Typical New Zealand

Over this past weekend a couple of firsts happened, as seems to be the trend of my past year of existence. One of them was my first volleyball game as a North Harbour Raider. The thing to take away from that statement is that I'm back playing volleyball and therefore need a head examination. I never thought I had an addictive personality, but the fact that I'm playing again seems to speak to the contrary. Incidentally, we won 3-0; I played OK; and our team has a deep bench. We should make a solid run at the national championships.

The second first was that on Saturday night I stayed at a batch (NZ for cottage) that was only accessible by water. Gotta love that. After our volleyball game, I hustled home and after a short 40 minute drive north of Auckland, I found myself at Mahurangi Regional Park, operated by the city. From there I was met by one of my workmates in the P.E. department. All in there were 7 of us staying at the batch. We paddled across the harbour, around the point and into Big Bay where the batch is located. All the boys were out on the water fishing our tea (NZ for dinner) out of the water. Another of our group filleted the red snapper and fried it up and then broiled whole the remaining fish with tomatoes, onions and butter. It was an amazing adventure. We stayed up late, chatting and drinking, then woke early for the sunrise and some early morning fishing.

Only in New Zealand can you leave a major metropolitan centre and then be secluded as [pronounnced 'az'] (NZ for "very secluded") after a mere 40 minute drive.

Here are, as usual, some pictures of the trip.

Heading across the harbour to Big Bay on the kayak.

Fresh fish.

The batch and the boys pulling the long lines in.

The batch under moonlight.

Sunrise.

More sunrise.

Early morning paddle.

We basically kayaked from Mahurangi West to Mahurangi East.

Velo Tides

The cycling world is filled with nerds who have nerdy habits. Some of these include shaving our legs, wearing lycra on a daily basis, organizing in packs, and collecting bikes to name a few. As a member of this kingdom of freaks, I too collect bikes. Everyone knows that any bona fide cyclist has at least 3 bicycles in the collection: a road bike; a mountain bike; and a cross bike.

However, we don't stop at simply collecting them. We go as far as to organize them hierarchically, at least in our heads and sometimes in the order they sit in our personal "bike space" within the house.

Twelve months ago, my velo hierarchy looked like this:

#1

Train and Race

#2

Commuter and Sometime Racer

#3

For Fun and Sometime Commuter

Now, that order has changed drastically. There's been a huge shift, one bike disappeared, and a completely new bike takes the top spot.

#1

Trainer and Racer

#2

Commuter and Sometime Racer

#3

Currently sitting, unused, in a Windsor basement. How very sad.

Such are the changing tides of life. Some bikes come, some bikes go, and others are used for entirely different purposes. I wonder what the next 12 months will bring...