Running, Wining and Dining

A few weeks in, Paul and Carole had planned a trip with their wine group; the Te-Awamutu Wine Appreciation and Tasting Society, or T.W.A.T.S to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. I was invited along, provided I found my own accommodation. Whilst searching for somewhere to stay I stumbled upon the fact that there was a half marathon taking place that weekend in nearby KeriKeri. And so, a plan was hatched to join the wine tour, but sneak off and complete my second ever half marathon in the beautiful Bay of Islands. The plan went perfectly and I had the most wonderful weekend.

The drive up to the bay takes about 4-5hours, but, in true wine club fashion, we stopped for a wine tasting and lunch on the way up. Once in Paihia we went first to my hostel; where the owner surprised me with an upgrade to a private room as a well done for doing the half marathon. We then headed to the TWATS palatial accommodation for the weekend to meet the rest of the crew and head to the second vineyard of the weekend – the Fat Pig – for wine (or water, in my case) and pizza from the outdoor pizza oven.

The next morning I was up bright and early and on a bus headed to the start of the KeriKeri half marathon. The course was pretty sweet, with the first 8km being gently uphill, and the last 13 generally downhill. I surprised myself with quite a fast pace and finding I could keep going at that pace pretty easily (although I still walked up the steeper hills!). The scenery was quite pretty, rolling countryside, although not really coastal views as I had hoped, and despite feeling pretty tired at about 18km I pushed on and before I knew it had crossed the finish line. I was ecstatic to learn I had beaten my previous half marathon time by 17minutes; finishing in a not too shabby 2hours13minutes!!!!!

Once freshened up Carole came to pick me up and I rejoined the wine club as they toured more vineyards, enjoying a truly delicious lunch at the Marsden estate that lasted about 5 hours! That evening, we all headed to KeriKeri to a street party; with myself acting as sober driving and doing 2 car-ferry runs to get the whole club there. We had some lovely food and drink and enjoyed the live music for a couple of hours before deciding to call it a night. On leaving KeriKeri with the first carload I was flagged down at a police checkpoint to be breathalysed; I stated my name and address, discussed the UK a bit with the police officer, and passed the breathalyser test. On the way back in to collect the second carload, I was again stopped and breathalysed – the police officer and I had a good chuckle about it – and I passed again. Not five minutes later on the return I was again flagged down. “Oh its my old friend Jude from the UK!!!!” exclaimed the officer...

On the Sunday, I taxied the TWATS to Paihia wharf, we took the ferry over to Russell, where we spent the day up in the hills overlooking the ocean at the Omata estate. More wines and food were tasted as we sat in the sunshine next to the vines – a perfect summer's day. We spent the evening in Russell at the Duke of Marlborough pub, next to the beach, enjoying... you guessed it; wines and more delicious food, whilst watching the sun go down on a perfect weekend.