Arriving in Florida was not only a mid-point of our sabbatical, it also offered us some time to 'neutralise' our senses so that we could absorb more of the many great sights and experiences we have planned. During the trip to date we have had so many amazing times, seeing and doing pretty unforgettable things, we didn't know how to express and memorise them in their full glory any longer. Unbelievable but true, a certain travel "fatigue" had started to set in, noticeable on our way to Yellowstone.
Clermont (near Orlando, Florida) for us was not a place we wanted to go to for cultural reasons (even if Disney could be mistaken for such), there are also no mountains or grizzly bears, but we have spent many holidays in Clermont in the past enjoying their weather, the many lakes and most of all watersports. Also the number of golf courses in the area has not gone unnoticed. It was here we wanted to chill and relax, finally enjoy true summer weather, work on our wakeboarding skills and swing the golf club. Svan had found us a lakeside cottage on Lake Louisa to make our home for 5 weeks - bliss - ...then again, also a big change. What if it would feel like "Groundhog Day", what if we got bored or heaven forbid, if one of us got injured? Well we had some plan Bs, including a drive to the "Keys", visit the space centre or maybe even check out a themed park or two! Famous last words - one day we woke up and had to leave. Not a single Plan B was put into action as Plan A was just too good ;-)
Clermont (near Orlando, Florida) for us was not a place we wanted to go to for cultural reasons (even if Disney could be mistaken for such), there are also no mountains or grizzly bears, but we have spent many holidays in Clermont in the past enjoying their weather, the many lakes and most of all watersports. Also the number of golf courses in the area has not gone unnoticed. It was here we wanted to chill and relax, finally enjoy true summer weather, work on our wakeboarding skills and swing the golf club. Svan had found us a lakeside cottage on Lake Louisa to make our home for 5 weeks - bliss - ...then again, also a big change. What if it would feel like "Groundhog Day", what if we got bored or heaven forbid, if one of us got injured? Well we had some plan Bs, including a drive to the "Keys", visit the space centre or maybe even check out a themed park or two! Famous last words - one day we woke up and had to leave. Not a single Plan B was put into action as Plan A was just too good ;-)
View of Lake Louisa next to our cottage
Svan chilling out at the cottage
Lake Louisa at dusk
From the photos above you would think it was always beautifully tranquil, and yes for the most part it was. For those of you in the know, September and October are hurricane season in Florida. We didn't get any real storms in Clermont but a weekend of some interesting monsoon style rain:
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Most of the time it was sunny and calm, giving me the chance to perfect my "Australian" style cooking - steak, marinated chicken and peppercorn pork featured regularly on the menu!
Golf also was a regular past-time throughout our stay and a nice change to the very physical wakeboarding:
Playing the 7th at Palisades Golf Course
Playing the 2nd at Swiss Fairways - this place had a different kind of water hazard with the "Swiss" ski school situated inside the golf course!
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Svan, Bill and me playing Lake Buena Vista Lake Golf Club at Disney
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Playing the 5th at King's Ridge Golf Course
The things you do for love!! - Trying to retrieve Svan's ball on the 12th at King's Ridge Golf Course - I'm afraid there was no happy ending for Svan's ball but I'm relieved to report I didn't find any alligators!
We viewed wakeboarding as our "day jobs" and rode Monday to Thursday each week at "The Wakeboard Camp" situated on Lake Minneola (www.wakeboardcamp.com). We took the "long" weekends off to recover and do other things. Even though we only rode 2 sets of 30 minutes each day, it being such a high impact sport it is still pretty tough on the body, and most afternoons we visited the local gym (Anytime Fitness) to stretch and twist our bodies back into how we were supposed to function. I even worked on my jumping skills in the gym - needless to say, some of our exercises were observed with disbelief and amusement by the locals who were there mainly to lose weight or sociallise. After two weeks, Svan admitted to feeling quite self conscious as she must be the only woman there who didn't wear make-up and was looking quite 'yuck' (her words, not mine) as a result of sweating - shame on her! All in all, we were very active as the photos below confirm.
Svan's tail grab!
Just before landing an "Olly Backside 180"
Svan attempting a "Back Roll"
Svan with coach and pro-rider Bob Sichel
Landing a "Wake to Wake" jump
Receiving instruction on how to improve my "ollies"
Svan receiving instruction on how to improve her position for her "regular 360s". 'Ollies', 'wake to wake', etc - a whole new language was learnt to communicate.
During our stay we were lucky enough to spend almost every 'working day' with our friend and head coach Kyle Schmidt. He is on the photos above and you can see that even when facing away from us, we were still under his watchful eye in the mirror. No gentle suggestions were made but clear instructions were shouted towards us - his favourite words are "HARDER!" or "BIGGER!" which inspired the 1st of the videos (below) that I put together with my new 'Power director software'! Not that I needed any new hobbies but at least this new hobby doesn't physically exhaust me as much as the others.
Wakeboard is not all about riding - our arms would drop off - but about hanging out in the boat, putting the world to rights or just being silly. With Kyle's influence we didn't just learn about the sport but as Svan says, we bring out the 'worst' in each other. I believe, she meant that in Kyle's company both his and my "boyish" sense of humour flourished!
Wakeboard is not all about riding - our arms would drop off - but about hanging out in the boat, putting the world to rights or just being silly. With Kyle's influence we didn't just learn about the sport but as Svan says, we bring out the 'worst' in each other. I believe, she meant that in Kyle's company both his and my "boyish" sense of humour flourished!
We got to meet some other cool people along the way including (front right) Alejo a professional wakeboarder from Argentina who we got to see ride over a couple of weeks - he was an amazing rider and a very cool guy!
Wakeboard camp also gave us the chance to catch up and spend some time with our friends Bill and Mary who live in Clermont. Bill is the manager at camp.
Here at Outback, enjoying a steak with Mary and Bill!
Svan finally getting the chance to try her hand at stand up paddle, and we both stayed above water!
As mentioned before, video editing became a new hobby and to learn, test and experience how to use the software, I needed ammunition. Svan hardly saw me for days as I immersed myself into the tutorials, only to come up for air, requesting her to ride a certain way so that I can video new material that would fit with the music and plans I had. Oh I will regret admitting to it, as she will just nod knowingly, stating that 'she is sooo tolerant', but as we all know, I am the most tolerant person in this relationship! Anyway, I have uploaded some of the mini-movies in which I hope to have captured at least a bit of the fun we were having. I am open to suggestions for improvements as this will influence what can be done when we are on snowboards and wizzing (hmmmm - maybe I will need to speed up the video for that ;-)) through the trees in Canada next month.
Please remember to turn up the volume when looking at these mini-movies:
1. Harder, Faster, Bigger, Stronger (featuring Kyle and me)
This clip is about the drills that Kyle put me through to get my 'switch' riding (right foot forward as opposed to left foot forward, which is my "regular" stance) into better shape! For the next set of tricks this was urgently needed and hard work. At the start of the trip I spent many of my full sets (30 minute riding sessions) in switch and especially my toe edge - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. This video shows a number of the drills and Kyle's 'encouragements'. I got to the stage where I would wake up during the night hearing him shouting "harder" or "bigger"! Oh boy, this is scary ;-)
2. You Spin Me (featuring Svan)
3. Galvanize (featuring Svan, Kyle and Me)
This was my favourite video. I had checked out the professionals on video and some use helmet cameras - that's what I wanted. When Kyle had the camera, and we wore it for a couple of sets wakeboarding, it then took time to piece it all together ...and no kidding it really did take time ...but I love the result. The whole experience was so cool, even if we did look like aliens with our yellow helmets with their video "antennas" on top! We felt like pros riding even if we didn't land any of our back roll inverts!
4. Room At The Top (featuring, Svan, Kyle, Bob and Me)
I put this video together during our stopover at LA airport on the way to Auckland. It contains the "best of the rest" - the footage that I hadn't used in the other videos. It think it captures some fun moments where we landed jumps, or just missed them, and even my enthusiams - not for a new trick but for getting one of Kyle's wakeboard questions right!
Oh and let's not forget, during our stay in Florida, Svan and I celebrated our 6th Anniversary. Where has the time gone? We indulged in huge amounts of beef carpaccio and champagne. Oh this certainly is the trip of a life-time that I had worked for so hard for many years...
NZ was a place where Svan had actually lived a few years back, whereas I had never been. This sounds like having your own personal tour guide - bring it on, let the adventure begin...
[Note: I have finally got the opportunity to update Section 19 of the Blog on our Roadtrip from the Yukon to BC to include a video showing the grizzly fishing for salmon in Hyder, Alaska - truly amazing!]
