Winter race 2013

Again is time for the winter race and this time it really looks winterish. Snow is still in the dark places in the valley, rivers are growing, it is cold and rainy with the forecast snow. In the morning I was packing like I am not going anywhere. My boyfriend was joking all the time about the weather conditions. But sooner or later we were on our way to Vipava valley. You will never believe I went to one of my favorite flying spots without my Spicy.  I left it at home. My friends promised they will bring him – my glider- when nice breeze shows up. I don t want to have poor Spicy all wet on the rain the whole week, since I don t even have a decent rain bag.  

We stopped at Postojna airport restaurant, that is one of our favorite after flying spots.  Great wine, awesome food and nice service keeps us coming back.

We came to Ajdovscina where we started with registration. Unfortunally, because of bad weather not many pilots showed up.  Primoz tested a glider at Lijak, so it was possible to launch.  Weather was bad but for good night sun played a game with clouds while saying goodbye from the day.

Today it was again too rainy to make a competition day. But rain still didn t turn off some pilots to go flying.  We were trying local restaurants and wine. I can t eat any more, but for a glass or two of this valleys wine I will find some more place.

I am hoping the weather will get better soon and we will make a nice race on Friday and Saturday. Tomorrow the forecast is strong NE wind. So we are going to visit Postojna cave. I hope they still have the human fish in there. I am happy to be at Karst.

World championship to remember

11 day World championship was a competition that will be written in the history. The longest triangle tasks, no rest days and arguing abut rules for cancelled days. I was really unhappy as Primoz got zero points for the cancelled day, saving his ass in the CTR. But it is like it is and I can t do anything about that. In my eyes he is the best pilot in the World. With hard work and always reaching goal he climbed to 7th place overall.
I wasn t able to write my blog, since I was working from morning to the evening. I got very cranky, because everyone was flying and I was just working. On one triangular task I went flying in dragonfly with Steve. I appreciate that very much, but I want to have the control. For me that is the point of flying. Every morning I looked at my towing bridals being sad I can t use them again.

I was driving for American team. And I can only say good things about all of them. Great guys awesome pilots with big harts. I was very happy having them in goal so many times. Every time we went to eat healthy and good food. They tried hard to beat Italian team, but stayed on great second place overall. I am proud I was driving for such an awesome team.

At last competition day I was waiting in goal, screaming crazily when saw Primoz coming in with first five and right behind him Matjaz. I almost started to cry. It was such an intense moment. I am very proud of both.

I would like to congratulate to everyone that was competing at this Sparta competition. For me everyone, who can go flying everyday for around 5 hours and more, is a champion.

I missed the big party in Forbes, because I went flying in the morning. I tried the dragonfly. It is similar as flying my uncle John's plane. I guess he would like to fly this toy too.

After beautiful brunch and saying goodbye to almost everyone, Dave took Matjaz and me to the Conungra beach in Sydney.
Kathryn let us oversleep at her place and next day she borrowed me small FUN glider. We went flying Stanwell park. It started to rain, so we were waiting and waiting and finally when conditions looked good I launched. With the gloves, I just put them on because they were in the helmet, I couldn't undo the ladder of the harness that Curt Warren tandem teams land it to me. I went away from the cliff, tried to undo it there, but I just got low. I landed very nicely, great landing conditions in Stanwell, being furious because flying just five minutes. I packed my glider really fast, went back on the hill and flew for an hour and a half. Big thank to Matjaz, who was waiting me at the landing place.
We had a beer on the beach and after we went to uncontrolled hang gliding party that Curt Warren team organized. 

Forbes practise day/ Forbes zacetek tekmovanja

So, World competition has officially started. We had a nice parade from headquarters to the park. Primoz and Matjaz decided I should carry Slovenian flag for them. I really like the team uniforms they got for flying, but I will have to fly a lot more to get one too. Anyway, after a nice BBQ dinner I tried to catch my man on Skype, but I was very late and headquarters were already closing…. Next day we had a practice day. I was working on line; it is so easy now when there are so many crew people. Wind was enabling us to speed it up and get the pilots fly as soon as possible.

As American team said they don t need me for a driver I decided to go in the pool. I stayed in there for few hours. I know that because I almost didn’t t feel my skin anymore.

At the night I went out for dinner. I ordered fish and veggie, being surprised by the price and quality of the food. Maybe it is better I stay on the noodles and rice; it is way cheaper and better.

Today the competition starts, everyone is anxious about it including me. I hope I find my boys in goal.

Svtovno prvenstvo se je uradno zacelo z parado. Pridruzila sem se Primozu in Matjazu, ki sta me dolocila za zastavonoso.  Cela zadeva ni bila tako slavnostna kot  v Sigilu ampak okusna hrana je odtehtala zabavni program.

Naslednji dan smo imeli poizkusni dan. Vse skupaj se je odvijalo prepocasi. Nagajal nam je veter, zato smo morali linijo premikati. Upajmo da bo slo danes bolj gladko. Americani me niso rabili za voznika zato sem she sla ohladit na bazen. V bazenu sem ostala par ur. Ko sem prisla ven, skoraj nisem imela vec koze in cist zgubane blazinice na prsti. :) Za vecerjo sem sla ven, ker nisem hotela odkloniti povabila. Spet preplacala hrano. Zmrznjena riba in zelenjava 22dolarjev, da ne omenjam da ti je se postrezejo ne ampak jo moras it sam iskat k pultu. No bo ze, danes se zacne tekmovanje tako da ze vsi nestrpno cakamo. Drzim pesti da  sta Matjaz,  Primoz in moja ekipa v cilju. 

In Forbes / Priprave v Forbesu

In Forbes we start with towing pilots. I catch a little cold, so my nose is running, but I will survive. During the day I am being a ground support and later, if there is some more time, I go to refresh myself in the swimmingpool. The summer at Forbes is hot, that s why I am drinking as much water as possible. I also went for a little flight with Steve in a dragonfly to cool down.

Every day there is more people at the airfield, that means more work for me, but as long as they are making nice launches  I’ m happy. Yesterday some more ground support came. Peoples I‘ve already met last year. And it was good to meet them again.  We were celebrating New Years Eve with a nice dinner in a local hotel and then finish it in the park across the road.

V Forbsu je vroce  in suho. Cez dan sem delala kot starter. Malo sem se prehladila, ampak mi ne bo hudega. Popoldne se poskusam ohladiti v bazenu oziroma nafehtam kaksnega tug pilota da me zategne v luft. Zaenkrat se ni sledu o moji opremi, ki jo bi lahko uporabila v Forbesu. Je pa tudi res, da je vsak dan vec dela in posledicno manj casa za letenje. 

Zaenkrat sem bila na startu sama s parimi tug piloti in sem imela res veliko dela. Na sreco je prislo se nekaj zemeljske pomoci, tako da bo sedaj lazje. 

Novo leto smo praznovali v hotelu, zakljucili pa s penino v mestnem parku. 

Going to Forbes / Proti Forbesu

At Moyes factory pilots  are slowly starting to show up. I was looking around the factory when my Aussie phone rang. It was one of my favorite hang gliding pilots Belgium Jochen Zeischka. We planned to travel together to Forbes, driving Vicki' s car. Idea was to go on 28^th, but we agreed that we should leave already the same minute... :) Maybe stop at the beach, eat smth and play a tourist. Idea was great, only the car… I promised to drive Vicki’s car down tomorrow but she might need her car today?  We felt like two teenagers asking mum for her car. She agreed and we went on the road right away.  Perfect solution for all of us.

We were already training how to be a good tourist at last World competition in Sigillo, that is why we knew exactly what to do. Having a great drive over Blue mountains, stopping at theThree sisters and eating Thai and trying not to hit kangaroos while driving.

We arrived to Forbes late and realized we don’t know where we are gonna sleep. We tried our luck at Motel but everything was full because of a Jazz festival.  At the end we found a hotel with millions stars at the Forbes airport. We found an old mattress for Jochen, scared the spiders off, took it on the top of a little tower and talk until we felt asleep.

In the morning we bought breakfast in supermarket and eat it with a life jazz performance in the park. Life is good.

Medtem ko sem stikala po tovarni Moyes, ki izdeluje zmaje me je poklical prijatelj Jochen. Ze dolgo nisem srecala enega mojih najlubsih pilotov Belgijca Jochena Zeischo.  Alfa in omega Moysove tovarne Vicki sem obljublila da bom odpeljala njen avtomobil do Forbsa. Idealno za Jochena, ki je potreboval prevoz. Ko sva se srecala sva dobila idejo, da bi lahko odsla na pot kar to isto minuto. Pocutila sva se kot dva najstnika ko sva prosila Vicki, ce lahko njen avto odpeljeva en dan prej.

Brez oklevanja nama je predala kjuce in ze sva odsla na turisticno voznjo cez Blue Mountainse proti Forbesu.

Ustavila sva se pri turisticni znamenitosti Three sisters, si ogledala izdelke od Aboridzinov in vecerjala v Tajski restavraciji. Ko se je zvecerilo sva morala upocasniti voznjo in spremljati kenguruje, ki na cesti delajo grupne samomore...

Ko sva prispela v Forbes  sva ugotovila da nimava prenocisca. Poskusila sva v zasedem motelu in zaprtem hotelu, na koncu pa se odlocila za hotel pod milim nebom na  vrhu majhnega opazovalnega stolpa na lokalnem letaliscu, kjer bo potekala tekma.

Zajterk sva pojedla na  trgu, kjer so kot nalasc zaceli z Jazz festivalom. Celo mestece se giblje v ritmu Jazza, midva pa uzivava v anansovem soku, avokadu in mangotih.

Zivljenje je lepo.

Back to Australia / Spet v Avstraliji

I am in Australia again, this time for the World hang gliding competition. I didn` t write my blog for quite a while, not because I didn`t travel but ... well I don`t even have a good excuse. I got the hint I should write my blog more offten so I am back at Gmail...
Christmas airplanes were nice, I had 3 seats to sleep on, so I was resting most of the trip, eating not too good Christmas airplane food and thinking about my loved ones I left alone for Christmas. We did have a great Christmas market in my village before I left. Where we did a fire dance show, my friends were singing and local people were selling their home made products.
My boyfriend took me to the airport in Vienna, it was the cold winter day, but when I came out in Sydney, it was a Summer day. My friend Thea picked me up and then I went to explore Maraubra bay beach. It is nice to see Aussie`s way of celebrating Christmas and boxing day. Having picnics at the beach, surfing, running, biking and enjoying the summer.
Happy holidays to everyone, no mather where you are.

Spet sem v Avstraliji, tokrat zaradi svetovnega prvenstva v zmajartvu. Za to, da nisem pisala bloga nimam nobenega pametnega opravicila. Ker pa sem dobila namig parih prijateljev, sem se odlocila da spet zazenem Gmail.
Bozicni letalski poleti so bili super. Kar na dveh letih sem dobila po tri stole, tako da sem se dobro naspala. Za razliko od lanskega leta, ko se je zraven mene na polovico mojega stola razlezel en debeluh.
Pred mojim odhodom smo naredili zabaven bozicen trg v moji rodni vasi. S prijatelji smo pripravili ognjeni shov, eni so peli nekateri pa prodajali svoje domace izdelke.
Na mrzel zimski bozicni dan me je fant odlozil na Dunajskem letaliscu in v dveh dneh sem prispela do poletne Avstralije. Najprej sem odsla na sprehod do Maraubra beach. Lepo je videti, bozicno vzdusje, piknike, surferje, kolesarje in sprehajalce, ki uzivajo v poletju.
Vsem zelim lepe praznike.

Winter time in Slovenia

Ljubljana in Christmas spirit

Little Christmas market in my home villige Smartno

Summer time at Maroubra bay.
 

Say cheese - Reci sir

Back in Europe, trying to get work, but also enjoying free time at our mini farm and with all my toys like Spicy, kayak, rollerblades, bicycle … 

Some people think I can last longer under water then at home, because I didn’t stay at home not even for a week. But it was Austrian open and I had to go there to meet friends. It was shitty weather, so I decided to do the tour to Austria with bike, leaving my hang glider Spicy at home. At first he wasn’t too happy about it but then he realized he wouldn’t fly, only got wet …

Next week my parents went on holidays, my sister to conference in Germany, so they were happy I am back to take care of our animals and vegetable garden.

I milked our goats almost every day, having some troubles at first, but they are willing to cooperate if you feed them - corrupted furred species. So I guess they got too much corn, but I got their milk. Big thanks to my friend Anze that milked them when I went flying. From all that milk I made cheese, butter, yogurt – kefir and ghee.  And yesterday just for fun some apricot jam. 

Yogurt-kefir with fruit, butter, panir with spices, apricot jam and cheese

Končno nazaj v Evropi. Poskušam najti kakšno službo, vendar pa tudi uživam z mojimi igračami, ki jih nisem mogla uporabljati sedem mesecev. Zmaj-Spicy, kajak Gringo, rolarji, kolo ...

Doma nisem zdržala prav dolgo, saj sem morala iti na zmajarsko tekmo v Greifenburg. Do Avstriske meje sem se zapeljala kar s kolesom, nato pa me je do Greifenburga peljal prijatelj, ki je šel tudi tja. Vremenska napoved je bila slaba, tako da sem se odločila da svojega zmaja Spicyja pustim doma.

Naslednji teden so se moji starši odpravili na dopust, zato sem morala skrbeti za našo malo kmetijo.  Skoraj vsak dan sem pomolzla naše kozice. Ker so visoko podkupljive sem jim v zameno za mleko dala več koruze kot jo navadno dobijo. Iz vsega dobljenega mleka sem izdelala sir, skuto, kefir , ghee in maslo. Včeraj pa še domačo marelično marmelado.  Najlepša hvala Anžetu, ki me je zamenjal, da sem šla lahko letet na Kovk. 

Flying, bycicling, kayaking