What we are missing

Snow, ice, cold..a friend in Cardiff mentioned that it may be 30C here but it's 30 F there....
The Carpenter in South Wales went to buy bread....it had sold out at 2pm in the supermarket.

Brexit..say no more..a mess whatever happens.

Family..lovely seeing photos of Woodchip painting..wearing nothing but a pair of shorts a hair bow and plenty of paint!
Seeing photos of The Boys cycling and walking...
Looking forward to seeing them "in the round"...

The Oily One messages occasionally, the Wizzard hardly ever..but that is normal for them!

Am I looking forward to going back? Yes and No!!

Halfway through our trip...two months to go.
We are about to sign on for the NZ Masters Games, racing for us both on Friday and Saturday, for the Pirate Sunday as well.. unless we have rain on Saturday when the track will be rescheduled....it would be typical, here we are in a heatwave..and rain is possible at the one time we 100% don't need it!!

We are staying in Whanganui for another month at least...our home from home.

Hot!!

The toddler in the stayplace is fractious, all hot and bothered..not surprising as it's well over 30C today...and when you are just over one it's ok to let the world know how you feel about it.

We got our last track training session over this morning before it got overbearingly hot. Anything else will be just to keep us ticking over until the events Friday to Sunday.

We had another mooch around yesterday....

Not every nice building is old!

On a magic carpet

We found a second hand bookshop in Ridgway Street in Whanganui.
Bliss!

Track afternoon

 The Peter Snell pavilion at the Cook's Gardens velodrome..moved on two trailers to this site when the athletics stadium was modernized and the old cycle track there ripped up..and the new one built of wood not concrete..in 1994...a copy of the track built at Meadowbank, Edinburgh in the 1970s.
Why Cooks Gardens?... because in the mid 1800s the garrison cooks grew the veges there!

Pirate presented his local main rival (two week his senior!) with new racing kit as a thankyou for all he does for us and other local cyclists.  Yes, I did the session as well..but no-one caught me on camera!

A walk in the park

Yesterday evening after a long day helping others race at the velodrome, we went for a walk in Kowhai Park. We were too late for the fair then, so we returned this morning.
The Original Gypsy Fair has been travelling around New Zealand since 1990. There are many sorts of craftworkers and artists in many different media, metal, glass and fabric of many sorts, food stalls, musicians and others.
The vehicles are beautifully adapted, and date as far as we saw from the 1970s onwards, all well maintained and up to date wofs etc..
All sorts of people were walking around..which made it feel completely odd when we visited the cafe on the other side of Dublin Bridge...100% white faces..the first time that has happened to us here.
Back in our homestay now for a rest before a session on the velodrome later this afternoon.

More Whanganui...

Taupo Quay

To the old station at Wellington Square

A good days work

Despite the overnight rain we had a session on the Whanganui velodrome in Cooks' Gardens this morning.. mainly as from as I was concerned settling into a new to me borrowed bike.
The others are preparing for the West Coast North Island track championships on Saturday here, followed by the National Age related track championships soon.

Pirate with Adam who will be his main competitor in the NZ Masters Games at the beginning of February..who is about two weeks older!
A late lunch, a little shopping and a wander around before organising our borrowed road bikes.

Another windy Wednesday

An easier day again, down to the centre seeing friends and doing shopping

Busy Tuesday

We left the campsite after another windy night...parked well away from trees...No red moon, as we didn't see it low enough, but a seriously red sky!

Down to the velodrome after reviewing the time trial course by car. A short session on borrowed bikes..not the ones we will be training and racing on, but good to get back on the boards.
In the afternoon we followed friends down to Fielding where there was racing on the velodrome there by the rugby ground on Riverside Park.

It made a change being spectators and helpers!