The weekend of Matariki and a visit to Wairoa

 Hi,

What an amazing weekend to celebrate Matariki. Work kicked it off in fine fashion with a hangi and a true celebration of family and friends. I really enjoyed that event - so well organised by Myra and others. Myra's friend was so engaging teaching us a new waiata all about Matariki. Such fun.

Work iced latte

Matariki t shirt on!

Nom nom

Work organised a hangi

After the hangi at work, Mike and I wandered around the waterfront to see the light show. They had a spray of water at the lagoon which they projected Pasifika poetry onto. That was so cool. They had the story of Matariki on the front of Te Papa. And a lot of food and fun everywhere.

And a happy birthday to Kara today too!

Waterfront walk to see the lights

Wellington showing off

Back to pack for the weekend and get ready for our roadie to Wairoa. Good sleep. Up early and pack the Focus and we were so early that Mike made brekkie for us. Got the cats sorted then drove out to 40WLW to pick up Sally and Andrew.

Iced latte at Clareville bakery

Enjoyed a second brekkie at Clareville bakery - I split a cronut and a pain au chocolate with Andrew. 

Roadie!

Another iced latte

We had a late lunch in Napier. Some superb cafe where everything was delicious. Ajuna Eatery. Totally would go there again. I had smashed avo and it was good! Not long after this, Mike got a migraine. So we stopped at Countdown and got meds and some groceries. Then I drove while he took his ibuprofen and had a quieter ride.

We got to Wairoa around 4pm - the road between Napier and Wairoa is full of one lane parts, wash outs, bailey bridges, traffic lights and general devastation. A lot was down to 30 km/h speed restrictions. So much of the road in gullies and valleys have been so smashed up. Filled up at Z Wairoa and then headed towards Lake Waikaremoana to Frasertown where our weekend accommodation was located. Stable Cottage - run by John, who met us as we sat at the driveway and tried to find the key in the letterbox. Hahah.

Anyway, John got us sorted. And we put our stuff in the cottage and we all fell in love with how it was renovated and decorated and the view of the sunset over the river was gorgeous.

Sunset from Stable Cottage

Inside the cottage

We chilled for a bit before Andrew and I headed back to town to get provisions for tea. Unfortunately we got to New World at 6.58pm and it closed at 7pm. We were not getting in there. Found the Riverside Dairy open and had a very one-sided chat to the chap behind the counter about takeaway options in town. Anyway... didn't get much from him. Got some bread and eggs. Their eggs were either in boxes of 18 or a tray of about 30. Hahah. Eggs must be popular. 

Back home and Andrew cooked up scrambled eggs and we all tucked in. Then off to bed after finding out the launch mission had been scrubbed and moved to Monday! Gah!!

Lazy morning. Mike and I had single beds, which usually means we sleep in one together - but after Mike's migraine, we didn't fancy squashing into one small bed. He needed his space. But I got cold in the night! Hahahah. I had to find a blanket. And I actually grabbed Mike's one for the second night because he was not cold.

Morning view from the cottage

Cottage front

Sally and I headed into Wairoa to get some brekkie and coffee. But the pickings were slim. Sally got a lot from Oster's bakery but they did not have a lot of veg options. I went back to New World and got some rolls from there and boiled two of our many eggs! Hahah.

And coffee. We got coffee.

I was fine because I had picked up Lewis Road iced coffees on our way up at the Countdown in Napier. Lucky!

Then we headed off to explore Lake Waikaremoana. Mike has walked the Great Walk here before - but I have never been here at all. Stunning!

Lake Waikaremoana

A fair bit of gravel road for the wee Focus. It is not the ideal car for this sort of terrain. The mudflaps were touching down all weekend. Until we got to the beach between Wairoa and Mahia later today and found one half hanging off. Mike took that off and the rest of the weekend suddenly got less noisy when driving.

We had lunch at Waikaremoana Holiday Park - well, next to the lake beside the park. I really want to do this walk now - this place is amazing.

We hoped to do a wee walk - but they are all closed. Ended up walking passed some sign on the Aniwaniwa Falls walk. Also saw the Papakorito Falls. Lovely area.

Papakorito Falls

Snort! Kissy, kissy

Sally and Andrew at Papakorito Falls

Aniwaniwa Falls

We check out Aniwaniwa Falls

Fro m the lake area, we headed back towards Wairoa and then off towards Gisborne to Mahia. Got to the beach where they recommend rocket launch viewing and chatted to a woman fishing on the beach. She was there with a mate and she told us about seeing Matariki really clearly and how it bodes well for the next year. They were also having many bonfires on the beach because of the huge amount of slash all washed up. And I saw in my social media that Celia and her family were in Napier enjoying bonfires for Matariki. The entire Hawkes Bay was lighting up!

Pumice on the beach

I can see Mahia

Looking south towards Wairoa

Mahia looked spectacular off in the distance - we saw it from a viewing point. So much to see and do here - Mike and I will come back and spend a week poking around.

Back to the cottage. Made a BBQ tea and watched the All Blacks demolish SA in a mighty game at Mt Smart. Wow!

Slept well. Up to pack up. And drove back for brekkie (okay - super late brunch) at Bay Espresso. I do like that place. We used to go there a bit when we rented a house around the corner from there in Jan 2019 when Karen and Scott and Tyler and Abby were over.

Mike and I recreate the pic with me and Tyler from 2019

Mike bought coffee from Bay Espresso

Continued down SH2 to Dannevirke where we followed Google's idea to take the saddle road into the outskirts of Palmerston North. I enjoyed that as I have never been on that road before.

Into Lower Hutt and dropped Sally and Andrew off. Rescued the cats around 5pm - and they were all good! Happy to see us. Like we'd never been gone. Got a wash on. and we were in bed pretty early.

Awesome weekend. Such a fascinating place. So unlike Wellington in many ways. They have a lot of rebuilding in the road system to do. I appreciate now how connected to the whenua they are up there. The cyclone was so devastating in many ways.

Thank you Sally and Andrew for your company. Great to enjoy this trip with you.

Love,

Angela

Mike's weekend with running and Eurovision

 I'll start - I'm feeling sore but very happy with my 21k Personal Best* of 2 hours 15 minutes and 20 seconds.

The placings don't look so good, but I don't care. I beat all those people on the couch.

*OK it may not be a PB but I'm not really sure. I'll look up my past times if I can find them, and post them at the bottom.

Janine was aiming for 7 hours and smashed that. Benchmark for Queenstown in November.

We were on the road bright and early after I dropped Angela off at the airport for her Brisbane flight. Not too an eventful trip. Traffic was ... fun ... including dodging a fishtailing trailer. But we made it to Napier in good time for lunch.

We checked out the view from Bluff hill, with panoramic views of the logging port and a small fuel terminal. And apparently Mt Ruapehu, buried in the haze behind the Kawekas. Then checked into our cute little cabins, a short wander from town.

A tiny house each

We filled in the afternoon by going to, not just the Napier aquarium, but the New Zealand National Aquarium. I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but it was pretty good actually, with a Kiwi enclosure, enormous turtles, and Little Blue Penguins. Four stars would aquare again.

I'm SURE I've been here before.
Maybe somewhere else with penguins and feeding?

Glass roof - but WITH A TRAVELATOR. Fancy.
No need for strenuous walking here!

Yup they've got one of these too

This is art. To create awareness of the dangers of pollution and overuse of fossil fuels, school children have tied 12 km of nylon rope into shapes with thousands of plastic zip ties.
Yeah, I don't get it either.

After a hearty and filling 18" pizza from Vinci's just down the road, it was time for an early night. I set my alarm for 5:15am.

And we finished it all up

My half marathon bus left earlier than Janine's marathon bus, so I was out of the house and on my way without her. A quick walk down the hill led me straight to a highly efficient bus system and I was soon at the start line.

Gorgeous sunrise on the way to the bus

Before shot (anxious)

During shot 

After shot (exhausted - but happy. Honest. Can't you see the joy in my face?)

9 out of 10 nutritionists recommend a greasy kebab after a half marathon

The finish area was much better set up this year - they'd moved all the food and drink stalls to the field with the band and that made everything so much less congested. I got food and liquid into me and slowly came right.

GO JANINE!

I'm so photogenic that I made the marathon facebook page

I spent some time watching the marathon runners finish, inspiring stuff. Then Janine crossed the line over an hour faster than she was talking about. GOOD WORK JANINE. 

After Janine had recovered we bussed back to Napier and wandered back to our cabins. We were tired and not hungry, so we veged out to terrible reality TV on Bravo ("Botched - after my breast surgery they put my nipples back on too high") and ate cheese and crackers before crashing very early.

Sunday was EUROVISION and I was up early banging on Janine's door since she had the TV in her room.

IT'S HAPPENING

And much earlier in Sunshine Coast

Toast and Ugg Boots

The songs all seemed much more pared down and less over the top this year, although the Scandinavians didn't disappoint. Ukraine won with a good song and the UK actually entered something that wasn't terrible this year, and got 2nd!

Angela got captions which made it just that much better

We wandered up to Ahuriri, where the marathon started from, for a coffee at the Thirsty Whale before hitting the road. The weather got steadily worse and the drive was tedious but we were home in good time.

Monday morning and I don't feel too bad! Time to get stuck into my day. One day working from home then back into the office for me.

Looks gorgeous there

Happy cats here

PS: here are my half marathon times. OK so I smashed it in March 2021. That's my time to beat, though it's an unofficial 'fun run'.

Round the bays 21 Feb 2021 -- 2:16:02

Round the vines 20 Mar 2021 -- 2:10:09

Hawkes Bay 15 May 2021 -- 2:24:13

Kāpiti 14 Nov 2021 -- 2:18:42

Hawkes Bay 14 May 2022 -- 2:15:20

The weekend in Hawkes Bay for Mike's half marathon

 Hi,

I packed the car at 4pm after work on Friday and landed in bumper to bumper traffic from town all the way up SH2 to Upper Hutt.

Really?

Anyway, stopped at Caltex in Upper Hutt to get a full tank and the next stop was the Sol Y Mar B&B just north of Napier.  Google maps took me up SH50.  No traffic that way.  Nice.

Into bed by 10pm and up at 5.30am to fuel the athletes.  Mike, Janine and Ana - me and Daniel on support.

We left the B&B at 6.30am and we were at Splash Planet car park around 7.10am.  The race competitors queued for a toilet stop and then it was time for getting into the start chute.  8am and they were off at a slow shuffle.  There were a lot of people.

Fueling for the race at 5.30am

Start line athletes

They're off racing - and I am checking out iced lattes

Daniel and I wandered back to the car and went to have brekkie at Bay Espresso - where we used to go when we had NY up here in 2018.  Wonderful still.  Go eat there if you're in the region.  Great vege options including a plant-based section.

Daniel and I then drove to the finish line. What a well-run event.  We went the long way - with no traffic - to Elephant Hill winery via the back of Te Mata peak.  Beautiful scenery.  Into the car park with so many cars.  Parked.  Took the constant stream of shuttle buses to the winery.  Found the finish chute and Ana wasn't far away.

She crossed with a time of 1.57 for her first half marathon.  Wow.

Mike was next, close to 2.23.  He was a bit shattered.  Left it all on the course!  Oosshh.  Well done Mike.

Janine was next with 2.38 (but two stops for tummy issues - her moving time was more like 2.25 or so).

Well done to them all.

Being across from the medical tent as we waited was not a lot of fun.  :-(  I hope everyone is ok.

Finisher! Winner!

Happy face

Ate at the winery - there was this awesome Marsala Dosa at one of the trucks.  Absolutely scrumptious.  Then off to a wee bus back to the car park and to a supermarket for dinner options.  Havelock North New World.  Very nice supermarket.

We ate nibbles and ended up too full for dinner.  Off to bed and a good sleep.  Up to a gorgeous day Sunday.

Pics above show the sunrise Sunday morning

Mike and Janine went to the Farmers market in Hastings opposite the house we stayed in a few years back.  The Blue House.

I went into the mountain bike park with Daniel and Ana.  The B&B backs onto the trail.  We went to the start and did Boars Nest.  Up Dragon Fly.  Up Snoopy.  Then Ana and Daniel went to a black trail and I went down Smooth Operator.  Then up the side road and down Boars Nest again.

Mountain biking face

View back over the B&B

Such a wonderful way to spend my morning.  Back to the house for a shower and reading in the sun.  Mike and Janine got back and we ate lunch after some chippies.

Ana and Daniel got back and we packed up the car and headed home around 3pm.  Fairly busy traffic home.  Filled up in Dannevirke at the Caltex there.

Dropped Janine home around 6.30pm and we were home not long after.  Cats were happy to see us.  We ate a Buddha bowl and went to bed around 8pm.  :-)

Moxley in a box

Had lots of sleep.  Wet morning Monday morning.  Bus in for me and gym session.  

Bench weights Monday morning

Busy day at work.  Work dinner after work today.  Trying to convince Mike to drive in and collect me after it.  :-p

Have a good week.

Love,

Angela