32 things

Sign of the Packhorse

2012-02-06T11:16:00.000+13:00

Way back in 2007 I wrote a list of list of 27 things to do. I think I was having a rough time and was looking for some inspiring things to do to get me out of the rut. It seems to have been a good idea because I’m now on to a list of 32 things and I get the feeling that the lists will be around for a while yet.

But I’ve had quite a few repeat offenders on the lists over the years that have never been crossed off. One in particular was to spend a night at the Sign of the Packhorse. Now, for those that are not familiar with the Port Hills in Canterbury, there is a series of old stone lodges that were used back in the days when it took a long time to ride your horse from Akaroa to Christchurch. These days, Sign of the Takahe is a fancy restaurant (or was before it was closed with earthquake damage), Sign of the Kiwi is a café, Sign of the Bellbird is a cute ruin and Sign of the Packhorse is a Department of Conservation hut. Every year I’ve thought “I should really get around to spending a night at the Sign of the Packhorse” but it’s never eventuated. Until this year, when I was dragged out by two local Poms to escape the election craziness.

View Tramping in a larger map

After doing our civic duty and voting, we set off into thesunshine. Dropping a car at Diamond Harbour,we wound our way through the countryside to Kaituna Valley. We then shouldered heavy packs and set off upthe hill. Now, one of the reasons I’venever done this trip is that it really isn’t very far and there haven alwaysbeen more exciting places to go. I mean,a two hour stroll up a hill amongst the sheep in the paddocks doesn’t really inspireexcitement when you live so close to the Southern Alps. But it was a pleasant wander and we sawplenty of interesting things, even if the poms spent most of the timephotographing weeds like foxgloves and gorse. Given that we had such a short walk, we had loaded our packs up withridiculous things and they were a lot heavy than was strictly necessary. Which required a considerable number ofstops. Which resulted in a considerablenumber of photographs of somewhat random things. But they were pretty.

Tents had been loaded into our packs in anticipation of theeight bunk hut being full of children. And sure enough, we were greeted by whoops of childish delight as wecrested the ridge, so the tents were gratefully unpack and set up in thewind. Luckily my list had stated Spend anight at Sign of the Packhorse not in.

The cooker was unpacked for an obligatory cup of tea and then dinner of spicy noodles and wine soon followed. Then the evening was wiled away beating Giles and Alex the Younger at cards. And trying to ignore the obnoxious guy who knew everything about everything and insisted telling us about it. More annoying were the constant updates about the election results which we had specifically gone bush to escape. Sigh…..

A somewhat blustery night awoke to bring a glorious day, andafter a full English breakfast, we set off up the hill towards Mount Herbertand beyond to Diamond Harbour. After winding through some nice regeneratingbush, we came out into the gorse and the heat and the steep. But pleasant views out over Lyttelon Harbourand Banks Peninsula. A quick lunch was had at the Mount HerbertShelter and then it was downhill towards Diamond Harbour.

It was quite satisfying to catch up with and pass theannoying guy who had left the hut obnoxiously early to rush off and catch theferry, which he distinctly missed by at least 5 hours. And then onwards and downwards in the heat,across the hard grassy paddocks, towards the ice creams calling us from the Diamond Harbour dairy. Those last few steps seemed to take hours outthere in the baking Canterburyheat. But the ice cream was definitelyworked for.

Did this expedition live up to the five years ofanticipation? I think so. But I shouldn’t really let things linger onthe list for that long unless there is a really good reason. And laziness isn’t a good reason! Hopefully that won’t happen again!

Tramping with bikes

2011-11-06T21:04:00.000+13:00

With the memory of a successful mountain bike mission to hotpools freshly in our minds, it was decreed that Labour weekend would be an excellent time for another expedition by bike. More hotpools were high on the priority list, so we decided to venture one valley north and head up the Hope River in search of the hotpools above Top Hope hut.

View Tramping in a larger map

Now, before you do a trip, you should always do some research, right? Make sure you understand the lay of the land, how far it is and how long it might take. So, being good young technologically-savvy folk, we googled the expedition. And found Patrick's blog. Now the title of his blog post Mountain B-Walking to Hot Pools should perhaps have been a warning about the suitability of the track for biking. But it was only 3 or so hours of pushing bikes. How hard can it be?! And besides, Steve assured us that is would be fine*. So four intrepid adventurers set off for a long weekend of biking and hotpools.

The first challenge was taking the bikes across a swingbridge. Now I'm quite happy to stroll across a swingbridge, pack on my back and admiring the scenery. But taking a bike across a swingbridge is a completely different story! The easiest way is to flip the bike up on its back wheel and push it across while holding the handelbars. Sounds all nice and happy, yeah? In theory, this isn't bad. Except you now have no hands available for holding onto the bridge and, inevitably, your handlebars are wider than the supports on the bridge, which means that every metre or so you have to do a complicated wiggle of the bike to make it fit through the gap. This leads to a greater swinging of the bridge than before, the back wheel of the bike ending up in some awkward position, and a terrible buckling of the knees as the whole thing becomes way to much for the brain to cope with. This feeling of complete and utter terror intensifies with every step until you finally reach the far side and sink into the solid ground with great relief. And then remember that, in order to get back to the car at the end of the trip, you're going to have to do it all again! Argh!

The grin is not happiness but more a terrified grimace and relief at almost being at the end of the bridge ordeal

After a few minutes to steady the nerves on the other side, we set off along a nice piece of 4WD road. It climbed up a couple of steep-ish terraces out in the open and we made pretty good progress. And then we got to the bush edge. Now I guess that I should acknowledge that the track along the northern bank of the Hope River is a tramping track. It was never designed for biking. And it's not really suitable for biking. It started out okay. A few tree roots here and there, the odd treefall, that sort of thing but you could easily go several hundred metres at a time before having to get off to get past an obstacle. And then it slowly deteriorated. A nice clear section of track would reveal a fallen tree 10m around the corner. A rooty but bike-able section would end in a gnarled tangle of roots that were dificult to walk over, let alone ride. A tinkling stream would be nestled in a steepy, slippery gorge that threatened to suck you and your bike into a dark abyss. Now, we had done our homework and were mentally prepared for some sections that were unrideable. You simply get off your bike and haul it up a bank, throw it over a tree or push it over the nasty, rooty, muddy bit. A bit of a hassle but part of the fun of mountain biking.

This type of riding inevitably leads to some spills, with the best fall of the trip once again being awarded to Steve, who ended upside down still attached to his bike. This had unfortunate consequences for the yogurt!

After MANY hours of pushing bikes interspersed with the odd bit of riding, we reached an excellent spot for a late lunch. I think by this point we'd been going about 4 hours and were a little weary of the bike pushing. But a quick consultation of the map suggested that we had another 1.5 km or so of nasty track before we hit the river flats and easy riding.

Well, I reckon that that was the longest 1.5km of my life! There were giant river boulders, nasty gutty creeks, steep banks, enormous roots, tangled treefalls and much mud. But it did eventually end and spit us out onto a nice grassy riverbank with only the odd matagouri bush and cow to contend with. A couple of kms of sweet, beautiful uninterupted riding. And then another swingbridge. Thankfully this one was on the shorter side, so didn't generate quite the same terrifying swing. But was still terrifying. It was quickly over though and after a quick push up a nasty slimy cliff, it was back to nice riding along a 4WD track again. Yay for nice riding. A few kms on and we reached Saint Jacobs hut. We stopped for a breather, were immediately mobbed by sandflies, and set about deciding what to do next. The Top Hope hut, our intended destination, was another 7km of, theoretically, nice riding up the valley, with the hotpools another 40 mins walk beyond. It was about 6pm and there was plenty enough light to get there but enthusiasm was on the thin side. After much umming and ahhing and slapping of sandflies, it was decided to stay the night where we were and make a quick dash upstream in the morning to check out the hotpools. Bikes were dropped, gear unpacked and de-yogurted, bodies washed and feet, aching much more than they should have been, put up. A quick chat with a resident tramper confirmed that walking the track would have been far more sensible than biking it when it turned out that she had walked it an hour faster than we had "biked" it.

I had recently bought a new tent, so shunned the hut in favour of more salubrious accommodation outside under nylon. Dinner was an extravagant affair of tomato (slightly yogurty) couscous, washed down with port. And was followed by an excellent (if not slightly damp in my slightly condensatory tent) night's sleep.

The morning dawned bright and clear but still with little enthusiasm for biking up to the hotpools. Admittedly, there was little enthusiasm for "biking" home again as well. Now, there is a farm track along the southern bank of the river but, having not asked permission to use it, we were reluctant to take the easy route home. But we were more reluctant to take the hard route home. So we cheated. And we got caught. And were made to go back the way we came. But, oh the glorious non-stop riding we did before we got caught. The farmer was very courteous and we were very apologetic and he did say that we could ride the track when he didn't have cows in the paddock but we had better ask permission first. So, when there are no cows and we are allowed, we plan to bike this glorious piece of rideable farm track and zoom into the hotpools in a ridiculously short period of time. It shall be fabulous.

But it was with heavy hearts that we crossed back across the river (by foot, not terrifying swingbridge) and set off back along the track. There was more frustrating pushing of bikes but it did seem a little easier on the way out, perhaps because it was slightly downhill and therefore easier to ride. It did still take forever and end in a swingbridge. But wasn't entirely an unpleasant day.

Now, it may seem that I have made this out to be a horrendous trip. I must admit that it wasn't an ideal place to take mountain bikes, particularly if this is your first mountain bike trip as it was for poor Elizabeth. Luckily, she has yet to learn fear, so rode things that I was sceptical about. But overall, it was a fun trip. However, do not believe anyone who tells you it will be a nice ride. It might be a nice tramp but is better if you leave your bike in the shed. Consider this a cautionary tale.

Sunday night was spent consuming enormous burgers and watching NZ narrowly beat France to win the Rugby World Cup in a random pub in Hanmer. That is, we were in a random pub, not the All Blacks. And then a quick blat around the mountain bike tracks in Hanmer on Monday. Oh what a novelty to be able to ride more than 100m before being forced off by some obstacle. It was fabulous. Then back to Christchurch for a superb dinner of experimental homemade pizza with Patrick and Maaike.

*We talked to the third member of Patrick and Steve's trip and his response was "Why would you want to go there? It was horrible!". Interesting how different people remember trips.

Hurunui hotpools

2011-10-20T17:16:00.003+13:00

This year we actually trained for the Spring Challenge which was a little bit of a novelty. It also meant that we got out on some sweet trips, including a great overnight ride to the Hurunui hotpools.

I'd never been on any overnight mountain bike trips before, but after some careful packing to ensure that we all had matching bikes and packs, we three intrepid Mighty Midgets & a Mighty Midget's Man set off into the sunshine.

It's a relatively easy ride around the side of the lake andwould have been quite pleasant if it hadn't been for the strong headwind. But it was good practise for drafting and we set up a pretty goodpaceline to keep us zooming along. Thetrack was a combination of gravel and 4WD road, with a pretty rideable surface. There quite a few gates to throw bikes overthough and during one of these brief interludes, I somehow managed to flick atendon out from under my ankle bone. Notreally sure how – I didn’t actually do anything. Got off my bike, lifted it over a gate, gotback on my bike and it hurt. Weird. Luckliy doesn’t seem to have done any lastingdamage but was not particularly pleasant for riding. Because of this, we decided to take a“shortcut” along the walking track to the hut rather than crossing the riverand biking along the flat before crossing back again. Shortcuts are never a good idea and thiscertainly wasn’t. Very little of thetrack was actually rideable and there was a lot of swearing as we pushed andcarried our bikes over particularly nasty sections of track (think treefalls onthe side of a muddy hill scattered with possum carcasses).

The training plan was to try and do a 10 hour day: 3 hoursor so of biking and then an expedition up the valley on foot, culminating in asoak in the Hurunui hotpools. I decidedto call it a day when we got to the hut but the others continued on up thevalley like good little things. I lazedaround in what was left of the sunshine and read and reread the meagre pickingsof reading material in the hut. I mayhave closed my eyes for a second or too. Maybe.

Despite my injury, I was feeling pretty smug about ourefforts. We had biked about 20km offroadwith relatively packs without much difficulty. Then Jackson arrived. On hisbike. Having come 150km fromChristchurch. With another 3-4 days ofbiking in the pipeline, including a fairly hefty pass over which he planned oncarrying his bike. That kinda put ourefforts into perspective. The rest ofour intrepid bunch returned after soaking in the hotpools with a meteorologicaljellyfish to decorate the hut and we quickly demolished a hearty meal of bluecheese and mushroom pasta before retiring to bed.

The next day dawned in glorious sunshine and, with arelatively happy ankle, we set off. After a short pleasant ride down the way we should have come up the daybefore, we were confronted with the first obstacle of the day: a rivercrossing. Nothing like starting the daywith cold, wet feet. But it was quicklyover and we were on our way again.

Until we got to the next river crossing. Michelle decided she didn't want to cross theriver again and had some fun fighting with the swingbridge. I was quiteimpressed that she actually got onto the bridge – it was mighty steep!

The ride home passed relatively quickly after that, withsome amusing moments to pass the time.

Steve was very helpful demonstrating riding techniques, particularly how NOT to ride through mud.

Poor Bike! And then he cleaned it by riding into the lake (You should watch this with sound to hear the cackling girls as he goes over the handlebars for the third time that day).

Itwas a shame not to actually make it to the hotpools but at least I have areason to go again and perhaps achieve #?? on the list of 32 things. I'm starting to like this mountain biking business, particularly longtrips. Which is probably lucky, considering #1 on the list. Butmore about that some other time.

32 things

2011-09-15T14:27:00.003+12:00

Seeing I seem to be on a blogging roll at the moment (I'm "working from home"), it seems timely to put up the new list. The list of 32 things I want to do while I'm 32. If you're checked out any of the old lists, you'll notice that a few things have rolled over (some for the fifth time!). Hopefully, this year......

I will need help completing my list, so let me know if you want to come and play on one (or more) of my adventures. Or if you have any useful skills (like coding in Python) that might be useful or want to offer me a job! The more people that play in the list-crossing-off, the better!

Here goes......

1. Bike the Great Divide

2. Compete in the 12 hour Spring Challenge

3. Put my clipless pedals back on my mountain bike

4. Run 500 km

5. Compete in a triathlon

6. Photograph a snow petrel

7. Publish the remaining whio papers

8. Complete a half marathon

9. Go cycle touring

~~10. Make Albert Monkey~~

11. Publish an Antarctic paper

12. Compete in a road bike race

13. Knit/crochet a jersey

14. Compete in a mountain bike race

15. Climb a grade 17

16. Buy a macro lens

17. Ride a century in a day

18. Spend a night at the Sign of the Packhorse

19. Sew an item of clothing

20. Organise a clothes swap party

21. Present a paper at ICCB 2011

22. Empty out my storage shed of crap

~~23. Buy knee-high boots~~

24. Make bagels

25. Go back to Antarctica

26. Have a hot pool party

27. Apply for a post-doc position

28. Publish the shrub paper

~~29. Lecture in a university course~~

30. Do some volunteer work

31. Learn a new skill

32. Go on an outdoor adventure at least once a month (SONDJFMAMJJA)

A recap of 31 things

2011-09-15T14:22:00.001+12:00

It's that time of year when another birthday has passed and it's time to start working on the next list. So I'd thought I'd do a quick recap of how things went on the list of 31 things. I am the first to admit that it wasn't a particularly good year for crossing things off. Some of this was out of my control; earthquakes and the crazy year that has ensured since September 4 2010 has put a lot of things on hold or made them difficult. As did going to Antarctica and missing out on most of a summer, although I'm more than happy to have this as an excuse. Other things have just slipped off the bottom of the list without getting done for no apparent reason (or they were somewhat optimistic anyway!). I've added in links to relevant blog posts in case you missed out on the details.

~~1. Go to Antarctica~~

This has to be the highlight of the past year. What an amazing experience. And even better I get to do it all again this coming year.

2. Ride Long Bays

I would have loved to have ridden Long Bays, a cycle route that follows the Port Hills and edge of the Lyttleton Harbour. But unfortunately the road was damaged, probably beyond repair, in the earthquakes. I did ride this instead, which is probably about as close as you can get these days.

3. Submit a sturgeon manuscript

Seven years on, this is probably never going to happen! Unless somebody teaches me to code in Python.

4. Run 500 km
According to my Nike+ whatsit, I only managed to run 92km! This is a bit dismal really, but I've been doing loads of other stuff and am probably about as fit as I've ever been. So I'm happy. This seems to have migrated on to the next list, so we'll see what happens.

5. Compete in a triathlon
Unfortunately the February earthquake got in the way of post-Antarctic triathlons. Next list....

~~6. Photograph a leopard seal~~
Leopard seal found and photographed (although not very well)

7. Publish the whio HQ paper
After being rejected a mammoth seven times, I think we are almost there. Just redoing some of the analysis.

8. Complete a half marathon
I obviously didn't do enough training (see #5), so this never happened!

~~9. Go cycle touring~~

I didn't really go cycle touring, although we did do an overnight trip recently on our mountain bikes up the Hurunui. Which I think is close enough to count. I'm crossing it off.

~~10. Compete in a multi-sport event~~
Once again the Mighty Midgets competed in the 6 hour Spring Challenge. And we did pretty well, apart from a minor navigational oops near the end. I love this event. In fact, so much that we are doing the 12 hour version next weekend!

11. Start a post doctoral position

I applied for a postdoc scholarship to look marine reserves in the Ross Sea but alas the powers to be decided that it wasn't worthy. So I've continued to contract for Landcare Research and am involved in some pretty interesting work. Maybe next year I'll get a proper job.

12. Compete in a road bike race
Once again, I'm blaming earthquakes.

~~13. Travel internationally>~~
I went to Antarctica, of course, but that doesn't really count as kiwis don't get their passports stamped in either direction as we never leave kiwi soil. So I had to find another trip to go on. And what better excuse than to visit Hamish in Perth, where he's busy drilling holes looking for minerals to dig up. I also got to spend some time in Melbourne due to some freak weather in NZ.

~~14. Knit/crochet a jersey~~

I did knit a jersey. And then I undid it. I really need to learn to read and make the gauge swatches before I get all enthusiastic about knitting the whole thing. Hopefully next year I will knit (and keep knitted) a jersey!

15. Compete in a mountain bike race
Blaming earthquakes. Actually more, general unfitness coming back from Antarctica. This year I really need to do some exercise when I'm down there!

16. Buy decent binoculars
I never got around to doing this but they are still on my wishlist. Did get to try out Hamish's twitcher-goggles (his term, not mine) while in Aussie.

17. Climb a grade 16 on rock
There has been a distinct lack of climbable rock in Christchurch recently. What with all falling down around your ears everytime the earth moves. Which it does frequently. But I have started climbing inside on the wall and will hopefully be able to tick this off this coming year.

18. Submit the final whio paper
I need to publish the other ones first. And given that this hasn't happened yet, I can't cross this one off. Soon, hopefully.

19. Learn to ride my mountain bike clipless
I put my pedals on. Went for one ride. And promptly took them off again. Scared shitless would be a good description of my mental state. But I've done a bunch more riding since then and am way more confident. So, after the Sprin Challenge, they are going back on and staying on. Be prepared for stories of pedal-induced falls!

20. Buy a macro lens
Same story as the binoculars really.

~~21. Buy a tripod~~
I bought a really nice tripod before going down to the ice and I think I've only used it once. No, twice. I really need to do LOTS more photography. And play with my tripod.

~~22. Re-instate my blog~~
Check!

23. Ride a century in a day
Pen and I had great plans of biking from Cave Stream back to Lincoln and I'm not really sure why we never did it. We mapped it out, we flew it in Google Earth but we never actually rode it. This summer, right Pen!

24. Spend a night at the Sign of the Packhorse
Did you know that this has now been on four lists and has never been crossed off. How ridiculous. It's all of two hours walk and should be super-easy to do. I debated whether to add it to the list of 32 things, given that it hasn't happened yet. I'm giving it one more year. Surely we can make this happen in year five!

~~25. Learn to do Bayesian statistics~~
Done. I'm definitely no expert but I have almost finished a nifty analysis trying to figure out how many birds live on some islands in Northland. Pretty fun (if statistics can be fun).

~~26. Crochet a sunhat~~
This is another one of those cases where I finished the task and then promptly undid it again because I wasn't really that happy with the result. But I did it!

27. Make gallstone jewellery
Unfortunately (although some may say fortunately), these got lost when I moved. Oh well.....

~~28. Make marmalade~~
Yum. I need to make some more.

~~29. Take a polar plunge~~
There is something a little mad about jumping into -1.9C water, complete with icebergs, penguins, leopard seals and orca. But you have to do it. Sorry, no photographic evidence - it would have needed censoring anyway.

~~30. Make sour dough bread~~
I managed to keep a batch of sour dough going for most of the time we were on the ice. Although I'm not sure the little beasties were that happy about the cold.

~~31. Go on an outdoor adventure at least once a month (SONDJFMAMJJA)~~
There were lots of outdoor adventures this year. Antarctica, for one. Lots of tramping trips, mountain bike trips, rogaines, adventure races, skiing ...... It's been a fun year.

I always come up with a few things to add to the list. Things that I never thought I'd be doing but they usually turn out to be a lot of fun....

~~32. Compete in the national rogaine champs~~
Michelle and I carved up a storm at the National Rogaine Champs in Blenheim, coming in 7th in the Open Women. An entertaining 24 hours of wandering around trying not to get lost.

~~33. Sign up for the 12 hour Spring Challenge~~
Oh dear, what have we done! Will report back in a couple of weeks with how we went.

~~34. Compete in TWALK~~
Another 24 hour rogaine event, this time with Maaike and Elizabeth. More fun, getting lost in the dark. This time in costume.

~~35. Compete in Heights of Winter~~
A 12 hour event, getting lost in the dark. There seems to be a running theme here!

~~36. Go cross-country skiing~~
A fantastic girl's weekend (and then some) cross-country skiing down in Wanaka.

So it's been a pretty busy year of being 31. I've managed to fit in a lot of fun stuff, do some work and generally have a great time. Here's looking forward to crossing off 32 things!

Cross-country skiing

2011-09-14T16:26:00.000+12:00

A few months ago one of our friends moved down to Cromwell, and it was decided before she left that we would have to have a girl's weekend down there at some point in the future. Now it should be noted, before you start conjuring up visions of us sitting round getting manicures and having pillowfights in our pyjamas, that we aren't particularly girly girls. No indeedy. In fact, it was decreed that our girl's weekend should consist of something adventurous, and so we set off on a cross-country skiing expedition.

After a pleasant Friday exploring the sights of Arrowtown and Cromwell and celebrating Clare's birthday, we set off up the mountain to the Snow Farm. After getting fitted out with skis and leaving our overnight gear in a pile for the skidoo, we ventured outside for a few pre-skiing photographs and a lesson.

Now cross-country skis aren't anything like downhill skis. For starters, your heel isn't attached to the back of the ski. And then, more scarily, you don't have any edges on your skis. Which means that everything you have ever learnt about stopping and turning instantly goes out the window. When asked about how to stop, our helpful instructor offered the following wisdom: "Just keep going until you run out of hill. Or failing that, fall over" Helpful! Thankfully there are grooves along the tracks that your skis fit into which mostly takes care of the turning bit. Except when the grooves randomly stop and your legs do their own thing, usually in different directions!

Here Rachel demonstrates a perfect racer's tuck, and then the grooves run out.....best watched with the sound on for the full "chicken" effect.

After our lesson, we were let loose and it was on to the Bob Lee Hut - our overnight destination. It was an absolutely amazing day. Perfect weather and great company, interspersed with hilarious skiing moments.

Happily skiing along the trail in the glorious sunshine

Lunch stop at the Meadow Hut

Maaike demonstrating her seated stopping technique.

It might look like I'm in control
but all goes wrong very shortly after this photograph!

The Bob Lee Hut was reached without too much drama and proved to be a cosy place to stay the night. Our gear had kindly been delivered by skidoo, so we had been able to pack some tasty treats. We cooked up a storm (it turned out, quite literally) and were treated to a stunning sunset before retiring to bed to rest some weary (and newly-discovered) muscles.

Preparing a stunning dinner of green curry and mulled wine

Maaike proudly showing off her multitude of stripes (and sexy pink slippers)

The next day we woke to snow. Of the falling variety. In fact, of the blizzard variety. We hastily packed our gear and set off into the gloom, trying to get out to the carpark before the storm really set in. There was quite a bit of fresh snow on the tracks, making it difficult to find the grooves for your skis, let alone stay in them! It was cold and windy and we were rugged up in all of the clothing we had with us. I was even wearing my Antarctica balaclava that I never wore on the ice. It was cold. But it was still great skiing and a lot of fun. In fact, I think the contrast in the weather added a lot to the trip and gave us some stories of epic skiing missions to tell for years to come.

Check out these happy ladies (at least I think Michelle & I are happy - it's a bit hard to tell!)

Now it turned out that this was not the end of our adventure. The heavy snow meant that the roads were somewhat treachorous and we had an interesting drive down the mountain, followed by a mad dash to get to Queenstown before the road closed. Even in a 4WD, the roads were nasty with almost 10cm on the ground and more falling rapidly. Dave managed to get us to Queenstown, just. And then get himself back home again. Checked in to our accommodation to find that Rachel's flight had been cancelled, so four hungry skiers headed into town for dinner. The next morning woke to more snow and more cancelled flights, so it was off to book a bus and then explore the sights (or at least the open ones) of a very snowy Queenstown. Having not seen any men for a few days, we built one of our own.

Tuesday bought us more snow, a cancelled bus, two trips to the wool shop, another cancelled bus and then, finally, a bus home to Christchurch. Via Dunedin! Let's just say that this is not a very direct route and not one I would recommend (unless desperate).

So another epic adventure and one that I would totally recommend (maybe without the snow storm and getting stranded bits). Cross-country skiing is definitely something i enjoyed crossing off my list and I'm keen to add it to another list sometime soon.

Speaking of lists, it's time for new list of 32 things. Check back soon!

Crochet yoga mat bag

2011-09-02T19:27:00.003+12:00

A REALLY long time ago, I was bored on a plane and ended up crocheting a yoga mat bag.

I was looking for a quick, easy project to use up some cotton yarn in my stash the other day, so I decided to make a bag for my yoga mat which was languishing untidily in the bottom of my cupboard. Searching on the web failed to find a pattern that I liked, so I ended up making one up. The following is my attempt to put my random pattern down on paper. Please let me know if you find any mistakes or need clarification.

I used:

1 ball Cleckheaton cotton

5mm crochet hook

1 large button

a length of cord (I used an i-cord made with 4 mm needles)

This pattern is written to fit a yoga mat with a rolled diameter of 11 cm. I don't do gauge, so you may need to adjust the pattern a little, depending on the size of your mat, yarn and hook.

Chain 6 and sl to first chain to form a loop (or make a magic circle)

Row 1: Ch 3, 11 tr into circle, sl to join to chain (12 stitches)

Row 2: Ch 3, 2 tr into each tr, sl to join to chain (24 stitches)

Row 3: Ch 3, tr into first stitch, *2tr, tr, repeat from * until end , sl to join to chain (36 stitches)

Note: This should be the diameter of your mat. If not, you may need to add another row or adjust the size of your hook. Check out this guide to crocheting circles if you need help. You need to make sure that the number of stitches in the finished circle is a multiple of three to make the pattern work

Crochet into the back of each stitch for Row 4.

Row 4: Ch 3, tr into each tr, sl to join to chain (36 stitches)

Row 5: Ch 3, *skip 2 stitches, tr into next stitch, ch3, tr into same stitch. Repeat from * until end. sl to join to third stitch in initial chain.

Row 6: Chain 3, *tr into next stitch, ch3, tr into same stitch. Repeat from * until end. sl to join to third stitch in initial chain.

Repeat Row 6 until bag is 1 inch less than desired length.

Finishing rounds:

Row 7: Ch 3, 3 tr into each stitch, sl to join.

Row 8: Ch 1, sc in each stitch

Thread the cord around the top of the bag and tie or sew a small loop in the end. Thread the free end of the cord through this loop and either sew to the bottom or attach using a large button threaded through the starting circle at the base of the bag.

#13. My unintended stay in Melbourne

2011-09-02T18:03:00.003+12:00

My trip to Australia was not without its travel-related dramas, proving once again the benefits of having travel insurance.

On the way there, my flight was delayed because the plane was broken. Meaning I missed my flight from Melbourne to Perth and ended up spending a night in a hotel. On the way home, my flight from Melbourne to Christchurch was cancelled because the Christchurch airport was closed due to snow. "Oh dear" said the grumpy lady at the checkin counter, "the next available flight is not until Wednesday evening". Given that it was 5:30am on Monday and I had just flown 4 hours from Perth after leaving my better half behind, I wasn't all too happy.

I must have looked a little forlorn because I was promptly adopted by a lovely family from Bahrain, currently living in Rolleston. They dragged me along to get some breakfast, sorted out my flights, booked me into a swanky hotel with them (an indoor pool was on their "must-have" list) and rented a car to drive us all into town.

I hadn't been to Melbourne before (one night in the airport hotel on the way over doesn't count!), so I spent Monday wandering the streets and marvelling at the quirkiness of the city. A pleasant change from the almost industrial feel of Perth. Then it was down to the information centre to figure out how to spend the rest of my bonus holiday.

I'd heard a bit about the Great Ocean road and found a small company that did tours. So we set off on Tuesday morning to see the sights of the Great Ocean Road.

View Australia in a larger map

The first stop was Bell's Beach, one of the world's best surf beaches. There wasn't a whole lot happening with the surf that day but I can just imagine those big ocean swells rolling in all the way from Antarctica. Certainly put the piddly surf we'd been seeing in Western Australia into perspective.

This tour provided a few new species to tick off my list of Australian things. Including crimson rosellas, king parrots and kookaburras.

After winding our way around some stunning coastline, we stopped for lunch at the Ottway lighthouse.

where they were a little concerned about the one's proximity to the cliff edge

and had a few problems with the bicycles.

While in Perth, Hamish and I had dutifully stopped and taken pictures of koala in an inclosure, so that I could say that I had seen some. Well, it turned out that we shouldn't have bothered. The trees around the Ottway lighthouse were full of koala. All looking quite sleepy and a bit stoned on gum leaves. They didn't really do anything but they were quite cute. Koalas - check.

The penultimate stop of the trip was the twelve apostles. These are giant limestone stacks that have been eroded out of the nearby cliffs by the action of the waves. I'm not really sure why they are the twelve apostles, there are currently only eight (they periodically collapse) and apparently there have never been twelve, but they were pretty spectacular.

And so ended my unintended trip to Melbourne. Not somewhere I had planned to go but definitely a place I'd like to visit again. Thanks travel insurance for a great extension to my holiday!

#13. Aussie Road Trip

2011-08-20T20:49:00.012+12:00

It's always time for a road trip. And this year, it was time for a road trip, Western Australia style. Hamish moved to Perth for work earlier this year, so it seemed like a good opportunity to check out some new places across the ditch and catch up with the boy at the same time. We didn't have a plan, other than drive north and see what could be found along the way. (Warning: This post has a *high geological content*).

View Australia in a larger map

The first stop was The Pinnacles at Nambung National Park - weird and somewhat phallic-looking limestone formations.

And some big and impressive limestone cliffs.

And some weird fossilised corals.

And some more impressive cliffs along the edge of the river through Kalbarri National Park.

Fossilised ripples were common, as was this fossilised brain(-like) thing. We also saw some fossilised arthropod footprints which I neglected to photograph.

But I did snap this wedge-tailed eagle munching on some kangaroo roadkill while driving up to Shark Bay

where we set up camp in this amazing spot with stunning views.

No geological trip to Western Australia would be complete with a visit to the stromatolites at Shark Bay. These are basically living rocks and, to most people, are probably about exciting to look at as dead rocks. But to two geeks, this was pretty cool. In fact, it was the main reason we drove all that way to Shark Bay and was totally worth it!

We found more stromatolites and their thrombolite cousins at Lake Thetis.

No trip to Australia would be complete without seeing lots of weird wildlife. We definitely found our share (but thankfully no snakes - the benefit of going in the winter).

There was a sleepy lizard, complete with ticks in the corner of its mouth,

a very fuzzy emu running away at great speed,

a hawk on a grass tree,

a fuzzy kangaroo running away,

a yellow spoonbill,

and the elusive echidna that insisted on digging holes around our tent but not coming out to play in the daylight!

And of course, the resident geologist!

A fantastic holiday! Definitely a part of the world I'd like to visit again and a lad I'd like to see more of!

Cannibal Gorge

2011-07-05T19:32:00.004+12:00

The start of July saw a trip up to Cannibal Gorge Hut on the St James Walkway to celebrate a friend's birthday.

View Tramping in a larger map

The track starts at Lewis Pass and winds its way above the Maruia River. Not a particularly scenic walk but nice forest with some interesting wildlife encounters.

Including this kaka high up in the tree tops. And a stoat attacking a possum. That was a weird one.

The hut was surrounded by a nice dusting of snow, making for a pretty scene. But the chilly weather had created a new form of entertainment - the indoor ice skating rink. A pipe had burst, leaving about an inch of ice across the floor of the hut. Luckily we had a keen and innovative team and the ice was quickly cleaned out and the fire stoked up. This was followed by a game of rounders out the front of the hut, made more challenging by playing with a white ball in snow! Then a stunning dinner of venison curry, venison stew, fresh roti made on the fire. And topped off with chocolate pudding and home-made ice cream for dessert. Then the HHH entertainment band set up and the remainder of the evening was passed in a sing-along.

A leisurely stroll out in the morning ended another pleasant trip into the hills.

Otehake hot springs

2011-06-27T19:52:00.008+12:00

An impromptu tramping trip up to the Otehake hot springs over the weekend provided the second outdoor adventure for June. More about the first later.

View Otehake in a larger map

A late start didn't see us leaving the start of the track until 4:30pm, which meant 3 of our 4 hours of strolling was in the dark. This would ordinarily be a bit of a drag but our walk was punctuated by sightings of kiwi (well, the butt thereof) and kiwi calls to keep us entertained. After much traipsing over roots and crossing of rivers, we finally made it to the campsite and hotpools at 9pm, just in time for dinner and a soak. Chocolate and port make good friends in a hot pool.

After a sound sleep not interrupted by earthquakes, we woke to another stunning day. A short soak over breakfast fortified the souls (and soles) for the walk out.

A friendly robin who dropped in for lunch on our way home. Another successful trip out into the wilds.

#34. TWALK

2011-05-30T20:38:00.005+12:00

In the spirit of training, the Mighty Midgets (at least the two of them that were actually in the country) and a friendly ring-in decided that we should take part in TWALK - the University of Canterbury tramping club's 24 hours of madness. This involves turning up at the university in a ridiculous costume, being driven to somewhere in the middle of nowhere and being left on the side of the road with a map. Then it's up to your navigational abilities (or lack thereof) to work out where you are and how to get back, while looking for tiny pieces of plastic hidden in cryptic places.

So three Mighty Midgets, adorned in stunning invisibilty cloaks, set off across the countryside with compasses and maps in hand.

After a triumph on the first control, we strolled off into the glorious sunshine. and we walked. and we walked. and we scrounged under a matagouri bush for a tiny piece of plastic. and another matagouri bush. and another one. and another. and then we found said piece of plastic. and then we walked. and walked some more. Matagouri. mud. walked. matagouri. mud. walked. matagouri. matagouri. mud. walked. and then it got dark. more matagouri. a tunnel through the matagouri. with mud. in the dark. mud. dark. matagouri. small piece of plastic. dark. walked. HASH HOUSE! food. rest. planning for more walking in the dark. back out into the dark. walk. mud. giant hill. in the dark. with matagouri. piece of plastic! slide down the hill. walk. walk. lost in the dark. search for plastic. fail to find plastic. walk. walk. barbed wire fence. walk. walk. find piece of plastic! walk. walk. matagouri. walk. mud. walk. walk. walk. HASH HOUSE! TENT! SLEEP! Beep beep beep. Turn off alarm. sleep. sleep. drag self out of bed. eat. get in bus. sleep. sleep. home!

a great weekend with matagouri, mud, madness....all part of the fun of twalk. Looking forward to doing it all again for Heights of Winter

#33. Sign up for the 12-hour Spring Challenge

2011-05-02T20:17:00.003+12:00

Oh dear...what have we done?!

In a possible bout of foolishness, the Mighty Midgets have signed up for the 12-hour Spring Challenge - the big girl's version of the 6-hour which we have successfully completed in the past. And it definitely will be a challenge. The idea is that the top teams will finish in 12 hours, so we're expecting to be out on the course for 18 hours or so. Arrgh!

Luckily, we've signed up super early and fear will be a huge motivator when it comes to training! No longer will our training be able to be dominated by tapering! On the plus side, it will definitely help me to be rid of the Antartic excesses and make the most of the Christchurch winter!

In fact, training has started already with a superb trip up Mount Richardson over the weekend in glorious weather.

Here's to a good winter of trips and training!

1. Go to Antarctica #1

2011-02-15T20:37:00.018+13:00

Antarctica was amazing - a fantastic experience that definitely rates very highly in the list of coolest things that I have ever done. It's kinda hard to sum up the experience in words but the following is a letter that I sent out a month into the trip. More photos will follow soon......

3 December 2010

Hello from Cape Bird!

There is a flight coming tomorrow to bring in some Americans, so it seemed like a good opportunity to send some news out to the real world (via Nita – thanks!).

Cape Bird is a pretty amazing place. Our hut is about up on a terrace about 300 m from the coastline and we have a great view out over the sea towards the Victoria Land coast. The view is ever-changing with pack ice coming and going, depending on what the wind and currents are doing. Last night when we went to bed there was less than 5 % ice cover, while this morning we woke to find the bay almost completely filled with pack ice. I’ve been taking a series of photos from the toilet twice a day, so will be able to show you how much it changes over time.

The hut is very comfortable and similar to most field huts. We have a large kitchen, dining room, with a well-stocked pantry. This is provided you don’t want to eat anything fresh, make anything using eggs or mind eating things that are well past the use-by-date. We have a diesel fire for heating, which is great when it is working, something that it has been doing quite sporadically so far this season.

There are lots of penguins. About 35,000 Adélie penguins to be exact, plus 3 Emperors which we saw cruising past one day. We also have a lot of skuas, a few snow petrels (impossible to photograph), and Weddell and Leopard seals. We have seen some orca way off in the distance and I have heard rumours about minke whales but they have yet to appear on the horizon. We also saw a black-backed gull the other day! That pretty much sums up the wildlife (unless you count springtails but then anything you need a microscope to see doesn’t really count, right).

A polar skua surveying his larder, with the Cape Bird Ice Cap and Beaufort Island in the distance.

There is very little snow and ice at Cape Bird and it looks largely like I imagine the moon would look. Most of the rocks are volcanic, with lots of scoria and basalt (maybe??), and a few bits of granite that have been carried over by glaciers from Victoria Land. The penguins and the skuas build nests on the ground, with penguins building nests from rocks (usually stolen from the neighbour’s nest).

However, some penguins prefer alternative building materials!

And others don’t really build in the most sensible places. This frozen creek will almost definitely flood later in the season when the icecap starts to melt in the warmer weather.

At the moment, all of the birds are still sitting on eggs, with the first chick predicted to hatch about December 10^th. Adélie penguins lay 1-2 eggs, with both parents incubating. One parent will remain with the eggs, while the other goes to sea for a few days to forage for fish and krill and then they switch over.

This guy is making his way back over the push ice along the edge of the sea.

The skua are always looking for a free meal and are constantly cruising the colonies looking for unguarded eggs. They will also attack and feed on chicks, often while they are still alive. Sounds pretty gruesome.

A weddell seal sunbathing on the edge of the push ice. We have only seen leopard seals from a distance but we expect to see leopard seals devouring penguins anytime soon.

While it is very rocky and moon-like out here, it is not entirely devoid of greenery. The great forests of Cape Bird contain…..

algae and moss.

We basically spend everyday walking around the colonies, looking for penguins with flipper bands. We are tagging the nests of all banded birds with cattle tags and then we follow the progress of these nests through the season. So far we have tagged about 300 nests and we still expect to find a few more. We are also setting up a fenced colony that has a weighbridge to record the weights of parents with tagged with pit tags as they come and go from the sea to try and work out how much they are feeding their chicks. We will also be catching birds and taking blood samples to look at physiology and diseases. We will find out more about this work tomorrow when the Americans arrive. We also seem to spend an inordinate amount of time doing data entry. In fact, the boys are still doing data entry and it is 10:30 pm! I’ve had a few geeking moments making the system as efficient as I can but it still seems to take forever (not helped by the fact that we have to enter it twice as the Americans use an antiquated piece of software that I have never heard of and can’t figure out a way to cheat with).

And just to prove that I have actually been doing some work, here I am out in the colony looking for banded birds.

On this day, I was wearing the following: long johns, polar fleece pants, windstopper overtrousers, thermal top, fleece jersey, fleece jacket, primaloft jacket, windstopper jacket, fleece neckwarmer, fleece windstopper hat, polypro gloves, windstopper gloves, handwarmers. It was a little bit cold.

And this was the day I decided that carrying a 60m roll of plastic garden netting was a good idea. It wasn’t. It is quite difficult to stand up with 60m of netting, let alone walk. But I made it in the end.

So all is well at Cape Bird. It has been a pretty amazing experience and I look forward to seeing the changes that occur as the season goes on. I’ll try and send out an update when the boys leave after New Years.

I hope that all is well with you all.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Amy

6 December 2010

As is often the way in Antarctica, the helo flight was cancelled due to bad weather (although it’s been nice here) and has been rescheduled for today. We’ve seen quite a change in the ice conditions over the past few days and lots of Weddell seals hanging out on the pack ice. Quite a few snow petrels too, although I still haven’t managed to actually get one in the picture frame yet. Still there is plenty of time……

1. Go to Antarctica

2010-11-07T20:12:00.005+13:00

Tomorrow I'm off to do Number One on my list - Go to Antarctica! It all still seems a wee bit surreal - I've spent the weekend moving out of the house I've lived in for the past five years and squeezed all of my stuff into a storage shed. I have a giant pile of "stuff for the Antarctic" on Hamish's floor and it's hard to believe that I'm about to trade a balmy Christchurch evening for 3 months of ice and subzero temperatures. I can't wait!

I'm going to work with Adelie Penguins at Cape Bird and will completely isolated from the world for 3 months. No internet. No phone. Nothing but 24 hours of daylight and ice and penguins and leopard seals and whales and 2 other people in our tiny little hut at the base of Mount Erebus. Should make for an interesting summer!

So this will be it from me for a while. But I promise I'll be back with lots of pictures sometime in February. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and a warm summer to you all!

10. Compete in a multi-sport event

2010-11-01T17:34:00.001+13:00

Once again the Mighty Midgets stepped up to the challenge of the all womens adventure race, the Spring Challenge. This year's event started and finished in Tapawera and included rafting, mountain biking, orienteering and hiking. As usual, our preparation for the event had involved more tapering than training but we were feeling relatively confident as we stood at the start line. Our aim was to finish the course within 8 hours and cross the finish line exhausted but still smiling and having fun.

The starting gun saw 300 women head off on mountain bikes with amazing little carnage. We had cunningly elbowed our way to the front of the starting block and set off at a cracking pace, mostly being dragged along by the amazingly fit 12 hour teams. At one point, we were crusing along at an impressive 40 km/hr on mountain bikes on a gravel road! 13 km later and it was off the bikes and onto the raft (after being shoved into our wetsuits by our awesome support crew).

The mighty Motueka river was no match for the Mighty Midgets and was thankfully full of water, unlike the Buller last year when we spent a LOT of time dragging the raft over rocks. Our raft guide did spend quite a lot of time chatting to raft guides on boats we were trying hard to pass (mildly annoying) but we dug deep and got to the raft pullout in super-quick time. Another quick transition: wetsuits off, bike clothes on, food and water in. Then back on the bikes.

This leg started with steep grind up a large hill and was hard work. Little navigation required, although a little confusion at the top of the hill before a nice rocky descent, followed by one of the muddiest rides I have ever done. WE're talking thick, soupy mud over your wheel hubs, with ruts and sticks and blackberry to catch you when you're busy concentrating on the mud. There was a lot of pushing bikes but it was a lot of fun (and a little frustrating). We eventually emerged from the mud and sped downhill towards the orienteering course.

Now, the Mighty Midgets specialty is orienteering. We do loads of rogaines and night navigation orienteering and we're pretty good with a map and compass. So we were pretty happy with the orienteering leg - a nice easy course where we hit every checkpoint straight away and never even looked like getting lost. Then it was back on the bike for another muddy sidle around the hill to Transition 3.

We hit Transition 3 in 10th place! Amazing! We hadn't really trained and didn't think that we would be anywhere near that close to the front of the field. But we're pretty competitive and this news meant that our super-competitiveness kicked in. We set off on the hike in good spirits and keen to pass as many teams as possible. Which meant that we changed our plan and decided to take an alternative route to the next checkpoint at Trig U. So we set off up a narrow forestry road leading up a ridge through the pines. A couple of km up, the road petered out and after consulting the map and a bit of dithering, we decided to keep heading up the hill, following a track that had obviously been pioneered by the Spring Challenge competitors in front of us. After much struggling up the steep hill, through gorse and blackberry, we eventually made it to the top of the hill and popped out at a Trig. Trig Z. Not the trig we were supposed to be at. In fact, a trig on a completely different ridge a long way from the trig we were supposed to be at. There was a little swearing and "how the $#% @ did we get here?". The lesson from Spring Challenge 2010: Look at your map and don't necessarily follow the path most travelled!

Then we sat down, had a muesli bar and figured out how to actually get to where we were supposed to be. Fortunately there was a relatively easy route that avoided the gorse and scrub and we were quickly heading in the right direction. An hour of traversing paddocks saw us at Trig U and back on the homeward straight. Then it was a quick run downhill through the forest and out into the township of Tapawera.

The last few blocks were a bit of a struggle and it was a tired but smiling team of Mighty Midgets that crossed the finish line in 18th place. Another successful Spring Challenge completed in 8 hours and 20 mins.

Next year we attempt the 12 hour event!

28. Make marmalade

2010-10-14T17:59:00.001+13:00

I love maramlade and I've always meant to figure out how to make it for myself - I mean it can't be that hard, right? So when I found a recipe online recently, I decided I should give it a go.

It turned out to be super-easy, very tasty and cheap to make. And if you're really clever (like me), you can make your own levitating maramalade! I've copied the recipe below in case the link disappears. I made 11 jars based on this recipe (I used giant fruit) and need to track down Paddington Bear to help me eat it all!

Magic Levitating Citrus Marmalade
2 grapefruit
2 lemons
2 oranges
2 1/4 litres water
Sugar - 1 cup for each cup of fruit pulp

Wash the fruit and cut into small wedges. Remove any excess pith, blemished parts and the pips. Place the fruit in a kitchen whizz. Whizz the wedges until they are chopped into fine pieces. Place all the pulp into a large saucepan and cover with the water. Bring to the boil and boil for 45 minutes until the fruit is soft. Let the fruit pulp cool down slightly. Measure the pulp in cupfuls and return it to the large saucepan. You may wish to leave the marmalade at this stage and continue making it the following day. Add 1 cup of sugar for every cup of pulp. Bring the pulp back to the boil and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Boil briskly and stir regularly until the "setting stage" is reached. This can take up to 50 minutes. Place 1 tsp of mixture on a saucer and allow to cool. Run your finger across the top of this cooled marmalade and if a skin forms across the surface, then the setting stage has been reached. Take the marmalade off the stove and cool for 10 minutes. Place into sterilised jars using a ladle or small jug and seal firmly with hot rubber-lined lids. As the jars and marmalade cool, the lids will be sucked down and may even make a popping sound. This indicates a secure sealing of the marmalade. The marmalade can be stored in a cool, dry place and will keep for a number of months.

I bottled mine in recycled jam jars, the ones with the lids that go pop. To end up with levitating marmalade, turn the jars upside down after you put the lids on and leave to cool. Enjoy.

14. Knit/crochet a jersey

2010-10-14T17:37:00.002+13:00

One of the things I've been meaning to do for a while is knit or crochet myself a jersey. I have actually done this twice before but neither attempts ended up being wearable. So this time (hopefully) I've picked a pattern that is a flattering style and looks relatively easy - the Central Park Hoodie. The plan was that this was to be my Antarctic project to fill in 3 months of evenings in a remote hut with boys. But I started a little early and have had a week at home recovering from surgery (see new addition #27 to the list) and have now finished the back and the left front of the jersey. oops! The photo below doesn't do the colour of the yarn justice - it is a gorgeous milk chocolate brown.

I've also found a potential replacement Antarctic project if I end up finishing this one before I go. So I might be able to cross this off the list twice!

Shell-brimmed cloche

2010-10-04T20:52:00.003+13:00

I recently discovered Ravelry - an online forum for knitters and hookers (of the crochet kind) and it has got me inspired to get back into crafting. So a weekend with the flu seem like the perfect opportunity to laze around in the spring sunshine and crochet up a storm.

The shell-brimmed cloche was super-easy and took a day and three movies to complete. I made it from a soft cotton that makes it nice and light to wear (& hopefully won't stretch out of shape). It didn't really end up being a sunhat (31 things: #26) as I had intended but it's cute nonetheless.

Queen Anne's Lace Scarf

2010-10-04T20:30:00.001+13:00

I also needed to clean out some of my random yarn stash - shiny and soft things that my magpie brain has made me by at the yarn store because they were pretty. In my random surfing of patterns on Ravelry, I found a pattern for a Queen Anne's Lace Scarf that looked complicated enough to be interesting to do without being taxing on my snot-filled head.

So I ended up using up two balls of stash yarn (a silver metallic and a purple bamboo) to get two very different scarves. No idea what I'll do with them - they are way too pretty for a jeans and t-shirt girl like me!

Earthquake relief t-shirts

2010-09-13T15:55:00.004+12:00

My friend is selling t-shirts to commemorate the 4 September earthquake in Christchurch, with 10% of the profits going to help out those most affected by the quake. Check them out at www.snowpool.org.nz/t-shirt.php

Geologising

2010-09-05T12:08:00.001+12:00

On a less destructive note, last weekend H and I went on a geologising trip up to Motonau Beach to see if we could find anything cool.
It was a beautiful day and a nice beach with some pretty awesomely steep and pointy sand cliffs. We found quite a few crab fossils that are waiting on the rock shelf of death to be extracted.

There were also some pretty awesome bivalves, both external and internal casts.

Hopefully more geologising to happen soon. H and his geeky geology friends are off mapping liquefaction around the city after the earthquake. Apparently there are some monster sand volcanoes out there!

Earthquake!

2010-09-05T11:44:00.001+12:00

Yesterday morning we were woken up at 4:35 am by a 7.1 earthquake! Quite violent shaking that seemed to go on for quite a long time. Never quite made it out of bed and under the doorway but H had to hold onto the bookcase to prevent it falling over and disgorging its contents of rocks on top of us. The aftershocks keep rumbling on some 30 hours later, some of them quite big in themselves. Amazingly our part of town seems to have suffered little damage and we got off pretty lightly, losing only a couple of wineglasses and my car ending up under the neighbour's chimney! The bonnet is buggered and the radiator is toast, so I'm not sure how fixable it will be.

Amazingly, the 60 glass jars on the cupboard above the fridge stayed put and the fish (Gobius and Beluga), Milred the muscle and Steve the snail only lost a little bit of water from their tank. Badger, the cat, is still quite freaked out but an excellent aftershock predictor. If he takes off for his hole under the house, there's expect the earth to move. But it could have been much worse. Parts of the rest of the city have been quite badly damaged, with sides of buildings crumbling, roads with gaping holes and many houses still without power, water or sewerage. (Photos)

It is kinda surreal - looking out my window it is really hard to believe that there is so much damage just a few km away. Most of my friends seems to have survived without too much damage (besides the contents of their kitchen's ending up on the floor). All in all, we've been pretty lucky.

31 things

2010-08-30T20:58:00.004+12:00

Once again I've written a list of things that I'm going to over the next 12 months. It isn't quite finished but I've made a reasonable start without too many things rolling over from previous years. I'm looking forward to an action-packed year being 31!

1. Go to Antarctica

2. Ride Long Bays

3. Submit a sturgeon manuscript

4. Run 500 km

5. Compete in a triathlon

6. Grow a Marlborough rock daisy

7. Publish the whio HQ paper

8. Complete a half marathon

9. Go cycle touring

10. Compete in a multi-sport event

11. Start a post doctoral position

12. Compete in a road bike race

13. Travel internationally

14. Knit/crochet a jersey

15. Compete in a mountain bike race

16. Complete the Crater Rim Trail Run

17. Climb a grade 16 on rock

18. Submit the final whio paper

19. Learn to ride my mountain bike clipless

20. Buy a macro lens

21. Buy a tripod

~~22. Re-instate my blog~~

23. Ride a century in a day

24. Spend a night at the Sign of the Packhorse

25. Learn to use Bayesian statistics

26. Crochet a sunhat

27.

28.

29.

30.

31. Go tramping at least once a month (SONDJFMAMJJA)

And she returns

2010-08-30T17:21:00.007+12:00

After what has been a monster 3 year hiatus, I have decided to return to the blogosphere. This has been largely prompted by my discovery of RSS feeds and subsequent finding of random crafty/foody blogs that have inspired me to make/eat all sorts of fabulous goodies. So I'm going to use this opportunity to document my crafticious/delicious creations.

I finally finished my crocheted blanket today, at least a year after it was started. It's made from a single ply variegated wool and super soft and cuddly. Badger is in love! I've lost the link to the website where I found the pattern, so I'll attempt to make it up below. Super simple.

Crocheted blanket

I used 20 balls of 50g single ply variegated wool plus 1/4 ball of random stash wool for the edging and a 7mm crochet hook (I crochet super-tight).

Chain a foundation row of 151 stitches (or however wide you want it to be in an odd number).

Row 1: Single crochet (sc) to end

Row 2: Chain 1, sc in first chain, *skip 1, sc and double crochet (dc) in next chain, repeat from * to end.

Repeat Row 2 until the desired length, then finish with a row of sc in every stitch.

Edging: sc around edge, turning corners by sc, chain 2, sc in corner stitch. When you've gone all the way round, turn and go back in the opposite direction for a second round.

Hopefully that makes sense. I'll try and track down a link to the original pattern.

A royal west coast trip Part II

2007-07-04T15:37:00.000+12:00

Tauranga Bay

Punakaiki

I'm struggling to stay awake this afternoon and I've pretty much run out of procrastinatory options, so should really be relishing the opportunity to blog stuff but...meh. it can wait. but enjoy the pretty pictures

frostbite

2007-06-25T15:35:00.000+12:00

This poor little bugger suffered a little frostbite in the garden but warmed up when i was taking pics in the sunshine. Unfortunately for him(?), i then put him in the freezer so that I could put him in the scanner. He's still there (in the freezer, that is) but i'll hopefully post some fun scanned pics when i get around to doing it.

2007-06-23T16:41:00.000+12:00

snow on the foothills

27 things

2007-06-15T10:09:00.001+12:00

I've been going through a phase of writing lists recently of things i want to do. not like "i need to buy toilet paper and go to the library" but real things that i've been meaning to do for ages but never really get around to. Only i've discovered that the writing of the list doesn't necessarily translate into doing the list (surprise! surprise!). To overcome this problem, I've written another list. A list of 27 things that I want to do while i am still 27. It took me a while to come up with a list of things that could be achieved in 2.5 months in the middle of winter but I've done it and now I'm working on ticking things off. I've posted this list in the sidebar of this page as a constant reminder of things that need to be done and I'll cross them off as they are. I've also, quite cunningly I think, put them onto a photo which is on the desktop of my computer, so they are there staring at me all the time. There will be no escaping the list!!

So now i'm off to complete number 19 and work on 21 :o)

A royal west coast trip

2007-06-12T10:10:00.000+12:00

We headed away for queen's birthday for a monster west coast road trip which involved 1000kms of driving and surprisingly little rain. Left chch on a gorgeously sunny day with snow on the hills and headed over lewis pass to the coast. Spent quite a bit of time driving backwards and forwards in karamea trying to find a camp ground that wasn't on a rugby field or in someone's back paddock before heading up to kohaihai and the end of the road. This turned out to be the world's best campsite (shhh...don't tell anyone) - right on the beach with nikau palms and hardly anyone else around.

Kohaihai is at the start of the Heaphy Track (which looks ripper and is totally on my to do list), so spent a bit of time kicking around amongst the nikaus along the first bit of the track.

The Oparara Arches and the promise of blue ducks beckoned, so it was off on a fabulous drive along a windy, steep-arse gravel through some superb podacarp forest.

Unfortunately the ducks weren't playing the game but the arch was pretty impressive and I spent lots of time salivating over interesting duck habitat. There were also some pretty impressive spiders hanging out in some of the caves in the area. Those things were massive!!

After an encounter with a couple of insistent weka, we headed down then coast to punakaiki with various stops along the way. Here ends the first installment of the royal west coast trip. I am supposed to be writing 2 papers today and so far I haven't even opened a single relevant file. I'll be back with more pics soon :o)

dentistry

2007-05-16T10:24:00.000+12:00

Things have been busy and mostly unfun stuff, like getting 4 teeth pulled and the attachment of braces :o( Oh well...at least my teeth won't fall out on their own accord. The pulling out of teeth was mostly uneventful apart from the last one which he broke and then had drill and then lever out in little bits. One bit of it got stuck to the ceiling! That's how much levering was involved!! The grand lack of sufficient painkiller was not really so helpful and made the whole process somewhat less fun. The braces attachment process was fine apart from the three days of toothache in all of my teeth. They are relatively unobtrusive which is nice but i'll be railroad track girl for the next 18 months or so - yay!

On a more exciting note, have been out and about in the hills quite a bit recently. Have posted a few panoramas from our avalanche peak trip in the weekend - stunning views and knee deep snow in places which was fabulous!! Will post more pics in the next few days when i get them organised :o)

2007-05-16T10:17:00.000+12:00

nick on the ridge below the summit

2007-05-16T10:15:00.000+12:00

270 degree view from the top of avalanche peak

cass

2007-04-20T13:20:00.000+12:00

So dear michelle got a cold and i got guilted into taking her place as a demonstrator on the 270 ecology fieldtrip at cass. This was not an entriely bad thing in itself as it's four days of being paid to hang out in a nice part of the canterbury highcountry and id plants and bugs. However, little did i know that....

the other demonstrator wouldn't show, leaving me to do the work of 2 people
at least two of the students plant plots would end up on top of wasp nests
i would have to walk up woolshed hill twice (once is seriously bad enough)
the only time i would get to myself in four days without having to answer incredibly basic questions about excel would be when i went for an 1.5 hr run to escape

But i got some nice pics and didn't have to think about my own stuff for a while, so it wasn't all bad....

2007-04-20T13:19:00.000+12:00

the view from woolshed hill

2007-04-11T14:04:00.000+12:00

mount cook early in the morning

2007-04-11T14:03:00.000+12:00

... and again

Mt Cook

2007-04-11T13:13:00.000+12:00

Spent the last 4 days playing down at Mt Cook with the Lovely Clio and Nick. Climbed a giant hill, attempted to find some kea and ate a whole lot of cheese. 215 pics to sort through, so will be posting them for some time to come. What a fabulous procrastinatory tool :)

2007-04-11T13:11:00.000+12:00

1000m up and 1000m down leads to very sore legs but fabulous views!!

2007-04-11T13:07:00.000+12:00

the view from the hut with Mt Sefton in the middle and Cook to the right

2007-04-03T13:07:00.000+12:00

I had to schmooze this morning with some kinda weird people but i got to hangout with some fun critters

Yes I've been slack

2007-04-02T16:32:00.000+12:00

but I so knew (and presumably you did too) that the regular update thing wasn't going to happen. And besides, I've been busy. But here are a few pics from my jaunt up to Castle Hill and through Cave Stream yesterday to keep you entertained until i get around to posting for real.

2007-04-02T16:20:00.002+12:00

cave stream

2007-04-02T16:20:00.001+12:00

crags at castle hill

2007-04-02T16:15:00.000+12:00

me in the womb

2007-04-02T16:07:00.000+12:00

The view from castle hill

New Years Resolutions

2007-02-01T16:16:00.000+13:00

So I'm not really one of those people that does the nyr thing because I know that I'm not going to keep them, so what really would be the point. Besides, if you're going to do something, why wait until ny's to get around to making it happen.

This year, however, was an exception. I didn't come up with the usual "get fit", "eat better", "be nicer" sort of list tho. This year I resolved to write a list of things that i have always wanted to do but been too wimpy/unorganised/just damn lazy to get around to doing. This list-in-progress has been stuck to the fridge in my flat and i have to cross off at least two things a week. My original plan was then to blog the list and subsequent crossing off to make sure that things didn't slide after the first few weeks into the general state of laziness that i tend to live in.

So things kinda started out well....except for the blogging bit, which you may have noticed has slipped a little. Well, to be honest, never actually started. So this afternoon (when i really should be doing work) I shall start this venture in earnest (or some other wanky bollocks like that).

The completed list (thus far):

go swimming at the beach in knitted 1930's swimming togs
complete a hard sudoku
buy a gps and go geocaching
ride my bike wearing my spd bike shoes (they still scare me after the cracked rib incident)
become a journal editor (nz natural sciences look out)
go camping up the hawdon
stay at cass and help out with bug picking
start working on my sturgeon manuscripts
sell one of my screenprinted t-shirts
get a photo printed onto canvas
start learning spanish
start a cookie selling venture
make pesto from my homegrown basil

The uncompleted list:

try kite boarding
make a stunt kite
learn to use fire pois
send a letter/email to everyone in my address book
see bad jelly the witch at the theatre
brew beer
make custard squares
host a cranium/cocktail party
bike up dyer's pass road to sign of the kiwi
learn to play another song on the guitar
skydive
walk on fire
go camping at least once a month
do volunteer work on the hen & chicken islands
join weedbusters
organise a luuce event
buy a macro lens

This is a list in progress and i'm sure there is a bunch of stuff i've forgotten but the piece of paper is stuck to the fridge at home. Suggestions welcome.

2007-01-17T14:28:00.000+13:00

fantail

2007-01-17T14:26:00.000+13:00

nz falcon up the hawdon valley

Double whammy

2006-12-04T16:47:00.000+13:00

This week you get a pictorial tour of my holiday to the North Island (minus the ones of me in my knitted swimsuit cos those just shouldn't ever be made public).

Lake Wakaremoana/iti nice. boots too small. nasty feet. whirinake gorgeous. boots too small. couldn't walk.

Rotorua fun. conference boring. best student talk. $500 cheque. tequila shot. vomit. nice.

the flight home from rotorua was not nice. hungover. cancelled flight. 3.5hr bus to auckland. lost bags (thankfully not mine). lost car (again thankfully not mine).

phd symposium the next day was a little stressful. changed timetable. still asleep and hour before my talk. best biodiversity talk. $100 cheque. no tequila!

Need holiday from holiday!

2006-12-04T16:44:00.000+13:00

There was a canyon in whirinaki

2006-12-04T16:40:00.000+13:00

Lake Waikaremoana

2006-12-04T16:39:00.000+13:00

where there were swallows

2006-12-04T16:38:00.000+13:00

and swans

2006-12-04T16:29:00.000+13:00

and a cinabar moth

2006-12-04T16:23:00.000+13:00

Lake Waikareiti was nice and sunny

2006-12-04T16:21:00.000+13:00

and then it turned to custard!

2006-12-04T16:19:00.000+13:00

mental note to self: buy bigger boots!!

2006-12-04T16:15:00.000+13:00

ewww

holiday time

2006-11-21T11:45:00.000+13:00

well almost...heading up to hamilton and te urewera national park tomorrow for a camping holiday before going to rotovegas for a conference. conference sahould be interesting - michelle and I have fashioned ourselves woollen bathing suits to wear to the dinner - very sexy and a tad itchy (and yes, the dinner is fancy dress and we are not just being weird). i should also add that there will be NO photos posted!!

Speaking of photos, I sort of accidentally ended up putting one of mine in an exhibition and it has been sold!! Twice!! how cool is that.

Speaking of selling things, Michelle and I have been getting into this screenprinting caper and have been wearing our shirts to uni (unfortunately usually the same ones on the same day) but people keep asking where we got them from and whether or not they can order some for xmas!! fun

i'll be back in two weeks or so with fun camping pics :o)

2006-11-13T09:43:00.000+13:00

wrybill

2006-10-29T13:42:00.000+13:00

black fronted terns

braided river birds

2006-10-29T13:36:00.000+13:00

imagine getting paid $20/hr to jet boat 30 km up a river and then walk back down, counting birds. This has been my past week and next week hopefully as well!! the whole thing made much more exciting by having to launch oneself onto and off of a jetboat as it is drifting past in order to get to the next island. Amazingly, i have managed to do this without badly injuring myself (yet) - just a nice case of badly bruised jetboat knee.

2006-10-24T10:09:00.000+13:00

2006-10-13T16:02:00.000+13:00

looking up the waimak from bealey spur

2006-10-13T15:57:00.000+13:00

moeraki boulders

2006-10-13T15:55:00.000+13:00

lake pukaki

2006-10-13T15:53:00.000+13:00

ship creek

whangamomona

2006-09-29T16:11:00.000+12:00

it's been awhile and i know that i keep promising pics but to be honest, they are still on my camera and i'm too lazy to download them so you'll just have to wait.

Interesting points from the past few weeks

my damselfly pic won another prize - 1st flora/fauna and 3rd overall in the local tramping club competition which netted me a pair of waterproof binos :o)
i've started a veggie garden (much easier when you don't have to attempt to chipmunk-proof everything)

huh... i think that's it. not very exciting or revelatory really, is it. surely i must have done something else that's vaguely interesting .... but apparently not. Oh well...

for a relaxing time, make it a west coast time

2006-09-10T21:57:00.000+12:00

yay for holidays - particularly when you end up on the we(s)t coast. here's a pictorial tour of my trip.

more to follow :o)

2006-09-10T21:54:00.000+12:00

ship creek

2006-09-10T21:51:00.000+12:00

knight's point kowhai

2006-09-10T21:50:00.000+12:00

lake paringa

2006-09-10T21:47:00.000+12:00

lake paringa

2006-09-10T21:45:00.000+12:00

look out!

2006-09-10T21:41:00.000+12:00

cameron flat

i'm in the money (sort of)

2006-08-17T17:22:00.000+12:00

So this is going to be an expensive month. I'm flying to wellington for a friend's engagement party ($200 + food/booze) and then staying up there for a conference for the rest of the week ($270 registration + $150 accommodation + food/booze). Then driving to alex for another friend's birthday (petrol/food/booze), then onto queenstown/wanaka for a skiing holiday (skiing/petrol/accommodation/food/booze). Then it's home for a few days for a meeting (wof/petrol/food/booze) and then home via dunedin (petrol/food/booze). All in all, it's gonna play havoc with my visa balance. But it will hopefully balance a little better after managing to win a travel award and get my conference fees waived :o) Now I might actually be able to afford to go skiing.

creative urges

2006-08-08T10:10:00.001+12:00

sometimes i get the urge to do something creative. but i can't draw or paint to save my life, particularly if it involves having to make something look like something - it just ain't gonna happen. which is where photography saves my arse - you can just point and shoot and after 200 digital shots, something is bound to come out right. Now i'm relatively practical and have delved into woodworking, or at least restoring old broken things in the past. I can sew and knit and have produced a few gems in my time but also a vast wardrobe of things that will never see the daylight. but to be honest, i'm really one of those people who sees something cool and then goes "I could so make that" and then never gets off my lazy arse to do it. I go through fads - last weekend it was mosiacing which got as far as smashing up a whole heap of tiles. I now have a boot filled with broken tiles that will no doubt stay there for the rest of the year. You might well wonder where this diatribe is going. Well....i've found a new fad that is fun, requires little artisitc talent if you have access to the internet and photoshop and turns out cool results. take a look for yourself.....

2006-08-08T10:10:00.000+12:00

pingu

2006-08-08T10:07:00.000+12:00

a pressie to go in mum's new house

(sorry about the crappy lighting)

2006-08-08T10:06:00.000+12:00

titi

2006-08-08T10:03:00.000+12:00

a slice of kiwiana

2006-08-08T10:01:00.000+12:00

my favourite

2006-07-29T12:51:00.000+12:00

spring has sprung (for now)

creative coronation

2006-07-29T12:45:00.000+12:00

i found myself describing what i got up to last tuesday night to a friend and was suddenly horrified to find that my life recently seems to have revolved around sitting at home watching two-hour episodes of coronation and knitting while waiting for my bread to finish baking in the oven. i never thought that i would make good housewife material and i was naturally somewhat distraught.

But then I took a step back and thought about the things that have come about because of my coronation street addiction and things came back into perspective. Now I'm not advocating that you all tune in to the dramas down at the rover but you might be surprised at what you can achieve.

2006-07-29T12:41:00.000+12:00

pretty in pink

2006-07-29T12:38:00.000+12:00

hoody #2 - moss green

2006-07-29T12:34:00.000+12:00

15 months in the making but worth every second

2006-07-29T12:31:00.000+12:00

wouldn't want my lady grey to get cold now, would we...

luxmoore grunt

2006-07-29T07:11:00.000+12:00

hmmm....sometimes i wonder about my sanity. like right now for example. i just got up at 6:30am to enter in a running race in december! not just any running race but a 28km mountain run with a 800m smack bang in the middle. how is this a good idea?! admittedly i did do it last year and i did kick my sister's arse by 15 mins but she be on the ball this year, so i imagine the tables will turn. not to mention the fact that the last run i went on happened to be the said race lsat year!! of course, not helped by gammy knee which decided to dislocate itself midway through a river crossing out in the middle of nowhere while looking for ducks. but i suspect that this might be the thing needed to pull me out of this rut i have got myself bogged in. guess i should stop my early morning ramblings and go for a run....

2006-07-20T17:43:00.000+12:00

lake rotoiti at dusk

glorious geekdom

2006-07-20T17:36:00.000+12:00

it's great when you find something that really gets you going - something that lights your fire and makes you wanna sing it out to the world. i had one of those moments yesterday! it involved...ergh...writing coded population models and fiddling around with maps in gis. Everyone else talked about outside dirty things like catching ducks and banding things and jabbing birds with big needles while graeme and i hung out in the kitchen with imaginary numbers and beta distributions and geeked our little hearts out. It was so much fun and, the best bit, we have pretty much solved an entire chapter of my thesis already - i just have to plug in the numbers!!

presentation blues

2006-07-17T15:45:00.000+12:00

another weekend wasted stressing about a presentation that i have to give in order to get funding for my phd. It's very pretty but i've been struggling to put the concepts in words that make sense without waffling on for half an hour. Had a practise run through today during which i didn't get slaughtered, so hopefully it should run smoothly tommorrow in St Arnaud.

Am driving up there tommorrow and give my talk and then hang around for a workshop on wednesday. thinking i might meander back on thursday and stop and play in the hills on the way, although the weather looks like it might be rubbish, so we'll see how that goes. should be a go trial of the waterproofness of my new tent either way. J&P have gone up to the north island for 10 days or so, so will have the house back to myself for a while again.

will post pretty pictures when i get back :o)

blah

2006-07-10T17:10:00.000+12:00

Have been kinda stressed these last few weeks - lots to do at school, funding proposals to write and present, conference talk to write (for which i don't have the data), no guarantee i'm gonna get the funding for my project, $700 of my own money to fork out for the conference.....i could go on but whining about it ain't gonna help. had a bitchy weekend and am driving my poor sister (and no doubt, phil) up the wall.

I need to get out of the house and do something!!! start eating, sleeping, exercsing properly and generally stop sulking!

2006-06-29T15:06:00.000+12:00

2006-06-29T15:05:00.000+12:00

snow day

2006-06-29T14:58:00.000+12:00

was the day when we all ran away from the lab to celebrate the joys of winter in the southern alps (and the fact that we only had one day left until our supervisor got back from Alaska). So it was almost 2.5 weeks ago that it snowed but there's still a good half a metre of snow on the other side of porter's pass - nice icy crust on the top that adds an extra element of ouch to snowball fights and taking a step means running the risk of falling thru up to your knees. Lake Linden was completely frozen over with at least of foot of ice for approx 20m from the edge - perfect for attempting to ice skate. Found a nice steep slope for sliding down, with just over a 10m runout before you hit the road. But remember kids ...

2006-06-29T14:56:00.000+12:00

playing in the snow ...

2006-06-29T14:54:00.000+12:00

can end badly

ummm...

2006-06-26T17:03:00.000+12:00

I'm just gonna post something here because it's been awhile and i feel like i should but don't really have anything to say.

High/Lowpoints of the last "however-long it's been since i posted"

I bought knee-high boots and they were free apart from the "selling my soul to marketing companies" bit
and a super-cute wee black skirt (so turning into a girl)
it snowed again and has been arse-cold all week
but i got a pair of fleece pants from the ware-whare
having flatmates again is driving me up the wall
and i'm gonna become the "flatmate from hell" again if i'm not careful
sin city, broken flowers, eyes wide shut and a clockwork orange are a weird combination of movies to watch in a weekend and result in strange looks in the tea room
snow day on wednesday this week when we are all going to run away from uni and go play in the snow (I'll post pics and make you all insanely jealous - mwahahaha)
i need to learn to spell in evil