That’s the Chanticleer Cup, awarded annually to the winner of a weekend meetup between the Auckland and Wellington region’s pétanque communities.

I was part of the 12-person Auckland squad for the third time.

We lost.

But we got a nice road trip, which we used as an excuse to buy a new (used) car. Here it is outside a funky house in Ōtaki, where the competition was held.

It’s a 2020 Toyota Yaris hybrid, directly imported from Japan with 50,xxx miles on it. It’s wonderful! It’s amazing how much fun technology they crammed into cars since 2009 (the year of our minivan). And the gas mileage… wow!!! I’ve never been willing to pay the premium price for a hybrid or electric car, given how little we actually drive. But finally now, I couldn’t not do it for political reasons, and it certainly is nice. It will take at least 10 years to actually pay off the difference in price compared to a comparable gas or diesel car, but oh well, that enormous “kms to empty” on the dash is worth it.

Except for losing quite badly, we had a great weekend of pétanque, exploring, and catching up with everyone at the tournament.