after the weekend in taranaki, lynne and i hired a car, so we could drive ourselves around for the next few days..well, more like lynne would drive us around..given that i have barely driven in the past few years, everyone seemed to think it a better idea that she do the driving..
after a late start (my fault) we made our way out of auckland on a rainy morning..we originally thought we were going to start our trip in rotorua, because of the not so good weather..howeva, the weather started to clear, so we changed our minds and decided to go to the coromandel peninsula..it's an area of the north island of new zealand where lots of people go on holiday..it's beautiful, and close to auckland..after driving for a while, and following the directions of the gps, i realized we were going way too far south, even for taking a scenic route to the peninsula..and whaddya know, we were...it turned out that since it was my first time using a gps system, i had no idea out it worked..surprise, eh?..when lynne asked me if it was set to the peninsula, that's what was showing on the screen at that moment, so i thought that yes, it was set to take us to the peninsula..turns out i was wrong..apparently you had to hit enter a few more times..oh well..anywho, we made sure to set it to a particular beach on the peninsula, made a u-turn, and got going in the right direction..
we made it to hahei beach mid afternoon, and played around for a while...another absolutely beautiful new zealand beach..(i'm pretty sure every beach in new zealand is gorgeous, and there are lots of them)..there used to be a rope swing under a tree, but that seems to have disappeared in the past year and a half..we found the path that leads to cathedral cove, and started walking..with the absolutely wonderful weather we had stunning views (which seems to be another plus of new zealand..the country is full of stunning views)..the walk doesn't take nearly as long as the signs say, and is fairly easy..cathedral cove is a naturally formed area, beautiful, of course...the action of the water over the millenia has formed nifty caves and rocks and what not..one of the caves was used to film the opening scene from one of the narnia movies..(or so i'm told, i haven't seen the movie myself)..as we walked back to the car the weather started to change, the sun went behind clouds, and the wind picked up..not so wonderful anymore..
we drove around the tiny little town of hahei and lucked into finding an amazing little hotel..up the hill, we had a great view all around..the the price was fantastic..the owner said it used to be a restaurant, it was too bad we didn't get to take advantage of the fantastic kitchen..we left our stuff and drove to hot water beach..according to the tide tables i had found, low tide was supposed to be that evening around 2030..hot water beach is a spot where hot water springs come up through the earth and visitors can dig themselves jacuzzis in the sand..ideally you can dig a hole, the hot water will come up and fill the hole and you can hang out and enjoy yourself..lynne and i didnt manage to find one of the hot spots, but we weren't the only ones missing out..we saw a number of other folks looking/digging but only one group was successful, and they had taken over from others..we were disappointed, but hey, life goes on..
the next morning we drove to rotorua..it's a smelly town, sometimes better known as rottenrua..the earth's crust is relatively thin under rotorua, only about a kilometer thick..(i think)..because of that, there are hot springs everywhere, and the whole town is geothermally heated..every hotel in town has jacuzzis in every room, woo hoo!! after checking out a few, we settled on one..(one of the things i love about new zealand is that you can almost always negotiate a price)..rotorua is one of the most popular tourist spots in new zealand, because it has a little bit of everything..activities, natural beauty, (it's on a lake,) good food, etc..we made our way to a hill just out of town, and took the cable car up, read the rules, donned helmets, and got ready for the luge..it's a cement track (three actually, beginning, intermediate and advanced) and you can ride a plastic sled on wheels (lets face it, it's not a real luge, but it's a lot of fun anywho)..the first ride has to be on the beginning track, and it's the most scenic..that's the one where you can pull off in a few places to take pictures, as well as get used to how the little sleds work..the medium track is a bit speedier, and fun..but the advanced track is the best..lynne and i both caught air on the advanced track, and loved every minute of it..we both wanted to stay up there longer and keep riding, but it was closing time..darnit..
next up that evening was a quick stop at a takeaway shop for dinner, then on to kerosene creek..amy had also loaned us a book about the hot springs of new zealand, it has directions to EVERYWHERE..totally awesome..kerosene creek is a naturally heated creek..until a year ago, it wasn't even in lonely planet..locals wanted to keep it that way, and i understand why..it's fantastic..there are lots of little areas in the creek to hang out and enjoy the heated water..we were in there for two hours, both my rings changed colour!! while floating around we ended up talking to another couple, he's kiwi and she's american..she and lynne are from the same area in the states, they had similar accents..the heated water was amazing, even though we were both pretty smelly when we finally dashed out..the air wasn't warm, so we both changed really fast and got back to the hotel..
the next morning we packed up and after a dispute on the price of the motel room, went to visit a place called te puia..it's home to the new zealand maori arts and crafts institute as well as the pohutu geyser..it's almost constantly blowing up, the steam clouds are pretty impressive..the weather wasn't so great, it poured down at times, but we still had fun..there are a steaming mud spots, and beautiful mineral pools..the area is pretty big, so we took a free tour, and went to a maori show..that afternoon we went zorbing..soooooooo much fun..imagine this: a giant plastic hampster ball, with another ball inside..the employees fill the inside ball with a little bit of warm water, and you superman yourself into the inner ball, wearing nothing but a swim suit and socks..lynne and i chose to ride together..and what a ride..the hill the ball rolls down doesn't look very big, but the ride is a lot longer than either of us had imagined..laughing and giggling and screaming the whole way down..FUN!!
we drove to taupo, another cute little town on a lake..windy as all get out..we took amy's suggestion and booked a room in a nicer place..it was HUGE!!! we each had a huge bed (lynne actually had two beds to choose from) and there was a jacuzzi just outside..a wonderful way to relax for an evening..
the following morning we drove to waitomo, to see the caves..there are several different caves in the area, it's possible to take tours of many of them..lynne decided to go blackwater rafting, and she loved it..absolutely loved it..after the caves we drove back up to auckland, and met up with my mom for dinner..
as you all know, my immediate family is very much into traveling..before i planned this visit in new zealand, mom had already planned her holiday to new zealand and australia..perfect timing, i got to see my mom on the other side of the world for the first time in over a year:)..dinner was lovely, we all had a good time..lynne and i heard stories about me that i've never heard before..hee hee..an awesome evening..
31 October 2009
27 October 2009
another fourth visit
i arrived in auckland new zealand on a blustery rainy sort of day...exactly the same type of day ive arrived on in each of my three past visits...wierd...
just before labour weekend, my friend lynne flew in from the states..i know her from uni, and we've stayed in touch ever since..when i lived in germany she came to visit me there as well..this time she came over to run the auckland marathon with me..we saw a bit of downtown auckland (the view from mt eden is brilliant when the weather is nice, and i hadn't been there previously) when amy showed us around..the friday of labour weekend, after ivan was done with work we drove south, to the taranaki area of the north island..it's not a heavily touristed area, though it's gorgeous..in the middle of the area is mt taranaki (the english called it mt egmont) which is similar in appearance to mt fuji, in japan..so similar in fact that "the last samurai" was filmed around taranaki..most of the time the mountain is covered by clouds, even when the weather is otherwise good, we only got to see the mountain at all on our third and final morning..we stayed with amy's mom and her partner, in a beautiful house hand built 22 yrs ago..as we arrived after dark, all we did was bring everything in from the car, tour the house, and sit around to catch up with each other..amy's mom makes a lot of yummy stuff by hand (chutneys, wines, sauces, etc) so there was some wine tasting as well...(these are the times i miss being able to drink)..
the next morning when we woke up we were treated to a most amazing view..from all the bedrooms of the house one can see the ocean and the black sand beach..you can also see the cows grazing in the area..nothing short of stunning..if i lived in that house, i reckon it would be hard to get me to ever leave the area..AMAZING!! amy made a kiwi classic for breakfast, bacon and egg pie..(since it was lynne's first visit to nz, we tried to make sure she had as many traditional kiwi foods as possible..her first night in auckland we had takeaways, fish and chips)..after getting dressed properly, and sending jill off to work, amy, ivan, howard, lynne and i made our way down to the beach..fortunately, jill and howard have quite a few pairs of wellies in the house, because we had to walk through cow paddocks to get to the beach..and cows, well, they're not potty trained..the beach itself is lovely..a black sand beach, with a river coming through part of it..there is a lot of driftwood on the beach, shells as well..
this is a time of year when whitebaiting is allowed..that is, catching whitebait..(it's only allowed for a couple months out of the year, and not allowed to be done commercially)..the mechanics are easy: put a net into the river, the whitebait swim into it..they're small, and not smart enough to turn around and swim back out..take the net out of the water, put the whitebait in a bucket with a little water in it, then do it again..we all did this, i was the only one who didn't catch anything:(..in time for lunch we packed up the net and buckets, grabbed our shoes, and made our way back up to the house..the afternoon was passed it was some might call a lazy way, but i reckon we all thought it was perfect..reading, enjoying the sun, napping (ivan,) and just hanging out..
it was during the walk to and from the beach that we all realized cows are really good at the game of red light green light..though i doubt they would call it that..hee hee..(they probably don't even know it's a game:)..they would follow us as we walked, but would stop and just stare when we turned to look at them..if any of us started to move toward them, they moved away in a hurry..really amusing, but i suppose you had to be there..
dinner was mostly prepared by howard..whitebait fritters..i admit i wasn't too keen on them, but lynne was even more "unkeen"..it was actually amusing to watch her distaste for the idea of eating whitebait..nevertheless, she documented the entire process of making whitebait fritters..she even got a picture where one of the whitebait looks as though it's screaming "don't eat me!!"..(again, i guess you had to be there)..when we ate, lynne ended up eating two fritters..lol..
the next morning i woke up earlier than everyone else, and went for a run..(remember that i came back to new zealand to run the auckland marathon..given that i hadn't trained much, i reckoned i really needed to do a long run)..so i ran to the end of the road and back..including the driveway, that was around a half marathon! i came back, showered, and hopped in the car with amy, ivan and lynne..we drove to new plymouth, about 30 minutes away..(howard and jill live just outside urenui, a VERY small town)..new plymouth is by far the biggest city in the area, with 50-55,000 people..not a very exciting town to begin with, and since it was a holiday weekend, even quieter than normal..a nice brunch for us, in a cafe near the boardwalk, ice cream for dessert (when i'm around, dessert is always on the menu:)..on the way out of town we stopped at a lookout point, new zealand has lots of them..it's one of the reasons i adore the country..it's BEAUTIFUL!! dinner that night was at the cafe where jill works..very slow service (definitely NOT the fault of the waitstaff) but good food, and we knew it would be slow, so we didn't mind..good conversation, which included meeting a dairy farmer named taemon..(sp?)
taemon is a dairy farmer..we learned he milks 172 cows twice each day..lynne had expressed an interest in seeing a dairy farm, so ivan arranged for it to happen the next morning..we awoke to another BEAUTIFUL day, appreciated again the BEAUTIFUL view and life jill and howard have every single day, and got ready to go to the dairy farm..again, the wellies proved helpful..when we first arrived, taemon saw us, and brought out a big bucket of fresh, warm milk..he indicated that we should poor it into a giant funnel looking thing that had rubber teats around the outside lip..on the inside of the funnel looking thing, each of those rubber teats was attached to a tube that went down to the bottom, and into the milk we poured in there..each of us put a finger in the milk, then found one of the brand new calves in the pen, and put our finger in it's mouth..the calves were so young that they didn't yet know that the funnel looking thing held milk for them..one of them seemed to think it could find milk by drooling all over my knee..we had to bring them over to the "teats" and get them to start drinking..calves have no teeth, and they seemed to love our fingers!! soooooooooooooooooo cute..once drinking properly, they drank rather quickly..from there we moved into the milking shed..the cows are lined up in two rows, with their backsides faced inward..in between is a lower pathway, about 2m wide..along this pathway, on rails, are the milkers..each one is like half an octopus..that is, there are four little suction things that are attached to the cow and when turned on, do the milking..it's an easy process, you just want to avoid being kicked, peed, or shat upon..(it's not the cleanest area i've ever visited..lynne and i were the only ones who actually wanted to try putting on the milking machines..i've gotta admit it was a little scary when the cows stamped their feet as i was reaching toward their udders, because i know i wouldn't have been able to move fast enough to avoid being kicked had they decided to do so..anywho..at one point i looked up to see ivan, amy and jill laughing hysterically, though i hadn't seen or heard anything funny..it turns out, they had..remember me mentioning that cows aren't potty trained? taemon had been putting on the milking machines as well, but had also been watching lynne and i with the cows..he had noticed that one cow was about to go #2, and that it would've gone all over me..so he "defended" me..he stepped in between me and the cow..so everything that exited the cow went all over him, and almost none of it onto me..he did such a good job of blocking me that i had no idea anything had even happened!! and he didn't say anything either..i wouldn't have known it had happened had amy, ivan and jill not seen it..sooooooooo funny..anywho..after getting out of the area between the cows, taemon shows us the barrel into which he had some of the fresh milk being pumped, and told us we should try it..so we did..who knew that fresh cow's milk could be so good? YUM!!! next we took milk out to some more young calves, though they were old enough that they recognized what was happening, and drank 100L of milk i about 10 minutes..our last activity on the farm was to feed the mama pig who had just given birth..she is a wild pig, and quite ugly..she got to drink the same fresh milk we had tried ourselves and given to the calves..the entire time the piglets were cowering in the back corner of the pen, climbing over themselves continuously in order to try to get warm..very very cute..after taemon had taken off his rubber apron and put on some clean clothes, he took us to his house in progress..it's gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous..it's not finished (howard reckoned it had taken him 10 years to get to where it is now) but it's easy to see how amazing it'll be when it is finished..taemon has done all the work himself, including milling local logs!! he also took us down to the creek, and fed his "pet" eels..ugly suckers!! they recognized him, and would eat pieces of luncheon right off his boot, or out of his fingers!!
that was our last morning in taranaki..upon getting back to jill and howard's, we cleaned up, put everything in the car, and drove back up to auckland..amy and ivan dropped lynne and i off at the airport, where we were able to hire a car, as she and i were planning to do a little traveling for the next few days..lynne drove the car back to amy and ivan's as no one trusted me to do so:)
amy picked me up at the airport, and we got me into the flat i'm hiring from her and her husband...it's been great to hang out with the two of them, and catch up on everything...
there were others i had hoped to get together with, but plans changed a few times, i was forgotten once, and then there wasn't any more time available..i was disappointed, to say the least...two days later i ran a half marathon...a beautiful morning, blue skies and very very crisp...to me it seemed like fall weather, even though it's spring here...anywho, i spent the first 3K of the race hoping for feeling to come back into my toes...there were plenty of volunteers out on the course to make sure people didn't get lost, which was nice...and there were aid stations (with water, nothing else) every 3 miles or so...the race itself was a loop, us half marathoners did it twice, those running the 11k 'fun run' did it just once...i was pleased that i ran the whole thing...(except for walking through aid stations...i long ago discovered that i can't run and drink, even walking and drinking isn't always the best)...my time was all right, not great, but not bad; and i wasn't sore later that day or the next day, so i had no real complaints...
another night i had dinner with clive and sarah...friends i met the second time i visited new zealand, it was fantastic to catch up with them...clive is in a band, they're doing quite well, and i enjoyed their music...time flew by, and five hours had gone by when i thought to look at my watch!!! sarah's son connor was there as well, but he's going through the quiet teenager stage and wasn't talking to anyone...he's grown like a weed in the past year though...
just before labour weekend, my friend lynne flew in from the states..i know her from uni, and we've stayed in touch ever since..when i lived in germany she came to visit me there as well..this time she came over to run the auckland marathon with me..we saw a bit of downtown auckland (the view from mt eden is brilliant when the weather is nice, and i hadn't been there previously) when amy showed us around..the friday of labour weekend, after ivan was done with work we drove south, to the taranaki area of the north island..it's not a heavily touristed area, though it's gorgeous..in the middle of the area is mt taranaki (the english called it mt egmont) which is similar in appearance to mt fuji, in japan..so similar in fact that "the last samurai" was filmed around taranaki..most of the time the mountain is covered by clouds, even when the weather is otherwise good, we only got to see the mountain at all on our third and final morning..we stayed with amy's mom and her partner, in a beautiful house hand built 22 yrs ago..as we arrived after dark, all we did was bring everything in from the car, tour the house, and sit around to catch up with each other..amy's mom makes a lot of yummy stuff by hand (chutneys, wines, sauces, etc) so there was some wine tasting as well...(these are the times i miss being able to drink)..
the next morning when we woke up we were treated to a most amazing view..from all the bedrooms of the house one can see the ocean and the black sand beach..you can also see the cows grazing in the area..nothing short of stunning..if i lived in that house, i reckon it would be hard to get me to ever leave the area..AMAZING!! amy made a kiwi classic for breakfast, bacon and egg pie..(since it was lynne's first visit to nz, we tried to make sure she had as many traditional kiwi foods as possible..her first night in auckland we had takeaways, fish and chips)..after getting dressed properly, and sending jill off to work, amy, ivan, howard, lynne and i made our way down to the beach..fortunately, jill and howard have quite a few pairs of wellies in the house, because we had to walk through cow paddocks to get to the beach..and cows, well, they're not potty trained..the beach itself is lovely..a black sand beach, with a river coming through part of it..there is a lot of driftwood on the beach, shells as well..
this is a time of year when whitebaiting is allowed..that is, catching whitebait..(it's only allowed for a couple months out of the year, and not allowed to be done commercially)..the mechanics are easy: put a net into the river, the whitebait swim into it..they're small, and not smart enough to turn around and swim back out..take the net out of the water, put the whitebait in a bucket with a little water in it, then do it again..we all did this, i was the only one who didn't catch anything:(..in time for lunch we packed up the net and buckets, grabbed our shoes, and made our way back up to the house..the afternoon was passed it was some might call a lazy way, but i reckon we all thought it was perfect..reading, enjoying the sun, napping (ivan,) and just hanging out..
it was during the walk to and from the beach that we all realized cows are really good at the game of red light green light..though i doubt they would call it that..hee hee..(they probably don't even know it's a game:)..they would follow us as we walked, but would stop and just stare when we turned to look at them..if any of us started to move toward them, they moved away in a hurry..really amusing, but i suppose you had to be there..
dinner was mostly prepared by howard..whitebait fritters..i admit i wasn't too keen on them, but lynne was even more "unkeen"..it was actually amusing to watch her distaste for the idea of eating whitebait..nevertheless, she documented the entire process of making whitebait fritters..she even got a picture where one of the whitebait looks as though it's screaming "don't eat me!!"..(again, i guess you had to be there)..when we ate, lynne ended up eating two fritters..lol..
the next morning i woke up earlier than everyone else, and went for a run..(remember that i came back to new zealand to run the auckland marathon..given that i hadn't trained much, i reckoned i really needed to do a long run)..so i ran to the end of the road and back..including the driveway, that was around a half marathon! i came back, showered, and hopped in the car with amy, ivan and lynne..we drove to new plymouth, about 30 minutes away..(howard and jill live just outside urenui, a VERY small town)..new plymouth is by far the biggest city in the area, with 50-55,000 people..not a very exciting town to begin with, and since it was a holiday weekend, even quieter than normal..a nice brunch for us, in a cafe near the boardwalk, ice cream for dessert (when i'm around, dessert is always on the menu:)..on the way out of town we stopped at a lookout point, new zealand has lots of them..it's one of the reasons i adore the country..it's BEAUTIFUL!! dinner that night was at the cafe where jill works..very slow service (definitely NOT the fault of the waitstaff) but good food, and we knew it would be slow, so we didn't mind..good conversation, which included meeting a dairy farmer named taemon..(sp?)
taemon is a dairy farmer..we learned he milks 172 cows twice each day..lynne had expressed an interest in seeing a dairy farm, so ivan arranged for it to happen the next morning..we awoke to another BEAUTIFUL day, appreciated again the BEAUTIFUL view and life jill and howard have every single day, and got ready to go to the dairy farm..again, the wellies proved helpful..when we first arrived, taemon saw us, and brought out a big bucket of fresh, warm milk..he indicated that we should poor it into a giant funnel looking thing that had rubber teats around the outside lip..on the inside of the funnel looking thing, each of those rubber teats was attached to a tube that went down to the bottom, and into the milk we poured in there..each of us put a finger in the milk, then found one of the brand new calves in the pen, and put our finger in it's mouth..the calves were so young that they didn't yet know that the funnel looking thing held milk for them..one of them seemed to think it could find milk by drooling all over my knee..we had to bring them over to the "teats" and get them to start drinking..calves have no teeth, and they seemed to love our fingers!! soooooooooooooooooo cute..once drinking properly, they drank rather quickly..from there we moved into the milking shed..the cows are lined up in two rows, with their backsides faced inward..in between is a lower pathway, about 2m wide..along this pathway, on rails, are the milkers..each one is like half an octopus..that is, there are four little suction things that are attached to the cow and when turned on, do the milking..it's an easy process, you just want to avoid being kicked, peed, or shat upon..(it's not the cleanest area i've ever visited..lynne and i were the only ones who actually wanted to try putting on the milking machines..i've gotta admit it was a little scary when the cows stamped their feet as i was reaching toward their udders, because i know i wouldn't have been able to move fast enough to avoid being kicked had they decided to do so..anywho..at one point i looked up to see ivan, amy and jill laughing hysterically, though i hadn't seen or heard anything funny..it turns out, they had..remember me mentioning that cows aren't potty trained? taemon had been putting on the milking machines as well, but had also been watching lynne and i with the cows..he had noticed that one cow was about to go #2, and that it would've gone all over me..so he "defended" me..he stepped in between me and the cow..so everything that exited the cow went all over him, and almost none of it onto me..he did such a good job of blocking me that i had no idea anything had even happened!! and he didn't say anything either..i wouldn't have known it had happened had amy, ivan and jill not seen it..sooooooooo funny..anywho..after getting out of the area between the cows, taemon shows us the barrel into which he had some of the fresh milk being pumped, and told us we should try it..so we did..who knew that fresh cow's milk could be so good? YUM!!! next we took milk out to some more young calves, though they were old enough that they recognized what was happening, and drank 100L of milk i about 10 minutes..our last activity on the farm was to feed the mama pig who had just given birth..she is a wild pig, and quite ugly..she got to drink the same fresh milk we had tried ourselves and given to the calves..the entire time the piglets were cowering in the back corner of the pen, climbing over themselves continuously in order to try to get warm..very very cute..after taemon had taken off his rubber apron and put on some clean clothes, he took us to his house in progress..it's gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous..it's not finished (howard reckoned it had taken him 10 years to get to where it is now) but it's easy to see how amazing it'll be when it is finished..taemon has done all the work himself, including milling local logs!! he also took us down to the creek, and fed his "pet" eels..ugly suckers!! they recognized him, and would eat pieces of luncheon right off his boot, or out of his fingers!!
that was our last morning in taranaki..upon getting back to jill and howard's, we cleaned up, put everything in the car, and drove back up to auckland..amy and ivan dropped lynne and i off at the airport, where we were able to hire a car, as she and i were planning to do a little traveling for the next few days..lynne drove the car back to amy and ivan's as no one trusted me to do so:)
09 October 2009
my fourth visit
my flight arrived in bali late at night...rather than pay for a prepaid taxi (ridiculously high rates) into kuta just to find a place to sleep, i spent the night at the airport...morning rolled around, the flies became more active, and it began to be warm...i hopped into a taxi that had just dropped someone off, so i got a metered ride into kuta, for less than half the price of a prepaid taxi...i stayed at the same place i had stayed in july, so that was convenient...
during this trip to bali, i started running...i've done a lot of running in my past, but i haven't done ANY running in the past year or so...after my first half hour of jogging, i slowed down to a walk, and realized that my legs felt like jello...no pain, but they were awfully wiggly...i sped up a few more times for a total of an hour or so of running...the next morning, when i started jogging again, it wasn't very easy...and didn't get any easier as i kept going...later, during that second day, i had problems everytime i wanted to go down...that is, step off a curb, sit down, walk down a hill, etc...my legs would pretty much give out at the very last second...NOT GOOD...so i took off the third day...
while starting again, pretty much entirely from scratch, i realized that it really does involve your entire body!!! who knew your oblique muscles actually are used while running? back in high school when my cross country team did so many ab exercises i always thought it was silly...now i know there was actually a purpose!! and i realized that even though i can walk all day long, it doesn't translate much at all to being fit, and being able to run...i don't think i'd ever been that completely out of shape...embarassing...
my days were all pretty much the same...get up early, go running, go check email, lay out on the beach...eat dinner, read a bit, go to sleep early...
as i was walking from the beach back to my room one day i walked past a little stand set up to register people for a charity run taking place that weekend...the next day i went back with money, and signed myself up...the organizing company was hard rock, but it was sponsored by a number of other companies...the charity being benefited helped kids with cleft palates...the run was supposed to be a 5K...
by taking off that third day from running, i made sure i would be okay for the run on the 4th...and i was...it was just a loop around a really busy block of kuta...but it wasn't so busy at 0730 on a sunday morning:)...after everyone finished, (about 700 people had entered, they said it was the biggest run they'd had, and this was the 9th annual run) they handed out all the raffle prizes, as well as the auction prizes...all in all, it was a well organized event...perhaps one of the nicest parts was the free 10 minute foot massage i got at one of the sponsor tents...so nice:)...sadly, it wasn't a 5K, it was only a 4K...according to the organizers, the police who were doing traffic control turned everyone a little early, so that's why we had all had such fast times...hee hee...oh well...
the rest of my days followed the same pattern i mentioned before...i was tan as all get out when i left bali this time:)...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)