Half Marathon

One thing I quickly noticed about Taranaki is that there are a number of major outdoor events throughout the year, especially during the summer. As weather starts to warm up a bit in Oct, the newspaper has a marathon that goes around town. Shortly after is the Round the Mountain Relay, which I participated in a year and a half ago on a team from work. Then there’s the Round the Mountain Cycle challenge, the trail run series (which I have also participated in although it was a gut-buster of a hill to get up for the one I picked!), and several other run/walk/cycle events. In early March is the Mountain to Surf Marathon.

So this year I decided I wanted to participate and chose to train for the half mountain option of this race. If you run the full marathon, the course starts at the entry to the National Park at the base of the mountain. The half marathon starts in Inglewood, which is a sleepy little town a few kilometers from New Plymouth. This is the “downhill marathon” that runs from the base of the mountain to the beach in Waitara, another smaller town a short distance from home. I thought that limiting the number of hills was a good way to survive my first major run.

So I have spent the last couple of months training, running as much as 5 days a week sometimes. It was a nice way to get outside and enjoy the good weather, especially after sitting inside all day at work. It also meant getting to see the beach on a regular basis since my favorite place to run is along the coastal walkway. I did plenty of hill training as well though, which was tough but in retrospect very good for me. Our house is on top of a hill so it does not matter which direction you start, there are big hills either coming or going. Thanks Troway for helping me train and encouraging me to keep going J

So race day came Saturday morning. Race headquarters was at one of the hotels in town, where you could catch a shuttle out to the start line to avoid traffic congestion. So I showed up in time for the shuttle, and enjoyed a nice chat with some ladies from Queenstown who had come up for the race. We got to Inglewood just before 9, which allowed plenty of time for stretching and warming-up, or nerves, as we did not start until 930. Our start was the halfway mark for the full marathon runners, so it also gave us time to cheer them on a bit, and—if you were me—thank yourself for choosing the half over the full.

Two of my co-workers were also running the half so we started together, which was a nice surprise. We were out of town almost immediately, and running along the less busy back roads until we had a short bit on the highway which took us into Waitara and through town to the Marine Park at the beach. As I was running past a beautiful smelling chicken farm around kilometre 14 (of 21) I was amused to remember that the run was advertised as letting you view the gorgeous Taranaki farmland. I guess they were right but could have done without the smell to go with the scenery J

I finished in 2 hrs 13 min. I was quite happy with that, as I had thought it might take a fair bit longer (although I had certainly hoped it wouldn’t!). Thanks to my hill training the few small-ish hills we did have felt easy, and I made it through with no injury or major fatigue. I was certainly tired, and am just now starting to not feel sore, but I did enjoy it. I thought the event was excellently organized with sufficient water stops along the course, plenty of traffic management, and a positive atmosphere from supporters along the way. There were even some familiar faces when I was about 1 kilometer from the finish. Some co-workers were out to show their support for us, which was perfect timing for a much needed boost of confidence to get to the finish. 

Daily News

I have not had any mind-boggling adventures lately (although I have some coming up!), so I thought it was time for a general news bulletin. So bear with my dis-jointed newsyness, I am not anticipating a lot of structure to today’s writing.

Work and school and busy schedules are back in full-swing after the holidays. However, the nice thing about the first few months of the year over here is you frequently get long weekends from the holidays. Of course the downside of that is that between June (Queens Birthday) and Christmas, the only holiday is Labor Day at the end of October. But never mind that, right now we are enjoying the sunshine J

The last long weekend we had was Waitangi Day. This celebrates the signing of the Waitangi Treaty between the King of England and the native Maoris in New Zealand. Maraes and museums, etc. tend to have events. There was a local one here but the weather was not the greatest so I opted for sleeping in instead. I did enjoy some of the festivities last year though, if you are really motivated and want to look back through old posts!

The next holiday coming up is Taranaki Anniversary. Each region has an anniversary date where they celebrate the day they became a region/district/province. There is not usually a lot happening but it is a nice excuse for a short trip. I will hopefully be hiking over that weekend, more on that after/if it happens.

I made a life-changing decision last week and cut my hair. Seriously cut it, it’s very very very short now. With the heat and humidity and running several days a week to train for a half marathon, it is a welcome change because it is much cooler, and so easy to manage. But I will admit to not watching while my hairdresser went snip snip. I did not realize how popular my unruly long hair was until I got rid of it. However, the consensus has been that short hair also works for me.

We have had beautiful summer weather, despite it being a bit more humid than I like. The sunsets have been lovely to watch. We are lucky to be up on a hill so we can see the sun setting over the port, and reflecting off the mountain. There is not currently snow that we can see on the mountaintop, but if there are any clouds around the top of the mountain it is simply gorgeous.

Enjoying the summer weather and lovely sunsets is easy with a nice charcoal BBQ and the recently acquired chiminea. Mmmm grilled meat and veggies, and toasted marshmallows J Plus, when it starts to cool off, we have a source of heat via the chiminea (found at an excellent clearance price, yay bargain hunting!).

 Speaking of chimneys, when we got home from work the other day, we found a bird in the living room. It had flown down the chimney at some stage during the day and was stuck there until we got home. I felt bad for the poor thing because it was almost literally banging its head against the window since it could see where it needed to go but just could not get there. Thanks to its visit, the cushions and blankets got an unplanned washing. 

It rained overnight and this morning, We were put on water restrictions effective today, so it will be interesting to see if we got enough rain for that to be lifted. 

Hope you are having a good week. Keep your eyes peeled for a post on my upcoming trip to do the Tongariro Alpine crossing :)

Field Trip

Field trips are fun no matter how old you are. So I was delighted to go on a work field trip a couple of weeks ago. One of our contractors has been working through a major project just outside of town. The project began back in November with scoping and then installing new for a section of major line. The day that we went out was to watch the new lines being put on the poles.

So, safety first. Before setting out, we had to all be decked out in proper safety gear. So we got on our bright orange and blue overalls, steel-toed boots, and bright yellow hard hats. We did not end up needing them, but we also had ear plugs, safety goggles, and gloves.
the
The portion of the line we visited was on the back section of a farm. Thankfully one of the project managers had left an extra orange vest on a fencepost to point the way :)

We had a quick safety briefing when we got there, so we know where we could go and what was going on. Then we were welcome to stay and observe as long as we wanted.

The crew was using a helicopter to put the lines on the poles. The helicopter would pick up a large drum with the cable on it. Prior to that day's work, each crossarm on the poles had been fitted with a clip to catch and hold the lines. So the helicopter would hover over each pole, until the line had caught in the clip and then carry on to the next pole, while the line unraveled from the drum. I was particularly impressed with the pilot's precision, as he spent very little time at each pole having to wait for the line to find the right spot.

We stayed for maybe an hour, as we saw the pilot string three of the six lines required for the new poles. It was interesting for me to see something in action as I have spent plenty of time helping to plan the work, but do not always understand all that is going on in the field. Being on site allowed me the opportunity to see the complete set-up and ask questions to see how it all fits together.

Coromandel Peninsula Part 2

After our nice morning of biking and pancake consumption, we headed North along the coast towards Coromandel Town. Along the way we stopped in Thames for a walk around town to stretch our legs. We ended up working our way through the Thames City Museum, which was largely a reflection of the towns development through the gold mining days. There was an interesting collection of historic farming, gold mining, and manufacturing equipment, as well as a replica of what the downtown used to be. Many of the original structures are no longer standing, either from demolition due to age or severe damage from fires.

A man trap, you know, useful in keeping
other prospectors off your claim

Wouldn't biking be so much cooler
if we still rode these? :)

Historic wheelchair

Notice displayed during the
days of Women's Suffrage

The rest of our trip, other than enjoying a bit of time on the beach and sleeping in, was spent exploring a water park and hiking. One hiking excursion took us to Cathedral Cove. See posts from December 2013 for photos of that. The other major excursion was climbing Castle Rock.
But first things first, the Waterworks Park.

We picked up a brochure for the park by chance when looking for something else. It turned out to be an excellent way to spend half a day, and was a nice detour from what we normally end up seeing/doing while traveling.
They call themselves the quirkiest theme park, designed for kids up to the age of 84. Park founders/directors/maintainers have designed a wide variety of attractions, powered by water and using 70% recycled materials. There were occasional signs around the park describing how a particular attraction had been put together, and then asking for donations of things like old buckets or spoons for when it will have to be replaced.
Some of the cool attractions include flying bikes, a water powered clock, a music made from a car axle and knives, and a bicycle with a steel pole rider that appears to float on the water. There was also an impressive high-speed flying box (known in the states as a zipline). On hot days you can enjoy a swim, and if you are prepared (we were not this prepared) there are picnic and BBQ facilities.

Riding lawnmower

Old bones--a floating bike!

Cool fountain

Gumboot dogs!

Created by a local artist

Add caption

Flying bikes

When we had seen all there was to see at the water park, we thought we might just head a few kilometers down the road to Castle Rock. Castle Rock was something recommended to me by a few folks who heard where we were headed, as it was apparently known to be a nice climb that offered gorgeous views of the Peninsula.
So off we go, and find the turn-off. Now you might remember from my last post that when attempting to find a waterfall, I took us through the very scenic route to get there. I sort of did again when finding Castle Rock. We had found the right turn for the place, and did in fact find a parking lot next to the road which said it led to to the rock. What it did not say is that if you parked there, you had a 2km walk UPHILL on a dirt road until you got to the parking lot right next to where you can start your climb. So, park there we did and trudge up the hill. Gotta tell you, my calves did not thank me later haha.

Anyway, so we find Castle Rock. In my head I had imagined it was something like Mt. Paritutu that we have in New Plymouth. I guess it sort of was, but not really. Because it was an hour up to the top, where I ended up feeling a bit like a mountain goat, using roots and trees and vines to pull myself up the steep bits. Tough? A little bit (probably more because of a lack of fore-warning). Worth it? Absolutely. The views were stunning, even with it being somewhat cloudy. We could see Coromandel Town where we had stayed the night. We could see the Whitianga-Tairua area where we would stay the night before heading home. We could see islands around the top of the Peninsula, and a ways South towards the bottom of the Peninsula.

Follow the yellow.....painted rocks

Our destination 

 A nice woodland track

And climbing up the side of a rock

Hope everyone has settled into the new year. We are enjoying hot humid summer here, beaches and BBQs. Speaking of that actually, we are having one tonight. Shrimp and veggie kebabs, sausages, and a new coleslaw recipe with apples and bacon in it, yum!

Coromandel Peninsula Part 1

Last year, Troway and I travelled to Lake Taupo for New Year’s. This year, we decided to do the Coromandel Peninsula. Since we both had extra time off work this year, it was easier to plan a trip that took us a bit further away.

We saw and did quite a lot in the week we were gone, but at the same time it was also a nice chance to catch up on rest and enjoy being away from the normal busy-ness that is everyday life. So I do not have as many photos from this trip as from some, but I do have some fun adventures to share.

Important things first, we found some delightful restaurants, including one that automatically makes dairy free pizzas (definitely going there again haha). One of our other favorites was called “The Bistro” and was a rustic country place that served delicious food in a lovely setting. It was essentially a pole barn with roll-up walls that was out in the woods across the street from a waterfall. They could also do dairy free pizza, and had an incredibly delicious brownie on the menu J  But the winner for the coolest place we ate on this trip was a delightful little place we happened on in Paeroa called “Cloud 9.” It is a pancake and ice cream parlor. Most of their pancakes come with a scoop of ice cream, and all of their pancakes are HUGE and incredibly filling. I had two and barely made it through that.

Now for the real adventures: I tend to feel as if I have developed a fairly decent sense of direction after the amount of traveling I have done (and after my parents taught me to read a real paper map!). However, our first night there, I failed at this and got completely lost down a bush track when in search of a waterfall. Owharoa falls was said to be a mere 5 minute walk from where we were staying the night. I confirmed this shortly after we checked in and it seemed easy to find. So after letting the drive wear off, we thought we would head down to take a look. Since it is a 3-tier waterfall, we thought it would be a lovely way to start the trip. I am sure it would have been if we really had found it in 5 minutes. However…. Yours truly decided to brave the rain armed with nothing but her umbrella and the conviction that she could in fact find where she wanted to go. An hour later, I had gone down the road, crossed the Hauraki Rail Trail bike track, and headed down what appeared to be a path to the waterfall. I was a bit hesitant since it was somewhat overgrown (not normal for most tracks in NZ, in my experience at least) but decided that since it was in the direction of the waterfalls maybe it was just not popular with the locals. I know it was in the direction of the waterfalls because we had seen the very top of the falls from the road. However, after getting completely drenched and slowly stumbling our way through, we found that the track went straight PAST the falls with no view whatsoever. I was hungry and it had been a long drive so being rained on definitely did not make me un-cranky so we decided we would head back and get ready for dinner (which was at the afore mentioned Bistro and completely got rid of my crankiness!). as we emerged out of the bush back on to the road, the first thing we saw was a track leading from the road down to the falls. We had missed it before because there was no sign and several cars were parked blocking the view to the track. Needless to say I felt a bit silly, but I did finally get my pretty picture of the waterfall J

The bottom tier, which can be viewed via a track
that is right off the road, very quick and easy
to find for the savvy traveler. 

The middle tier. We did not manage to find the top tier.

 The following morning we biked partway down the Hauraki Rail Trail. Someday I might be adventurous and try to do all of it. For this time though, we explored the Victoria Stamper Battery and rode through a 1 kilometre long rail tunnel!

The arches supported giant drums which were used to
crush iron ore.

River through the gorge

Entrance to the 1km long rail tunnel.

 More adventures to come in my next post. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you and your family a very Happy New Year!