NZ Pealings racing
Douglas and Gethin were both racing today.
Gethin was racing in the Otago Championships Kart race, and Douglas was racing in the Southland Schools Orienteering Championships.
The Otago Champs is a trophy that Gethin has pretty much made his own - he's won it in every class he's competed in. This year he's in a different class - Rotax Max.
Wild wildlife
We had an interesting morning.
firstly the snow. This is carrying on.
Then I was making breakfast and heard a thump on the patio window. Looked up and saw feathers on the window and a New Zealand Falcon flying away. There was a rather concussed thrush on the patio.
Nicky reckoned the falcon would return, and sure enough, a few minutes later, there it was on the lawn. I expected it to quickly swoop onto the thrush, but the building must have hindered it, so instead it stalked it:
birthday
Happy Birthday Andrew.
Road Trip
Tim and I are on a road trip to the North Island to pick up some "toys".
A few things were bought on 'TradeMe' which required retrieving from the Wellington area.
We drove via Dunedin to pick up Jim's 'Ute' and then up east coast to Picton. Took the Sunday evening sailing to Wellington, and stayed overnight in a cheap motel.
Monday morning we headed north to Sanson, where we picked up the "Laser" sailing dinghy Tim was buying.
Sax in a Kayak
A lot of the family know that 4 months ago when my back was sore from kayaking I started thinking about a sedentary hobby, After several weeks of pondering I found a tutor and rented an alto saxophone. When I looked at it before my first lesson I had no idea how to pick it up without damaging it. and could barely tell A from B let alone a # from a flat.
However having got started I have become very enthusiastic and am thoroughly enjoying myself.
Had to work Sunday
Sometimes I wonder why I do the guiding work,
...
but days like this remind me.
I had two clients to take up the Gertrude Valley. It's only sold as an alpine valley walk, so no implication that everyone will get to the saddle.
The two people I had were lovely Yorkshire folk, and quite fit, but not so sure about scrambling. They did really well though, and were keen to get to the saddle. They were really pleased that they did too. Great place for a picnic!
Coming down the rocky bits a little coaching was required, but no problems.
Great day out.
Paddling on Lake Te Anau
I was going to go for a run today, but my foot is still a little swollen from something I did to it on the orienteering on Sunday, so I decided another day's rest would be good for it.
Kanche's not able to run much anymore due to arthritis in her left arm, so swimming is good for her, so I decided to go for a little paddle on the lake, which was very calm today.
Kanche swam well, and after a few hundred metres, I helped her into the canoe.
I got a bit carried away after that, and paddled right across the lake to a beach near "Hidden Lakes" at the base of Mount Luxmore.
"O" yeah
Douglas and I entered our first orienteering event of the year on Sunday (1 March).
It's been a pretty busy tourism season, so I haven't had the chance to go since about August.
The event was at a place we hadn't been to before - a farm nearer to Gore than Invercargill. Douglas drove there which was a nice break for me.
We both decided to do the "short red" course, much to the relief of the planner, as they had run out of long red maps.
I set off first, leaving Douglas to tie up the dog and get himself organised.
Central Otago Rail Trail
This last weekend, about an 8th of my school's roll got up at 4:30 a.m. to compete in a two-day team duathlon race. Of course, this 8th of the school consisted of about 25 students. So after working till 11 the previous night, and not sleeping well, I got all of 3 1/2 to 4 hours of sleep. Anyway. Bleary-eyed and slightly grumpy, my team piled into the double-cab Mazda pick-up truck - which was WAY to small for 4 teenagers and a typical Kiwi bloke. After an ice-cream for breakfast at 8, we rocked up at the start of the Rail Trail in Clyde about 8:30 a.m.
Sigh! - Another Day at the Office
Tweeted this pic on Saturday after my day's work.
It induced mild abuse from Jacqueline and Doug, so I thought I should share it wider, and add a couple of extra pics.
All eleven customer's in my van decided to walk up Key Summit. This doesn't often happen, usually some decide they would rather do shorter guided walks. So I was able to pack up the thermos flasks and biscuits and run up to Key Summit, and wait at the top to serve tea and cookies to my clients.
Also attached is a kml file which is the gps track - it's not a long way, but it's 400m of climbing.
I like the snow… 1 month ago