Update from Lydia

Hi all,

It’s spring time in New Zealand and the days are getting longer but we are still enjoying some cool mornings. There was a frost the other day and the mountain got some late snow!

It’s been a busy couple of months for me…

Over the winter I’ve been enjoying canicross-style runs around the lake just a few minutes up the road from home. It’s a 6km loop and very hilly so I drag Moira up the hills then hoon* a little too fast down them! Moira tells me “easy” but it’s more fun to go fast! It’s especially fun after it’s been raining haha.

(*’hoon’ is a kiwi/aussie term for racing around fast and a bit recklessly… I’m slowly learning the lingo)

A couple of months ago Moira discovered the mountain bike park next to the lake so she hooks me up bikejour-style and we’ve been exploring the beginner trails. We have to stick to the beginner trails because Moira said I run too fast and she’s not confident enough on the bike to do the advanced trails with me. We go at first light so there are not too many other people around and while it is still cold.

About a month ago I (along with my siblings Junior, Dutch and Kodiak) turned eight years old! Moira and I travelled over to Hawkes Bay to SP Kiwi to celebrate with Uncle Waylon, cousin Felix and little sibs Torch and Daisy, plus their four housemates and two humans. We went out with the bikes on my birthday morning around the orchard near their house and the humans (thanks Ilona and Sheryll) baked dog-friendly cupcakes for us all decorated with whipped banana frosting, blueberries and sprinkled with dried lamb lung. YUM (well, except the blueberries but I spat them out). I even got a “Princess” tiara to wear and everyone else wore bow-ties!

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It was a fantastic weekend of fun and excitement!

Then, last weekend Moira and I packed up the car again! I wondered if we were going back to Hawkes Bay but instead we went to a forest near Rotorua and we met SP Kiwi there. There were also loads of other dogs and people… IT WAS A RACE! I didn’t think I would race again when I retired but this was a fun 5km circuit that we ran twice, once on Saturday evening and again on Sunday morning.  I got to lead the team too! Woohoo! Sassy the Siberian Husky and Salem the Border Collie joined in the fun also, with Kya the Siberian Husky and Little Black Dog Rogue in support. And, I got to sleep in the dog trailer which was just like the dog truck in Two Rivers! You’ll notice there is no snow on the ground, this is dryland racing which I had not done before – the mushers ride on three-wheeled ‘rigs’.

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Here’s a video of us right before our second race…

So, winter has been fun! Thanks again to everyone that helped get me to New Zealand!

PS for those wondering… NZ is not in lock-down currently, we’re in “level 2” (out of 4) so we are able to travel cross country and hold gatherings of less than 100 people, as long as we maintain social distance outside our “bubbles” and participate in contact tracing. All our trips were done safely.