The weekend with spring challenge training in Wellington

 Hi,

What a busy weekend. Long weekend here in Aotearoa with the King's Birthday weekend. Friday saw my haircut cancelled so I ended up walking into town to meet Maureen for lunch to plan the weekend fun.

Sourdough last week

Walk in on Friday

Mike joined us as we got a vague plan together. I rode home (I had left my bike in the bike shed at work on Thursday) and blitzed my way up the hill. 2 seconds slower than my PB. Woot!

Tidied the house. Then picked up Mike and Callan from Foxglove on my way to the airport for a 8.30pm pick up for Iona. She had a smooth flight and we were quickly into the car for our drive home. Mike and Callan decided to go out on the town and meet Quentin at Rogue and Vagabond. So we dropped them on Dixon and continued home. We had a nice cuppa and then off to bed.

I did get woken at 12:30am with Mike trying to find a sleeping bag for Callan. Despite the copious amounts of alcohol they did decide a night on our couch was wise. So good on them. But my broken sleep meant when the alarm went off at 6am, I was not ready to get up for parkrun.

So we slept in a bit. And then I made lots of scrambled eggs. Callan headed home before he could eat some though. We all ate eggs then got ready for our day.

Margies lunch

Iona and I rode our bikes down the hill to Ngauranga Gorge to meet Maureen. And then we proceeded through the new pathway to Eastbourne. At Eastbourne we stopped for coffee and grabbed some lunch. I went to Hive cafe and it was very good.

 

Saturday bike ride

Views

Continued down to the lighthouse and had lunch looking out to the southern ocean. Then we started back and realised just how strong the tailwind had been. It was a hard slog back.

Lunch spot

Bikes in a pile

Originally we were going to ferry back from Eastbourne but the ferry bike passage was full. So we had to continue right around the harbour back to town. We said goodbye to Maureen at Ngauranga and Iona and I got to Spotlight where Mike came to pick us up. Thank you Mike.

We managed 65km all up. Phew. That bike path was so busy at both ends of the day. So good.

And done.

A quick shower and out to town to meet the Forbes family at Great India. It was a good reminder about how good that restaurant is. Yum.

We caught up on all their news. Ellen was in town for a Shakespeare competition, so everyone was up to support her. I absolutely loved the conversation. So good to see them all.

Great India for dinner

New bridge

Sunday saw Mike drop me and Iona at Khandallah pool where we met Maureen. We headed up to the summit then along the Skyline track. It was pretty windy. I needed to hold my cap a lot. I saw Maureen get blown off the track a bit at one point.

Mt Kaukau

Selfie

View of Wellington

Walking on the Skyline

Such a good walk. 3.5 hours later and 13 km later we walked across Karori Park to meet Mike. And he whisked us to the pool car park where we enjoyed lunch at the cafe there. Cafe du Parc. Maureen headed home after that and we got home to get ready for the next social event.

Cafe du Parc

Sally arrived at our place and we got in the car with the ladder and water blaster and went to visit Quentin and Courtney. What a gorgeous house they have. Wow.

We got a tour of their house and a cup of tea. Quentin's mother came home just as we finished chatting so we got to meet her too. We heard about Joel's wedding to Rachelle the day before which sounded really good fun.

Out to Sally and Andrew's place for a chat and Sally cooked dinner. Roast vegetables with haloumi. Mmmmmm.

Home to bed.

Monday morning saw me drop Iona at her mother's place. I got a cup of tea with Helen and heard about her latest news.

Monday morning cats

Monday project

At home Mike got stuck into the plywood project. We want to extend the floor of the loft in the garage. Phase 1 is now complete. Ply measured and cut. Next phase is ready.

Skilsaw work

Sourdough #2

Brekkie Tuesday

I made more bread. And then off to bed where I slept like I was in a coma. The alarm at 5.25am was really tough.

Quentin was sick so my PT session was cancelled. Poor Quentin. Hope he is ok soon. I did garage gym instead. Bench 37.5kg 4 x 4.

Mike and I bussed in at 7.30am. It was nice to have a 3 day weekend. I so enjoyed the adventures. I have so much work to do to get fitter.

Enjoy your week.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with a lifting session after work

 Hi,

Wednesday saw me grab a lunch with Mike and get a quick walk in. I saw a Bauer bike like the one we inherited from John on the streets.

Bauer on the streets of Wellington

Selfie with... the radio

I bussed home with Madeleine and we did a gym session. Good fun. 27.5kg bench and 45kg deads. Dropped her home with a sourdough and went back home hoping Mike needed a lift home from town on my way. No - he did not.

But he was home nice and fast. I was making more bread.

Good sleep. Up for a ride in for my PT session. Hope your day is good.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with quiz after work

 Hi,

I enjoyed my iced latte in the morning with Kris. Needed that. Also had a text from Andrew around lunch time to see if anyone was around and free for lunch.

Kris and I enjoy extra extra iced latte

I was intending to walk around the waterfront. So he joined me and made it a lot more interesting, that is for sure. Mike had a meeting so he had to go back to work.

Waiting for Andrew

After work we went to Green Man. Jon arrived and our team was small but mighty. The sports and games round killed us. 2/10. Ouch. Where is Col when you need her? Well. Blenheim.

Quiz team

Sourdough

Got home with Mike and made my sourdough while watching You Tube. Mike went to bed and was fast asleep when I got to bed.

Up to walk in this morning. Part of the step count plan.

Hope your day is a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Monday with WFH for me

 Hi,

Monday was a bit grey in Wellington. But the sun did eventually burn through the cloud cover. By the time I went for a wee run, the sheets could go on and have some solar cover the cost. Yay!

Moxley checking out Smudge's food

Moxley checking out Mike's water

RoboMop also did its thing and cleaned up the house for us. Groceries got delivered. All in all, back into the routine after a lovely weekend.

Work was work. Kept me mostly out of mischief. After work I made some tea. Cooked up Barry's fallow deer back steaks. Mmmmm. Thank you.

Watched some You Tube. Got ready for going to work. And had a bath. Mike got home and joined me. :-)

We were in bed really early and I am not sure I was up much past 9.30. I stopped reading at about 9:25pm and I reckon I never saw 9:30pm. Hahahah.

Moxley and Smudge in a temporary truce,
facilitated by the bedroom heatpump

Up for shaping a loaf to chill after overnight proofing. Brekkie. Then bus in as I thought to walk home. But it is quiz night after work.

Might get out for a walk at lunchtime then.

Hope your day is good.

Love,

Angela

The weekend in Nelson

 Hi,

What a busy weekend. Sally and Andrew picked us up around 7:15am on Friday morning. We dropped the car in the multi storey car park (pink level). Pre-flight brekkie: Mike and I enjoyed a bagel and Sally and Andrew enjoyed Koru buffet. We flew to Nelson on a regional flight at 9am or so and got in nice and early. 

Spotted "Skull Island" in the harbour as we came into land. I try to always take a pic for Toby. It has a way more boring name in real life:  Fifeshire rock

Nelson and Skull Island - for Toby

Skull Island - I must go there one day

Waiting for the rental car company

Omega car rentals picked us up from the airport and whisked us to their office slightly outside the airport. Before too long we were in a lowered Toyota Corolla. Nice enough but could not handle judder bars at all.

Off to inspect the houses. The reason for our visit. We like to try and keep across any issues before they become a headache for the tenant and us. Found a few things and Aimee-lee is onto it. We were inside a cloud for a lot of our visit so never got the gorgeous views this spot is famous for.

No view today

Rain on leaves

Exploring Mapua

After the house business, we drove to Mapua to a wee excursion. Always nice to potter around there.

Seagulls

Mapua port

Saturday saw me and Mike up for parkrun and Sally and Andrew walked to town from there. I did my best parkrun time of 2026 so far. The course was T shaped. 

Parkrun at Neale park

Parkrun photographers got a shot of me running ...

... and Mike throwing up his coffee, just on the left of the photo

Then into town to the market to find Sally and Andrew. I had a cheese toastie with brie and blueberries. it was so good.

Off to Nelson market

Iced latte at the market

Baguette purchased

Looking at a new subdivision

Poked around Aidan and Janne's house to check it was good. And wandered through some new subdivisions.

View of the boulder bank

Where are you going, Mike?

Wreck of the Janie at Motueka

Took our market baguette and drove to Motueka for some reason. Any excuse to explore. Good fun. Had a picnic near the Wreck of Janie Seddon and enjoyed the market baguette and some cheese and hummus. Mmmmm.

Picnic spot

Checking out the foundations of the old quay

Planning the NY tramp

Back to JR and Anita's house. Watched Deadloch and planned the New Years tramp. Well, got a lot planned. 

We looked up what on earth a Medlar could possibly be - because Anita left a note to say they were bletting. Turns out that a Medlar is a fruit, and bletting is a way to make it edible, by letting it rot change consistency to a paste inside the fruit. Interesting. A medlar is an ancient fruit like a cross between an apple and a pear.

Medlars are bletting

View from Mana Heights

Next morning we checked out Sally and Andrew's new house. We had never seen it yet. 

Then we wandered around Nelson a bit. The gardens. The Suter gallery.

In the gardens

Tahunanui beach

Sand dollar in Mike's hand

Bigger sand dollar in my hand

Patiently waiting

With a couple of hours to kill we chilled at Tahunanui beach. Mike and I got our step count up and Sally and Andrew enjoyed the sea views. Then dropped the car off at the long stay car park. Waited for our flight. 17:55 to Wellington. Super fast. Sally and Andrew dropped us home. The cats were very happy to see us - but Moxley only had eyes for Sally.

Up Monday for the normal routine. Mike to the gym. Me WFH.

Hope your week is a good one.

Love,

Angela