Whale swim cancelled

The fickle New Zealand weather has done me in. After looking mild to bad all of last week the Metservice unfortunately got it right. The organisers & coastguard of the Whale of a Swim decided on Friday to call it off while we were on route to Whakatane. A group of us met up in Mt Maunganui and we decided to continue on and see if maybe we could do it on our own. The weather at Whakatane was a bit windy, but not too bad, which did not help some easily accept the cancellation. Hamish, Marieke & I visited Jenny, one of the organisers but she convinced us that it would not be safe for all concerned to attempt the swim.

So we went back to the houses I had organised for the (now unnecessary) carbo loading dinner and a few drinks. A few people had brought down some certificates, togs & gifts & these were handed out. I foolishly tried to keep up with the youngsters and ended up going to bed some time after midnight. We had a swim in the sea the next morning (to get rid of hangovers), but the coastguard had got it right. Hamish went for a short kayak with his friend Wayne, but they gave up after 10min or so, it was blowing15 - 20 knots and gusting higher so the swim was never really on. Everyone else left on Sat morning to go back to Auckland or to Taupo to watch the Ironman so Alison, Duncan & I were left on our own for a quiet stay.

We left on Sunday morning for the trip back via Hamilton this time.  Alison, Duncan & I have been doing a bit of Geocaching on the way to break up the journey and we did some more on the trip back. The geocaches are not much in themselves, but they do get hidden in some fantastic places that you are unlikely to go to otherwise. I think we all enjoyed looking for them.

Caught up with the Hamilton family, Jenny is in hospital with some problems with her pregnancy which I didn't understand, and while being in hospital is serious, those in the medical fraternity did not seem terribly worried, so I will take my cue from them. Alison wanted to visit, but had a cold and so decided to stay away.

Went to Parnell training this morning & saw Vic & Marieke, all of us with our lower lips dragging on the ground. The cancellation seems much harder today and I'm getting Alison's cold. I need to pick another swimming goal to work towards.

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