Shepparton Half Ironman

Well, the weekend of the 18th November had arrived! After months of training it was becoming a reality. The last 2 weeks we had been tapering, which means decreasing the long hours of training but still maintaining enough to not lose your fitness. It's a strange feeling, not being able to train as much as normal and I actually found I was so much hungrier, even though I was doing less exercise.

Saturday morning we had to register and put our bikes into the bike compound. Our bikes were easily the least expensive and sophisticated there amongst some that were worth $20,000. Then we went for a quick dip in the lake, that was literally so brown you could not even see your arms in it! Never swum in anything like that before! It wasn't that cold though, which was good.

Slept quite well Saturday night, always a bonus and woke up at 4am. Still calm, I managed to eat 3 Weetabix and a banana, giving it enough time to digest before the 7.10am start. Calm right till the off and the first 200m of the swim. Then when the next two waves of people came past, I lost it a bit and was seriously wondering what on earth I was doing, trying to survive amongst the 1,200 other swimmers. But once they had all passed me by and there was just a handful of other slow swimmers left, I got back into my rhythm, determined to finish. When I came out in 55 minutes (there was a one hour cut-off) I whooped for joy, as if I had finished the whole thing :)

The bike went according to plan, 90km (56 miles) in 3.5 hours. It was made up of 2 laps in an oblong, 2 sides I had the wind behind me and I was flying at 30km/hr but the other two were tough going struggling into the wind doing 20km/hr.

The run was made up of 3 laps of 7km and took longer than normal - 2:11 hrs but I managed to keep running the whole thing whilst others were walking. At the end of each lap you were given an Ironman wristband to show you had completed each lap and I still haven't taken them off! Finally, after 6:42hrs, I crossed the finish line, completely estatic and emotional! I came 853rd out of 1,200 entrants so very pleased with myself. And more to the point, felt great afterwards, a slight pull in my hammie but that was all. I have barely ached and today, 4 days later, have just run 10k. So all, in all, it was a very successful weekend and we are all still on a bit of a high from it :)

Kona Ironman World Championships

British girl Leanda Cave (33) has just won the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii !!! Caroline Seffan (who won Melbourne IM) came in second, 1.34mins behind her :) Leanda also won the 70.3 Half Ironman World Championships a few weeks ago!

It's been ages since I last blogged but nothing exciting has really happened! Sam had all his hair cut off which was rather sad, first time in 8 years. The Boys have just had two weeks holiday which they enjoyed by sleeping in, playing on the xbox and seeing their friends!

Chris went to Singapore for a week but wasn't that impressed with it. Lafha (Living Away From Home Allowance) has now finished, so we have decided to apply for Residency. This will bring the cost of Uni down and means the Boys can decide where they want to live when they are older. It doesn't mean we are staying here permanently, but at least till the Boys have finished school.

My weeks consist of studying (I am now halfway through my course) and training for the half IM in 5 weeks! I have been training really hard, this morning I was at the pool at 7am and swam 2.5km. Tomorrow I am cycling 100km and running for an hour. On Thursday I ran past Cathy Freeman (twice!!) - Australia's 400m gold medallist in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games :)

We went to Lorne for the weekend recently. Chris took part in a 120km ride which included 10km up a very steep hill. We rented a nice house and Will took 3 friends along with him (Jack and Sam were working.)

The footie season has now finished so Jack has just got himself 2 new jobs. One is at a restaurant by the beach in Mordi (waiting and bar work) and the other is reffing indoor soccer. Sam tends to work Tuesday evenings and Sunday at Bunnings so they are earning lots of dish! Sam passed his "L's" test last week so I will have to start taking him out to practice. He was sooo pleased with himself!

We have one of Jack's friends staying with us at the moment from the UK. Jack is over in Australia for 6 months playing cricket and is the guy our Jack spent his famous cricket days with at Christmas 2 years ago :)

Think that's about all for now :)

News Just In....!

Exciting news! (well, I think it is!) I have secured a place in the Shepparton Half Ironman on November 18th!!! This will incorporate a 1.9km swim (just over 1 mile), followed by a 90km ride (55miles) ending with a 21.1km run (half marathon, 14 miles).  This morning I rode 82.5 km so nearly there (but my legs were pooped afterwards!), last week I ran the half marathon and I'm up to 1.6km in the pool. Put them altogether though and it's a different matter. I would like to complete it in 6.5/7 hours... better get training...!

London Olympics 2012

Well, what a couple of weeks the Olympics provided us with! 4/5 of us got up at 5.15am to watch the Opening Ceremony (Jack didn't!) and we weren't disappointed! A lot of it was on in the middle of the night for us but we were able to avidly catch up the next day and eagerly checked the medal table every morning :) This is one time when we were sad not to be in the UK. Loved watching the Triathlons (which we watched live) and the cycling and athletics.

Both Sam and Jack went skiing last week. Sam did cross country skiing which he quite enjoyed while Jack ended up teaching his class mates downhill skiing, none of whom had done it before! Had to get up at 3.45am to take Jack and his friends to North Melbourne to catch the coach!

I did my third Half Marathon yesterday and was very pleased with my 1:54hr time and recovered very well too! Each one I am getting a little bit faster:)

Our friends from the UK, Joe and Fiona and their two daughters Charlotte and Lydia have been over in Australia for the past month and this week they arrived in Melbourne. We spent a really nice weekend with them; Chris, Sam and Will took Joe to an AFL game at the MCG while I went round Melbourne Museum with the girls. Then yesterday they came to ours for the day with Joe going to watch Sam at his football match :)

New House

We are now in our new house in Parkdale and have finally unpacked all the boxes. It was a bit of a manic weekend, what with the move, Jack's 18th Birthday and me starting my Personal Trainer course. I had spent the week packing all the boxes and having got the keys on Thursday afternoon, had shifted a lot already. But we had a man with a van (well, 2 men) coming at 12 to help with the heavy stuff like the sofas, washing machine, beds etc. But at 11.20am I got a text to say they couldn't come because of a death in the family! Luckily, Chris managed to find another company who arrived 2 hours later and it was action stations! In the evening, we had a lovely meal at Longrain with some of Jacks friends - the food was Asian fusion and was delicious.

Sam  had a weeks trip to Canberra 2 weeks ago with school and last week had work experience , helping at an after school club called Kelly Sports with Primary aged children. So he was able to come with me to Ikea to buy and put together some wardrobes, draws, bookcase etc on Wednesday. He has officially started his new job at Bunnings with the new store opening tomorrow.

I am enjoying my course though today the guy taking it spoke really quickly and I found it difficult to understand what he was saying! I am able to get the same train as Jack and Sam, though we all sit in different sections of the train depending on where we need to get off :)

Will put some fotos on Flickr soon of the new house...

Half Marathon number 2!

We did it!!! And I beat last years time by 1 minute :)

On the Move...

We have found a new house !!! It's in the next suburb and the address is 50, Rennison St, Parkdale, so you can check it out on google. It's a great location - 10 minutes walk to the station and 5 minutes to the beach and a few minutes from Mordi in the car. Jack and Sam aren't too pleased because they wanted to be nearer to their friends in Brighton, but the rest of us are. It's only 3 beds so we are going to make the study into a bedroom for Will. We get the keys on Friday 20th July and will move over the weekend, so it's all systems go!

The Boys are on school holidays at the mo but aren't doing too much apart from sleeping and playing on the x box! I have started my Personal Training course on line so have been busy doing that. On July 23rd I will start going into the city for 2 days a week to do the course there.

I am on countdown for the Melbourne Half Marathon on Sunday. My hamstring is still playing up so not sure how it will go and am having an easy week sports-wise in the lead up to the big race!

Watched the first set of the Murray/Federer final at Wimbledon on Sunday night with Sam but it didn't start till 11p.m. here so I was falling asleep by midnight! Glad I didn't stay up to watch the rest! Poor Andy - I'm sure one day he will manage it!


Jack's 18th birthday is looming (16th) and we are off to a very nice restaurant in the city called Longrain on Saturday 21st, so it's going to be a very busy weekend! I will post some photos on Flickr after the major event :)

June - Wills 14th Birthday

This week it was Wills 14th Birthday. We went for a Mexican meal in the evening, then this weekend he has had some friends over for a sleepover. He really enjoyed his weeks work experience at the primary school - maybe this will be his vocation? The last two weeks he has been into the city every day with school on the "Mordi Experience". They visited places of interest and had to ask people to participate in questionnaires. It helped them find their way around the city by train and tram and on foot - Will loved it!

Sam has got a job at Bunnings which is the Aussie version of B and Q. They are opening a HUGE new store just down the road from us in July. 2000 people applied and 120 people got jobs, so he did well. He has been on several training days and loves the fact that he gets paid to sit there and listen!

Chris has been increasing his cycling and a couple of weekends ago did a 110km hilly ride in just over 4 hours. I have had to rest from running the last week because I have tendonitis of the hamstring. Ran 10k yesterday and the pain seemed to have gone due to the strengthening exercises I have been doing.


Had to take Jack to the physio yesterday because he turned his ankle playing football about 5 weeks ago and it keeps re-occurring. He has broken one of the ligaments in the side of his foot, so will have to wear an ankle brace for at least the next 6 months when playing. It is holiday time again here and Jack has 3 weeks off SEDA. Sam and Will don't finish school till the end of next week and only have 2 weeks off.

We had an earthquake here on Tuesday evening!!! I was sitting on my bed talking on the phone to someone in the UK when the window sill and wall started moving from side to side! It was a strange sensation and I was wondering if I had had too much to drink! It only lasted 30 seconds but measured 5.5 on the Richter scale and was the worst one in Victoria for 109 years! Everyone was posting comments on Facebook!

The Welsh rugby team have been doing an Aussie tour over the last month and we went to watch them play the Wallabies at the Etihad Stadium last Saturday, hence Will in his Welsh rugby shirt. It was a great game but unfortunately, Wales lost by 1 point in the last few seconds.

We put an application in for a nice house in Parkdale this week but unfortunately, so did 2 other families, and we found out yesterday that we didn't get it :( No nice 4 beds in Mordi at the moment but we still have a couple of months.

Think that's about it for now...!

May 2012

May is fast passing us by and we are back into our normal routine.  Sam celebrated his 16th Birthday a couple of weeks ago, receiving an i fone from us. Nat, Jason and the Girls came round for pizza while Chris went off to Brisbane. At the weekend he had some friends over for a sleepover. Sam has a couple of interviews lined up for part-time jobs.

Tomorrow, Will is starting a weeks work experience at a local Primary school, about 20 minutes walk away, which he is looking forward to.

I have been looking after Natalie's daughter, Chiara, for 2 days a week since we returned from the UK. Nats parents usually look after her on the days that Nat works, but they are in the UK for 8 weeks, so I am doing it. Very different to looking after boys - we spend all day playing "make believe" with the dollies!

 We have had some news in the last week, neither of which are good. The Australian Government has decide to axe a tax benefit to temporary residents called LAFHA (Living Away from Home Allowance). It has been in the pipeline for ages, but it was understood that for those people already on it, it would continue for another 2 years and they would just stop it for newcomers. However, they have decided to stop it for everyone as from the end of July. This means we will be $3000 worse off a month, $36,000/year, which makes us wonder whether it is worth staying since the cost of living is so high over here.

We have also learnt that the owners of our house wish to return to it in September, so we are now looking for somewhere else to live.

I am thinking of signing up for a course to be a Personal Trainer, but this will take 6 months to achieve so am looking for a part-time job as well.

So, it could be all change in the Morgan household....

Easter Holidays

We returned to Mordialloc today having spent nearly 3 weeks in the UK. The Boys managed to spend a lot of time seeing their friends in Romsey and doing a lot of shopping. We nearly had to buy another suitcase just to bring Jack's new wardrobe back!! Chris and I went to Paris for 3 days, enjoying the facilities of the hotel, the food and the sunshine. We went to the Louvre (not my favourite bit) and the Musee D'Orcy (which was better) and even had dinner one evening up the Eiffel Tower.

I went away for a spa night to Bournemouth with Mum whilst Chris went to work in London for a couple of days, interviewing new people to come and work out in Melbourne.

It was lovely seeing everyone again ... thankyou to everyone who entertained us! I now have to start thinking about cooking again after a 3 week break :(  There are lots of new pictures on our Flickr site :)

Back home to England

Another month has whizzed by and now it is only a few days till we fly back home to the UK for 3 weeks. The Boys are getting very excited to see all their friends again and the 3 weeks is pretty much full.

Had the Mordialloc Food and Wine Festival last weekend, that was a great day. Chris and myself walked down, sat on the grass from lunch time with a bottle of wine and some tasty paella, listening to different bands playing in the sunshine - not a bad way to spend the day! Throughout the day the Boys dropped in so that they could get some food too! Late into the evening our friend was playing in the Swing band, which proved very popular with the locals who knew all the moves!

Yesterday (Sunday) was the last Triathlon of the season and Will came to cheer me on! Have done 8 Tri's since November starting with several "mini" events and finishing with a couple of "sprint" events. My greatest achievements so far this year were doing the 1.4km Australia Day swim and the Olympic Distance Tri, which I still can't believe I did! Now for the half marathon in July and the full in October!

However, yesterday has given us a new goal to aim for in a few years time.... the first Ironman Triathlon took place in Melbourne and it was an awesome day! The competitors have to complete a 3.8km (2.4 mile) swim, 180km (112 mile) ride and a 42km (26 mile) run (marathon) in under 17 hours. They started the swim at 7a.m in Frankston, did the ride along the Eastlink motorway and the run was from Frankston , along Beach Road (so through Mordi) up to St. Kilda. This event, which had 1,600 competitors and cost $775 sold out in just 4 minutes!

We went along the beach to support these fantastic athletes with our hula skirts and cowbells ! The winner was the 3 time world champion Craig Alexander (Aus) who completed the course in just under 8 hours! The fastest female was only 38 minutes behind him with a British girl, Rachel Joyce, coming 2nd!!!

Later on in the evening, Nat and myself headed up to the finish line at St. Kilda to cheer on the amateurs who were finishing in 12/13 hours where the atmosphere was awesome! On the way home we passed a few stragglers who wouldn't finish by midnight, so unfortunately, after all their hard work, would not be called an Ironman :(

The Boys have now been back at school for 2 weeks and into the swing of early mornings again! Must admit, it was a bit tricky for the first few days and they did find it difficult to string a sentence together, but think we're there now! Sam is now in Year 10 and Will in Year 9. This week Will went on a 3 day surf camp to Lorne and had an awesome time but was exhausted when he got home! Next week he is going to swim with seals - not quite what's on the English school curriculum!!

Jack has started his new SEDA course (Sports Education and Development in Australia) and is specialising in football. It's a 2 year diploma in Sports Management and Coaching so he gets to play football virtually every day - right up his street! He has also been doing quite a lot of reffing.

Sam has started training with his new football team "Bentleigh Greens". They seem a far more professional set-up than the team he was playing for last year (Brighton) and he likens it to Eastleigh Academy who he played for in the UK, so that is good.

Chris was in Sydney for the week and had quite a stressful time. His operation seems to have been successful - he now goes out for 3 hour bike rides including hill-climbs and has cycled into work a couple of times.

I have been making some blinds this week and am doing some interior decorating for Natalie next week. Had a Tri this morning - conditions were hot (33 degrees) and windy (30km/h) so not the best. Am taking part in the PRW Corporate Triathlon next Sunday since someone dropped out of the PwC team and Chris kindly offered my services! There are over 6,000 competitors - the largest Triathlon to take place in Victoria! Let's hope the weather conditions are better than today :)

Olympic Distance Triathlon!

This morning I completed my first Olympic Distance Triathlon in 3.20 hrs! This is composed of a 1.5km open water swim, followed by a 40km bike ride and then a 10km run to finish up.

I didn't enter till yesterday because I was in two minds whether to do it or not. The forecast was 30kph winds coming in which would make the swim difficult. But I went ahead and spent the rest of the evening wondering what I had done!

Didn't sleep a wink all night, so got up at 4.45am and headed off at 5.25am, arriving nice and early in the pitch black but with plenty of choice of parking spaces!

My age group went off at 7.23am. The water was flat which was fab, till you had 1,100 competitors in there and then it roughed up somewhat! Certainly didn't enjoy it but managed to get around.

Then we had the longest ever transition from the beach running to the bike compound, it was ridiculous! The bike and run legs I was really pleased with. The 40km ride was along Beach Road, my normal training ground, so it was nice because I knew the course so well. I thought the run was going to be a killer but I actually enjoyed it and felt good, over-taking quite a few men who were giving up and walking!

I reached the finishing posts with the biggest smile on my face :)

Weather wise, it's been a strange old day. When we started the swim it was 28 degrees, by the time I finished it was 33. An hour or two later, the winds they forecast arrived, the temperature has dropped to 17 degrees and we are now in the middle of a tropical storm and had a power cut for 4 hours!

Poor Jack has been reffing all day so will be absolutely soaked when I get him in a minute. In an hour they have indoor footie and then we are off out for dinner to celebrate Chris's birthday and my first ever Olympic Tri :)

Rookie of the Tournament!!!

Today, Sam had to attend the Ballkids party at 11a.m and he has just texted me to say that he got an award for "Rookie of the Tournament"!!! Not only that, but he is on Rod Laver Arena for the 4th day in a row! Today he has the mixed doubles semi finals and the women's doubles finals!!!

Yesterday was Australia Day so everyone had the day off. Chris went for a 75km bike ride and I did the Great Australia Day 1.4km Swim with Natalie at Brighton. I was very pleased to complete my first open water swim of that distance in 40 minutes! Then it was back to Nat's for a barbie, whilst watching Sam on the

TV ball-boying Kim Clijsters v Azarenko and then Maria Sharapova v Kvitova.

4.15 pm :- I have just been sent a text from Sam which reads as follows... :) Andy Murray was over the moon to find that Ballboy 184 (Sam) will be ball-boying him in his semi against Novac Djokovic tonight :) I'm the only first year to make final squad.

WOW!!!

That was the week that was!!

Well, Sam's week at the Aussie Open has just got better and better! He'd been on Margaret Court 3 times which he was chuffed about, but then on Monday, he was allocated the Hisense Arena (number 1 court) and was sooo pleased! Usually the "newbies" (1st year Ballkids) don't get to go on the two main courts so he felt honoured. I decided to go in and watch him and managed to buy a ticket from a lady for only $40 - and it was 3 rows from the front and in the shade all day so I was VERY pleased!

It was a fantastic line-up. First of all it was the Legends Doubles which was between Henri Leconte/Guy Forget and the "Woodies" - Todd Woodbridge/ Marke Woodforde. Henri Leconte was hilarious, messing around the whole time but is still such a great player. They went on to win the match.

Next was Jo-Wilfred Tsonga v the Japanese boy Nishikori. A 5 -setter which had us sitting on the edge of our seats and was won by Nishikori - a real upset! He is the first Japanese man to reach the semi-finals and he certainly deserved it.

Finally, it was Richard Gasquet against David Ferrer and it was Ferrer that won.

As we came home on the train together, Sam was on a complete "high"! I warned him that he probably would be put onto an outside court the next day.

But it was not to be!!! Yesterday (Tuesday 24th January) he went in for an 11 o'clock shift. He texted me to say he had been put onto Rod Laver Arena, the Centre Court over here! How I would've loved to have seen his face when he found out! We were all estactic for him and I managed to get a ticket on-line!

He had Pat Cash/ Goran Ivanisevic in the Legends Doubles, then Azarenka v Radwanska, followed by Caroline Wozniacki v Kim Clijsters. Aussie Kim played really well and managed to win the match against the World's number 1!

Finally, he had Roger Federer v Del Potro!!! I was such a proud Mum to see our Son ball-boying the Champion of Champions, Roger Federer! And what an amazing experience for him!

So, today, I REALLY thought he would be back to an outside court, but no! He is back on Rod with Maria Sharapova and later, Andy Murray v Nishikori.

He has written a list of all the people he has Ball-boyed and wow! What a list it is! All he needs now to finish it off is Nadal and Djokovic!!!

Masses of new fotos on Flickr to your right. Wonderful that the Grandparents and lots of people in the UK have been able to watch him on Eurosport :)

What a week!

First day Sam was on Court 3 and was ball-boying Mardy Fish amongst others. Tuesday, he was on Margaret Court (3rd largest show court) and was servicing the match with Ferrer and then Dokic.

Although we didn't go to the tennis on Tuesday (because Granny and Grandad were leaving), we watched Sam on TV instead! Lots of the Boys friends were face-booking to say they had seen Sam on TV!

Wednesday, Sam had an amazing day! He went in at 4pm and was on Margaret Court again. The first match he had was between John Isner (who had the epic 3-day match at Wimbledon 2 years ago) and Nalbandian. It was an incredible match to watch, with Nalbandian playing better although Isner was the seeded player. It went to a long 5 sets, with a bad (and incorrect) call going against Nalbandian at the very end so that Isner won.

Then on came Baghdatis (CYP) and Wawrinka (SUI), an immense game. The crowd was full of Cypriots who insisted on singing inbetween each point! It was more like a very rowdy football crowd rather than a tennis audience, I have never seen anything like it! At one stage, Baghdatis was so cross with himself for losing a set that he broke 4 of his rackets by slamming them on the ground! Eventually at midnight, Stan Wawrinka won the 5 set game and Sam and I got the last train home at 1a.m.

See all the new fotos on our flickr site (press on the fotos on the right to enlarge them.)

Into the city we go...!

Had a busy day today. Judy, Tony, Jack and myself went into the city and went first of all, to the Queen Victoria Market, stopping en route at Melbourne Central to see the conical glass window and clock that plays "Waltzing Matilda" on the hour.

Then we headed for Melbourne Park, to watch Sam in action on Court 12 and to support our English players James Ward and Laura Robson through their first day of Qualifying. Laura Robson played convincingly, winning the first set 6 - 3 and the second set 5 - 0. Then she lost her nerve to close the match and we sat there for another nail-biting half an hour, till she finally won the second set 6 - 4!

Tomorrow, Granny and Grandad are going for lunch on the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant and Sam is having a day off!

(click on the "latest fotos" on the right to see further pictures and to enlarge them...)

(Forgot to say, Judy Murray was watching Laura Robsons match!)

The Australian Open begins...!

Today, Sam had to go in for Orientation Day , the day before the Qualifying Tournament begins. Basically, it was a press release and they took all the Ballkids to stand outside Parliament House in Melbourne for a foto shoot. Sam is standing third row from the back, 2nd one in from the right!

We are all really excited now as the AO is about to commence and we are looking forward to going to see Sam in action on the first day, the 16th. He came home with 16 free tickets today two of which are for the first Monday evening in the Rod Lever Arena (Centre Court) - guess who's having those!!!

There are 20 Ballkids from Korea, 9 from NSW and WA, 5 from S.A and 2 from Tasmania, the rest being made up from Victoria. Ana Ivanovic (World No.22) attended the press launch. Sam saw Andy Murray today who actually smiled at them! Laura Robson, our young English hopeful, is playing in the Qualifiers, so we are hoping to go and see her this week and offer her our support!

Chris goes for a Harley ride

For Father's Day (last year) the boys gave me a Harley Davidson ride. Being so busy has meant I haven't had the chance to do it until now.

So this morning I went off on a one hour trip hosted by 'John'. It was great fun cruising around on the bike along the coastal road (Beach Road).

Thanks boys!

On your bike!

Hi All,

Summer is well under way now here in sunny Melbourne with the temperature touching 42c yesterday.

Lovely weather to be relaxing in or sitting on the beach.....but Chris and Caroline decided to do a 70k bike ride!!!!

It was something we had already registered for as part of an organised event called 'Amy's Ride'. The event supports road safety for cycling following the death of Amy Gillett in an accident a couple of years ago. Amy was one of Australia's top cyclists and was knocked down by a reckless driver in Germany and killed.

The ride took place in Geelong which is about a 30 min drive south of Melbourne. We set off at 5.45am (gulp) and even then the temperature was approaching 20c. Our friends Natalie and Jason were also doing the ride so we met up with them. The route took us out into the countryside and then along the picturesque coast. The temp was getting hotter and hotter but there were a number of drinks stations along the way. All was going well until Chris took a wrong turn and ended up doing an extra 4k despite people trying to get his attention!!

The last 30 mins of the ride were hard work (for everyone except Caroline) and someone on a bike next to me registered the temperature at 46c!! However we all made it safely to the end which was a great feeling. 2000 other cyclists also completed the course and in the afternoon there was a pro race. However we decided to go and have a well deserved lunch in a nearby cafe. You can see a map of our route here.

Today us normal human beings are feeling a bit knackered...but Caroline was off at 8am for a swim. Is it madness, addiction or just motivation.......??!!

This afternoon Chris and Jack are taking Mum and Dad to the airport for their trip to Brisbane for a week. Then they are back with us for another week to take in more of Melbourne including going to watch Sam at the Australian Open :)

More photos on our Flickr site as usual and more updates soon.....