Some catching up to do...

Favourite past time: work
My work has been very busy. Good busy, but some days were a bit 'mad'. Working at a school means that I have to go along with term breaks. So when teachers teach, I teach as well and when they have holiday (term breaks) I can catch up on developing sessions, project administration and just breath. At the moment we have 4 groups of tutors doing the professional development and jeesz, I’m juggling my time.
Work has been good though; my teaching has really kicked in and I love it. It will always be challenging: tutors are known to be the worst students to have. And hey, I know, I am one of them. But, in all honesty: I do love it!
We also organised a big conference about adult community education; or better said I helped out. It was all in accordance with Maori culture; so my first powhiri (welcoming ceremony) with one woman from one tribe welcoming (singing/talking) the other tribe and in the meantime checking out whether you are friend or foe. When both tribes sat down, some stories were shared and finally it was time for the hongi (pressing the noses) to personally say hi to everyone. New to it all I had decided to be on the visiting tribe, although my tribe(our school) was hosting it. So when I did the hongi, I was jokingly told off by the Maori tutors I work with...I was of course suppose to be on their tribe...
Besides this amazing experience, the conference was a big hit. Lots of it was in Maori, very interesting workshops and my workshop was well visited (probably due to the news that the new government cut all funding for 'hobby' courses if it hasn't got literacy or numeracy in it....yes, literacy is the flavour of the month). I stayed over at the Marae (Maori community centre...sort of) and helped out there too: I have learned so much, I met so many interesting and warm people. Afterwards I really felt (again) that I really need to know more about Maori language and their culture. Don't get me wrong: I have already learned heaps in the last year. I cannot get around not knowing some language but also the philosophy around it, is very essential within education. Anyway, it has resulted in signing up for a certificate in Maori Language...

Another rogaine
My ankle has revived a bit since the last 24 hour rogaine. My physio has given me some exercises after she told me 1) I was getting older (meaning: you don't revive that quickly after a long event) and 2) I totally walk 'un straight'. So good that I am a 'good girl': I was already doing yoga, I got orthotics for in my shoes and I started my strengthening exercises. Result is that I'm constantly aware of how I walk and now my back is bloody sore...

Anyhow, another rogaine (6 hours) was still to be done. This time with Patrick, on a freezing cold winter day with the regular cloud/mist, frosty rain and slippery, very slippery slopes. I really enjoyed it, even more so that I could show Patrick that I can indeed navigate. For some reason he always thought I was hitching along with others (even though I told him otherwise)...I showed him right...lovely! (expect comments from him...)

Spring challenge
Amy, Michelle and I have entered the spring challenge which is in 2 months (team event which entails biking, running and rafting). We are going for maximum fun and no glory, but to maximise the fun, we have started some action. Sort of. Action in the sense that we went for one Wednesday eve walk and a long bike ride in the weekend....we are getting there...
On the bike front I have shocking news: my finally well equipped commuter bike got stolen....While I was in the supermarket for 5 minutes, even though it was connected to the bike stand. I felt like being home again. Bloody hell. So, I needed to buy a new racer. Which I did: a nice second hand hybrid bike (mountainbike frame and slick tyres) and I must say I have never biked that fast. It’s great, I’m very jealous.

Snowboarding
The snow is back: and it is great! I had 2 attempts in the last month but the weather wasn't out to play. Weekdays of snowboarding seem to be the way to go though. So when friends ask 'hey...weather is looking good...what do you think...wanna go...boarding?' I am happy to say yes with my arms wide open. Result: I had amazing days!! And due to the previous mentioned amount of work (meaning: overtime) it was easy to plan in without taking days off!!

This winter time I decided that I should get my own board and boots. A world of difference: Patrick's old board is 14 cm taller than what I should have. Ok ok, I could still have used his board, but going down a blue field takes some effort and skill and trust me: with my new board taking turns is smooth like butter!! And immediately I noticed that I have learned some bad habits last year due to the too tall board...ah well. Live and learn!!

And with a little bit of luck and hard work this week, I will be taking a week off next week to enjoy the snow even more. Yay!

Homeless
Homeless...Not very surprisingly, but bad timing; Susan (my flatmate) has decided to move in with her boyfriend. She was basically living there already for the past 4 months (with every month a week in our house) and they have now decided to stop pretend they don’t live together. So, since this is Susan’s house and it is basically too expensive for individual tenants, she has come to the conclusion to rent it out. Don't get my sarcasm wrong: I totally understand her point of view and I've been asking about her plans for some weeks now, but it is just bad timing: my brains are just overflowing with work already...Anyhow, what are the solutions?! I can move with them to the sea side (bit far for me to bike to work every day), so I think I prefer to stay on this side of town, close to the hills. Thank God this is not the Netherlands: plenty of nice houses and rooms to find. It is just a matter of finding a nice, cosy one at the right place. To be continued...

Auckland
Last weekend Val, Dom, Patrick and I went to Auckland. The main reason was to see Circus du Soleil, but –maybe, don’t tell Patrick- I enjoyed hanging out with Val, Dom and Patrick more. It was just an amazing weekend; we stayed at Dom’s mother and she is a very warm, smart and cheerful woman with a fantastic smile. Staying with a family, having nice wine (even in the hot tub!) and enjoying good food and engaging chats made me miss my family. In a good way. Happy way. And yes the circus was cool too, but maybe....maybe the best bit at the circus was having Patrick sitting next to me shouting out phrases like ‘no way’, ‘that’s amazing’, ‘wauw, look at that!’...Like a 5 year old. That definitely made me laugh!!

So, wee little catch up. I end by saying that I got residence as well, so yay I can stay in the country even if I lose my job (which I am not, but still...)...all good!!

Kirwans track

Last weekend Berit, Maria, Patrick and I headed up to the West Coast, Reefton, to avoid the shitty weather. Brilliant plan (thanks Berit!) and it turned out to be beautiful. On our way to there we jumped into some hotpools along side the road (to leave the final work stress behind!) and we stayed in this hostel from the early 50's where we played scrabble. Chocolate scrabble...


The track was lovely: from the start till the hut...slowly...going...up...hill...Needless to say I was knackered at the top.



It was frosty frosty cold higher up and Mr Winter makes the sunlight lovely. And ice stars on the huts windows!




All pictures are taken by above three; and as you can see I was using walking poles and I'm in a lot of pictures: I was an easy slow target. First time with poles. For the snow that wasn't really there. But thank God I had them...The first minute I put my walking shoes on I noticed there was something wrong with my foot.

Result: autjs during the entire hike.



Post-hiking result: a physio who tells me I'm getting old (WHAT?), who has given me some exercises to do which really help and who got me into doing Spring Challenge in September...

Needless to say she reckons I will be fine...!

24 hour Rogaine...

About 2 weekends ago, I think, I participated in a 24 hour rogaine. Michelle, Patrick, Steve, Hamish and I already did some 3 hour rogaining on Wednesdays, so when Berit asked me to join her together with Clare and Katrin on a 24 hour one, I was totally in.


Rogaining is like orienteering (you get a map, you get locations to find, you need compass and common sense...). The only differences are that in rogaining you can skip locations if you cannot find them and in general rogaines take longer. In this case much longer!



The 24 hour rogaine was organised by the University Tramping Club so everybody needed to get dressed up. We weren't that inspirational, however, good Rachel wanted to do some sowing...and it happened to be Swine Flu break out, so we decide to go as Swine Flu carriers.


Lovely Clare

Amazing Berit

Crazy Maaike

Dropped off around Mt Somers we had the most gorgeous weather: blue skies, warm during the first day and absolutely frosty cold at night. We slept near a barn from 12 till 6 (we are not that die-hard) and all the other hours we were hiking up and down the mountains, looking for the specific locations: I had a great time!

Katrin was the best navigator I think, but we all had our Eureka moments when the others couldn't understand where to go. On the long bits we sang songs, national anthems and lullabies: to get ourselves distracted from the cold and hunger...!



The last hours in the morning were absolutely beautiful; I was more enjoying the hiking than looking for the locations...I admit!



I got so distracted with my camera that I took these lovely pictures:





All other pictures are taken by either Berit or myself!

Flock Hill Weekend

I finally got the girls weekend pictures sorted (thanks to Berit): lots from mountainbiking!! The bike up took us (Rachel, Clare, Berit and myself) less than an hour, but it was pretty tough...We could see where we had to get up to...




After a deserved break we could also see where we needed to get down to...steep bits, scree (loose sand, little stones...) and huge drops:





And the second day we did some orienteering; see all the rocks? Really hard for navigation!!

Weekends away...no 3!

Veronica's 30th....

Veronica is one of my friends with whom I go biking and climbing: I don't see her much at all, but she is really good company to be with. So, she turned 30 and instead of organising a party, she organised a weekend away. Excellent!

Veronica booked a bach and about 30 people came out to play. Since her boyfriend Charlie is a rediculous good mountainbiker (Veronica is not too bad either!) they took most of us out on some cool tracks. Loved it. Again. Also discovered that the 'oh so modest' Patrick is quite capable of biking too (he is better at it than me!). So he is busted and he will be dragged onto the mountains more often. Before you think he was modest in saying he wasn't good enough...No, he is just lazy and he fooled me by saying he couldn't do it. Oooh, does he probably wish he didn't show his skills...loser. My revenge will be sweet...


While driving to the bach I was complaining to Patrick that I love having so many outdoor friends in NZ but that I miss the dancing, clubbing and wicked friends from home sometimes (you can fill in the names yourself!). I only been dancing once here...

And as if everybody heard me say that: we had a superb party in the evening!! Everybody made some food, loads of drinks were drunk, happy chats were held and some excellent dancing was shown. My crazy dancing needs were fulfilled!

I love dancing. I can never have enough of it. Nice to see some kiwi's here love it too... ;-)

[all pictures taken by Patrick: they show the 'gezelligheid' don't they...Is there an English word for 'gezelligheid'...Don't know]

Weekends away...no 2!

Easter weekend was in charge by Steve. Steve and his sister have bought a property of land up on the North Island, 3 hours north from Wellington, and as he calls it, it is 'in the wop-wops'. Meaning: in the middle of nothing. We drove over and took the ferry: lovely trip on it self!


He (and family and Michelle) have built their own little cabin. Absolutely amazing if you think of the fact that they had never done it before. It is really nice and cosy. No electricity, no running water. But an improvised fridge, hot shower (yes!) and toilets with excellent views. ;-)

This is our natural fridge!

Anyway, back to the property. Main purpose of the land is to have native trees and enjoy nature.


The area which is still a paddock at the moment is going to be converted into a forestry patch. Sort of their retirement fund...If the non-native goats won't eat it...


Plants will be planted shortly, but before that fencing needed to be done. Or better said: old fencing needed to be removed so new and hopefully better ones will be put in. Our job was to help out with the fencing. Pretty tough job, especially since some of the old posts just refused to come out. Nasty buggers...


We also came over to shoot goats: goats are a pest in NZ (they are non-native: bloody European brought them over...) and eat everything they can get their teeth into. Unfortunately we tried to find some, but we didn't. So we shot some pieces of wood... Night time was used to play games, eat and sleep. Which I did a lot. I had one of those weekends again: sleep as much as I can...lovely!


It was lovely to see Steve's place but it did make me realise that having a property like it, is not as romantic as it first seems. It's a lot of work (especially because they live so far away), you have to be quite knowledgeable and it costs a lot of money...Maybe I will stick to my dream of renovating a little country side house...to get a wee little head start!


Speaking of sticking: loads of stick insects (wandelende tak!) live with Steve on the land...Pretty cool

[all pictures taken by Patrick, except the 2nd!]

Weekends away...no 1!

It is not just NZ that is fantastic, it is also the way of living which is really appealing in NZ! An example. If you would have asked me back home to go on a girls weekend I would have said 'yes, sure' but I would have thought 'ugh, as long as it is not too much girly stuff like shopping and doing nails/make-up and the lot'

When somebody asks me here to go on a girls weekend, Im saying 'hell yeah, great!' because here it means biking, hiking, exercise and getting sweaty and dirty. Of course the giggles, nice food, wine and girls talk is part of it too...

So 3 weeks ago Berit organised a 'girls only' weekend: we did an amazingly fun mountainbike track up Craigieburn Valley. I heard some nasty stories about it (I even bought a new bike helmet because of it...), but it turned out to be quite alright. The one hour uphill was pretty tough, but going downhill (the part I mostly not enjoy that much: yes Im a chicken!) was nice. Very nice. Im getting better at leaning back (meaning: sitting above your back wheel) and my balance is improving. Sure, I got off at some tricky spots (Im not that mad!), but I truly loved it!
The next day we did some orienteering (running a certain route while being guided by your compass). I have done some rogaining (sort of same thing but then you can decide the route and collect as many points as possible), but Clare, Rachel and I decided to team up. We were planning on MaXiMuM fun and no competition: we had fun, I did most of the running, but 3 teachers in one group....not a good idea, we ALL knew better. Ah well, we came 14th. And we had fun. Most of the time...;-)

As soon as Berit sorts out the pictures I will put them on!