High Ropes Course, Abseil, & Climbing Wall training ... "full on" cut away rescue challenges ... plus a great mix of FUN & LEARNING

splendid view over the Murrumbidgee River Valley ... & the newly greening hillsides ... from the top of the Climb/Abseil Tower (Febraury 18, 2007)

Hi everyone,

I had started this posting back on February 19th but forgot to include this in my latest update ... so here you go ... I've added heaps more to what I originally started & a whole pile of pic's to help you get a sense of the excitement & challenges that I experienced & enjoyed during this 4 day training block ...

Feb. 19th, 2007 - I had quite a good day today, not nearly as "full on" as the 2 days of fairly intense individual high ropes course work we just completed ..

Here I am getting up to the high ropes to do a "cut away rescue" of Elle ... this is a rescue practice we need to know for getting a participant down if they were to get seriously injured and/or go unconscious for some reason ...
Teresa climbing up the 15 m pole to get to the spot where I "hook in" (Feb. 18, 2007) ...
Teresa throwing down the abseil line that is used to lower myself & my patient Elle down after I cut the climbing straps that she is hanging from in her harness
... Teresa "quickly" making my way out to the patient ...
"clipped in" & ready to "cut away" the straps attached to my patient's climbing harness ...
Success in "cutting away" to free Elle and bring her down on the safety line I had clipped in to her harness ... see the blue strap that has been cut ...?

The Climbing Wall & Team Machine activities were more relaxed yet full of challenges, & lots of fun was built into this part of the training block. I made it up the Jacob's Ladder on the Team Machine part of the High Ropes Course with Benny Kaiser ... the higher you climb, the horizontal rungs get progressively further apart ... thus making the climb to the top that much more of a challenge! Here we are working together to get up the ladder ... as we get closer to the top, we can't reach the next rung completely, thus balance & support from each other is hugely important!

Teamwork taking us higher (Feb. 18 2007)
Whoa! ... almost lost it but we regained our balance & kept moving up :)
slow & steady to reach the last beam ...
WE MADE IT ... YIPPEE!!
Teresa enjoying the abseil down from the top, while Benny waits for his turn (Feb. 18, 2007)

I also had a great bike ride this morning ... saw a splendid sunrise plus a total of 29 roos on my morning bike ride ... as well as 2 big eagles up in a big dead tree ... On my way back down the big hill to Naas Road, I saw the lower end of an excellent rainbow ...

Then tonight after dinner, there was a full arch of a rainbow after the big thunder storm that preceded the major downpour that hit us for a burst of about 15 minutes or so ... the full rainbow arch was also doubled for a while ....

the rainbow activity lasted for at least 40 minutes!!

I even saw a couple more roos on the grass ... where I ended up taking quite a few more rainbow pic's, here's one of the better ones ...
what an amazingly clear & full rainbow (Feb. 19, 2007)

Teresa's first time on the climbing wall ... I named this climb "Nadia" ... since I just caught up with my little sister Nadia that morning on the phone ... & in deciding on what to "name" this climb, I figured I would name it Nadia because I wanted to be able to tell you all about my success with this climb & how you inspired me to make it to the top!! I am missing you heaps kiddo & wishing you all kinds of fun in your adventures in Deutchland!!!!(Feb. 19, 2007)

Here I am at the top of "the chimney" ... nothing to really grab onto ... you just brace yourself with your legs & arms on the opposite walls of the chimney ... note the fashionable pant legs tucked into the socks, part of the fun we can encourage our participants to do, to get into the fun of climbing :)

Teresa nearing the top of the climbing wall ... I am on the left ... Pecky is on the right (Feb. 19 2007)
I'm almost there & I DID make it :) The middle section action proved to be the biggest hurdle for me!

I am/was a pretty tired tuck after our final day of climbing fun & the swim I did in the late evening from ~9-10 p.m. .... sooooo, now it is time for my head to find a pillow and my body to fall into sleep mode for a decent length of time .... ideally without the pesky mozzies (mosquitoes) that were hampering my sleep last night ... I have the next 2 days off and am looking forward to the break :)

~~~

Well, now that it has been a fortnight (2 weeks) since these fun, "full on" training blocks took place, it's been great to review & enjoy the clambering about at these heights with all of you ... I will get caught up on my more recent update as soon as I can, likely no later than March 7th, our next RDO ... the day that I plan to finally redo my Bronze Medallion swimming times ...

As for a mini update on my training activities for the beginning of March, I am in the group of ROMEO's who had Radio training today & tomorrow we are back on the climbing wall & high ropes course for our competency assessments, which includes the cut-away rescue which we need to get clipped into our patient 15 m above the ground in the middle of one of the high ropes activities. Then, ... instead of the 4 wheel drive training we were scheduled for on the 5th & 6th, we are heading back out on the water, to get more paddling experience on the Murrumbidgee River & make the most of the abundance of water that has recently been blessing this Namadgi area that we are in.

Following all the fun & excitement I've shared from this training block in the middle of February, ... things have simmered down quite a bit since then & I find that more & more I am missing everyone back home heaps!! The training & awesome learning are most excellent, ... but another significant challenge I am dealing with is the significant absence of the likes of ALL of the splendid people in my life who are "back home" ... this included all of my dear friends & family who are scattered about Aussie land & elsewhere around our dear planet Earth. Please write or e-mail when you can, it will be great to hear from you & help bring a little bit of home closer to where I am here "Down Unda"!

Wishing you well in the frosty temperatures and winter weather that has been visiting you back in Canada & the U.S. ... & whatever other weather you are experiencing in your "neck of the woods".

Hugs 'n 'Bugs, love,

Teresa

p.s. by the way, the picture of me a couple of postings ago, with the pizza I made, ... you'll see that my hair is shorter ... a couple days before that I had given myself a haircut with Chris' clippers, ... not bad for a solo effort!

... don't worry Karen, I can't do the more refined cutting & suberb thinning or whispy job that you are able to do with my hair ... but in your absence, I will have a little fun with the clippers to keep things trimmed and cooler amid the higher temperatures which seem to be rising back up to the pre-thunderstorm conditions we've had the past few weeks!