The weekend in Blenheim

 Hi,

What an amazing weekend Mike and I both had. And I see he has his own blog post coming with his adventures with Toby and Kara for Peak to Pub. So no spoilers from me.

I went to Blenheim with Maureen to celebrate 60 years with Iona on the planet. We parked at the airport for our 1930 flight in plenty of time. I even got a croissant for a quick tea.

Then we had a bumpy flight over to Marlborough. Took off to the north and took forever to fly over the harbour before turning to the southwest. 

Thursday evening airport time

The flight was full. And it was certainly bumpy the entire way. Maureen said she had a good view of the runway as we came into land and it looked like a wrestle for the pilot. But from where I was, it was pretty smooth.

35km/hr winds were just tricky.

Iona was there to meet us. And we got back home to their place soon enough and settled in. Like usual, I was fast asleep as soon as my head it the pillow.

Grove cafe

Up early to see Maureen settled into her working day and me and Iona off via an iced latte at Grove Road cafe to meet Nicola at Picton to walk to The Snout.

Picton

Lovely weather for the start of our 3 - 4 hour walk. We headed up a hill and then I promptly walked past 3 car parks that we could have driven to for the "3 - 4 hour walk". So we were doing extra, then! Hahah.

Sunny and hot

It was beautiful weather until 40 - 50 mins from the very tip, when it started to rain. By the time we emerged onto the actual point, it was super blustery and raining. A quick pic or two, then we scampered back into the bush for the backwards journey.

Then... not

Wet

We popped into Bob's Bay for a slightly different return route. And did the 13km comfortably - finishing in brilliant sunshine again.

Lunch at Gusto in Picton to finish off. Said goodbye to Nicola and then we dropped into Mandy to return a book and catch up with her news. They have been through the wars. Mandy has a fractured sternum from hitting a wall in her car and Helen got taken out on her bicycle by a wee kid and was banged up.

Then sunny

Back home to see Maureen finish up the last of her working week. Then time to cook tea - some of Tony's venison. Mmmmm. Iona cooked up a delicious meal.

Maureen at work

Cooking up a storm

Twigg relaxes

Up early Saturday to watch the All Blacks trounce Namibia in the World Cup pool game 2. 71-3. Then off to climb Mt Robertson. That is the one with the golfball on top as you drive from Picton to Blenheim.

Warm start - but it was cold by the time we got to the top, believe me. We did 20km altogether. And it took 6.5 hours. It was steeply uphill for some of it and steadily uphill for most of the rest. 

Start of Mt Robertson climb

900m still in front of us

We're going there!

Lovely bush

Resetting a trap

Not far now

And... the top

We ate lunch at the top - around 1315. Egg sandwiches. Mmmm. We did not hang around long as the wind was biting.

Sobering read

We've finished!

Down to Whites Bay and then up through the pines to the car. Wow!

Back home around 1730 to quickly all shower and head out to Good Home pub to celebrate Iona's birthday. We enjoyed good food and a robust chat on what constituted a sport. Darts is out, by general consensus. Speed skating is in. 

Sunday saw us up for oaty pancakes and watching Ireland play Tonga. Then off to Quail Valley walk in the Wither Hills.

Heheheh.

I like the Quail Valley walk

Spring

Views for ever!

Selfie

Back home via Mitre10 Mega where we met up with Marion and Malcolm. And then off to do E Line at the oxbow.

E Line traps

White gumboots

I got to wear some white gumboots as some of the traps are in quite a boggy part of the reserve. We only got a mouse in the C13 trap - nothing on E line.

Iona and Maureen got a laugh at me as I tried to scale the fence. They both sailed over it. Whereas I was more slug-like in my absolute lack of grace. Maureen looked almost ready to giggle.

Another iced latte with wait staff photo bomb

White gumboots

Storm damage

It had been windy all day with a severe warning for Wellington and into Marlborough. But Iona and Col got away with a tipped over rubbish bin. The old people's home around the corner did get a tree land on it - but also looked undamaged. Lucky.

But our flight to Wellington was looking dodgy. Iona dropped us off and stayed for a bit. They have changed the 10 min park to a 2 min drop off zone. So she didn't stay long with us as we checked in. We were told they might have to cancel as Wellington was too windy.

Sure enough, our 1900 flight was preceded by a AirNZ cancellation and they fly much bigger planes. So Maureen suggested we start queuing in case ours was next. And it was!

We were second in the queue to get rebooked on a 7am Monday morning flight. Yay! Col came back to collect us. And we had tea when we got in again and a lovely sleep before getting up at 5.30am to head home.

Unexpectedly back 

Monday morning looks good to get back home

Last of the stash Col bought me

Good weekend

Byeeeeee

The flight back was only a little bumpy and we landed easily in Wellington. Maureen got her car out with minimal fuss ($2 extra - seems cheap for the extra 12 hours!).

An easy commute to my place and a goodbye to Maureen and a hello to the cats. Well, Moxley was keen to see me. I had to call out to Smudge for a bit before she came to say hello.

Place was good. No issues. Cleaned up for the cats and chased a bumblebee out the door. 

What a lovely weekend. Such good fun. Always get so well looked after when I am there. Thank you to Mike for letting me go when I should have been supporting his bid for his first Peak to Pub race. Thank you to Iona and Col for hosting me, again. And Maureen for being a champ and coming to play with us all. :-)

And thank you to Kara and Toby for helping Mike for the weekend. Shame about the weather for all of us.

Have a great week.

Love,

Angela