The Outback Expat

Brisbane Park Run Tour – New Farm

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Of all of the Park Runs I have tried so far I would say that New Farm is my favourite. Me, Naomi and the Aussie have visited a few times so far and I plan to go back again.

1. Course

The course is lovely, it runs along the river which is one of my favourite places to visit in the city, and back again.

2. Accessibility / Manoeuvrability

The course has nice wide paths so it is easy to go past the other participants and people also enjoying the river on foot/scooter/bikes. Another plus is that it is mainly flat and there are markets nearby which you can enjoy after your run.

3. Volunteers

The volunteers are lovely, very helpful and informative. They are also very encouraging as you go past.

4. Photography

So far I have liked the photos which they publish after the event. They usually take them by the finish line when I try and get that last minute burst of energy to run!

5. Ambience

The best thing about Park Run is the ambience. Everyone is very supportive and positive and it really doesn’t matter if you run it in under 20 minutes or walk it in an hour. The main thing is that you are there giving it a go and getting better every week.

Mount Coot Tha Botanical Gardens

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The Aussie and I live so close, about 10 minutes away, from Mount Coot Tha and the Botanical Gardens and we have lived in Brisbane since June 2017 so it really was about time that we visited the Gardens!

We have both been working long hours including during the weekends so we set aside our Sunday so we could spend some lovely time together and also explore the gardens.

The gardens themselves are 56 hectares in size and we only touched the surface but it is such a lovely and tranquil space to have a wander, take a seat in a shady spot and watch the world go by.

There are lots of different areas including Lagoons, a Rainforest Walk, a Bonsai Garden and a Japanese Garden as well as some longer walking tracks.

There was also plenty of wildlife around the gardens including lizards, ducks and a LOT of spiders!!! The spiders webs were everywhere including between the plants that is an absolute nightmare for me!

We took a walk around the outside of the Gardens which was lovely albeit it a bit warm as the sun was blazing. Luckily there are plenty of shady spots under trees or a shade cloth if you need to escape the sunshine.

I really enjoyed our time, especially the Greenhouse area and also spending some time sitting in the Japanese Garden.

I look forward to getting back there again soon to explore some more.

Take a tour around the Gardens

The Unexpected Side of Weight Loss

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I would say that 99% of the time my weight loss is fantastic but I have noticed a few “side effects” of weight loss so I thought I would share a bit about that side of my “journey”.

  1. Being cold – I used to have a whole lot of insulation so now when the temperature drops I feel it! A plus side of that side effect is also that when it is hot I don’t feel the heat quite so badly!
  2. Perception – this goes in hand with number 5 below a bit. I know I am “smaller” and weigh less but I still get a surprise when I see how I look sometimes.
  3. Weight plateaus – these are very frustrating. You are working hard, eating well, exercising had and yet you aren’t loosing weight. I had this for a while before starting to work with Felicity Neale and with her hard work and assistance I got through that one. Now we take everything on a week by week basis and adjust as and when required. We have also discovered that stress, lack or not enough sleep all plays a big impact on my weight losses/gains and so now I work hard to keep them in check.
  4. Loose skin – this is probably the biggest side effect of them all! I have lost a lot of weight and probably have toned up as much as I can / will but there is still obvious loose skin on my arms, legs, stomach and back. I am working on having surgery to remove the excess skin but I am still quite conscious of it and how it looks to me at least and trying to hide it so it isn’t obvious. I have seen some people say that if they knew about the loose skin, they may not have lost weight. I never would say that. The benefits outweigh this “problem” and I can work on fixing the problem with weight loss surgery which is on the agenda.
  5. Shopping – you would think that shopping now would be great and on the most part it is. Before I lost weight I would be able to shop in only a few shops and even if I went to buy clothes I would have to go to a small section of the shop and would have very few options so would buy what was available and not necessarily what I liked. Now when I go shopping I can pretty much shop everywhere and know that as long as the clothes are in my current size they will fit and probably look ok and that is actually a bit overwhelming! I have gone in to shops before and had to walk out quite quickly because of the variety. I am sure I will get over it but it is a very strange feeling!

As I said at the start, I wouldn’t change the fact that I have lost weight but I think that it is good to reflect upon the unexpected side effects.

ABC of Autumn

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I don’t think I have ever done an ABC of Autumn but apparently the 1st March was the first day of Autumn. Autumn in Australia is not like Autumn in the UK but I am looking forward to the change in seasons and what those changes bring.

A – Adventure – now the weather is improving (because it won’t be quite so hot now) we can go out exploring and adventuring which hopefully will include some big walks.

B- Boots – I am quite looking forward to the weather cooling so I can wear boots, jeans, tights, the whole works! I bought some clothes in the UK at Christmas which I am really looking forward to puling out of the wardrobe during Autumn and Winter.

C- Citizenship – I will be applying for my Australian citizenship this Autumn. Once my application is reviewed I will have to take a test and I doubt that I will get a date about the test during the Autumn but it will be nice to get the process underway.

D- Dresser – the elusive blue dresser project remains outstanding! I really need to get my butt into gear and finish removing the paint so I can sand it and we can finally use it in the house!

E- Exploring – more of Brisbane and the surrounding areas. My wish list for visiting places in and around Brisbane is long and ever increasing but we found that it was just a bit too hot to get out there and explore in the summer, plus I burn extremely easily! As autumn heads into winter we will get out and about I think.

F- Find – find out how and when I can have the skin removal surgery which I want to complete as part of my health and fitness “journey”.

G- Goodreads – every year I sign up to the Goodreads reading challenge but I haven’t managed to complete it the last couple of years. I am aiming to read more and so hoping to that I can achieve the Goodreads challenge this year with lots of autumunal reading.

H- Healthy Living – I am excited about continuing to improve my diet and exercise regime so my health continues to get better and better.

I- Inspiration – to write down my weight loss story, to become a greater lawyer, to try and inspire others who want to loose weight but aren’t sure they can or how they would go about doing it.

J- Just – Just enjoy the journey. Loosing weight isn’t easy, particularly if you want it to be long term. It is a whole lifestyle change and some times a hurdle is harder than you can imagine but you get out the other side of whatever the challenge is and the rewards are well worth it.

K- Keep – keep working on the blog. I had a long hiatus whilst I was studying but have been good at keeping on writing for the blog. I have some ideas planned for updating it and moving it forward which should be achievable with the help of the Aussie.

L- Long Weekends – I am really looking forward to the Easter long weekend which is coming up this season. I don’t know what we will do but hopefully it will be an opportunity to explore and / or relax or maybe a combination of the two.

M- Memories – Making many many more memories.

N- New job – I started my new job this month and I am excited to see how the next few months play out.

O- Outside – I am looking forward to getting outside and into the great outdoors again. I love being out there.

P- Park Run – Due to the heat I haven’t been doing park Run during the summer. Instead I have been going out for a walk or run when I get up a bit earlier on a Saturday morning. Now it should be cooling down I can start getting back to Park Run and work towards that 50 runs shirt!

Q- Quality time – with the Aussie. Now that I am excited about getting out and walking I am looking forward to some quality time with him out hiking in the mountains and parks and things like that

R- Running – I recently started trying to get back in to running using the Zombies Run 5K app. I can run about 2km and want to increase my distance and stamina but kept getting frustrated because I couldn’t get past 2km so would stop running. The App is used to help you gradually become a 5km runner so I am giving it a go and hopefully soon I will be running 5km’s.

S- Selling – I have cleared out quite a bit of clothes from my closet which no longer fits me and so I am looking for a clothes sale and trying to sell some bits on Ebay.

T- Training – We have various walking / running events scheduled again for this year year and I am really enjoying my time in the gym so I am excited to keep on training to see how far I can progress again this year.

U- Unplug – I am still not the greatest at shutting off the technology so I want to set myself the goal of unplugging more often to enjoy things like reading and being completely present.

V- Vacation – I’d like to plan some small trips away with the Aussie. We will need to do some saving but hopefully we can make it work.

W- Walking – I love being fit enough to walk and I want to start hiking, I have even bought walking poles. The hikes I’d like to do will be a lot more challenging and hopefully get me over my fear of falling over on hikes!

X- (E)hibits – There are quite a few museums, galleries and art shows in and around Brisbane and I am hoping to get out and about to explore them.

Y- Yoga – I keep meaning to try a yoga class and my gym runs one which I can easily get to on a Saturday morning but I just haven’t made it to a class yet. I need to try and get to one this Autumn.

Z- Zooming – I have borrowed this one from last years ABC again but we will be zooming around on the buses, trains and ferries in Brisbane as we have such good public transport here it’s easy to get to most places in and around the CBD.

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