Fun at Whangarei Heads.
A trip to Kerikeri via Whangarei is on the cards and my plan it to complete the first leg (to Whangarei) by bike as part of my training for the New Zealand Half Ironman in March. So I leave Auckland (crossing the Waitamata by ferry as, to my knowledge, there is no way of getting across by bike) to begin the 200km ride to Whangerei where the plan Continue reading
After the Auckland Harbour Crossing swim.
Today is the Auckland Harbour swim so I get up at at 06.30 to watch Ireland loose to the All Blacks (the game turned on the penalty try. But the All Blacks failing to dominate Ireland in the way they might have done 3 or 4 years ago – more evidence perhaps that they are not the unbeatable force they have been in recent years). Afterwards Ruth ran me into town to catch the ferry to the start of the Harbour Swim (http://www.oceanswim.co.nz/) a 2.8Km swim across the Waitamata harbour from Bayswater (on the North Shore) to Viaduct Harbour (on the South Shore).
1200 people competed and, at the race briefing before the start, it was noted that the Orca Whales (killer whales) had been seen in the vicinity of the race course that morning (they have been swimming around the Waitamata Harbour all week and we’d see three when we were picnicking at Narrow Neck Beach the previous day). The safety advice was “if any one wants to pull out they can get a lift back in the boat”, nobody pulled out.
Anyway, the race was completed without any drama and, having prepared more thoroughly it was a lot easier than last year. But I was disappointed that, again, my navigation / awareness of the currents let me down and I certainly did not take the most direct route across !! Gillian & Hywel and Ruth and the children met me the other end and we stayed for the award ceremony (with overall prizes and age group prizes up to over 70s !)
The harbour swim is a great event and I determine that it will be a life ambition of mine to make the podium. The only conceivable way that this will happen is if I am still able to swim the distance when I get to 70 years of age as there were only 2 people in this age group. So that’s the plan, see you same place same time in 2038 !
Royal New Zealand Navy Band (thanks to Eventfinda.co.nz)
Today it’s my father-in-law Hywel’s birthday. So Gillian and Hywel popped across on the ferry to Devonport for a day out. Devonport is one of the oldest suburbs in Auckland having been first settled in 1840 (70 years after our house in Wales was built) and is also home to the Royal New Zealand navy and its 2 frigates, 6 patrol boats and 3 miscellaneous support craft.
Peter Leitch aka The Mad Butcher with Hywel, my father-in-law.
Today, the New Zealand Rugby League team play Tonga at Mount Smart Stadium. This is the final warm-up game for the Rugby League World Cup which starts next week. My very good friend Sam Walsh has secured passes for the Mad Butcher’s lounge at the stadium for both me and my father-in-law, Hywel.
What to do if there is a volcanic eruption.
The weather forecast for the weekend look’s great for skiing in Whakaapa, the ski area 3 hours south of Auckland. So I book accommodation for Sunday and Monday nights.
On Sunday we get up at 06.00 and are out of the house by 06.30 for the journey down to Whakapapa ski field at Mount Ruapheu, a dormant volcano. Continue reading
The tournament’s slightly homespun emblem.
Today is the final round of Auckland’s Four Nations rugby championship which sees teams representing Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland compete against one another. At short notice (as weather has cancelled a planned skiing trip) I’m available and have been asked to play for Wales in the wooden spoon decider against Scotland. So I duly make my way to College Rifles’ ground in Remuera where I am given standard issue XL shorts and XL Auckland Welsh jersey and shake hands with several team mates that I’d never met before. Continue reading
Haka at Eden Park with a mean-looking Ma’a Nonu.
For a Welshman temporarily living in New Zealand, international rugby fixtures at Eden Park are the first thing booked into a busy diary. And, with our youngest daughter staying with friends for the evening, we head head to Eden Park with our $50 tickets (£20) for the un-covered stands at the Cricket Avenue end of the to watch the All Blacks v Australia in a crucial game which both sides need to win to win the Tri-Nations tournament. Torrential rain is forecasted Continue reading
Keith Murdock leaving the Angel Hotel, Cardiff
In 1972 the All Blacks toured Britain, Ireland, France and North America. A tour which saw them play 32 fixture with the ABS running out winners in 25, losing 5 and drawing 2. Unusually, by modern standards, the tour spanned Christmas and the New Year with the ABs playing the Combined Services on boxing day at Twickenham (and all conducted in the amateur era).
Rainbow Warrior memorial Matauri Bay, Northland
In July, 1985 Greenpeace’s flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, docked in Auckland ahead of a journey to Morura protests against a planned French nuclear test in the region. On the 10th July, French secret service divers attached two limpet mines to the ship. Continue reading
As a spritely 40 years of age my venture to New Zealand is accompanied by the desire to play some sort of rugby so that I could trot out the line “New Zealand, oh yes, I played rugby for a few seasons when I lived there” when the situation presents itself. Continue reading
NewZealandly 