After a hard day at the office...

I know that back home at this time of year the nights must be drawing in and the central heating systems are doing overtime so when thinking of what I could tell you about this week in New Zealand I had to think no further back than my journey home from work this evening.

The weather here this week has been consistently fine (sunny, occasional cloud, early 20's) so I thought it was about time that I kayaked home from work after kayaking to work a few months ago. 4:30 rolled around and I got changed and took the kayak off the car roof. After carting the kayak across the field I finally managed to find the spot on the edge of the company property where I'd been previously been able to transition from water to land. It's only possible to get in and out of the water right next to work at high tide otherwise it'd be a long trudge across the mud flats of the estuary to reach the trickle of water that flows through it at low tide.

After Sunday's 8km race the 3-4km paddle home flew by and was quite pleasant pottering along at my own pace, only a few clouds in the sky and the wind on my back all the way home. A number of people use the estuary for rowing/paddling after work so I saw several other boats on my way home. Landing on a beach it's only a short walk with the kayak (on a borrowed set of wheels) back to the house for a quick clean before parking it in the garage.

There are four of us living in the house at the moment and tonight was my turn to cook. Perfect night for a BBQ so I cooked some steak on the deck outside, added some potatoes, broccoli and gravy and we all ate outside accompanied by a glass of beer/wine. In NZ the BBQ seems to be an extension of the cooking facilities in the kitchen, most of them are gas so it's no problem to fire them up and get cracking. The sun has just set and although I've got to go to work tomorrow it doesn't seem such a bad thing after a relaxing night. I'll cycle to work in the morning as the tides aren't convenient for the paddle back, pop the bike in the back of the car and drive home.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Multisport Team

The Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Multisport team relax shortly after winning the Open Mens Team division of the Rodney Coast Challenge despite the adverse weather conditions...
The race consisted of a 10km run, a 30km road cycle, a 26km mountain bike stage and an 8km kayak (paddled by yours truely, that's me there on the right) and yes there were lots of other people competing, about 300!

Captains Log...

This is Nick Hobson, international (and semi unprofessional) underwater hockey player, globetrotter extrodinaire, occaisional designer of things, legend of sorts, jack of all trades, master of not a lot and a nice guy when not submerged in chlorinated water signing on to publicise his whereabouts, adventures, mis-adventures, poor spelling ability, diabolical grammer and general banter about his life to his nearest and dearest and any other punters that dare to read his ramblings.