Summer South Island Adventure Part 1

Oops - time's slipped away a little bit since our last trip! What with a three week holiday, returning to busy jobs, fitting in the final phases of our Ironman training and receiving a few visitors (more on that another time) we've been a bit hectic!

The Kiwi Christmas happens at the same time as the Summer holidays for kids, so it feels like the whole of NZ pretty much shuts down for a couple of weeks. Last year we headed down to the South Island for two sun kissed weeks. It was fun. So this time we headed down there in our trusty Carrie the Van for three weeks. Why not! 

First up, a 2 day dash down to Wellington for a bit of capital city culture. We're way behind on blogging, so I'll let the photos do most of the talking! Here's Sarah outside the NZ Parliament which we took a tour round. On the left is the Beehive, where the leading party has it's offices. On the right are the chambers, with the inside all modelled around the House of Parliament in London. 

Checking out the NZ Parliament

Catching the Funicular up Wellington's sleep slopes

And exploring the Botanical Gardens at the top

Planning our route at Te Papa,
NZ's National Museum

And what better way to end the day than a trip to the waterfront for a jar (literally) of beer and a kilo of crabs. I've never had crabs before. A lot of effort, but worth it...

YUM!

Back to the van, get not enough sleep at a roadside rest area and then onto the first ferry leaving the city across the Cook Strait for the South Island. Off the ferry and zooming through the Charlotte Sounds, Nelson and along to the Abel Tasman to get settled for 4 nights at a campsite in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately being on holiday didn't mean the training could stop - but it did mean we could train in much more beautiful areas running trails, exploring bays in our wetsuits and heading into the mountains on our bikes. Our campsite was right at the end of one of NZ's 10 "Great Walks," the Abel Tasman Coast Track. We caught a water taxi around the bays and ran the 35k back through lush rainforests and golden bays. Hot, but stunning!

Hot, but stunning!

Sending me over to test it first!

And the next day? A lovely ride out to Farewell Spit. It's supposed to be beautiful on a sunny day with the sandy bar reaching out as far as the eye can sea. On a drizzly day with the tide out, this is what we saw:

Sarah farewelling Farewell Spit

But summer holidays require Sunshine. So we woke up on Christmas Day to this stunner of a day - and headed straight down to the beach for a crackly phone signal home and a splash in the sea.

Merry Christmas!

And then back to the van for some champagne, sunshine and a three course dinner off the BBQ.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Even Carrie got a bit festive with a Rudolph outfit, bless her...

But with 4700km of roads to cover during our trip, we couldn't stay in one place for long. Next up, a trip down the wild West Coast with a few stops along the way. Here's Hokitika, home to the characters and story of NZ's Gold Rush as told in The Luminaries. A book that won a prize for books, called booker, so says Sarah. It's supposed to be good. So was the town.

It's all going off in Hokitika

And further down the coast to Okarito, the biggest surviving natural wetland in New Zealand. The campsite (owned and managed by the local villagers) was in an amazing spot, hidden in the bush behind the dunes. They must see some amazing sunsets - this was our flavour on the first night:

Okarito

With a full day to explore the wetlands, we hired a double kayak, packed plenty of bananas and got across the lagoon to start exploring up treelined gullies and swamps. All with a backdrop of the Southern Alps.

Loving life

Not the most dramatic view for lunch, but nice to be on land!

After a hard day paddling, the locals pointed us in the direction of the beach again for a fire made of the abundant driftwood. Sarah read for three hours. I burnt stuff.

Man making fire
(both points are debatable)

Keeping the reader happy

Further down the coast are the two famous glaciers; Fox and Franz Josef. The hike to both of them is stunning as you move up the steep sided glacial valleys. Even without it raining in a while, the waterfalls were still looking spectacular.

Outdoor shower anyone?

Sadly, Sarah was a bit ill after eating too many Skittles during the journey...

Poor girl...

How can you beat that for a view?

Oh - how about adding in a reflection?!

Sadly, the glaciers aren't quite so pretty when viewed close!

Leaving glacier country, we headed to Lake Matheson - famous for it's gentle stroll around the water and a stunning view of the mountains if the wind is kind.

The wind was kind.

Week 1 of 3 complete, next stop was Lake Wanaka for a practice Half Ironman followed by 5 days of relaxtion and recovery with our good friends Mark, Janelle, Nick and Kate (plus kids!)

Coastal views on the drive

Kia ora, bro!

How Christmassy do I feel? I looked out the window across some sunny fields on Thursday and my first thought was "surely Wimbledon is soon". That's how Christmassy I feel! 

But I'm still looking forward to throwing a butterflied chicken on the BBQ and drinking some beers chilled in a mountain stream anyway. 

During our three week South Island adventure we're spending 4 nights with some old friends of mine from Japan - Nick & Kate and Mark & Janelle, plus their lovely kids. Nick was flying in to Auckland today from Prague with a 10 hour layover before catching a flight down to Masterton. Could well be the smallest domestic plane ever. When asking if his seat was aisle or window, it turns out each seat is both...!

So - we dusted off the sign writing skills, chauffeur suit and put the diplomatic plates on the van to pick up our VIP.

Pretty perky after 24 hours of travelling
Welcome to the South Pacific!

 First up - jump in the van and head out to one of our favourite spots - the Waitakere Ranges.

Both older, both still dorks.

And down to the wild western side of NZ for a well earned coffee and some big waves rolling in from the Tasman.

Oh so civilised. NYE will be the same, right?

And a quick climb up Lion Rock

Bus tour complete, back in the van and to our apartment for a bit of lunch and a 12k run. We'll cure the boy of jet lag!

Awesome to see you Nick. Can't wait to be joined by the rest of the J crew in two weeks...

Training for the Ironman

There's been a kiwi pop song on the radio lately which sums it all up... There's Something In The Water... Has it made it over to the UK yet?

Sarah and I aren't sure what's in the water here - but when we arrived in July '12 we thought we'd dabble in triathlon. I learnt how to swim front crawl for the first time in my life and after a lot of hard work managed a full length without stopping. Sarah moved form her beloved spinning bike and got clipped in to a carbon machine, a wobbly transition! And we set ourselves the target of getting round an Olympic distance triathlon together (1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run) which we completed in 2h53m last December, crossing the line exhausted.

As with anything in life, the more you do it the more you learn about it. And we heard many people calling what we did the "standard distance". The what?! Turns out there's a thing called the Ironman, which sounded pretty unrealistic for sane people. So we set our sights on the Auckland Half Ironman in March 2013, a 1.9k swim, 90k bike and 21.1k run (1.2, 56, 13 for our imperial friends). It was tough but the training worked for us both (I got round in 6h15!)

So what could be next? Well, the realms of insane people I guess. An Ironman - double what we'd just done - so just a marathon to end with then! Training for this has all but taken over our lives lately, and I thought I'd write a blog to give an insight into what we're doing to try and realise this ambition!

March 1st 2014 is the big date, so after a winter of basic training we set out on a 30 week training plan. It's not dreary hours in a gym though as we combine weekends away in the van with training. So before I write too many more words, here's a few photos from a recent training weekend:

An M&S Training Camp in the Hunua Ranges

With a bit of cross-training: building dams

And reading books

And making use of our solar shower!

So our 30 week plan takes us right up to race day. Each week has 9 exercise sessions - Mon-Fri consists of a day off and 3 swims, 2 runs, 1 ride and a transition (a ride/run combo). The weekends are our chance to 'go long' with a long ride and a long run. Steadily the volume has been building up and we've averaged 8 hours every week over the last 5 months, peaking at 16 hours the week before last. The plan has phases that rise and fall, to give the body a chance to recover and build.

Needless to say, we're often a bit tired/grumpy/hungry/sleepy/busy. But it's all about sacrificing a few things and being efficient with others. Cycling/running to work kills off the dead time of commuting, indoor cycling to a movie combines relaxation with exercise (!) and cooking up three times the amount of food you normally would means you save time cooking later in the week. I had 9 frozen bologneses/curries/chillis in the freezer at work at one point!

But Christmas is nearly here, which means the March 1st Ironman isn't so far away. So it's time to get in race mode... we went back to where we started, an Olympic Triathlon. Speaking of Christmas, here's NZ's tree associated with this time of year. The beautiful pohutukawa.

Not your average baubles

 It was a stunning day for it, with temperatures just below 30degC, which brought out all the local triathletes.

A busy transition pen!

The bikes got racked (next to some machines worth quadruple what ours are - but it's all about the engine!!) and all the transition gear neatly laid out. It was the first outing of my horrific lycra onesie too - worn under the wetsuit, good for the bike and a bit revealing for the run!

Movember style!

Next up - squeeze into the wetsuits... top tip, put your hands and feet in bin bags so you can slide in a bit easier!

The bane of Sarah's life

As I'm now getting more confident in the water, I decided to not be at the back of the pack but get right in the middle from the go. It's horrible! People swim over you, under you and I got a savage uppercut when breathing to the side from a guy bringing his arm forward. Oh well - just keep swimming! The bike went well for us both, though Sarah had a fall (and then a mechanical problem) at the turnaround point when she hit some gravel. Back to the transition area, runners on and set off!

A native bush course for the run - stunning

And here's Sarah crossing the line!

It was a stunning day and the results were a good confidence boost from all the training we've been doing. Sarah was just behind her PB in 2h52 (finishing with a 46m 10k), even after having a fall and fixing her bike. I had a great race, finishing in 2h28 with a 41m 10k at the end. Delighted with that!

It's a bit scary to think about the Ironman being so much longer, but they're completely different beasts. This was all about speed and working in groups. The Ironman has a 17 hour time cut-off and for Sarah & I is all about finishing, so the pace will be a lot slower.

 So what do I think you need to complete an Ironman? Grit. Admittedly this girl's got some stuck in her elbow, but she's also got a couple of buckets of it left over to carry us both through the long training hours. Let's hope it's all worth it!

Battle wounds

We're doing the Ironman as both a personal challenge and a chance to raise money for two charities that we've both previously worked with and mean something to us: Mind (providing advice and support for mental health problems) and The Stroke Association (supporting stroke survivors to make the best recovery possible). We're collecting money through Virgin Money at this address. If you'd like to give us one more reason to not give in on March 1st, this may well help!

Movember 2013

Remember last year's efforts? Well, it's been that time of year again... 

2 days left of Movember, and it's been a good one! I've captained a team to raise $2678 so far. Here's me with our Movember Gala Parte Award Winner for Best Design, Mr Prem Kumar! 

Will you sponsor me to get us toward that $3000 mark? My mo is [just about] worth it...

http://nz.movember.com/mospace/3096437

A Weekend in Coro

Its been a while since we've blogged - so we thought we better have a fantastic weekend away to keep our fans (yes that's you two mums) happy!

We've had a few weekends away in the campervan since returning from our trip home, but late October's Labour weekend was the first bank holiday in a few months, which meant an opportunity for a trip a bit further afield. 

We've been to the Coromandel before, but as we were on our road bikes that trip didn't afford many opportunities to get off road. New Zealanders (and especially Aucklanders) love the Coromandel for its mix of beautiful beaches, lush forest and stunning vistas. Add to that it being under 2 hours from the AKL metropolis you can't go wrong. 

Our first priority was the Pinnacles walk - a long day walk (or often split over two days with a stay in a mountain hut over night) which is argued to be one of NZ's best. With Carrie in tow we were able to camp in one of the Department of Conservation sites near to the trailhead and backing onto the Kauaeranga River. 

Not a bad spot (minus the rubbish bag!)

A river runs through it

Setting off for our walk on the Saturday morning bright and early we soon left the gravel road and were climbing through lush forest.

Gulp - one of many swingbridges en route
(swing being the operative word)

The trail was almost empty and we were treated to some fantastic views as we climbed the old stone pony track (built originally when logging kauri was big business).

After a few hours of climbing and a brief stop off at the hut for a snack we climbed the last very steep section to the Pinnacles themselves.

Nearly at the top!

The views from the top were absolutely amazing - 360 degrees of both the Firth of Thames and the Pacific Ocean on the other side of the Coromandel. What a day for it!

Ahhhh

Lush forest

Number one happy hiker

Number two happy hiker

After demolishing our lunchtime sarnies we climbed back down - spotting some interesting rock formations on the way...

Near and far

We decided to take a longer route back - avoiding the 80 people who were booked into the hut for the night, and enjoying some more stunning views across the other side of the valley.

The close up views weren't bad either

Happy days!

A few hours hiking and a couple more swingbridges later and we were soon back at base.

This was more scary in real life!

Upon setting up camp on the Friday Matt had spotted the fireplace provided and had been busy collecting dead wood (which was plentiful with the campsite only opening that weekend!). It turned out he had collected a lot so we spent a few hours that evening being singed by an absolutely massive fire (by massive I mean taller than me)!

Cosy - this was early days in the life of the fire

A bit later on - sparks were flying!

The next morning we jumped back into Carrie and set off up the coast to get further North.

More lovely views en route

Our destination was 'New Chums' beach - recommended as one of the best beaches in NZ, and it didn't disappoint. A thirty minute walk over rocks to get there meant that it was fairly quiet, with no development, cars or boats. Absolute heaven for a few hours of sunbathing, reading and paddling (still a bit fresh for proper swimming without wetsuits!)

A little bit of paradise

Quite a long bit actually

Matt's big footsteps

We spent Sunday night at a farm campsite further along the coast, enjoying a spot of hill running (got to keep training!) before bed.

The next morning the sun was still shining so we decided we needed even more beach time which meant heading back to Cathedral Cove - one of the highlights of our cycle tour last time, as well as being Pete Cope's favourite place in NZ!

Cathedral Cove is famous for its impressive rock formations so with the SLR in tow this time Matt got snapping...

A break in the serious photography

Unfortunately the weekend was drawing to a close and we were soon back in the van (with a cheeky fish and chip stop en route) and back to Auckland. What a weekend though, definitely one of many as the summer really gets started!