7.3.2007
A BEAUTIFUL HOLIDAY RESORT IN NEW ZEALAND - PAUANUI

Maybe it's been one of my most relaxing weeks ever here in Pauanui. It's not a tourist place as we know them, but it's a place, where local people enjoy their free time. You might compare it to staying in Finnish holiday villas. Anyway, Pauanui is totally different. Here you are surrounded by Pacific Ocean and green areas like golf courses and New Zealand jungles. The area is flat, but there are mountains near. Pauanui mountain is only 387m high, but in Coromandel Forest Park the peaks are over 800m above sealevel, only 30min drive away. The weather is like in Finnish best summer times, over 25C. It's easy to find hiking paths, although they are mostly hilly, and you can run without shoes on grassy ground or sandy ocean beach.

Thanks to Robinsons awesome family, we have had a wonderful place to live this week. We've had Robinson's summer house in our own use with Tero and Heli. The house is huge and gorgeous and is located between tees 6 and 9 in Pauanui's other 9 hole golf course - really! From one corner of the house it's only 10m to the 6th tee :) When writing this I'm watching straight to the golf field through the window of the living room and the golf field starts off the balcony. We have enjoyed our time here very much and that's why we stayed here longer than we planned. Today we leave, because it's time to see more of Northern Island, dolphins in the sea, geysirs in Rotorua etc.

After leaving Australia my calf felt quite bad, because the last orienteering training was too much for it to bare. Luckily it recovered better this time. Two days of resting and traveling made it already feel good. I've started training easier than in Australia, but I've run for four days in a row. Now it feels that it's really getting better, but don't want to celebrate yet. We've been hiking, easy running and yesterday canoeing. Tomorrow, there is a running competition 5km in Tauranga or 5,4km in Rotorua, both in natural environment. Tero and Heli are planning to run one of them. Yesterday evening I did running intervals to see, how the calf feels. It felt good, so I think I run one of the running races tomorrow after taking it easy today. There are no orienteering maps or even suitable terrains here, but in Rotorua and Taupo it's possible to orienteer. I think that rest of our trip, I will orienteer almost every day. In Tasmania there are very good orienteering possibilities and Hanny Allston promised to guide us and even participate in my training there :)












-jani-