The Monday with work

 Hi,

Wow - this is what happens when you have early meetings. You miss the deadline for publishing. Oh well.

Cats happy I am working from home

Walk with Barb

After work, Barb was walking by in training mode for her Milford tramp next month. So she collected me and we went into Otari Wilton bush. Bumped into some people she knew. Then we headed up steps on Surrey St. Then split at the Catholic church. I went up Rochester steps and then home via Mairangi.

Then we finished packing. Or Mike did. And I chilled.

Worked from home today. Cats happy - again.

Early ferry tomorrow. Then Abel Tasman tramp.

Have a great week and weekend. Chat next week.

Love,

Angela

The weekend in Wellington

 Hi,

A Wellington weekend - and quiet. But we did get up to some stuff, I guess. 

Thursday evening saw me meet Mike at Thorndon and head to Daisy's for my birthday dinner.

Daisys

Their menu

It was a lovely place. Enjoyed their take on ceviche with fish caught by Scott (a company that does sustainable fishing off a single boat and hand lures - by a bloke called Scott). My meal of glazed carrots and chickpeas was full of ... cooked carrots. So I ate around them. Mike enjoyed his special friend chicken. I had a lovely home made lemonade. Very pleasant dining experience. And I got some great gifts from Mike. We are getting blinds in the spare rooms! Yes - no more glaring sun at key times while I work from home (and it is sunny - not as often as you might think! Hahahah) and no more blankets tacked over the window. And we have a float session booked for when we're back from our tramp. Sweet. Thank you Mike.

Friday I went into the gym - and got an iced latte with Andrew before his work day kicked off.

Friday morning iced latte at Machete

Andrew joined me

Then gym with Quentin

Squats and bench at the gym. And I felt those squats on Saturday! Glutes and hammys were complaining a bit.

Picked up Mike's backpack from the shop

Huge stick insect at home

What even is that?

Cuddles with Moxley

Cleaned the loan bike

Got the bikes all cleaned up. Wash, degrease and lube. Ready for delivery of the Trek back to Mark. Hugely appreciative of the lend of his wife's bike.

Cleaned my bike

There they go!

Full moon rises behind the punga

Saturday was windy and wet and we decided not to leave the house for the entire day. I did make date loaf.

And we did fix the toilet seat. But it turns out the screws holding the entire toilet to the floor were decorative.

So we need to visit Mitre10 to get the right sized screws and sort that out. Until then - no dancing on our toilet!

Date loaf

Fixing the toilet seat

Home made iced latte from Mike

Sunday was much nicer in Wellington - as you can see. I got brekkie in bed from Mike. Then we headed off to drop off the bike to Mark in Eastbourne. And stayed for a run. Mike did 10km and I managed a slow 5km.

Eastbourne

Mike crouches down

Then stands up

Mike is running in the distance

Hot after my run

Leaning on the fence

Picnic on the beach

We popped into the 4 square to get picnic provisions and $48 had some bread, cheese, drinks and fruit to eat in the hot sun.

beach picnic

Back home to pack for our coming tramp. And into bed. Slept ok and then up for the working week. Short though it be.

Iced latte at home Monday - with plunger coffee bag over my head!

Grey but no wind here today. Mike missed his bus. He was at the stop with his bag collected from the car when he realised his work PC was not in it. I raced upstairs in my pyjamas and raced up to the street. But as I climbed our stairs, I heard the bus pass our letterbox. And I was maybe 30 secs too late to give it to him. So he missed his gym session.

That meant we could have a nice brekkie together. So we had some eggs and he had more coffee and caught the later bus.

I am WFH. Run at lunch time. And finish packing tonight. Sweet!

Have an awesome week ahead.

Love,

Angela

The Wednesday meeting up with old workmates

 Hi,

I had to get an iced latte from work - especially when AJ suggested I join him. We found Mike eating his brekkie there, so he took my pics. Yeah, nah! AJ and I were a bit bewildered. And I have selfies of Mike on my camera roll now too. Hahahah.

Iced latte at work

AJ surveys my iced latte pose with suspicion

What even is this? I blame Mike.

Another busy day. But I did get away with Mike to Foxglove to meet old Intergen workmates. Celia joined us. We were first there and chatted away before others arrived. Good to see everyone. And I took a pic of Suz because it turns out Cheryl (primary school friend from the recent Dunedin trip) worked with her.

Hey Suz

But good to see a lot of the old gang! Yay! Makes me want to see everyone else now. You know who you are.

Rode home and left Mike 4 beers deep with Hayden. That was a dangerous move by me. Hahah. Aimed for my PB up the hill - missed it by 4 seconds.  Fed the cats. Had a bath. Me, not the cats.

Into bed. Mike was not too late.

Up to drive in for gym because I am WFH today. I will try and run at lunch time. Birthday dinner for me with Mike after work today. Daisy's. In Tinakori Rd. Oohhh - looking forward to that.

Have a brilliant day.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with the cats annual vet service

 Hi,

What a day at work. I was grumpy most of the day. And while work felt in a better shape by the end of the day, my early ride home felt like either I was a target for other road users - or invisible to them. So I was grumpy riding home too.

Work iced latte - French Kiss cart

We left to head home a bit early because it was vet time for the cats. And Smudge is never happy about this. She just gives pitiful meows and just hunkers down and hopes that no one can see her. She just goes to her happy place.

Anyway, we got them in their crates and in the car. Met a new vet - Daniel. And he gave them both jabs and said they were fine. We had to measure Moxley's sleeping respiration rate. Which Mike did this morning and said she had 15 breaths, She is obvs an elite athlete cat. The vet said to worry if it was over 30.

On the drive back, Mike sat in the back with them both in their crates. And asked if he could let Moxley out. She usually explores the back of the car. But this time she came to the front. And climbed over me as I stoically ignored her.

Moxley leaves her mark

We got home and I noticed I had blood dripping down my arm from the frantic cat activity. Too funny. Makes me look like a pirate - bit like my scarred foot. Hahah.

Relaxed evening and then bed. Up to ride in on a glorious morning. Cardio session at the gym with Mike and Quentin. So hard.

Cardio session

Moxley helps navigate

And at work. now. Woot. Hoping for a far better day.

Meeting ex workmates after work today at Foxglove. Then ride home and chill.

Enjoy your day!

Love,

Angela

The Monday working from home

 Hi,

Busy day at work - but the cats were happy I was at home. So yay for making them happy.

Google memories

Found Mike's keys. Brownie points for me

Mike loves me. He stocked our fridge

Torpedo7 delivers my new pannier rack 4 days too late

Banana bread time

Love the solar lights, Tessa

Mike got home with white chocolate for Ryan because he loves it and it is his birthday. So we drove over to the James' house and enjoyed pizza and cake with them all. 19 Feb is Ryan's birthday. 

Headed home. Slept well. Up for gym - only to find Quentin had cancelled. Will find another space to do my PT session. Hope he got some sleep!

Today is EVERYONE's birthday. We know so many birthday people today. Scotty, Richard, Tim, Alistair.

Right. Time for lots of iced lattes.

Have a brilliant day!

Love,
Angela

The weekend with cycling and running adventures

 Hi,

What a weekend - and it included my birthday too! I was up to adventures and Mike was in Wellington having adventures too.

Friday morning saw me and Iona head off to collect Maureen just after 9.30am and pile her bike and gear in the car and then continue up SH1 to Palmerston North. This weekend was the culmination of our planning for Iona's big birthday late last year. And it happened to coincide with my birthday. A double birthday whammy.

We'd borrowed a colleague's bike for Iona's trusty ride for the weekend. A 29in Trek hardtail. And it certainly did the trick. Nice shifting - except for the middle ring at the front. Which - bah - who really needs to use those that much? Hahah. Thank you, Mark. And his wife - who may or may not have known she was lending her bike out. :-D  

Shannon coffee break

We stopped at a nice cafe in Shannon to get some caffeine into us. Their iced latte was pretty good. After that quick stop, we found ourselves outside Shelley and Kate's house. They were baking in the sunshine and I got a wee glimpse of their beautiful backyard.

We parked our car out the front of their house. It waited there till the next day when Mike came to pick it up. :-)

About now we realised we forgot to pick up the front pack for Iona from Maureen's place. But just judicious use of the many bungee cords we had saw that work just fine with her dry bag on there.

Thank you Shelley and Kate for the use of your verge and bathroom facilities

Lunch stop

So we were off. Rode in the hot sun through parks across the river and up a hill. 7.5km later we stopped for lunch. Hahah. Had a sandwich. Then off again. Up Polson Drive hill, then up the even steeper Pahiatua Track. Which was hot. And so busy. Sheep trucks. So many cars. Because the saddle road is closed during the day at the moment.

Top of Pahiatua track

Iona negotiates a curve 

The ride down the other side was superb. Loved the huge windmills at the top too. At the bottom, we headed left and off up a side road. Then took a right onto a gorgeous gravel road. Maureen powered ahead - as she does. And I immediately realised my handlebars were loose. It was really hard to ride the gravel section with loose handlebars, let me just say. I loved this part of the route. I must go back and try it without the additional steering issues.

Found Maureen and she had hex keys to tighten my handlebars. Yay! Onto seal again and by the milk factory (yuck) which is when I realised I had ridden this route with Andrew once. See here: Done some of this before

Stopped at the toilet at Pahiatua before continuing down a beautiful back road. Lovely, quiet roads. Hot. The tar was melting on the road. In fact, you could here the tacky crackling as you rode over it. Iona heard pine cones cracking open in the trees.

Saw a kotare in the power lines - love those birds.

Lovely back road from between Pahiatua and Eketahuna

Into Eketahuna quite late. Close to 6pm. We were staying at the Eketahuna Inn. The people were so welcoming. They had a lock up shed for our bikes. And free washing machine for our dirty bike gear. We also enjoyed a good pub tea. I had feta and pine nut salad. Pretty good.

We had 2 rooms. One double for Maureen. One with 2 single beds for me and Iona. Hand basin in the room. Shared bathroom. Old school.

For 3 meals, 2 rooms, washing, toast for brekkie, it cost us $270. Pretty good. We had a quick walk after tea before bed.

Kiwi country

I slept well. But Iona and Maureen did not. Apparently there was loud pub noise outside Maureen's window. And someone talked on the phone in the room next to her at 1am. And Maureen could actually hear both ends of the conversation! Also, someone walked up the hallway on their phone saying they had given the wrong key to someone else. 

Anyway. I was oblivious.

Woke up to a lovely day. And it was also my birthday! Woot! Toast and tea for brekkie. Great way to start.

I was on the Trek first thing this morning to try and give time to Iona to recover from the Pahiatua Track effort the day before.  Seemed to do the trick. 

Kitchen facilities

My birthday brekkie

This was a lovely route. Out the back roads of Eketahuna, onto gravel. Then across SH2 to more back roads. This was really nice. And we met a lot of cyclists coming towards us. One merrily waved and shouted to us. So I waved back just as merrily. Then I realised she was asking if we were on the TA. Hah! No. Just this wee part.

Gravel hills were a tough ask without any electrons to assist. Hahah.

Maureen waits for us

Into Masterton for an early lunch. Stopped at Real Food Cafe. Or something. Nice. Bit slow with their service. Gave us lots of time to enjoy the Christian singers that set up across the road as we sat down. Oh - lovely.

Gospel singers

Iced lattes

Then onto the back road through Gladstone. Nice and warm. Few stops under trees. Past Admiral hill road. Maureen was a speck in the distance most of the time.

The bikes

Legs looking amazing

Got into Martinborough pretty early. 2.30pm ish. Got our cabin at the Top10. Rather annoyingly they make you book 2 nights minimum. So I paid $350 for our wee cabin for Sat and Sun nights. After a shower for all of us, we walked into town. Place was heaving. As we sat outside on the corner of the square we watched a lot of drunken antics. A young woman on a bike rode into a post right in front of us. Laughed a lot. Then wobbled over to her friends. I didn't watch that anymore.

Van load of men poured out with dubious costume choices.

Yeah. Anyway - I got a bowl of fries with a tomato sauce dunked chip as the candle. And the most delicious pina colada without alcohol. Yum!!!

A pina colada with none of that yucky alcohol - delicious!

Cheers!

Maureen got me a second one. But it actually had rum in it. And I tried to drink it. Hoping it was just a different way of making it. But it was awful. Never got better. So Iona finished it. And she said it had rum in it. So it wasn't just me thinking it was terrible.

Mike arrived at Martinborough and we ordered tea. Had a good meal. Chatted away to him. He'd been up to get the car and back. Then over the hill to here. A driving marathon ahead of his actual half marathon on Sunday morning.

He dropped us off at the cabin, took some dirty washing home and we went to bed.

Top10 cabin #11

Up for an iced latte and brekkie in town. Then away cycling just after 8am. Beautiful morning again.

My unbirthday iced latte

The ride looms before us

Maureen comes out of the rising sun

Followed by Iona

Skirted Featherston. Got to Cross Creek and started the incline. The eBike made light work of it. Iona powered up. Maureen hardly broke a sweat.

Start of the incline

The incline

Headlight in the tunnel

My first look at Siberia suspension bridge

Out!

Huge surprise at the top. Andrew was there waiting for us. Awwww. Cool. No reception but Mike would have been done in his race about then.

Summit surprise

It's all downhill from here. Right?

My bike at the summit

It was lovely down the hill - although the wind meant we had to pedal a bit. Dropped a bar just after the summit. And dropped 2 bars by Te Marua.

Cranked up to PAS 3 for the Hutt River trail. And we blatted our way to Lower Hutt.

Hutt River trail

Iona tries to mount her bike

And done. For me and Iona. Maureen had to ride home still

Said goodbye to Maureen at the end of Sally and Andrew's street. And then we chilled at their house while Maureen finished the ride to her place.

Road dirt

Mike turned up and told us about his race Sunday morning. 2 hours 20. He felt good. Well done to him.

Mike finishes his half marathon

Pizza at 40WLW and then home to bed.

Up to take Iona to the airport. Awesome adventures with her.

And WFH today.

Busy week ahead.

Have fun!

Love,

Angela