Back up north

I'm back in the North Island after my southern travels. Got back to Wellington on Friday afternoon, which was weird because it felt like coming home though I had no home to go to! The flight was wonderful - it was mostly clear, so the pilot took us the "scenic route" and I had lovely views of mountains and the West Coast from my window seat the whole way. (See Flickr for pictures.) I didn't see Mount Cook because it was on the other side of the plane, but we had better views the rest of the time on my side so I didn't mind. It's amazing how narrow the island is - you can see right across.

Once in Wellington I went straight to the aquatic centre, where my club was hosting the NZ masters long course nationals. Friday was all long distance, and I wasn't swimming but did help out on the registration desk. Saturday I swam some sprints and relays, which was fun, and handed out lunches. :) In the evening we had the meet party, also fun as our social occasions always are. Sunday was just the morning and I was mostly timekeeping, feeling terribly official! The meet went exceptionally well and as always at masters' events I was inspired and impressed by the older competitors - we had two 92-year-olds swimming and they're just remarkable. To be still getting in the pool and racing, albeit extremely slowly, at that age, is amazing.

Caught up with friends in town during the afternoon, which was a perfect sunny windless Wellington day. I shall miss Wellington, it's a superb place to live.

This morning I popped into work to say a final goodbye and find out how things were going, which was nice. Oddly it felt rather as though I'd never left, despite me being there in shorts and t-shirt all ready to head off on the next stage of travelling.

After that I picked up my rental car and headed north towards Hawkes Bay. The drive was a bit slow though the scenery was pretty and I didn't arrive in Havelock North until 3pm (via getting slightly lost twice and a stop for groceries in Masterton!) I pitched my tent for the evening before dashing off on a whistlestop tour of three of the local wineries - I'd planned to cycle, but there wasn't time to work out where to hire a bike and I probably wouldn't have made it anywhere before the cellar doors closed if I'd cycled. So I drove, and was a bit careful about what I tasted, and anyway it wasn't far. I went to Craggy Range which has an exceptional location next to Te Mata Peak (I plan to go up there tomorrow morning) and exceptional architecture - really a beautiful building. Good wine too, though they produce wine from grapes grown around NZ and I tasted a Martinborough sauvignon and a Central Otago pinot as well as Hawkes Bay chardonnay, syrah and cabernet merlot. I got a bottle of the latter and am drinking it now - it's yummy, though was far too good for my dinner (a left-over freeze-dried lamb fettucine thing I never ate down south). After that, on to Te Mata Estate and then I just had time for Black Barn before all the cellar doors closed.

The weather's perked up, thankfully; it rained a bit en route but was nice this afternoon and is dry now. Hopefully it'll stay that way until I hit Auckland on Friday!