New Zealand Weekly Update #69

12th of February until 18th of February 2024

Approximate reading time: 5 minutes

Lets get it started

What a week! Crazy as fellas! Since I was not able to go for the online english test last week, I had to reschedule and pay for another one. This time I decided to do it in person and so I made my way to Invercargill, together with my good friend Tony. Since his car is still wlorking, he gave me a ride all the way to the south. So we went straight after work on Thursday and after three hours, we arrived in Invercargill. And even better, one of my very good friends Tanya is living and working there, so we were able to stay at her house, together with her partner Garret. Talking until late evening, having tee and sharing stories about immigrating in New Zealand. About challenges, struggles, laws, unfair situations and also about the feeling when you finally made it. So I made my way to the test center friday morning. 10 people in a small room. 10 computers. Everyone got a headset and a microphone and there you go. Lots of different tasks. Listen and repeat (and fellas, ten people in a small room, everyone talking, you cant hear a shit!). Summarize a text in one sentence. Writing an essay. Fill in the gaps. Watching movies or listening to talks and answering questions. And all that with time limits and you are only allowed to listen or watch once! Yikes this was quite a challenge. Even though it is an academic test and I would consider myself good enough in speaking english, I felt exhausted after two hours. Check out Pearson English Test at youtube and have a look yourself! After the test we checked out Lobb optical, an optician and optometry store with is part of OCULA and afterwards back to Wanaka. And I got ready for race day – Wanaka Challenge is calling!

We are Triathlon!

Saturday morning, 5 AM. I got up and got ready for race day. Weeks of training behind. A great and demanding challenge ahead. Packed all my stuff and made my way to Glendhu Bay. Hundres of challengers at the area, professional triathlets, people who have never done a triathlon before. Teams. And me in between. Preparing everything in the transition zone. Bike. Running gear. Supplies.
7.25AM. And action!
First part: Swim. 1.9km. And I knew I am gonna be slow with the swim part so I just kept going without focussing on everyone else but me. Stroke by stroke. Breath by breath. And the water temperature was great. The sunrise amazing. And we were in between this amazing scenery. 47 minutes later, back on land. And running to the transition zone, feeling tipsy and without balance. And I got ready for the bike section – lets have some fun! All the way to LAke Hawea, up and down, slow and fast. With big smiles on my face. And from time to time, my friend Tanya and her partner from Invercargill would wait for me, cheering me up and shouting at me „Go Dingy“. And I can tell, this kind of motivation is a gamechanger. It helps you to keep going. It is such a motivation! And I kept smiling. Racing the roadbike is fun. And this time I passed a lot of people 🙂
After 55km and 75 km I struggled a little bit. I could tell that my energy is running low. So I kept going refilling my body with electrolytes and gels. Keep them engine running mate!
And since we were talking about running, this was the last part of the challenge. After 3 hours of biking 90 km, I arrived at Glendhu Bay. Ready for the last section.
Transition zone. Music on, get on them feet!

And yikes, this part hit me hard fellas. Wanaka challenge is not a classic Triathlon. It is not flat. It is steep. Lots of elevation. The run was exposed to the sun all the time. No shade. And heaps of climbing uphill and going downhill again. And my body was done. Tired. Exhausted. Sometimes I would walk since I could not run anymore. I was in a zone. I was telling myself to keep going. To finish. To never give up. And talking to volunteers along the way who supported us with supplies was a gamechanger as well. Heaps of people dressed up. With pink hair. With flash costumes. From time to time I gave some high-fives. And I was still smiling even though I was completly done. I did heaps of runs, heaps of distances. But this run was the hardest one so far. There have been heaps of moments when I just wanted to quit. To sit down and cry. To throw in the towel. But I couldn’t. Since some people would wait for me at the finish line. And even worse, before the second lap one volunteer would send me to the wrong direction and I was running towards the finish line. Everyone thought I finished, but I still had 10km to go. This is insane!
6 hours and 25 minutes. And finally, I crossed the finish line. Exhausted. Tired. Empty. And full of pride. Of joy. Of way too much. And way too less. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. It was just overwhelming! This challenge deserves its name. It is even more. It is a lifetime experience. It pushes you down. It will challenge you. Your body and your mind. Your strength and your ability to keep going. It is a fucking tough fella. Its amazing!
After the race, me and my collegues went to Stoaker room in Wanaka and we had heaps of food, some drinks and lots of talks. I could tell that my mind is going crazy, I talked a lot, we laughed and even though my body was tired as hell, my mind was not.
And now? Well, I was talking to some people after the race who already did some ironmans. And they have told me that Challenge Wanaka was the hardest race they have done so far…
I will give it a little time, but thinking about finishing an Ironman… sounds like fun 🙂

What else to say?

Sore body. Mind is happy. Coffee is ready. Today is chill day. And fingers are crossed that the results for the english test will show up soon. And if they are positive, this is the time to apply for residency and to move forward. All the hard work, all the patience, all the struggles, all the time. For the big picture. For New Zealand. This could be even a harder challenge. But it is worth it. Since I am truly in live with this country 🙂
Have a great week fellas, enjoy every moment.

Your DingyInternational
Felix