Slept fairly well last night but was up before the sun.

Jane had pointed out that there was a trail around the marshy area near the motel, so I headed out there a little after 7 for a run, walk, or whatever combination of the two felt right. I set the watch for 2 run/1 walk and did that for 25 minutes, and then I switched to 1 run/2 walk for a bit, and walked the last part.

Time = 55:50. Distance = 4.41 miles.

There were a number of swimmers doing laps in the water by the 4 mile mark, and then later they were running on the trail as I was returning. Triathlon is big in the area.

Surprised at how hot the sun felt near the end, and it brought home to me Jane’s cautioning on the strength of the sun in the area.

Content to go back to the Herries’ homestead afterward to implement my sunburn prevention plan – working on the radio control/results stuff indoors for the rest of the day.

So, I built the first seven events in the O-Lynx software. Also, I was privileged to see the monitor (TV) stand setup in action for the first time.  The monitor stand would be a talking point many times over the next two weeks.  It goes up with no tools assembly, with dowels to hold it together.

After another excellent day, and a home cooked tea in my belly, I returned to my hotel in Napier.

It was sort of strange to miss New Year’s Eve. Since crossing the International Dateline happened during the night, there wasn’t a celebration of any kind.

After landing in Auckland early, clearing customs easily, and making my way to the local terminal, I had ~4 hours to wait and worry about getting on a plane of this size:

I shouldn’t have worried. The plane felt really solid, and it was a pleasure to be able to see the country so clearly from above.

After landing, we were greeted outside by the flight attendant wearing these glasses. She didn’t want her picture taken in the goofy glasses, but I did. Happy New Year!!

I was a bit scattered leading up to this trip, and I dropped the ball when it came to confirming how I was getting from the airport to my hotel in Napier. I figured, if nothing else, I would get a taxi, which turns out may not have even been possible because of the holiday. But, no worries. I was greeted by Jane, holding an orienteering flag at the gate and driven to my hotel. Jane also provided this awesome fruit basket! The cherries were huge and so delicious, as was the rest of the fruit. Thank you, Jane!

After showering, Jane drove me to her home in Hastings, and I met the rest of the family – Phillip, and their children, Catherine and Callum. I hung out there the rest of the day and was fed an excellent dinner (tea). A run to the grocery store for a supply of diet coke was taken care of as well.

Started the long trip to New Zealand today!

The decision to go to New Zealand was made pretty quickly, especially for a heavy thinker like myself. At the end of October, I decided that I could exercise without pain for the first time in over a year, and though I wasn’t going to be in great shape, I wanted to go to New Zealand for the Oceania Carnival and Sprint the Bay.

Not wanting to drive myself around New Zealand, as the events were over a good part of the north island, I emailed Phillip and asked if there was room for me to travel with the O-Lynx crew. I had met Phillip online about a year ago after purchasing the O-Lynx radio controls and results display software he created. We used O-Lynx fairly successfully at the North American Orienteering Championships in October 2012, and this would be the same technology used at the New Zealand events for the Live Results.

I was grateful that Phillip and his wife, Jane, were able to accommodate me, with the extra bonus of having the housing arrangements made as well.

So, with the travel details out of the way, I just needed to get through getting the office sorted (trained a temporary employee) and the holiday season. The time flew by, and departure day was upon me.

Extremely nervous about how I would handle the long flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, but it turned out the flight from Dullas to LA was more stressful since the plane was changed, and I ended up in an inside seat. Also, there wasn’t much time between the two flights, so I had to hustle to get between the domestic and international terminals, clearing security and getting to the gate just in time. Whew!

For the flight to Auckland, I had the two seats in my row to myself, but I was unable to get much sleep during the ~12 hour flight – only about 2×15 minutes. I watched 3 movies and multiple episodes of the Big Bang Theory to fill in the time.

Also, took in the view…