Diary Entry 6th June 2008
(64 days until Opening Ceremony)

This week has surprisingly been somewhat of a ‘normal week’ – although everywhere I go I still have this ‘selection cloud’ hanging over my head, only 4 days until dreams are realised or shattered…

I’m sure you’re all thinking ‘what is a normal week’ – a normal week for me is….spending time at my home, gardening, cooking, visiting my favourite cafes, spending time with family, watching my beloved West Coast Eagles (one consolation win, followed by a humiliating shellacking!!).  Many of these things can be viewed as chores or annoyances for most, but when you spend up to half of your year in an out of hotels, restaurants, laundromats…all you want is to do it for yourself and at your own home!

So this week has been about getting back on track and enjoying the simple pleasures – I was lucky enough to have my family in town.  Mum and Dad were up from the country, my sister was in town from Brisbane and the usual suspects kept me entertained – my sister and her husband (who reside in Perth).

Training took a back seat for a few days, as we were on forced rest/recovery – which is always a given post tour.  I don’t really understand the concept of rest, so I quietly worked away at maintaining my fitness; I like to call it ‘active recovery’.

We are however, back on track and the opening session was all about ‘fitness testing’.  As a group our stress levels were high as being on tour is nothing like being in a centralised training program – we have different eating habits (German sausage and schnitzel), exercise regimes (predominately game based) which always creates a cause for concern.  Individually my results were well aligned with my previous scores, so to say the least I was relieved.

Now…we’re working towards our next tour a 3 match Test Series v Japan to be held in Japan.  Aside from  this tour being enormously important for Olympic preparation, secretly I need to be on this tour…the thought of shopping up a storm in Hong Kong is too exciting!!