Clouds

One of the great things about living a little bit high up and looking out over the ocean is the sky.

Health and fitness

Well, it had to happen eventually. I have registered with a doctor and joined a gym, all in the same lunch hour. I'm not planning on needing a doctor any time soon but you have to register or you might not get an appointment when you really need one and it costs more. Apparently you also need some kind of government number which, after a little confusion they are sorting out for me. The phone call went something like this...

Drs: "We are just entering your paperwork and we don't seem to have your ???? number"
Me: "I don't know about a ???? number"
Drs: "You are a NZ citizen?"
Me: "Yes"
Drs: "Have you changed your name?"
Me: "No"
Drs: "Are you sure?"
Me: "Yes"
Drs: "Well we can't find you in the system, are the details you gave us correct?"
Me: "Yes, but I left the country in 1969 and have only just come back so if they introduced the ???? number after 1969 then that's why I'm not in the system"
Drs: "Ohhhhh. So you don't have a ???? number?"
Me: "No"
Drs: "All the details we have for you are correct?"
Me: "Yes"
Drs: "Right, we'll register you then and get you a ???? number"

Lovely ladies!

The gym was much easier; walk in, look round, sign up. It's over the road from work so, in theory no excuse for not getting there. Will let you know how I go on that one.

An abundance of fruit

I have fruit tress at the bottom of my garden and now have lemons, oranges, red apples, green apples, feijoas and tomatoes. Bucket loads in fact and in the case of the feijoas that is literal.

So what to do??? Jam, I'm thinking. So first; check the Edmonds Cookbook (Kiwi cooking bible) to discover that my, admitedly very old edition fails to mention feijoas but does give good general jam/jelly-making advice. Second; check Stephanie (her Cook's Companion is the Aussie cooking bible) who has saved me on more than one occasion but is equally silent on the subject of feijoas. Third; Google. Bingo!! Jam, jelly and chutney recipes in a multitude of variations and for nothing less that 1kg of fruit.

Now all I have to do is find enough jars.

Surf's up (sort of)

Last weekend Mum, Dad and I hit the walkway and got as far as the Te Henui stream and the Big Wave cafe. It was about 6 kms and took us about an hour which of course meant we needed a break.

A very helpful sign we passed on the way

Enjoying salmon & cream cheese bagels. Yup, the cafe is mobile and the menu is on the surfboards in the background

The place was jumping, lots of walkers with and without dogs, joggers, cyclists and people just out to enjoy the day. They have a bunch of old arm chairs that they put out and if you get there at the right time you can nab one and sit looking over the beach with your coffee.

A lion, a light & another festival

The lion was in Opunaki, about 45mins down the coast. He was there as part of a one day sculpture project that happened all over the country. It's kind of difficult to explain how a live lion is art but it worked.

The light is the replica lighthouse at Cape Egmont. The education team did a term of classes there for primary aged children and I got to go and visit. It was fantastic, you can climb all the way up to the top, look up and down the coast, see the real lighthouse and how the light works.

The multi-ethnic festival is an annual extravaganza of food, music and fancy costumes. Who know there were so many cultures represented in New Plmouth?

Oh, and as documentary evidence that it is actually me telling you all this from downtown NP & not faking it...

I survived Womad

3 days, 6 stages, 30 hours of music and I made it all the way through. Haka, Flamenco, French a capella, Bedouin jerry cans, the Oud!
I went because I'd been told it was a must do and to try and work out if it was worth going next year. The answer is absolutely yes.

The weather was stunning which helped and the setting was fantastic. It's held in the park and the biggest stage is a huge grass amphitheatre surounded by a lake.

They had 40,000 people through the gates over the 3 days and most of them were dancing for most of it.

Wellington & Womad

Last weekend it was the rugby, this weekend it's Womad and in between I've been to Wellington. The trip was partly for work, to hear Shelley Bernstein from the Brooklyn Museum speak and to meet some people at the National Library but mostly to help sort out the stuff from my Grandmother's house now that it has been sold. It was really nice to visit it one more time and to bring home some of the memories, a cup we always took on picnics, a coffee jar for my favourite biscuits which is how they were always stored, books (of course).

It was also nice to go for a really long drive. The car is great for long trips and really solid on the road - a fact I was very greatful for on the trip home as a southerly came through and windy Wellington well and truely lived up to its name.

And now I'm off to day 2 of Womad.

This is my 3 day pass so I can come and go as I like, you also end up in the shortest entry queue which is good. Last night I heard Pakeha (Anglo Kiwi), Maori, Cuban, Arabic/French and Aboriginal - fabulous and only a tiny sample of the whole programme which includes food, craft, film and at least 3 performances on at any one time.