The weekend that was long and in the south island

 Hi,

What a mega weekend. Waitangi Day on Thursday and a day off for Mike on Friday saw us do a big roadie with the family.

We were at the airport early Thursday morning with most of Wellington. A very easy Sounds Air flight to Blenheim that was close behind a diverted Picton flight.  They ended up in Blenheim too. Col picked  us up and whisked us to their house for some lovely pancakes.

Thursday morning Sounds Air to Blenheim

Saw Malcolm as he dropped something off. And then into Katla for the drive to Kaikoura to pick up Toby. He had caught a bus from Chc to Kaikoura. As we left Blenheim at 10am, he was just getting into Kaikoura. So he passed the time at cafes and looking at dolphins in the sea.

On the road in The RAV4 - Katla

Collected Toby and continued south down SH1. We stopped just south of Kaikoura because a big pod of dolphins were doing full on somersaults in the bay. So amazing. Got into Christchurch and checked into the Coachman for Thursday night.

Picked up Tessa and out to Gogi for tea and karaoke. Great fun. Sam and Steph joined us. The karaoke was so good we did it before food and after too!

Sourdough

Mike and Toby

Our scores

Mike is too cool

Steph and Sam

Toby nails it

The customer service at Gogi was exceptional. Wow. Food was so good. Would recommend. Back to Coachman for a good sleep.

Little Merchants for brekkie

Up to have brekkie before we drive to Dunedin. Little Merchant is a fave cafe. And good as usual. Popped into the outdoor shop across the road for a chat with the chap there. Mike's tramping jacket comes from them.

A lot of iced latte

At Orokonui

As we came into Dunedin we stopped at Orokonui. Tessa had found it as something to do. And we had never seen the fence posts that Ron and Polly had bought for them. So around 1530 we got there and it was only 1 hour from closing. But after looking up the register we found we could walk up the outside and see the fence posts.

The fence post

The fence post has Toby's name spelled wrong. He is Tony. Fence post #269.  1.3km from the car park up the hill along the outside of the boundary. You get to a flat section at the top and it is a little further along. Benjamin has the next fence post. #270. So happy to have seen this finally.

Hey Toby

Down to Highgate and a quick tea and off to bed. Polly was in fine form. We had Indian from Maori Hill. Delicious. 

Up early for Park Run. Toby came too! The hilly course got to him. But he did it in 42 mins and 17 secs which happened to be the same as my first Dunedin park Run. 

Mid park run

Last lap Toby

The boys coming to their finish line

We did it

Hey wee Peter Pan mouse

All the boys

After park run we went to the museum cafe and Mike joined us after another 5k run. Lovely brekkie there,

Museum cafe

Good iced lattes

St Clair

Took Toby for a drive after lunch. Picked up Tessa and checked out my old house in Dovecote Ave and down to the beach.

Looking good

Cafe

Another drink

We said goodbye to Polly at 1700 and headed north. Got to Oamaru and stopped at Whitestone cheese diner and deli. Wow. What a place. So, so good.

Cheese board at Oamaru

Dropped Toby and Tessa home at 2215. Found our accommodation on Bealey Ave. Salerno. Such a good place. $200 a night. Very good service. Clean. Had a great sleep.

Up for a run in the park (about 1km away). But my right calf was tender so I just walked while Mike did 5k.

Hagley Park Sunday

Mike goes for a run

Iced latte

As added

We went to a cafe on Papanui rd for coffees while Mike blogged. Then off to see Toby. Had some lunch at Joe's Garage.

Matcha iced latte

Cafe ambience

Then Poms for tea. And back to Toby's for a movie. The Fall Guy. We all enjoyed it. Walked back to Coachman. Saw Angela St.

Angela St

Up for Uber early. 5am. And a coffee at the airport from the new place. Fern and Co. Not that good. Customer service was lacking and the coffee did not taste nice. No pic of my iced latte!

Homeward bound

Good Jetstar flight home. Uber with Larry was super fast into town. Took all the short cuts.

Hope your day is good.

Love,

Angela

The Tuesday with painting after work

 Hi,

We saw Chenda and Khemry for lunch at the Willis St food hall. And Thomas popped in and ate with us. Good to hear all the news. We really need to visit Khemry in her new house.

Home made burgers for tea

Smudge being a queen!

I rode home to feed the cats and myself and get ready for painting the final top coat on the back of the laundry. Mike was catching up with friends from his last work.

Tomatoes!

Smudge surveying all she commands

Sunrise Wednesday

Finished the 3rd coat

We got the final coat on. I think it looks much better. Mike stoated about getting things sorted before bed. Had a good sleep. Rode in for PT session with Quentin.  Deads.  82.5 kg 3 reps x 5 sets.

Will ride home after work and pack for our roadie this weekend with Toby to visit Polly in Dunedin. Sweet!

Have a great day today. Enjoy Waitangi Day tomorrow. Think about the unique partnership we have with te tiriti. And have a good long weekend if you are also taking Friday off.

Love,

Angela

The Monday working from home

Hi,

Mike got a migraine yesterday and took pain meds and came home and went to bed. Poor Mike. He's had migraines on 24 Dec, 28 Dec and now yesterday (3 Feb). Hopefully not the start of another cluster.

I did the second coat on the wall behind the laundry after tea.

Before

After

Smudge in her crate as I work

RoboMop made a bid for a great escape

 During my day, RoboMop made a bid for freedom and finally got over the lip to the deck after many attempts since Christmas.  Lucky it had no room and gave up and told me it was surrounded.

To bed early. Up for PT session. 

My bike chain was off when I started. I did not know and pedalled and jammed it in. Took ages to yank it out. Got covered in greasy muck.

Kaka watching me

So mucky

Got in. Left greasy fingerprints everywhere. Including the PIN pad for the back door. Oops. Went to the gym. Did bench on the Smith machine.  42.5kg.  2 reps. 3 reps. 2 reps. 3 reps.

I am dead.

Busy at work. Will need a bucket of iced latte.

Have a great day!

Love,

Angela

The weekend with a heap of Wellington things

 Hi,

We had such a chill weekend. Did not do park run. But, we did fill up the day anyway. And I spotted the first hard, green balls of fruit on my tomato plants. Woot!

Tomatoes have early fruit!

Goodbye my lovely bike

We took my oldest, first New Zealand bike out to Lower Hutt as Freeride was set up at a festival there. In Waiwhetu park.  The festival was T e ra o te raukura and it was fabulous.

The crew made me feel so much better

The Freeride crew were happy to take my bike. I felt quite sad to see it go. Bought it in Dunedin from the bike shop on Lower Stuart St in 1993. It does not owe me a thing. I rode it for years as my commuting bike. Until 2011 or so when I bought my white commuting bike.

We wandered around the festival. Mike was due his covid jab and got one done for nothing. And I checked mine and I was due too. So both sorted. Next to the covid stand was a blood type stand. So we got that done too.

Mike is A+ and I am O-.

Blood type

Bread

My blood type

Listening to the tunes

We did get a run in. 3k. I found it hard work. Down by Seaview. 

Back to do some renovation work. Then out to dinner at Ortega Fish Shack to celebrate Ange submitting her Masters thesis. What a mighty effort.  35k words of goodness. 112 pages or so. There were a bunch of us there. A lot from old Intergen days. And funnily enough Brendan (also old Intergen - and now new CapGemini) was at another table with his wife and friends.

Well done, Ange!

Back yard

Sunday was a slow start for me. Going to bed at midnight is not normal. Got bread into the fridge ready to bake in the evening.

Sourdough

Went for a run in Karori park. Each lap is 1km. That 3k felt a lot better. Got an iced latte after we finished. Mike did 5km and was amazing! Then popped into Shelley Bay Baker after wards to get some yummy lunch.

Mike did a lot of renovation work. Plastered. Got undercoat on and a coat of white behind the laundry. There is a green strip that is not done because it will be behind a cupboard.

Laundry plastering done and first coat on

Good sleep Sunday. Up for Mike to head to town for PT. And I went out to Resene to pick up paint to finish the laundry off.

Might be a painting evening today!

Have a great week. Short one for a lot of us. Waitangi Day is this Thursday. Last year we went up for the dawn service and I think it is safe to say, that changed my life. Similar to how the dawn service at Anzac cove also changed me. And by "changed" I just mean an even deeper connection. Both things have always been something I have embraced as a culturally significant thing in our calendar. But after attending and getting a deeper understanding, something did change.

Enough of that emotional stuff.  There is no Lewis Road iced coffee in the supermarkets again. I think after the shortage when they changed packaging recently, there has been a run on it.

On that note, let me leave you to find your own channels of caffeination!

Love,

Angela