Kokoda Family Adventure

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging lately but I have been busy Making Each Day Count.

In the last two or three weeks I've been on more walks than I can remember, we went camping at the Nymboida River and I've started to write a book. 

This is the book I'm writing however it will not be finished until after our trip to New Guinea and our hiking holiday along the Kokoda Trail in September 2011.

I've been jotting points down now about our training and the challenges we have been facing as a family.  My biggest hurdle is the cold.  I usually walk at 5am and it is about 7 degrees at the moment and I hate the cold.  So my biggest challenge is to actually get out of bed. The way I overcome my negative thoughts is to wear many layers of cloths and tell myself I'm just going for a short walk.  Once you are out there it is easier to get into it.  I then put on the earphones and listen to a teleconference or something I'm passionate about to take my mind off things.

In relation to the book I'm currently writing, I'm hoping it to be an inspiration to teenagers and working parents to get out there and do something you love to "Make Each Day Count".  I'm seeking feedback on what you would like to read about in the book?  What challenges do you face that I've been through and could help you with?  I have been asked a lot in my workplace about how to raise teenagers, should that be the focus of this book?  I'd really appreciate your feedback if you could either comment here or email me at linda.baade@ymail.com

Regards

Linda Baade

Anzac Day - Currumbin Dawn Service 2011

I was at the Currumbin Dawn Service for Anzac Day this year and It was the most moving ceremony I have ever seen.  I've been attending Anzac Day Services every year since I was seven.  I only recall missing two in my 44 years on this planet so I feel qualified to make comment.  The ceremony was new, fresh and innovative.  They had moving music with plenty to look at with diggers marching in, planes flying over, gun salutes (shots into the air), ceremonies for the recently fallen with ashes scattered to sea in surf boats, horses, doves, pipes, great speakers and the list goes on.

I'm a very loyal Aussie.  Both my Husband Greg and I are inactive Army Reservists and we love our history.  We travelled to Villers Bretonneux in 1993 to see the little museum displaying our Army Reserve Unit's colour's.  I remember it clearly as we didn't speak French and we had arrived on a day the museum was closed.  It didn't take long for the locals to work out we were Australian and they treated us like royalty.  They had a young boy run to the museum key holder to open it up specially for us. They were extremely grateful for Australia's involvement during the war.  

We plan to travel to Gallipoli one day for their dawn service but until then I will be talking about the Anzac Day Service at Currumbin.  I did video it but the quality is not as good as this one I found on U-Tube.  It is from 2008 but I'm hoping Channel 7 will put this years video out soon.

Please take a few minutes to view this video and spare a thought for the troops that lost their lives paying the ultimate sacrifice for their country, not only at Anzac Cove but the wars that continue overseas. 

MAKE EACH DAY COUNT 

Linda Baade 



25 April 1915: The Day the Anzac Legend was Born

Gold Coast Kokoda Challege Training

Hello, I'm a passionate person and my aim is to get the most out of my life.  I would also like to inspire others to make each day count.  I have a husband Greg and two children, Kelly age 12 and Mitchell age 13.  We are training as a family to walk the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea in September 2011.  Greg is also in a team walking the Gold Coast Kokoda Challenge so he has been walking the Kokoda Challege training routes on weekends and we tag along whenever we can.    

It's been a big weekend of training for my husband and I.  The kids had a break.  They have been walking 7 km home from school at least three times a week and they carry their school bag.   The hike home from school isn't an easy one and with a backpack of books I know they are getting a good workout.  There are two very large hills that would simulate the hills we will be facing in Kokoda.

Greg had his Challenge team 2011 travel to the Gold Coast for a walk on Saturday.  They are all mates from across Queensland who walked Kokoda Trail in September last year.  They left at 6am and walked from Mt Nimmel lodge to Numinbah Environmental Cente.  It was the first time they had traveled the training route together and although they had a lot of laughs it was an eyeopener about how much work they will need to do before the Challenge in July.

 
Introducing   "The Bee that cried Wolf"
The top photo left to right

My husband Greg Baade
Mark Dooley - Best Doors
Tony Morris - Toowoomba
Graham Coleman - Mackay

My Challenge - On Sunday morning I got up early as I wanted to get my walk completed quickly to get back to help with our visitors.  I arrived at Mt Nimmel Lodge at 4.30am.  I've walked this leg once before but it was in daylight.    In the dark I walked straight past the Tallowwood Road turnoff and ended up walking down Alstonville Road until I hit the creek and I realised I'd taken a wrong turn.  So I returned to Tallowwood Road and tried again.  I kept walking along Tallowwood until the end of the sealed road and in the dark and under a tiny torch light I couldn't see the gate so again I turned around to go back to the carpark.  The night before I had checked the sky and it was a full moon and plenty of light.  I was almost back when I found a challenge team coming the other way.  They hadn't done the track before however they had a map.  On speaking with them it turned out that one of them use to work with Greg so we were able to relax and chat about various things.  I wasn't convinced that we hadn't passed the gate until we got to the end of the road and there it was.  It was now 6am, daylight and easy to see.  As I wanted to get around the full loop and back to the car as quickly as possible I said goodbye to Shaun and his friends and pushed ahead.  Unfortunately when you are on your own there is nobody to take photos for you so I don't have any from this week but I'll put last week's in. This week I looked pretty filthy anyway as I took a slide in the clay on the second hill. It was a pretty challenging hill as you'd take one step forward and surf the clay back down again.   I completed the journey and drove back up to Mt Nimmel to see how Shaun's team were traveling.  I asked some others exiting the bush and they said the team was going ok but not yet out.  I traveled home feeling guilty that I didn't stay to see if they needed a lift.  I guess they were there for the training.

The family on top of Beechmont - we have walked the hills in the background.




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