We've done no exercise since the Skytower climb (surprising).

2 baby boys born, firstly congratulations to Peter & Janet on the arrival of Miko, and Alex (our cafe owner) on the arrival of Lucas.

I got to do a Dunedin/Clyde/Invercargill visit last week and stopped in to visit Lisa and Fred in Balfour (where, you might ask). It was great to see them and thanks for putting me up. Their local pub in Balfour wasn't cooking on a Monday night, so we had to drive about 25km to Waikaia to have dinner in front of a great big roaring fire. Very nice and not too cold over night. From there a flying visit to Christchurch and Napier for the rest of the week. The girls and Angela headed back to the Mount and enjoyed themselves down there.

Elise has a new best friend, our neighbour Laura. She is 7 and loves looking after her and playing in her room and on the trampoline. I think Elise now sees time with Laura as a daily event.

I'm unsure of anything else of significance.

Ciao

Well, we have both climbed successfully. For the record, Deb climbed in 16 minutes and 57 seconds (excellent effort, considering, she has a cold) and I knocked about a minute on my last years time and did 12 minutes 37 seconds.

I'll write more sometime. Off for the awards dinner now.

Thank you for all the kind donations, an update on that will come too.

Well, there is meant to be some coverage on the upcoming Skytower event on TV1 news tomorrow morning at 0740 and 0840 approximately.

Keep an eye out.

We have finished training now. We climbed the BNZ tower one final time yesterday. Me once with Bunker coat and Elise on, I managed to run up 7 stories (my leg of the climb) in a little over 1 minute and the complete 24 stories in 6 minutes 25 seconds (same time for Deb), she then did another ascent.

She appears to have a cold currently, let's hope she feels better by Saturday morning.

Well, I got to ditch my old Ford Territory today and pick up my nice new shiny VW Passat 125kW TDI DSG Variant. In Mocca Anthracite (not a spelling mistake, that's how they spell it). I'll try to get some pictures up. It's very nice to drive!

Paula organised me to go and collect my Level 2's (firefighting gear) today. So I have just finished a training with the Bunker coat on and Elise in the backpack. I managed 10 ascents (850 stairs) in 18 minutes 12 seconds. Thankfully, I only have to run either '200 metres and 3 floors' or '7 floors and about 15 metres'. Dan has been volunteered for the '37 floor' climb in our team as he is the youngest. I haven't had a run in the gumboots, gloves and pants yet. Maybe I'll attempt that tomorrow morning on our last go at the BNZ tower. After that, I'm basically going to rest, (maybe a few quick sprints up stairs).

The hose has been flaked. Complete 40mm by 25m hose (9kg) to cart along with being fully donned for the relay run. The hose is the baton.

Our little Treasure has taken to climbing into our bed after a shower or bath in the evenings and requesting books to be read (by Dad). Go Dog Go is a favourite. Some of the nursery rhymes are good fun and can be read constantly for up to 5 times before moving to something else. Old King Cole is good, as it Hickory Dickory Dock (with a BONG added for the clock striking one) this brings peels of laughter, then a g'dumpf as the mouse falls down (more laughter).

Ciao.