Who doesn’t love a mini holiday?

New Zealand is the perfect place to go for a  short break. It’s an easy 3.5 hr flight from Brisbane to Auckland and in the Emirates 380 was super comfortable.

The drive from the airport to Paihia took longer! A 4 hour drive through Friday afternoon traffic before reaching the approach to the Bay of Island area, arriving just on dusk at the very pretty Paihia.

Our swim trek friends Kim and David ( from our Greece trek in 2014) were there to greet us and we headed straight out to dinner. What better to eat than fresh fish in a restaurant by the water. A few glasses of NZ wine later we walked back to our very comfortable apartment and had a great nights sleep.
I was a little nervous. I had entered the mini swim – only 300 mts but I thought it might be too cool. Lucky for me Kim brought me her old wet suit. So this morning I wrestled my way into the suit and was ready to go. Felt like a sausage in a skin but probably looked worse than that!

Steve had left earlier with Kim & David to catch the ferry to Russell just across the bay. They were then swimming back. Around 3 km. I thought it was too far or me – with out fins!

So Chris Wilson & I, supported by Jill, made our way to the beach for our mini swim. The weather was cloudy but not too cool. I felt pretty good in my wet suit!
So off we went in cool waters – but how good is a wet suit? Buoyant and warm I didn’t have any trouble swimming along the front of the beach. Except maybe for my foggy goggles.
We made it in the respectable time of 8 mins and ran up the Beach thinking “that was a bit short………. could have done more!” That’s just a warm up at squad.
We sat in the now clear blue sunny weather and listened to the prize giving. Ears picked up when we heard Ladies over 60 1st place Frances Maitland! Men’s over 60 1st place Chris Wilson. What a hoot. We had won the Gold medals.

Oh boy we couldn’t wait to tell the others when they arrived in from their 3 km swim.

We celebrated with a lovely lunch at the wharf restaurant along with Martin & Jo some swim friends from Brisbane who also happened to be here.

Rest time now! Well we are over 60!

And we have to be ready for a nice dinner out in this pristine beautiful place.

These few days will be the tonic I need after a hectic week at home. Rob & Jordan had moved in for a week – along with lots of bags. They left on Friday to begin their new adventure in New York. So I shed a few tears!
Pete and El have also signed a lease on an apartment in West End. A new start and we are so happy for them.

So life at home will settle when we return.