TRamps at Easter cont...

WE also went tramping/hiking during the weekend. WE tramped 3 hours into a campsite that was set up around some hot springs. Pretty amazing really to tent outdoors, after walking for ages, and feel like you should be in the middle of nowhere (and you actually are!) but there are about 15 others there too and then you see this....

Two tubs, with wooden decking built around them; all placed beside a natural thermal waterfall. What you do is aim the PVC tube towards the waterfall and let the hot water fill the tub until its as hot as you want it. Any cooling can be done with buckets and a short walk to the river to get cold water. I must say, it was tramping in style. A nice soak after a long walk was luxury. Especially when you have to walk 3 hours to get back out the next day! Mom, you would have loved it....although maybe not the walk to get there. It was a bit steep and slippery in places, with a heavy backpack on, and I was freaked out over the cliffs to my right most of the way there. Not that others seemed to be fazed much by the drop off the side of where we were walking, but this Canadian who grew up somewhere flat still has issues with heights!

Tramps at Easter

WE had a great time in Napier for Easter with Carl and Denise....and Jack Johnson. The concert was awesome! It was at a winery and we brought blankets and a picnic dinner and plastic bottles to drink our wine out of (they had banned glass....I thought glass was better for the environment than heaps of plastic...but....I guess not?)
We were pretty close to the stage, but not so close that we were jammed in when the concert really started pumping. Well....as "pumping" as a Jack concert ever gets. It was pretty mellow but perfect for me. I was singing along like I'd known the songs for ever. Even Bryce Bubble was swaying his hips around to a few songs....which meant he had had enough wine...or really liked the music. Or both.
He put on a great show (Jack, not Bryce) and even his opener Matt Costa was great. If you haven't heard the song Mr. Pitiful (by Matt Costa), check it out. Very fun and poppy. My brother Tim would not be one to enjoy it as much as I.....but thats okay, Tim, right? It's been a few years since I was only getting musical influences from your tape collection.
WE watched a 4WDrive competition on the day of the concert which was pretty neat. Pretty much looked like dune buggys going for gold in mud pits and trying to get out of steep ditches. And then all of us "lay-folk" cheering and yelling when someone succeeds and gets out of the mudbog without having to be craned out. Pretty weird actually, but fun. Felt like what crash-em-up derbys must be like for the spectators. "You only get your money's worth if you come home with mud on your face too."

XTERRA

So, I haven't written/updated in too long, but have been working hard and training hard. Taken students to the Volleyball Nationals again, and had our best results yet. Been working at the marathon training and although I have had some bung knee issues over the past few weeks, it seemed to come right this weekend for the Xterra 1/2 marathon. The run was pretty hilly and over some gorgeous trails in Rotorua. The hardest bits were the stairs that went straight up hills. One set weren't even real stairs, just steep trails. Either way, I got through it and finished in 2:20 so only 9 minutes slower than my 1/2 marathon time in Wellington last year (which was super flat!). And no knee issues, so I am feeling great and anxious but excited for the full marathon in May. Drove around the course this weekend and discussed where hills were and what parts I might need extra motivation for and where I need to make sure I keep my head focused when my body is wanting to give up. I have to remember that other "normal" people do marathons all the time. Some guy I heard of today was doing the London Marathon today after having done 6 previous marathons in 6 different countries/continents over the past 6 days! Now that guy will need some tenderness after all that. I only have to do it once, with NO jetlag!
Need to update on the Jack Johnson concert and a great Easter weekend but will do it later. Got school holidays coming up after this week; thrilled to be having the break coming up!