Each year we head to Launceston for one of the Hawks’ AFL games. We always have a great weekend catching up with friends both at the game and in an associated round of activities that has now become tradition.
This was my first visit since I got Glass and I was really looking forward to it; in particular, going for a run through Cataract Gorge and taking pictures of the beautiful scenery there.
On the first morning we woke up to dark grey skies and pouring rain, so it didn’t take much for this always reluctant runner to decide I would wait until Sunday and see if conditions improved (as the photo below shows, the fact that the lights at Aurora Stadium were necessary at 2pm illustrates that Saturday didn’t move on to present any better opportunities! ).
The next morning I woke up to fog and a temperature of 2 degrees — again not the most enticing of conditions — so decided I’d wait till the afternoon when the sun was forecast to appear. The predicted top temperature of 12 degrees was certainly not going to present any likelihood of overheating!
We decided to take the kids to the indoor sports centre to burn off some energy (eight boys under the age of ten do not occupy easily in the constraints of a hotel room) and they happily disappeared into laser tag while the mums drank coffee and read the Sunday papers. Where were the dads you might ask? They vanished to the golf course as part of that associated round of traditional activities, leaving us to occupy the testosterone overload remaining.
Post laser tag, the kids moved into indoor trampolining and this is where things got interesting. Firstly, it looked like awesome fun and secondlys I was freezing and they were sweating up a storm, so it seemed a great way to warm up.
I paid up, got my arm band and headed out to get bouncing. The kids lured me into the dodgeball area and shrieked with glee while they pelted balls at me, so I jumped my way away from there pretty quickly and challenged Sam to a game of mother son bouncing hoop-shooting.
I got away to an early lead but Sam was making a strong comeback and unfortunately history will record that while I was gleefully jumping up and down making the universally recognised sign of the choker ,when he failed to capitalise on an opportunity to draw ahead, disaster struck.
I landed oddly, my ankle gave way and I made a less-than-glamorous exit crawling off to find solid ground. To further add to the pain, shortly after the skies cleared into a beautiful blue, making for the perfect Cataract Gorge photo opportunity. But there was now as much chance of me going for a run as there was of me getting selected to play in next week’s Hawks side.
My family will tell you I am nothing if not persistent when I have a goal in mind (actually they are usually a lot less polite about it than that) so after strapping up my ankle, I was tried to figure out how I was going to get those shots I wanted so badly.
Inspiration struck as I remembered there’s a chairlift that goes across Cataract Gorge, so I drove myself up to the carpark, hobbled over to the chairlift and bought a ticket for the return trip.
Voila, got my pictures, which were just as good as I had hoped. The freezing temperature as I rode across The Gorge acted as a natural icepack and was an added bonus!
The run I didn’t do would have taken me from the city through The Gorge to end up at the base of the chairlift.
Not quite the way I had planned to get my photos, but there is always a way to solve any problem (other than possibly the one that saw me fail to realise that the distinct lack of other adults on the trampolines should have been a warning sign!).
You are nothing, if not tenacious. Rest and mend quickly. xx
No end to your adventures – hope the ankle doesn’t hold you back too much, and comes good soon. Next post “Glass on crutches”???