The weekend in Wellington for me and Mike away tramping

 Hi,

Big weekend of fun for both of us. Mike with Andrew and Janine into the Tararuas to bag Dundas Hut. And me at home to do all the things.

Friday stunner

Friday was gorgeous, if the northerly was a little strong and had a wee bite to it. But I was ready for my bike ride with Maureen on the new bike.

Made sourdough for Kara

Made bread before I left. And chilled with the cats too.

Smudge looking like a model

Then loaded up the car with its precious load. And away to Seaview to meet Maureen at 11.15am. 

New bike ready for its first adventure

She was a little late as apparently Placemakers has changed locations since the last time she was there. And I was at the new location. Which happened to be next to a bit of our workplace. Hahah. We unloaded the bikes and took off. And after 50m Maureen said:  errrmm, I have a problem.

Turns out her Sram gear battery was flat. She was stuck in a fairly low gear for the entire 40km ride we did. Lucky she has legs of steel.

I asked if we could still ride. Hindsight says maybe we should have just ridden to a cafe at that point. But what does hindsight really know before anything has happened? So off we went. Went to the 4 square and got lunch and stamps for Kara.

Continued to the bike shop at the road end to see if they had a charger for the Sram. No. But they were very nice. Pacey - thank you!

Headed south - with a handy tailwind. Around the corner to a lunch spot by the lakes. Then we attempted to ride around the lakes. This tested my riding skills with steeps bits and a bit of mud. Maureen was in one gear - remember! She stopped around a quarter the way around at a puddle across the track where the lake had risen. It was on a bend and we couldn't see how big it was. So I stepped onto some grass to see if I could see further. And promptly went into my shins into the lake. And still couldn't see.

Maureen was giggling. I said I had no problem continuing because I was already wet. She decided to keep dry feet and we rode back the way we came.

Maureen rides ahead

Top of the lakes

And back again

Had to contend with a fierce headwind and road works on the way back. Maureen went through a stop sign holding back traffic at one point. I waited. The stop/go chap got on his radio. But no one stopped her. I watched as she vanished into the distance. But luckily they let me go first. So I zipped up to catch her - with my gears and turbo mode. 

We said goodbye to each other and I went home to shower and pick up the bread for Kara. Got takeaways with her and we chatted for ages.

Hello Kara

Saw the aurora was sparking up so I headed home via the south coast. Parked the car and got to watched the show. At 9pm, I could see the faint aurora with my naked eye. But the camera picked it up easier.

Woah - big aurora

9pm Fri I saw this with my naked eye

Saw some green in the aurora too. So red bands, and green to the horizon. Such a lovely evening. Not many people where I was. I sat in my car at Breaker Bay, facing directly south.

Accidentally took a selfie

Left there at 10:30pm.

Good sleep.

Made more bread. Did a lot of gardening. Prepped for vegetables. Trimmed back the harakeke over the roof.

 

Another day another sourdough

Mike added my Spring Challenge number to my wall

Trimmed the harakeke

Sunday saw me inside as the weather finally turned. Did a garage gym session. 40kg bench! Woot! And then got stuck into sanding the stairs.

Finished sanding the stairs

I think paint

Mike got home as I tidied up. And he noticed as soon as he went down the stairs. Yay. We unpacked his gear. Had tea. And I made cold soaked porridge for brekkie.

Made cold soak porridge for brekkie

Off to bed fairly late. Mike missed his bus for gym and only made his bus for the GP appointment. I ate my cold porridge. It was fine. May need to tweak it.

Eating the cold porridge

And Monday sees it hosing down outside. Yuck. High of 11C. What?  Oh well. Back to normal weather then.

Enjoy your week. I need more iced latte right now.

Love,

Angela