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Published: November 23rd 2006
Hey guys!
Seems like ages since we have sat down and wrote one of these once again. We have spent the last 3 months of work saving and looking forward to all these things that we were working for and toward and it has finally arrived. We decided that we will have had enough of our good ol' holiday park job by the middle of November and would quit and start to play backpacker again. In the mean time we found out my mom was coming for an 8 day visit.! Wow! So we told work that we would be finishing work even earlier and the planning began. It's always hard to tell someone you are quiting, but they knew it was coming and threatened to get in touch with immigration and not let us leave the country or quit our jobs. (didn't work but flattering non the less). Even offered us another raise. Ha Ha Ha!
So being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel; we started to work on a game plan for after work finishes.
We had found a triathlon that suited our schedule and have spent the past 3 months fitting in
training around our work schedule. Which turned out to be a good combo we barely ever worked past 3 p.m which left us heaps of time to swim, bike or run or a combo of each. As we have come to find out, they are having an unusual spring and it has stayed more like their winter than their summer for longer than usual.(just our luck) On top of it we started to see a patern of when we watched the weather Taupo was consistantly about 3 degrees colder than anywhere else. Hmmmmmmmm! than a man says to us.... Oh yah we call taupo the cold hole of NewZealand. NICE TO KNOW! The down side to this was we didn't get to train in the beautiful lake here, the plus to this was that it ment snowboarding season lasted longer than usual and we got a great day of snowboarding on an active volcano. Not that is was active that day, but the idea was some what crazy.! The weather was great as luck would have it and we really enjoyed ourselves. We were able to catch a ride there with a girl from work and her friend which saved
us having to take a tour bus and was way more fun.
Any way our last day of work came fast as well as the visit from my mom. Mom flew in on a thursday and we said good-bye to the house we have been crashing at, which was now up to 10 occupants and way to busy for what we would care to function out of anymore. Friday found us on our way toward New Plymouth for our triathlon. Typical "vicki research" I didn't realise just how big of a deal the week end in New Plymouth was for the town. Our "sprint triathlon" was just the tip of the iceberg for the weekend of Triathletes Worlds championship. Thank goodness that didn't mean we had to compete with them. ha ha ha! Our race was Saturday and the major race was on Sunday. The town was super festive with bands and fireworks and heaps of prizes to win, with major sponsor support form big names like orca and asics. Which happens to come in handy for Brett! (pam and paige, brett has a streak of your good luck in him) He may have not won the triathlon but he
won a $200 pair of asics running shoes. I guess that makes up for the fact that by the time we got to Newplymouth there were no more wetsuits to be rented and about a 1/2 hour before the race brett found himself at the Orca wetsuit booth trying on wetsuits to purchase one to do the race in. Yikes. So I guess ,e-bay, here we come.?? As he already has the same suit back in weyburn sitting safely away awaiting his return. Oh well even being sizes too small it was worth it for the 16 degree temp. of the ocean. Our race was Great! It was our first open water ocean swim during a tri and wind didn't help during the bike but by the run the weather was smartening up and it was full on sun by the time the awards were being handed out. We both have improved on our over all time for a sprint distance tri by over 10 minute improvement each. So that is promising. The training payed off. We wanted to stick around to see the world championship on sunday but by the time we were packing up camp it was so
rainy and windy that we decided to just keep on driving. It would have been great to see, as there were a couple of canadians compeating, but not worth sitting in the rain for.
So mom had been up since the crack of dawn reading tour books and chatting with the locals and had a months worth of driving and sight seeing planned for the next week! ha ha ha! So off we went! luckly driving out of the rain and having a good place to stay at a motor camp that night in Hastings. Before making our way up to Rotorua for a traditional Maori evening of eating and traditional dancing. We have grown to understand the native Maori culture a fair bit since being here but it was neat to see it all put togeather with the traditional clothing, dancing, singing, tattoo work and meal. It was really great! We chilled out for the next morning around Rotorua and then spent a couple of hours at a bird and nature park called rainbow springs where we got to see numerous native birds of newzealand and most importantly the nocturnal kiwi bird. We actually got to see two
new kiwi eggs being brought in to be cleaned and incubated before they will hatch and saw two baby kiwi's. It is very rare to ever see one in nature as they are nocturnal and have a sharp ear to keep them safe as they are as well a non-flight bird. We carried on to make it closer to the following days destination. That night was spent at a quiet holiday park with a mineral pool and luckly a trampoline that many holiday parks have which comes in handy for jummping off the cramped limbs from all the driving. And I'm not even the one doing the driving.... that was chauffer Bretts job. Thanks for that brett!
So the next day was spent heading up to the north of the island to see the Kauri trees. They are newzealands version of the california redwood tree. We stopped at a museum on the way and got an idea of just how big these trees are / were and what all they have been used for over the years. Especially during the settling years of the country. Now it is considered a precious wood and the trees are highly protected by
the locals of new zealand as they were so strongly forested back in the day that they are now a rare tree to find in newzealand. The weather was all in all good and we got to see alot of amazing country side along with sheep of course. Mom did get to experience one "sheep road block". Which I think everyone needs to see once while in newzealand. We made it back safe to Auckland to drop mom off on the plane and get the rental car back to the office. All went well and we spent the night in Auckland before heading back down to our home base,Taupo.
Brett had two cousins, Duncan & brandon Brock, here from Weyburn that have come down to take in the International Six Day Enduro races. There were team canada cars zooming around town. It's fun to see the Canada flag so much after so many months. It was great to chat with some hometown folks and just chill out. It rained alot, unfortunately but we had no trouble entertaining our selves with the activities going on around town. We were able to play tour guide a bit while we took them
for a nature walk to the popular Huka falls and then back to the natural hotspings on the river. My feet are still soggy after a 6 hour soak in the hotsprings!! Good time had by all. Thanks guys.!
So not even a month left of holidaying in Newzealand for us. We just had 2 more things to take care of before heading out of Taupo for the last time.
(1) Jumping out of and airplane at 12000 feet, scaring the crap out of ourselves
(2)World best one day hike Tangariro Crossing
skydiving was scary and amazing all at once I have never felt so out of control over what was happening before. You free fall for about 45 sec. before the parachute opens.
We had an amazing view of the whole Taupo area. Not a bad way to say goodbye!
As far as the hike goes. Well we have no pictures for a reason. The weather has been pretty up and down and we finally were able to go ,as the weather was "supposed" be good for it. NOT SO! We turned an 8 hr. walk into 4 1/2 hours. We walked not stopping once
just to get it over. We couldn't see more than 30 meter distance around us. We were so cold between the rain and the wind. We might as well had been in a snow storm! Big disapointment but it is done.
Been there done that got the t-shirt. ha ha ha!
Well guys. probably our second last blog before heading home. We always love your messages and look forward to more. We will see you in less than a month!!!!!!
Bye for now.
P.S can't wait to hear some x-mas music with snow around me. It just doesn't connect with me when it is hot outside. I'm wearing a tank top and they are decorating trees and listening to x-mas music.!
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Sarah
non-member comment
hey!
well, i thought i should FINALLY comment since this is your second last blog. okay, you guys are too cute. i love the blogs, they are hilarious. thanks for keeping us updated on your adventures. hopefully i'll see you guys when you pass through vancouver in december! take care and enjoy the rest of your trip. sarah