T- minus 10 hours

That's how long it is until we leave the house and head off on holiday! Caroline and I are flying to Queenstown, New Zealand, and then taking a trek around Milford Sound. We will be out of phone and internet range for 5 days, but hopefully will have some amazing memories and images to bring back with us. We have decided to go with a hiking company who will guide us through the fjords and mountainous regions that were the inspiration for much of the scenery in The Lord of the Rings films.

Lord of the Rings Country

It will be quite an effort as we have to average over 10 miles of walking per day, including a tough climb up to the MacKinnon Pass. But also included in the trip are boat rides on the fjord and a helicopter ride back to Queenstown.

Great views at MacKinnon Pass

Luckily Caroline and I have both been getting fitter, which should make the walks bearable. While she is cycling and plans to ride the Bay in a Day ride later in the year, which will be at least 50km, I have been running, and have some plans of my own. Since New Year I have run three times, a 7.5km run on New Year's morning, a 9.5km run that had to be split up after about 7km as I ran out of puff. Mind you, it was about 26C when I was running and I was probably going a bit quick. I actually thought it was cool because the temperature had dropped from the 40C day we had just before, but 26C is still too hot for good running. Then today I went out at a very conservative pace and ran 10km in 59 minutes. I ran a bit further, but 10km was the aim.

When I get back from new Zealand, I am going into heavy training mode in an attempt to develop longer distance runs and more stamina at faster times. But I'll start to think about that when I've finished trekking in New Zealand!