The Thursday with Angie's last day at work

 Hi,

Another big day at work. Planning. But in other work news, my manager that hired me had her last day. She is retiring. She is only a few months older than me. She will be sorely missed. What a warmth she brings to any workplace. I have enjoyed working with her - we went to Nelson together in covid times to watch women's rugby. Bye Angie.

Manjot was over from Sydney for planning so I did catch up with her for a quick coffee break. So nice to chat to her. She will be amazing in her role.

After the big planning day we went to Bin44 to have drinks with Angie. And Brian came with us. We were supposed to have dinner with him before he flew back to Auckland. But he joined in the drinks session - and bought pizza. Mmmm. Bye Brian. Probably won't see him until he visits Sydney one day.

Hey Brian!

Toby and Tessa are progressing the burglary incident. One of the things stolen was Toby's Strat electric guitar. He has been playing it a fair bit. So last night he picked up my old guitar and played me a song. Riptide by Vance Joy. I might be biased, but with lessons Toby could be very good. He can hold a tune - he just needs to learn how to control it. He sounded lovely. I was watching it on the bus home and it made me quite teary.

Love my boy.

Toby sent me a video of him playing and singing

For sale sign is up

Looks nice

Mike and I got off at Norwich St and wandered up to get a last few things sorted. Saw the For Sale sign. The blossom in Juliette's place looks lovely.

Blossom off the deck

Walked back to Elly and Tom's place. 2km almost exactly. Mike took my backpack so I scampered up the hill.

Thank you Mike.

Friday now. After a huge week. Will be getting a few things done. We were going to head away for a tramp - but now the weather is not as nice as it could be.

Parkrun. Then messages.

Have a good weekend.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with lots of work on

 Hi,

What a day. Biopsy work went well. Out by 9.45am. Plaster over the two stitched up incisions. It only started to hurt a wee bit by lunch time.

Stitches in my back - looks neat

And a scrape on my head to check

Caught the bus home after a huge day. Quarterly planning. And walked up the steps to Elly and Tom's place. Some toast and into bed.

Michelle and Tim got back to Aus ok. :-)

Mike got home after his architect forum meeting. And off to bed with me. Up for PT for Mike (taking my session as I am not to stress my back for a while). Nurse said no stitches need to get popped. Sounds like sensible advice.

Iced latte at Smith the Grocer

Bus this morning to Smith the Grocer for brekkie with Mike after his session. Nice to grab food before our next big day at work.

Also read that Toby and Tessa came home last night to find they had been burgled. So I am feeling rather upset that they have to experience that. We will sort out the security at the new house a bit more so they can feel a little more safe. Waaaaaahhhh. Things can get replaced. But the trust is harder to rebuild. The cats are fine. 

Hope you have a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with the house on sale and Michelle flying home

 Hi,

Biggest news of yesterday is our house went on the market.  4 Norwich Street, Wadestown, Wellington, Wellington

The house looks amazing. Well done Mike for wrestling the house to the position where it looks so good.

5th place

Quizlera

I met Ange and Dee after work at The Green Man after Foxglove drinks to farewell Angie. It is all happening.

Jon and his mate Rain came - and John turned up after a few more drinks with Angie. And after a tough quiz, we managed 5th place. I was impressed. Our joker rounds were perfect. 9 and 10.

Ange took me home and Mike just got home after the last touch ups at home. And after a chat to Tom and Elly, we were off to bed.

Up for by biopsy morning. 3 things taken off. Stitches in my back. Looks tidy enough. Let's see what comes back.

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with spring challenge

 Hi,

Thursday saw Michelle and Tim hanging out with Toby and Tessa in Chc. They took them to Poms as you should. So nice to see pics from that.

Michelle and Toby

Mike dropped me at the airport and we had a quick tea before my flight on Sounds Air to Blenheim. Smoothest flight in ages - and no cloud.

Iona picked me up and we chilled at her place sorting out gear before bed. Up to get ready and Col took Twigg to the kennels. Then off on our roadie. Until the local bakery. Then I switched to Nic and Tony's car for the rest of the trip. They took the inland route from just south of Kaikōura - first time on that road for me.

Road trip

Iced latte in Kaikōura

Registration

Got to Hanmer Springs at about 2.30pm. Registered just before it officially opened. Met Iona and Col and went to our lovely accommodation. 7 Mt Charon Rd. Super nice place. Bathroom for everyone.

My room

Our route

We had tea while we planned our route. 6am start for the rafting. Nic was hopeful for a good time looking at the route. I just wanted to finish.

Col and Nathan

Brekkie of champions

Up at 4.15am. Dressed into wetsuit and bib. Brekkie. Then away at 5am. 3 of us in the backseat. Col and Tony in the front. Seamless transition to the start line. Short walk - but through a freezing stream immediately. Then transponder on and a wait to 6am. 

Lewis Road for the win

Team getting ready

Wetsuit and bib on

Woot!

And off. A 1.25km run to the rafts - all slightly downhill and not too rough. Into a raft with Mutton something team. And Zoe our raft guide steering the raft superbly.

An hour of paddling and we were coming into the beach to get out. Not too rough, not too bad a raft. I did jump into the front to try and get some timing. But goodness knows if that worked or not. Made me feel better.

Walk to TA1 and the support crew found us and helped us transition to bikes easily. Fueled up our bodies then off.

6 or 7km along a flat gravel road before some checkpoints and then into forestry. This was hard work for me. Any incline made it very hard work. And my bottom was not happy.

Rafting done and now on MTB part

Downhill was good fun

I did enjoy the route Nic and Iona planned. A lot of downhill to have fun on. I got quite mucky.

Not as dirty as last year

TA2

TA2 was after our compulsory gear check. Warm hat, jacket and first aid kit. Tick. Then into change to hiking mode. Lots of food taken onboard.

The weather was superb. Wind hadn't got too bad at all. A little rain on the MTB section but not much.

Hiking section

Walking, walking

Almost done

About 15km of route finding - another excellent navigation section from Iona and Nic.

Old trig checkpoint

And back down from Conical Hill into town and we got back before 3pm. We did it in 8 hours and 39 mins. So well done.

And finished

Off home after some cake and a welcome shower. Then an excellent tea - venison burgers. Yum. Ta Tony. 

I was asleep nice and early. But up at 3am (daylight savings kicked in so my alarm was set for 1:55am for the 3am start) to watch the Black Ferns v England in Twickenham. What a game. I am happy with the team even though they lost right at the end.

Brekkie, pack up and then prizegiving. In the pouring rain. The tent worked great. We were all glad it was not the weather the day before.

Prizegiving

Off at 11am and I was in the back of the ute. We got snow flurries on our way home. Phew! Lunch at Kaikōura. Then home.

Monday I went for a bike ride with Iona up Taylor River. 14km. And a wee walk to the gardens to see the flowers.

Monday ride

Nice 14km

Lunch at Revival

Pollard Park blossom

Tulips

Selfie

Home on the 18:25 flight. Mike met me and we went to Norwich St to get a few things done.

House

Garage is tidy

Looking good

Laundry

Top bedroom

Lounge

Kitchen

Office

Our bedroom

New blinds

Reminder

Then home for bed at Elly and Tom's place.

The house looks amazing thanks to Mike's huge efforts. Good on him. And everyone else for helping us.

Michelle and Tim fly home today. They even got snow in Queenstown. Wow.

What a huge weekend. Thank you to my team. They were amazing. What a fine way to finish our 3 spring challenges together.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with neighbours goodbye drinks

 Hi,

Again with no pics. Oh well. I worked from home yesterday. Ubered in and out for an appointment at Pacific Radiology on Lambton Quay. Easy as.

Mike worked in town. And headed home after work to try and sort out more garage stuff. I finished work and drove to our house. Ordered some food. We ate in the garage. Hahah.

Mike started fixing the drawers that need some attention. And then we wandered over to Amy and Simon's place for 7pm. Drinks to say goodbye to us and Fi and Brendan. It was so good to chat away to everyone. Flora. Rachel and Yazu. Juliette. Joan. All hosted by Amy and Simon. Amelia (Fi and Brendan's eldest child) is finishing high school and headed to Canterbury next year to study... Criminal Justice! We told her she will love it - like Toby.

By the time we left at 8:50pm Michelle and Tim had eaten at their hotel and were in bed. So we did not get to say goodbye.

They have an early flight this morning to Chc where they will see Toby and Tessa tonight for dinner at Poms.

We have photographers at the house today taking pics for the online launch next week. And luckily it is stunning here today. Drone shots should look good. That house is superb in the sunshine.

Have a great day. I am away tomorrow and Monday. Spring challenge race weekend is upon us. Let's go!

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with quiz night

 Hi,

After a wet grey morning the sun came out and we had quite a nice day. If still a little chilly. Michelle and Tim went for a run along the waterfront and visited Te Papa. They had a great time.

Afternoon was sunny after the rain

Winners

After work Mike and I got picked up by Ange and headed to the Green Man for quiz night. Quite a few of us were there. 9 maybe. Angie and Rob, Michelle and Tim, Mike, me, Ange, Jon and Jesper. Yep. And what a team! Despite Music round being a joker round where we only got 5/10, we won by 1 point. Ended with two perfect rounds of 10/10. One of them being our other joker round of Geography.

Said goodnight to Michelle and Tim and Ange took us back home. In bed and asleep very quickly. Up for gym for Mike. And there is only a high of 10C forecast today. Right now it is 7C and the wind chill is making it feel like -2C.

Yes. -2C. Michelle and Tim might never come back here. :-D

Hope your day is a good one.

Love,

Angela