Rangitoto Island

This last Saturday, Mark, Greg, the girls, and I took a ferry over to Rangitoto Island and hiked to the summit. Rangitoto is an iconic dormant volcano in the Waitamata Harbour (Auckland's harbor). It is 5 1/2 kilometers wide and 850 ft high. It erupted about 600 to 700 years ago. It is now a reserve. It rained on us most of the way up, but cleared once we got to the top. We saw some beautiful panoramas of the harbor and the city. Kohimarama is seen in the distance of the picture with our backs turned. On the way over on the ferry, we had a little show from a naked guy who had climbed to the top of a beacon. Disgusting!

Mama and Sarah

An account of our time Down Under would not be complete without a mention of the bond between Mama and Sarah. The two of them have been inseparable. It has been a great fit because both Mama and Sarah love to have company more than anyone I know. Sarah follows Mama around everywhere. Mama always asks, "Where is my shadow?" They read stories, play games and go for an almost daily walk with Pa to St. Heliers to get the mail. Getting the mail inevitably turns into climbing 1000 trees, playing at the playground for hours, and having lunch and a coffee/fluffy. A fluffy is a sophisticated little drink for a 4-year-old. It is warm milk frothed up like a cappuccino with chocolate drizzled on top. It is usually accompanied by a little marshmellow. Sarah knows all the best places in Auckland to get a fluffy. Everyone in St. Heliers knows her and teases her. Mama and Pa love having her with them, and I think there will be a big hole in everyone's heart when they are oceans away from each other.

70.3 and Still Alive

For those of you that don't know, I have been spending my spare time training for a half Ironman. The race was this Saturday. I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I was almost last. The good news is that I had my personal best time ever on the swim and the bike. My time was 7:13:32. This is about an hour faster than I expected to finish, so I'm really pleased. My swim was 45:35 for 1.2 miles. My bike was 4:07:32 for 56 miles. My run was 2:20:25 for 13.1 miles. On the race website is a video of the race http://www.endurancesport.co.nz/aucklandhalf/ . I feature in it at about 4:09. Notice how slowly I am going. You can also see the full results from the race on the website. The weather was fantastic and the course was incredibly beautiful. It was a great experience, but I have no intention of ever doing it again.

Bay of Islands and Waipoua Forest

After leaving Teal Bay, we went further north to the Bay of Islands. This is a beautiful area of New Zealand and a popular tourist area. It is best seen by yacht, but we were not that fortunate. It is also the site of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This is a treaty signed by England and most of the Maori chiefs at the time. It addressed issues such as protection and the sale of land. Many Maori today look back on it and feel like they got ripped off. When you sell a property for a couple of guns, some flour, two horses, and a shirt, you can see why they got the short end of the stick. The other side is the treaty set them up to have a part in the new country. It is certainly better than other natives fared. Race relations have always been very good here, but in recent years, some discontent and tensions have started to creep in.

We left the Bay of Islands and headed back to Auckland down the West side of the country. We passed some massive sand dunes in Opononi, then we traveled through the Waipoua Forest. This is a beautiful forest full of big old Kauri trees. The biggest one is called Tane Mahuta and supposedly 2000 years old.

Teal Bay

We spent the weekend at a quiet batch on a lovely sheltered bay called Teal Bay. We had a wonderful and relaxing time. The kids played on the beach for hours, we played cricket all afternoon, and we learned how to play petanque from our batch neighbors. We also took a walk to see a nesting area for the endangered Brown Teal duck. There are less than 1000 remaining. We counted about 40.

Mangawhai and Waipu Cove

This last weekend we took our last trip out of Auckland. We drove north to a friend's batch in Teal Bay. On the way there we stopped at a couple of surf beaches. The first is Mangawhai Heads. The next is Waipu Cove. It has a neat little estuary with trees hanging all over it. We have pictures of the kids playing here four years ago. These are beaches near Whangarei, where Mark's dad grew up.

Round the Bays

On Sunday, our family took part in a huge annual event in Auckland. It is a gigantic fun run called Round the Bays. The race is an 8 1/2 kilometer run along the Auckland waterfront from downtown Auckland to St. Heliers Bay, which is just past Kohimarama (where we live). This run is HUGE. There are about 40,000 registered runners and an estimated 70,000 participants (which included us). It is so crowded that you can hardly run, even 5 kilometers into the race. Mark, Emma, and Hannah finished the race, but Esther, Sarah and I stopped a kilometer early when we got to Kohimarama. Sarah started to protest half-way through. She said her legs were tired. I told her she had to keep going because those legs were her way home. She hung in there and made it. I was really proud of all the kids. They did great.