Week 26: Keep on running...

We are halfway through the year - which means we have passed the shortest day in this hemisphere. Things will get brighter and the nights will get lighter, which all sounds good to me. Meanwhile, one of the chaps at work has developed a sort of lamb cartel. He goes down to the market and buys a side of lamb, then gets it butchered into bits and weighs it up in the staffroom. By the looks of things, it's man's work!

The Harbour Capital Marathon was run in near perfect conditions - relatively still, for Wellington, and the temperatures remained cool without being bitterly cold.

I cycled round the bays (on a wonderfully closed-to-cars road) to the turnaround point for the half marathon. I got there before the runners came through so it was peaceful. The marshals from the Wellington Marathon Clinic were friendly and cheerful, and when the runners did come through, they were full of enthusiastic support.

The runners came first in a trickle which mounted to a flood. I cheered for Him Outdoors, friends, colleagues, and complete strangers.

I love the expressions of commitment and focus from these runners. As I cycled home, I passed people at the back of the marathon who were on the homeward stretch. I acknowledged all of them because they deserve support. From the winners to the ones who set PBs; to everyone who tried and trained and pulled on a number and completed a race, congratulations!

If you feature in any of these photos and would like a copy, leave me a comment and I'll get the image to you.

Week 21: A wet week

It's been very wet and windy here this week. The swells and the waves have been high and you wouldn't want to be trying to cross the Cook Strait on a ferry - or a plane for that matter.

The only options are to look for places to stay dry...

...or to stay inside and do some baking.

Still, it's good for the flowers.

And someone is, as usual, unperturbed.

Week 19: Coastal walkway

A walk along the coast and over the tops produces some dramatic views.



Him Outdoors does his best impression of a band-member-on-an-album-cover-staring- enigmatically-off-into-the-distance, despite the obvious presence of very un-rock-n-roll-like freshly-squeezed orange juice and berry smoothie from Scorch-o-Rama.

The decor is not particularly rock-n-roll either.

It may be bright and sunny but Scorching Bay isn't very scorching today.

When crazy people build homes on top of hills in Wellington, they need a way to access them. There are little private cable cars all over this coast.

Him Outdoors makes me take this photo for a Forest fan we know (you know who you are) to prove there are some other reds in the neighbourhood.

Not to be outdone, he reckons these claret and blue hydrangeas are clearly planted by a Burnley fan. I reckon he may be pushing it just a tad.

The view from the top, looking back over Seatoun...

... and the other way over the oddly named Worser Bay. Worser than what?

Week 17: Anzac Parade

On the morning of Anzac Day we went for a walk along Seatoun Beach. The clouds were ominous, but they cleared to let the daylight through.

Returned servicemen marched behind a brass band; their medals and their remembrance poppies proudly pinned to their chest.

"But year after year, their numbers get fewer. Someday, no one will march there at all."

I hope we will always honour the memory of those who gave their lives so that we may live in freedom.

Week 16: Wairarapa coastal treasures

Over on the Wairarapa coast, the beaches seem endless and the sea is all you can see. During the day the weather altered dramatically and we walked for hours under changing skies. This is my tribute to Joe Cornish:

And this one is to Craig Potton, or maybe Andy Goldsworthy...

How appropriate is this for an Easter walk at Castlepoint?

And the way through the night is lit by a less than divine light, but no less valuable for all that.

Follow the orange triangles - these mark walkways here in New Zealand and there are times when you can be tremendously pleased to see them. This is on the Honeycomb Rock Track.

Some folorn tramper appears to given up the (one-legged) ghost.

And this is one of the Honeycomb Rocks - who'd have thought that a simple rock could be so colourful?

Close-up it looks like fine filigree lace or flying buttresses.

Here are some of the things we liked but resisted buying in Greytown - a bone-handled cutlery set from an antique shop...

Kittens from the pet shop...

And a line-up of rubber ducks all in a row!