Blogs from New Plymouth, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

Here we are, only a day and a half to go. Bags are packed even! Mac goes to the cattery tomorrow for two and a half months! We hope he will know us when we get home. Goodbye rain - we hope!... read more

You know you are at Womad when you can hear an American musicologist talk about his life while New Zealand indie darling Lawrence Arabia busts out hit single Apple Pie Bed in the background. We went to New Plymouth for WOMAD at Brooklands Park where about 35,000 people gathered to sample the international diversity of more than 350 performers, there to entertain us on six stages with dance, art and music. We were entertained by an array of international musicians, including the legendary Bob Brozman, a performer and ethno-musicologist who has travelled the world studying the ancient roots of music. Brozman plays resonator guitars, an instrument created in the 1920s before the electrical guitar was invented. "This sound changed my life," says Brozman, who found two of the instruments in a pawn shop when he was ... read more

Today I had a physio appointment. This was really a follow up to my previous appointment, and mostly to see how I was doing post race. The good news was that the leg had been holding up ok, it just felt a bit tight, and she reckoned that may well be because I’ve been running awkwardly because of the soreness in the leg, and that I have lazy glutes as a result, which isn’t helping as it puts extra stress on the thigh. A program of stretches to try and tighten up the glutes was the way forward, and so, with exercises which involve me looking like I’m trying to sit down on a toilet and then stand up again to practice, I headed out for the rest of my day. I decided I needed to ... read more

Having driven back last night to New Plymouth, today was very much a recovery day, as I was feeling very tired! Got up and went to Church, which was good, had seen quite a few people the previous night at the café but it was good to catch up with everyone and fill them in with how the races had gone. Was a good fun service, and, afterwards, we helped to take down all the decorations in the main hall, and bundled a decorated artificial Christmas tree into the back of the car ready to drop into someone who was in need of one, and headed back for a bit of a sleep as I was still really tired. We overslept a bit but were on the road by 4.30 to Malcolm and Mandy’s for a ... read more

Today Helen and I went into New Plymouth, to Centre City, as Helen really fancied having her toes painted, as the paint job she had done in Abu Dhabi had started to wear off!! I did a bit of shopping while she had her toes done, and got some more clothes. Then we checked out the book shop and headed to get a coffee, at which point we bumped into Steve and Liz who joined us for coffee and a bit of a chat. We know them from church, but Steve is also the local GP, someone who saw me when I had a chest infection last time I was out here. After the coffee we headed to the bike shop, as I needed to find some decent nutrition for the longer rides, and for the ... read more