Dragonflies and TedX

What do these two have in common? Not a whole lot really but Dragonfly Peak can be found in the Mt Aspiring National Park (close to Wanaka) and Wanaka also just hosted their very first TedX event. As a fan of Ted talks (TED.com) I had a look around at Ted events that I might be able to attend. First up for consideration was the Ted Global conference to be held in Brazil next year. Sadly the conference ticket price was USD$6,000 – with flights, accommodation and meals to add to the cost that was definitely out of reach. A colleague happened to mention a TedX event coming up in Wanaka and the ideas started to grow. Wanaka? Hmmmm, close to loads of climbing opportunities.

Before long a plan was hatched, a couple of days annual leave booked, climbing gear packed and we were off to Wanaka via Dunedin. We arrived late at night in Wanaka for a sleep and repack before heading off to the East Matukituki valley on the Thursday morning. Lugging our 20kg packs (ugh) we crossed the (cold) river and set off up the valley with the intention of climbing to below the Albert Burn saddle before setting up camp for the night. That day saw us crossing farmland, wandering through bush and over streams then climbing up through bush and tussock for around 1000m before finding a relatively flat spot by a partially frozen tarn to set up camp for the night as the sun went down. I can safely say it was freezing that night. The ground was quite frozen and there were a few patches of snow around. Luckily we had our alpine sleeping bags and slept in most of our clothes so had a snug night before an early start the next morning. While getting our gear sorted I realised how cold it had been – water stored inside the tent had frozen as had my sunscreen.

Campsite on the first night

A cup of tea and bowl of porridge was appreciated before climbing up to the saddle and the Whare Kea chalet. We positioned ourselves in front of the chalet’s webcam while getting geared up for the climb up to Dragonfly Peak.

 

When we got back to civilisation we found there were two images of us online from the chalet’s webcam – mission accomplished!

 Whare Kea webcam photo – Mt Aspiring in the background

View of Mt Aspiring from Dragonfly Peak

The climb to the peak was relatively straight forward. We had a couple of stops along the way to take photos including some pictures of a couple of chamois who casually wandered past us. At one stage my climbing partner headed off to clamber over some rocky bits while I found a different route up a snow slope. I thought I had found the easier route until halfway up when I realised the snow quality wasn’t the best and it was a lot steeper than I had first thought. At that stage it seemed a good idea to carry on instead of retreating which I did. We regrouped on the summit and had a break there, taking photos and enjoying the view.

Heading towards the summit of Dragonfly Peak

On the way back down we made the decision to descend down the route that I had climbed. Interestingly it was decreed that the route was much harder and riskier than the rock route. Oops. Anyway, no falls occurred and we continued back down to the chalet for a leisurely lunch on the deck. After an enjoyable lunch in the sun it was time to descend back down to the valley floor to find a campsite for the night.

Descent down the tricky bit

After starting our climbing at 9am we found somewhere to camp at about 6:30pm in amongst the trees. That night there was a rather exciting electrical storm somewhere straight over the top of us – lightning flashes and thunder were happening almost instantaneously. Early the next morning it was time for a quick packup (no time for breakfast) before heading off to get back across the river to the car and back into Wanaka. With no place to shower we got to a café in Wanaka for a late breakfast and changed into more acceptable attire before heading out to Rippon Hall for the start of the TedX event.

TedX

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." It supports independent organizers who want to create a TED-like event in their own community.

 The Wanaka event was the 7^th TedX held in New Zealand and possibly the smallest with a limit of 100 tickets. Participants were encouraged to meet up with others so we were asked to add something about our interests onto our nametags. That provided a good conversation starter and people mingled well.

 

The day was split into three sessions with breaks in between for conversation and snacks / drinks. The seven speakers were all NZ based and were a diverse bunch – author Derek Grzelewski, retired psychiatrist Ken Bragan, nanotechnologist Michelle Dickinson, blogger Liz Carlson, leadership expert Andrea Thompson, fridge hitchhiker and author Rob Cope and ecologist Steve Sawyer.

After watching a lot of Ted talks online over the past few years I wondered how a NZ event would compare. Certainly the speakers were not as polished but their talks were all compelling to listen to and the audience were certainly engaged, amused and interested through all of the presentations. In addition there were a couple of other Ted videos played – one of which I’d seen before but the other one was of particular interest to me. I’ve been working on a bit of a proposal around a Wellness programme for Redvespa and the content of the talk (http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work) has led me to pause and think about the content of my proposal. The talks from the Wanaka event will be available in the near future on Youtube.

The only downside to the event was the constant thanks to sponsors that was required between every talk / video / performance. That was pretty tiresome as the day wore on. Apart from that, the entire day – the venue, the talks, the entertainment, the food and the people – gave me a real buzz.

Overall I’d recommend attendance at these types of events as well as watching Ted talks online – they certainly provide a wealth of information and a hefty measure of inspiration. There are TedX events scheduled in Auckland (16 August), Tauranga (14 July) and Christchurch (1 November) and I’ve also heard that there will be an event in Wellington too although this has not yet been scheduled. If you’re able to get a ticket, get along to one of these events for an inspirational time. Tickets for Wanaka were just over $100. Totally worth it for the talks as well as the food and drinks provided.

Try this one - it's delicious!

One positive aspect of having some time out for work has been the opportunity to try out a few new recipes. It seems a little odd to me to use a recipe to make salad but I came across this one recently, made it, ate it and decided I should share it.

It looks great and tastes even better! The quantity of ingredients isn't critical, of course.

Ingredients

1/4 red cabbage
2 grated carrots
1 large or 2 medium grated beetroots
1/2 cup sprouts - I used a mix of different bean and pea sprouts then also threw in mung beans because they needed to be used up
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup chopped mint
1/2 cup chopped raw almonds

The method is easy - put all ingredients into a bowl and mix.

Dressing
The recipe had the following dressing :
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp manuka honey

Personally I found this dressing to be too oily so when I made the salad for the second time I reduced the oil to 1 tablespoon, added some lemon juice and swapped the honey for maple syrup. I think you should just use whatever your dressing of choice is.

Enjoy!

Four in a row - tramping fun!

Recently I learned I would be physically out of action for a period of time - this was a blow as I had plans to be climbing Mt Aspiring in November and this plan would now need to be shelved. As might be expected of me, my reaction to an enforced period of inactivity was to ramp up my weekends for the remaining period with some tramping trips.

As with all our trips we had several backup plans in place in case the weather didn't play ball. Plan A for the first trip was to head up to Mitre Peak in the Tararua range for a spot of snowshoeing to take advantage of a recent southerly blast. This would have been a strenuous but fun trip. Sadly the weather gods threw a curve ball with rain and gales on the tops so the trip ended up being an easy wander in to Mitre Flats hut for the night and back out the next day. The positive for the trip was having the hut to ourselves - the previous two occasions I've been in that hut have seen an overflow situation with people sleeping on the deck and camping outside.

Waitewaewae slip

Trip 2 went according to plan with a pretty average weather forecast being wrong and being delivered two lovely sunny days. The plan was a walk in from Otaki Forks to Waitewaewae Hut (also known as YTYY or Y2YY) on the banks of the Otaki River. There had been recent activity on the long standing slip which made for an interesting few moments of near-terror as we scrambled across that. The decision was made towards the end of the tramp in to take the dry weather (wet feet) track to the hut. With scant information we headed off for that and took a bit of time to figure out that meant a walk across then up then across the river. The final river crossing was chest height in frigid water - luckily the hut is right by the bank of the river so dry clothes were soon available and the fire was kicked into action to warm us up. Again we had the hut to ourselves for the night. The walk out the next day was uneventful although the decision was made to take the wet weather (dry feet) track back out to avoid a morning dip.

Otaki River - looking benign.... and cold

Trip 3 was a less than perfect weekend with low cloud and rain. Nevertheless we headed off for a short walk up to Kapakapanui Hut at the back of the Reikorangi Valley behind Waikanae. For the third week in a row we had a hut to ourselves so settled in for a quiet afternoon of reading before dinner and bed. Listening to the rain through the night we wondered how the river crossings would be on our way back out to the cat the next morning. After breakfast and packing up we headed off to walk up over the summit before dropping steeply down to the carpark. The river was a little higher than the day before but still crossable. Lucky. Would have meant a long walk otherwise.

Kapakapanui Hut

Wangapeka slip

Finally we were down to my last weekend and we were lucky enough to be in the South Island. Yet another soggy forecast meant a change of plans and then a road closed due to a slip caused another change of plans. Off we headed, on the Wangapeka Track to Kings Creek Hut for a couple of nights. As with the Waitewaewae track, there was an active slip on this track. And, wow, what a slip!

There are warning signs at the beginning of the track and on both sides of the slip advising that the slip should be crossed quickly, that spotters should be used for falling rocks etc. The slip happened in October 2012 and has partially blocked the river resulting in quite a lake behind it complete with trees that are dying (slowly drowning I guess).

We got through to the hut ok and then it started raining and didn't stop. When we first arrived there we had a dip in the river. By the next morning the river was heavily flooded.

Kings Creek Hut

Five minutes further along the track is Cecil King's old hut. Cecil was a miner who spent a lot of time in the area and his old hut has been restored and has 4 bunks available for people to stay there. It's a cool little hut with an open fire and easy access down to the river.

Cecil King Hut

After a couple of nights at Kings Creek hut it was time to head for home. Despite the continual rain the slip was passable. The next hurdle was a ford we'd driven through on our way to the track - it was dry when we'd driven through it on the way in. After all that rain it was flowing pretty high - lucky we had a rental car. The rain had eased off and you could see that the river level had dropped significantly. Lucky - we would have been pretty stuck otherwise. It's one of the few fords I've seen that has a footbridge alongside to allow people to exit (without their vehicle of course) when the river is high.

So, four tramping trips over four weekends. In all cases we had the huts to ourselves and only saw other people on the Waitewaewae trip. Luxury!

Now it's time to rest up and recuperate in time for some summer trips.

Back on the saddle again

After a frustrating 8 weeks of no activity I've been given the all clear to "resume normal activity" by my specialist. He has advised me that, while I may experience ongoing pain (for up to 6 months) healing will continue and I can't do any further damage to my sacrum (unless I fall on it again I guess). I was thrilled with that and checked with him that I could get back on my bike. There was a little intake of breath at that question so I was told to go for a short ride and see how it felt.

A few days later I hopped on my bike, rode round the block and then rode to Upper Hutt and back - a distance of about 40-odd kms round trip. While I certainly experienced some tenderness and stabs of pain it was bearable. I took that as being successful and have gone back to commuting to work and back each day. The worst pain is when I get out of the saddle for steep hill climbs so that's a little limiting. The vast reduction in my fitness level (and the subsequent increase in weight) has been extremely frustrating and every day has been hard work - especially with the fresh / gusty northerlies we've been getting here in Wellington.

Over Easter was the next test - a shortish tramping trip with a pack on my back. My son's girlfriend and I headed for the hills for a 4 hour tramp to a hut for an overnight stay then return. Again, the pain was certainly there but bearable. A few pretty awful twinges but nothing long lasting.

This weekend coming is the Oxfam Trailwalker event (a walk of 100kms). I withdrew from this event and the weekend of tramping has confirmed that this was the right decision. While I can handle the pain for short periods of time, a 24-hour+ walk is out of the question for me. I will be there as support crew but that is as far as my contribution goes unfortunately. I'll be there to cook, massage and encourage as needed. Maybe next year I can be in the team.

A trip to Arete and back

A great weather forecast at the beginning of February led to an overnight trip into the Tararua range with the goal to walk in to Arete Bivvy. The track starts out the back of Levin and we headed off up the Gable End track towards the tops. After walking for an hour or so I was feeling unwell and lacking in energy so we decided to carry on to Te Matawai hut and figure out what to do from there.

Gorgeous day for a walk

On the way to Te Matawai Hut

Te Matawai Hut

After a less than enjoyable trudge up to the hut the decision was made to have dinner and stay at the hut for the night. In the morning we would leave our packs at the hut, head up and over to Arete Bivvy before walking back out to the car via the South Ohau Stream. There were a few other people in the hut but after dinner it was time for an early night and a good sleep. The morning dawned fine with a little bit of cloud on the tops. While getting pack up ready to go I somehow managed to fall from the bunk steps onto the wooden floor. Luckily I have enough padding on my butt so the fall didn't cause any damage. We got ourselves packed up, sorted out gear and food for the walk up to Arete and headed off. While I felt a little better than the day before I was still not 100% so was walking slower than my normal pace. It was great to get up onto the tops and it didn't take us long to get to the high point of Arete and then descend down the other side to the bivvy.

On the way to Arete Bivvy

View along the tops

Arete Bivvy - cute little hut

Looking back down to Arete Bivvy - Wairarapa in the distance

The bivvy itself is a cute 2 person hut nestled in grass and tussock with one of those amazing loos with a view. After a rest break and a water topup it was time to get ourselves back to the hut to pick up our packs and start the descent down to the South Ohau Hut then down the stream to the car. I enjoyed the descent a lot more than I had enjoyed the climb so we made pretty good time going down. The descent down to South Ohau Hut is pretty steep and rugged. The hut itself is beside the stream and looks like a great place to stay. We decided we'd have to come back another time and spend a night there.

South Ohau Hut

View from in front of South Ohau Hut

We had a snack and a brief rest stop before entering the stream for the walk back to the car. Unfortunately, we had only walked for about 10 minutes when I slipped on a rock and landed heavily on my butt. It was one of those awful moments when you realise you've done some real damage and that the rest of the day would be a little different than planned. After dumping my pack off my back and gingerly getting to my feet (I was dry I might add - somehow I landed right on the flat, dry rock that I had slipped off) I knew that I had managed to damage something pretty badly but that I could still walk. After swapping some gear out of my pack to lighten the load we set off down the river towards the car. Pretty much every step was agony with any climbing over rocks intensifying the pain. I did wonder if I had lost enamel from my teeth from all the teeth-gritting that was going on. It was definitely no fun and there was little to no conversation going on during the walk out. It took about 4 hours to walk out to the carpark where we then had the drive home to cope with.

South Ohau Stream

South Ohau Stream

South Ohau Stream

A trip to the doctor the following morning and an xray a couple of days later revealed a displaced fracture of the sacrum. On looking that up on Dr Google it looked like a scary proposition but it seems that it all depends where the break is as to how serious the fracture is. Mine is right at the bottom of the sacrum - just above the coccyx - which is, apparently, far less serious than breaks higher up. It still means a healing time of 6-12 weeks, up to 3 months off my bike and all other physical pursuits are on hold for now. This makes for a very bored Carolyn with the prospect of not being able to get out and about for a while.

Hillary Trail - Wellington Anniversary Weekend

The opportunity arose to be in Auckland over Wellington Anniversary Weekend this year so I scouted around to see what we could do with that time. I stumbled across the Hillary Trail which is a 70km, 3-night walk from the Arataki Visitor Centre to Murawai.We only had three days (2 nights) available so arranged to leave the trail early at Piha Beach. Information on the trail was readily available on the internet but warned that the walk was a hard, long walk.

Day 1 - Arataki Visitor Centre to Whatipu

We fronted up to the Visitor Centre at about 11am on the Saturday morning and set off to Karamaratura (just past Huia) which was a 10km walk.


This part of the trail had warnings about the boggy nature of the track and was expected to take 4-5 hours to get to the campground. The track itself was fine. Slightly boggy in places but certainly better than some areas of the Tararuas as far as mud went. After an enjoyable walk we arrived at the campsite at 2pm - it only took us 3 hours to get there. We stopped at the campground for lunch and then figured we may as well keep walking for a few more hours (another 10kms) and head to Whatipu for our first night.

Part of the track between Karamaratura and Whatipu

Trying to get phone reception on the hill above Whatipu (a little windy up there)

Picture looking towards Whatipu and the entrance to Manukau Harbour

We arrived at Whatipu late afternoon and set up camp at Cave campsite. This was a very small camp ground that provided a small number of tentsites and a toilet. There was fresh water available about 15 minutes walk away at the main Whatipu campsite. There were a number of people already at Cave campsite when we got there so it was a little tricky finding some flat ground to set up camp for the night.

Just enough room for a small tent at Cave campsite

We got that sorted and then had dinner just before the sun went down. A very enjoyable first day on the Hillary Trail.
 

Sun setting at Cave campsite

Day 2 - Whatipu to Craw campground

 Day 2 dawned a little wet and miserable so we packed up our tent and headed into one of the caves nearby to have breakfast.

Breakfast spot in the cave

From here our destination was Craw campground just north of Piha, a walk of 21.5kms. Today would be a mix of walking in the bush and then on the beach to Karakare before enjoying a with a little bit of civilisation at Piha. Luckily the weather cleared up and the day turned out warm and sunny. After a little while we reached Pararaha campground which is where we had intended to camp on our second night. Clearly we were walking the trail a little quicker than the signposted times. We managed to get within cell range to change our plans of leaving the trail early and sort out a pickup from Murawai instead of Piha. Along the way we walked through the Tunnel Grove campground. This was an awesome spot and, if we'd known about it, we would have arranged our walk to stay there.

Tunnel Grove campground

The tunnel by the campsite complete with the abandoned boiler which didn't fit through the tunnel

From that campsite the walk continued along the beach all the way to Karekare. Rather hard work walking in sand with a pack on. At Karekare we climbed a small hill to where the Hillary Trail continued and sat and had lunch in the sun.

Beach at Karekare

View from our lunch spot at Karekare

After lunch at Karekare we headed back into the hills and came across Mercer Bay. We noticed a group of guys ziplining across the top of this bay so we stopped to watch them for a while.

Mercer Bay

From Mercer Bay we carried on towards Piha where the trail winds its way past the Kitekite Falls.This was a popular spot for families swimming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kitekite Falls at Piha

After a brief photo stop we headed into Piha where we had a well-deserved icy cold cider before carrying on to Craw campground.

Beach at Piha - Lion Rock in the middle of the photo

Campsite at Craw campground

There were a couple of guys camped here who were also doing the Hillary Trail. They had decided to exit early though and not do the final day through to Murawai. We had a pleasant night here with an early start the next morning. The information on the trail said that the walk from Craw to Murawai would take 11-12 hours. With a 5:30pm pickup from Murawai organised we figured we should get an early start so headed off at about 7am.

Day 3 - Craw campground to Murawai

From the campground we headed over farmland for a while before the trail went back into the bush heading away from the coast for a while. After a long descent we walked alongside Lake Waimanu and then some huge sand dunes to Bethells Beach (Te Henga).

Lake Wainamu

At Bethells Beach we continued on the trail but had a great view down to the beach where some filming was taking place. Not sure what the film is but there were horses and what looked like Roman soldiers involved.

Bethells Beach - Te  Henga

After a short climb over the hill by Bethells Beach we stopped for a swim at O'Neills beach. The sea looked a little treacherous here but it was great to have a dip and wash off some of the accumulated sweat and dirt from the previous two days.

Te Henga Walkway - O'Neill Bay

After our refreshing swim we carried on. We were now on the Te Henga walkway to Murawai.

Te Henga Walkway - from Bethells Beach to Murawai

Te Henga Walkway - from Bethells Beach to Murawai

Somewhere towards the end of the walkway we stopped on the side of the track for a lunch break. We were making good time so were confident we would easily get to Murawai in time for our pickup at 5:30pm. After lunch we carried on to the end of the Te Henga trail - the last part of the trail to the road into Murawai climbs a series of wooden steps. Not the sight you want to see after having walked a decent distance already. Once we finished climbing the steps we were onto a mix of road walking (boring and hard on the legs) and trails through the bush. This took us through to the gannet colony and then onto the beach at Murawai. We celebrated our arrival with a swim in the surf there. It felt great! Once we were suitably refreshed we made our way to a cafe for a cold drink while we waited for our ride. All up the day had taken us about 9 hours - including stopping for a swim and a relaxed lunch break as well as numerous photo stops along the way.

Small part of the gannet colony at Murawai

Summary

We enjoyed our three days walking the Hillary Trail. From our perspective, the numerous warnings about how rough, tough and long it was were overstated. The track was pretty dry when we walked it so I can imagine after (or during) rain progress could be a little slower. There are certainly improvements that could be made to the trail and the literature. Signage was either over the top with Hillary Trail markers very close together to non-existent where no Hillary Trail markers could be seen and no other useful signage to indicate the start of tracks. Carrying the detailed brochure as well as a detailed map for the area assisted us in a few places where the route was unclear. The estimated times were overstated for the pace we were walking. Given that we were carrying reasonably heavy packs with camping and cooking gear, etc I don't think we were walking particularly fast.The maps for the trail show the route between Pararaha to Karekare is in the hills but the markers have that section walking along the beach. There was no information provided on that change and no mention of it at the visitor centre at the beginning of the trail. It would be good to have more information in the brochure about some of the other campsites and maybe a breakdown of the times between different sections of the walk. And my last point was to not take much notice of the profile map in brochure. The profile for the whole 70kms is printed across the page resulting in an unhelpful profile that doesn't show any details. It would be much better for the profile to be split for each section of the trail and to be printed in landscape.

Gluten free baking

I've been experimenting recently with some new recipes with pretty good results. I've been looking for some recipes that are vegan - more as a matter of interest to see what the results would be like compared to a "normal" recipe.

The first one I tried is from www.healthfulpursuit.com - here's the link Chocolate Banana Cake Bars. This produced a very moist cake - very brownie like - and was pronounced delicious.

The second one is also gluten free and vegan (and has no added sugar either). This recipe only makes a small amount so don't try use a standard size slice tin - more a tin that is about the half the size. It's from a site called femfusionfitness.com - here's the link Chocolate Fudge Brownies. Note also that, even after refrigerating, it's super moist so quite difficult to cut. This one was pronounced very rich and yum!

Both the recipes are pretty easy to make and great for when you're living a vegan gluten free diet and also good to take along when you know people have some dietary restrictions. Chances are that the brownies will be ok for the majority of people to eat.

The other baking I do on a regular basis (generally once a week) is a gluten free banana loaf. Tonight I altered the recipe to make it vegan (replaced the eggs with flax seed - to replace one egg, mix 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons of cold water, let it stand for 5 minutes) and it's turned out just fine. The original recipe was from the NZ Healthy Food Guide site. I just checked their site now and the recipe they have is completely different to the one I make. I had modified their recipe anyway so here it is.

2 eggs (or replace it with flax seed as described above for a vegan loaf)
1 cup sugar (I'll be messing with this the next time I make it to reduce the sugar)
1/2 cup oil
1 tspn vanilla
2 soft bananas
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup potato flour
1 tspn baking soda
1 tblspn gum (guar or xanthan)

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees celsius.

Beat eggs, sugar and oil. Add vanilla and bananas and beat till well mixed.
Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Pour mixture into a greased loaf tin and bake until a skewer comes out clean (around 40-45 minutes - my oven is a little dodgy so just check the loaf with a skewer).

That's it. That recipe is super simple to make so easy to whip up and bake after dinner. Enjoy!

Food glorious food

Most of my friends and family know that I no longer eat meat (apart from fish!). I would have to say that the overwhelming reaction I get from people is not a positive one which I find that difficult to understand.

For a long time I've enjoyed eating healthy food and cutting out meat is one more step in making my diet healthier. It's over a year now since I stopped eating meat and I don't miss it at all. A positive side effect has been a reduction in weight. I am guessing some of this can be attributed to not eating meat. Cycling to and from work everyday and tramping on weekends might also have contributed to the weight loss.

For me, the reasons behind this new lifestyle are health based. It's not an ethical issue for me. I am fitter, stronger and healthier now than I was previously. Maybe this can be attributed to the vegetarian diet. Maybe not. What this has taught me is that I don't need meat to satisfy my hunger. I thought I would struggle with not eating things like bacon and a good steak but this is not the case. What has happened is that this lifestyle change (which is what it is - it's certainly not a "diet") has opened up my eyes to a whole new range of food.

Eating out is not quite as simple as it used to be but that's not an issue as we only eat out on rare occasions. Usually there will be one or two items on a menu that are either seafood or vegetarian. We have found a few great places to eat around Wellington where the menu caters for our needs. One such place is Nature Vegetarian. This is a tiny Asian-style place on High Street in Lower Hutt (across the road from Pak n Save). Their food is pretty good. They do have menu items that include fake meat which we're not into but, if you're after a vegetarian chop, they can cater for you. Their golden fried tofu is a great starter.

Generally ethnic restaurants are a better bet than pubs, etc. We've had some great meals at Indian, Vietnamese, Turkish and Thai restaurants in the Hutt Valley and in Wellington. For the record, Kilim in Petone is the best Turkish restaurant I've eaten at for a long time. They're BYO and their food prices are cheap so it's possible to have a great meal out on a budget.

Hmmm, this post has turned into a bit of a restaurant review edition which was not my intention. I actually wanted to talk more about what we're eating at home. Of course we're lapping up all the wonderful fresh summer fruit and vegetables at the moment. Our grocery bill for the past few weeks has been around $45 for fresh produce from the markets. We've managed to avoid the supermarket for three weeks now although this weekend we'll need to go stock up on a few things.

Two memorable meals in the last few days have been homemade corn tortillas on Saturday night and then zucchini fritters, broccoli soup and fresh sweetcorn last night.

I can recommend making corn tortillas from scratch. They were delicious and super easy to make! We should have made more. For the tortillas you need to buy some Masa Harina. This is available from some New World stores, usually found in their specialty food / gluten free aisle. You can also buy it online - www.tiapablo.co.nz (their website looks slightly broken - especially when you access it via IE6!).

To make the tortillas you mix two parts Masa Harina to one part water to make a slightly tacky dough. Two cups of the flour with one cup of water should make about 12 tortillas. Roll balls of the dough between two sheets of waxed paper, cook in a hot pan with no oil (30 seconds one side, 45 seconds the next, flip back for a further 20 seconds) and you're done! Fill with beans, onion, carrot, lettuce, tomato (urgh), chilli sauce, etc and you have a tasty meal. Like I say we should have made more - the ones we made were inhaled pretty quickly.

If you're thinking of going vegetarian I think the trick is to embrace fresh produce and cooking at home to ensure you eat an interesting variety of food. If it all seems a little too hard you could always try reducing the number of meat meals you have and experiment with some vege meals.

One-handed posting

I've been feeling guilty in recent times that I have not been posting as regularly as I've wanted to. Apologies for that.

Sadly I now have a decent reason / excuse for being slack. Actually there is a chance I will post more regularly but the posts themselves may be a little shorter than usual. And the reason for this? Well, I came off my bike 10 days ago and have damaged my right index finger putting my right hand completely out of action for a couple of months. I'll not make you ill by posting a photo of the damage I did but basically I cut through the tendons on the underneath of my index finger as well as losing 90% of the nail and some flesh from the fingertip. An ambulance to the hospital was followed by loads of waiting, xrays (no broken bones!) and finally plastic surgery the day after the accident. Now I am in a splint for 6 weeks and have a lot of therapy ahead of me but will hopefully end up with full use of the finger in the future.

Anyone who knows me well will understand how frustrated and bored I am currently feeling now that I am down to one hand. I will be off my bike for a couple of months and, post-surgery, my energy levels are lacking. My house is nearly ready to go on the market - as soon as the photos are ready the ad will go on the internet. Luckily my sons and their girlfriends have been helping me out big time to get everything ready to go.

So, that's my news. For once I have plenty of time but this injury means I can't really take advantage of that free time. My usual sunny attitude is being sorely tested but is still (surprisingly) there most of the time.

Back on two wheels

The most exciting thing to happen in the past week is that I am back on my bike!

I've had a year off my bike while waiting for a tendon in my elbow to heal. It's been a very frustrating year and I have been itching to get back on the saddle and I'm now there.

For those who don't know, I have a road bike and, in the past, have cycled to work two or three times a week. That may sound a bit lame and maybe even lazy but, in my defence, it is 32 kilometres from home to work - a decent distance! The funny thing is, it takes me about an hour to cycle to work (I have been trying to crack the one-hour but haven't yet managed it - today it took me 1 hour 1 minute and 30 seconds!) while it takes at least 45 minutes on the train. By the time I have driven or walked to the train station, waited for a train and then walked from the station to walk there is very little difference in time.

Anyway, my next goal is to get out on the new mountain bike I bought. I've never ridden off-road but how hard could it be, right?

Tramping trip report

For the past 3 days I have been off in the wilds of New Zealand tramping in the Tararua Forest Park. This was my first time out tramping for 6 years so our route was carefully selected to not be too onerous.

Saturday dawned sunny and fine as we drove up towards Masterton. Our route was a loop but not back to same carpark so we dropped a car off at our destination and we were dropped off at The Pines - the turnoff to The Pines is just short of Masterton. The walk into Mitre Flats Hut was through native forest and followed the Waingawa River. The path itself on this walk is clear enough to follow and a little rugged in places. Lots of little ups and downs and small creeks to cross. It took us about 3 hours to walk to the hut so we were there by about 3 in the afternoon. The hut is designed to sleep 14 and most of the beds were taken when we arrived. We quickly nabbed two spots and then settled down and chatted with others at the hut. The hut is serviced so there were gas cookers which made dinner preparation easy. We had managed to carry in some wine and a good measure of Cointreau so the evening was fun. By the time everyone headed to bed others had turned up to the hut and it was starting to rain. We counted over 20 people so it was pretty snug although a few people slept outside. In retrospect those sleeping outside probably got the best night's sleep as there was an extremely loud snorer in the hut.

Sunday dawned to constant rain and the sight of a helicopter heading into the hills - potentially off to look for lost trampers. After a good breakfast of porridge and cups of tea we got ourselves sorted and headed off to Atiwhakatu Hut in the rain. The track had a couple of decent climbs and was pretty rugged in places. After the last big climb and descent we stopped for some hot soup. While it was wet it certainly wasn't cold as long as we kept moving. After our soup stop I felt a bit chilled so put my fleece hat back - which was really lucky as about 15 minutes down the track I somehow managed to trip or slip (still not sure which) and did a magnificent face plant. I landed fair and square on my nose and forehead. It was one of those moments when you just need to lay there for a minute and assess the damage done. My tramping companion was with me pretty quickly and checked me out. Lucky for me the path at that point was dirt and wood rather than rocks. Within a few minutes we were back walking - me with a decent headache and a nice bump forming. Anyway, the walk between huts took us about three hours and we pretty wet by the time we got there. The hut looked flasher than Mitre Flats but had no cooking facilities which was a shame. For a while we thought we would have the hut to ourselves but a group of school girls and their teachers turned up. They were pretty wet and cold as they had been right up on the tops in the wind as well as the rain. So again we had a full hut but it was fun - very amusing listening to a group of 15 year old girls chatting. The best thing about that night was that we didn't need to contend with a snorer - yay!

This morning (Monday) it dawned...... well..... wet. Never mind. Again we had a good filling breakfast and cup of tea before heading off down the path to the carpark. The walk was an easy one - pretty flat for the majority of it. It rained the whole way back to the car but a nice dry change of clothes awaited us. It only took us about an hour and a half to walk out - we were walking pretty briskly. I think the idea of getting home to a soak in the spa spurred us on.

I loved the whole weekend - except for maybe the face plant bit. It's highlighted the need for a few changes in equipment which I will get onto as I am sure this won't be the last time I head for the hills. The purpose of this trip was to help get me back into tramping so now we can start to plan for some more serious walks.

Nutritious, wonderful soup!

With autumn fast approaching here in New Zealand I have a craving for soup. One of my fondest childhood memories is of drinking cups of Mum's vegetable soup while curled up reading a good book. I can never seem to replicate the taste of her soup but it's good fun to keep trying.

Today I bought a bacon hock and a few extra vegetables and now my house is filled with the wonderful smell of soup which is bubbling away. For those trying to lose weight, eat healthier or save money soup is a wonderful meal. I will be freezing meal-sized portions which will make good lunch fodder for the next week or so. Also, living by myself I love coming home from work and having soup and crusty toast for my dinner.

Today's soup has onion, grated carrot and parsnip, sliced celery, silverbeet, barley and, of course, the bacon hock for flavour. Now I find myself sitting here impatiently waiting for it to ready to eat. Yum! Lunch will be a real treat today.

Hot yoga!

I've done a tiny bit of yoga before but never really got into it in a big way. The other exercise I am doing at the moment (spin classes, running and weights) is great for my fitness and strength but doesn't do a lot for flexibility. There is a hot yoga place just around the corner from where I am working currently. I picked up a brochure a while back but finally went along to a class last night with a work colleague. All I knew about it was that it was yoga in a hot room and that the class would last an hour and a half.

According to the website (www.hotyoganz.com) the room is heated to prevent injury, warm the muscles and allow for a deeper release within the body. The room was certainly very warm with the temperature in the high thirties. The heat reminded me of holidays in Australia and lying on the beach at Port Douglas - yum!

Anyway, the class itself was interesting - parts of it were physically very hard and hurt (to be expected considering I am new to yoga) while others were supremely relaxing. One thing is for certain - you sweat! A lot! But that's ok - everyone in the class sweats buckets too.

They suggest you hydrate yourself before and after the class as well as take in some water during the class. You don't need any specific gear - they hire out mats and towels. I would certainly advise not wearing heavy clothing - singlet top and tights / shorts of some sort is all that's needed.

The leader of the class was really helpful and options were provided throughout the class to make the movements harder or easier depending on your skill level.

After the class finished and I had showered I headed for home - was hugely hungry! I could have eaten a horse!

I have decided to stick with it and attend a weekly class. Have a look at the website mentioned above for more information. There are actually two hot yoga places here in Wellington - both on Tory Street.