Things I am loving this last few weeks:
- Northern Explorer and on to Taupō & Rotorua
- My new goal: Taupō 70.3
- Tri Squad
- I made a dice bag
Northern Explorer and on to Taupo & Rotorua
My parents and I took the Northern Explorer from Wellington to Taumarunui. It seemed like a good place to get to so that James could meet us and we could continue on for the weekend. The train does continue on to Auckland, but we got off at Taumarunui.
The train itself was lovely, the weather was great and the carriages weren’t very full. My parents hadn’t travelled the route before, so they enjoyed the scenery. I had travelled the route before but it was still really interesting for me. I like listening to the commentary.
When we got to Taumarunui the Air B’n’B wasn’t far from the station, so we walked to it and then settled in. We didn’t get up to much other than sitting on the deck and enjoying the sunshine. It was scorching!
The next morning was Saturday and we found a lovely place for breakfast; the Blue Hill Cafe, in a place called Owhango, which is between Taumarunui and National Park. The food was tasty and the people were lovely.
Following a lovely long breakfast, we drove down towards National Park, and continued on to Whakapapa Village. We had intended to just stop there and look at the views, but we ended up driving right up the mountain and taking a ride on the Sky Waka. This is new since the last time I visited, and although at first I wasn’t that interested, I’m glad that we went up because the views were amazing!
We carried on towards Taupō and as we got closer to the town, we realised why it had been so hard to find accommodation…the IronMan was on! After checking in, we spent the rest of the day sightseeing in between cheering on people as they ran past. It was a really cool time to be there!
Sunday we headed toward Rotorua. I have been really sad when visiting Rotorua since they shut the museum. I think it might be one of the most interesting museums that I have ever visited – however it’s been shut since 2016 in order to strengthen the building. The website says that it is likely to open again towards the end of 2025, so at least it’ll be there again in the future.
Anyway, without the museum to potter round, Rotorua hasn’t got many things to do that don’t require a lot of walking, and as my mum’s hip wasn’t 100% yet, we had to stick to things that didn’t require a lot of walking. So we ate!
Overall it was a good trip and I think my parents enjoyed seeing some more of the North Island.
My new goal for Taupo 70.3
This year I ran the 10k Round the Bays, and then when we ended up in Taupō amongst the IronMan going on there, I got inspired. As I want to get fitter and make some goals, where better to start than there!
I have decided that I will train for a goal of competing in the Half IronMan (or IronMan 70.3) in March 2024…I’m all about those lofty goals.
Tri Squad
Because I want to try and compete in a Half IronMan in a years time, I thought that it would probably be a good idea to join some kind of group. As the run coach I already have has a triathlon training group, I joined that. He provides a range of sessions to help with the skills of the triathlon, and I have started out with the Run Club, the swimming sessions, and the supported sessions with the TriSquad.
I went to the first supported session and it was hard! Hard but also very fun. But hard. I’m not conditioned to it all yet.
New Bike
As I want to be a triathlete, I needed a bike suitable for such activities. A new one would set me back at least $1000, so I looked at secondhand options. Thankfully everyone is lovely and I managed to borrow a bike from one of the other TriSquad ladies, Anouk. I recon from my internet searching that it’s about 10 years old, but she has really looked after it, so it’s in really good condition.
Once I had replaced a tyre, and put the normal pedals back onto it, I was ready to go, however, the seat post is currently stuck, so i’m just working on getting that out. Once I can actually sit on it, i’ll check that it is in fact the correct size, and will most likely buy it from Anouk.
I made a dice bag
After my last DnD session on the 17th, I was inspired to try and make my own DnD dice bag. Loosely following a pattern that I found on the internet, here are the photos of the new bag:
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