Government House open day

Government House in Wellington has an annual open day and finally, this year, I remembered to make the effort to head along. It was a gorgeous day and the place is incredible! The grounds are massive and the inside is pretty big too. It's got an aura of faded opulence about it, I reckon the art is the most valuable thing inside! I loved to see that they eat marmite just the same as the rest of us too.

We had good fun gawking at the gifts from other countries, learnt heaps about New Zealand's medal system, and were as irreverent as possible at all possible occasions (loved the piano)!

They also had a whole heap of chairs embroidered with all the names of the different cities. As much as I tried, I couldn't find the North Shore though! Auckland was the best I could do...

Ironman 2007!

March has been a crazy busy month and the thing that it all started off with was Ironman 2007 in Taupo. What a weekend! It was an exhausting day just being a spectator, so I have complete and utter admiration for all the athletes that busted their guts for the months and months before hand training - and obviously, on the big day itself!

The day started horrendously early (I do believe I got up before 6am...unheard of!), but the atmosphere down in town was awesome and it was great to partake in the buzz of it all. The noise of all the swimmers was really cool (as was the haka and stuff beforehand as well) and then after transition they were off on the bikes for about 6 hours or so.

I caught up with Alexandra who was home for a break from Sydney (after having only recently arrived there from India) and we cheered on her friend who was competing as well. The run was the best bit though because most of the competitors had their names on their bibs so you got to give them a bit of a personalised cheer. I was wearing an ancient red string Double Brown Ironman singlet as well which got a few comments (even from the competitors!).

Adrian did really, really well, finishing in under 11 hours (particularly when he had terrible cramps for the marathon section). Nige did his typical modest, but amazing achievement and I think he qualified for Kona again as well.

Big congrats again to all the athletes!

The photos are of the swim, Nige just coming out of transition, the geothermal backdrop to the day, the Mazur family cheer squad, Nige and Adrian on the run, and Adrian finishing ("Adrian Mazur, you ARE an Ironman!").

National series triathlon champs

Another day, another triathlon...! This was the NZ national series in Wellington. Nice and windy (as to be expected). I love the photo of Adrian 'jumping' into the water - nice one!

Cuba St Carnival

The Cuba St carnival is a relatively recent Wellington tradition involving a couple of days of music, markets and other activities, and culminates in a big parade. I missed most of the carnival but managed to get down for the parade with Jeff and Sara. They're not the clearest/best photos, but gives you some idea of the party!

Breaker Bay sun worship

This summer has been pretty good (although not as good as last year I reckon). Have managed to get down to Breaker Bay several times for a lie in the sun (go the vitamin D!). Here's some shots of the other day when Jesse, Arte, Bas, Pip, Euan and I did a bit of a tribute to Ra :-)