The partnership is intact.
Olympic champions Hamish Bond and Eric Murray want to stay together for another four years.
When Bond was in Dunedin last weekend, he told the Otago Daily Times his intention is to link up with his gold medal partner again to train for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.
But they have yet to make up their mind on the boat they want to sit in. "Whatever we do we will probably do it together," Bond said. "Eric's in a similar position to me. We are taking a few months out before we look ahead to a new challenge.
"It will be whatever excites us. We have to be motivated to get up and train for it each morning. It will shake out in the wash and become clear in the next month or so.
"It looks a long way off. But over the next few months I will get the desire back. I drove past Lake Karapiro the other day but I wasn't inclined to get into a boat," Bond said.
"I will get back the desire to get back on the water and get stuck back into it."
These freedom months are a time of reflection and planning before the 2016 campaign begins.
The London Olympics were the priority for Bond and Murray this year and they now have the chance to relax and enjoy time away from the sport.
"Eric has spent four months out of New Zealand in the first year of his son's life so he is catching up with the family," Bond said.
The New Zealand rowing team is having a four-month break after the Olympics. It is an active break for Bond.
"I don't seem to be resting that much," Bond quipped. "I'm not doing Olympic things. I'm digging holes in my backyard and doing landscaping back home in Cambridge.
"You have to take a step back to get a bit of perspective. If you go straight back into training you will go crazy."
Bond expects to get back on the water towards the end of the year.
"We are having a few months to ourselves," he said. "I'll do a bit of cycling to keep myself fit and later on I might do a bit of rowing in a single scull.
"It is not a matter of not wanting to train. It's more a matter of not having someone tell me what I have to do."
Before the final of the coxless pair at the Eton College course, Bond had his usual pre-race meal of a bowl of cereals.
"It's pretty simple," he said.
"There us no secret about it. I have the meal about three hours 30 minutes before the race.
"I like to give it enough time to get into the system. I feel full but my stomach isn't rumbling around with food when I'm rowing up the lake."
Bond admitted battling with nerves on race day.
"Once I get on to the water I'm fine. It's just a matter of getting through the breakfast three to four hours before the race to get some fuel in the body before the stomach clamps up and doesn't want any more." Bond occasionally regurgitates his food before a race. He has tried to overcome his nerves by keeping his mind active in the final hours before the race.
"I'm a typical male and can't think of two things at once so I read a book," he said. "I can't be thinking about rowing if I'm reading a book. It lets me finish my breakfast without throwing up."
Bond has learnt how to overcome the pain barrier in a race.
"I train for it. It becomes second nature," he said. "A lot of our training is harder than our racing. I have become accustomed to going to those physiological places.
"I used to approach racing with trepidation. We now know that it will not hurt as much as Dick Tonks' training."
Bond returned to the North End Rowing Club last Sunday. It brought back memories of his early days in the sport when he watched club members carrying a boat down the concrete ramp to the water.
"I spent numerous days sliding down the slip to the harbour," Bond said. "They call it a slip for a reason. That's where I learnt my trade. It brings back memories of my first rows."
It is different at Bond's New Zealand training base at Lake Karapiro where boats are launched from a pontoon.
"We are spoiled a bit now," Bond said. "If we have to get our feet wet we are not too happy about it.
"Occasionally we have to get our feet wet to put the boat in the water. We grizzle a bit about it."
Since returning to New Zealand, Bond has had a whirlwind of activities in different parts of the country.
This included a parade in Te Awamutu and Cambridge, the communities that support New Zealand rowing on a day-to-day basis when they are training at Lake Karapiro.
His quick visit to Dunedin was hosted by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union which honoured the Olympic medallists at halftime during the rugby test between the All Blacks and the Springboks.
It was Bond's first time back in his old home town since the Olympics and the first time he has been in the Forsyth Barr Stadium.
It was special for Bond to have his first coach and guru Fred Strachan in London to see him win the gold medal.
"Fred has seen me from go to whoa," Bond said. "He watched me when I was floundering around as a beginner on the Otago Harbour and watched me paddle from the North End Club to Ravensbourne.
"When the Otago Harbour is flat and calm it is one of the nicest places I have ever rowed. But it wasn't always calm like that when I was here."
Bond was grateful for all the support he has had from the Otago community, especially from the Skeggs Foundation and the North End Club.
While in Dunedin he gave advice and inspiration to younger oarsman at a coaching seminar organised by Rowing Otago.
Hamish Bond
Olympic champion
Age: 26
Born: Dunedin
Lives: Cambridge.
Education: Otago Boys' High School; Otago/Massey University (business)
ROWING CAREER
NZ championships: 15 red coats for North End Club (2007-12)
World championships: Gold in coxless four (2007), gold in pair (2009, 2010, 2011)
World Cup: Nine golds in pair (2009-11), one gold and two bronze in coxless four (2006-07)
Olympic Games: Seventh in coxless four, Beijing (2008); gold in pair, London (2012)
Honours: Named world rowing crew of year (2011 with Eric Murray), Halberg award for best team (2010 with Murray), three-time Otago sportsperson of the year
