Day Camp 2012

Rental Car Excess Insurance

The Vito has a minor scratch and has gone in for repairs.  The Vito is insured with RACQ and the policy comes with a rental car. So nice you say but when I rock on up to the Hertz counter, to pick up the car kindly organised by RACQ, they (Hertz) want $29 a day to reduce the excess from $3k to $300.

Type "Rental Car Excess Insurance" into google and get lots of hits.  Problem is when you talk to them, the basic issue is that you have to be "TRAVELLING".  Some define that as going more than 200km from home.  Others say you have to show evidence of travelling such as showing that you had hotel booking indicating a trip of some kind.  So any rental car excess insurance that comes under a travel insurance contract is not suitable for what I am doing.

RACQ advise that they pay $40 per day and that I can go and find an alternate rental car company and pay up front and claim $40 per day back.
If I was to go down that route (which I don't plan to because I have already wasted too much time on this) then it seems that  europcar is doing deals at the moment that bundle the excess insurance or something (who knows).



RACQ (who kindly presented me with this dilemah) - Nope.
RACV (Who promenantly advertise rental car excess insurance) - No
1COVER.com.au 1300 192 021 - No

COLUMBUSDIRECT.com.au  1300 669 999 - No.

VROOMVROOM 1300 722 920 - No answer.  After ringing out and pausing and clicking, it was answered by someone who sounded like they were overseas (and asleep ) "Life Tracker"

http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au/insurance/
Hello there! I'm here to help if you need me.

→Hi, I am renting a car but not travelling as such. just driving it around for a week. home - work etc. does your rental car excess cover this situation?

Chris: hi

→hi

Chris: Basic insurance is included in the supplier rates, however, in the event of damage to the rental car – each supplier has a damage excess fee. The damage excess fee varies for each supplier, and is around $3000 (higher for specialty/luxury fleet). This is the amount the supplier will charge (up to), if there is damage to their vehicle. Costs are covered after that excess damage fee amount.

→do you sell rental car excess insurance?

Chris: You can check our page explaining options here: http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au/insurance/

→does your rental car excess insurance cover the excess on a rental car that is simply rented and driven locally?

Chris: Yes.

→So I do not have to be travelling as such

Chris: Yes. Since you rental one of our suppliers car, it comes with basic insurance. Even if you drive it locally, you will be insured as long as you stay on sealed roads and follow the supplier's Terms & Conditions.

Chris: *rented

→I already have the car. It was rented from Hertz.

Chris: You can review Hertz T&C here: http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au/terms-and-conditions/australia/hertz/

→I will go read that and get back to you if I have more questions.

Chris: Ok. :)

→The reason I am asking is that I enquired with several other insuramce providers - QBE, RACV, RACQ, driveaway.com.au and they all say that their "travel insurance" only covers rental car excess if I am travelling. For example I would have to show that I had hotel bookings away from my home town.

No answer but I think not.

2012 Oxfam Trailwalker - Walkers brain dump

Cybele's and Fiona's is below.

Megan's :-

We did it! We finished as 2 teams of 4 in the 2012 Oxfam Trailwalker Challenge!

We took a bit longer at checkpoints, as you would with 8 people to manage, and there were a few more pain and injury issues to deal with but we all got there with a great deal of determination, laughs, encouragement and compassion.

 

My low-lights:

- experiencing a strained groin muscle for the first time that gradually came on in the 3rd section but was well attended to by the physio at Lake Manchester.

- having to wait for said physio in the open air and then shivering uncontrollably as for some bizarre reason the physio and massuers were left outdoors on a very cold night.

- walking into the team checkpoint tent to see one of my team members under a space blanket after going into cold shock - though thankfully he warmed up and was pronounced fit enough to continue walking by the St John's First Aiders.  And he did finish.

- having to remind another team member that he needed to make a decision best for him on whether to continue walking with a very painful injury that may slow him down for some months after the walk vs the desire to finish as a team of 4.

- that horrible long flat section at the end of section 6 in the dark and cold with no visible landmarks to really show us how far along we were.

- bare and blistered skin after tearing precautionary strapping tape off my knees in the car on the way home - I must have had an allergic reaction under the tape and didn't know it until I felt fluid in the dark - yuck and ouch!  This and bruised pinkies are really the only lasting injuries at the moment.

 

High-lights for me:

- a fabulous group of people to walk, talk, cry and laugh with.

- the amazing energy of one team member who had suffered in the training walks (turned out he hadn't had enough food or electrolyte drink!)

- having fun thinking of song titles to twitter our progress in and out of checkpoints with (so many road songs ... we didn't use them all)

- feeling fitter this year than last and finding some previously difficult hills not so bad.

- seeing Beth and George Nicholls (friends) at rego and various checkpoints, especially George at the end of the horrid section 6 track - so good to see a happy, familiar face then!  Thank you you two for giving up your weekend to support others.

- only getting 2 blisters - I learnt last year to wrap each toe with fixomul (?) tape.  Yet to see if any toenails will say goodbye in the name of charity ...

- beautiful colours in the sky at sunset and sunrise (not a cloud in sight for extra detail!)

- brilliant stars in the night sky around Lake Manchester (thanks Lord for the great weather!)

- fog in the valleys on Saturday morning

- having the absolute, no-questions-about it, best support crew in the world. Just the right food, foot spas, hot shower, bed, chairs, heater, phone chargers, torch repairs, painkiller restocking ... and happy smiles, being patient when we should have been moving out a little faster, gentle offers of help and letting us rest as necessary.

 

I'm glad the positives outnumber the negatives! : )

It was a harder trail.  And I told them so at the finish line.  It is harder with more people in a group.  But no regrets whatsoever.

Yes, we will celebrate in a few weeks when the blisters have subsided, the strains been rested out and bruises are not so tender.

 

Thank you to all our wonderful supporters.  It was so satisfying to set off on Friday morning knowing we had already reached our target of $6000 fundraising and that there was more to come.  We have all helped make a difference for many lives in communities not as fortunate as our own.

 

Thank you for being part of this amazing experience in my life,

Megan

-------------------------------
Cybele's:-

Dearest Family and Friends,

I am very excited to share with you that all 8 team members of Oxfambulators and Serial Hillers finished the 100kms together at approximately 4.50am this morning.

Based on statistics alone, I feel overwhelmed by this incredible achievement.  Only 65% of all walkers finished and only 39% of teams finished as a team of 4.  What are the odds of finishing as a team of 8?  Oxfam promotes Brisbane as the hardest trail to complete in Australia.  In Sydney 2011, 80% of walkers finished in Melbourne 2012, 83.4% of walkers finished.  The consensus amongst repeat walkers is that this year's trail was harder than last year's and it is supported by the evidence that last year more people finished the walk (73%).

My personal reflections are that a team endurance event is a unique and fascinating experience to share.   The steep hills and descents and the long distances trod in the dark between each checkpoint are both a very personal challenge revealing one's weaknesses and strengths, and at the same time, a dynamic unfolding of how, as members of a team, we can accept and support each other despite growing tiredness and pain.   I feel humbled by the trust each person reposed in me to train them, guide them and walk with me to the finish line.

The lowlights of the walk for me this year were -
* no sign telling us we had reached the halfway point
* the steep descents near mt nebo rd that would have been better descended sitting in a cardboard box
* two decent heel blisters early on from my orthotics (chucked out at 28kms) that I had to incise 3 times on the first day to relieve pressure (they were ok on the second day - phew)
* managing my sense of being responsible for everyone getting over the finish line in the face of their growing injuries and fatigue

The highlights of the walk for me this year were -
* the outstanding weather
* the sun lighting up droplets of dew clinging to spider webs
* twinkling stars hanging out of the clear dark sky as we neared Lake Manchester
* jokes about chaffing
* Saturday breakfast at one of the picturesque creek crossings
* entertaining and encouraging messages and phone calls from friends and family
* the sensitive way our support crew greeted and cared for us at our checkpoints and their tasty food
* the number of friends/family who came out at 4am to see us cross the finish line

The biggest highlight for me is that we have raised $13,232 with a couple more weeks of fundraising left to go.

Thank you for all your support, donations and kind words of encouragement over the last 20 weeks.  Go to our Oxfambulators Facebook page to see all the photos of the event which will be posted in the next few days.

Love to all,
Cybele
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiona:
Hi All,

OK, thought you might like to see my low and high-lights!! that I sent round
to family etc

The lowlights of the walk were -

*My left hip getting sore after only 20km and having to nurse (pain
killers!) it the rest of the way - 80km
*The pain in the feet after 80km!
*The big hills in section 7, the last section,  that had to be climbed after
doing 90 or so km and seemed to go on and on - but all good hills come to an
end!
* Trying to stay awake when walking section 7 - I actually fell asleep,
micro sleeps, when walking and woke up staggering
* Watching other members of the team in pain - some of them more pain than
me - but watching them fight through the pain and still have a good time.

The highlights of the walk for me were -
* having some good laughs with the team mates and enjoying their company and
watching their strong endurance and fighting spirit
* the outstanding clear sky weather
* The light breezes that cooled me down
* The sound of birds awaking at dawn and following me during the day.
* jokes about chaffing!!
* entertaining and encouraging messages from friends and family
* the fantastic support crew that made the check point stops toooo
comfortable and nice that we had trouble leaving, their tasty food, and kind
loving support and hugs - and the awesome foot spa's at check point 3.
* And of course the number of friends/family who came out at 4am to see us
cross the finish line - that felt sooo good...you made me cry!!!

Thank you all for the journey. I really truly enjoyed it !!!

Looking forward to a big celebratory party!!!!!!!

Fiona

Tennis anyone

Walking 100k is just so yesterday.  Well this morning anyway but already it is off the front page.  Pushed aside as new news breaks.

12:00 Megan was sleeping and there was a little noise which as we all know can grow as kids played on the computer.  I figured it would be nice to go and do something with the kids.  I had wanted to play tennis with Chris and this seemed like a good opportunity.

So for $12 we rented a court .  From
http://www.westbrisbanetennis.com.au/pages.asp?PageID=11
It seems that Rob who runs this place also coaches Dan & Jemma so we got two courts for the price of one.  Note also for $30 you can get a court for most of the day and a free BBQ thrown in.  Might be a nice sunday lunch idea.  Interest?

2012 Oxfam Trailwalker - Finish - Mt Cootha

 As we packed up check point 6, we discussed what time they would arrive Mt Cootha.  They had left CP6 12:48AM.  The accepted walking time is 4hrs.  When I got home from cp6, I set my alarm for 3:45.

I (Frank) woke just before the alarm went off and checked the tracker.  They were making good time.  A quick hustle.  Texted Megan who said 45 minutes.  They had not quite reached the top of Mt Cootha.  (Mind you Oxfam should route the walk past the cafe up there and we could buy hot chocolates and stand nonchalantly beside the road and make comments as they pass.  But they don't.).  Woke the kids.  Sparklers & matches were entrusted to Dan.  Champagne to Marcus and Plastic cups to Chris.  Shot off a text to Bob, Frank H & Paul I think. In the car and we were off.  Established we did not have a number for Jacobs mum.  Felt annoyed that we had not ensured that she would be at the finish.

 Arrived there at JC Slaughter falls car park.  The gate was open.  (a good sign something special was happening).  Parked.  Saw Derek & he advised that he had parked at Simpson's road and slept.  Note for next time - get a support crew for the support crew or at least offer him a bed at our place.

We could see the tracker and at one stage guessed another 10 minutes.  We would strain our eyes through the darkness looking for head lights.  Each time one was spotted we would debate how many.  2, 3, 4 all discounted.  The Oxfam organisers would announce the teams and we woud cheer.  Team 245 consisting of two were quite surprised at the huge reception.  Finally the PA system announced the oxfambulators and serial killers which was soon amended to Serial Hillers.

Sparklers lit, Clapping and clicking camera flashes and they crossed the line.
Hugs, smiles and reverse up to check in.  Every bib number plate must be viewed  the check in person.  Pose for photos.

Line up for a team photo in sponsors shirts.

And the support crew.

Happy family reunions

There is a contradiction here:
Ian is somewhat more relaxed.
Phil looks totally stuffed.








 Then home to bed.  Well a bath actually.  Megan lay there slowly peeling off sticky tape.

On the was home she ripped a bit too quickly and took off some tender skin.

In the bath, She kept nodding off.  I don't know if you can fall asleep and drown but I figured I had better keep a eye on that.  So I say there and wandered in and out.

Then she went to bed and didn't get up in the morning.

Went and played tennis with the kids.

2pm and she was still asleep.

Lest we forget.  This is the walk.  All 100km of it!

2012 Oxfam Trailwalker - Check Point 6 -

Check point 6 photos go here.  Be patient.
If you have some, send them to me please.

2012 Oxfam Trailwalker GPS Tracking

Started this year with a "Spot Tracker".  This unit receives the GPS signals and works out where it is and then it transmits that information up to a satellite.

The problem was that the information did not seem to be getting through.  You can see this by looking at the Friday part of the map.  Long straight pieces of orange line.  It seemed only about 1 message every 2 hours was getting out.

This caused me a degree of disapointment and mild panic.

So I dug up my TK-102.  The TK-102 is similar to the unit we used last year.  It also receives the GPS signals from the GPS satellites and calculates it position.  It then sends the back via the GSM phone network.  Last year we had had a number of poor signal situations with similar outages to the spot issues that we had this year.

In order to use the phone network, the unit contains a SIM card.  Just like a phone.  The unit still had a sim card in it.  But what was the number?.  I tried putting the SIM in my phone but my handset is locked to Vodafone and this was a Telstra SIM. No go.

I put the SIM card back in the TK-102 and switched it on.  A green LED was flashing and that seemed like a good thing.  So I put the unit out side where it could see the sky and hopefully get a fix.  Then hmm much though I wonder if it is still connected to GPSGate and what was my password.  Finally after some thought I managed to log into GPS gate and there it was happy and Green.  The green indicating that GPS gate had seen it recently.  I clicked on thing and GPS gate showed me a map with a marker at my house.  So far so good.  But how will the public see it as GPS gate do not seem to have publicly accessible web pages.

I could not get hold of Cameron.  The GURU who had written the page http://oxfambulators.javonix.com/ we were using to display their locvation this year.  Panic.

Last year we had used a similar but different tracker on a different GPS gate account.  We displayed it on a web site on my server and that meant I had the code.  Not that I necessarilly understood it as Cameron (A person with more knowledge of such things than me) had written it.  But it was based in part on some code given away by GPS gate as explained on my blog here.

So I followed those instructions once again and got the code.  Then I searched Camerons code for the places it communicated with gpsgate.  And copied across the relevant bit for the new account for this TK102.  Woo hoo it worked.  I could see the new tracker on last years page.  There is a God!

But only one point and an error flashed up about the user having disabled history paths.  So it was back to the gpsgate web site to work out how to enable paths which I did eventually.  Then did I get a path.  Including a trip to the snowy mountains a year or so ago.  In fact everything since the start of last years walk.

So I searched the code and found this

// the timestamp of the first relevant tracking event
var startTime = new Date(1308267073000);

What tha' is that number.

Luckilly I found a web site that offerred to convert any date into a unix time stamp  

So I tried that and got a number sort of similar but it did not have enough digits.   It was short the three zeros on the end.  I added them and uploaded the newly modified code and wow it works.

It still had last years photo.  Searching through the code showed that it was hosted on Cameron's server.  I went out to the car and got the camera and downlaoded a picture taken at the start.  Up loaded that to my server and modified the code to point to the new photo.  There it was in all its glory.  A gazillion times to big.  Totally obscuring the map.  Downloaded and installed the GIMP (a free photo editing program).  Loaded the photo and fiddled around trying to work out how to make it smaller.  Tried a couple of different sizes and seem to hit the mark.

Here is that page complete at the moment with real data
http://syndetic.com.au/ftest10.html

So a little sigh of releif.  But still could not contact Cameron.

Anyway, Raced home where Derek was waiting almost an hour late.

Drove out to Lake Manchester.

Managed to eventually contact Cameron who quickly whipped up a new web page that shows both trackers.  http://oxfambulators.javonix.com/

2012 Oxfam Trailwalker - Check Point 5 - Belbird Grove

During Friday, Belbird Grove metamorphasised from the resgistration centre into Check Point 5.

Here they are just before 7pm.  Between check point 5 and check point 6.  They left check point 5 at 5:00pm and are planning on arriving at check point 6 around 9pm.

Then it is on to the finish I think around 2 or 3 am.

You gotta be keen.

2012 Oxfam Trailwalker - Check Point 3 - Lake Manchester

Check Point 3 is the first checkpoint that the support crew can do their supporting.

Derek and I wanted to get out there before sunset in order to select a camp site and put up the tents.

Osfam had a good arrangement with a ring road.  The checkin, toilets, and short term support crews on the inside and at one end on the outside of the ring road was a camping area.  Along the top, those with no car pass could park and walk in.

This is Derek's van with all our support gear before we started to set-up camp

The big black thing with the yellow square is a big battery and it provided power to an inverter.  The inverter makes main voltage that ran the foot spa's and peoples mobile phone chargers.

Frank gave Georgina a shoulder massage while 4 others had a foot spa and Mel(unseen)handed out dinner.

Paul (The pediatrist) got four of them cumfy

The tent the girls slept in is to the left.
The green and blue tents are showers.  Only Megan had a bird bath in one.  The rest seemed content with anti chafing cream.  Maybe we need a 2000btu heater to make showering more attractive. 

Ah the boys.  & Don't let any of them tell you they did not sleep.  Snoring eminated from both the boys and girls tents.

 What a difference a nights sleep makes.  Look at how alert and happy they are.

Popping blisters...

and taping up.















and off into the night.

Depart CP3 at 5:00 am

2012 Oxfam Trailwalker - Start

6:00 Rise & Shine
Frank drove our two teams to Belbird Grove

Belbird Grove is the registration check in.  From there I said good by to them and they were herded onto busses and taken to the top of Mt Glorious where they were coralled until the designated start time.
10:00 Start Walking

All manner of beasts congregated at our house.

The "Oxfambulators" team.  One of our two teams.

Oxfambulators and SeialHillers

All of us plus














After registration with 'bibs'.  Each person is allocated a colouted number plate.  No swapping.  It has their team number.
003 = Oxfambulators.  (I bet Cybele tried for 001 and Paul would have liked 007)
303 = SerialHillers.




Number plates moved to the usual location on back packs.

BGS Music

 Chris playing tenor sax.
I got snookered by the conductor who you can see at the left.

Chris at the right.

 BGS Gallery.
See the projection box up the back.  Now devoid of projectors but plenty of memories of toasted sandwiches during school films.

Michael Coyne on yet another instrument at the right and Marcus (2nd from right) play along with younger students in the double reed ensemble.

This would be Calum.

You are not special

We have lived through a generation of being nice because anything else might result in the need for psychological counselling or lawyers or both.

Check out this video on YouTube.  It is a speech to graduating high school students in the USA.  A speech where we would expect to be told how special, wonderful and privileged we (they) are:
http://youtu.be/_lfxYhtf8o4

Then listen to this speech by Mike Lazaridi.  The man who started Blacberry among other things.  A tribute to his education and the inspiration of his teachers and mentors in his childhood.
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/mike-lazaridis----the-power-of-ideas/4053180

and for another graduation speech watch and listen to the sun screen song
http://youtu.be/sTJ7AzBIJoI

 

Track my wife dot com

Only a few days away from Megan's big walk.
Watch where she is


http://oxfambulators.javonix.com/

Until Friday, the tracker will often show the location of my car or megans.

This tracker receives GPS data and then every ten minutes transmits it via satellite to the "spot track" web site.  Wherupon, Cameron's program sucks the data out and stores it and displays it on the above web page. 

Cameron has included a twitter feed so Megan can tell us how she and the team are feeling.

The price for a boy

Today being the Queen's Birthday public holiday was a opportunity to sleep in.  Then brunch theh we were running late so we all piled into the Vito and drove into the Uni to go to the Schonell theatre and watch the Queensland Musical Theatre Company's production of Oliver.  One of Dan's conteporaries was in it.

Acording to wikipedia Oliver Twist set  in 1837.

I believe Oliver was sold for somewhere between 3 and 7 pounds.  So I wondered what we might get for one of our kids.  This investigation proved to be somewhat difficult.

This web site only went back to 1900
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html
1 pound in 1900 is worth  101 pounds in 2012.

This web site goes back further but starting at 1837 our 1 pound is still only 100 pounds now. 
http://safalra.com/other/historical-uk-inflation-price-conversion/ 

So it would seem he was only worth between 300 and 700 pounds.
We convert to AUD using this web site
http://www.ozforex.com.au/currency-converter
and we find the child is woth a poltry $AU468 to $AU1092.68
Ebay?
Cripes we spend more than that on school fees.

More crazy nanny state stuff

Dan has been away at "Advanced" music camp all week.  This was held at Alex Park up on the Sunshine Coast.

I was dispatched to collect him from the bus.

The buses dropped the kids at Centenary High School.  Talk about an unergonomic arrangement.  First, as you can see, there was not much room for people and so everyone clogged up the space between the buses and the fence on the right.  No one could move and in the middle of all this the bus drivers were trying to get bags out from under the bus.  A very slow operation because they could not get the bags away from the bus because they were hemmed in by people.  Then once some lucky kid had gotten their bag they would stand their with their bag waiting for their other bag thus exacerbating the problem.

So in this safety conscious world, the only way to walk around the buses was on the road to the left of the bus as we see it in the photo.  And just to the left of the road is a fence that separates the buses from the car park.  This of course prevents one from taking ones child and bags directly to the car.  So eventually the bus drivers managed to get all the bags out of the bus and it seemed that they managed to make it back to their drivers seats at the about the same time as the kids appeared to reunite themselves with their bags.

So simultaneously, everyone - people and buses decided to walk or drive down the driveway.  The buses so they could escape to the main road and the people so they could get to their cars parked tantalisingly close on the other side of that bizarre fence.  I mused that it would only take one kid to trip or be pushed and they would be under a wheel.  Squashed flat.  Yet had the fence not been there, the parents and kids would have only been in the same vicinity of the bus for a moment before they were off and out of the way.  Bizarre.