More Photos

More photos are up - Raglan & Wellington. I should be adding to the Wellington photos as we go though. So check them out using the link on the right under the travel section. :)

Windy Wellington

What to tell you about my first visit to New Zealand’s national capital? It’s not unlike our national capital in that it’s a nice small city that has a lot to offer, considering its size. Although I think it’s a wee bit more happening than Ottawa in a few respects, I did notice that the downtown area turned into a ghost town and all the shops closed up around there after 6 PM – that’s exactly like Ottawa! lol! They have the museums there, Parliament (unlike Ottawa they do not have a miniature replica of GB’s parliament buildings – they decided to go with something they call the Beehive), a pedestrian street lined with shops. The city is wonderfully walk-able. It’s quite compact, as those who built it had to contend with the large rolling hills, so all the houses are built up into the hills from the coast. It’s very nice that way. Although it can be very windy and cooler than up north, the photo I put here is from Monday (Labour Day holiday) at the beach at Oriental Parade - it was a nice day! The people there are quite nice – the bus drivers are friendly. I was also put in touch with someone there this summer when I was finalizing my NZ plans. My friend Shannon got me in touch with Lauren, a Kiwi friend of a friend whom she’d met in Canada this summer. So Lauren has been showing me around Wellington, being a wonderful host and ambassador of the city, as well as a much needed resource for my flat search. Flights around NZ are actually reasonable. If you are traveling solo, it will cost near the same amount as it would to take the bus for a distance like Auckland to Wellington, and definitely less than it would cost to hire a car and drive it (petrol is expensive over here). You might notice I’m picking up some Kiwi terminology for things (hiring stuff, and petrol). It’s important to get the expressions down to people understand me – although most of the time they do. It’s me who has much to learn. ;)

Wellington is at the south end of the north island, and being on the coast, it’s windy and much cooler than up north. They don’t call it Windy Wellington for nothing. The funny thing is – it’s the one place in the country where I’ve been able to find the most organized cycling. I have certainly seen some small groups (4 or less) of cyclists in and around Auckland, but in Wellington I’ve found the networks and teams that run through the shops like at home. I visited one shop that I was interested in before I came here. They were super helpful and made sure I knew when to come out for various group rides. I am so looking forward to getting on the bike soon!! The wind and the hills, though challenging, are sure to make me stronger. We don’t have stuff like this at home. If it’s too windy to do the flatter ride around the bays, they head for shelter in the hills. Either way – you’ll get a good workout. So this is my main impetus for choosing a windy, cooler place to settle. Combine that with it being easy to get around without a car, it has a nice vibe to it, and it’s well positioned for the rest of my travels south and off-continent. I’m still in the thick of my flat search. Wish me luck! I’ll post when I have more new things (and hopefully a place to call home for most of the remainder of my stay) to fill you all in on.

Raglan - surfers' (and non-surfers) paradise

Raglan is a small town on the west coast of the north island, about 40 km west of Hamilton (which is about a two hour drive southwest of Auckland). This place has become more and more popular over the years as it’s one of the best surfing destinations in the country. No, I don’t surf and have no intentions on trying (not a water person), but I had heard that it was a really nice place to visit and the backpackers place I stayed at had great reviews, so off I went. Raglan did not disappoint. It is beautiful – on the coast with little beaches and a small main street with a bunch of little cafes and other little conveniences. So far it has been my favourite stop. The backpackers lived up to its reputation: small, super-friendly, quiet – but not lacking in activity – clean, comfortable, and fun! The crowd was a bit more mature than the usual hostel crowd (which generally tends to be predominantly 18-23 year olds). This was nice for me, as I’m not always the oldest person at these places, but I am usually one of few and while I get along fine with everyone, when you are at a vastly different point in your life you don’t have much to relate to. So I made some new friends: One Canuck, a Brit, a German, and two French guys. Everyone was so nice and fun and easy to get along with. For the first time in a couple of weeks I really got to hang out with people instead of just touring around and then making small talk about travels over a brief dinner in the hostel kitchen each night. Jenn, Elly, and I headed out one day to Bridal Veil Falls just down the road from town. It’s a short hike down to the falls and it’s beautiful! The rest of the time we just hung out, the guys went surfing every day and each night we ended up playing Uno (someone found the deck of cards in the lounge). One night we went out to the local pub for live music by a local band. It was such fun! So that’s my Raglan story. Now I’ll fill you in on getting there…

Being slightly remote, Raglan doesn’t have bus service from the InterCity Bus line. You have to take the bus to Hamilton, and then a shuttle runs to Raglan from there about 4 times per day. I had to get back to Auckland on Saturday to catch my flight to Wellington late in the day. The day I left for the coast I found out that the shuttle ran on a limited schedule between Raglan and Hamilton on the weekend and there would be no way I’d make my bus – and consequently my flight on Saturday. I took the bus down to Hamilton anyway, not wanting to just pass time in Auckland until Saturday, and during the ride it dawned on me that I should have rented a car! I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of it before. So when I arrived in Hamilton I asked the lady at the i-Site (the Kiwi info centre) if it would be possible to rent a car in Raglan. She said no. So I asked where I could rent one there in Hamilton – well there was a place right beside the bus station. Off I went to Raglan in my little Mazda Familia (the same at the Protégé at home, just a different name) – driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road. This is my first time attempting left-hand-side-of-the-road driving and it was an experience, I have to say. My first left-hand turn after leaving the rental place I almost overshot the turn, heading for the oncoming lanes instead. Luckily I realized all those cars were in ‘my lane’ and made the turn before I passed the correct lanes to turn into. That was my closest call. The other funny thing is that the windshield (or windscreen as they call it here) wiper control arm and the turn signal arm are on opposite sides of the steering column, so each time I went to signal I turned the wipers on! DOH! So I got to spend more time in Raglan as a result of renting and car, saved some of my bus points for another trip, and drove straight back to the airport which was much better than my original plan anyway. Things work out well if you are flexible and don’t force it. That’s been my experience in recent years, and in this case it was reinforced. So I had a great visit in Raglan. Now I’m in Wellington. I’ll write about that next post.

Bay of Islands and Northland

So I'm a bit behind here, as I'm off to another place. Will have to blog about Raglan next time I get a chance. For now, this is what I did for the last week...

As I alluded to – I didn’t fully enjoy the city. I think it’s mostly due to the task-oriented week I had while there. To give it its due, Auckland is clean, has lots of good restaurants – particularly Asian food (yum!), easy enough to get around (although I encountered a few very nice bus drivers, the majority of them were not helpful and not very pleasant), and easy to get out of – which I did. I visited Kiwi Mike’s parents on the north shore. Now that’s a beautiful part of the ‘city’.

When I left on the bus on Saturday afternoon to head up north I was relieved to leave the buzz of the city. If you’ve traveled enough you can relate to the fact you will never be able to know how beautiful a place is through pictures. To know it is to experience it. I remember when I went to the Greek Islands I really wished I could capture the beauty for those back home – you just cannot capture the blueness of the water in the Aegean Sea. It’s not possible. There are many amazing places to see out there and unless you are there, you cannot fully appreciate it. It’s too bad we can’t upload our experience from our brain/our mind’s eye so others can really know it the way we did. The only thing I can really apologize for are the photos taken through the bus windows at high speeds. For the rest of the photos – you’ll have to make due with what I’ve tried to capture. Believe me – it’s more beautiful here than you can see from them. I took way too many trying to capture the one shot I believe you are all waiting for: rolling green hills and sheep! J Haha!! No, I’m not joking – I took many pasture shots trying to capture the sheep for you. I was delighted when I saw my first hill of sheep. They love being on top of the hills. But I digress as usual. You want to know about Northland I’m sure.

Northland – the northernmost area of NZ. The climate here is sub-tropical. The mornings and evenings (at this time of the year anyway) are quite cool. The afternoons are nice and warm – low twenties Celsius. I took the InterCity Bus from downtown Auckland (least expensive transportation mode in the country and quite reliable with very nice drivers) to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Of note: across the bay from Paihia is a small town called Russell (which is accessible by ferry only) – it was the first national capital of the country. I stayed in Paihia at a little backpackers (that’s what they call hostels here) called The Mousetrap. It was a nice little spot on a long road that is filled with backpackers’ accommodations. I could see the bay from the veranda of the place and it was a 500 m walk to the beach. I was lucky enough to get upgraded to a twin share room instead of a dorm and my roommate was a young girl from York, England who was there scuba diving. She is on extended vacation down here and to Oz before returning home to look for work now that she’s done school. I spent three nights there and from there I took a one-day tour of the far north. This was a 12-hour, 500 km tour.

They picked a few of us up at our backpackers, along with other people from a few more stops around 7 AM (ugh – I know) and off we went. We first stopped very briefly at the Waipoua Kauri Forest. Since the trip was a bit rushed, I really did not learn anything about this forest, unfortunately. But I did appreciate the fern that grows here in NZ, which I learned is the symbol for the airline here. I took a cool photo of it, as I found it quite neat. Off we went to Ninety Mile Beach on the Aupori Peninsula. Ninety Mile Beach is actually 64 miles long, and it is officially designated as a highway, as I was told it was used as such in the past. At any rate, tour buses mostly drive up this beach, as it is dangerous to do so on your own. You can only drive the beach during low tide, and many a car that has attempted the drive has gotten stuck when the tide has come in on them. There are cars buried in the sand there. No company will insure you if you choose to drive it yourself. The bus we were on was a specially designed bus that was built on a truck engine, so the engine is in the front in order to be able to drive in such conditions. It was a rocky and fast drive for those 500 km. We had to leave the beach at the earlier exit point, as the tide was coming in and we would not make it to the exit 20 minutes up at Te Paki Stream (where apparently the driver has to negotiate 3 km of quicksand – this is where most cars have gotten stuck). An hour’s drive from the beach had us at these huge naturally shifting dunes where we went sand-boarding. Oh yes – down giant sand dunes, head first on a boogie board. It was unnerving at first laying on the board at the top of the dune but once I got going down, and my stomach came back down to its rightful place, it was super fun!! After this we headed off to another small volcanic sand beach where we ate lunch. After lunch we headed up to the northernmost point of NZ – Cape Reinga. This is a sacred place for the Maori people – it is where the spirits of the dead depart – leap off into the ocean. If you’ve checked out the photos you’ve also seen the lighthouse at Cape Reinga and the note that I made about the meeting of the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea at this point. By the way, I put my feet in both: Tasman Sea at Ninety Mile Beach, and Pacific Ocean at the small beach at our lunch stop. The sea was warmer – as expected. We stopped in a little fishing village, called Mangonui, on the way back for fish and chips (yum!) and got back into Paihia at 6:30 PM. OK. So it was 11.5 hours, not 12. Close enough. I was exhausted.

I’m back in the city again now to take care of a few more arrangements and then I’m off again for some more touring of the north island. I am itching to get settled, so I hope to do that sooner rather than later. One particular NZ treat that I’ve found: RJ’s natural licorice. I’ve bought it more than once now. Yes, they have both vegemite and marmite here – I have tried neither.

Quick Update

Internet is very expensive here. It works way different than at home, where you pay a flat rate. Here you pay for usage - by how much bandwidth you use. Crazy eh? We are not used to that, us Canuks. So I don't have much time here today. I have toured Northland as much as I have time and money for now. I will write more details on it when I have more time and more internet time. It was super fun. It's beautiful here. I have seen the very large rolling hillsides and sheep and ocean and volcanic rock and lovely beaches and, and, and...

I have updated the pictures section (to the right click the link: Photos of Becks Adventures) and you can see the ones from Northland. Again, when I have more bandwidth to spare I will get the Auckland pics up - although they are sparse. I have decided conclusively that I am not a city girl. I love the quiet of small cities, towns, and countryside. I guess the island way of life is in my blood. PEI will never be far from my heart. NZ reminds me a lot of home - albeit bigger, somewhat more tropical in areas (somewhat - haha!), people seem to talk with a different accent here than they do in PEI... but the lifestyle outside of the city is much the same.

More soon...

All Business

Well, I may have finally gotten down to the last of the 'sorting out my business' end of things here (famous last words). I was hoping to leave Auckland today, but as luck would have it I could not confirm a place up north to stay in time and had to spend another day here. This was not a bad thing in the end, as I still had some things to figure out, book, plan, etc. I have not relaxed one minute yet. It's been quite tiring. I look very much forward to some R&R this weekend. So tomorrow is a non-computer day. I need a break from the screen and the bookings and the....
the list could go on.

I'm not sure I've given Auckland it's fair shake, as my time here has been consumed by matters that aren't really of a tourist nature. The only real thing I've done as a tourist was the Sky Tower. I have been around the city a little bit though. I got to travel across the Harbour Bridge yesterday to the suburbs to have dinner with Kiwi-Mike's parents. That was super!! We had a great dinner, their house is totally, amazingly cool, and they took me down to the beach near their place for a walk. The kids were out after school for their surf and sailing lessons. No, no hockey after school in the City of Sails. ;)

I left the B&B today to stay at more affordable accommodations. The B&B upon my arrival was my splurge. I needed a nice, quiet place to stay and take a load off while I acclimatized to the new circadian rhythm over here. So now I'm at a hostel. It's ok, but not half as nice. I was getting used to the family at the B&B and when I left they said I had become a member of the family. It was a nice place to stay.

I've met several people in similar situations as myself: taking a break from work or looking for a change. It's nice to meet like-minded people (read of my same age range). A lot of the kids down here are from Germany. In fact, I'd say the majority of those at the IEP have come from there. I've met two Canadians now (one sharing my room at the hostel tonight) and a couple Brits and a couple Americans. So I'm off to relax and meet more new people tomorrow. Til then!

Kia ora tatou!

Which means: "hello everyone!" in Maori. I have arrived safe and sound. The flight was much less painful than usual, even given it was a total of 19 hours flying time (plus a short 1.5 hour layover in beautiful Vancouver). It was also shorter than I had anticipated, given what I'd been told by others. The Air NZ folks were totally amazing.

So what to tell you about first. I haven't seen much yet. Just got here an hour or so ago. My lovely hosts here at the B&B got my room ready in a pinch, even though the person occupying my room had just left. Very sweet of them. I need a shower... that will come next (certainly before I head out to explore the city). The only thing to fill you in on so far are the particulars of the journey.

Of course there were tears at the airport when Beth & Andrew sent me off. To be honest, until I got into the airport I had only felt excitement for the trip for the past 1-2 weeks. At the airport I started to feel nervous because it was all actually real for the first time. Although, I also have a feeling that my nerves were caused by a mixture of adventuring out into the unknown, and worrying about my bike. When I took her over to the oversized luggage area and set her down on the conveyor belt I prayed that I'd get her back in one piece on the other side of the world. As I waited for the oversized luggage to come out at the Auckland airport the anticipation was nothing short of waiting for a loved one coming back from a long trip - I kid you not. I almost kissed the box when I grabbed it. Didn't open the box until I arrived at the B&B - the sweet little girl (granddaughter of the owners) helped me open it. She was pretty excited to see my bike, and complimented me on how nice it was too. :) So far so good. A little paint scratched off one spoke - no worries (getting down with the kiwi venacular there if you hadn't noticed). I digress...

I only had my executive seat for the YVR-AKL leg of the journey confirmed last week - one of the most exciting days this year! Executive from home to Van was nice - from Van to Auckland was fantabulous!!!! I had my own little pod, in-pod entertainment system, a foot rest, and the piece de resistance: the pod converts into a full lie-down bed!!!!!!!!!! Side note for those who aren't aware: I saved all - ALL - of my points to get this ticket and I have never - NEVER - in all the travels, all the flights I've taken in my lifetime, ever flown business/executive or any other classification other than economy. This was an experience that I appreciated immensely. We took off from Van at 9 PM -> midnight for my internal clock (and the rest of you on EST). They proceeded to serve dinner. I was fried. I was not hungry. So I ate a little bread and some salad and (since I HAD to) had a vodka and soda (which was amazing - this NZ vodka that has some sort of honey taste) and promptly curled up in my pod all scrunched-up-like with the big pillow and the eye mask they provided and fell asleep. I could not keep my eyes open. One of the crew came by at one point and covered me with a blanket, and I knew they had but I couldn't get myself to move. Next time I woke up was after the dinner service when one of the crew was trying to adjust my blanket which I probably moved or something. When I got up he offered to convert my pod to a bed and I was so all over that. Next thing I'm in my little bed and snuggled up and I can't fall back to sleep because I'm so damned excited about how awesome this little bed thing is! Eventually I did sleep - most of the night. It was great. Got up a couple of hours before the breakfast (which was fantastic) and then we were landing.

Landing was great. I got a nice view of Auckland as we came in overhead and then swooped back around to approach it from the west to land. The landscape around in the rural areas we flew over (and some totally uninhabited areas) was beautiful: lush and green and hilly and ocean and sand. Next few days I'll tour Auckland and fill you in. Until then: Haere ra!

Final Preparations for NZ

Yes, I've been uber-busy. And none of it would probably be interesting enough to write about, so I've spared you all the boredom of reading about the finer details of packing up, moving out, quitting my job, moving again with my sister & her hubby, organizing and re-organizing my things, continuing to get rid of things I don't need, and now... coming down to the final preparations to up and leave. Only a few days left here in the great white north (albeit, not so white at the moment). I'm glad to be here to enjoy the fall colours. I hope to get in a good ride on the bike tomorrow. I learned how to take that lovely steed of mine apart and pack her up for the trip. I've been in touch with some friendly folks down under who may be able to help me along the way. And I'm starting to be more excited than nervous most of the time. :)

So I've transitioned from having a well established career, my own wonderful little apartment, company car, and many a success to jobless, homeless, and car-less. However, even with the nasty cold I was fighting the past week, I've proven you only really need two wheels and a little extra planning to get around. Although there are plenty of people out there who already know that. My current state of being (i.e. jobless, homeless, car-less), perhaps thought to be a little crazy for some, is quite clearly a conscious choice and I don't mind it at all. Well, perhaps I've been too busy to notice. I am nonetheless looking forward to exploring the other side of the world, as well as having far less responsibility than I've had in recent years. So, I may not post again until I arrive. Until then... stay tuned and Happy Thanksgiving!

The Future

Still getting ready...

Thought I'd post this for fun. Can't remember where I got it right now. More later.

I'm back!

I decided to slack off on something I'm supposed to be doing right now and write here instead.

T. was ok. I find meetings tiring and they test my patience. I get impatient when it's all didactic (I find I can only sit and listen to someone else speak for a couple of hours - one of our days it was all day long). I also find it difficult to be patient with others when they are dissecting the clinical papers to death and getting hung up on the minutia and falling into the trap of looking at them from a microscopic point of view instead of stepping back and seeing the big picture. However, I also recognize that it's part of the learning experience for me. I have to learn to have more patience with these things, with other people, and know that work isn't always easy (i.e. sometimes you have to sit through 8 hours of didactic lectures in a day, get a sore back, and suck it up) - this too shall pass. The fun part about T. was exactly what I had mentioned before: the people. I was really happy to see the majority of my friends and colleagues before I head off and leave them for some time. I really will miss so many of them. In particular, my old manager is someone I will miss tremendously. He has been an important person in my life over the years that I have worked with this organization and I learned a lot from him.

Today I got out on the bike. I have not been riding very much in the past few weeks. In fact, not at all in the last week and a half. Last weekend I felt that funny feeling you get in your throat when you are about to get a cold, so I stayed in on Sunday instead of riding with the gang. I was really bummed about it, but I really wasn't up for it and did not want to get sick. I was still feeling this bug niggling at my throat and in my ears when I left on my trip on Tuesday, but with proper rest, lots of extra fluids, my vitamins, and echinacea I was able to fight it off successfully! :) So I hope this means that in the upcoming weeks I'll be getting out on my bike a lot! Oh. And I saw something new today while on my ride: cycle polo. And this is where I saw it. Now that would be a great way to get better bike handling skills. It looked pretty neat!

I've also been doing a little more research on NZ. Learning about the places, things to do, etc. I have some ideas about the cycling communities there through some of my research. And this is giving me some ideas about some places I'm going to check out. But all of that will come when I'm actually there - so you'll have to read then to find out. ;)

One last trip to T. (for now)

Last business trip tomorrow. Back to the Big Smoke, as per usual. I wonder if I'll miss business trips when I'm gone? Nah. I doubt it. There are some fun moments in business trips, but usually you just work way harder than you do at home. Longer hours. Foreign bed. Interrupted routine. Bad food. Well, by that I mean bad for you - like dessert at every friggin' meal. Don't tell me those muffins at breakfast aren't more a dessert than something of sustenance. The fun stuff comes from the people, of course. I do work with lots of really cool, fun, nice people. That's a plus for sure. I think we'll have some fun this week.

I'm sort of settling in to my new environment now. It's not as weird not driving home to my place every day. I'm feeling less out of sorts. But it feels more like a lay-over. I wonder when it will sink in that I don't live there anymore?

I also started to get more info on NZ. One of my coworkers traveled there years ago for a few months and today we went out for lunch. He brought his photo albums and the map and we chatted for quite a while about all the cool places to see and things to do.

I haven't started a countdown. I think it's because leaving is bittersweet. I'm excited, but it's so far away - I'll miss everybody here a ton!

Adjusting

So last Friday I moved all the stuff that I hadn't thrown away, given away, or sold into my new storage locker. I could never have done this on my own:
The movers screwed me I think - charged me way too much. At any rate, I was too tired and too brain-dead to care or to complain. It was done, I'm glad it's done and I was on to more pressing things: get the remainder of the little things out of my place and into my sister's and clean the apartment up for the new tenants - some cool people I know.

The rest of the weekend was nice and I had some time to come down from all of the stress and trauma of moving out of my beloved apartment. I may sound slightly melodramatic, but it truly was stressful and traumatic. It has only been a few short days, and living with my sister and her hubby is still better than being a real guest in someone else's home, but it's also still an adjustment. I don't want to do something that they might not like and I also don't have everything my way. In fact nothing is my way really. That's ok, but imagine having absolutely everything in your environment and your life your way for years at a time. I knew when I moved out on my own that I would come to this kind of crossroads one day. So here I am. It's not all about me. But I'll stop whining. Life really is pretty good. I've got a sister who loves me enough to have me stay with her (and I guess my brother-in-law thinks I'm pretty ok too). I'm heading off for a totally amazing trip of a lifetime pretty soon. But with all changes in life I guess you grieve the things you leave behind.

And hopefully not everything about my place is gone with me leaving it... tonight when I was out for my little ride on my own I ran into Robbie-O and I got to ride with him. He helped me get my first real bike, my second f-ing amazing bike (the Colnago), he changed several tires for me in a pinch when I was running late for group rides and had flats, he taught me how to change an inner tube, and introduced me to lots of great people to ride with, amongst other things. In all the years I lived downstairs from him we never did ride together. Took me moving out for us to run into each other on the bike path and head up to the park together.

Growing up and moving out

I should be heading to bed now since I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow... last day to finish all the little things before moving all my stuff into storage Friday. I've never moved an apartment into storage. I've certainly moved enough times in my life. Let's see (me looking up and thinking), this will be move # 9. That's a lot of moving. Mind you, I didn't do all the work for all of those moves, as 6 of them (seven different places that I lived) were while living with my folks as a kid and since we moved due to my dad's work we had movers do just about everything - including the packing. But I digress... like I said, moving into a storage unit - sigh - it's not easy. I've gone to bed almost every night of the past week visualizing the unit and thinking about my stuff and almost praying (but not really since I'm completely non-religious) that it will all fit. I've gotten rid of so much stuff either by throwing it away, putting it at the curb for passers by, giving to charity, and I sold one thing. It's nice to minimize - take it all down to what I really need and some stuff that I really truly want. The rest of it someone else can love (or hoard). I had a box of cassettes of old 80's and 90's cheese that I knew some collector-type would want. I left it out at the curb with a note: "Help Yourself" and sure enough, after a few had been pilfered someone came along and took the whole box of 'em - within 2 hours. At any rate, moving into a storage unit is stressful. Much more stressful than moving to another dwelling. It will all be worth it though.

I'm going to miss this place. The four years I've lived in my apartment have gone by really quickly. I feel like - no, I've actually grown up a lot living here. It's been an important journey. I was a bit of a messed up kid when I moved here. I think I'm leaving as a fairly well-rounded and better grounded adult. I think I know how to still be a kid in the best ways though, and when I forget I have some friends that are always around to remind me. Okay, enough sap for tonight. Big job ahead and a long weekend to round it all out. I need to get back on the bike. It's been so sporadic the past week and a half. At least I had a really great 100K ride last weekend in the heat with the gang. Gotta get this moving thing wrapped up so I can get back to the important stuff... on two wheels.

TV

I don't watch TV much these days. In fact it's been a few years now since I've actually had a 'show' that I follow at all. Since the Olympics have been on I've been tuning in, mindlessly watching whatever sport is being broadcast (or re-broadcast) at the time that I decide to eat dinner, or take a break from packing. Unlike most people, I'm not really that interested in watching the closing ceremonies either (don't I just sound old and crotchety? haha!) so I think I'm going to pack up the TV tonight. Might as well. Now that there is nothing left to watch on it anymore. The one disappointment over the past couple of weeks of Olympic TV-watching, BTW, was that I never did get to see Liz race on the track. I was definitely hoping to see it since I started reading her blog on Bicycling mag website last year. Oh well. Maybe if I were a morning person I would have had the chance to wake up at 4 AM to catch it. Nah - who am I kidding?
OK... back to packing. The countdown to departure day is on...

Packing

Whew! I'm gettin-er done. Yep. Packing up a storm, as I put it today. And purging like mad! I took 3 heavy bags of clothes to the women's shelter this morning. Thank you to Mir for helping me let go of things I don't wear anymore (and I thought I'd already done much of that over the past months).

I've been doing well over the past years to learn to remain serene during adverse situations. Packing up to move out of my place has definitely been testing me. And on the weekend I wasn't passing the test. Moody-me went out for a bike ride on Saturday, only to have my riding company of the day, Andrew, tell me that he thought I should take some time off the bike. Well, at least I hadn't lost my listening skills. I wasn't having fun on the bike. I was stressing about all of the things I need to do in the next week and a half. Things I was not able to control in that particular moment. Yes, I should have been focused on riding the bike and instead I couldn't stop fretting. Plus I was mad at my garmin, and having asthma issues, but that's another story. So, yes, I heard the message and I did not head out for a ride yesterday. Besides, I have a really annoying saddle sore that needs a rest right now. I spent the day plowing through the packing and by the time I saw him again last night, my response to how I was feeling was: "I'm great!!" I took another day off the bike today and got more packing done (not that I would have ventured out in the crazy thunderstorm that descended upon us this evening).

When you want to log 5,000 km on the bike in a single season (about 5 months) it takes the majority of your free time - unless you race and you are faster than I. Most rides are a minimum of 2 hours - the weekend rides are 3-4 hours. I haven't been doing the long rides I normally do. Then I have a full-time job and things like work travel, working evenings, fatigue - oh, and maybe uprooting my life, packing up my apartment and moving out - getting in the way of the goal... well it's hard to set the goal to the side for reality. It kinda sucks. (not to mention that I actually have lovely people in my life that I would like to spend some of that free time with when I can find it - I'm lucky that they are all very patient and accepting of my bike obsession and find time for me when I find it for them) Then I was reminded: I'm heading off to ride my bike for the whole 'off-season'. Perspective. Patience. It will pay off in the end.

Dirty Dishes

I am the worst when it comes to doing dishes. I love to cook, but detest the clean-up involved. This week, as I really start to roll up my sleeves and dig into packing, I neglect the dishes as they are not my priority. Yesterday my negligence made me laugh and I had to document it for you. Notice how good I am at stacking them up on the counter. There are frequent, near accidents as they teeter to keep balance. It made me think that I'm really happy that all of my friends who have offered for me to stay with them in the next month before I leave (although I will be bunking with my sister and her hubby) have dishwashers! Hooray for dishwashers! After university, when I moved out of my parents' place, I never thought I'd still be dishwasher-less at this late date. The laugh's on me, I guess!

Swimming in the details

As you might imagine there are a lot of things to do when you decide to uproot your life, particularly when you've already kind of established one where you are right now. So I've been a bit overwhelmed by the idea of packing. Ugh. And I've been trying my best to purge myself of stuff I've accumulated over the years. Tonight I got some help sorting through what is in my basement. I'm so fortunate to have some great people in my life who offer up a helping hand when I really do need it! And I'm also fortunate to have learned to accept that help when it's offered.

I also have a few more vacation days to take and I plan to spend three of them this week packing and riding my bike. If there is time I'll try to set it aside and enjoy the days I have left here - and do things like sitting in the backyard in my hammock. This place, while not perfect, has been a really great place for me to grow up over the past four years. And I literally have grown up a lot over the time I've spent here. So while it's time to move on, it's always sad to go when you leave such a special place behind.

Riding the bike has definitely been a priority this summer (not so unusual, really), however upon looking at my Garmin data yesterday I confirmed a thought I'd had: I've barely done any really long rides. Typically over the past few years I've taken to doing weekly group rides on the weekend that are always 100 km, give or take. Aside from doing the epic 167 km ride in June, I've only done a couple of 100 km rides and a handful of rides over 80 km. This is quite unusual for me. That said, I've been riding approximately 5 days per week, but all shorter rides. The past couple of weeks though, my energy has been waning and with the weather being what it is, so has my motivation. I've also started coughing a bit lately and that concerns me. The asthma has been creeping back and yesterday I realized that I've been pretty much eating whatever I want over the past couple of months and that includes the things that, while my mouth enjoys, my lungs do not. That would include bread and dairy. So, as of today I'm back to a very strict diet of no wine, no beer (although I hadn't been consuming those anyway), no dairy, no bread (i.e. yeast). It was three years ago that I discovered that this was the cause of my asthma and it only took 2 weeks at that time to stop wheezing and coughing after cutting the culprits out. I hope I have the same success this time. I guess when I ate those things and felt ok I forgot that it's ok to 'cheat' once in a while, but regular consumption ends in bad results. I think this may also be the cause of my recent lack of energy, and sore muscles. It's too bad, really. Bread and dairy are damn good! OK, the tired chick has to hit the hay. Two day work week coming up for me!!! Woo-hoo!

Big Plans

I've been quite distracted from writing here. My primary reason being: it's summer and I'm out on the bike more than I am inside on the computer. I also went away on vacation. Then the final reason: I've been pretty darn busy starting a process by which I seem to have decided to turn my life right upside down! Yes, you can use that term literally and figuratively. Upside down - I've decided to travel to the exact opposite side of the earth from Canada: New Zealand. Upside down - I'm quitting my job, leaving my beloved apartment, family and dear friends, and moving there for a while. Seems crazy sometimes. Seems totally the right thing to do at others. All the signs have pointed to this being the right step for me at this time in my life (since the inception of the idea of this plan in February), so I'm doing it. You'll have to forgive me if I'm a bit absent from the blog in the upcoming weeks as I pack up my place and move. I'll be couch surfing for a month and then I'll be off. Good news is: you'll get lots of cool things to read about as I blog some wanderlust for you from the other side of the world. And I'll get some stuff posted before I leave. It's quite the adventure. So stay tuned...

Spud Island

I've been off the computer for over a week now: on vacation. It was a really nice break. Quite busy though. Lots of riding. :) The weather was all over the place, but we managed to get rides in regardless. There were 11 of us and we rode most days all together. A few days we split into smaller groups or did individual rides. Visited my grandmother while on the island. Spent a day at the beach. Ate a lot of fish. Here are some photos. Perhaps I'll be inspired to write more later...

Gone Riding

OK. Yes, I've been absent. Sorry - I know the summertime is when you are likely taking the most breaks in the day surfing the web at your desk, pretending to do work. I've been busy with nothing much, but lots at the same time. Just life: riding my bike, riding my bike, cottaging with Mir and the fam, riding my bike, oh yeah - working a little - riding my bike... you know. The usual. I was looking for photos of a sign that said, "gone riding" to put in the post, and came up with this one which is kinda funny, considering it depicts pretty much exactly what happened to me in May:

Looks like someone may have actually hit the sign itself!

I was also looking for some photos of the guy I'm rooting for in the TDF this year: Valverde. I'm rooting for him, mainly because I watched him dominate the '06 Vuelta over and over, only to be beat by someone I'm not that fond of when I was on the trainer all winter (I have the DVD). So he became one of my fave cyclists then, but for real cycling reasons, not because he's super hot like Tom. But Tom was a dummy and got kicked out of the tour, so we don't get the pleasure of his eye candy this year. Oh well. Anyway, my guy is a favourite to win. I hope he does. I think he deserves it. Just because I think so. I haven't actually followed him long or anything.

I'm also totally addicted to google earth. I had installed it quite a while back, but then didn't know what to do with it until now. I can actually map my rides from my garmin data on google earth!!! OMG! So tonight, for example, I got home and forgot to eat because I was playing with the map, looking at my ride from different angles, at different points, on various climbs. It's just sick! I thought the data from the garmin was bad. Now this!!

Vacation is coming up soon. I'll be off to ride around my home province for a week with a whole group of my cycling friends. I expect we can get a good 400 km in over the course of the week. I've mapped out (and previously ridden) several rides. It should be super fun! Looking forward to it. More posts on the vacation. Maybe I can get some photos of me on my bike. I love my bike still. LOTS! That would be cool. Lots of cool things on the horizon.