, we petted goats and cows,...

Litter bugs in Canberra

Nothing irritates me more than dumb people, women in this case, both smoking in the back seat of a car and throwing out cigarette buts. In Tasmania I have the litter-report form in the glove box... Lucky my mother in Canberra doesn't have one handy. This image was taken 20 October 17:37hrs. on Hindmarsh Drive at the Athlon drive lights. Call me pedantic, but at least I didn't report them...

Report littering: Call Canberra Connect on 13 22 81 or complete the Canberra Connect Feedback Form

Burnie Ten

Wow, did it. Ran the Burnie Ten. Was mostly a very slow 10km jog and brisk walk and good coughing! Took Ventolin with me and had a few puffs on it during the run.I had started antibiotics again a few days before as I got sick. Two weeks without antibiotics and I am done for. Hope the antibiotics keep working for me as I really need them obviously!

I ran the Burnie Ten 10kms in 1hour and 25 minutes or so, whereas last year I got 1hour 10minutes. The difference was perhaps that I was a bit healthier perhaps, but also because i took half a Viagra which boosts your system (and gets you over the line 1/2 an inch quicker). Next year i will do the Viagra again. For the Mount Kinabalu mountain trip Viagra didn't do much in my opinion as the event was more than a few hours. Viagra will only last so long (sorry ladies). Anyways, glad The Burnie Ten is over and done with. Was a fun event, loved every minute of it.

One friendly lady on the run asked me if i had Ventolin in response to my coughing fits. When I said yes she next asked me if i had taken some! People are pretty concerned about us coughers en-route. Hamburglar, a fit and young hasher ran with me for the most part of the run. I told her, 'see we are still passing people' as we slowly jogged past a few walkers. Then I would stop and cough and 50 walkers would pass me again before I break into a gentle jog again. I turn to her again and say 'see we are still passing people', and I could see her thinking 'yes the same once we passed three times already'... At the 5.5km mark some Hashers appeared out of the bushes to give me small beer. That was the only brief stop I had I think.

Here is the run as I did it: http://runkeeper.com/user/waltervp/activity/18494287 .

PS. In the official results it said I took 1:26 but failed to deduct the 2 minutes it took to get to the starting line. This is an electronic system, and the results for everyone shows the time across the finish line as well as the adjusted time. For some reason both of mine are the same (indicating I started right up front). I started the run with Jess McDonald whose tie was adjusted 2 minutes, so I am pretty sure my actual time was 1:24. Yeah!

120 Inspirational Coasters!

Wow, got a mention in the top 120 most inpirational coasters!

Hopefully the next bike ride adventure will inspire more people with disabilities to go out and take some unnecessary risks!! It's all very nice till someone gets seriously hurt, than it become hilarious...

www.coughing4cf.com for the whole story!

Watching life

View from the office was interupted by Aurora men climbing trees. The above ground powerlines are a bit of a worry perhaps. Can't we move the lines?? Make us all go solar or have wireless power....

Apple Cider Vinegar?

Well, lots has happened since my last entry... I went to Borneo and attempted to climb Mount Kinabalu. Ended up in Canberra Hospital after catching some nasty virus, Lauren moved back to Hobart, and I am going for a good bicycle ride again soon.


My new revelation is that perhaps the crucial ingredient  in my acid/alkaline diet is the Apple Cider Vinegar.... Hard to tell when you try as many potions as I do, but I feel that the Apple Cider, with mother, is a significant factor. More later.

Time is flying...

Time seems to go quickly.

Went for a nice motorbike ride this afternoon to Burnie after my run around Turners Beach. Had a good late-lunch there and rode home past Bastard and Pioneer's place in Penguin. FannyMay was pillion on my bike. Soon she will have a bike herself!

My keyring got pinned by Bastard...


The house on the edge of Turners Beach...


Recovering at home with a little plate of pre-dinner snacks for myself. Who says you have to belong to the less than 2% of people who suffer from CF, I am enjoying the CF diet, certainly not suffering there!!

More exciting things on the horizon....

Dutch Bike in Canberra

Came back from holidays and brought home a Dutch Bicycle from Holland! The temptation was too great. Had three days in Holland and was flying straight to Canberra... Did cost me an additional 60Euro for a cab from Santpoort and 43Euro for British Airways to ship it from Amsterdam to London, but Qantas carries it free as a sport allowance! The bike was second hand of course.

It will stay in Canberra till I have a proper house in Devonport, probably another year...

Pulse Oxymeter

Flying to Brunei in an A320 I register about 85%, and my fellow passenger, KoalaBear registers 90%. On the ground I was 95%. Assuming I am 5% below the other folks I think I might be OK! Next flight, in a week or so, I will try half a Viagra and see if I improve - that is if I remember!

Exercise

Keeping fit and training for Coughing with CF in polluted environments is tricky. Walking around town is probably the best for me, but running is out - not to mention finding a place to run. The hotel gym looked good, but coughing and spitting there seemed wrong!

Hopefully we will soon get back on the training schedule and run in the tropics! I am ready for some exercise after all the flights.

Sent from my iPhone

Chinatown

As most of you know I started my www.coughing4cf.com adventure. As a form of  'private diary' I thought I'd start blogging here:

Flight to KL was fine, except for the fact that I noticed my oxygen levels even in the pressurised cabin was very low. Handy to have the device with me to tell me that, but very worrying at the same time.

On board I bought a prepaid phone SIM for a few dollars. In KL I realized that this service doesn't give me Internet over the phone network. I can still connect on wireless networks, which is fine, but means I have no iPhone maps in the street when I need them:

Last night I went to meet the guys at Chinatown. I thought I wouldn't need a map..... Was told to get on monorail. People there told me to go to station X. I get there and ask for Chinatown and get told  by passengers that I have to go to station Y. There I got told to go to station Z... There i saw a sign to 'Chinatown'. Walked for 40 minutes and got totally lost and decided to find a cab. There was no taxi anywhere to be found. I saw a durian stall - indicating I was miles away from the tourist routes.... Eventualy found a cab. He refused to take me to China town. But then at a petrol station someone offered me a lift. 20 Minutes later I got to Chinatown and found the guys there in minutes! 

They had finished dinner... I thought finding china town would've been simple and locating them hard. With the iPhone on the Internet it would've been EASY! this is why I need Internet on the phone... Ah well.

I probably should've stayed in the same hotel as guys, but they saving money by sharing in a cheap hotel and i was worried I might be quite sick from the flight and booked the 4star Novotel. Killer, Flasher and Cheese bought lots of stuff at the markets but I am over my 15kg allowance with all my meds, so I had to restrain myself!

Today we fly to Brunei! Thrust and Ross arrived last night and we're in same hotel and will go together.

Had the best lunch in hotel yesterday!! Unbelievable yumcha style food in a buffet. That and a clean fresh room where I could nap, nebulise and shower etc made a big difference. From mow on I'll be sharing...

Sent from my iPhone

Kids in my life!

No no no! Not like that! I just went out with Cindy for an hour to a local playground and tired out her grandchild Lucia (and her step-sister Bianca)... Still, nice to go to a playground and play with kiddies once in a while. Grandma Cindy does not act like a grandma at all...

Back to pH levels

I heard from a nurse that when people present in hospital with blood that is too acidic they give IV fluids with Alkaline in them to correct the pH. Further research has shown that there is such thing as RESPIRATORY ACIDOSIS which I would say could be something that people with CF probably constantly live with in some measure. That would explain why eating more alkaline foods might correct this tendency.

Still feeling heaps better than I have in the past, and all I can say it clearly started when I started watching my diet a little. All I do is try eat more from the alkaline forming foods; drinking a bit more green tea, have soy-milk on my muesli, add some pickles to my snacks/sandwiches, add Spirulina, which allegedly is an alkaline supplement, to my pills and potions... More of my musings, including this one, on the acid-alkaline balanced diet -here-.

Homeward Bound

Plenty of stops along the way, but I managed to get back to the NW Coast of Tassie without too much trouble. Back to the domestic challenges of everyday unusual life...

Balancing pH

Since I have been thinking about this acid/alkaline stuff. It is not a diet, it is more keeping things balanced. We are in general too 'acid' and need to eat more 'alakline' foods to be balanced. However a friend of mine was told by a doc who measured her saliva pH that she was too alkaline and had to eat more acid listed foods. The message is that we can go both ways, and we just need to watch it. Maybe I should get some of these pH measuring strips and see where I actually am on the scale.... But still feeling really good!

Fixing Cystic Fibrosis?

People often ask me if CF comes in different severities. I guess it probably does, but some seem to fare better then others. Someone recently alerted me to the acid-alkaline diet and said from needing a lung transplant 10 years ago to 70% lung function now he swears by it (and medication/life-style too of course). I started it about 6 weeks ago and must say my lungs have been incredibly good ever since. No idea if it really is that, but... Quoting mostly from http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm (and many like it):

Human blood pH should be slightly alkaline (7.35 - 7.45). Below or above this range means symptoms and disease. A pH of 7.0 is neutral. A pH below 7.0 is acidic. A pH above 7.0 is alkaline....



The reason our pH is too acid in our society is mostly due to the typical American diet, which is far too high in acid producing animal products like meat, eggs and dairy, and far too low in alkaline producing foods like fresh vegetables. Maybe that is why I have been relatively well!

To restore health, the diet should consist of 80% alkaline forming foods and 20% acid forming foods. Generally, alkaline forming foods include most fruits, green vegetables, peas, beans, lentils, spices, herbs and seasonings, seeds and nuts. Generally, acid forming foods include: meat, fish, poultry, eggs, grains, and legumes.

Spirulina is an alkaline seaweed based supplement that I have been taking daily in the morning with a pickle or two in the afternoon, and watching the food lists a bit - giving preference to alkaline foods from many lists on the internet... Coincidence or not, but geez, I am starting to suspect it might be this simple diet!

Time bilong PNG

Visiting Andrew in Port Moresby for a couple of weeks.

Nothing much has changed in the last decade. Still a need for high security, living in compounds, tough cars... I am trying not too drink too much. Really hard knowing there is a cupboard full of duty frees including the bottle of Canadian Club I brought, and beer in the fridge.

Food at the supermarket is incredibly expensive and food in nice upmarket expat restaurants is remarkably cheap. Needless to say every meal has pretty much been out of house.

Oh, and my Tok Pisin (Melanesian Pidgin) is still acceptable!! Enough to show off to the office staff at Andrew's Global Technologies' office in Konedobu!

Tasmanian Sign

It is not often you see Tasmanian Signs. Coming down the Forth Hill last week they had roadworks. No idea what the sign on the right is, but I am sure that it is obvious to the locals.

Canberra for Easter

Easter in Canberra on  a moped from Motorini!

Breath of Life Concert 2010

A pretty cool event, http://www.breathoflifefestival.com.au/!
Lauren and I went along for this concert. From 10am till 10pm it is a bit hard to remain entertained, but we just chose the big names.


This meant we started our day with Deni Hines. After that a few beers at Molly's as the event was alcohol (and smoke) free! After a few Guinnesses we were brave enough to face Troy Cassar-Daley and Kasey Chambers. Time out at the car for a couple of homebrews before my favourite; Diesel! This called for a celebratory drink in the car, we had a special bottle of Seven Shed Kentish Ale, cold in the esky.


And the final act was Jimmy Barnes & Band. Huge!

So lucky to have them come to us! And really, an alcohol free event when you can park the car within a hundred meters or so, and even drive off to the pub for a break, is unheard of in most of the civilised world.

Furlined State Capital

Today I rode home from Woolworths with $115 worths of groceries (41 items). Not a bad effort I reckon. Real problem when you can't resist offfers like 3 for $6 when it comes to 2 liter juices and soymilk,...

On the 8km+ ride home I always laugh at the Turbo Chooks (native hens) which can run at 50 km/hr, stop to pat the bulls in the paddock, see the odd rabbit, geese, noisy plovers, horses, plenty of smaller birds and always some dead possums.... I guess the fact that we have so many animals in the state means lots get hit on the road and hence the title for Tasmania; 'The Fur Lined State'.

Pony Pooh

Ponies are very curious, and they found a way to look at the house (they cant see over the wooden fence) through the little nookie in the back-yard.


Collecting some Pony Pooh to start off our new compost bin...

Lauren kick-starting the compost with secret formula and a bag of potting mix. Watch out garden, here we come.