We're off to the start line

Local time: 5.10am
Leaving the hotel to head to South Battery Park for the start of the race at 7am. Hopefully Chad will be on time so I will be able to delegate the all important greasing down of Murph for the swim. Rubber gloves - check. Lily - fast asleep but soon to be in a cab from Tribeca to Battery Park to hopefully sleep at Fede's place with Vicky and Michelle.

Time to taper and swim with the sealife

Our family week in California also proved to be a great place for my taper. After peaking at 60kms a week it was great to slow it down getting closer to the race. We stayed with my American mum Mickey Shockley and her daughter Kim hooked me up with her swim squad. Wednesday morning we trained at Culver City and Thursday morning was at Santa Monica University. Squads run consecutively for 1 hour so I would stay in the water and do 2 sessions to get kms up.

Friday was a rest day as we headed down to La Jolla for some open water training in colder water over the weekend. Saturday morning I met up with Marc Lewis, a local from La Jolla who was my training partner (along with Anne Steele) in Dover and swam the English Channel five days after me in 2007.

I swam 4 laps (4 miles) of La Jolla Cove on Saturday and Sunday morning. La Jolla Cove is the best possible training ground for endurance swimmers and full of sea life. On Saturday I swam over a 2.5 ft shark and almost collided with seal. And on Sunday swam over a large stingray. Water temperature was a nice 19c.

It was great to catch up with Marc and also to meet and train with Cindy who swam in the Manhattan race last year and is training for the English Channel next year and Barbara who is in the process of embarking on an endurance swimming career.

Monday was back to LA and into Culver City Pool for a 4km session and Tuesday was a rest day as we travel to NYC.

Wednesday and Thursday I swam 4km and 3km respectively at the Chinatown YMCA 25 yard pool. The YMCA was the cheapest pool I could find. Most pools wanted to charge between US$35 and US$50 a swim. The YMCA charged a respectable US$15 for my second swim only.

Friday was my last rest day and the swim briefing was a half day on Governors Island.

As with all my swims my support team has rolled into action. Errol and his brother-in-law Federico are on my boat as the support crew. Tony will be next to me on a paddle board and Chad (my swimming coach) will be with me at the start to grease me up and keep my nerves in check.

Well I'm off to bed now so will update you all after the swim ......... cheers Murph.

Mickey, Mickey, Shamu and a fat lip

After boarding the plane in Sydney, Lily was was very excited to finally be seeing Mickey Mouse - plane and Mickey Mouse is all she had been talking about for a week! She was a little disappointed to not see Mickey Mouse on the actual plane but was excited once again when we arrived in LA after a 14hour fairly sleepless flight and we told her that we were going to stay at Mickey's house. Try explaining to a two year old that we're staying at Mickey Shockley's house not Mickey Mouse's house!

Malibu

We went to Santa Monica for the day and Lily got her first 'serious' injury - went face first into the pavement with her tooth going through her lip. She tripped over daddy's foot - blood everywhere and a fat lip for a few days.

Santa Monica Pier

We spent a few relaxing days in LA and then headed to Disneyland to see Mickey Mouse -finally! Lily loved all of the rides but the highlight was definitely hugging Mickey and going on It's a Small World three times. She danced with Pinocchio and Pluto in the Disney parade and when we woke the next morning she wanted to go see Mickey again.

Next on our agenda was to see Shamu at Seaworld - who doesn't love a big whale jumping metres out of the water. The dolphin show and seal/otter show were also good but Shamu certainly takes centre stage....shamu! shamu! shamu!

Headed a little back up the coast to a gorgeous spot La Jolla, just north of San Diego. There is a seal colony a short walk from the main cove and loads of little squirrels running around the place. A small beach inlet was designed for families but the seals have taken over - Michael was a little concerned swimming here - where there are seals there are generally sharks! Met up with Marc Lewis and his family who actually swam the Channel five days after Murph did. It was great to see them again and we look forward to seeing them in Sydney in a few months.

There was an exhibition of cows that were painted by different artists and were being auctioned off for charity. Lily had to have a photo with every cow - there was one on every street corner and then some so needless to say we had a slow stroll through town.

The Lewis family - Suzanne, Marc and Evan

Spent a day in Hollywood - so so and not overly exciting. Went to see the Chinese Theatre (where the hands and feet are), Farmers Market, Rodeo Drive and went for a drive around all of the mansions in Beverly Hills.

A big thank you to the Shockley family, especially Mickey for spoiling us rotten on our trip and I am sure Lily is very grateful for Kila being kicked out of her house during our stay.

Lily with Kim

Big cuddles for Mickey

The Shockleys! Mike, Mickey, Kim and Donna

And the winner of the Southhead swim is....

Michael Renford!!! What a great effort - an 'easy' 10km swim from Bondi Beach to Watsons Bay. Thanks to his support crew - Tony (on the board), Errol and Rob (on the boat).

Scott Miers finshing in 3rd place

Easter 2009

Of course there was loads of chocolate....

Lily loved the Easter Show - the first of many visits to come. Yes, she did get one showbag but I am sure she will want loads more next year!

Lily really enjoyed all of the rides - a great start for our trip to Disneyland in a few weeks!

I'm spinning around!