I'm back on the case again, and doing my best to keep this site up to date. It has been an awesome beginning to the year, with 2 weeks at Waihi Beach, and nearly every weekend busy doing something energetic. Two of the most enjoyable trips this year so far have been the Abel Tasman kayak and a weekend white water kayaking on the Rangitikei in the central North Island.
Both Catherine and I have started our 2 weeks training before our Kilimanjaro climb in mid April. We are both up early in the morning before work. Catherine walks around the Botanical Gardens, and I head for a steep 3km climb up Mount Kaukau and back.
I'm currently working on a website for our trip to Africa, and will make the link available as soon as I have completed it. The website will have photos, videos and blog updates, including status on our Kilimanjaro climb, mobile coverage permitting.
Kayaking on the Otakia
For a weekend, it was a fairly early start, and I arrived at the VUCC gear shed in the City at 9am. 14 paddlers in total had turned out for the paddle on the Otaki River. During my trip down the Hutt Gorge a few weeks ago, I snapped my paddled. It was still being repaired, which meant I had to use one of the clubs paddles for this trip.
Octane 09 was an awesome weekend of ministry and worship, and an opportunity to grow in our relationship with God, and other guys. On Saturday afternoon, the guys grabbed their lunch and took off to various different parts of the city. Several groups went to clean up the south coast beaches, and another group visited the Mary Potter Hospice to tidy up the flower beds. Check out the video to see how they got on.
Catherine and I had the most awesome holiday anyone could have. A week in South Africa, 6 days climbing Kilimanjaro Africa's highest mountain and the tallest free standing mountain in the world. We also experienced a 5 day Safari in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro national park, and finished our holiday off with 4 days relaxing at a beach resort on the northern coast of Zanzibar.
The highlight of our trip has got to be our Engagement at the summit of Kilimanjaro :-D
Here is a short video clip from out holiday. There will be more. In the meantime you can check out our Kilimanjaro blog at www.pominnz.com/kilimanjaro
I loaded up my car before work, so that I could get a quick get away at the end of the day. I met Kei and Steven at a car park on the Hutt side of the Haywards Hill road. We strapped on the kayaks and transferred all of their gear into my vehicle and started our journey to a cottage just north of Mangaweka.
Apart from the usual snarl up at Pukerua bay, the journey was traffic jam free. We did however get stuck at both railway crossing just south of Mangaweka, which for the infrequency of rail traffic, is just bad luck.
The directions we were given were ideal
for someone arriving during day light hours, but we struggled, and
ended up driving 5 km past the turn off, even though Alan had spent time putting up signs, and painting logs pointing in the direction of the cottage. We eventually arrived at the
cottage. Kei had already decided to stay at the cottage, but
Steven and I had planned on staying at the Mangaweka camp ground, but
when we arrived at the cottage it did look very inviting, so we
decided to stay.
This weekend was a wet one, but it didn't stop me getting out with my new camcorder and filming Wellington in the rain. I bought an umbrella and went armed with my tripod and camera to the Wellington botanical gardens. Got some really nice shots in the rain.
