Rob's Christmas Post 2011

Another year passing but with big changes: I retired from the Geological Survey of NSW just over a year ago. I have had a year full of experiences, ideas and opportunities and I will relive some of them with you.
Retiring takes some adjusting to. At first it seemed like a weekend, then a holiday then a long holiday and then a series of weekends. It's great to have time to do things - less rush and time to actually read a book or find out how something on the computer works. Still I miss the social aspects of work but try to keep in touch.
Some of the things that have happened during the year:
Things happen: I was in Toowoomba visiting daughter Simone and grand daughter Seraphina at the time of the Toowoomba flash floods and the subsequent tragedy in the Lockyer Valley downstream - sometimes you're just lucky or unlucky. Simone's house flooded a bit and I saw two ladies being washed away - (I late found out that they survived). I posted a short video on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/barnesrg?feature=mhee#p/a/u/0/IBfPyEIP6c4 . A later drive through the Lockyer Valley was numbing - the place where many died looks so peaceful and rural.
People die: - I lost two dear friends - Dave Suppel my old boss, and Larry Scott during the year - and my aunties and uncles have also been slowly thinning out over the years - their loss makes you ever more grateful for being alive.
Travel: Lou and I travelled to New Caledonia (a gift for our birthdays from our gorgeous daughters) and have been exploring the local world. I enjoy train travel and we have been to Sydney many times on the train - it's a long trip of several hours but scenic and comfortable. The peak experience was going to the Australian Mining History Association conference in Hahndorf in South Australia - a week of adventure with a great group of dedicated people - fantastic series of short excursions to old mine sites and towns in the Adelaide Hills. And there were the visits to the Blue Mountains, Lithgow to see Diana and Toowoomba to visit Simone, Jerry and Seraphina.
Getting involved: It takes a while to figure out what you want to do with the new time you have. I have joined the Australian Mining History Association http://www.mininghistory.asn.au/, Royal Australian Historical Society been on excursions with the Amateur Geological Society of the Hunter Valley http://www.agshv.com/ and Hunter Earth Sciences Discussion Group.
Hobbies: I have been a keen photographer since university and now have the time to get more active again. I lashed out and bought a new and very advanced Nikon D7000 digital single lens reflex camera with zoom lenses. What an awesome piece of machinery/technology http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m37rC4f_ezM- it will take years to learn to get the most from it - but photography is not about the camera - its about being out and about and "seeing" the world around you.
When we lived at Broken Hill I took thousands of black and white photographs which I processed to negatives. Most of these were never printed so I bought a negative scanner and am now seeing for the first time some of the shots I took 35 years ago. It's an on-going project - still 2000 to go - and there are some beaut shots in there and its a real nostalga trip.
Concerts and shows: The Jersey Boys http://www.jerseyboysaustralia.com.au/ was a great show / musical. Lizottes in Newcastle is terrific as a dinner concert venue http://www.newcastle.lizottes.com.au/live/ - Ross Wilson, Robert Johnson blues tribute and every now and then a big one comes along - Cold Chisel December and Hall and Oates in February (2012). Exhibitions at the Maitland Regional Art Gallery http://mrag.org.au/ have been great as is their new cafe. In Sydney the Mad Square exhibition http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/mad-square/ was an eye opener and in Melbourne Vienna: Art and Design http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/vienna,-art-and-design was gorgeous. And Sculpture by the Sea at Bondi is always a winner. http://www.sculpturebythesea.com/exhibitions/bondi.aspx and the Outpost Art from the Streets exhibition on Cockatoo Island http://www.theprogram.com.au/Event/04-11-2011/outpost-art-from-the-streets allowed for a photo shoot day with John and Mike and a lovely ferry ride to boot.
Garden: Here most of the credit goes to Lou for her bold plans. We now have a fabulous herb garden and herbs planted all over the place along with a very productive vegie patch - the lemons were amazing - and in December we could have lived on zucchini. The roses and other flowers were spectacular this year because of the extra rain.
Building a business: I have built a small geological consultancy called Goldvine Exploration Services to keep me involved. I have been working for a small exploration company seeking cobalt at Broken Hill. As a result I have travelled to Broken Hill for a conference and to Sydney for meetings including the AGM. My pic ended up in a Quarterly report! http://www.bhpl.biz/about-us/our-team/management/
Setting up a small business has been quite good fun and I learned lots from Lou who runs her own very busy tutoring business. I have been loving getting back into actual exploration geology and re-learning GIS and putting other skills to good use.
Getting connected: Time has given me a chance to learn new skills with the internet - such as this blog - and making more on-line connections. I'm on Facebook and now love Twitter @RobBarnes112 https://twitter.com/#!/RobBarnes112 for its opportunities to get new information about the things that interest you. We also have WiFi and ADSL2+ which means we can stream shows from the internet - learning to love ABC iview and SBS shows and docos we missed.
Books and music: Especially worth a mention - Keith Richards (Rollings Stones) autobiography "Life" is an amazing if drug-laden ride through the life of a rebel rock and roller. Paul Kelly's book "How to make gravy" is a journey through his extensive songbook and the places and people that inspired his songs. "How to make gravy" is one of my favourite songs and although it is not very well known. It is Australia poetry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urRc_ntHjMM . Lou found a show we both love and fully recommend - look for the Smokey Robinson show in the archives - its great http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/welcome.html
Christmas cheer: All the best everyone. I hope you have a lovely time over the holidays and have the time to reflect and enjoy the things that really matter to you.

Maitland - swollen Hunter River

Bats flying out from Lorn over the swollen Hunter River. Taken from the Maitland Riverside walk, 28 November 2011

Ba

Leura Health Resort experiences

Monday night

First day at the resort and I'm sore and tired and starting to get hungry - about 1/3 of what I would normally eat and doing exercise things all day - mostly women 20-40 and a couple of other blokes. I hope I can last out - some of the ladies have already been here for several weeks. Today was measure up, circuit (2hrs) food session, lunch (minestrone), boxing on lawn, pool games, stretching then for dinner open lamb sandwich ( I should be losing weight from this). Some of the other starters today were not doing too well – over did it I expect.

I have a lovely room (twin room with 2 double beds) but rarely am in it as we are out all day - gym, pool, boxing on the lawn and tomorrow walking. I just hope its all for the best in the end. The talk was that the second week is the hardest but I think that this meant that it was harder to lose weight on the second week. You need to be prepared to be very active.

Tuesday afternoon
Hi again

I didn’t do the walk today but had a session in the gym with just one other girl and a personal trainer who went thru all the moves etc. and machines. I was conked out at the end – cardio on bikes for about 40 minutes in two sessions and I think it was partly due to have not quite enough food. Its been drizzling today and is very cool. Glimpses of the beautiful cliffs and mountains. Food for rabbits but designed for weight loss but most is quite edible. I am missing sweet things a little.

The ladies in the group are very friendly and chatty – one lady has been here for 9 weeks (a record) and still has a lot to shift.

Going through so many clothes and they end up wet and sweaty. I have hand washed some clothes but they are taking days to dry in the bathroom. There is a laundry run on Thursday.

I an very tired today – dinner at six then I’ll be back to rest.

Wednesday
Another day - gym session (circuit) then a walk to Leura and back for lunch then an afternoon in the pool. The pool is undercover and very warm and comforting to sore muscles. It has been cool and drizzling/foggy for two days.
Leura is a pretty village like place with lovely gift and specialty shops,cafes and restaurants. Its fairly close to Katoomba which you can glimpse through the clouds on the next ridge to the west. There are beautiful gardens along the route of the walk to town and some absolutely lovely homes.

After 3 days I am feeling a bit fitter but have been taking it fairly slowly as I don't want to get injured - one girl come from NZ and got an injury in her legs which means that for two weeks she can't do much.

Things are settling down a bit as a routine becomes apparent - thankfully the people who have been here last week or for longer help explain how things work and I guess I will be doing the same next week. The group is very supportive of one another and generally friendly.

Each day has had an education session - so far there have been a naturopath (lots of gobblegook) and diet sessions and today a session on trying to understand why you are here and what your goals are which was quite interesting and provoked differing responses from different people.

The resort is actually huge - some mega hotel built sometime ago and its obviously been through a long bad patch with evidence of lack of maintenance. However, the place has been bought out recently and some new money is being spent. There are not too many customers apparent though there have been a few Japanese tour groups stay for the night.

I am glad that I can get onto the internet which works fairly well which allows some contact with the outside world.

I'm not so sore tonight, mainly because the day was lighter overall and I had a long warm soak in the heated pool.

Gosh Thursday already

Different sort of day today - a bit of a sleep in with start time at 8.00am rather than 7.15. After breakfast a seminar to follow up on yesterday about setting goals and understanding why you ended up at a health resort and didn't take better care of yourself at home. Interesting.

After morning tea another circuit session - a bit haphazard but it worked - followed by boxing by the outside pool. Lovely and cool weather.
Lunch was tandoori chicken wrap - tasty.
Most of the group went on a long bush walk but because of my limited mobility I went on a more gentle walk to Sublime Point. What a gorgeous place and the walk to the point was past fabulous rich gardens - obviously very moist - bird aplenty.
The walk was for about 1.5km with some steep stairs at the end which were ok when you have a walking stick and plenty of time.

Friday – more of the same general program. More circuits and more seminar sessions and meagre food – well measured food. It is amazing how your appetite changes when you are eating less.
The evening meal on Friday is a soup – as weigh in day for the week is on Saturday. Lentil and onion (or possibly celery, whatever it was) was fairly undercooked and quite crunchy.
Saturday – circuit session and then a weigh-in to see how we had gone for the week. Everyone lost weight and it seemed that just about everyone had some number at which they were the best – as it turns out I lost most from my hips which was quite unexpected. It was good to actually have some weight loss for the week to make all of the exertion worth it.
Saturday afternoon is free time and for me was mainly just recovering from the week past. I felt exhausted. Watched a movie on the computer as the internet was down.
Sunday tripping to Govett’s Leap.
I didn't finish this blog as the internet was down for the last of my three weeks. Net result was that I lost 10.2kgs in total. I was happy with that but the weight numbers weren't the main game for me. I was fitter and more mobile.
6 months later
It's now August 2011
I have been doing quite well but haven't lost any more weight - I have put a couple of kgs back on but that's not surprising as immediately after the time away I injured my foot limiting mobility and then old habits have been slowly creeping back - I do like red wine. A trip to New Caledonia and visiting French style cake shops didn't help. But I am more conscious of my eating and I have even booked in for another couple of weeks in a months time.