We sonographers were greeted with a box of flowers in our rooms on arrival at work today. Plus there was a collection of baked goodies in the tea room. Turns out it was International Sonographers Day (and I hadn't even realised)!
Also a few days later a box of sweet treats were delivered to work - a thank you from a very grateful patient whom I squeezed in for an urgent scan.
Ahh it's nice to feel appreciated at work :)
Our neighbours knock down rebuild is progressing...very slowly...finally some movement to clear the black and put up a fence!
A few new pictures meant a rearrangement of the front room.
Mum and Dad surprised us with this lovely hand painted (by one of their friend's) picture of Pippa and beautifully framed by Dad. We moved our charcoal sketch of Meg from the hallway and positioned them next to each other in the front room.
We then shifted the girls baby photos to around the corner and reshuffled some of our favourite photos around.
And finally we arranged for an acrylic print of a panoramic photo Andy took while on the top of Guthega Trig. It is such a special place for our family and looks perfect on our wall!!
Well briefly! Blooms are abound in the garden but lots of rain is on the horizon.
Once home we all agreed that our dogs were much calmer but possibly that was because they were exhausted from their trip away too!
The Australian Relay Champs was the final event of the carnival held in the fast gold mining terrain of Campbells Creek. Having had the long distance and then the disco the night before, the girls arrived looking like zombies! However there also was a sense of adrenaline in the air too.
Turns out that the ACT schools team were having a finish chute challenge for the boys and the girls. The time taken for the finish chute split for each day were added together and the winner being the fastest accumulative time. It just so happened that Katy was leading by 1 second from Ella who was 2 seconds ahead of Justine one of the senior girls!
Perched up on the edge of a large gully which formed the finish chute and a spectator run through on top of the other side it was another good event to be spectating at.
And in the Finish Chute Challenge, after today's race all three girls were equal!! On reflection of the competition, one of the races was removed as some of the boys had a different last control. By placing this finish chute time in for the girls, Justine was deemed the winner closely followed by Ella and then Katy.
With a long drive home, we were keen to get going. First though we had to slightly detour back past the girls accomodation as Katy had left a sentimental necklace on the window ledge. Luckily the detour was too long and on arrival we tracked down the cleaners who had already found the said necklace.
Back on the road we stopped for petrol and I bumped into a friend I did my ultrasound course with who lives in Wagga whom I hadn't seem for several years. We had a quick catch up before continuing on. As we were approaching Albury we got word from those ahead that the Hume Hwy had closed due to a truck fire and we were required to deviate through Wagga! It was slightly frustrating and not what we wanted. We ran into more trouble when we tried to rejoin the Hume only to be confronted by a swollen Murrumbidgee River! With phone reception dodgy, we managed to get back on track eventually arriving back in Canberra well after dark. All in all it was an interesting orienteering holiday being separated from the girls. As for the girls they were both exhausted but keen to continue orienteering in the hope they make the team next year for a trip to WA!
Australian Long Distance Champs - Nuggety Range, Maldon. The terrain described as ' Detailed granite hills and alluvial gold mining. Linked by broad and sometimes steep gully spur and a green maze. Breathtaking views.'
Now on their 8th run, the girls were looking tired not a great start for a long distance event. Katy finished off her week with another consistent, steady run placing 15th.
Ella had a long day out at the office - spending 20 mins on the first leg. Much to her credit she continued and unfortunately came unstuck again on the 4th control (a boulder on a hillside of granite) spending another 20 mins looking for it. Various reports from other orienteers saw Ella taking a break on top of a boulder enjoying the breathtaking views. She said she was tired! Her perseverance shone through and she continued on to finish her course just shy of 2hrs! We were all getting a little worried by this stage.
Andy was 5th feeling a little cooked from too many consecutive days of hard running.
