Keeping fit in Australia
Canoeing, sailing and cycling for fitness and adventure Down Under
Feb 16, 2007
It is possible to get fit whilst travelling in Australia, even if most people tend to put on weight due to the plentiful supply of good food. Here are a few methods to keep off the pounds.
Cycling
Canberra is one strange place. It was created artificially to stop Sydney and Melbourne getting into an unseemly punch-up, and whoever designed it clearly thought that roundabouts were the most fun thing since putting your friend’s mobile phone in Arabic. However, there are a surprising amount of attractions in the Australian capital city, which is unfairly maligned as being a dull, politician-laden hole.
These include the Australian parliament, which you can actually walk on top of, the National War Memorial, which is incredibly moving, and all manner of museums and art galleries, many of which actually break the mould and are bloody interesting.
However, Canberra is very spaced out, so walking between attractions is going to really piss you off. Most of them are around Lake Burley Griffin though, and that is surrounded by cycle paths, so the best way to see every thing is to hire a bike and go for a bit of pedal power. If you’re interested in cycling around Sydney you can go solo or take a guided tour to check out some of the hot spots and even try and learn some history. Check out www.bonzabiketours.com or call 02 9331 1127.
Canoeing
Instead of painfully tugging away on a rowing machine, you may as well get into a canoe (or kayak, whatever you want to call them) and paddle around in the great outdoors. Powering down a mighty river, or round peaceful bays, under your own steam is a far more satisfying way of doing things, and you are more than welcome to hum the training montage theme from Rocky as you do it. Once you’ve learned the trick of steering the things, you can go surprisingly fast, eating up plenty of ground.
There are absolutely loads of great places to go kayaking in Australia, although Sydney Harbour (NSW), the Noosa Everglades (QLD) and Katherine Gorge (NT) are probably the most famous spots for manning the oars.
Over in New Zealand, try Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula (North Island) and the Abel Tasman National Park (South Island).
Sailing
When was the last time you saw a fat sailor? They’re all skinny as rakes, of course, and disturbingly muscular, because they spend all day lugging sails up and down, climbing rigging and pulling up anchors.
All of this is a lot harder work than it sounds, as you’ll probably find when you go off on a three day sailing jaunt round the Whitsundays. Most of the boats crammed with backpackers going through these idyllic islands will invite their new crew (not always at gunpoint) to help out with sailing the yacht.
What usually happens is that everyone is enthusiastic at first, before they realise how agonizingly sweat-inducing pulling up the main sail is. After that, everyone tries to hide when the call for volunteers goes out, but if you decide to put in the effort, the crew will be only too happy to teach you the basics of sailing one of these magnificent beasts.
