Map my run

Until now, I've been using a combination of gmap pedometer and the ipod Nike plus adapter to keep track of my running training (which has tailed off somewhat recently). However, I've just stumbled across the Map my Run website, and it looks at first glance to be quite neat, and possibly rather addictive. You can plot routes just as in gmap pedometer, with an added bonus that you can go back and edit routes if you realise you've made a mistake. There's also a training calendar to log runs, and you don't just have to run, you can bike or hike instead.

But my most favourite feature so far is that for each route, it will show you the elevation as you go along. Very cool.

The good ship

The Bay of Islands is a very nice area of New Zealand a few hours drive north of here. It's very good for sailing, and we're vaguely planning a trip to charter a boat for a week next summer. On our first trip up there a couple of weeks ago we spent a day sailing on the good ship R. Tucker Thompson.



After sailing out to deserted island in the bay, we swam to shore and hiked up the hill with tremendous views. After a BBQ lunch back on the ship, we had the chance to climb the rigging... scarier than it looked when the crew did it, I have to say.

Yacht Racing

There are a few things that kiwis seem to take very seriously, as a nation, to the point that they field truly world-class efforts despite a population only a shade over 4m. Rugby, to be sure -- but also yacht racing.

Over the past few weeks, the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series has been staged here in Auckland. The LVPS is a bit like the America's Cup, but with fewer lawyers and more actual sailing, or so I've been led to believe. The litigation level involved with the America's cup now seems to preclude the involvement of any actual water, or sailing, or boats. So the LVPS is "America's Cup-class".

It turns out that as a spectator sport, yacht racing leaves something to be desired. I attempted to watch on 3 days of the regatta -- on the first, there was no racing as the wind was too light; on the second, there was only one race, of which I only managed to see the last 10 seconds, before the remainder of the day was canceled because the wind was too strong; and the third day was by far the worst day, weather-wise, of the entire summer, so I sat inside and watched it on tv. That turned out to be a good choice, because even when they do actually race, the delays between races are almost unbearable. But, in between all the delays, there was some pretty decent racing, the result of which was a 3-1 win for NZ. So my future plan, and advice for spectators: hope for good weather, and bring beer.

Seattle-London RT in October $566

Seems that the falling price of oil is finally starting to bite into flight prices -- Seattle-London round-trip through much of October is now down to $566 on US Airways, connecting in Philly or Charlotte. Once upon a time (2003), it was possible to get SEA-LHR offseason for just north of $300, but I think those days have probably passed now.

Sailing away

After a bit of a struggle trying to find a place to rent and sail small boats, I'm pleased to have found a fun and friendly sailing club at the Panmure lagoon.

The lagoon is tidal, so sailing is only possible a couple of hours before and after high tide, but they run training days or races almost every week, and so I'm hoping that my sailing skills will improve, as currently they leave something to be desired:

Silly things

There are a variety of crazy things to do available for tourists in Rotorua. Not being so keen to jump off or out of something high, we opted for zorbing. This entails being thrown inside a large inflatable sphere, with some water, and rolling down a hill. Actually, a lot more fun than it sounds:

Walking in a thermal wonderland

A summertime Christmas has been slightly strange, but we've been making the most of our time off, and our visitors, to travel around and see some more bits of the North Island. One of the favourites so far was the thermal wonderland that is Rotorua, complete with it's own authentic odour. There are many different places around Rotorua in which one can explore the thermal landscape, but the one we found most rewarding was the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland.

Here we found geysers:



Multicoloured pools:





and lots and lots of bubbling mud: