The weekend in Wellington with tramping and other things

 Hi,

I'm not sure why I can't load photos this morning. You might have to just imagine things from my excellent prose.

Friday we left later than intended for pour Friday night tramp (meetings). Callan, Zoe and Lisa had already left by the time we got to the road end with Wally and Andrew. Poor Wally had to wait for us as we tried to leave our house. But we still got to the hut in daylight - woot! Weather was good for us too. Warm, actually.

The seven of us snuggled into the hut - Zoe lit the fire inside and Callan did charcoal cooking outside. So much meat. We made venison kebabs and he had pork and beef. So delicious. Lots of coleslaw and other bits and pieces.

Kebabs

Table

Food

Beautiful meat courtesy of Callan

Unwrapping the kebabs

Chatted away for ages - well past my bedtime when I went to bed. 23:00 or so. What? I slept ok. Up lazily the next morning. Made French toast and that went well.

Tidied the hut and away by 10am or so. Andrew decided to go a different way and I went along. At the Turere bridge, we basically went straight up a steep hill to a flat bit of ground where the map had a structure. Nothing left of any building there though. The others did the Big Bend trapline and got 8 rats for their efforts.

Iced latte

Bye Waerenga hut

Crossing the river

Shoes off

In the clearing with no structure left

Part 1 of the walk - to top of KAT for lunch

Andrew and I walked up to a ridge and followed TR trapline until we hit West Whakanui. And then out via the usual route to the end of UTS. Ate some lunch above the finish of KAT. And back to the usual car park where we walked out to meet Mike coming back from Catchpool.

Off to Eastbourne for O'Malley's WOAP offering. Sally joined us for that. Then home. Wally headed away to his place. Great fun even if it was a short overnight only tramp.

Sunday saw Christine come over to chat a bit and tell us her news. She took some of her stuff out of the garage and next week will come get the rest. Then we went out to Epuni with Sally to sort out a lot of things there. Light fittings. Cleaning. That sort of thing.

Andrew joined us to help us fit cupboard handles. But we decided to do the 28 or so at home that needed a hacksaw to the right size. So to 40WLW for dinner. Hell Pizza. And then home for us.

Up Monday for gym for Mike and treadmill for me. Then met the real estate agent to get the house here on the market.

And now work.

Hope your week is a good one.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with some comedy and dinner out

 Hi,

I had a good catch up with Celia at work - she went on a huge holiday in July to Europe. And her eldest got her learners yesterday too. Woot!

Iced latte with Celia

Mike and I went out for tea with Jessie from work and her flatmate, Alex. We went to Saigon Delights in the old Lido space. Everyone had a WOAP burger and they had an Impossible meat burger patty for my version. Good food. Good mocktail - lychee. My mother would have loved that one.

Then off to see Atsuko in her Big Bowl tour. Referencing her haircut, I believe. Supported by Ryan Harper Gray - an Aussie comedian that Jessie has seen several times. What a great event. We laughed so much. Ryan was great - they were candid and funny. Good comedy. Then Atsuko shared her brand of excellent comedy mixed with a lot of pathos - her home life is not easy. Both different yet very similar. I really enjoyed myself - thank you Jessie for suggesting this as something we could go to together. Nice to meet Alex too. Atsuko found it funny that we stomped our feet when we applauded at the end. Hahah - funny.

Saigon Delights

In the Opera House, with anticipation

Atsuko

We caught a bus home from just outside the Opera House. Home by 9.30pm. And the cats were happy to see us.

Good sleep. Up for working from home. Tramping this weekend - but curtailed. We're going in after work today and coming out tomorrow. The rain forecast to come in might get the river up and the rain is forecast to stay until Thursday. So out we come tomorrow afternoon.

That does mean we get some tasks done on Sunday - so swings and roundabouts.

We also bought that townhouse in Chc yesterday. The offer was accepted. Well done Toby and Tessa for their groundwork and Mike for negotiating hard on the offer.

We will soon really need to sell this house. :-O

Have a wonderful Friday - and an even better weekend.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday with just work really

 Hi,

After we got home yesterday, we had some tea and watched YouTube. And I made a dough to get a loaf ready for the weekend.

Gym session - squats. 40kg 6 reps x 4 sets

Brekkie

Brekkie + 1

Off to bed and up early to run on the treadmill ahead of my gym session with Quentin. Squats again. 40kg 6 reps x 4 sets. Was hard.

Brekkie with work mates. Then to work for the day. Got a comedy show tonight with Jessie and Mike. Dinner out first for a WOAP burger.

The comedy act is a US based person - Otsuko. Should be entertaining. I will let you know.

Have a marvellous day.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with quiz

 Hi,

Mike and I both had late meetings but got to the Green Man pub for the quiz in round 3. We had a huge table of punters for the quiz. Great fun was had by all. And we came third, again. By 1 point - again.

Chelsea, Wally and Lesley were up my end of the table. Lisa from work was there again. We did not scare her away last week then. Dee and Jen were with Ange - and Michelle from work. Who used to work with Dee. Hahah. Too funny.

Morning Margies iced latte

Cheesy goodness, out of the prizes by one point again

Here is one point we didn't get, I'm sure there are loyal readers who know this!

Ange drove us home with Dee - yay for a super fast trip home. Cats were happy to get fed even at 8.30pm. Hahah.

Good sleep. Up for the bus in and PT with Quentin. Deadlifts. 90kg 3 reps x 4 sets. Then Mike took over and did 135kg deads. Wow.

Brekkie at Margies. Then off to work.

Mike is dropping off historic data in folders to WTMC tonight after work. I will see him at home.

"historic data"

Have a great day.

Love,

Angela

The Monday at work

 Hi,

What a day - worked from home. Cats where happy. They got new collars on - so they might get even closer to each other in the next few days as the pheromones do their thing.

Enjoying the sun

Moxley waiting for her dinner

Mike got home after work and we ate dinner. Venison and salad. And then he put an offer on a town house in Chc. Wow. 

We went to bed. Slept ok. Up early for a run before my PT session with Quentin. I saw the discarded lunch at the local bus stop. Someone must really not enjoy their lunchbox.

Discarded lunch

Almost done - great session

Good fast 3k run. then squats. 60kg 4 x 4. Bench 40kg 3  x 4.

Brekkie with Mike at Margies. Bumped into Grant and heard his news from 2 months ago. He had a kidney stone and went into septic shock. Could have died. Lucky (what?) it happened in ED. They sorted him out.

Brekkie - ta Mike

Madeleine's desk

Back at work. In Madeleine's old desk. 

Hope your day is awesome.

Love,

Angela

The weekend with both of us down south

 Hi,

What a great weekend in Blenheim. I drove to the airport and into my prepaid covered carpark on level 3. Onto my plane nice and easy.

Picked up by Iona and taken to their place for a quick tea. Fritatta. And then whisked away to Sweet Creations to have dessert with Iona and Col, Sally and Andrew and Vicky and Alistair. Fun!

Up for 5am to watch the All Blacks play the Stormers on the first game of their huge SA tour. Not a convincing display but it was a second string side.

Ready for parkrun and Iona and I walked there. I got my fastest 5k of the year - and Iona was chasing me the entire way. She doesn't even run!

Post parkrun walk home

Walked home and bumped into Col and Twigg at Pollard Park. Walked home with them.

Went to Woollies and we were asked if we're collecting Ooshies. Iona said no and I said yes. I said I am looking for Baby Yoda (for Madeleine). The check out person gave us 2 unopened ones and then fished in a bag and pulled out a Baby Yoda and gave it to me. They had a swap day apparently. How cool is that?

Woollies check out person gave me Baby Yoda

Look at this lemon at Vicky and Alistair's place

Sally was gone when we got back from parkrun but we then took Andrew to Picton for his ferry home. We ate lunch at Toastie Lords - good but my "cheese" toastie had chunks of ham in it. Iona swapped her half for my half when I discovered it. Took Andrew to check in and as he approached the desk the woman said: And you must be Andrew.

We think he was late.

Hahahah.

Iced latte in Picton - Toastie Lords

Back home and packing for out 3.30pm pick up from Nicola. Yep - another adventure. She drove us down to Cheviot and we stayed in a nice motel unit. One double bed and 2 singles behind a curtain. Wee kitchen and a bathroom. 70s style but nice and clean and tidy.

Iona cooked up a delicious meal of pasta and salmon and pesto. And we were in bed very early. It rained through the night. And at 3am the volunteer fire brigade siren went off. Nic swears it was right by our unit. But Iona and I never even heard it. So odd.

Up at 6.30am to hear rain. But by the time we had brekkie, showered and packed it had stopped. 35 min drive to Stonyhurst Farm just south of Cheviot for the Wicked Rogaines winter series.

Sunday rogaine event - getting ready

Early first few minutes

Striding

Views from the top

Walking down

At the sea

Broken old wagon wheel

Slightly less broken one

Old bowsers

Home stretch

7 mins to go!

Flashback to coming down from the top

We had a great time. We were in the 4 hour event and did 960 points in 3 hours and 53 minutes. Pretty good. We wanted hills and navigation challenges. And we got them. We tried to get to the beach - but it eluded us. We thought we might be able to bush bash down a gully but we could not get down the steep bits.

Good fun. I could have drank more I think. I had about 500ml of Tailwind and some scroggin. But I felt fine. I can never go as fast as Iona and Nicola. 

Drove back to Blenheim - got in about 4.30pm. Showered and ate. And off to the airport for my 7.35pm flight. They left at 7.15pm - only 5 of us on the flight.

Got to the car at the airport (worried I would Uber home!) and fed the cats and had a good sleep.

Mike is back in Wellington too. He had a lot of Open Homes to view with Toby and Tessa.

I think I need more iced latte. My parents are in Lima today. How cool is that?

Have a good week ahead.

Love,

Angela

The Thursday with a spontaneous movie

 Hi,

We both worked from home - busy. The cats are always happy when this happens.

Moxley chilling through the day

My Ooshies

Movie

At 4.30 though, Zoe asked if I wanted to see a movie at 6pm. Her friend was sick. It was a collection of short movies about women having adventures in the wilderness. I was keen and Mike said I should totally go.

I drove in just after 5pm. Found a park. And found Zoe and her friend Jess in The Embassy. Movies were good fn. Adventure Reels production and Grunty Girls is the series. Saw 6 wee films. Loved the Triple Crown climbing one. Wow.

Drove Jess home to the top of Brooklyn and Zoe home to Khandallah. Then into bed with Mike. I was asleep pretty fast. Up for another WFH day. Got garage gym soon to make up for yesterday where I was at the dentist.

Off for a training weekend. Hope your weekend is good fun.

Love,

Angela