Finally moved somewhere with a swimming pool, a gym, a university and a shopping mall all within a few minutes of cycling. Not forgetting the sushi restaurants, fab coffee and the credit card needed to make the most of these facilities! So after some time in Napier Maddy and I decided it just wasn't quite the training hub for us. After a weekend in Auckland consisting of fine dining, watching the world champs and making the most of the social scene (!) we knew we needed to really get down to some hard work. The next day we packed a rucksack and hit the road again for a couple of days of stunning mountain biking and running in Taupo. Luckily we were able to stay with some friends of Maddy's Dad who put us up in their holiday cottage and provided us with some fantastic food, company and entertainment for our mini break. Headed back to Napier and unpacked ready to pack again (fully this time) as we were leaving for Christchurch.
We arrived at the airport and were greeted by Andrew - a triathlete and physio who drove us to the coast where he and his girlfriend Lidia kindly put us up in there house for a week whilst we found some accommodation. The week kicked of with a 3.5hr ride in the porthills, it was so lovely of Andrew to take me on one of the hardest climbs in Christchurch the day I arrived, it was a 'Bastard' of a climb! But this really set the tone for the week as we cracked on with the early morning swim sessions which were made slightly more bearable by the non stop karaoke to Electric 6's 'Gay Bar' that seemed to be constantly booming out of the car Andrew let us borrow! Having Maddy chauffeur me around was a delight although cruising round a new city with me on the directions did lead to a few heated episodes. The beautiful forest trails and beach were just on our doorstep and meant getting out the door for a run was no problem especially when there's delicious homemade paella cooked for you afterwards :)
There really was no hanging around this week as by Tuesday we both had interviews and on Friday we started work. For the first shift we happened to be waittressing at the Canterbury sports awards, inevitably I ended up serving drinks to our new swim coach whilst wearing the most hideous uniform! After 6hrs on our feet serving drinks with no break after a full days training we thought it would be reasonable to take 5mins for a drink...apparently not! The next day was a slight contrast as I ended up flipping burgers in a van at a concert, still just as fun in my opinion.
So we've finally made it to the new pad which is perfectly located in Christchurch. Eat, sleep, train and have fun were our main intentions before coming here and I think that's pretty doable!
