Auckland Escape Part 2

Ruapehu Looking Beautiful

Auckland Escape Part 2

Ngarahoe also looking fine

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Auckland Escape Part 2

Spooky Valley

A nice pic I took from the Bata track. Spooky valley is

in the foreground, while Cook Straight is the body of water.

Harbour Harbinger

This is the view from our old flat in Hankey St. The weather

always provided lots of entertainment, as you can see.

Mt Vic Panorama

It's very pretty looking out from Mt Victoria on a nice day.

Makara Peak Park

Jamie and I went for a wee ramble around the Makara Peak bike park

(and the surrounding area)

My bike in need of a bit of a clean.

The Eastbourne Supremacy

It was a nice hot day over in Eastbourne, and as you can see, very, windy

Or in German , Vindy

Nadine having conquered a small patch of Eastbourne

This lighthouse was the first ever built in NZ. Must have been pretty cold,

miserable and lonely there. Two families shared the job.

We then took a wee trip around Lake Kohangapiripiri, pictured above.

Akatarawa River Run

Jamie, Mick and Me headed out on a mission to explore

a part of the Akatarawa river that looked like it gorged up pretty nicely.

The river was beautiful and calm, with eels sunning themselves

in sunlit pools. Then we came along!

Jamie and Mick entering a pool - by getting them to go first, I could

suss out how to avoid the deep bits ;-)

Jamie attempting to climb around this one. Shortly afterwards, he gave up

and jumped in. This one was a bit of a swim section.

More wading. This is nearly the last picture my old camera ever took.

Apparently it was weatherproof, not waterproof. You wonder how one

tiny word could make all that difference.

After this, we emerged from the gorge section and climbed back up a ridge

and headed south-west back to Bulls Run road.

Run up Mt Matthews

Went for run up Mt Matthews on Sunday. It's pretty wild up there.

This is the saddle halfway up.
There's a 8km run in, then a steep, steep scramble up to the top (about 800m direct climb up.

Looking down a very steep cutaway. Not a nice place for picnic unless you are a goat.
There's no pic of the top, but if you like you can recreate what I saw by putting a piece of paper in front of your face and staring at really hard.

Run took 4:18.

Karipoti Fun

Before.

It had just rained heavily overnight. I was ready.

And we're off! This is the Masters (Apparently I'm a master).

As the commentator described it, we're not quite kaput, but we're past our best.

After. Gritty mud under your eyelids is not so fun.

Ken finished only 20 mins after me, and he's only got one wheel!!

Fabulous Freiburg

After my trip to the states, I was lucky enough to divert to Frieburg

to visit my good friends Julian and Jana. They fed me chillies which I quite liked.

MMMMMM Chili Lollies!!

We managed to get out quite a bit, despite the sub-zero temperatures.

I think we pretty much had some sort of exhausting activity every day, from

mountain biking, running to cross-country skiing.

Julian gave me lots of bratwurst so I could recover for the next day's punishing activities.

The view southwest (or maybe just south ) from above frieburg.

I think that's Schönberg in the distance

On the same hill, about to descend a hair raising drop-off.

Nice piece of forest (same hill)

Nice piece of forest with Julian in it.