Fitness

There is a very visible fitness trend here, and everywhere you go people are either walking carrying weights and listening to music or running. The running can be interrupted by a person with whom you have to box for a few minutes and then continue running. Very close to our house are some pretty steep stairs down to the river and people keep running up and down them, over and over again.  You can also see mothers running with special baby carriages, or people running or cycling with their dogs.  These are the things you see just stepping out of your house.

Then you have the water sports, surfing and kite surfing, swimming and kayaking, fishing, sailing etc.  I am sure there are other water sports as well, and Sydney in particular is just a haven for all of that.

Australians are also very big on team sports.  They start already in school.  It is Australian Rules football, soccer, basketball, netball, rugby. There are probably others that I don't know about. You have a team that you "barrack" for and you stay loyal to that team all your life.

Horse racing is also very popular and also dog racing. There is even a public holiday in the state of Victoria for the Melbourne Cup Day.  This holiday is very big and fancy and ladies dress up and wear crazy hats. Oh, and horses race too, of course.  It looks like fun and it is on my list of things to do before we leave here, but it has to wait because I don't have a hat. I need to get something, maybe, something like these hats.

This fitness mania is a paradox since Australia is also a country where obesity is on the rise in a big and worrying way, as it is in all the well to do countries in the world. There are lots of ads on TV for weight-loss programs and companies offering you ready meals with the right amount of calories etc. It seems some people are making good money out of this problem, but then again it has to be dealt with.

Hope the rain stops soon so I can get out for a walk and get rid of some calories!