. Dec 2014/Jan 2015 .
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Ho Hum!
Just hangin about above Queenstown....
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Well Hello!!!!!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!
We said this issue would be late....and it is! But hopefully there's enough in here to take your mind off that for a while.
We had a wonderful trip back to NZ. Never long enough, but that is always the problem. We managed to catch up with quite a few, but there's plenty that we didn't. Our timing wasn't the best for that but we did what we could. Hopefully next time for those we missed.
So, this edition covers December, and just a little bit of January.
Happy reading!
December in Cayman
Even though we were eagerly waiting to head off to NZ for Christmas, life continued as normal.
We can't have December without just a little bit of beach time!
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Two of Santas helpers were spotted at Spott's beach one day.
This actually Sam and her mate Sami who is at school in Florida during the year.
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The Cayman Islands Marathon is held every December. Michelle had been in training since the triathlon and had entered herself in the Half Marathon. This would be her second half Marathon.
Jake hadn't been in training but was entered anyway. Don't panic, it was for the Under 12's event which was really a quick jaunt (or Mad Sprint!) around a few streets in town, but finishing at the Marathon Finish line.
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Made it!
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A Podium Finish!
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As we said, Michelle had been clocking up the miles leading up to the half. On the day she wasn't feeling all that confident but rocked on up at stupid o'clock in the morning ready to go.
Off they went!
The pace was pretty solid and she was feeling ok. She plodded along at her own pace, listening to her music and eventually realised that she was plodding along for ages with the same guy - she glanced at him and noticed that he was wearing a Santa morph suit, complete with fluffy hat and beard - that explained the smiles and cheers in her direction at each water stop! Man, he must have been hot! She ended up running with him for over half of it but lost him with about 3 miles to go. She managed to maintain a very steady pace the entire race, and even a wee sprint in the last 100m or so, passing another runner (who turned out to be in the same age group as her, so a key move!).
In the end her time was 1 hour 46, which is an impressive time in anyone's book, let alone over here in the heat! She was very happy with her run, and pleasantly surprised when she was announced first in her age group!
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With friend, Pat, who completed the full marathon, and also got first in her age group
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First Place in her Age Group!
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Gainesville
Meanwhile at a locale in Southern Florida, Dave was on a seek and recover mission.
Sam and the team of Senior Swimmers had headed over to Gainesville (Where the 'Gators' come from) for a swim meet. They left on the Thursday with the Coach. Only problem was, Coach was heading to New York after the meet so someone had to do the honours and bring them back.
Dave flew up to Tampa on the Saturday around lunchtime, then drove to Gainesville (approx. two hours), caught a couple of the races, had some dinner and a beer. Slept. Got up early, went to the pool. Watched a few races. Gathered Sam and co. Raced back to Tampa to catch the return flight and then fly back. The entire exercise taking about 26 hours.
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Gaters-ville
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Anyway, back to the swimming. This was a big and busy meet with qualifying times and was it swum in a 'Yards pool'. 25 yard lengths. This was a first for the kids and they were all pretty excited.
The challenge would be the slightly different length of the pool (they are used to a 25 metre pool). But they all did good, with some nice times being clocked.
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Sam focussed for her race
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Still focussed
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She's off!
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It was a pretty cool experience for the swimmers. This was an indoor pool as well, so there was plenty of noise!
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Done.....
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They actually ran races simultaneously during the heats with the Girls at one end and the boys at the other.
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Another great swimming experience. The kids are now back into training for National Champs coming up next month.
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Dave's work Christmas party was at the Wharf. It was a bit breezy, but a nice evening was had.
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The Elves & Reindeer party
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Two Elves and a Snowman!
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The Great Escape
Finally, December 16th arrived. We were all packed and ready to go. Flights were on time. All good!
First stop was Miami for lunch. Then a longer flight across to LA where we had a fairly lengthy wait for our flight to NZ. We decided to take a cab to a mall close-by to do some last minute shopping and have some dinner.
Then it was back to the airport and away we went. We thought it was a direct flight to Auckland but soon learned that there was a brief stop in Tahiti. Well, it was Air Tahiti...
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Welcome to Tahiti! Enjoy your hour and a half here!
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Hmmmm.... a couple of Easter Islanders?
I think I know that guy on the right.
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After a total flying time of around 20 hours (plus stops), we arrived in Auckland.
Time for a quick nibble (beer and a sausage roll for Dave!), then off to Wellington. 'Twas a bit nippy in Welly I can tell ya! But that didn't stop us finding a pool and letting Sam and Jake go for a training session (loosener) at the Kilbernie pool. They were under strict instructions from Coach to keep up the training. He would even email the daily programme.
After that it was over to our good friends Graham and Susie's place where we would hang out for a couple of nights. Thank you!!!!!!
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You can't beat wellington on a good day...apparently.
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Our days were busy between swimming pools, running, visiting and catching up with folk. Our nights were busy catching up with folk.
We did pop in and see Penny and James - our first ever Churton Park neighbours. James, the IPA was pretty damn good! Cheers!
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Rick and MJ at Leuvin
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The lovely Sonja popped in to say Gidday!
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Catching up with a few of the Army lads at the Cossie Club in Upper Hutt.
Note a couple of serial photo bombers in the background (who are those guys?).
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Graham and Bruce!
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So, that was Saturday afternoon sewn up! Next on the agenda was the Speight's Ale House in Petone.
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Joanna and Julie seeing who can wet themselves first.
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Koro (ex Cayman) meets Graham
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The Cayman Rugby TV Crew
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We took the kids to the Adrenalin Forest in Aotea (Porirua).
It's a pretty cool set up - and challenging for all!
The kids had fun climbing about and swinging while gradually getting higher and higher.
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Hello up there!
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Next stop was Christchurch. A quick dash to Wellington airport, grab a bite to eat on the way through and then a flight south. We were met in ChCh by Gordon (Michelle's Dad) and Val and they were kind enough to lend us their car for the Southern Leg of the tour.
We headed off for lunch at the Rosebank winery and met up with a few friends there. Elleny and Jim, Claire and Mark as well as Kim all turned up, which was really cool. We hadn't seen any of these guys for a long time.
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Michelle and Claire.
(Photo stolen from Claire's FB page).
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We had a nice catch up over lunch and then it was time for us to head south to Waimate (where Dave grew up...errr... spent his youth).
We spent a couple of days in Waimate with Lil (Dave's Mum). It was nice to catch up and spend some time (between swimming and running) relaxing! The kids were pretty excited at being able to pick fresh fruit from the garden!
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Catching up with some of the locals at the Royal!
(above and below)
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We popped out to Glenavy (close to Waimate) to pay a visit to the brother of a mate of ours who lives in Cayman. Tonni Andersen (Canadian and brother of Dan), runs the Glenavy pub with his wife Fiona. Fiona is a local. They both lived in Cayman for a while a few years back. Small world!
So, if you are passing through Glenavy (right next to the Waitaki River), stop in and say gidday!
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The kids got a few sessions in at the Waimate pool. Luckily it was heated!
There were some swimmers from other clubs there too so that was pretty cool.
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Some of Waimate's history
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The Wallabies were popular with the kids - esp the babies!
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Venison on the hoof!
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View of Waimate from The White Horse.
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Next stop - Queenstown!
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| A quick bite to eat in Cromwell |
We were meeting up with Sonya (Michelle's sister) and Gerard in Queenstown and spending Christmas with them. It was a pretty busy and fun few days!
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Lovely view from the house.
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The Cousins catch up!
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Some interesting sunsets at the top of the lake
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The Crew
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You cant go to Queenstown with heading up the Gondola.
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Queenstown from the top
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You can't go up the Gondola without doing the Luge! Jake is racing the clock.
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Heading back up for another run on the Luge.
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Photo time!
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As always, the Luge was lots of fun.
It just happened to be Sam's Birthday, so what did she want to do? She wanted to hurl herself off a perfectly good hill.
Bungy jump it is!
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Over she goes!!!!
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"Spiderman's got nothing on me!"
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Long way down from here!
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Nice back window!
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After all that excitement it was off to the ice bar... to chill!
The Ice Bar was a lot of fun. We got issued warm coats and boots and gloves and were then cut loose in the freezing cold bar. They glasses were made of ice and the barman made cocktails in them.
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There was also a small room with a dress up box in it. There was a camera there as well which would take three photos in reasonably quick succession, so you had a couple of seconds to change your outfit before it took another photo. It also helped you stay warm!
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Not so sure that this was very warm...
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Sonya and Gerard brought some Kayaks up from Dunedin so we took those out for a couple of spins on the lake.
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Sonya the tour guide
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Jan (Nana) takes to the water!
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Jake is off to the wilderness
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Everyone else chills with granddad and Val for a bit on the edge of the lake
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Queenstown gets attacked by Dinosaurs, but Sam, Sam, Mahalia & Jake save the day!
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Being fed by a bit of ice here and there, I gotta say that this lake is a bit chilly!
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Cuz n Cuz
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Last time we were here we were skiing up the top of there!
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We checked out a couple of vineyards one day. Mt Rosa and also McLennan.
Had to do a few tastings of course!
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Baaaa!
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We popped over to Bannockburn for a 'Bailey' gathering one day. Caught up with Lil, Alan & Sandra, Gordy & Lisa and cousins Emma and Nick.
We had a mini Bowling tournament which was a bit of fun. The final being played out between Alan & Nick and Lisa & Dave with the pair of Alan and Nick squeaking through to win.
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The experts are out in force!
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Lisa gives Gordy some much needed guidance.
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The Bailey Clan
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A quiet beer with Mark (aka the Gager) at the Clyde pub!
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Heading back north after a funfilled time in Queenstown we stopped in at Omarama for some lunch and a catch-up with Davo and Julie-Anne from Waimate. They were heading to Wanaka for New Years with Gordy Lisa.
Then it was down the road a bit for brief stop in Kurow for the races.
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Kurow - not only the home to Richie McCaw, but also the Simpsons! (apparently)
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The kids had never been to any live horse racing that we could recall, so decided to pop into Kurow for a couple of races. We managed to secure a spot right on the rails opposite the finish.
No time to study the form book. "Pick a name you like.".
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Got some winners!
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Between us we managed to pick a few nags that managed to pass the finish before the rest.
Then it was back on the road again. A quick stop in Waimate to see Grandma and then off to Christchurch.
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We caught up with Great Granddad too!
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This was our first visit to Christchurch City for quite a few years. We hadn't seen first hand what damage was caused by the earthquakes. We had seen pictures and videos, but even that didn't prepare us for what we saw. And having said that, what we saw was after the place had been cleaned up a bit, so we still struggle to comprehend the state of the place back then. Just driving around was a saddening experience. We had memories of a whole bunch of places around town, few of which are now recognisable or even there!
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The Cathedral...or what remains
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The sheep were cool!
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After the sobering experience of Christchurch's changed appearance we headed over to Margot & Hondi's for New Years eve. This would be our first of two New Years Eves.
Also there were Shamus and Vanessa and the kids. We had a lovely dinner and reminisced over old times and had plenty of laughs as we brought in 2015.
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The Crew!
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Girly pic
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The lads
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Up and at 'em on New Years Day and off to the airport. Our packing skills weren't all that flash so Hondi transported the excess to the airport for us (Thanks!).
Next stop Auckland!
In Auckland we had time to check-in for our flight and then go and find some food - and have a last Speight's in NZ for a while!
Soon we were Tahiti bound where we would spend a couple of days.
We were now a bit like men in black, and going back in time, arriving in Papeete at 10pm on New years Eve!
We cleared Immigration and Customs and made it to our hotel room with time to spare. We even managed to chill the bottle of bubbles we had brought with us!
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Happy New year! (again!)
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A busy New year's day in downtown Papeete....
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We grabbed a rental car and decided to do a lap of the island (approx. 120km)
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The Beast wasn't so hot on the hills....
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'Tres Cascades' was pretty cool. Three water-falls - and a million mosquitoes!
We stopped at a few spots around the island. Had lunch at the Gauguin Museum restaurant. The Museum was closed ("Phew!" said the kids in unison.) but the lunch and location of the restaurant was nice.
We had arranged for a dive while in Tahiti. Our dive guy picked us up from the Hotel and headed off to the dive shop where we kitted up and then jumped on the boat full of French-speaking divers, keen to get underway. So, we got underway.
It was explained to us that we'd be doing a Shark dive. Sam was a little anxious, but soon relaxed as she slotted in behind Jake as we descended and commenced the dive.
There were sharks all over the place. Some a little nosier than others but none came close enough to cause any alarm.
Eric, our Dive Master retrieved a French Stick from somewhere on his person and started to feed the smaller fish. This seemed to attract the sharks as well and eventually the sharks where making their moves through the schools of smaller fish that Jake and Sam were playing with.
Eric calmly indicated that it was "Time to move on!"
It was a good dive. A great experience with the sharks and also to see some other types of fish that we don't see that often.
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Jake found the whole experience rather hair-raising.
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Back on board we were treated to cakes and pastries and....wait for it....
Rum Punch!
Well, it was new years day after all.
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One of the locals,
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The Local beer wasn't too bad either!
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We had dinner in the hotel one night. When we arrived we were told that they only had tables for two and that we could have two separate tables (not close). We were hungry so the girls took one table and the boys the other. There was a table adjacent to the boys table that never got used all night, but it was all too hard apparently.
Funnily enough, the girls got served almost immediately and had an attentive reasonably efficient waiter. Jake and Dave had to flag down anyone passing so they could get a drink or order food.
Eventually we all got watered and fed and enjoyed some Mother/Daughter and Father/Son time.
The following night we decided to eat in town, since it seemed that a few places were now opening up after their New Years celebrations put them out of action.
We found a little place with outside seating, live music a lively atmosphere.
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Drinks were good!
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Food was great (and massive!)
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Desert was impressive too!
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After a nice meal and a fun evening, we waddled back to the hotel, packed our backs and got ready for an early wake up and yet another trip to an airport.
Soon we were asleep en route to LA. LA was another trip to the mall and then a flight across to Miami - arriving at breakfast time, and then our last flight back to Cayman.
All bodies accounted for. All bags intact - apart from Michelle's Kahlua which had cracked and leaked a little. But when she put the bottle over the sink in the kitchen, it fell to bits! Luckily that didn't happen in the suitcase!
So, in the grand scheme of things we had a great trip. All flights went to plan. No delays. No lost bags. We caught up with a lot of people - and would have loved to catch up with more, but it just wasn't to be.
New Zealand was good to us (although Wellington's weather was a bit average, only to improve when we left) and we got to do and see plenty. The kids trained in Seven different pools while we were there, and there wasn't many days they didn't train, So that was a pretty good effort by them. Let's hope it pays off!
Unsure of when we will be back next. Over the next six months or so we should have a better idea of where we are at.
Still to come in the January Edition:
The Mercury Man - Cayman's Half Ironman
Swim Meet - did all that training in NZ help?
Some beach time?
