Have just spent the past week down in Dunedin (and surrounds). Flew in Sunday 21st, back Sunday 28th.
On Monday morning, I had a job interview at the University of Otago for a Teaching Fellow job in the Psychology Department (where I did my PhD). Monday afternoon I got a phone call offering me the job. Sweet! Looks like we'll be back down in Dunedin next year! Also managed to get some Christmas present shopping done, and got a photo taken with Santa!
On Tuesday, I managed to get a couple of laps in around the old Dunedin Nationals XC track at Forrester Park/Bethunes Gully on Tuesday. It had dried out quite a lot since I last rode there (September 08) so it was nice to find 99% of it rideable! (The 1% is a chute that I never quite mastered when I lived down there - and now it's rutted out even more.. urgh!).
On Wednesday (Christmas Eve), we headed down to Scotty's family crib down at Measley Beach (about 45 minutes out of Dunedin).
Actually.. the photo above was taken last Christmas. I forgot to pack my camera this year.. oops! We headed to Balclutha that evening to spend time with Scotty's family, and I went and explored the trails along the Clutha River, accompanied by many sheep.
Thursday (Christmas) and Friday (Boxing Day) were spent eating, drinking, and being merry. Not too many bike-related Christmas gifts this year, but Scotty got me a cool pink helmet and a pair of Sock Guy socks. Awesome :)
On Saturday, we headed back to Dunedin and spent a couple of hours in the afternoon playing on the tracks up on Signal Hill. It was quite cool checking out the new stuff up there, aswell as riding the old tracks in the XC network where I first started MTBing. I was feeling pretty happy with myself for riding sections that I couldn't ride a few years back. Yay! Can't wait to head back up there and ride it more and more!
Finally, Sunday we flew back into Wellington. We left an awesome day in Dunedin to come back to a wonderful sunny day in Wellington also! Headed out for a ride on the singlespeed up Makara. Ah the familiarity of the local trails - I'm going to miss them the most about Wellington I think.
So.. that's last week in brief I suppose! This weekend is the first race of the NI XC Cup in Rotorua so I'll be heading up north on Thursday. But for now, less time blogging, and more time relaxing (well, not really.. I'm doing housework interspersed with games of Bejeweled) and riding :)
2 comments:
Hey, just came across this while not doing much of anything. I'm in the "British Colonies", a.k.a. the US of A and currently quite snowed in and not doing much riding, though I hope to get out on the road tomorrow. Always fun to read about folks out and about on their favorite trails.
Keep working on that SS project! ;o)
Peace and Happy New Year!
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www.singlespeedrevolution.com
Ride One or Ride None!
did santa get a bonar when you sat on his lap?
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