RED BULL RAPIDS

One of my most exciting ventures over the last few weeks has been hosting the first ever Red Bull Rapids at Holme Pierrepont!

I was very excited about this as, no doubt you've seen previous Red Bull events. The Air Races-where pilots, who can only be described as complete lunatics, fly low level, flat out through obstacles, narrowly avoiding various landmarks...and peoples heads. Then of course, the Red Bull Flugtag...which looks far more up my street. You design, build and pilot a 'flying machine' which you then run off a jetway in the hope of flying, yet inevitably nosedive into the water. What I love about Flugtag is the brilliant designs people come up with. Like a flying taco. Or Snoopy. Or a Dragon. It's basically whatever comes into your brain. And I find it very, very funny.

So the Red Bull Rapids is basically the same concept. Except you are building a raft. And navigating your way down 500m rapids....you know this is not going to end well for most.

And it really did not disappoint. Before the event started, having a look at the designs and ideas the teams had come up with was utterly brilliant...

Bubble

The Captain Plaice

Personal favourite....H.M.S Rubber Ducky

The Start...

England cricketeer Stuart Broad was amongst the judges, who were looking for creativity, showmanship and of course....speed. (if they made it down)

I was at the starting jetty where the boats were launched and they performed their 'ritual'. A 30 second dance routine which would also contribute towards their score. At times I was struggling to pull it together, when several teams capsized the moment their vessel hit the water. Hilarious! Sorry teams...was just too funny.

Desert Island Risks...

RAPIDS 

Congratulations to local Nottingham team, 'Water Wars' who smashed it and took home the Red Bull Rapids crown!!

Check out the vid....


http://www.redbull.co.uk/cs/Satellite/en_UK/Video/Red-Bull-Rapids-2011--Highlights-Video-021243094353310

Girl Crush

I go through phases with my girl crushes. The first I remember was Dannii Monigue when I was about 10. I preferred her to Kylie because everyone loved Kylie and Dannii was a bit less 'obvious'. Plus she had dark hair and so did I. Ridiculous.

Just to clear this up...mainly incase you are male and don't quite understand the 'Girl Crush' concept. Sadly it isn't who I'd like to spend a night with. It is who I'd like to either look like/dress like/act like/perform like/be like/want their hair or boyfriend. Basically admire in some way.

Brief Britney-Slave era only....shaved head-not so much. Abs.

Went downhill with the pretty embarrassing Spice Girl crush. Geri Halliwell. Mainly when she became 'Trixie Firecracker'. Lets try and forget about this one shall we....

Teenage angst lead to Avril Lavigne...you know when she kicks that door in 'I'm With You'. I like...totally got that.

Then the Gwen Stefani stage....(still ongoing tbf)

Katy Perry....

Moss (also ongoing) Still want this exact dress (not the Topshop crappy copy)

And now, introducing my new latest addition....Lana Del Ray. She is like...so hot right now...

Watch the vid...

The Murs

Oh the lovely Olly Murs. A load of my friends are IN LOVE with him, which I never really got (sorry Olly) but after interviewing him a couple of times I am starting to see why, he is a good old flirt and loads of fun to interview which always helps! There were hoards of fans outside which he spent ages with, signing autographs and making an effort. Was refreshing to see a celebrity genuinely enjoy all that adoration!

He just got to number one so hats off to Olly Murs...ooh....scuse the pun! (that'll make sense if you watch the video....)

Summer Sundae

Being a Leicestershire girl born and bred it was ruddy exciting when I first started going to Summer Sundae two years ago. A mini festival right on my doorstep, with the line up of artists getting bigger and better year by year. But in all honesty, the music is just a small part of it. The whole atmosphere of the festival is awesome, so friendly, chilled out and great fun. I mean...when there's giant cereal bowls and noodle discos on offer, what's not to love? I like to think it's like a teeny weeny piece of Glastonbury. Except I don't have to sleep in a wet/sweaty tent. Who needs Bono or Beyonce?!

Oh hi...

And I was all limbered up.

Friday night we smashed straight into some reggae from 'Toots and the Maytals', then topped it off with a Wagamamas, which coincidently had a dj spinning some 90's hip hop. Noodles and hip hop? Yeah that happened. I didn't see him but I imagine Jay Z was there somewhere...

Want chandelier.

I love campervans. This Airstream was so cool. Bought a drink from it purely on that basis.

With the band....

Pals in a big cereal bowl ala 'Honey I shrunk the Kids'

My new compact camera.

Saturday was all about mojitos in the sun, watching Amy Winehouses god daughter-Dionne bromfield, incredible voice! Then Newton Faulkner at sunset...straight onto our personal fave...the silent disco...

Teens leave such profound messages on the free writing wall. We drew a pair of tits. WE.ARE.28.YEARS.OLD.

Sunday was a bit of a struggle after a couple of debaucherous days (getting old) but managed to squeeze in a spot of McFly. Saw them backstage briefly, they seemed lovely. Watched about 20 minutes of them before realising I wasn't a 13 year old girl...and I only knew 2 of their songs. However they were putting on a great show for the screaming teens!

I am still very tired...all in all great result once again for Summer Sundae. It just gets better every year. Fingers are firmly crossed for Coldplay, Kings of Leon and U2 next year....come on Bono-you and The Edge can stay at mine?! Bring a sleeping bag though.

Record Breakers-Awooga!

A few weeks ago we had a text in on the show asking why 'Dangerous Dave' was in fact labelled 'Dangerous'. Well, to be honest, with Dave being a super polite, straight laced church attending good christian boy, it was kind of...ironic. However it only seemed fair that we at least put his name to the test and allow him to prove himself as 'Dangerous'. It would be fun for us if anything?! We have made him eat the worlds hottest chilli in the past which almost floored him but we needed something a bit more challenging. He seemed reluctant but also excited by the prospect of a challenge so your suggestions came flooding in...

After the initial influx of bungee jumps, sky diving etc etc, we came across one text which we decided was the most unique...and funniest for us...err, I mean, Dave. This wasn't just for our pleasure of course...it was to prove a point. So the decision was made. The initial suggestion was that Dangerous Dave would ride a rollercoaster for the duration of the show. We liked the idea...but didn't feel it was quite edgy enough. That was pretty easy. But would it be easy riding it for a full 24 hours?! Oh...and while we're at it, why not stay on long enough to smash a Guinness World Record?! At least you're achieving something from it then! Dave didn't seem keen. Sadly we were and the wheels were put in motion.

Local theme park Twinlakes jumped in and offered us their log flume ride-which turned out even better as you have the added obstacle of water to deal with. Oh dear David. It was starting to become a rather miserable prospect. Especially after we headed down to test the log flume...and it was a lot steeper and stomach churning than I thought! Not to mention pretty uncomfortable...who wouldn't want to sit on a wooden bench for 24 hours?! To clarify-and clear up those grotty gritty details-under the rules of Guinness, Dave would be allowed a 5 minute break every hour, to nip to the loo or whatever he liked. He could choose to build these minutes up if he stayed on longer than an hour. Just needed to clear that up....

First of all...we had to get Dangerous Dave trained up and prepared for 24 hours of...well, getting wet...

And he's off....

Sam and I took some time to get used to accommodation for the evening....

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150707124355504

11.30pm-16 Hours into the world record attempt....did some Late Night Fluming with Dave. Citing!

After a good nights sleep, feeling refreshed, Sam and I did the show live from the rooftop of the winnebago the next morning. Dave was still going strong....23 hours in. Bless it...

Then at 24 Hours, 14 Minutes and 45 seconds, Dangerous Dave completed the Guinness World Record for the longest time spent on a theme park ride. Relatively unscathed and most importantly, still alive... AWOOGA!

Roy would have been proud...

The Hunt For Batman...

So if there's an A list celebrity in the East Midlands, we feel it's our duty to track them down and try and get an interview, or failing that, at least stalk them and find out what they're up to. It's our obligation to you of course. We tracked down Michael Buble when he was here...he LOVED our banner we made...we had a chat with Ronan Keating at his hotel, went backstage with JLS, Kelly Clarkson, James Blunt, Olly Murs to name but a few. So when we heard world class actors Anne Hathaway and occasional psycho Christian Bale were filming scenes for the new blockbuster 'Batman-Dark Knight Rises' at Wollaton hall in Nottingham, we were VERY excited. And of course, we wanted to get closer. However this would be a risky one. I mean, we all remember how angry Christian Bale can get if you interrupt one of his scenes....

There was no way of getting Bale or Hathaway in for an interview so we were gonna have to go stealth...and find them ourselves, by invading Wollaton Park. Risky move with this live cannon of an actor. But it was a risk we were willing to take. Well, when I say we...I actually mean Dangerous Dave and Producer Simon from the show. Security was gonna be tight so we had to go to extreme measures...

They were ready to infiltrate....but did we find Bale?!

Here's what happened....

Hvar-ing A Good Time

Sooo I know I banged on about it while I was there...but I simply want to share one of the most delicious places I've ever been to. And bore you with a holiday slideshow...no-one seems to want to come round to listen to the running commentary?? So I'll put it on here instead.

So I chose to go to Hvar in Croatia. I'd wanted to visit Croatia for a few years after hearing amazing things from friends about how utterly beautiful it is and once I read that the island of Hvar was 'the new Ibiza meets St. Tropez' I was sold! And that's a fairly accurate description.

We flew into Split-nice short 2 hour flight. Having had a brief glance around Split, I wish we'd stayed there a couple of nights to see it properly as it looked great fun and very pretty. But we hopped on board a catamaran to take us to the island of Hvar, 2 hours away. At this point...that probably sounds like the catamaran was chartered just for us. Sadly not, it was basically a ferry...but a pretty cool one.

When we arrived at Hvar along the jetty, we were greeted by backpackers and glamour. Stylish restuarants, massive yachts and...well, backpackers. It was a good balance-cool and glamorous but not snobby or pretentious. So pretty and so clean! And those massive mounds of ice cream. It was evidently time to drop the 'no carbs before Croatia' regime...

The town centre was ruddy stunning...I may as well let the pictures do the talking....

We walked up to the castle for a pretty spectacular view...

First night-went out-the town was buzzing. Found a side street bar which was rammed. Made friends with backpackers. First off I couldnt resist temptation to hijack a boat. Sure...there were million pound yachts. But this was my choice of vessel.

After boat jacking, we saw some lights in the distance...wondered up to stumble upon a castle...which was actually a nightclub. Amazing.

Was tough waking up to this with a hangover...

So many gorgeous restaurants...http://giaxa.com/giaxa/about

Cutest, rustic wine bar i've ever been to...prsuta 3 wine bar.

Stumbled across a tiny shop to discover it was run by the Dad of the guy who ran the wine bar....his cheese, meat and wine were immense. He gave us a lot of tasters! Splendid.

We turned all Enid Blyton and went for a bike ride...my favourite day. Despite going down a forbidden road and being chased and almost mauled to death by rabid angry, evil alsatian. Pretty scenic though.

And then the best bit....the Full Moon Party. We had to get a boat to the forest....felt like the kind of party I imagine fairies have when you're not looking....have I gone mental?!

Yes that is the moon gleaming on the sea....

And an obligatory sunset shot of course to top it all off....at Hula Hula bar.

I love Hvar!