Water and Wellington

Thursday I arranged to meet with the lifeguards of Mairangi Bay. I was to meet Danny the coach of the lifeguard competitive team and join in for a session. I found him among a group of lifeguards standing with their boards and surf skis on the beach. I quickly got changed into my board shorts and joined them for a quick warm up run and paddle.

For the session, I was partnered with Nick, a guy that looked to be about my size. We were to do a run, board, run continuous loop, with pause when the other person was on the board. The idea being that you could run faster after the break and push your partner to go faster on his run coming out of the water.

If you look closely you can see the lifeguard area flags

After my first lap is was evident that I would be no help at all to Nick. He outpaced me running in the sand regardless of having just finished his board lap and I quickly became fatigued from boarding much more than I am used to from Denmark. It didn't take long before even the youngest of the girls overtook me on my board laps. But even if my performance was slightly embarrassing for the Danish lifeguard corps, I thoroughly enjoyed the session. Even at 6 pm the weather and water was so warm, that there was no reason for towels on the beach. We would just dry in the sun during the pauses and leisurely swim in the sea after the main session to "warm down".

Murrays Bay is just a short walk north of Mairangi Bay

Another week another home
In the weekend I planned a trip to Wellington. I felt like it would be a good time to get out of Auckland and see some more of the North Island, because I had made a lot of progress finding a place to stay in Auckland (more on that next week). I decided to make a reservation at Worldwide Backpacker's hostel. It is a villa turned hostel and that makes it a charming small hostel, with a curious layout.

The entrance is on the porch behind a yellow gate

I got one of the downstairs rooms

It is rather spacious for four persons

The view from the permanently open window

Windy Welly
Wellington is the windiest city on the southern hemisphere! But when I arrived it was sunny with a comfortable breeze.

I was immediately impressed with how beautiful Wellington is

The museum "Te Papa" in front of Mount Victoria 

I went to see some of the most impressive sights on my first day. The "Te Papa" museum is one of the best museums in the world with its massive size and modern interactive exhibitions it can keep you entertained for a full day. But I wanted to be outside as well, so I went for a walk to the top of Mount Victoria.

The top lookout offers a great view of Wellington and the bay

Hi girls

The two Danish girls Tilde and Louise invited me to join them on the beach Wednesday afternoon. I know Tilde from home and she now lives and works in Wellington with her friend Louise. They will do so for the next six months and they are already much more settled here, than I am in Auckland. We had a good time at the beach with a short swim and went out for dinner afterwards. I couldn't imagine a better way to start my week in Wellington.