Still trying to catch up on events and doings of the past couple weeks, mostly highlighted by the arrival of Ms. Cathy Helliwell from Vancouver, a most welcome guest! Taking a well deserved break from hospital administrating in her native Canada, she is with us for 3 weeks!
Here she is with Maggie, ready for sun, as we take her for an initial beach walk, notice the new gist she brought Mags!
And what would a blog post be without a kitten update: He is the sweet boy, who is the most cuddly and tolerant kitten I know, making his nest amongst Maggie's stuffed animals. We find him there or under the bed nightly. He likes to attack our feet as we walk by from under the bed. Despite the ridiculous cost of transporting him back to the States, I can't see how we can leave him here at this point. Def. not one of my smarter moves needless to say.
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The other highlight of last week was seeing the boys off to Twizl (pronounced with a long I ) for the secondary school national rowing competition. When the country is so small, making it the national level is almost a given, and this is event is the largest secondary school sporting event in the Southern hemisphere. Sounds like a very big deal said this way, though how much rowing goes on in the S. hemisphere? But it is indeed a huge event. Alternates between North and South Island every other year, so this year the entire team flew south to Christchurch, drove 3+ hours to Twizl to compete on the beautiful lake there, name I can't recall. Twizl itself came about when they built a dam and then a hydroelectric plant in the town. It is small and mostly a jumping off ground to other parts of the S. Island. Mt Cook Natl Park is only 40 minutes away, Queenstown a few hours and Dunedin another couple hours.
Here are boys the AM of their departure. Can't say we were sad to see them go, and they made it very clear how happy they were to be off with their mates for the week. (Not at all happy to find out that Mom and Cathy would be coming down midweek to watch!)
Tauranga Boys College Rowing Team 2013-2014
These are the boys in Jack and Noah's quad, missing only the coxswain.
Here's Noah avoiding eye contact with me and Maggie!
And as I left the airport that early morning, I was greeted with the most amazing double rainbow, had to stop in the middle of the road to photograph!
And the rainbow followed me as they do cause when I arrived home it was now directly over the Mount! Lots of gold up there!
My girl walking on her beach in the morning sunshine
So with boys off, I had to attend my last day of surf lifesaving patrol. Cath and Mags came down to play in the waves which happened to be HUGE on this day. Big surf and big rip tides. Usually these days are a lot of lounging around, watching kids splash and boogey board, but due to conditions, we were a bit more on alert. While out on a beach roam on the quad (four wheeler to most) my partner for the day and I encountered 2 11 yr old boys taking part in surfing competition caught in a good rip having trouble getting back in. Had to call in the Inflatable Rescue Boat to come get them, moms worried on the beach and big surf to encounter to get them. A bit of drama to mix things up that Sat, and lots learned in terms of respecting that water once again. Made me feel like this patrolling thing definitely has its place and purpose!
And not to keep us sitting for long, took Cath, Maggie and Jamey to watch some club rugby in the hood later that Sat afternoon. A friend from S. Africa's son had come down from Auckland to play, he is the one in purple and yellow striped socks, and it was 3 blocks from us, so we took in some of the game, learned a few rules and watched a LOT of pounding between players. Almost a bit too much to watch in real time, and boy are these men solid and big!
Sunday the day broke to sunshine yet again, the house was quiet with boys gone, and Cathy and I were off to try our hat at paddle boarding with friend Michelle (RN from work, previously hiked to Pinnacles with her). We were to circle the Tauranga Harbor, so we rented some boards and having done this only once before in Hawaii together, we were ready to go! Tide was coming in, a bit of a wind and off we went. Got to see some stingrays in the bay, and eventually had to work against the team of current and wind, but had a lovely morning, and I think I may have discovered my new sport! Way more versatile than surfing as these are made for both waves (along with some skill of course!) and maneuvering on flat water. There is a peacefulness to being out on them, good workout, but no major threat of being pounded by a wave or having the board come crashing down on your head.
Plus there is wildlife to see and one can cover some serious ground if able.
We were out for a few hours, took in some lovely views of the harbor from the water, a new perspective, and enjoyed being out in the sunshine! And we love Michelle of course!
Here she is with her new board cover...
This is us about ready to launch.
Here is Kiwi, the honored guest of the tea, sitting gracefully on his pillow throne!
This day's end found us back outside, this time watching the cultish1966 surfing documentary, Endless Summer, outside on a projected screen, right in front of the Main Mount Beach, with many others from the Mount. It was a beautiful night under the stars, fun movie in that retrospective sort of way. Just as the movie ended the sky broke into a downpour that took us in and to bed. Phew! Rest was needed and well deserved after this weekend!! (And no word from the boys!)
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