"Super Uncle" Status

As you know, The Taher Family has arrived here to visit us. Historically, my nieces & nephews think I am "big and scary" so I have decided to work on changing my status to "SUPER UNCLE" during the time they are here!


This is Abby's update on my improving status...


Hello Abby here.... SUPER UNCLE KEVIN drove us to Byron Bay today. We played some fun car games on the drive. S.U.K. took us on a tour of the lighthouse. We did some rock climbing right down to the water and the crashing waves. After lunch S.U.K. taught us how to play touch Rugby. The most important thing about Rugby is that you have to pass the ball backwards. We went for a swim in the ocean at Watego Bay since we were hot. He took us out for ice cream back in Byron Bay. We played in the park but S.U.K. said everybody had to be safe while he was supervising (sigh!!! Two hands on at all times he said!!) and our parents were walking around Byron. Coming home in the truck we played "VAN-IDOL" - Noah was the winner and Super Uncle Kevin was the LOSER! It was a great Day

There you have it people, well on my way to a new status!

Taher's Arrive!!!

More visitors! I am pleased to announce that the Taher Family has landed in OZ! Wendy & I met them at the airport this morning with a big sign!
All went well with thier flights, the kids traveled really well and a very positive experience! Abby told me about all the different languages and people at all the airports. Megan gave us big hugs. Eric showed us his panda! Lots to share over the next few weeks.
We gave the Taher's a quick money lesson on the Australian coins and bills and a swim in the pool. Lots of adventures to come. After lunch we will try to keep them awake and take them to Burleigh Heads for a swim in the ocean - which was Sarah's first order of business!

School's Out for Summer

Well, summer holidays are here! Hannah'a last day, now...bring on the visitors!

Kirra Kite Festival

Hannah & Kevin got up early yesterday morning to go for a surf at Kirra Beach only to find out that there was a cool Kite Festival on as well. We had a fantastic surf session and then wandered around the market booths at all the cool stuff people had made. Came across this cool head band, and thought everybody would get a kick out of it! Sky was filled with kites, check out the gecko above my head. Kirra Beach is one of the most famous beaches in Australia - last week they held the Guiness Book of World Records for the most number of people riding a single wave - 85 on one wave.

Hinterland BMX Race Weekend

Many of you know that years ago I raced BMX. I would say no where near the level that BMX athletes are at currently. None the less, with the kids interested in the sport and the multitude of race tracks in our area, I have picked it up again.

It feels great to load up the truck and head up to a race with the kids. This passed weekend we headed to our old stomping grounds in the Sunshine C0ast and raced the Open Day.

The track was super "jumpy" with perfect ramps for catching air. Kevin, Noah and Hannah all raced with Wendy being the staff support girl with photo's, video, water and even a sausage sizzle.

Racing went really well for everybody, with all of us winning CASH - totally $54 dollars this time. Noah made the final moto but unfortunately got tangled up with another rider in the final turn when he was up in third. Hannah, the newest Simms Race team member, continues to improve with every race, finishing third. I had a good day beating all of the old guys who were struggling on the longer fitness based track.

Excellent race day followed by a couple days holidays up in Noosa surfing. Only downfall was that somebody stole Wendy's surfboard right off the roof of our truck. A surfboard she called "LITTLE GECKO" is unfortunately gone. Bummer!

All for now!

Video - Rugby Games

We have enjoyed our Friday night routine of Touch Rugby at the local Rugby club - The Mudgeeraba redbacks! Like I mentioned, Rugby is massive over here - very much like our ice hockey culture back home. Hannah is play for the 13 year girls squad and Noah with 11 year old boys. Every Friday night the kids play thier games, we watch and after the games we all have a sausage from the BBQ. Here are a few clips from the last games.

2 Foot Morning @ Greenmount

Just another day in my quest to reach 250 sessions of surfing during the year we are in Australia - 72 session aquired and 178 to go! This is a place called "Greenmount Beach" a couple days ago. I was Solo on this particular morning, Waves at a cruisy 2 foot height, Water Temp 22 Degrees, Outside Temp 23 Degrees, Board Choice - K-Blue Longboard. Basically a solid 1.5 hour session before school.

2 SECONDS! - Matrix 6 Hour MTB Relay Race

Being here in Australia certainly has its benefits! However... we all realize there is something unique about our Hardwood Ski & Bike World that we live in. We had a great day yesterday trying to re-live our Hardwood life by entering the Matrix 6 HR race in Cunungra which is about 45 minutes from the house.

We were continually comparing and contrasting MTB'ing Canada with the Aussie MTB Scene. Verdict.... Fantastic day but nothing in the world can rival what Hardwood has to offer!

The course was great - just enough uphill and downhill sections to make it fun and tiring at the same time. Single track was like Sidewinder and about 21-27 minutes long. We started out strong with Kevin leading off the 4 person category - entered as TEAM SIMMS in a family affair. Unfortunately we had a mechanical on lap 2 which cost us about 25 minutes. We spent the rest of the day fighting to get back lost time with everybody pulling equal shifts. Kevin pulled a double on the last lap in hopes to reel in the last 7 minute deficit only to come up right behind the first place team as we crossed the finish line. Bottom line..2nd place 2 SECONDS behind the first place team of young juniors.

Prizing was good with Race Face Socks, Tubes, T-Shirts and chain tools for everybody. We all miss racing at Hardwood and the vibe it provides but this was a fun day none the less!

Whatz SUP?

Another big weekend of exploring! With a crushing beach break surf today (no good for surfing), we took Don Gain and Glenn Meeuwisse's advice and tried some SUP - Stand Up Paddleboarding. Rented a couple kayaks and a couple boards and headed up the Tallebudgera River for the afternoon.

I am not gonna lie..... on the ocean...the surfers hate the SUP's - they are so big that they get in the way, the go for the wave so far out and if one of them hits ya count on a tumour! However, on a flat river, these SUP's are a blast! Everybody gave it a go and in the process had a fantastic afternoon getting a workout in on these boards.
At 5:00am when I am headed out to surf, I see all the paddleboarders on the river and now I know what a good workout it is! There is this great little breakfast spot by the board rental site so I am gonna try it next week.

Only downside... lost my $19.00 sunnies in the lake, thinking they were gonna float - NOT!

$26 Dollar Road Tour

This past weekend was fantastic. The kids and Kevin headed out on a 'road tour' while Wendy travelled up to Noosa with some friends to complete the Noosa Triathalon as a team. Wendy did the swim in 33 minutes, team placing 18th out of 77 teams.

Kevin & kids raced a BMX up in the Sunshine Coast. Kevin finished 2nd in the old guy category, winning $21 dollars cash prize money! Hannah won $5 dollars! We used our winnings for ice cream!

Rest of the tour was surfing and body boarding in Mooloolaba until we had to pick up Wendy later in the day. All in all fantastic tour! Oh yeah.... Rice Krispie contest was to see how many RK you could pick up with one tongue dab in the bowl! Winner... NOAH!

Endless Summer

The warm weather has arrived! We had an amazing weekend of high temperatures here on the Gold Coast. The ocean is feeling more and more like a warm bathtub. Here is a licence plate I saw in the parking lot the other day..... thought is summed up what we can expect for the next 8 months of our stay here in Australia. Anybody coming for XMAS, get ready for the "heat", everybody tells us its going to get crazee hot. Luckily for us we have a brand new air con unit!