saturday night at the speedway

I never should have gone two weekends without updating this. So much has happened, beyond it being so windy for a few days that this port-a-loo almost didn't make it.

Last Saturday we went to the neighborhood Speedway, for the New Zealand Stock Car Racing Championship. I've never been to a speedway before, but I can see why people like it--evening sun, dust, picnics/tailgates and a bit of adrenaline on a summer Saturday night.

A good time was had by all.
I made a new friend, Jono, there. He was the newest expat in town until our dear friend Elise Holton from our native St. Louis, MO dethroned him today. He's also from a city with a French name--Bordeaux, France, and is here to work at Mt. Michael Winery.


We took a Sunday drive to Lake Hawea and went for an outrageous hike during which Jono taught me to eat tomatoes like any other whole fruit and I taught him how to use the word "heaps" in a sentence, which sounds like "eeps" when he says it.

This is about a quarter of the way up the trail. His shirt has a picture of John Goodman from "The Big Lebowski" on it. It's one of his favorite movies, but he's only seen it dubbed in French. I wonder how that translates.

Epic trail. It reminded me of Kauai a little bit...but with California wildflowers.

This is the lake at the bottom. These hiking photos are mostly Jono's. I have to give credit where it's due. We've already established that his camera is like, way cooler than mine.

This is a typical Kiwi camper bus at the campsite where the trail began. I just love them. One of great things about Kiwi people, besides that they practically all love camping, is that they take care of old stuff, so there are cool old boats, caravans and bikes everywhere.

For example, my awesome new wheels. This is my new (old) dove grey Healing Commuter (yes, it's really called that) with a white quilted leather seat.