Many, Many Fitbit Steps

Saturday 4 January

A glorious start but it was a four seasons in one day kinda day.

First outing was into Blenheim for Jeremy to do the Park Run (I took the dog on half of the run at walking speed - we were tail end Harley!) Harley enjoyed making friends with the volunteers and other dogs, but was horrified when Jez ran off into the distance and dragged me along the track zig zagging all over the place and singing loudly - much to the amusement of the "Tail Walker" (personally I think Harley should have a jacket with that printed on it!). Jez told me he would do the run in 30 mins, so I set the timer for 15 minutes, walked that far and turned around - only to be passed by Jez about 4 minutes later which made Harley feel even more abandoned!

While Louis had a swim at the local pool, we headed back to camp and made some picnic goodies for our next adventure. Brian, our next door neighbour, popped over to say hello - turns out his family sold the Fitzroy Vineyard that we are camping out on to cousin Nick Goldschmidt around the turn of the millennium, and that it was a cherry orchard at the time. He said his brother in law built the shed and kitted it out with some second hand items, but they must have been pretty old even then as we had google lensed the cooker and it dates back to 1972! We also admired the sleek lines of the newly trimmed vines - not an unruly bush in sight!

Then, sans Harley, we set off to tackle the Wairau Lagoon loop walk.

It was all very flat and rather marshy (glad the sun had dried out most of the muddy patches on the path) and the focus of the walk was the rusting hulk of a ship wreck out on the lagoon - which was pretty cool!

When we reached the lagoon and the rusting hulk, there was a picnic table which we were quick to nab, before a family of 3 generations of cyclists showed up. They were hysterical - teens climbing all over the wreck, kids play fighting like pirates, grandad proclaiming there actually were pirates and that after the next ride back he might need a defib!

We took the longer side of the loop back to the carpark, which was more scenic than the route out as it followed the river for much of the way.

See way out on the left and way back on the right below.

Cheeky stop in at Astrolabe Small Town Winery on the way home - very stylish spot with the prettiest wine bottle labels ❤️

Temperatures suddenly plummeted in the evening so we ended up back in the shed kitchen for dinner and more gin! Nom nom - steak & mushroom sauce, brisket sausage & healthy salads. Started rewatching Ted Lasso - you forget just how good this show is!

Ended the day with 21,162 Fitbit steps which is my best total in a while.