Hello to you all

I hope you had a happy and safe New Year. My New Year’s Eve was ok. I couldn’t get up to any mischief because I am right in the middle of a training block leading up to the Olympic Trials which are on in about 7 weeks. In fact – at the moment I am away on a training camp experiencing a lot of pain – haha – all for the greater good though.

Wow. Didn’t this year start off HOT here in Queensland? I was actually looking forward to going to training each day there for a while so I could jump into the beautiful cool water. I am definitely not complaining about the heat though. I LOVE summer and would rather be melting than freezing any day. It was really hot for my poor dogs though. We ended up buying them one of those plastic shells and put some water in them for the dogs to sit in. They didn’t last too long though before they got a good chewing.

I managed to finally go on my birthday present trip (almost a month later). We zoomed over to Tangalooma and stayed for a couple of days. I LOVED feeding the dolphins over there. I had a really great time and our guide Reece made it all the more enjoyable for us. I highly recommend it if you get a chance to head over there.

I have also been enjoying watching the cricket and the tennis this month. The cricket boys have been doing some amazing stuff on the field GO AUSSIES and the tennis players are all looking very colourful on the court while they are doing their ‘thing’.

I have also done a few sponsor/charity events this month. I chatted on the radio to promote the 24hr treadmill challenge to help the fight against Leukemia and then zoomed up to Jetts Fitness at Morayfield to take part and be there on the day.

Being a part of the Queensland Academy of Sport i often get the opportunity to talk to young up and coming swimmers about swimming, training, and life outside of sport. 

I recently had a chance to chat with the JX Bronze Swimmers at Chandler Pool about balancing school, training, diet, and life away from the pool.

Speaking of charities I have linked up with Asthma Australia this month. Being a chronic asthmatic I really appreciate all they are doing to help others like me and I am more than happy to support this great organisation.

Yesterday I went to the Suncorp Piazza at Southbank in Brisso and had a chat with heaps of young swimmers who are aspiring to achieve their goals in the pool.

Brenton Rickard, Christian Sprenger, Kyle Richardson, Kylie Palmer, Libby Trickett, Steph Rice, Yolane Kukla and myself had a good time speaking about our experiences at swim meets and also shared our tips and advice for training. I hope that we all were able to give everyone there the information for which they were looking to be able to achieve their dreams and goals.

After that finished I zoomed home, threw my bag into the car and drove to the Sunny Coast where I am right now on my two week training camp.

Have an awesome AUSTRALIA DAY on the 26th everyone. I LOVE AUSTRALIA DAY. Aussies rule !!!!

Enjoy being back at school (if you go to school that is)

Have fun and take care,

I hope 2012 is amazing for you all.

HAPPY NEW YEAR