A good summer isn't necessarily a good thing

We've had a corker of a summer. There's no two ways about it. For once, Welly has basked in day after day of sunshiney glory.

But forget about hosepipe bans, one of the suggestions here has been to shower with friends! The capital is down to about 20 days' supply, unless some rain arrives soon. The whole North Island has officially been declared in drought.

But it's hard to look at this negatively, when we're enjoying the best weather we've had since arriving in NZ. It's hard to see the downside when it looks like this...

In wine country. Again

This weekend we're in Martinborough again, this time courtesy of Annalie winning her Biggest Loser competition at the gym. The prize was a weekend for two at Brackenridge. We stayed here last year in the winter. But as we're having an amazing summer, the stay has a different feel to it.

Maddy gets to come with us too as it's pet friendly. Her favourite pastime at the moment is counting sheep. Literally!

Taming Tongariro again

This weekend we took our friends Toby and Jo up to National Park to walk the Tongariro Crossing again.

They weren't confident enough to do it alone so we offered to show them the way.

Sadly, sure to the volcano's eruption back in November, half the walk is still shut, so the walk is currently an out and back. But you still get the benefit of some of the best sights.

The walk is open to Red Crater, from which you can just about see the Emerald Lakes, probably the most photographed part.

The day started off really, really hot. But thankfully some cloud arrived and cooled us down a little. The trip felt a lot easier than last time, but our recent training no doubt helped. So much so that we've been to the gym today!

We don't think Toby and Jo would feel that energetic though ;-)

See if there's anyone you recognise in here

At about 18 seconds in... http://vimeo.com/60230685

Going round the bays...again

February rolls around and it's time for the annual Round the Bays fun run. Last year, we both ran the 7km race and we decided to register early and use the opportunity to try and beat our previous times.

But Annalie changed her mind after her training runs crept into double figures (in kms) and decided to put her efforts into trying to run the half marathon. So Ian went for a time record. Annalie opted for a distance one.

Race day dawned with near perfect conditions. There was a break in the super-hot weather we've been having, even extending to a little drizzle. But there was no wind. We drove down early to park at Annalie's work, which is a 10-minute warm-up stroll from the start. We were greeted by a lovely sunrise over the harbour too.

We met up with a friend who was going to help hold Annalie back from running off too quickly - a fatal mistake in any distance. Then it was time for her to line up and off she went, not to see Ian for over 2 hours.

Ian's race started 1 hour 10 minutes later, just as the winner of the half marathon was crossing the finish line! He placed himself at the front of the pack and got off to a good start. With more training under his belt compared to last year, he managed to shave off nearly a minute per km from his previous result.

Annalie's strategy of running with her slower friend paid off as she had a great run. She stayed with him until the 14km mark and then decided to push on. Our friend Dave was waiting at the turn and gave her lots of encouragement as she entered the final third of the race. From this point she passed around 250 other runners, according to her results breakdown, and she beat her goal time of 2:15. The photos make it look like a painful experience, but she is adamant it wasn't as hard as they make it look ;)

For completing the half marathon, Annalie also got a medal, to prove that she's actually done it!

So we both achieved PBs this year. The only question now is, what next?...

Not a nice thing to wake up to

We had a fairly interrupted night's sleep last night as we could hear a helicopter buzzing around. This is very unusual, but we thought it might have been search and rescue trying to find someone. So imagine our surprise this morning when we opened the curtains to see this...

The helicopters that were buzzing us were carrying "monsoon buckets" to help the firefighters douse the flames. The story in the local paper provides more details, and we also sent some photos in under Ian's name. At the time of posting, his was photo 3 (but it may have moved, so scroll through). There's also a video.

Rest assured we are not in danger. The bush is incredibly dry at the moment as we've had a fantastic summer with lots of incredibly hot days, which is unusual for Wellington. While we've appreciated the beautiful weather, this reminds us of the added dangers it brings.

Sampling a local brew

This weekend we took a short trip out of Wellington with The Bach to Paraparaumu Beach on the Kapiti Coast. It's only an hour away, but we had a little excursion booked, for which we didn't have to rely on a driver.

In NZ, there is a real "craft beer" movement. There are a number of "boutique" breweries that focus on quality rather than quantity. On our past travels, we've sampled Monteith's in Greymouth and Stoke in Nelson. Our local major player in this field is Tuatara.

In October they moved to new premises in "Pram" after outgrowing their garden shed! And with that, they launched brewery tours. Of course no tour is complete without the obligatory tasting, so taste we did.

But you'll be please to know that we had some food and water before bicycling back to the campsite for some more beers and some cards.