OZ BLOG PART 4

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES

 It's a well known fact that Ozzie sportsmen/women pretty much excel at whatever they have a go at while we Brits try to keep up with them or think up devious ways to better them. Ever since The Match that concluded with the burning of the bails and the interment of the ashes, cricket has never been the same and they even have a decent soccer team, an excellent record in the pool, a stunningly good rugby team, tennis players, golfers, cyclists, runners, rowers, ....you get the idea.

 As you will have ascertained by now, I have been out and about a bit, on my own, on my borrowed bike. I have chalked up the best part of 300km. During that time I have watched joggers jogging, bikers biking, walkers walking, swimmers swimming, surfers surfing, rugby players rugbying, soccer players doing just that, and all kinds of splendid and energetic pursuits. The common factor? Every one of them takes place outside, in the sunshine, in good weather, albeit in pretty high temperatures, whilst at home our sporty types are either indoor training, waiting for a break in the weather or taking a couple of winter months off until the whole thing takes a turn for the better. And of course here, it's a year round opportunity to get out there, in the sun and be active.

Now I'm not sexist, but I can also tell you that the atmosphere of my morning or afternoon cycle is certainly improved not only because of the weather, but also the company I keep. On the shared paths, bikini tops jog past, wired for sound with GPS trackers fitted, bronzed elbows pumping, pony tails swishing, the passing aroma of coconut alluringly following. I ride past schools both junior and high where great oceans of green are set aside for physical activity. From on high, swimming pools twinkle blue in the back gardens of dwellings all over the city. Children turn out of their coach on the seafront and charge towards the water clutching body boards and dive into the surf free of spirit and inhibitions. Cycle paths are wide and on both sides of the road, motorists forced by law to give pedal power a wide berth.

This lifestyle, this healthy, outdoor lifestyle, goes on 365 days a year here on The Sunshine Coast, and while our cricketers prepare for the coming test series in an indoor complex somewhere in the bowels of Mordor, here in Rivendell, the Ozzies, having just won The World Cup in March, are now putting their new fast bowling quartet through their paces under the warm, comforting and familiar sun.

But yet, it does rain. Serious rain. Hard rain. Warm yet stingy, it can cascade from the sky as it did today while we visited Australia Zoo. This is the zoo run by the family of the late Steve Irwin of Crocodile Hunter fame. Ironically, unlike Whipsnade, my local zoo, where I have accompanied many a soggy school excursion, Australia Zoo actually provides numerous shelter points along the paths winding in and out of the rainforest which houses the myriad animal life. For half an hour the rain fell, enough to call an abandonment of a day's cricket. But no. A mere half hour after the rain stopped, the moisture had gone. The paths were dry and play was resumed. The zoo came back to life and proceedings resumed. Crocodiles continued to bask, Tigers prowl, kangaroos kanga and the insects and reptiles resumed battle in the undergrowth. Life went on, unabated, unhindered and unashamedly positively under that warm Ozzie sun. No wonder for some the saying, 'if you can't beat em' join em' becomes a reality.