The Thursday with a Migraine and an epic commute

 It's Mike here, subbing in for Angela while she has South Island adventures. 

My day started as normal, and my squats session was going well - until I realised that I couldn't read the signage properly and people had bits missing from their faces. So time to pop neurophen and go home. I actually felt relatively okay and did a bit of work, getting some low stress admin tasks knocked off.

That meant I was home when Angela set off on her Blenheim adventure. It starts with biking to the ferry - and then biking from Picton to Blenheim! Lots of fun. 

Waiting in the ferry terminal with Maureen

Feet. Truck anchor. It's art.

Um, that's on the ferry

And breakfast in Blenheim

Have a great time, Angela! And have a great weekend whereever you are.

Peak to Pub 2024

 I wish I had re-read Peak to Pub 2023 before I signed up again this year.

I better copy/paste in what Peak to Pub is before I go on.

It starts with getting to the summit of Mt Hutt, an hour or so's drive east of Christchurch.
Then you run, in snow gear, for what seems like forever but is only about 200m or so.
Now you ski (or snowboard) 7km from the very top to the very bottom of the skifield.
You drop your skis and change your shoes, and jump on a mountain bike.
You hurtle 16km down the ski road, which is rutted, gravelly and usually muddy and icy.
Now you dump your bike and start running.
You run for 10 kilometres.
Then, just for fun, you have to swim across a canal.
Now you run for another two kilometres to Methven township.
To the pub.

Last year I'd started with a damaged Achilles, and finished with a calf strain to match. "Unfinished business", I'd said at the time. Now I knew what to expect, how to manage the logistics, and with the aim of bettering my time since I'd be hitting the slopes fit and uninjured.

"I knew what to expect". Telling words. 

Thu, Fri, Sat morning - the preparation

This year our party consisted of: me and fellow competitor Ana, along with Angela, Ana's partner Daniel, and Toby and Tessa. A bike rental from Big Al's made everything so much easier, not to mention their bike was a lot better than mine. 

Thursday night saw us in Christchurch, staying at the Coachman Inn. Friday morning we picked up Toby and Tessa and headed west to to Pudding Hill Lodge, our fav place to stay since forever. The weather today was terrible so we mooched around Methven and at our enormous place, relaxing and catching up with each other. Fri night was a trip into town to check out the bike - great news, they were going to stage it on the mountain for me! - getting our skis tuned, doing the race registration, and enjoying the Blue Pub's hospitality. Early night for us to be fit and ready for tomorrow.

Saturday is race day. While Angela Tessa and Toby stayed down the hill, 7am saw me packed into Ana and Daniel's truck and hurtling up the hill. 

The plan was to have a quiet morning and not tire ourselves out - but a mostly clear day (light mist would blow in and out) and oodles of fresh powder put paid to that. We did lap after lap of the summit six, moving across the face under Virgin mile to keep finding fresh untouched powder run after fresh untouched powder run. After a speed run of the afternoon course, decided we just had to stop at 11am or else we'd be completely exhausted. 

I mean, how could we not?

Skiing is quite different on your body to snowboarding. While snowboarding is a full body workout, skiing is all quads and all cardio. My quads were  burning at the end of each run but it was just too good to stop. 

Finally we thought that 11am was a good time to just end it, because if we didn't we'd just keep going. We had an early lunch. Suddenly warm mist rolled in. Would we be able to see?!

Daniel headed back down the hill early, and Ana and I awaited our briefing. 

We wandered outside, just below the ski-bike transition in the 4WD carpark to the true left of the learner chairlift. All straightforward but rigorous and key points emphasised with humour. 

One chairlift ride to the top, and a 'course inspection' run so we could see where the gates were. Another ride to the top and a long walk to the South Peak where we would start. Nothing to do now but wait. And try to control the nerves.

The Ski

Boom! The shotgun fired and my wave was off.

First up is the dreaded ski boot run. It was horrible, but not as horrible as last year, and instead of finishing dead last, I kept up with the people around me. Maybe because it was mostly slightly downhill. Maybe because I was fitter. Maybe because I'd undone my ski boots. Maybe because I didn't have a ruined Achilles this time!

I found my skis and clipped in, all nice and straightforward, then hurtled off the cat track to hit the Fascination - Broadway run. Last year we had a truncated ski run because the gale force winds stopped them from opening the main lift. This year it was a decent run. I quickly left all the non-skiers behind and had a mostly clear run until near the end. But my quads were not responding like they should after the hours of powder runs. My speed was limited by how hard I could crank the turns. Last year we were all by ourselves since the mountain was closed; this year spectators lined the course yelling and cheering. I felt like a proper athlete! After a few minutes I was at the bottom, out of my skis and running to the bike transition.

The bike

It all went wrong on the ski-bike transition. It was chaos with bikes and skis and bags everywhere. My bin bag with my trail runners was not where I left it, and I spent fruitless minutes searching for a black bag in amongst hundreds of other black bags. And then I couldn't find my bike either. Same deal, looking for a bike I'd seen once amongst hundreds of other bikes. I'd assumed all the Big Al's bikes would be in the one place and really obvious but that was not the case.

So if you rent a bike - don't assume. Find it at 11am when it arrives, and put your bag underneath it. Basic stuff really.

After 10 minutes of wandering about looking for two needles in an enormous haystack I finally reunited myself with bag and bike, and got myself changed into trailrunners. Off I set.

The bike run was terrifying and terrible. It all started having to pass a guy out cold on the ground (with people tending to him) and then just after that someone who must of been a friend of his decided to turn sharply right, right in front of me. I screamed in terror. She straightened up again. Whew.

Then, I hit the fog. And the mud. This is where things got really terrible. No viz. Soft mud steadily coating my goggles. Just following the left side of the road and trying not to crash or be crashed into. I eventually stopped and took off my goggles, and just had to blink lots as a steady stream of mud coated every inch of me. Every now and then mud coated my contact lenses and I lost vision again, I had to just keep heading in the same direction and blink frantically to get my eyesight back. 

Finally it dawned on me that things weren't absolutely terrible anymore and that I'd emerged from both the fog and the mud. I was concentrating so hard on not crashing that it took a while for that to sink in.

The rest of the the ride was okay.  I could see, I wasn't getting covered in mud, I had trust in my tyres on this surface. Down the hill I went, letting my heart rate come back to normal.

Ana finishing strong

I'm perfectly coated in mud

Daniel was there to meet us at the transition, and I also briefly saw Ana, setting off just as I arrived. I dropped my bike for Big Al to pick up, dropped my helmet for Daniel to throw in the truck, and off I ran. 

The Run

The first 4k were in the "dry creek bed". Wading through up to knee deep water in the "dry" creek. It felt more like river travel tramping than running. Lots of terrain with big rocks to climb, and fields of basketball-sized rocks to pick over. Getting steadily passed by fit women in their teens and 20s from the wave behind me who were bounding over the rocks and water like mountain goats, going faster than my regular running pace.

Then finally, finally, out of the creek and onto a firm surface - a farm track leading to the road. The first 500m were great, but that was all that was left in my legs after everything I'd done today. From then on my pace dropped from 6 min to 7 min, then to an 8 min pace - from 10 km/h to 8½ km/h to 7½ km/h. Not uncomfortable but just lumbering along. I tried to keep a 7 on my watch pace.

There was so much encouragement, the cars going past tooted and shouted encouraging words. The many marshals and organisers on the course were great.

Then the swim. The canal was up and had a strong current. ("Someone opened the pumps when they shouldn't have", an organiser told Angela the next day.) No longer just a quick splash across, you had to properly swim and I came to the other side a bit further downstream than I should have. The organisers were amazing, with lots of encouragement, kayakers in the water for safety and warm ponchos on the other side. 

I discovered that losing layers is actually important as all my layers now weighed probably 10kg soaking wet. I stopped and lost all but one merino layer and my bib. Some kids from the swim support crew were running along with me, I gave one of them my extra layers. I hope I see them again! 

Finally it was the last 3km, a run through the Fairy Walk and into Methven, I knew I was on the home straight. 

So good to finish, and so good to not have to crawl through a bouncy castle at the end. 

Through the fire hose and FINISHED

Thanks so much to Ana for being foolhardy enough to follow along in this adventure, and to Angela, Daniel, Tessa and Toby for providing all the support and help to get me up and back. Big shout out to the incredible organisers of the event. The logistics to get this done are mind blowing, and there were so many people out there making it happen and keeping us safe and shouting motivating words at us. Woot!

Although I feel stiff and sore all over, I do feel pretty good. No injuries, no extreme fatigue, and a small glow of achievement. Like at the end of possum run. I'm glad I did it - I have no unfinished business now and I'm delighted to have survived the bike ride in particular - and I don't ever want to do this ever again.

The Wednesday with the bike maintenance course with Kara

 Hi,

Guess what? It really is Thursday now. My Wednesday was good - I was anticipating the bike maintenance course after work with antici..... pation.

I did get some bad news at work about the restructuring for a close mate at work. So that made me quite glum about it all. However, I firmly believe this person is amazing and one day will rule the world. Or maybe, at least, a wee part somewhere. And do good things. So - this was just a wee stepping stone. But I can say one day: I knew them when...

Good luck, buddy. Go own it!

Work iced latte

Little Grump - a new cafe

Mike and I found a new wee cafe on Featherston - well on the corner of it. Little Grump. The coffees were so good. Mike even told them it was the best coffee he had in ages. And you all know how much he drinks. High praise indeed. I had a good potato sandwichy thing. Want to try their cheese and broccoli toastie next.

Iced latte was good!

Mike with his selfie

After work I walked with Mike up Willis St. Mike to LBQ to meet Sally and Andrew for "planning night". And me to myRide for my bike course. Bumped into Courtney on my way and chatted briefly to her.

Met Kara as she found a car park right outside. Wow. She has good parking angels. And we met Fraser (bike shop owner - used to race bikes) and about 6 other women. And we learned heaps of things. 

Ready for the bike course

Kara is also ready

You're a .... chainbreaker!

How to change brake disc pads. How to bleed the brakes. How to use darts to fix tubeless tyres. How to use a CO2 canister to inflate a tyre.  How to break a chain and link it up (either with another link or a spare link). So many useful tips. 

I really enjoyed it. And now I want to change my eBike brake pads. 

I went to LBQ at 8pm when it finished and caught up with the chattery bunch there. Managed to convince them they did not need another round of beers and we wandered off to our homes. We got a 14 and got home fairly quickly.

I had so many push ups to finish. But got there while Mike sorted out the sad cats. It was well past their feeding time by then. Moxley decided to puke outside our bedroom door - so we sorted that out.

Up at 5.30 (groan) to ride in and PT session with Quentin. 140 push ups. OMG. And I still have so many to do. 213 today is the total. One more day tomorrow and I am done.

Did squats too. 60kg. 3 reps x 3 sets. And that was tough.

Met Andrew for a quick iced latte

Weekend beckons because it is Matariki. Hangi at work today - in the evening. Huge event. Home early and finish push ups and then bed. I am a little tired to be honest.

Sending kia kaha to everyone that needs it today.

Love,

Angela

Peak to Pub 2023

Why did I decide to do this?!

It started a few months ago when Callan showed me https://www.peak2pub.co.nz/ . My interest was piqued. 

I was in! 

Nobody else was.

But it was too late. I had signed up and paid my money. I was doing it.

I better say what Peak to Pub is before I go on.

It starts with getting to the summit of Mt Hutt, an hour or so's drive east of Christchurch.

Then you run, in snow gear, for what seems like forever but is only about 50m or so.

Now you ski (or snowboard) 2km from the very top to the very bottom of the skifield.

You drop your skis and change your shoes, and jump on a mountain bike.

You hurtle 18km down the ski road, which is rutted, gravelly and usually muddy and icy.

Now you dump your bike and start running.

You run for 10 kilometres.

Then, just for fun, you have to swim across a canal.

Now you run for another two kilometres to Methven township.

To the pub.

That is a lot of logistics, for a start. I had to get me, my bike and my skis from Wellington to Christchurch to Methven to Mt Hutt. I had to figure out what to wear that would keep me warm enough on skis, protected enough on the bike, and cool and free enough on foot.  

Unusually for me, I began to plan. And I actually did some research. I read the tips and tricks on the Peak to Pub website. Dauntingly, Steve Guernsey the extreme sports legend had written them.

What had I done?

My first job was to get my bike off the wall of the garage where it was hanging, and brush the dust and cobwebs off it. My boss Roanne lent me a bike box. It looked enormous. My bike just barely fitted with both wheels, the seat, the pedals and the handlebars removed.

It just fits

Then I worked out my clothing. Ski boots and a change into trailrunners (with flat pedals not clippy pedals to eliminate another footware change). Polypro longjohns for warmth, lycra bike shorts for comfort and running shorts for decency. Merino top and running jacket for warmth but not too much warmth. Work gloves did double duty as ski gloves and bike gloves. Ski helmet and goggles would do double duty on the fast dusty bike descent.

A last training run seemed in order so off I headed to the Wellington Parkrun. I finished limping with a sore right Achilles. Oh no! It stayed sore all week. I nursed it along. It made me nervous. Could I even finish? Was this a dumb idea with a pre-existing injury? 

Oh well.

Thursday afternoon saw me and my friend Kara heading to the airport with a Forester stacked full of boxes and suitcases and ski bags. Check-in was relatively painless apart from the sting of a small excess baggage charge for the bike - it weighed 26kg all up. The wind was whistling through the airport and our captain warned us it would be bumpy taking off, and bumpy landing in Christchurch, and bumpy during cruise as well. Oh well. The takeoff was exciting but from then on it was actually pretty smooth.

Tessa and Toby met us in Tessa's Corolla wagon. She saw all our stuff and burst out laughing. Nope, no way that was going to fit. We left Kara with our mound of luggage and headed off to retrieve the van.

Kara and I were staying in our usual haunt, the Coachman Motel. It was nice as usual but Kara's single bed was missing a sheet. She figured out a solution.

Early start Friday morning. 7:15am saw us with Toby bundled into the van and en route to Mt Hutt. We dropped Toby at Methven and hurtled up the ski road. I was watching it closely for my biking tomorrow. The van was hammering along on the ruts and corrugations. Loose gravel everywhere. Snow and ice at the top.

Hmm.

The forecast was dubious so we both bought 2 hour passes to test the waters. The staff were great, and very realistic. They refused to sell Kara a multi day pass because of the deteriorating forecast.

We had a ball. Viz was okay, blowing in and out but mostly fine. We did laps of Fascination and Broadway which was to be my course tomorrow. I tried to take it easy and save my quads, but I would see the steep, wide, clear slope in front of me and I couldn't help but hammer down it fast on my "new" skis. With no queues we did lap after lap until our 2 hours was up. 

We eagerly went back to the ticket desk and upgraded to full day passes. Alas, that was when the clouds blew in and it clagged in top to bottom. Not much fun. We gingerly skied down by braille. I made the mistake of following blue dazzle paint only to discover that it marked the edge of the track, not the middle! But the warm cloud had softened all the snow, and Mt Hutt doesn't have guts and cliffs, so it was okay just making my way downwards until the base area loomed into sight, somewhat off to the right to where I thought it was.

C'mon Kara, visibility is fine

We did one more run to verify that no, we weren't having fun, and packed it in. Down the road we went and found Toby at our Bookabach. What a nice place! A proper crib, rather than a mass produced box. A modest 1870s cottage with a tacked on extension probably no more than 30 years newer. Full of quirky knick knacks and old photos and interesting pictures on the walls. Nothing was straight and none of the doors closed properly. 

Cute cottage makes the van look new and modern

Toby had got us cheese and crackers so we dived in. I got my bike back together again fairly painlessly, then down to the Blue Pub we trotted for registration.  (Methven has two pubs, that are imaginatively named the Blue Pub and the Brown Pub. Though we all agreed that the Brown Pub was more beige than brown). I got my little pack of a Bib, a transponder, a bin bag for my ski boots, stickers for my skis and my bike - and a $5 off voucher for the pub. Woo! 

Kara had intelligently ordered dinner while I waited in the queue, so just as I registered, our dinner was ready. Yum. Burger for Toby, cajun chicken for Kara, and Bangers and Mash (carbs!!) for myself. We wandered back home full and satisfied.

I did my last prep - I knew that everything had to be organized if I wasn't to turn up missing some vital piece of equipment. Then off to bed, sleeping well but with many uneasy dreams. With my injury I was more apprehensive than I'd been for any other event. Would my plans work? Would my equipment hold up? Would my body?

My 6am alarm awoke me and it was showtime. 

6am game face

I dressed in my carefully laid out gear. I double checked my gloves and helmet. Kara joined me and we set off.

I had made one major misjudgement - I had no breakfast, nor any food for the event itself! Luckily Angela's favorite Cafe, Primo e Secundo was open and serving a mountain of quite eggy scrambled eggs with coffee. And the 4 square was also open for gummy bears on the run. 

Then up the hill we set.

The mountain was closed and the road was closing imminently, so it was very much a drop and run for Kara. 

Bye Kara!

There I was, just me and my gear and my thoughts. I found where to stage my bike. I changed shoes. I sat with music and introspection and got my game face on.

The briefing was clear and professional - everything we needed to know with little in the way of over explaining. The wind was too strong for the main lift to run, but they could get us halfway up on a shorter lift and that was our abbreviated ski run. Then it was time. I started my Garmin watch as I got on the chairlift. It told me my heart rate was already over 100. 

We decanted at the top, dropped our skis and headed down a cat track for our le mans start. 

AND WE ARE OFF

I was absolutely hopeless running in ski boots and got to my skis dead last. No worries - the timing doesn't start til you cross the start line. But no, not a great idea because I was tangled up with all the people who could bike and run - but not ski. What I thought was a speed run was an obstacle course, dodging sprawled bodies, people going in all sorts of random directions, falling sliding people... it was actually quite fun trying to go fast through the commotion of limbs and bodies.

Bottom of the ski run. Skis off. Run up a short slope to a few guys with a trailer taking all the ski gear. Find my sneakers. Change footware. Ski boots in my bin bag. On my bike.

The ride down the hill was incredible. 100% concentration and going as fast as I was comfortable but no faster. SO MUCH FUN. The road was wide and the competitors around me - both slower and faster - were all considerate and we kept each other safe. No hairy passing manoeuvres, and it was very easy to get around people going slower than me. Spray paint on the ground alerted us to the larger potholes and corrugations, and the tighter corners. 

Down we go. Spectacular.

The only properly scary time was for another competitor who went wide on a corner and got into the loose gravel. I watched as both her wheels fishtailed and her bike slapped gently from side to side. She got closer and closer to the armco barrier and I thought, she'll lose a bit of skin if she slides along that, that'll be uncomfortable. And then the armco ran out and the consequences of failure got remarkably higher as she teetered along the edge of a fairly sheer drop. But, she got it all back together and under control and was soon hurtling along at full speed again. No harm no foul. I stopped preparing to pick up the bits and pieces and got back to my own full speed hurtling.

Near the end of the bike section

Soon we were onto the seal and riding towards the main road turnoff. About 100m before the main road we diverted into a paddock to drop our bikes and start running. I felt pain as I ran even with my bike as a zimmer frame. I seriously considered pulling out and DNFing right there and then. But oh well - let's see how the first km or two go at least.

Off we went, into a creek bed. I wasn't expecting this! We had a mix of sand and gravel, boulders, huge rocks, fallen trees, bridge underpasses and weirs to navigate. It was such slow going, the numbers on my watch did not move very fast at all and I seriously wondered how long this would all take and if I could complete it. I had to pick slowly through the obstacles, it was mostly okay but if I put the wrong sort of weight on my right leg I would scream in pain.  I scared one competitor who I could tell by her frightened face looking back at me was sure she was going to be doing some splinting and emergency evac. I reassured her that it was only because I was dumb and stubborn and everything was fine.

"Fine."

Luckily for me we were soon out of the river bed and onto the roadway. I was much happier here. I was very slow. But I could get into a cadence and listen to my music and go to my happy place. The kilometers slowly - slowly! - but surely! - ticked up on my watch.

Then I was on the top of the canal... and heading to the canal swim.

Well, it was no better and no worse than I was expecting. The water was cold, but I was hot - I certainly didn't get chilled on the other side soaking wet. I had ripped off all my top layers early on and was running in just my bib on top - I was able to leave my spare clothes there in a bin that they took back to Methven so that was a really nice touch. My 'water resistant' headphones cut out whenever my head went under but they survived unscathed and kept working fine. Yes, I had to actually swim, a few strokes to get to the other side where there was netting and a strap to climb out with.

Canal swim

Two and a bit km to go! Through a gorgeous 'enchanted forest' with little signs and painted rocks and things left by elves and pixies and fairies. Lovely. Then back onto the main road into town and the end was in sight.

I heard Kara and Toby cheering me on as I reached the finish... to see a bouncy castle inexplicably blocking my path. Yes - I had to clamber through a bouncy castle to finish. For a second I thought I'd be stuck in there! But I made it out with the biggest grin and sense of accomplishment ever.

And done

Whew! How did I go? In terms of placings - not great. Third to last in fact. My run was very, very, very slow, 9min/km pace which is more like a fast walk really. But I'm still stoked. I didn't know if I could actually do this, and I can. And it was fun. And now I have unfinished business.

It was very clear, to Kara's chagrin, that there would be no skiing on Sunday and Monday. The forecast certainly confirmed that on Sunday morning! So we had a Methven day. I packed up my bike, putting the extra things like pedals and tools into my suitcase to get it under the weight limit. Kara and I headed to the Hot Pools - they were amazing. Can recommend. We had both lunch and dinner at the Dubliner pub just down the road from the Blue and the Brown - and it was delightful. Kara stayed home for dinner (still full from lunch!) leaving Toby and I to chat about all sorts of things over delicious stew and steak and dessert.

Toby's first Affogato

Monday we hurtled to Christchurch. I went to work. Kara took the van to Rangiora to see a long missed friend. Toby had a migraine, alas. Then home time.

You need a mountain of luggage for Peak to Pub!

What an incredible weekend. Thanks so much to Kara and Toby and Tessa for helping out and getting me to and fro. It was very emotionally challenging for me as I really didn't know whether I could make the logistics happen and whether I could physically achieve it. I'm so so glad I did. But I have unfinished business. I'm already planning for 2024. Who's joining me?

The weekend with so much stuff going on

Angela is off down south so you've got me again for the week. Actually, she jumped on this and wrote the whole thing in the third person so I will continue to take the credit.

Angela was getting ready for bed on Friday night and heard a lot of lapping. She turned around to find Moxley hanging out of the toilet bowl, having a wee drink. Unlike when she was a kitten and Toby and I found her in this bathroom soaking wet, she can now perch halfway into the bowl and keep herself from falling in.

Moxley lapping up toilet water

Packed on Saturday

Saturday saw Angela finalise the gear on her bike for her trip. A quick ride around with the panniers packed with her stuff saw it pretty secure. So a quick trip to the local bike shop in Ngaio for some spare tubes (27.5 x 2.4) and she was set.

Nice day in Wellington

Mike finished the HWC timer at last! The solution that worked was two mounting boxes, one on top of the other to make enough space for the timer and all the wiring. 

He'd nearly finished when Adnan pinged us and said he had tickets for Wellington Phoenix women versus Perth Glory in a corporate box and did we want to come? Yes, we did. Okay, Angela did. But Mike also decided it would be a good distraction. So the timer remained finished but with the wires hanging out of the box and off we went.

Tidied up the next day. Looks ... anticlimactic.

We drove into town and parked on Thorndon Quay and walked down the concourse. As we waited for Adnan just before 5pm, a wee aerobatic jet buzzed Wellington a few times. And then we noticed a JetStar flight that was on approach to the airport power up its engines and do a go around. Obviously the wee jet had got in the way and the flight had to do a big long loop back to the north after overshooting the runway.

Naughty jet pilot!

Watching a wee jet buzz Wellington

The wee jet made the Jetstar flight do a go-around!

Waiting for the football game

And we're in! Ta Adnan

Loved the football! As we stepped into the stadium, Perth got a goal. And seriously, the Phoenix women were all over the Perth Glory for the remainder of the game. But just couldn't secure a goal to equalise. No idea how that happened!

But I loved it! Thank you Adnan (and his brother!).

Souvenir

Evidence

Back for some takeaways and off to bed. Up early for a drive to the Bluebridge for the 7.15am check-in. Mike got me sorted despite the huge queue of cars. 

At the Bluebridge terminal

Waiting for the ferry to board

I got onto the ferry with 2 other cyclists (all women around my age) and found there was nothing to secure our bikes to in there. The bike rack was an unsecured piece of metal that could take 3 bikes with no gear and skinny tyres. But we all had fat tyres. And two of us had a lot of gear.

The staff were great - agreeing that the bike facilities were terrible. And one took my bike over to a ladder and I used my bungees to lash my bike to it. They chocked the tyres. My bike wasn't going anywhere. The other women used their bike locks to secure their bikes to various metal fittings. But mine was through my panniers to try and make it harder to grab those. But always travel on the ferry with some bungees!

Lashing my bike

And coming back to see it still there!

We were first off the ferry - and the other foot passengers were directed to waiting buses for the ride back to the terminal. But they just said to us cyclists to put our helmets on and ride away. So we did. I only had my sneakers and a big backpack. So I used the throttle to ride the bike to the terminal like a wee motorbike. Hahahah.

On the ute

Best configuration sorted

Iona and Col picked me up from the terminal and we headed into Picton - which was chaos. Full of tourists. So we kept going and went to Catalyst in Blenheim for a nice lunch and excellent iced latte.

Meanwhile Mike got stuck into chores. The timer got finished and the missing hinge on the basement door got fitted. And while Angela was away and couldn't see, he scampered around the deck balustrades and up the high ladders and cleaned out the gutters. The gutter above our bedroom window will still overflow, since it's not installed right, but it shouldn't overflow quite so often now all the grass and mulch is gone.

Sunday vibe

Sunday dinner at Sally and Andrew's, along with Helen and Anthony. It was nice to catch up with Helen and Anthony and see what both are up to.

Right - time to get stuck into my Monday. Have a great day. Angela is heading working from the remote Blenheim office today, then tomorrow she's driving from Blenheim to Christchurch to collect the van. I'll post photos if I get them.