Wandering Wellington's Eastern Suburbs

Hi there

I love walking Wellington.  Winter, summer, any season.  So, surely my four readers will have no trouble visualising the anguish I went through for six months this year whilst my knee was healing from that stupid fall when I tripped over a tree-root as I hiked the Eastbourne hills.  It took me five hours to complete the hike and finally reach home.  So much for icing the leg immediately, and elevating the leg immediately, and resting the leg immediately ...

I like walking the Miramar hills.  When I reach the top of that high walkway that takes you down the slope to Scorching Bay, I always stand there and ooh and aah over the view. My heart lifts when I see lovely scenery.

And when I've taken my fill of Scorching Bay from atop the hill, I merrily trip down to cavort on the beach or stop for a break at Scorch-A-Rama, the cafe.  Under the name The Chocolate Fish, this cafe was frequented by many of The Lord of the Rings' stars when they were filming the trilogy here in Wellington. 

above:  Scorch-A-Rama has tables across the road from the cafe.  Waiters wear hi-vis vests and dodge the traffic to feed the customers.

7 swims at 7 beaches in 7 hours, Wellington, New Zealand.

hi there

Here's our 7 swims in 7 hours

Below:  Freyberg Beach... with the jellyfish -

 Below:  Balaena Bay, lovely.

Below:  Hataitai Beach, home turf

 Below:  Worser Bay.  That's us, in the distance.

Below: Scorching Bay

Below:  Princess Bay.  I slipped on some baggy shorts for this swim, thinking the water would be cold.  It wasn't.

Below:  Island Bay, reputedly the coldest waters in Wellington.

Seven swimming beaches in seven hours! - done!

Hi there

Today (Monday NZ time), J and I fulfilled our Quest.  We got to swim at seven beaches in the Wellington area in seven hours.  We actually completed our Quest in 6 hours.  There was no hurry, we wanted to admire views, and partake of sandwiches, and warm our tootsies between swims

Believe it or not, the temp today was 28c!!!!  Did we pick a day or what?  Our main rule was no less than 12 minutes swimming at any beach.

We started out at 10 a.m. at Freyberg Beach, practically in the city.  Freyberg Beach is just a hop and a skip (forget the 'jump) from Oriental Bay.  But in the water were - wait for it, can you guess? -  jellyfish!  Petrified, I trod water in one place.  J swam bravely for a bit until she hit a pod (her description) of  jellies.   I wanted to abort the Quest after my first jellyfish hit but I gritted my teeth and held out for the twelve required minutes.

The waters of Balaena Bay were deliciously lovely and calm. 

Gorgeous Hataitai Beach is, of course, home for us.  So 'nuff said.  We had our lunch there.

Scorching Bay and Worser Bay had warm waters.  J actually forgot she wasn't wearing her swimming booties and marched into the sea in her going-out shoes.  The sand was very hot.

Neither of us had been to Princess Bay and it was quite enjoyable.    We were a bit wary because we didnt know where any submerged rocks might be.  Loads of people there.

Island Bay: everyone told us Island Bay waters were freeeeeeezing.  We found the sea nice and crisp.

We laughed, giggled, chortled practically the whole day.  Lots of thngs didnt go to plan, the main problem being finding parking that was close to the respective beaches. At first I was embarrassed having to walk a long way along the footpath in just my bathing suit and my big thighs, but by the time we hit Island Bay, I didn't give a tinker's darn about how I looked. We would take  several pairs of sandals if we did the whole thing again because driving in wet, soggy, sandy sandals is not pleasant.

We took three bathing suits each with us, but stayed in the one costume throughout, driving the car in my bathing suit and sitting on a towel.  I went through 7 towels.

Okay, then, here's the challenge:  how about if you go for the 7 swims in 7 hours? -  Freyberg, Balaena, Hataitai, Scorching, Worser, Princess, and Island Bay.  12 minutes minimum swim.  No rush....

Thumbs-up photo when you're done please.

Go for it.


..... photos by J's personal papparazzo will appear later in the week

Eight Swims for June 2014 - mid-winter in NZ

Hi there

Well, we have mananged eight (count 'em, eight!) swims for June.  There was a whole flurry of them around the shortest day (21 June).  J and I are kind of proud that the swimming total has been so good for what is officially mid-winter, even though we both know in our hearts and in our freezing limbs that July and August  are truly the coldest months for swimming.

I see that one of my five readers (hey, from England, woo-hoo!) has said that there was a record broken somewhere in New Zealand for the most people skinny dipping in winter.  Nope, it wasn't J and me.  Skinny-dipping?  I would have to be forty years' younger and many stone lighter to even contemplate that.

It's been a year since the terrible storm that caused havoc around Wellington.  The Hataitai Beach wooden steps leading down to the water from the deck  were completely shatterered (see last year's pic), the Breaker Bay mid-winter swim was cancelled, house roofs were blown off and falling trees blocked roads. 

A few days after the storm I wandered over the hill from Miramar to Scorching Bay.  It broke my heart to see all the silt, pebbles, and debris washed up onto the Scorching Bay beach.  Here's a pic I took at the time;  I never figured the sands would get back to looking pristine ever again.  But the beach is looking real nice again nowadays.

Feeling Sorry for myself

Hi there

Back to dentists again, sorry.  The past seven days have seen me feeling all sorry for myself.  I blame the dentist.  All dentists.  Every dentist who has ever existed ...   In my mind, dentists are one step above medieval torturers ....

A week ago the dentist went ahead and seemingly emptied the contents of an entire drawer into my mouth.  Since then I have been having to put up with bruising and tearing and pain (oh, my).  I haven't been able to open my mouth very wide at all to eat.   I've been living on creamed corn, mashed potato, scrambled eggs and Weight Watchers chicken casserole for days .... and days.  My friends have suggested tins of baby food, but I nixed that.

Yesterday, I bought a blueberry muffin from New World.  I had to break it up into a thousand crumbs.  The muffin took about an hour to eat.

And to think that the tortune goes on next Monday with another hour and a half scheduled session. 

Still ... I pulled myself away from my lethargy and forced myself to go for a walk during the weekend.  I traversed the zig-zag path down to Scorching Bay.   The first photo is of the bay from about halfway down the path.  In the second picture (click on it) you might be able to see the outdoor tables and chairs that belong to the cafe "Scorch-a-Rama".  This cafe used to be called  "The Chocolate Fish" and when "The Lord of the Rings" was being filmed, the actors and crew used to love going there for a bite to eat.  I believe, under it's new name, the cafe has been popular, too, with "Hobbit" and Weta Workshop workers    The cafe building is separated from the beachside tables and chairs by a road.  Waiters have to face maybe-death-by-traffic to deliver meals.

1st swim for July - darn cold afterwards!

We did our first swim for July today.  It was cold and to make matters worse I had a sore throat and a bit of a cough;  I didn't feel I could go to 'gym' because of it and so I stayed home.  However ......     Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't have hopped out of bed to go for the swim but J and I had to get it out of our systems and once we say those fatal words, "let's go and look at the water", the deal is all but set in stone.
And talking about 'stone', I think I've broken a tooth on a jelly baby - they should be called concrete babies!  Dentist on the agenda.
I was warm after a half an hour or so of getting home from my swim, but after eating about a full litre of ice cream (sore throat, remember?), I suddenly became so cold I took to bed in socks, tights, nightie, sweater and the heater on full blast.

Changing subjects:  I truly love the Miramar Peninsular (I've noticed that shops around the 'peninsula' spell the word in different ways).  I adore walking around it,  The peninsula starts at Miramar Wharf opposite the 'All Blacks' sign put up on the hill by Weta Workshop,  passes Scorching Bay, cuts across Seatoun village to the Pass of Branda,  goes through Breaker Bay, and finishes at Lyall Bay.   There are also lots of tracks and zig-zags, but more about them in a future blog.