Win a cool Garmin GPS watch thingy :-)

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/09/september-garmin-forerunner-310xt.html

I Can See For Miles

Well, having just mentioned the Eastern Bays, here's a nice pic Nat took when we went for a walk at the Michael Joseph Savage memorial park which is just between Mission Bay and Orakei.



Michael Joseph Savage was the first Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand, and you can read all about him here. In the park there's a big memorial to him, so he obviously made quite an impression. We just liked the views across the bay to Auckland, where you can see the SkyTower and the docks where our shipment will soon be arriving!

Our House

Is in the middle of our street, as it happens. Well, actually it's Dillan's house, but we've been staying in it for nearly four months now!



It's jolly nice, as you can see, and has a lovely view out across Cockle Bay to Beachlands from the upstairs lounge (that's as opposed to the downstairs lounge- it's dead posh!):



Anyway, we probably won't be here for much longer as we're looking to rent a place of our own for six months, and will probably be heading closer in to the city so it's easier for me to commute to work. We're looking along the Eastern Bays fom St Heliers to Orakei, which you can see on a map here. It's also very nice over that way, as there are lots of nice beaches and cafes and bars and a great cycle lane and footpath all the way along the front into the city so it's very easy to get out and about.

Baby You Can Drive My Car

Told you I'd be rubbish at keeping this up to date! So, I thought I'd better do a bit of catching up. What can I tell you about?

Well, we bought a car, and here it is:

It's a 1998 Nissan Avenir imported from Japan. They have very strict roadworthyness tests over there, so their cars are extremely well maintained, and as they don't use salt on the roads in winter they're rust free too, so you can pick up an imported car in good nick for a bargain price.

We figured this little estate would be ideal for putting bikes in and canoes or kayaks on top, so that when they all arrive in our shipment we can head off and have lots of adventures in the countryside, which we're looking forward to.

It's A Hard Knock Life!

Today is May 12th. In England that would be November 12th.

Here's a picture of me, taken just now, sitting down to my lunch of lightly toasted bagels, smothered in feta cheese with basil and chives, and a nice thick slice of tomato, all washed down with a glass of fresh organic apple juice- all of which was bought at the farmers' market down the road yesterday, before going on a nice long walk in Duder regional park (see the earler post for that one).


The sun is shining, the sky is blue without a cloud in it. In the shade the temperature is about 15 or 16, but in the sun it must be at least 20. I'm wearing shorts and a T-shirt and a little fleecy thing. Did I mention it's November?

I quite like it here really! :-)

The Ironman- Are They Mad?!

On Sunday 1st March Dillan and a few hundred other loonies did the New Zealand Ironman at Taupo. For those of you who don't know what an Ironman is, that's a 3.8 Km open water swim, followed by a 180 Km cycle, with a Marathon (42.2 Km) run to top it off!

I have to take my fair share of the blame for that, as it was me that got him into triathlon in the first place. Dillan had read about the Ironman on a flight back from Australia and mentioned it to me when we saw a triathlon magazine in W H Smiths in Gerrards Cross one day. I knew that there were shorter races too, and as Dillan was into cycling at the time, I enjoyed running, and we went for a swim once a week together at the time I suggested we should give it a go.

That was back in 1993 and we both raced for a couple of years before deciding it was a bit too much like hard work. Dillan got back into triathlon a few years back doing some of the shorter races again and persuaded me to do another one in 2004, but had set his sights on the Ironman, so last year as well as training as a personal trainer, he also spent half his week swimming, biking or running in preparation for the big one.

Dillan's target was to complete the Iroman in under eleven hours- fairly ambitious for a first timer. He completed the swim in just over an hour, and the bike in five and three-quarters, then finished off the run in just over four hours. On top of that you have to add the transition time for the quick change required between each discipline.

As he was on the final leg of the run, Dillan had it in mind that if he hit his eleven hour target he'd have achieved his ambition and could hang up his running shoes. Well it didn't quite work out that way, as his final time was 11:03:50, so he's decided to do it all over again next year! Still, he's got to be pretty pleased with that time.

I'd always wanted to stay at least fit enough to do the short races, though that had fallen by the wayside over the last year or so. So it was good news that Dillan's exploits inspired me enough to buy a new wetsuit, I've started training and I've entered a couple of local races before the season ends in a month or so. The really scary thing is that I'm even thinking about the Ironman- not next year, that would be pushing it, but maybe the year after!


In the meantime... Gerard Bourdillon- you are an Ironman!

Leaving On A Jet Plane

After eight days in New Zealand, Dad and Gill flew off to Fiji on February 29th. Nat and I went with them to the airport to say goodbye, but only after we got this picture of the four of us by Dillan's front door.

After saying our farewells, Nat and I drove on down to Taupo for the weekend to support Dillan who was doing his Ironman that weekend.