It’s about time I posted about the amazing
weekend I spent in Melbourne with my equally amazing friend, Rachel. We were
there to celebrate the end of a fantastic 12WBT round.
After a crazy few days working from our
Melbourne office, Rachel flew down and joined me on Friday night and when she
arrived, I could see the excitement in her eyes (or, was that just the glass of
wine she had on the flight down? Her first glass in 12 weeks!). We’ve both been
to Melbourne a few times before but both Rachel and I had absolutely no idea
how to get from where we were to St Kilda.
So, we spent the rest of the night trying to work out the tram timetable,
ticket prices and tram stops. Considering we needed to be at the Catani Gardens
at 7.30am, there was no room for error so we decided at midnight that the only
thing to do was race downstairs and do a practice run. We didn’t actually get a
tram to St. Kilda but we worked out where to wait for the tram and also how we
could purchase tickets.
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| Waiting for the tram |
After what felt like 5 minutes, Saturday
morning arrived, alarms went off and we were up and at ‘em! I didn’t get much
sleep as I was too excited for what lied ahead so I told myself, you’ll just
have to run on adrenalin today. After a quick shower and super quick brekkie, we
were out the door. We were so excited that the thought of rain had never
crossed our minds but Mother Nature had other ideas. Standing in the middle of
the road at the tram stop in the rain, we were hoping that the trams in
Melbourne were more reliable than the Sydney trains. Turns out they are and a
few minutes later we were on a tram headed to St Kilda. Hurrah, we did it!
With the rain continuing to fall, we made
our way to the registration desk and proudly let the organisers know we were
there to volunteer. We registered, got all our little knick-knacks then made a beeline
for the coffee van. It was absolutely freezing so I ordered a tea, to keep my
hands warm more so than anything else.
Standing around the coffee van, we met our fellow volunteer team members
(more on these awesome people later) and our team leader who we affectionately
called, “boss lady”. Boss lady handed out our awesome traffic controller vests
and volunteer hats and we set about allocating ourselves to the areas where
would stand to ‘control the traffic’. Then, out of nowhere, Mish appeared. She was
in her workout gear with headphones around her neck and was looking fit as! She
casually strolled over to meet all of us, photos were taken, tears were shed
and then it was down to business.
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| The awesome traffic controllers |
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| Meeting Mish |
Us traffic controllers toddled off to our
allocated areas and started welcoming and ushering the thousands of people who
were coming to participate in and smash, the world record for the largest group
circuit workout. The rain continued to
fall however Rachel and I persevered, jumping up and down to keep warm and
happily greeted the crowd. Now, remember those awesome team members I was telling
you about? Well, Sarah, Kristy and Melinda were stationed at other posts so
Rachel and I abandoned our post to go and check on them. Sarah and Kristy were
enjoying their traffic controller duties (well, ok, maybe Kristy wasn’t
enjoying it as much as Sarah!) but they
both stuck it out. Melinda had unfortunately been abandoned by her team mate
after 5 minutes as it was “too cold” so we hung out with her for a while to
keep her company. After a while, we all made our way in to the main, let’s call
it an arena, for the group workout. Us traffic controllers were now on Guinness
Book of World Record duties and had to assist with counting. No, we didn’t have
to count heads, just make a note of anyone that had to leave the arena during
the workout for whatever reason. We were able to enjoy and participate in the
workout and at the same time, encourage others to keep going. It was truly
inspiring! We managed to catch up with most of the SWSYD crew while we there and quickly changed out of our volunteer gear to get a quick photo which was later shared on Mish's 12WBT Facebook Page. There were people of all shapes and sizes and varying fitness levels sweating it out but what was even better was to see them doing it all with a smile on their face. Wow, just wow! I couldn’t believe I was a part of such an
amazing family and was lucky enough to be involved in breaking a world record!
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| The Awesome SWSYD Crew |
When the workout ended, Rachel and I made
our way back to our apartment and set out to beautify ourselves. Hair was
booked for 3pm, make up at 4pm. We decided to take the train as we thought it
would be quicker than the 20-minute walk to Melbourne Central (we were on a
really tight time schedule). Turns out the trains in Melbourne aren’t as easy
to work out as the ones in Sydney so we ended up travelling in the opposite
direction to where we needed to be. We eventually arrived at Melbourne Central
with a list of things to gather and do. Eat, get band-aids, buy a clutch, purchase
tanning products, and get hair & makeup done. We managed to get everything
done with time to spare (I don’t know how considering we had no clue where
anything was) and made our way back to our apartment with a quick stop for some
bubbles and snacks.
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| On our balcony just before we left for the party! |
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| The gorgeous sisters from Adelaide, Sarah and Kristy |
Rachel and I woke up the next morning
wanting to do it all over again and we can... in 3 months! Round 2 officially
started today and I’m super excited to see the results that my friends (new and
old) and SWSYD crew achieve, as well as my own!
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| Meeting Margie! |
Until next time,
Danni
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Danni
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