Over 13,000 miles... Sydney to Plattling via the UK

Sydney life

The last two weeks in Australia went by in a bit of a blur of adventure filled fun. The Aussie Junior Nationals took place on a beautiful British day, with a grey cloud filled sky and the heavens open from start to finish, but this didn't faze the young paddlers who came out and threw down for the national title and to win their place on the 2013 team.  For some it was their first event others were seasoned competitors and they all showed great skill and attitude as they showed off their moves on the Skippy wave.

Juniors no deck race in the rain

Loving the weather : 1 bad day in 4 months is ok I guess

After the event life continued as normal (Aussie style) with a mixture of boating at the course, biking in the beautiful blue mountains and wake boarding and SUP'ing at Cables. Before I knew another 2 weeks had gone past and it it was time to go home, but with talk of snow and rain and very low temperatures in the UK v's the 25 degree +and sunshine in Sydney I just couldn't do it. So I changed my flight and stayed and extra 8 days.

The 3 sisters and the Blue Mountains

Bondi Beach

Penrith WWC

Sydney Olympic Park

Sydney Opera House at Night

This was a great decision as it gave me the chance to hit the coast and surf some famous bays and on my last day I had the chance to go on a trip of a lifetime up the Sydney harbour bay and out to the ocean at Manly with the Taylor family and Jez on their private speed boat. The perfect finish to another incredible trip.

What a view for my last day

The change of dates worked out perfect as I arrived back home on the 2nd May to 20 degrees and sunshine, Hurley on 2 and HPP in the sun. Getting in some quality good old British boating and having chance to have a good old catch up with some great friends.

Hurley time

Now 6 travel days and over 13,000 miles later I find myself back at a very familiar destination 'Plattling' for this weekends European Cup event and guess what.... 'its raining!!!'



Heres a link to the video and interview I did with Rob van Bommel from Sport Scene whilst training in Australia about my last 5 months and training for the 2013 World Championships.

Claire O’Hara’s incredible start to the year

In this 20-minute documentary Sportscene Director Rob schmoozes over the growing popularity of kayak-trick disciplines with World Freestyle and Squirt Champion, GB's Claire O'Hara.