Second summer? Not quite yet.

Sheep on the hill and ducks in the paddock
So here we are in not quite so sunny New Zealand, turns out it is still Spring here so there is plenty of rain along with baby ducks and lambs. At least the landscape is green, a nice change from California brown.

We headed out to run this morning, to get in some practice before the run clinic on Saturday. We found a nice 1/4 mile hill nearby and hit some hill repeats in the rain.

Then this afternoon we stopped by the Personal Training Studio that my mother works out at, Cappella in Rotorua. We met Lyn and had a good exchange of idea's. Hopefully we can get back to Rotorua for yet another run clinic before long.

Tomorrow we head to Auckland to work out at CFNZ and check out CF Auckland before the run clinic on Saturday.

Fight Gone Bad at CrossFit NZ

After arriving in New Zealand early on Monday morning we headed to CrossFit New Zealand to touch base with Taz and Darren, as we are holding a run clinic there on Saturday.

They were just about to hit Fight Gone Bad, so we stayed to help coach and count for them.

Getting set up and Taz with the SDLHP

Taz and Darren wallballing
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Once they were done (Darren 354 and Taz 314) we headed south.

We stopped in Matamata for lunch and thinking of Eileen at CFES got some pictures of the Hobbiton signs and sculptures. The Hobbiton scenes in Lord of the Rings were filmed here.

MaD with Gollum and Donna the Hobbit :-)
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After a good nights sleep it was time for breakfast, bacon, eggs and 'srooms :-)

Turns out free range hens have very yellow eggs!

Fight Gone Bad with CrossFit LA

We had a great Fight Gone Bad workout with CrossFit LA and CrossFit Culver City at Sony Studios on Saturday. We hit the first heats so that we would have time to get back to check out of our hotel. So sadly we missed out on the paleo BBQ :-(


Matt: 294
Donna: 194 (Turns out that a 14# Wallball to a 10' target is damn hard work)

Post workout, hot and sweaty. The scores go up

After the workout we headed to The Grove in Beverly Hills for some quality people watching and post workout nutrition (beer!).
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Then it was time to head for LAX to return the rental car and catch our flight to NZ.
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Before getting on the plane we checked with the kennel in NZ and the girls had finally arrived there safe and sound :-). We also made it to NZ with all our baggage and are now getting ourselves sorted in Rotorua.

Say goodbye to the Matrix.................

We started the day by turning in Donna's car to Toyota Santa Monica, the lease guy there, Tony Doyle, was very helpful but Donna will still end up with a black mark against her from Toyota :-(

Last night I picked up the rental car we are using for our last two days in the US, a nice silver Dodge Charger :-)

The get away car!


This afternoon we headed up to CrossFit LA to help them load up the equipment for Fight Gone Bad tomorrow.

Then we made our way across town to unload and set up in Sound Stage 22 on the Sony Studios lot.

Sony Pictures and Sound Stage 22 all set for FGB!

On the pug front the girls finally got all their paperwork in order and are all set to fly out tonight. By midday tomorrow they should be settling in to the quarantine facility in NZ.

Dogs, Rings, Ropes and things................

The girls enjoying their hotel bed before their ordeal began!
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Things are not going smoothly with the girls. The vet signed some forms in the wrong place and a test result was missing. So the USDA wouldn't approve them to fly today. We think Jet-A-Pet has got it all sorted and they should be good to go tomorrow, fingers crossed.
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to provide a distraction we headed to Santa Monica Beach to check out the pier and the play ground to the south.

The pier and part of the playground

Donna on the swing and Matt swinging :-)

Matt the monkey!

Obligatory muscle up!

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Then we headed back to the pier for lunch. Interesting sights to see there and I am not talking about the ocean. People watching is a fascinating pass time. We also discovered that you can learn to play on the trapeze there as well. We were tempted but not this time.

Tonight we headed out for dinner and found people running short sprints just up the block. Looks like we stumbled onto CFLA! So we stuck our heads in, said hi to Ingrid and John, before heading off to dinner. We are going to help them with Fight Gone Bad this weekend. Should help us stay distracted from the girls plight.

San Diego and chilling by the pool..........

We started the day yesterday in San Diego visiting a couple of the CrossFit boxes. First stop was Invictus, CJ made us very welcome and shared a lot of his experiences with us. Great facility with probably the best bathrooms/locker rooms we have seen. A necessary addition when you cater to a downtown clientele.

They probably have the sexiest chalk buckets too!
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While at Invictus we also got to meet and chat with Michele Vieux, owner of Mmmm Good Meals, a great way to get Zone and Paleo meals if you are in the area.

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Next stop was CF San Diego. Nathan, a trainer there, showed us around and educated us on the intricacies of modern country music :-)

Nice mural!

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Then down to the harbour to see the sights and have fish and chips for lunch :-) Not paleo but they tasted good!

Just one of the boats in/under the water

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Once we had our fill of CrossFit we headed back to Coach Burgener's place to chill out for the afternoon. The girls enjoyed the pool and got to meet a big bulldog who belongs to one of Mike's clients.

Relaxing by the pool and Ginger stealing Coach B's seat

Kiwi meets Roxy

The view from the front door at Coach B's

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Coach B and his wife Leslie made us feel at home and fed us a great paleo meal, tri tip, chicken, steamed veges and salad :-) Thank you so much, we really needed a place to wind down and relax. After dinner we hit the road to LA, driving at night was so much better than during the day and we made excellent time.

Humming birds at CoachB's. They are very cool birds!
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This morning we dropped the girls off at the kennel prior to them shipping out tonight. We hope they won't be too pissed about it when we see them in NZ next week.

Mikes Gym!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After a quiet day in Escondido we headed up to Bonsall to visit Mike's Gym. It was great to get to workout there under Coach B's expert eye. We both worked on our problem areas with the Snatch and Clean and Jerk. As always there is a lot to work on but we made progress with our technique and positions.

Snatch, Clean and Jerk, what else is there? Donna gets some expert coaching

MaD, the girls and Coach B

A few bars and bumpers

Kiwi helps me repack my bag

Tomorrow we head to San Diego to hit some more CrossFit gyms. Then we will be back at Coach B's for another workout and dinner before we hit the road to LA.

Long day on the road....

This morning after clearing out the apartment and giving a car load of stuff to Paige, it was time for a quick visit to CrossFit East Sacramento to say our final goodbyes. Thanks for the photo montage from Friday night, we will be sure to get it up on display in our new box in NZ.

Then we had to hit the vet one last time for the girls flea and worm treatment before all their paper work got signed.

We finally hit the road for San Diego at 11am for the seven hour drive, it went well even though we hit LA at 4:30pm just in time for rush hour. Thank god for HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles - Car Pool) lanes.

LA traffic, thanks god for the HOV lanes :-)

An Aircraft Carrier off San Diego

The girls in their new crates :-)

Hopper Deck Hell!

More love on the CrossFit East Sac site today, make sure you check the comments section. Travis left us a good one :-)

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In fact Travis joined us for our last workout at CFES today. We decided last night at dinner that we would draw cards from the Hopper Deck and choose the least worst. Turned out it was Donna's pick of the 7 of Hearts. 10 Cleans - Run 200m, 9 Cleans - Run 200m, down to 1 Clean - Run 200m. We picked 135# for the boys and 65# for the lady.

Turns out it pays to hold onto the bar for a reduced cycle time

Travis kills the last 200m run

The tale of the whiteboard!

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Tomorrow the girls have their final visit to the vet and we say goodbye to CFES. Then it will be time to hit the road for San Diego.

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We are hoping that Ginger will have recovered for the trip. It appears she ate something she shouldn't have at Friday nights party, she is not a well puggy today. Or maybe it was drinking Travis' margarita that did it, who knows?

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It will be sad to say goodbye, we have had a blast coaching and hanging out at the box here. We will miss it and all the new friends we have made.

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Less than a week to go, sometimes it's hard to believe it's time to go already.