So I am still here. Now thirty-three years old! I have not fallen off a rock face, sailed off the edge of the world or been buried under falling buildings. Three months on from the last blog this missive is long overdue. From one perspective there is not a huge amount to tell, work and life go on. Of course, you can pack a lot into 90 days and the better half and I have been busy working and playing hard.
In the last update I talked about the shaky ground Wellington (and indeed the whole of New Zealand) is on. July and August saw a series of large earthquakes strike the region. They were strong enough to damage buildings and one of those affected was the building I was working in. Once you can see daylight through the walls on the third floor it is generally time to change the working environment. There was a couple of weeks of working out of other offices and from home before we found a new home. There had been plans to move to this new building anyway but everything had to be rushed to get most of us in. As it stands half the building is still being refurbished while we are packed into the other half.
There have been regular aftershocks of decreasing frequency and magnitude and the hope is that the faults have settled down for the moment. Of course, this is never guaranteed and "the big one" could happen anytime. Something we never had to consider in the UK was having an emergency food and water supply. We haven't built a bomb shelter but our Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs is well stocked.
All the stresses of the quakes coincided with the better half's busy few months at work. She worked some ridiculous hours to meet deadlines and complete reports to sign off dates. All is back to normal now and the hours she accumulated over the last few months will add up to a long break over the summer.
I have found time to climb and sail on a fairly regular basis. I have been crewing on a racing boat and now taken part in two full series. We actually won our class in the second series of four races and were awarded a bottle of champagne. I resisted the temptation to emulate Formula One drivers and soak the rest of the crew, especially as it was good champagne. I have just signed up to crew the same boat in two more series over the summer. Hopefully more champagne to come.
With some really good bouldering areas within an hour of Wellington I have managed to get outdoors to climb every few weeks. There are two indoor centres in Wellington which provide me with good training grounds. After injuring a finger tendon last year grade progression/improvement has been slow and I am still tentative about how hard to push myself. I've found plenty of willing climbing partners of all abilities and have been organising climbing events for the local Meetup group "Adventure Wellington". I am hoping for more outdoor trips as the weather now improves into the summer.
That pretty much brings things up to date. It has been over eight months since we touched down in this weird and wonderful place. We miss all of you back home and can't wait for people to start visiting (I know - it's expensive). Having said that, life is good here, we are enjoying ourselves and making friends. We have plans for a long weekend away next week (Labour Day public holiday here) and are starting to make plans for Christmas. We are looking at being away in a hut on a mountain somewhere. I'll keep you all updated.
Ka kite ano whanau - until next time
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