The weekend away for ANZAC day in Blenheim

 Hi,

Mike will need his own blog post to do his long weekend justice. He went into Cow Creek hut in the Tararuas with Janine. And Blue Range hut too. 

But I had my own adventures. And we are super grateful to Jason (and Chelsea) for looking after the cats (and the house) in our absence. Especially when on Sunday evening our neighbour reported on the street WhatsApp chat that they had attempted break ins over the weekend. Jason was definitely needed! To defend both home and cats!

My Sounds Air boarding pass

Anyway... I got an Uber to the airport on Wednesday after work. Well, Mike got it for me when I realised by Uber app had my old credit card in it and I was not sure if I had time to fix that and order my Uber. So Mike sorted it - and I sorted my end of it too.

Got to the airport with a good 20 mins up my sleeve. Woot! Checked in and boarded easily. Bumpy out of Wellington but we flew into a gorgeous night in Marlborough. Sunset in the west. Clear skies. No wind. 

Tony and Nicola picked me up from the airport and whisked me through to the quiz night. Iona and Col were there - with their friend Robyn. And we promptly crashed and burned in quite a tricky quiz night. Solid middle of the table performance.

Off home and straight to bed because it was dawn service the next morning. Sweet!

Had a good sleep. Up at 5.15am to throw clothes on and jump in the car with Iona and Col. Col had already been up for ages, walking Twigg! We headed to Picton for their service and it was so good. Few hundred people. Lovely memorial service. Mayor spoke well. St John was a bit busy. During the British officer's speech, the mayor had to butt in and ask for them to come to the podium. Immediately. And that happened twice.

The chap that was to read to Ode to Remembrance in Māori sheepishly admitted he did not have the words (I surmised they were still sitting on the table at his house). So the wahine that previously sang a lovely hymn jumped back in and sang again.

After the normal service, we walked down to the pou on the foreshore and had a Māori battalion service. Very good to participate in that.

Picton service

At dawn

The pou

After the service we headed back to Blenheim and saw wee Todd and Sue. Sue was staying overnight in her campervan in the driveway before catching the ferry over to Wellington. Todd is a wee cutie! So friendly and curious.

Todd! You wee cutie!

I helped (okay - I ate!) Iona harvest all the remaining grapes on their vine. These grapes are the most delicious! I must have had a kilo of them! But they had so much!

Harvested the grapes

Walnuts galore

We wandered down to the Wairau river and collected walnuts from huge trees down there. Got 3 big bags full.

Walnut in situ

We also got the bikes ready for our training day on Friday. Degreased and lubed the bike. And got the gear sorted.

Training ride

Friday saw Nicola arrive just after 9am and we headed off. I used her daughter Charlotte's very nice Merida bike. Iona on her old mountain bike. Nicola on her very nice, but older, bike. The day was sunny and very nice down lower. Our walk up into the Wither Hills was far windier!

More of the walnut harvest

We rode down south on the Whale trail to the southern end of Blenheim and then into the hills. Then it went a bit up and down. I ended up having to push up a lot of the steeper farm tracks. But now I have #goals!

After about 12km of riding, we parked and locked our bikes and walked up to the trig (well, close enough to it). Had lunch tucked out of the wind. Then back down to the bikes and rode over to Taylor River and back to Iona and Col's place.

Walking

Windy

Iconic views

I had such a great day! And it was still only about 2pm! Hahahah. 

Up Saturday to do park run. It was 1 degree and frosty. Brr. Iona knew I needed motivation so she walked to town with me and left me to it. I am so glad she did that. Loved the run. 35 mins. That was ok as I checked and it was a month since my last one. I need to run more. Especially after the training session yesterday and my lack of cardio fitness to get the bike up hills. 

Park run

Rose garden

Love me some roses

Walked back to the house. Then off to the gym for some fun there. Bench for me, mainly. Then off to Nelson on our roadie for Iona's Aunt Jean's choral event. We had a great drive over. With a stop at Pelorus for the best iced latte I have had in a long time!

Nelson choir venue

East St was delicious

Iona had reserved dinner for us at East St (which is on Church St) - all vegetarian food. Mmmm. Iona's quesadilla looked (and tasted) so good. Mine was good too - but all a bit much on one plate. Bean balls. Salads. Mash. Hummus. Beans. Mushrooms.

Anyway - we did some shopping in Nelson in the afternoon. I got boots from Torpedo7. Lowa Batia. For $383 (down from $550). Iona got some Salomon shoes for trail running. We went to a book shop. Then we read books in the gardens. Looked at the cathedral grounds and then headed to the Nelson School of Music venue. Met Allan and got in and then enjoyed Mendelssohn, Faure and some locally composed piece for the next few hours. It was beautiful. Lovely huge room with great acoustics. A conductor with panache. And such beautiful voices.

We left Nelson just after 9pm and got back home and fell into bed. Read until after midnight. And slept in to 8.40am!

Home made iced latte

Beach rubbish walk

I visit the tree again

Someone's wee house!

Then we went for our beach walk to pick up rubbish. We walked 5km and picked up 3 huge rubbish bags of junk. Plastic bottles abound.

We saw a dead shark. An entire deer leg - with hoof. A wee house someone was surely sleeping in over summer. Two men with 3 wee toddlers that caught 5 huge snapper. 30 cans of Double Brown. And out out a huge, smouldering fire someone had left.

More iconic Marlborough views

Airport

Back to chill at home. Then off to the airport for my flight back to Wellington. It is always a pleasure to spend time with Iona and Col. They look after me so well. It was like a holiday. An active holiday. Thank you. xx

New boots

Mike met me at the airport after one of the smoothest flights across I have experienced. I told him about my weekend and he told me about his huge tramp. We looked at each other's photos. And then put on washing and went to bed!

Hahah. Great fun all round!

Have a brilliant week ahead.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with a movie and dinner

 Hi,

It was Michael's birthday (nephew) yesterday! Woot!

There is a pawcity (hahahahah!) of cat content for my readers today. So sorry. And there is also a paucity of iced coffee pics so goodness knows what is going on there. But just so you can still see me drinking through a straw - there is a pic of me drinking a lychee and lime soda. Yum!

I left Mike at work for his architect meeting and headed to Mr Go's for my 5pm reservation. Maureen joined me just after 5pm and we had (too) many dishes. Ended up leaving food behind. Hahah. Mr Go's has changed location since Mike and I last went there. Now on Eva St - near the Hannah Shoes complex. I like those wee lanes.

Waiting for Maureen at Mr Go's

Lychee soda - very nice

After the delicious and plentiful food we wandered up to Lighthouse Cuba to watch Love lies bleeding. And I have to say, it had so many elements that I disliked, content-wise. Domestic abuse. Drugs. Abhorrent violence. I am trying to think of anything redeeming. Umm. They captured the 1989 era really well. There you go. It was gritty. I now think Mike and Toby wouldn't mind it. Like Kill Bill - but somehow more realistic and therefore less enjoyable. Apart from the drugs causing weird visions. That was out there.

I might have been better off jumping into the French film showing in the next cinema. Hahah. 

Movie

Back to work and rode home. Just beat Mike home by 2 mins. He fed the cats and we were off to bed. Up for him to drive me to the gym and drop my weekend bag off at work.

37.5kg bench was ok

My weekend bag under my desk

Mike is WFH and I am WF...W. Uber to the airport after work for my 1730 flight to Blenheim. Mike is now leaving tomorrow for a different tramp to avoid the impending bad weather. Hopefully Jase and Chelsea enjoy staying with the cats for a bit.

Have a great long weekend, if that is what you are doing.

Take care.

Love,

Angela

The Monday at work

 Hi,

Wellington turned on the weather yesterday in many ways. Lunch time saw me and Mike strolling along the waterfront, contemplating all the good things in life. We went to try and get some sponsors for prizes for Mike's ski film fun in a month or so. No luck.

Brownie from Quentin - delicious

Lewis Road from Mike - so delicious

But it was worth the walk as the day was so lovely. 

Stunning lunch walk

I approach Thor's hammer

I finally got to see Thor's hammer and knew I could easily lift that. Like the hidden Valkyrie I know lies deep within. Or some rubbish like that - only in my imagination. Mike obeyed my mad ideas to take pictures of me doing my thing that I could only see in my own mind's eye. But I had fun.

I've got this, Mike

And, here I am, casually lifting Thor's hammer like a minor goddess

As we sat on the waterfront eating our sushi, a lot of people we knew walked by. Also enjoying the sun. Saw Aaron from our last work and chatted to him briefly. Then Dave and Maureen walked by. Maureen got distracted by other people that knew her - and Mike and I were immediately abandoned. But it did mean we got to chat to Dave. So, you know. Winners and losers. Hahah.

Halfway through the afternoon, the weather packed in and rain came down. Typical.

After work, I walked to Thorndon gym and met Juliet for Spin. First time in ages. 30 min class. The instructor gave us a wee wave - so she did remember us. Best try and make that more regular.

Blurry spin pic with Juliet

I rode home in the dark - and avoided most of the rain. Yay! Fed the cats. And made Grant's Surprise. Haven't made that for years and years.

Leeks simmering in butter

Added tomato paste and cream

And dished up with pasta

As I tucked into mine, Mike pinged me. He had done a good 5k on the waterfront and had a few beers and wanted a lift home. Well, it was raining. So he ducked into the supermarket for provisions for Jase and Chelsea and I covered our food up and went to get him.

At the end of Mike's run. Quite the contrast from lunchtime!

Home to finish tea. It was very good. I will make that again soon.

Off to bed. Good sleep. Up to ride in and this morning the weather is lovely again. I did 85kg deadlifts with Quentin working out alongside me. He did 190kg. It was fun to see him full on working out.

Me and Quentin, side by side. Him 190kg. Me 85kg.

Iced latte time

Back at work. Big day. And then a movie with Maureen after work. Then ride home. Finish tidying the house. Mike has pivoted to a tramp over ANZAC day weekend that avoids some exposed areas due to the impending poor weather. Good plan!

Take care! Have a great day.

Love,
Angela

The weekend with glamping and trapping

Hi,

This long weekend post has all the content to keep my 4 readers happy. Cats, rats and iced coffees. Hahah. 

In some great news, Toby passed his drivers licence test on Thursday! Woot! My clever wee man. And... it turns out he now has covid. He tested positive on Saturday morning. So we have sent him a care package. Poor wee man. Ups and downs.

Mike and I were up early on Friday morning to head up the coast to Paraparaumu. We raced out of the house without brekkie so it was lucky Transmission Gully made up time and we stopped in at a café.

It was super lucky because it turns out we should have had lunch with us for this first day. Fortunately the delicious brekkie at the Marine café kept us going to nibble time at the lodge.

But wait. What is it we are doing, I hear you ask. Well, this was my Christmas present (or was it birthday?) from about 1.5 years back. But we had to keep pushing it out for some reason or other. But finally - this was the weekend! Yes, an overnight glamping stay on Kapiti Island. And before I get lost in the memory of it all and forget to say - everyone should go and do this if they get a chance. What a superb weekend of manu and kai. Obvs not eating the manu. They were separate!

Marine café

From the café we went 1 min up the road and parked and headed over to biosecurity at Kāpiti Island Nature Tours. They went through our gear and told us we could not put our packs down on the ground until we got on the boat. 8.45am departure. We got our ticket for the boat - and realised we had half a day at the usual visitor centre before heading to the northern part at 2.45pm. Oohhhh. See. Lucky we had that big brekkie.

Landing on Kapiti

The boat was full of people eager to explore the island. And it turns out of the 25 or so onboard, about 14 were overnight visitors. 

We walked to the visitor's shelter and heard a talk from Dave, our DOC guide. It was great - good history and conservation info. Then around 9.45am we got to explore. The Trig Track is now uphill only and labelled as strenuous and steep. So off we went. And we were the only punters to tackle it.

View south

Historic whare

Up Trig Track

We stopped about halfway up when I heard a kōkako in the distance. Wow - what a lovely sound. I long for the day when we hear that in the bush. Imagine if we find some in the south motu? They have been extinct there for a while now. But I would love to hear that once more in the southern bush.

View from the trig

View north

Windy - but warm

We got to the top and found only one person - who left almost immediately. We had the place to ourselves for about 15 mins.

Hi Mike

Signs of more recent history

Short Mike

Then back down the hill, stopping at the freshly topped up hihi feeder to watch those wee manu feeding there. We relaxed on the beach for a while before watching the takehē strut around. Then on the 2.45pm boat for 5 mins to the northern landing.

Relaxing on the beach

Takehe

Manaki met us off the boat and took us to the lodge. We were welcomed and had some introductions to the way things would run before taking our gear to our tent.

Our glamping tent

Wow!

We were in the furthest tent. What an amazing idea. Huge canvas tent with a ply wood floor, a deck with chairs and a lovely big bed with lots of duvets. I was going to look forward to snuggling in there later.

Walking to the lodge

Dining room

Mike and I hung around the lodge reading until nibbles came out at 5.30pm and we launched ourselves at them. Okay - I did.

Nibbles

Another view

Dinner was around 6.30pm and was roast lamb, with roast veggies and other delicious food, followed by pudding. Mmmm.

8.30pm saw us split up into two groups. We went with Kiana and she took us around the back of the lodge, by our tents, to spot kiwi. She had a red torch. But the moon was out and we could see well enough. We saw two kiwi really well. And a gecko. 

Turns out the other group saw none! So we really got lucky there.

Then off to bed. And it was as amazing as I envisaged. The sounds of the night all around us. We did get woken up at 3am to hear a kiwi screeching right outside our tent - and then snuffling around us. It must have given Mike dreams - he dreamed Toby did not pass his licence because he failed to do a screech test. Hahahah. I was so confused when Mike told me because I missed the part where it was a dream.

We wake up in the tent

Morning view

We got dressed and headed in for brekkie. Very nice scrambled eggs. We packed up our tent and dropped the bags off in the room to get picked up for the boat at 2.45pm.

Brekkie

Walk to the top of the northern part

Here we go

Then Mike and I spent 3 hours exploring the trails up this end of the motu. Not as many birds - but heaps of water fowl with the freshwater lagoon.

Lagoon

Lookout

Above the lagoon

Colours of the moana

Boy meets buoy

Boy picks up buoy

Back to the lodge for a huge lunch, then a short walk before we visited the gallery and Iona's weaving teacher, Adrienne. She lives on the island. She is such a great artist. Her work is mighty fine. She showed us her PhD work too.

Then onto the boat and over to the mainland. Mike went for a run at Queen Elizabeth park while I read a book. Then home to bed.

Sunday saw us up early for trapline day. Callan got dropped at our house at 8am by Stacey. Then we picked up Andrew and the grubber and headed to Sunny Grove.

We all did Sunny Grove traps while Andrew grubbed our the drainage channels on the track. Got a few rats there. Then we split up and Andrew and I did KAT ("Kiwi Access Track") line. And out of the 6 traps, we had 4 kills. One including a stoat! That is the 3rd stoat in this area Andrew has seen in recent months. 

A stoat on KAT!

Mike and Callan also got a lot. 6 out of the 11 traps had rats on the Upper Turere Stream! Andrew and I headed up to the old track from the end of KAT and he went back to the scene of our trap replacement the week before to pick up the fadge we left behind.

Then we grubbed out the channels Andrew did not do on our way down. One was a huge effort - right below the clay bomber section. It was so buried. Hahah.

Channel clearing

Andrew and his fadge get stuck

We got to the car about 20 mins before Callan and Mike. 3pm we headed away to drop Andrew back home then Callan.

Home to have a light tea (leftover wraps), hose down our soggy muddy tramping gear, and watch YouTube with the cats seeking warmth.

Smudge draped over me

Moxley draped over the laptop

Off to bed early. Up for gym for Mike and a bike ride to work for me. Big day at work. Then I will ride home and pack for my long weekend and tidy the house for Jase and Chelsea.

Have an awesome day and enjoy the week ahead.

Love,

Angela