Bayview - a 'B' place at last!

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Ages since I updated you all - computer issues. Hopefully all sorted now that I am the proud owner of a new-ish beast. Well, it is hard to know where to start 'cos so much has gone on in the last few weeks.

Ski season came to an end for me with the last trip up the mountain in September. Thankfully none of us were up there at the time Ruapehu decided to erupt a little bit. Seriously, lucky that it went off quite late in the day and not many people were around. One poor bugger lost a leg, but I think that was about the extent of it all. The mountain did stay open on & off until the end of October, but the snow was pretty patchy, so not worth the trip as far as I was concerned. The last few ski photos are here for your viewing pleasure. (Oops. The photos seem to have gotten lost in the computer debacle. I'll try & find & add on later)

Sept 28th-30th was the NZHPA conference organised by us & held in Wellington. It all went off pretty well and everyone had a good time as well as maybe learning a tiny little bit!

And the big event - on October 19th Mum & Dad arrived for a four week trip to NZ! It was great to see them & show them around my new home town.
They spent a week in Welly, during which time I took them up the Kapiti coast for a blast of sea air in Queen Elizabeth park. We drove over the Rimutakas and spent a day in Martinborough, having lunch at Alana Estate winery (which is my 'A' winery in my A-Z of wineries tour of NZ.) and did the tour trip standard of a drive around the bays with lunch at The Bach in Island Bay. No trip to Welly is complete without doing that! They had a few days pottering around and seeing the city sites while I was at work.
After that, they headed south for 10 days, touring down the east coast, across the middle and up the west coast and along the top.
Then it was back to Welly and we all headed off to Hawkes Bay for 4 days in Napier and then on to Gisborne for 3 days. I hadn't been up that way before, so it was nice to see a new bit of the country.
We did a tour of Napier which talks about the huge earthquake that devastated the city in 1931 and then the rebuild that followed. Really fascinating stuff, I have to say. We also spent a day on a wine tour, which was a pretty good way to spend a day - 6 wineries (managed to notch up a 'B' (Brookfields) & a 'C' (CJ Pask) for the A-Z thing!) and an average of 7 wines at each. Blimey, I was ready for a sleep by 5 o'clock!
One trip well worth doing is heading up Te Mata peak. There are walking trails and the views are fabulous. Pacific ocean out to the east and on a clear day you can see all the way across to Ruapehu & Tongariro in the west. Bloody awesome.
After Napier, we headed to Gisborne. I have to confess to not venturing out much, as the place we were staying was idyllic. Ma & Pa went off for the day & I stayed behind to read my book in the sun. Bliss. Although I did get off my butt (and the wine) long enough to go for a walk & run.
I left them in Gisb (from where they flew up to Auckland and then away home via Tokyo) and had a very long drive back. 10 hours in a car is pretty hard going, but when you are in the rain, on your own with very poor radio reception, it is seriously hard work! So I was delighted to stop and have my lunch in Bayview, where I claimed my 'B' place for the A-Z tour of NZ. It seems quite along time ago that I was telling you about my trip to Acacia bay. Who knows how long it'll be before I have a 'C'!!

Last weekend was Toast Martinborough, a music, wine & food festival. Great day out. There are a few photos for you.

I am staring to panic a bit, as I seem to have gotten myself signed up to do a triathlon in March. Now, I have to confess that it is only a girlie triathlon, but still. I think it might be quite hard work. I have signed up with Lisa & Joanna from work. They have already started training. Needless to say, I haven't!! I am booked in to go for a run tomorrow. Peter has very bravely (stupidly??) put himself in charge of my running regime. Yikes!! I have decided not to fag about with getting sponsorship, but your not off the hook completely. What I'd like you all to do is shove some cash in a charity tin. Any charity, but preferably something to do with the environment or animal welfare. Cheers.

I am very pleased to say that Bharti is my next visitor. She arrives on 17th dec and will be here until the new year. We have booked a trip to Nelson to visit Simon & Arlene and also head off on a 3-day kayak trip in the Abel Tasman national park. I am really looking forward to this, so will let you know how we get on!

Think that is probably about all for now.
Lots of love
A xx

p.s. the moggies are well and shedding fur like nobodies businesss

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