Kayaking on Lake Taupo-with PHOTOS!

How many people can say they have been kayaking with an 'IronMan Triathlon' finisher?  We can!  There was only one other couple on the trip today. They were Aussies and he finished 8th in his age group last Saturday. She did not compete. At first I was a bit intimidated thinking that we would never keep up with his paddling, but it was not an issue. He was a super nice bloke (NZ talk). Of course I had tons of questions for him:

Question:  Nathan, What is the biggest injury IronMen suffer?
 Answer:    "Kidney failure". ( augh!  I was thinking blisters!)

Question:  how much weight do you lose after competition?
Answer:  "I lost 8 lbs in 10 hours 8 min" (swimming 3.8 km, biking 180 km, running 42 km)

Question: how many times have you done IronZman?
Answer:  "4 times before. I'll do it again in June"

Question: why do you do it?
Answer:  "I'm hooked on it!  I have to keep trying to go it faster!"

Interesting guy and very nice, too.

Take a look at our pictures...as soon as Nancy loads them. The trip was 8 km and we were on the water 2.5 hours.
It was a gorgeous day--sunny and 75 degrees.

Here is a question for our blog followers:

"How many years ago were the Maori Stone carvings done on Lake Taupo."
(No fair using the Internet! Pretend you were just floating by in your kayak chatting to Nathan, the IronMan)

Answer will be in tomorrow's blog