Mark Dalton

More Photo’s Here

So a few years ago I commissioned the guy’s at Iconize Me to design an avatar for me.

Well, you might of noticed I have recently had it redone. Paul Sahner did the original design, so this time around I asked José Ramos to do the honours. I plan on having a few more done. What do you think?

So i’m not quite sure how but I managed to pull a muscle in my lower back last weekend. Now I hurt my back years ago, but its never really done much more than ache, and then only when I had over done it. This time however I have been in total agony, and laid up most of the week. Coughing or sneezing brought tears to my eyes, and going up and down the stairs was a major excursion.

Thankfully by Thursday it was starting to ease up and by Friday morning it was back to just aching. So today I arranged to meet Katrina and take William and Eleanor to the park to feed the ducks. It was a beautiful day and the walk around the ponds really loosened up my back, and allowed me to get some fresh air for the first time in a week.

Near the end of our walk I remembered that I hadn’t tried recording any video on the iPhone 4, so I grabbed a few seconds of Eleanor singing a unique version of “Old MacDonald had a farm”. Far too cute not to post!

After a week of teasing and fiendish clues it was time for my Birthday Surprise. As instructed by my sister I was up and ready for a 09:00 start and I will admit slightly nervous as we set off. It was a lovely day, but she wasn’t going to give in and tell me where we were going, despite my constant questioning. I tried to follow our route on the maps application on my iPhone, hoping to be able to identify our destination, but it couldn’t really keep up with us and I was none the wiser. I still didn’t have a clue when we arrived at Moors Valley County Park.

We grabbed a coffee and it was only then Katrina said that we were booked to start at 11:00. I was intrigued, but still no nearer identifying why we were here. On the way to the coffee shop I had seen the little hut with the big “Ape” statue, and asked if we were going to see relatives, but Katrina still wasn’t giving in and I hadn’t put the clues together. We had our coffee, biscuits, and chatted, me still probing for more information.

At 10:50 we started walking towards the hut, and I was starting to get really nervous. It was only when we arrived and I saw the signage and harnesses I realised what I was in for, and I swallowed hard.

“Go Ape“

After being asked to read an instruction card and sign a disclaimer (that always makes me wary) we had a 30 minute induction that took us through the basic safety aspects. We were then taken to the start of the course.

Well, this was my opportunity to get a little pay back and when the instructor asked for a volunteer I kindly volunteered Katrina. With about 10 of us sat watching Katrina had to go through attaching the harness to the safety lines, rigging the pulley system, and then traversing the obstacle. She was very nervous, but completed it without any problems and at the end got a big round of applause. We were then let lose on our own!

Katrina and I were at the front of the group and we worked our way around the course. Mum had asked Katrina to get lots of photos but when I reminded her of this she wasn’t very polite in advising me that she was to busy holding on. We slowly progressed getting a little more confident as we went.

It was after we completed the third obstacle, about an hour in, we saw a sign saying exit. We started back towards the hut where we had picked up our gear congratulating ourselves and saying what fun it had been. It was only on arriving one of the “Go Ape” team advised us we had walked past the last two obstacles. Opps! We made our way back up the path feeling a little silly, but grateful for the rest and found the forth and fifth obstacles, although by the time we reached the forth we had been over taken. The last two were harder than the first three and at this point we both wanted a drink and a cigarette. Our arms were starting to feel heavy, and pulling ourselves up was getting harder and harder. The final obstacle ended with a long wire bridge and then a long zip slide back to the hut, and the smiling assistant that had made us walk back earlier.

We both stepped out of the harnesses with a sigh of relief and big smiles and headed towards the picnic area for a well deserved packed lunch, which we both inhaled sat next to one of the Moors Valley County Park Lakes. It was a fantastic day and one I would recommend to anyone not afraid of heights.

More photo’s Here.