Pirate Party

One of our friends had a birthday party and said it was a Pirate Party, so here is our attempt at looking like pirates and wenches. Personally, I am still impressed with my tinfoil swords...
From left: John, Kim, me, Bryce and Clare.
Bryce was an "All-Black" pirate since the AllBlacks game was on from the World Cup that night too.

Never run with a fork....

A classic....Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell

An Eruption!!

This picture shows the volcanoes in Tongariro National Park. On the right, the cone shaped volcano is Mt Ngauruhoe, and the bigger one on the right is Mount Ruapehu.

I have been saying since I got to NZ that I wish I had seen Mount Ruapehu erupt. It erupted in style in 1995 and was still steaming in 1996. Since then nothing, but Bryce and others mention how cool it looked back in the day. I say this all with the hope that if another one occurred I would hope it wasn't massive and devastating. I just think seeing evidence at how the earth is alive would be cool. We attempted to see lava in Hawaii, but poor planning (like not a lot of water or sandals with no socks on glass-like rock) and hot hot weather just didn't make it happen.
So anyway, last night Ruapehu came through for me, even if it was just a little burst. It erupted with some steam and ash that was sent straight up. Some debris actually landed on a tramper who got trapped and was in a serious condition. He seems to be the only one that got hurt from anything though. There were two lahars (massive mudslides mixed with rock) down the mountain but nothing that got in anyone's way. A little bit of excitement. At least I can say that I have been here while Ruapehu erupted!

Flight of the Conchordes

We have heard that our favourite folk duo from NZ is making it big in the US but not sure how much my fellow Canadians have heard. Enjoy, and if you like them, check out more of their songs on Youtube.

some more pics...

These are some pics from the half marathon I did in Taupo at the beginning of August. It was a cold, day, right by the lake with some yucky winds at times. I had two massive bursts of energy and adrenalin during the race but they were around halfway and 15km, not so much near the end. The end was miserable and very difficult to finish!! Lucky they were giving out massive Chocolate Fish (marshmallow yummy bars) at the finish line. Thats the only reason I do these things: the edible rewards!

10 Km run, last Sunday

So, I did another running race. Yep, my family keeps telling me (or more like I over hear them telling others) that I am weird to be doing this racing stuff. I like it though. It keeps me fit, or at least it allows me to eat what I want and not feel guilty about it. Plus, I like seeing what else my body "the machine" (he he) is able to accomplish. Don't see myself trying to climb Everest anytime soon, nor do I even think a full marathon appeals to me at this stage, but I do like seeing if I can keep running faster. So I am busy training for the big bike race around Lake Taupo (160km) again, which is in late November but had decided to try a 10km running race in the midst of the training. Did that in Petone on Sunday and did my personal best time for a 10km. Mind you, most of the time when I do 10km its only being in the halfway of a half-marathon, so its not like I am going "full-out" at that point anyway. I really enjoyed the race though, because it was shorter and therefore I DID feel like I could give it heaps and not worry about "lasting" the distance. I aimed for 55 minutes to try to beat Robyn's PB but achieved 57 minutes instead. I was passing lots of ladies and 1 man at the end though, so I felt like a winner on the day. Biggest frustration though was that the prizegiving was at 1:30 and I finished my race at 9:30 and wasn't keen on hanging around for 4 hours to maybe get a prize. Turns out I should have. I heard from 2 friends later that my name was called out for one of the major spot prizes! They were giving away portable DVD players and weekend getaways and all sorts of stuff and this is the ONE prizegiving I didn't go to. Sucks. Ah well. But it would have been cool....

This guy that I live with....

Yep, so Bryce has kicked my butt into gear and says that I need to update this more often, so tonight is a tribute to him. I will aim to get the most recent photos and stories on the blog to catch y'all up with Ckdownunder.
First up, we had a wicked lunar eclipse view a few weeks ago and it was a stellar night here so in between the times we got too cold to stay outside, Bryce and I nestled in our down jackets under the stars and watched the moon turn red. It was very cool. They say that back in the day, the ancient chinese thought that when the moon went red it was the "big dragon" coming to Earth, or something like that. I can imagine though, if you set all your timing, your planting crops, etc..etc, by the moon cycles and then one day the moon goes all red and eery, you might be thinking something random is happening. Not sure why they went the route of "dragon worry".....