Cain's profileThe Chappy BlogPhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
|
April 29 The Biggest climb yetEntries have closed now and there are 182 Donned and Started, 48 Donned and 28 Auxiliary runners. A total of 57 different regions competing. April 26 Training is getting harderAnd no, not just because we are climbing further.
April 25 Congratulations!Congratulations to Hamish & Nicole on the arrival of another bouncing boy. Born yesterday at 10 am after ten hours of labour. Yet to have his name confirmed. April 23 12 times today That's up the Kohi stairs for both of us. In about 20 minutes. As of this evening, there are 181 fire-fighters registered and 24 Auxiliaries (that's us). Five days to go until the registrations close. April 22 BNZ Tower Well, Deb, Elise and I managed to climb the BNZ Tower twice today. Eilish and Doug powered up 4 times. That's all. Keep well. April 20 Back home and trainingWell, thank you to the Devonport Hotel in Tauranga for letting Deb and I train in their Fire Escape. We managed 6 times up the 13 stories on Friday, yesterday we had a day of rest as we came home. Today we hit the Kohi stairs again and did 9 ascents. Elise seems to have got heavier in the week and a half I haven't been carrying her. Again, I'm not going to put too much effort into collecting money this year. Those who would like to donate to the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation, please go here and support Matt. http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/MattyBz/ Hopefully Mum will get a few bucks together from Massey High school. I hope to register Deb tonight too. There are already 120 Firefighters (donned & started), nearly 30 Firefighters (donned) and 18 Auxiliaries (that's us). 7 of the Newmont boys are coming too. Just a refresher for you. On Tuesday we are training back in the BNZ Tower with Doug Kinsella (he won 2 of the Combat Challenge events). No chance we'll keep up with him. The target is 2 ascents of the BNZ! On another note, Molly has been a bit of a sook lately, so we took her to the vet. It appears that she has a prolapsed disc in her neck (very painful) and is banned from all exercise for a week and is on steroids. It is most likely from over-snuggling from Hacksaw Elise Chapman. She is learing to pat her nicely now. April 16 I am on the stairs againWell Deb is still training up there.
Crowne Plaza's GM (Blair) got me access to their central fire escape. So I did 4 ascents of 13 stories yesterday and have just done 3 ascents before I head off to Dunedin.
Ciao April 15 One of us is on the stairs stillAs I'm down the line travelling, I got to Fino Casementi and asked if I could use their Fire escape for training. They said yes, so Thursday was 7 ascents of 6 stories and Friday was 10 ascents of 6 stories. Headed to Westport and no tall structures at all (and the Denniston incline would have been too dangerous).
So, I'm here in the Crowne Plaza in Christchurch, where they won't let me climb their stairs as I could be a security risk. Idiots! No training for 3 days now.
Unlike Deb, who got to climb some stairs on the Mount on Friday and now has got access to the Devonport Hotel in Tauranga. So she did 6 ascents of 13 stories yesterday. Let's hope she keeps it up. I'll be struggling to keep up with her on Thursday when I get back to Tauranga. April 14 A cousin wed in WestportWell, that's open to a whole line of innuendo, banjo playing and Deliverance jokes. Actually, it did.
In essence Emma and Glenn got married in a wonderful location (Tauranga Bay) on the beach and the weather was perfect (for 3 days). About 100 people travel from the UK and all over New Zealand to be there and it was a great event. Al's BBQ on the Friday night was super. The champagne and whitebait fritters on the beach after the ceremony and then the reception was well worth the effort. The bride looked lovely. A great week-end.
Not a sandfly nor a cloud in sight. We got up to Denniston to have a look at the incline (wow, open till 1967) with an inline of 1:1.25 at it's steepest. It took 4.5 minutes to get from the bottom to the top. The 11 tonne coal cars were part of the counter balance system to get the empty cars up. So, you rode and empty car up, and hung onto a full car to get back down. When the cable broke, you leapt into the bush and hoped for the best (as it was better than being part of the collision). We got out to Cape Foulwind (I'm sure it has that name for a good reason). Not a breeze present. Then to the Coal Museum for a look.
We left early and headed back through the Lewis Pass (went over via Arthurs Pass). Mum wanted to see Maruia Springs, so Dad directed us to go left at Springs Junction. 19km to Maruia, after passing the store (in the thick fog) and covering another 9 km (28km in total) we turned back. Stopped at Reid's store in Maruia and asked for directions and coffee (good coffee there, stop if you pass) only to find that it was on the main road (which we'd got off) and between Springs Junction and Hanmer (thanks Dad). So we've seen (through the fog) a bit of country that I won't see for a long time. Stopped for lunch at Hanmer and then dropped Mum at the airport.
Check for photos on the mac gallery site after next weekend (next time, I'm home).
Keep well. April 09 BNZ Tower Well, Deb, Elise & I climbed the BNZ tower today with the Firemen. Once. 24 floors. Deb made it up without too much trouble. She just needs to toughen up a bit and walk through the sore thighs. She can still walk this evening, so she could have done a 2nd ascent. We did it in less than 8 minutes. Not bad for a first attempt. So we both need to keep training (even though I'm away for the next week) so that we can do the BNZ tower twice next time. Our cheerleader was as helpful as ever. She seemed more happy to see the Skytower when we got to the top than to participate in the crowd. I've booked my spot in this years climb. Deb's giving herself another week or so I believe before she commits. Keep well. April 08 Training for the SkytowerWell, that's the theory anyway. Deb and I are both climbing stairs at the moment. She swears that she won't climb the Skytower, but we do hope to get her there. The first time was a killer (and it was only 320 stairs), took about 4 days for the legs to recover. Back into it and I took to carrying Elise in the backpack. Man, what a weight she is (12.6kg, plus the backpack). I really did struggle the next time I climbed. I have adjusted well, as I didn't feel her so much over the last few days. It must be like horsepower, you don't notice that until you don't have it. And we have our little cheerleader in tow. Elise can say "Go Mummy!" as she slows on the stairs. Then if we have to get alongside her, she reaches out and touches her back and laughs hysterically. So, I need to keep up the training on my trip. So if you see me. Point me at some stairs! As it is for the Leukaemia and Blood Foundation and you feel like donating some money. Go here. http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/MattyBz/ Our thoughts also go to the family and friends of Derek Lovell, plus the surviving fire fighters and wish them a speedy recovery. See, a little pain in the thighs isn't so bad after all, is it. April 07 Elise sorts out MumWell, Deb tells me that she went downstairs into the garage today and Elise bolted the door behind her. She then banged on the door to have Mummy come back, didn't seem to grasp the concept, that she needed to un-bolt the door. So Deb unlocked the Garage door and wandered around to the Kitchen door (which was open) and she hadn't (thankfully for her) deadlocked the security door. She then had to call Elise to come and unlock the security door (which she is an expert at). So all was well. What next? |
|
|
