These rum-induced visions are getting to me!

Argh!!!! Those rum-induced visions of my friend John are starting to get to me. My Sharks are JINXED! They lost in the final of the Super Rugby and now they’ve lost in the Currie Cup final too.

It was early to rise in this household as the final was on at 4.20am in the arse end of the world. Form dictates that my Sharks SHOULD have won. EVERYTHING was in their favour! A home final at the SHARK TANK, all their Sprinkbok players back in the team AND they beat Western Province in BOTH warm-up matches. On the night though, Western Province’s defense was just too good ..... dam!

My man Lambie was awesomeness and beyond! He scored ALL of the Shark’s points. I just hope if he’s selected for the tests against Ireland, Scotland and England, he’ll get more game time than what he did in the Rugby Championship.

Win or lose, my Sharks will ALWAYS be No. 1 in my eyes!

There was no point in going back to bed after the rugby so we headed out bright and early for a ramble, only the hound and the birds for company.

There’s something soulful about early mornings. There’s a calmness in the air that you don’t feel at any other time of the day. It always amazes me that more people don’t take advantage of the early morning peace and tranquility. They wait until the hustle and bustle of the morning has begun and then wonder why they feel no serenity in their lives. In the words of Elizabeth Barret Browning 

“Earth is crammed with heaven.”

Peace ... it’s a bit of an oxymoron of a word when referring to early mornings! The bird chorus can be quite raucous and as for the waves crashing onto the beach ... that’s a rumble that’s anything but silent .... BUT .... I love it! It’s not an artificial noise, it’s Mother Nature at her best.

It’s been a really gorgeous day in Auckland. It wasn’t meant to be according to the people in the know, our local Met Office .... but they got it WRONG! 

It was this lady's 50th birthday today ... and she's running the marathon!

The sun has shone for the running of the Auckland Marathon, one of the FEW races that is allowed to traverse the Harbour Bridge. The Marathon begins in Devonport and crosses the Harbour Bridge into town. The half-marathon participants then finish in Victoria Park while the full marathon participants run the length of Tamaki Drive to St. Heliers before turning around and heading back to Victoria Park.

A London businessman .. complete with bowler and briefcase

Yep ... even an escaped convict!

We timed our ramble so we’d be back in the village to watch the runners go past. The hound gets SO excited! She’s used to us yelling and clapping when we’re watching the rugby on TV ... yes, we get rather vocal! She wanted to join in with the cheering and clapping for the marathon runners! Have you ever witnessed or HEARD a Chocolate Labrador cheering ... it’s hilarious!

I’m sure the runners appreciated her support though!

Even Superman was there!

Hmmmm .... I think I’ve found a phrase which describes my hound’s daily routine superbly!

“Get up, be AMAZING, go BACK to SLEEP.”

Tiger - doing what he does best, lazing in the sun.

Wet .... sticky .... gloopy MUD!

This was Saturday's weather ....gorgeous cloud formation!

My feet after walking through the mud at Kepa Reserve today

Wet .... sticky ..... gloopy mud. It’s IN my shoes, all over my legs ... my pink socks are brown. My chocolate brown hound is a muddy brown hound. I am TIRED of mud.

Julia and I walked at Waiatarua on Friday and yes, it’s a wetland, so you expect there to be lots of water and mud, but it’s getting ridiculous .... this is mud overload. My shoes don’t even get time to dry in between cleaning all the mud of them and wearing them the next day. Julia’s got the right idea ... she wears gumboots .... but I don’t have any of those.

Waiatarua on Friday

Bucks, a hound we met at Waiatarua

Gav and I took the hound to Kepa Reserve yesterday afternoon after my market, and again this morning, to continue looking for “The cat who lived”. Kepa Reserve covers 14 hectares and runs between Meadowbank and Kohi .... and it’s even MORE muddy than Waiatarua ... if that’s at all possible!

The revamped dog pond

We’ve been trying to cover all of the reserves around where Cayl’s and Dave live in the hope that someone might have seen Shimmer. No luck so far but we’ll keep on looking.

We did have fun at Kepa Reserve though ... slip sliding everywhere! Cayl’s joined us this morning and we went off the beaten track even more than what we did yesterday. There were several moments when I thought I’d land on my bum, particularly when the hound pushed impatiently past. She was in her element ... mud, water, logs and her favourite humans. Yesterday our ramble was curtailed by the sun saying good night ... rambling around a reserve in the dark is a sure-fire recipe for disaster ... particularly when the pathways are narrow and on the edge of a creek.

Today we had no such problem. Plenty of sunlight hours to push our way along paths that hadn’t yet been created ..... sink into mud that hadn’t seen human feet in it before .... my shoes and legs look even worse than yesterday!

The hound once again found the huge log in the creek that she’d retrieved yesterday. 

She’d  tried, unsuccessfully at first, to get the log up to the path. Every time she’d managed to jump up the bank she’d drop the log and it’d roll down into the creek again. She’s persistent though and persevered until she’d successfully managed to capture the recalcitrant log and put her front paw in front of it to stop it rolling back into the creek ... she’s definitely NOT blonde.

There was a lot of fun and laughter during our search today but we returned home sans kitty and very tired and muddy.

We watched my Sharks take on the Chiefs in the Super Rugby final last night. Sadly it was NOT a good game of rugby for them .... they didn’t have their usual spark and the Chiefs rode roughshod all over them.

 I guess the hound was right in choosing to play with the Chief’s rugby ball last week ... she definitely knew something I didn’t. 
Traitor.

Looks beautiful but it's WATER-LOGGED!

Cayl's slip-sliding in the mud

We found the railway line 

My mate Sebastian.

 My mate Sebastian went to Doggie Heaven on Friday ... Carol wasn’t ready to let him go but Sebastian knew it was time. He knew that pic I took of him on Thursday was going to be the last one I’d ever take of him and he made sure it was memorable. When I looked through my photos on Thursday morning before posting my blog I was blown away by the light in his eyes and how wonderful he looked ... who would have thought it would be his last outing to the village.  

He was the most dignified of hounds .... and the MOST loved of any hound I’ve yet to meet. I will never forget watching Carol walk up and down the hill every day with Sebastian in tow, taking him for his daily constitutional. It was

always done at his pace .... with no hurry .... this was “Sebastian time”. 

Whilst Friday was a sad day, it also held many beautiful moments ... sitting with Pete and Carol as they reminisced about their hound and the joy and happiness he’d bought

to their lives was special.  I felt privileged to spend that time with them and to be there when Sebastian breathed his last. What a huge hole he’s left in their lives.

Taking photos of empty beaches in the Eastern Bays for Dog Friends ... for

Okahu Bay ... empty ... and it's a glorious day

the hearings Coucil is holding in May .... has taken on more significance. Because of Sebastian’s age and the length of time it took to come down the hill, he was never able to access the beaches during summer. I took several photos of empty beaches on Friday and have posted them to

Mission Bay

Dog Friends site for inclusion in the submission. Council have received over 10 000 submissions for the proposed changes to the Law ... I’m hoping the majority are in the hound’s favour.

Having to share my sandwich with the hound!!

Glen Dowie Boat Club

It’s wonderful that Friday was such a beautiful day, from a weather perspective that is, as empty beaches on gorgeous sunny days will have a lot more impact than empty beaches on overcast and rainy days. We truly live in an awesome spot and driving around taking all the

photos on Friday was a timely reminder of how magnificently scenic this island is. Gareth and I took advantage of HAVING to go to the beach and found a lovely isolated beach to have our lunch at .... the hound got to swim too ... but don’t tell anyone!!

My land of birth did me proud this morning .... getting up at the crack of dawn .... 3.30 am!! .... to see Wales defeat France and take the Triple Crown and 6 Nations honours was memorable. Listening to them sing the National Anthem gave me goosebumps!! 

Gav came down at 4 to watch the Sharks take on the Reds but ended up watching the rest of the Wales/France match first as it was so exciting.  Flipping between channels WASN’T an option!!

Fortunately my Sharks managed to pull off a win against the Reds too so, all in all, a brilliant morning of rugby here at the arse end of the world .... a lazy afternoon/evening elsewhere in the world!

My hound is the grateful recipient of two new rugby balls ... an “unchewed” South African one as hers is really looking the worse for wear ... and a new WELSH one.  She very proudly took the Welsh one to the beach this morning and enthusiastically showed it off to all those souls doing “Round the Bays”. I wonder how long it’ll be before this one looks as chewed as her old South African one!

Indy with her ball yesterday

Last night's sunset

... and a close up of it.

"Don't you dare TOUCH it Indy!!"

Maggie (one of my neighbour's dogs) on the beach this morning.

Me and my ball!