18. Attempt 5 Food Challenges - Part 2. Misty's Burger Challenge

4th September 2013

An Internet search for Melbourne food challenges was actually surprisingly limited in choice, especially compared to Queensland. Obviously people from Melbourne have more discerning tastes and prefer quality over extreme quantity. However I did manage to find a Burger challenge as something different to the Schnitzel challenge previously attempted.

The next challenge was the Burger Challenge at Misty's dinner in Prahran. A challenge of 5 Patties, 5 Slices of cheese, 5 slices of bacon, 3 buns with a load of mayo and BBQ sauce and a half serve of chili cheese fries.

This was the monstrosity that required finishing in under 14 minutes. I had no worries about the amount of food to be eaten by the ability to eat the burger quick enough to complete the challenge. Immediately coming out of the gate the burger was too hot and saucy to hold and eat properly and i knew i would struggle. Chewing became the enemy but i couldn't manage to force it down quick enough.

I kept going until the very end but feel short of the goal.

With 3 and a bit of the Patties, all the bacon, top bun and half middle bun and half the chili cheese fries I was a bit disappointed I couldn't manage to get closer in the allotted time as I wasn't feeling especially full but was beaten by my inability to push the pace and get through it quicker and some of my friends photos show the immense struggle to go faster.

In the end I had to settle for a close effort but 0 from 2 on my eating challenges. I will now be searching for a potential dessert challenge (maybe ice cream) and 2 different savoury challenges. If anyone knows of a challenge let me know.

18. Attempt 5 Food Challenges - Part 1 Schnitzel Challenge

17th June 2013

After hearing about this Challenge from a friend i knew i had to attempt the schnitzel challenge and despite limited prep time, my brothers bday presented an opportunity to attempt to complete this challenge. Unfortunately Em was unable to make it and attempt it with me so i took on the challenge alone.

The Schnitzel challenge at the HofBrauHaus on market lane provided the setting for the challenge of 1.5Kg of Schnitzel sitting on a bed on chips and accompanied by a litre of beer. This was always going to be a challenge but i felt good going in with a decent stomach expanding meal the day before and limited snacks and drinks on the day.

After everyone arrived, we order the food with a casual order of a Schnitzel Challenge. In between main being delivered we were greeted by a cowbell signifying the arrival of the challenge along with its immense size drew the attention of the whole dining hall with several strangers coming over to take photos of this epic battle of man vs. food.

With the full extent of the challenge in front of me, i was slightly less confident but still was hopeful that i could get through enough it the first 20 minutes to be able to finish the rest as my stomach realised how full it would be.

 We this monstrosity in front of me i decided to make it more manageable but dividing into sections and cutting into small bite sized portions to help complete the challenge. I also started from the outside in to potential finish with the less dry sections.

However about 15 minutes in, the challenge was slipping away from me with less than half of the schnitzel completed. I tried to power through and mix it up with sips of beer and chips to break up the monotony of the schnitzel. Unfortunately it was to no avail as the task become more and more difficult and the eating become slower and slower and there was more chewing rather than eating.

I did manage to continue eating even after the challenge was out of reach but the slow march of the clock got the better of me and the 45 minutes were up. In the end i finished approximately two-thirds to three quarters of the schnitzel, most of the chips and half the beer. A valiant effort but not enough.

The first of the 5 challenges was a failure but onwards we go to the next food challenge. If you have any ideas feel free to share.

53. Raise $10,000 for Charity

17th July 2011

Following

9th January 2011

Having only set up my page a few days before i only managed to raise $10 for Cancer Council Victoria from my 10k run. I will hopefully raise further funds with the half marathon in July.


17th July 2011

With a bit of time to prepare and organise myself i was able to raise $300 for Camp Quality (children living with Cancer). This brings the total to $310.

44. Visit Pyramids in Giza

3rd April 2013

After confirming with Work that i would be headed across to Dubai for a work conference in April, i decided to take advantage and organise a holiday to coincide with those dates. As my boss was going on holiday after the conference and with my brothers wedding on the 30th March i had limited time to go overseas.

However i decided to take this opportunity to tick off one of the items on my list and finally settled on a 10 day holiday in Egypt. After some initial problems with booking a tour (the first two tours had me as the only person booked in for 3 months), i found a suitable tour that included Luxor and Cairo and organised other small trips to Alexandria and Aswan.

After checking into my first hotel i was offered a slight glimpse of the Pyramids in the distance on a hazy day but the next day I got a further view as we drove through the streets of Cairo on our way to Alexandria as they towered above the skyline.

On my 3rd day in Egypt i finally got to see them up close and personal. Surrounded by many locals selling goods of various levels of cheapness and various levels of harassment to try and sell them, we were dwarfed by the sheer size of the three pyramids with 2 significantly bigger than the third which was no less majestic.

After taking some photos outside, we also headed inside the second biggest pyramid. A simple entrance way and a narrow and low passageway led to a mad scramble up and down angled slats to the tomb. Obviously my knowledge of pyramids was not up to scratch as i was expecting rooms full of hieroglyphics but in the middle was a simple room filled with a single empty coffin (that was reasonably impressive) and some old school graffiti from the Belzoni the man who first explored this pyramid in modern times. Also extremely warm and stuffy we exited after only about 5 minutes.

Was cool to have gone inside the only existing remaining Ancient wonder of the world but the interiors were fairly bland and nothing of the caliber of other sites (Abu Simbel, Valley of The Kings etc.).

After going inside we moved to the back of the pyramids and got a view from atop a hill of all three main pyramids and the 3 much smaller adjoining pyramids. It was also a change to grab various ridiculous poses in front of the pyramid (or one of our group to have her own private photo shoot).

After we spent a while on this side and a few went on Camel rides, we travelled to our final site in this area which was the Sphnix. Located in a line with a causeway to the second pyramid of Khafra, it is of a reclining Sphinx and was equally impressive from a size and detail standpoint. Despite missing its nose, the detail involving the tail, legs and the general cravings were excellent and a worthy visit in its own right.

Whilst having seen a million photos of the pyramids and Sphinx it was still an awe inspiring and amazing site to behold. Definitely a site worth visiting, an amazing destination (both Cairo and Egypt as a whole with Abu Simbel and Valley of the Kings being my two favourite places) and a memory i will never forget.