After much form filling, record retrieval and yet another health check, I have finally been able to submit my application for permanent residency here. It hasn’t been easy, but fortunately friends and family have come to the rescue and provided the required validation and sponsorship. However, by comparison to some of the other hurdles I’ve had to jump, this one hasn’t been too bad.

It will still be some time before we learn of the result, good or bad, hopefully the former. We have opted for the approach of overwhelming them with paperwork, something bureaucrats seem to like, so all being well, my application will sail through.

Quite apart from the practical side of not needing to keep renewing visas every few years, there are lots of advantages to taking this step. Access to Medicare and other government benefits is only a small incentive. Rather, getting a consultant job will be infinitely easier as a permanent resident since local contrivances compel hospitals to give priority to citizens and residents.

I have no objection to this sort of nepotism as protecting one’s own native workforce is critically important. Interesting that, if the UK government had the same attitude, it’s not certain that we would have come here 3 years ago.

The country couldn’t have been a starker contrast to Adelaide being a lush verdant rainforest. The sheer volume and vibrancy of the flora constantly surprised … pleasantly so, of course. Of less desire was the constant rain. To start with, and having arrived dessicated by the South Australian climate, it came as a blessing. But after a couple days of non-stop drizzle, interspersed with downpours, it wore increasingly thin. Mostly as it impaired our ability to go out and partake of the cultural and visual riches. However, it did explain how and why everything was quite so green.

And it still didn’t get in our way completely, as a small break allowed us to climb up to a waterfall in the hills. Fed by clean rain, we swam in the plunge-pool and then walked through some of the most beautiful bush I’ve ever seen.

Also an opportunity to try Kava. This mild narcotic is relatively unknown outside the West Pacific, but has many of the desirable effects of alcohol with near none of the undesirable. It is a strange substance, initially the drink tastes vile … like dirty water. After suppressing one’s gag reflex a mild numbness of the tongue occurs. Then, a feeling of calm detachment without a loss of mental acuity. I’m not normally one to try “drugs”, but there seemed too many pros to miss out. Nor did Regan.

Unfortunately every silver lining has be contained in a cloud. Mine being struck low by the worst case of Traveller’s diarrhoea I can remember. Which naturally put somewhat of a crimp on the rest of the holiday. Fortunately a case of physician-heal-thyself came to the rescue, and Western medicine is making everything better again. A great pity in many ways, but it won’t diminish some great memories of a pleasant break away. A chance to leave all the pressures and hassles of life behind, albeit it temporarily.

Remainder of the photos here.

Warm-up:
An utterly standard run through of the usual muscle groups and exercises, in the usual order. As with the previous release, our legs don’t get much attention and, with the small number of overhead presses, this feels like a particularly easy track. Fortunately the music comes to the party and I found this one more motivating and uplifting than many of the previous offerings. BodyAttackers will recognise it from the last release, Release Me by Linzi Paul.

Squats:
The intensity ramps up with this release. Unlike the previous release, this track better combines strength and cardio training, with plenty of full-range and bottom-range singles. We get 4 rounds, with a very short break in the middle. The first two rounds just have full-range singles with the latter two rounds getting both types. I also felt that the beat was a little fast and, as a result, the singles feel a little rushed. Music: DOA by Telstarr.

Chest:
This is going to be a good test of our endurance, and comes as a good contrast with some of the easier tracks recently. The reason for this is the long final round. We start with two identical rounds of slow ranges, bottom halves and singles which aren’t too arduous. But after a short break the real work starts. After similar slow ranges as the first two rounds, we get alternating sets of bottom-halves and full-range singles, 16 and 24 in all respectively. The test here will be to maintain form even while fatiguing during the latter phase. Music: I Gotta Feeling by TransNoise.

Back:
An unusual track this time. And not just because we see a welcome return for the consecutive clean-and-press. The chore is straightforward enough with 4 very similar rounds. The first one starts with dead-lifts and rows before moving onto the clean-and-presses back to rows before finishing with the, now obligatory, wide-grip triple rows. The subsequent rounds go straight into clean-and-presses with only the last lacking the triples. Now for the unusual aspect, the choice of music – Mysterious Times by Sash feat. Tina Cousins. While it is a standard enough dance number, the whole sequencing doesn’t really work and it feels like me should be doing dead-lifts while we are resting and doing rows much of the time. Perhaps this is because it previously featured as the lunge track in BodyPump 31.

Triceps:
A fairly busy track this time, but it flows well, starting with supine bench work before finishing with some standing overhead extensions. The track also features lots of bottom-halves presses with 12 sets of 4, in all. We also get a return of the pull-over combo that has featured too often to mention … so much so that it could become a standard inclusion. Fortunately we do get a short break during the bench work as I found this a pretty tough track overall. Music is a cover of Cascada’s Evacuate The Dance Floor by Studio88. RPMers and Attackers will recognise this one as it features in the current releases for those programs too.

Biceps:
A short and punchy track this release. And again, fairly straightforward with the choreography with 3 very similar rounds. The innovation this time is a 3/4-range single, concentrating on the top-of-range. My speculation is that they are designed to eliminate the rest phase at the bottom-of-range and increase time-under-tension. In reality, unfortunately, they don’t work as a move. Stopping abruptly at 1/4-of-range is too much encouragement to let the elbows slip backwards and momentum to occur. I’ve adapted this and instead do bottom-to-3/4-of-range, which works better as it eliminates the rest phase at the top-of-range and doesn’t promote swinging so much. You’ll all have to try the two for yourselves and decide which is better for you. Music is a cover of Linkin Park’s New Divide by Crimson Ltd.

Lunges:
A great return to form with this track. There’s nothing complicated with just static and dynamic lunges. After all the recent fancy innovation tracks this one works well and actually feels surprisingly hard and will make your calves ache. Long static rounds per leg really enhance that fatigue especially with 2 sets of singes and 2 sets of bottom halves, both pulsed and 8-rep-sets. The dynamic ones are standard enough, but push the cardio endurance aspect. Music is a poor-quality sped up cover of David Guetta’s When Love Takes Over by Olsen Bjerre.

Shoulders:
In keeping with recent tradition, we get the opportunity to punish our shoulder muscle groups with this one. Start off with quite a few push-ups before moving onto rear-deltoid raises, lateral raises then grab the bar and finish yourself off with some overhead presses. The new move here is the top-half-2:2-pulse, very similar to what featured in 72’s Chest track; the idea being to move slowly within ROM while maintaining the contraction. A clever feature of this track is having the singles early and completing each set with slower ranges, which means we can still maintain form at the end, even while fatiguing. Probably the best thing Glen has done since taking over. Music is a cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit by Warp Brothers, which has previously featured in RPM 34 (thanks Fi).

Abs:
A mixed bag with this release, some good and not-so-good aspects. The track starts with crunches, this time standard and reverse simultaneously bringing shoulders and bum off the mat. These are alternated with twisting crunches, with the option to add in leg extensions. Then we finish with some hovers. To start with they are cued as twisting as we did in #70, but given they plagued my shoulder injuries, I did the “threading the needle” version from #66. Then we complete the working phase of the release with some travelling hovers. We lose the benchtop this time and it makes for a better paced track.

Warmdown:
Again nothing special, not there needs to be, with less leg stretches than recently. Overall a pleasant way to finish the class. But not perfect, as the insipid-rock track No Surprise by Daughtry doesn’t really inspire a feeling of achievement.

Overall Impressions:
A great release this time round. For the first time in a while I liked it straight away, and having done it a few times now, it only gets better. With a couple of exceptions, the music suits the tracks and is upbeat enough to carry us through fatigue and discomfort.

I also like the simple back-to-basics approach with most of the tracks having facsimile rounds, which makes for a consistent work-out and means the instructors can concentrate on technique and tempo without the distraction of complicated routines.

The only fly in the ointment is that illogical 3/4-range in Biceps. I suspect it was included because the fast beat of the music precludes full-range singles and in a flawed attempt to carry through a theme from 72’s shoulders. Pity they didn’t do a bit more consultation before including them in this release.

But I’m not going to let that detract from an otherwise accomplished release. Most importantly, while having no easy track, the pace of intensity is a lot better paced than 72 and, as a result, the whole class feels more polished and accessible.

As always, please post your comments below.

But now the worm has turned and quite the opposite is in effect. Last Friday we went out for dinner, then took in a magic show as part of the Fringe Festival. Saturday saw us in Victoria Park for A Little More Light, as you can read about in the post below this one, then on Sunday we attended the wedding of a family friend. Monday was supposed to be a quiet day, but on taking some photos of the happy day round to both our and their families, we were treated to afternoon tea and then dinner respectively.

I’ve been back at work this week, so the hectic social calendar has taken a breather, but on Sunday we’re off to see the late showing of Le Clique, a bawdy cabaret show, again as part of the Fringe. After barely any sleep we’re then due at the Future Music Festival the following day to see acts like Franz Ferdinand, Empire of the Sun and David Guetta.

Another day off before flying to Vanuatu to attend another wedding. Fortunately this trip will also include some chill out time, and I’m planning to spend many relaxing hours under a palm tree forgetting all of the hassles and stressors here.

After coming back from there, it won’t be long before my family fly in for their biannual trip Down Unda, which will see us very busy. Unfortunately I’m working a fair few days while they’re here, but that doesn’t preclude doing things in the evenings or on the occasional days off.

So, all in all, we’re pretty busy right now …. and it’s coming as a bit of a shock in some ways. I’d worked myself into a rut last year, maybe not a happy one, but a rut nevertheless, and now this change in activity level is a definite change. And a good one at that. Hopefully I’ll have much more to share with you in the near future.

A lateral take on the title of our entertainment for last night. You have to give Adelaide credit for the cultural smorgasbord on offer. Many of the other state capitals look down their noses and liken this city to the equivalent of a backward hicksville. Yet, every year we have a Film Festival, an internationally renown Fringe (the only one in Australia), an Arts Festival (in the broader sense) and host many diverse acts, large and small.

Last night was an unusual opportunity to see a different take on pyrotechnics by Groupe F. Normally used to showcasing at major events like the 2004 Olympics, they were invited to open the Festival with a bang, or rather, lots of bangs.

Quite unlike the typical display, this show didn’t rely on pushing the thrill button with large extravagant multi-coloured starbursts. Instead, imagine a catherine wheel, attached to a man’s back, while he dances about the stage. Or, the fixed conventional catherine wheel … only it’s 10 metres in diameter, and shoots flame as well as sparks.

And the best bit? All of this for nowt. The state government have come in for a lot of stick lately, and some of it appropriately so, but they certainly know how to host a great show, get important avant-garde acts here, and generally raise the profile of the city.

All those who would blithely dismiss Adelaide ought to sit up and take notice. There are a great many good reasons to live here, and not just for the ones that come bottled.

A few photos to finish:

and the rest are here.

When we lived in Leicester, it occasionally became hot. A really warm day might have just squeaked the mid thirties. On such days, and the inevitable muggy succeeding night, we sweated it out uncomfortably. But, typically of the Midlands, the heatwave never lasted that long and broken sleep was short-lived.

After coming to Adelaide, we now view anything in the high thirties as a fairly normal summer day. Heat-waves here are similarly more intense with a recent spell of 3 days above 41 last November, and a sweltering fortnight last year above 35. With the nights no better I, for one, find it very difficult to sleep if the bedroom is hotter than the mid-twenties.

Fortunately our house had air-conditioning pre-installed in the master bedroom so, unfortunately, concerns about carbon emissions and energy conservation have to be ignored in the pursuit of sanity.

Now we have also arranged for our landlord to put a system in the living-room. Most of the time I can cope during the day by wearing loose clothing and drinking plenty of fluids, but not always. It doesn’t help that our living-room faces west and takes the full brunt of the afternoon sun. On cloudless days, the inside temperature will readily exceed that outside. But now we can fight the heat, and achieve some semblance of control. With two good reasons:

Firstly, I wanted to be able to cool the downstairs on hot days to prevent The Scaredey getting heatstroke again. And secondly my family will be shortly coming over from the next Ice-Age and undoubtedly appreciate not being boiled alive the moment they step off the plane.

While Leicester had it’s fair share of violent crime and assaults, gunshot wounds were pretty rare. Similarly here in South Australia, despite slightly more relaxed ownership laws, we see relatively few shootings. So, while recently on nights for the Retrieval Service, it came as a surprise when we were scrambled to one just after midnight.

Depending on type of weapon, calibre of projectile and where it hits on the body, the potential outcome can be anything from a slight soft tissue injury through to immediately life-threatening. When we were told that our patient had received a shot to his neck, it certainly raised my apprehension levels as there are just one or two vital and delicate structures there.

Fortunately he hadn’t sustained particularly serious injuries so we were able to stabilise him without too much drama and retrieve him back to Adelaide for surgery. Considering alcohol was implicated, the potential for more complications was significant.

The thought that nagged at me after we got back safely was that we had entered a home in which a firearm had recently been discharged. Who had pulled the trigger? Were they still there? Where was the gun? Was it completely safe? In retrospect I had to consider that we hadn’t stopped to check at the time. Fortunately the police had dealt with the risk before we arrived, but we had received no assurance that this was so.

It makes me consider that while we are not putting our lives on the line anything like as overtly as combat troops or the police, we are still exposed to risk in the course of this job. For example, a year ago we attended a rapid response in which a lunatic had stabbed 2 people and run 2 more people over. We flew into that town and preceded to the hospital to attend the victims not knowing whether he was still on the loose or had been apprehended.

Then, most recently, when flying over the gulf at night, the risk of aircraft malfunction sprang to mind. In the fixed-wing aircraft engine failure isn’t too much of a problem as the planes are designed to glide and the experienced pilots all have to go through simulation sessions on how to land without power. The helicopter is a different matter as, without the rotors spinning, it has the gliding capabilities of a brick.

They supply a life-raft when flying over water, and we wear life-jackets, but I have to consider that if we had ditched without warning, our chances of survival would be seriously threatened. Similarly, when flying over the Hills, in rough weather, we would be lucky to get out of a crash unscathed. Fortunately though, the chance of such an event is highly unlikely, so the balance favours going out. But it still makes me consider that the job is somewhat different to sitting in a comfortable, air-conditioned ICU.

On the bright side, it still good fun getting paid to go in an aircraft that most people have to pay to sit in. Not to mention, I’m still chalking up new locations in South Australia that I’ve visited. To the state map that Regan’s parents gave me for Christmas, pins have recently been added for: Lyndoch, Moonta, Halbury and Yorketown. Plenty more towns go though.

BODYPUMP® 73 is challenging, bordering on punishing, but it will leave you with a great sense of achievement. We’ve got intense isolated work in store for you, especially in the Chest, Triceps, Biceps and Shoulders Tracks. Get prepared right now for the huge cardio endurance work in Tracks 2, 4 and 7.

Musically, this release holds a real contrast of genres that will get you through the intensity of the workout. Feel strong and confident as the chart-topping music pushes you to new limits.

Get ready for big blocks of Singles that will really drive your heart rate up in the Squats Track. The awesome anthem DOA will motivate you to keep going all the way to the end. You’ll not only feel this one in your legs – your heart will be pumping hard too.

It’s a party on the bench in Track 3! Watch out for the days of the week in I Gotta Feeling – a week has never felt so long for your chest. Next is the crescendo of athleticism that is Track 4. Four blocks of powerful back work will take you to a cardio adrenaline-pumping high.

For Triceps, we’ve got isolated work that just doesn’t back off but the massive song will help you make it through. There’s no hiding in this one, evacuate the PUMP floor! Then, get ready for pain in the Biceps – hello ¾ Range Singles!

Smells Like Teen Spirit brings more pain for the shoulders in Track 8, before a new exercise, the Alternate Leg Extension & Twist, spices up Jordin Sparks’ remake of the hit S.O.S.

And, now, the video promo (added 23-Feb-10)

But, having talked to a few of my colleagues, it would seem that there is an easier way. Getting in under my own steam requires scoring enough “points”, based on a usefulness-vs-demand principle which is dependent on the fickleness of the assessor. So, instead, I’m going to use Regan’s citizenship as a springboard to apply for a spouse visa.

Most countries require that couples be married for this type of visa, but the advanced free-thinking society in Australia considers any co-habitation for more than 6 months as eligible for de-facto status. This means we get the same rights and recognition as a formal marriage without needing a certificate to prove it.

Of course, this isn’t going to be a walk in the park, and there is a plethora of forms to fill in. Then, we have to prove that we’re financially self-sufficient, and need character witness statements to confirm that I haven’t just stepped off a plane and am a con artist.

After all this, the visa is still temporary for 2 years, and which time they reassess us before conversion to permanency. However, it still beats the amount of hassle associated with an independent migrant visa.

It shouldn’t be at all difficult proving our relationship as were due to celebrate our 10th anniversary this year and have more paperwork with both our names on it than even a government department could cope with.

Righto, off to fill in some forms.

For once I actually had a weekend off, so after seeing Avatar last night – very good in 3D, see it if you haven’t yet – we went to see the final stage of the Tour Down Under today. One of the advantages of practically living in the city centre is that we didn’t have to walk far to see the race as it looped around the northern city parklands.

I can understand why many people watch any sort of racing on television, as you get a rapid flurry of activity as the field goes through followed by some minutes of inactivity before the loop repeats itself. However there is something about the atmosphere of the crowd and the opportunity to get very close to some elite athletes that the screen can’t replicate. It also never truly shows how quick these guys move as even on tight city streets they still averaged well over 30kph , not slowing at all for the corners.

Also an opportunity to see the iconic Lance Armstrong, although I couldn’t really tell him apart from the other cyclists given they all wear team colours and ride the same bikes. When moving quickly it’s difficult to pick one lean, tanned, waxed man from another. However, the benefits of a camera with a good lens and 9 frames per second shooting, and some careful sifting through the pictures, showed that he was there after all

Remainder of the piccies here.