The Auckland Half

One thing we're definitely finding in New Zealand is that it's way too easy to spend all your time outside... which we're loving! The walks and rides are fun, but our main aim while we're here in NZ is to get fit and enter some big races. A lot of Aucklanders have been telling us we HAVE to do the Adidas Auckland Marathon/Half Marathon, as it's the one time in the year that you can run over Auckland Harbour Bridge - a pretty special (and tall!) looking beast which straddles the posh district to the North of the Harbour to the picture postcard perfect city (CBD in local lingo) to the South. So when Sarah's boss offered her a place for free with a week to go - why not say yes?!

And when that meant I'd have to stay at home on my own or be in the crowds cheering, I decided I'd better get on the case of hunting out a spare ticket with only a couple of days to go! All is good in the tiny country that is New Zealand though, as everyone knows everyone - so I soon had got a ticket from a friend's builder. A 48 year old builder by the name of Barrie - and I didn't have a chance to change the registration name - oh well.

Sadly we didn't get any photos of the course or the race, but it was stunning. It's the biggest race in the country each year; so the atmosphere, route, scenery and crowds cheering us on were fantastic.  It was a bit of a brutal start getting up at 4am to catch the 5am ferry to the startline - but watching the sun rise with the other runners and then setting off was a lot of fun.

Here's a very happy Sarah after the race

Sarah "The Machine" Cope

Sarah smashed it! Sticking like a limpet (no, she didn't get a piggyback) to the 1:50 pacer the whole way round, she came in at about 1:50:06 - a PB by about 20 minutes.

I loved it too - and guess what? I came 14th in my age group! Admittedly that was the 45-49 age group that 'Barrie' was entered in, but hey! Good job I didn't make it onto the podium!

Couldn't be happier with a 1:34:30,
but next time, sub 1:30!

And here's the evidence... I got a few people shouting "Go Barrie!" as I went round!

One to keep

Kiwis know how to do good weather and good atmosphere, that's for sure - so after cheering Sarah in we demolished a lot of free bananas and powerade in the sunshine, before turning our attention to the beer tent. And every finisher gets free beer - amazing!

Mid-day drinking and 13 mile runs don't suit everyone though...

 Sarah beat a lot of Auckland's runners.
But Auckland (and a beer) beat her in the end

So what's next? Well, we've entered an Olympic-distance triathlon this December, again in Auckland. Our running is looking good, the cycling is going well and the swimming... Well, the swimming is taking a bit more effort. but we'll get there. The race itself will be a 1.5km ocean swim, followed by a 40km ride then a 10km run. Fingers crossed we'll get round it - but it's looking like it'll be a great race between Sarah and I. She can smash me in the water, we're pretty even on the bikes (damn all her spinning classes) and my long legs can outpace her on the run. Place your bets now people.

 The training for it is pretty intense - so I thought you might like to see the makeover we've given our washing machine. It's now the Mother of all training plans, and is handy bathroom reading.

Turns out our fridge front wasn't magnetic!

Wish us luck! Seeing how December goes, we're already toying with a Half Ironman in March of next year, but that really would be a beast. Consisting of a 1.9km swim, 90km on the bike then ending with a half marathon (21.1km).

Make it stop.

Labour Weekend in Hawkes Bay

Spring is here, and there's nothing better in Spring than a bank holiday! We had our first long weekend (since starting work oh so long ago) last week and since we refuse to pass up any opportunity to explore this beautiful country, decided to take on the 6 hour journey to Hawkes Bay on the East Coast of the North Island. I left work early on Friday to be met by Matt at our apartment with the van fully packed and ready to roll. 6 hours later we both had sore bums but had reached Napier, our destination.

Beautiful Napier

Napier is the (self proclaimed) art deco capital of the world - and we both loved it - we spent a glorious morning wandering around town admiring the 1930s architecture.

Stepping back in time to the 1930s

After lunch, we jumped in the van and parked up at a free site a few kilometres out of town by the beach. The best thing about this site (apart from not having to pay) was its handy location within walking distance of three vineyards!  

Strolling through our first vineyard

A ridiculous amount of tasting followed, with some purchasing of wine for the evening. We also fitted in a little bit of beer drinking, boule playing, chatting to locals and generally deciding that we had made it in life. If all Saturday afternoons could be this good!

Beach House Winery - delicious Riesling

Boule and beers round the back
of Clearview Vineyard

Back at the beach beside the campsite, and back on the wine!

After all that wine we didn't feel quite so fresh the next morning - but blew away plenty of cobwebs with a windy and sunny walk up to the top of Te Mata - a peak inland, near to Havelock North. The views were stunning and again we made friends with some locals. We reckon us Poms have 'come and chat to us' written on our foreheads.

Looking down the Te Mata ridge to the Tukituki river

A quick stop off at Countdown (ubiquitous NZ supermarket) for bbq supplies and we drove 2 hours back along the most stunning road to about 20km from Lake Taupo, taking a good chunk off the return journey. As chief tiki tour planner I had identified what looked like a lovely cluster of Department of Conservation campsites just a few kilometres off the main road, in protected native forest. Half an hour of driving on a gravel road later through dense wet forest (the sunshine had disappeared by this point - replaced by very heavy rain) we arrived at a deserted campsite with only one long drop toilet for company.

Even spookier than it looks!

Matt was still determined that the planned bbq would still take place. It was delicious!

This Pom doesn't mind a bit of rain

Spot the other Pom who does mind a bit of rain!

Nothing for it after we'd filled up on steak, chicken, burgers and bananas (yes - we did eat it all) than a very early night and an early set off next morning.

Huka Falls on the way back - awesome!

A slow journey home via Taupo, Huka Falls and a number of classic small Kiwi towns we returned to the big Auckland smoke completely pooped. But raring to go for the next long weekend - and even sooner - the arrival of Al and Anna in less than three weeks!

P.S. This blog wouldn't be complete without commerating a huge moment in the life of Carrie, our van which we were lucky enough to share with her this weekend.

The photos say it all... Well done Carrie - here's to the next 300,000km!

Happy birthday me!

I had the Friday off, so caught the ferry over the North Shore and met Sarah for a Belgian lunch. A big Brun Leffe and half a chicken later, I was back on the bike.

Turns out Leffe travels better to New Zealand than I do with a stomach full of it up and down hills...

Good times!

Chur!