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My life as the Island Caretaker….

Images from the Comrades…

June7

A few pics of the day on the road, Sunday May 30th. Enjoy – I did!

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Summary of the Comrades…

June3

After training for the last six months and finally getting through my second Comrades ultramrathon in my best ever time I have taken the chance to totally relax for the past couple of days – I seriously don’t think I could have done much else though.

The 89km race took loads out of me and my legs are only now back to full strength after sitting on my ass for two days relaxing in the winter sunshine of the Drakensberg mountains at Didima Camp near Catherdral Peak.

A few pictures from the race are below and there’s also a few of the camp too, so rather than dribble on as I usually do I’ve prepared two videos to summarise the experience. The first giving a tour of the route and the second a longer version showing how I took on the race. Enjoy.

Tour of the Route

The Race itself

Back on the blog again soon…

Ben :)

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Comrades complete! Time to recover…

June2

I did it – after 6 months of pretty hard training I managed to complete the 89.25km Comrades Ultramarathon in 9hrs 32mins which is 50 minutes quicker than my previous best from two years ago during my Afritrex expedition.

It’s now a couple of days later and the legs are starting to recover – I can almost lower myself into a chair without using my arms! Downhills and stairs are still pretty challenging mind and it’ll be a couple more days before I can even think about going for another run…maybe I should just chill for a while.

View from Didima camp

After the race I headed up into the Drakensberg mountains to a place called Didima to get away from the outside world and it’s the perfect place to recover I can tell you. With views to Cathedral Peak and the entire mountain range the only disturbance up here is the occasional baboon trying to get into the room. Beware people!

Having some spare time has given me the chance to put together a couple of short movies about the Comrades which I filmed enroute during the Tour of the Route and the race itself but having a very limited internet connection means I won’t be able to get them up here for viewing until later in the week. They’ll also be some awesome pics of the sunrise over the peaks too.

Off horseriding this morning and the quad-biking too to explore the area as my legs just about get me to the restaurant at the moment!

Back with you soon

Ben :)

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www.bestjobben.com

My life as the Island Caretaker….

TEST POST

August30

The Whitsundays

August22

Hamilton Island looking north…
…and it’s winter ;)

Ben

Posted via email from bensouthall’s posterous

Onboard Wild Oats XI – video footage to die for!

August21

Very cool but weird clouds here in Brisbane today! Location: http://j.mp/c3hoCA

July20

Which is the most dangerous baddie?

July20

Found this through a friend on Twitter and had to put it up here:

Ultimate Battle Royal
Via: Term Life Insurance

Sunrise along the river by bensouthall at Garmin Connect – Details

July14

Sunrise along the river by bensouthall at Garmin Connect – Details.

Rail Trail Fun Run by bensouthall at Garmin Connect – Details

July12

FIFA World Cup 2010

June14

World Cup Logo World Cup evidence!

There was no way I could head home early from South Africa back to Queensland without taking in a World Cup football match, I mean the atmosphere here has been totally electric!!

Firstly I was down in Cape Town to visit a good friend of mine Jason Cummings whose family I’ve known for years as they own the Beaver Creek Coffee Farm in port Edward where I lived. Jason left for Cape Town years ago and is now the Business Director of a cutting edge digital marketing company called Big Wednesday who operate from a pretty sexy office setup right in the centre of South Africa’s mother city.

As the Best Job in the World campaign was right up there street he asked me ages ago to talk to their staff and clients all about the project, the digital side of it and why on earth I won. I flew down to CT for a few days, explored the city again, soaked up the pre-World Cup atmosphere, made a presentation and had a night out on the town with hundreds of over people on Long Street. It truly was an international festival of fun!

Jason and I with our new shirts! Long Street, Cape Town

I flew back to Durban ready to take in one last activity before flying back to Queensland – a World Cup game! Having worked whilst on holiday for Emirates and the KZN Government I was able to get a pretty decent ticket for the opening game at the Moses Mabida Stadium in Durban.

WorldCupPano_small

After a fantastic welcome party at uShaka complete with Zulu dancers Ina Cronje the Finance Minister who has very kindly been looking after me whilst here in SA, and I headed in convoy through the streets of Durban past waves of gold and green Australia supporters to the stadium. Where were the German fans??

Zulu dancers Ben & Ina

It looked absolutely stunning with lines of people entering from the Fan Parks, lights beaming up into the sky and a buzz I’ve never really felt before from a sports match. We made our way to our seats which happened to be about three rows away from the South African President Jacob Zuma and settled in for a good game…..at least I hoped so!

President Jacob Zuma Teams line up Durban Stadium Greg from Sydney

Germany v Australia could have been a well-fought match I thought, ok on paper Germany should easily beat the Socceroos but I saw the Aussies play a few months ago and they looked pretty effective – although it was against Indonesia.

The sound of the vuvuzela’s was deafening, they’re an African horn which everyone is using here and the sounds goes around the neighbourhoods from 5am until 1am – literally ALL day and here was no different.

As soon as the whistle went the German team looked typically efficient, well organised and methodical – exactly as we’ve come to expect. Within 10 minutes the first goal had tugged at the back of the net – a blasting drive from Podolski, and the Germans never looked back.

By half time the scoreline had been doubled with Klose heading in from close range and the halftime whistle couldn’t have come early enough for the disillusioned Australians – something was missing – virtually any resistance or midfield!

Sorry Australia

To be fair they did return to the pitch with renewed vigour and drive; finding men, completing passes and generally offering some determination that just hadn’t been seen in the first half….until Tim Cahill was shown a totally unjustified straight red card reducing the team down to 10 men for the remainder of the game.

And the Germans took full advantage – it was backs to the walls for the Socceroos and two more goals were to follow in what turned out to be a complete walkover – GERMANY 4 AUSTRALIA 0

A comprehensive message sent out to the other teams who think they stand a chance in this World Cup. They were good….very good.

COME ON ENGLAND – YOU HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO TO BEAT THIS LOT!!!

A pan view of the Moses Mabida stadium awaiting the arrival of the teams! Location: http://j.mp/dprwNL

June13

Zulu girls dancing and going crazy!!! Africa is Alive and embracing all people today :)

June11
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