Soggy start to summer

It's so easy to feel smug sitting in the caravan looking out at the rain! But I'd hate to be one of the many families here who spent all yesterday pitching their tents in the lovely weather, and have laid in bed all night listening to it bucket down!

Thanks goodness for the advent of low-priced gazebos - at least they have a bit of space outside their tents so they're not all cooped up in that nasty, murky, fugginess that tents become when it's warm and wet outside!

And the long-range forecast doesn't look too flash either - but we're perfectly happy here in our apartment on wheels.

We'd bugger off to somewhere with a sunny forecast, but one day this week I have to take a quick trip to Auckland to get some work stuff out of the way, so we need to stay close to Wellington till that's done.

But who cares? Not us, we're having the time of our lives!

Yesterday, we had a great couple of hours out in the kayaks. Of course I didn't put quite enough sunblock on - the bottom half of my shins are a bit burnt (sort of the reverse version of a sock tan) with these odd white stripes on them where the leg straps from the kayak were. It was so lovely and peaceful out there on the water - not to mention all that great building up of shoulder and arm muscles!

Have trained pretty well since Christmas. Boxing Day I did a 3km walk/run in the morning and then Craig and I biked the trails in the afternoon. The next day was wet but I still did 12km road training on the bike. Yesterday I figured the kayak trip was plenty of exercise but went for a quick swim in the evening as well - first sea swim this summer! Didn't managed to tempt Craig in though.

Season's greetings

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and New Year - and a great summer break for those of you who occupy the same hemisphere as me.

Take time to relax and enjoy. Do something every day that fills your soul with joy - potter in the garden, read a book, spend lots of time with those you love.

Phase 1 complete

We had our family Christmas dinner yesterday - it was easier than juggling kids working on Christmas Day, wanting to be with partners' families, wanting to be their other parents, all that sort of thing.

So, we whipped up a Christmas feast that consisted of:
Rotisserie boned shoulder of pork (all 6kg of it!) marinated overnight in ginger beer and stuffed with dried apples and prunes
A whole (very large) blue nose, stuffed with parsley pesto and lemon slices, baked in the BBQ
A variety of salads and vege dishes (all suitable for the vegan in our midst)
A three tone chocolate cheesecake the size of a small apartment building
My Christmas ice cream (Kapiti vanilla ice cream with fruit mince and rum stirred through it and refrozen)
Lots of yummy summer berries
Banana tofu ice cream (which I have never forced myself to taste but the vegan swears is lovely)

Consequently, I'm feeling a bit bloody jaded today - but it's actually a relief to know it's all done and I won't spend Christmas Eve rushing around like a lunatic all day and cooking half the night. Even better - I WON'T HAVE TO GO NEAR A SUPERMARKET ALL DAY!

Phase 2, on Christmas Day itself, is the traditional chicken and champagne brunch at my sister's place. All I need to do for that is bake a couple of panettone in the morning - sweet as!

Christmas revised

We've changed our minds (of course!) about just hanging about at the coast for Xmas.

So we'll still go to Paekakariki on Boxing Day (or even Christmas afternoon) and stay for New Year's Eve. Then it's off to Taupo on the 2nd. We were going anyway as we have tickets to Gin Wigmore and Dave Dobbyn. But instead of just whipping up there for a night we are taking the caravan and staying for two nights.

Then (drum roll please) we're off to Whitianga to stay with Helena and Craig at the camping ground they run! We're really excited about catching up with them, and about spending time on the Coromandel - the kayaks and bikes will certainly be must-pack items.

We'll leave there on the 9th or 10th and wander back down the North Island - not sure what route yet - so we get home in plenty of time to start work again on the 18th.

I finally did my first swim today, at the local outdoor pool (it's 30m and supposedly heated). The 300m took 10 and half minutes, so I don't feel to bad about that. I only did breast-stroke and I'm thinking I'm better off just working on my speed at that, rather than trying to master freestyle.

Now that we've got firmer plans for our holiday, I better start working on the travelling triathlon training plan.

Glug revisited

Just over 4 years ago I posted this about how badly I SUCK at swimming. Nothing has changed since then.

I haven't yet hit the water to train for this triathlon - but I plan to on Sunday. I'm going to swim 300m, no matter how long it takes me. At least then I can aim to improve!

Poised

I'm ready to start my 'proper' training programme tomorrow. I've been doing some training in the last week, but now it's time to get serious.

My PT and I have worked out a three phase approach based on what's happening with the holidays etc - things are a bit all over the place in 9 weeks from now till the triathlon on 6 February.

First there's the plan to get through from now till when I finish work on the 23rd. Then there's the stepped up version for while I'm on holiday till 18 January. Then I'll have three weeks of fine tuning when I'm back at work (and the gym) again.

So, for the next almost three weeks it works like this:
Monday: PT session with Karl, concentrating on the muscles needed for the various triathlon disciplines.
Tuesday: 5-8km ride on the roads near home
Wednesday: 3km walk/run (run as much as I can and walk the rest)
Thursday: Ride again
Friday: rest
Saturday: walk/run again
Sunday: swim - working on building distance up as much as possible

He wants me to do all my running and riding on the road instead of in the gym - no matter what the weather!

On days when I'm not training in the morning I'll use the Wii to do yoga before work, just to get a really good stretch.

Phase two will have much more concentration on swimming (going for every second day) as that's where I'm weakest.

Craig and I are planning to spend most of our break in the caravan, probably at Paekakariki (but if the weather's crap we'll head elsewhere), so at least I'll have a good beach to swim at.

I want to set a real goal for the triathlon (rather than just to finish), but I need to do a couple of swims first so I can work out what time to aim for.

Milestone

Nothing to do with weight or fitness this one.

Tonight is my boy's 21st party. Jake actually turned 21 last month, but we decided to have the party after all the varsity kids got back to town.

I couldn't ask for more in a son - he is a kind and loyal man who cares deeply about his family and friends. Of course he is a bit of a larrikin, too.

Elbow epiphany

This may be the strangest analogy I've ever come up with.

I was at a function last night - not a particularly fascinating one. At one stage I was standing with a group of people listening to the speaker. I was in my standard 'not really into this' pose - my arms were crossed. Because I was wearing short sleeves, at some stage in my trance of boredom I noticed how smooth my elbows are now.

The skin on my body easily becomes dry and flaky (love that crocodile skin look!), so I make sure I put body lotion on at least once a day. My elbows in particular can become very dry and patchy - they will become quite sore and cracked if I don't look after them.

But for years they have stayed soft and smooth - that's because when I put lotion on my arms I put it first on my elbows and then spread it out from there. I do this without even thinking about it - it's totally automatic.

OK, I know you're bored now - where the hell is Sue going with this?

It's all about habits. I trained myself to have smooth elbows; it's just part of my daily routine. Somehow, I must be able to train myself to make healthy food choices - not having to think about each and every bite, but just automatically eating what is good for me.

Bounding back into action

I feel like a bit of a fraud.

I made such an effort to lose all that weight and get fit, and yet I'm only really just hanging on to it by the skin of my teeth.

Quick recap:
Turned 40 in 2005, weighing just over 132kg
Started WW in April 2005
Did a triathlon in February 2006
Lost 50kg by April 2006
Got down to 76kg (very briefly) in October 2006
Since then my weight has slowly crept up so I am now at 89kg

I just don't seem to be able to keep any momentum. Yes, I am still pretty fit, but my eating is all over the place.

Discipline is very clearly part of the answer - and given all the personal changes I've been through in the past few years (only child leaving home, my leaving my long-term partner, me falling head over heels in love with a new man...), I suspect there's some emotional stuff tied up in that.

I know that setting goals and making plans is something that makes a big difference to me. It's very easy for me to just drift along if I'm not aiming for something.

Discipline affects so much of what I do. My work, my home life, my health and my emotional well being. Going easy on myself should not be an option - it doesn't help me in the long run. I let myself off the hook when my weight wandered up over 80kg, then up and down and up again and again over 85kg. I cannot continue to do this, or next it will be over 90kg and who knows where that will stop (or not stop).

So, how am I bounding back into action?

First - I have signed up for another triathlon (6 February 2010). Yes, I know said last year I had retired from running, but I can change my mind about that one. This triathlon is about two things - one is to have a goal. The other thing is in my first triathlon the weather was so vile the swim was cancelled (we waded through the waves instead), so I've always kinda felt I didn't really do a triathlon.

Second - the return of regular posts. This is to keep me on track, not for the entertainment of others. Just weekly posts, but every week. Maybe more than once a week, but never less.

Third - eating. I still haven't got my head around how to cope with this. I know I can't go back to counting points or any other form of tracking; this doesn't work for me and is more likely to make me eat poorly after a few days. It is partly about setting limits and partly about doing some planning. I'll put more thought into this yet, but it starts with no alcohol during the week and planning at least my breakfasts and lunches. Dinner will be less formal but will certainly involve restrictions on the size of protein servings.

And the end goal? Same as always - 72kg.

More on Tahiti

It is an absolute must in any overseas country to get at least mildly drunk in a local bar, watch the locals and make up fantastic tales about their lives.


We managed to achieve this in Les 3 Brasseurs - a micro brewery/bar near the waterfront in Papeete. They make four types of beer and I can highly recommend the 'ambre'.

There were plenty of locals coming and going, including what looked like the guests from a wedding stopping for drinks on the way to the reception (presumably while the bridal party was off somewhere for the photos). They were all very stylish and cool, even the kids, although the French fashion flair seemed to have deserted one couple who had dressed themselves and their two children in colour co-ordinated clothes - watermelon pink isn't a colour that suits many men.



We managed not to get as drunk as this man, who was incoherent at 9am, spotted while we were having coffee at Le Retro. As a coffee snob, getting decent coffee is a real challenge when travelling - the best trick here seemed to be to drink espresso only. Any coffee with milk in it was vile.


For our last day on the main island, we did a half day tour of the coast. Tahiti Nui is only 120km around (Tahiti Iti is a smaller attached island), so it is quite an easy drive.

We had a lovely French driver/tour guide - and we were the only ones on the tour, so it was very chatty and personal. We saw all the usual sights - marae (temple), the Gaugin museum (very few original works but interesting all the same - I particularly liked his bronzes), a waterfall and a blow-hole (the weather was too calm for this to be exciting). The general sight-seeing was the best part of the tour - the coastline is very impressive. There were a large number of what looked like 'ghost suburbs'. Apparently the government is building subsidised housing to encourage people to move out of the city - but it doesn't look like anyone is very keen.






Next stop, Moorea. Oh, and check out this cruise ship. Craig is convinced they get their lifeboats off TradeMe (ebay to the non-Kiwis) - not one is the same!

What a waste!

On the hill about Matavai Bay is what used to be the Hyatt Regency.

Apparently this was a beautiful hotel. It was built when the local regulations basically said you couldn't put up a building higher that a coconut palm - so they designed it to flow down the hill. You caught the elevator down to your room instead of up.

The hotel has been abandoned since the late 90s. The combination of distance from the city and mismanagement meant it couldn't survive financially.

There have been a couple of proposals to turn it into apartments or a retirement village, but too much money was required to bring it up to scratch. There is a caretaker living there, but the building is basically just rotting away.

I guess now, after more than 10 years, it is well past being able to be rescued. So, this huge hotel and its restaurant and bar down on the beach are just being left like this. Apparently there is not enough money to pull it down.


And that's what made us grumpy. It is such a waste, it looks bad, and it smacks of the arrogance of multinational businesses to think they can just leave their mess behind.

Tahiti part 1

The great thing about flying to Tahiti is it’s only a 5 hour flight from Auckland. The stink thing is you arrive in Papeete at 3am!

So, we got to our room at the Radisson Plaza about 4am, had a couple of quick drinks and then collapsed into bed.

Not for very long, of course. I’m not great at that whole sleeping thing at the best of times, and the excitement of a tropical holiday meant there was no chance of a decent sleep. So, by 9am I was well past pretending I would get any more sleep and was dying for:
a) a cup of tea
b) a look at our resort in daylight
c) something to eat

So, first for the cup of tea. I can handle those little pottles of UHT milk they give you in hotel rooms – I’ve had to acquire the taste over the years. But what’s this new and evil twist? The milk is sweetened and – ugh – vanilla flavoured! I couldn’t even get the cup of tea to my mouth without gagging at the smell.

We had a gorgeous room – they’d upgraded us to a duplex, so there was a separate bedroom and full bathroom upstairs, with a lounge and toilet downstairs. Both levels had their own air conditioning and balcony – the downstairs one was a generous size with two sun loungers and a dining table and chairs.

We consider ourselves well-prepared travellers – knowing what an expensive destination French Polynesia is we had packed a few essentials (and brought in plenty of duty free spirits). So we had a good sharp knife, some Tupperware containers, a lemon squeezer and – most essential of all – a cocktail shaker.

We may not have been as prepared as some of the local tourists though – we even saw one couple set up a BBQ on their balcony!

We caught the shuttle into town that first day and visited the market and supermarket to stock up on limes (for the margaritas), baguettes and cheese, lots of fresh fruit and other nibbles. And plenty of water and fruit juice. And normal milk. This meant we didn’t have to pay exorbitant hotel prices for breakfasts and alcohol, and could have snacks on the balcony while we watched the glorious sunset over nearby Moorea. And sip margaritas.


Papeete is well worth exploring, but it only takes a few hours to cover all the city sights. Other than that it’s just another Pacific Island city – hot, dusty and with the added bonus of traffic jams. We were staying just outside the city on Matavai Bay, so there was plenty of peace and a lovely outlook over the sea.

I was constantly struck by the similarity of the Tahitian language to Maori – same pronunciation rules and lots of very similar words. Lots of people spoke at least some English, so between that and my appalling French we had very few communication problems.

Next instalment – something that made us very grumpy indeed!

For the last bloody time!

Here is the first entry from a spreadsheet I started last week:
Back from Tahiti and the weight continues to go on. The dreaded 90kg almost crept onto the scales! Eating whatever, drinking heaps of alcohol and getting sod-all exercise - clearly not a successful recipe for weight loss. All this I know - now how do I get myself to apply all that lovely discipline again?

The spreadsheet is a full celebration of my geekdom - graph, exercise tracker, goal setting. What is DOES NOT include is any form of food plan (apart from limiting what days I drink alcohol). This is because I won't go back to anything that looks like a 'diet' - I have the skills, I know what and how to eat, I don't want to resort to restrictive measures.

If this approach means it takes longer and there are lots of ups and downs along the way - so be it. Okay, so having the spreadsheet contradicts that approach, but I do know about my need to set goals and keep an eye on progress, so this is my form of compromise.

Why won't I plan and track eating? Because that doesn't help with my food issues - it just replaces one problem with another.

And my main goal for the next couple of weeks - plenty of time on the bike. I've got a 50km ride to do on 11 October!

I really suck at this!

I used to be such a good little blogger. Now the slightest hint that I'm getting busy and this is the first thing I drop...

Oh well, it's not like I get grades or rewards for how often I post - but maybe my report card should read 'Could try harder'.

Anyway, we're just back from Tahiti. Had a gorgeous time. Check this out. The view from one of the places we stayed.

Walking on sunshine

What a difference a weekend makes - especially when the sun shines! How much more cheerful and positive everyone is. Of course an All Blacks win over the Wallabies helps as well!

Had all the kids and their partners over for brunch yesterday. It's always lovely to get them all together in one place - and see how well they get on. And of course it's nice to be able to sit in the back yard instead of huddling inside.

I have a pretty busy week coming up - off to Auckland on Wednesday, then to Melbourne Thursday (for one meeting) and back to Wellington Friday. The shitty flight schedule means the only direct flight gets me home just after midnight.

This means it will be a challenging week for fitting in exercise - if I can manage something for two of those three days I will be going well.

Speaking of exercise - the fitness class on Saturday was lots of fun. Craig really sucked at Fight-do; the co-ordination was just beyond him. But he's never done anything like that before, so I think a few more tries would find him quite enjoying it. We both fell for spin big-time - not sure how well we can fit it into our schedule though. I'm going to try to do a class of something each week (apart from this week).

Pathetic whiny begging

Hi guys

I hate to sound all needy and pathetic...but you folk with private blogs....because I changed my email address on blogger I lost all my access....and there are some of you who have never invited me....and I'm feeling sooo unloved.

Please, please, please ask me to be your friend?

I promise I'll be nice as pie.

(and I won't sob too much if you don't invite me)

Trying not to complain...

...but really, this weather is past a joke. Feels like it's been winter for four months already. Of course, being Wellington, it will stay winter till early September and then blow 40 bastards till Christmas...

Starting to see some downward movement on the scales. I'm feeling very motiviated, but know I need to watch this because I've been here about a gazillion times in the last two years.

Exercise is great - it's all what I'd call 'high value' stuff; basically working really hard at it instead of faffing about. Tomorrow I'm aiming to do 10,000m on the rowing machine and Saturday Craig and I are booked into an introductory fitness class at our gym - a sampler of all their different fitness classes. Craig has never done a class before (and I've only done a couple) so it should be interesting. He enjoyed this style of exercise while we were at Outward Bound - although the co-ordination of grapevines and box steps had him a bit buggered. Maybe I can smuggle a camera in...

In the meantime, trying to stay warm - and using photos of our big trip in January to remind me summer will come again.


Henderson Bay in the Far North - this one was a must-stop for a swim!

Do I look hot and bothered? I should hope so! We rode into Pandora Bay (north of Spirits' Bay on the way to Cape Reinga). There are no roads, just this rough track, most of which was impossible to ride. But the reward - a completely deserted and absolutely beautiful beach. This photo was taken at the top of the ridge on the way back out; over an hour of pushing the bikes uphill and the temperature was over 30. Wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Sunrise over Houhora Harbour. Bliss.

Shenanagyms

There's this woman at our gym who I call Tinkerbell (not to her face - just in a bitchy way in my own head). The nickname came about the first time I saw her run backwards on the treadmill - yes, you did read that right. Why would you even come up with the idea to try something like that? I think it helps her see who is watching her.

She obviously is/was a dancer and is very supple. Which she like to show everyone. One of her more disturbing habits is stretching on the treadmill (not while it's moving). She likes to bend down to touch the ground with her legs straight. Which makes her very short shorts ride up and give us all a most unbecoming display. We are left in no doubt this woman has had a Brazilian. Not something we needed to know.

Tinkerbell spends hours at the gym every day. Seriously, she's always there when we arrive and still there when we leave. No matter what time or what day we go. Maybe she's stalking us and manages to arrive just before we do? Or maybe she lives in the changing rooms - they're pretty comfortable with the sauna, steam room, television, lounging chair thingies, hair dryers, ghds...

But you never really see her do anything. She'll get on the treadmill, walk for a minute or two, treat us all to her stretching display, maybe throw in a quick backwards run for good measure and then just wander off again. Or you'll see her wander past with a couple of weights in her hand, and then wander back and put them on the rack.

Maybe it's just that in the winter, the gym is a warmer place to be than living in Neverland with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.

The weight and food thing

It’s now over two years since I ended my previous relationship. At that point I weighed around 78kg – a loss of around 55kg.

I then proceeded to fall madly in love with most unseemly haste. Craig and I have been together for two years. Along with insane happiness came the apparently inevitable weight creep – about 5kg in the next six months or so.

And then the great crash – bike crash that is. That cartwheel on my mountain bike on New Year’s Day 2008 resulted in a grade 4 dislocation of my AC joint and a ruptured rotator cuff. My decision to avoid surgery left me inactive for six months.

So there I was in May last year, just back from a trip to Europe with two of my sisters, pretty damn unfit and weighing in at 88kg.

I determinedly buckled down to some serious exercise and weight control. Well, the exercise thing has stuck – and so has the weight!

I can maintain the discipline about my eating for a couple of weeks, maybe a month and then I get all slack again and the weight creeps back up. Or we go on holiday and I eat and drink like the end is nigh!

So, the lightest I’ve been in the last year is 82kg and the heaviest is 88kg.

I’m not despondent about this, but I DO want to do something about it.

One of the problems here is self-control. Oh dear, what a blindingly obvious thing to say! Let me explain a bit further…

I want to control my own eating. I don’t want to go back to using something else to control my eating – like counting points, planning every last mouthful or following a food plan.

I need to be able to do this my way – because I need to be able to do this for the rest of my life.

I want to just cook everyday meals – but make them healthy and get the portion size right for me. I want to have the occasional treat – occasional has to mean once or twice a week, not a day.

So, here I go again, trying to get this last 15kg off. And the first week has been a huge success – I weigh the same today as I did last Monday!

Oh well, try harder this week….

Just stuff

Remember those random bullet point posts from the past? Here's another one, as a sort of general update.

Would I like to have won that $36million lotto draw last week? Of course. Would I swap how my life is now for that money? No way.

What's Jake doing? Trying to get into the Fire Service. He was unsuccessful in the last round (they only had four vacancies) but at least he passed all the fitness and other testing, so he's happy to wait for the next round in August. He has an absolutely lovely girlfriend and they are currently looking for a flat together, with a whole bunch of others. And yes, having him back in Wellington is wonderful.

Have we got more adventures planned? You bet. Taking a couple of my nieces ski-ing in a few weeks. Doing the Tough Guy (just the 6km version) in August. And a luxurious and hopefully very restful holiday in Tahiti in September.

How's my exercise going? Bloody great. I reckon I'm the fittest I've ever been - I still won't run though. Hate it. Most weeks I'm at the gym at least four times, and Craig goes almost as much. We try to get our exercise in the great outdoors in the weekends, but the Wellington winter hasn't been co-operating much of late.

But what about my weight. Well, not flash, but not awful. I'm at 87kg, which feels a long way from my lowest ever of 76kg. But I'm working on it - and seriously this time. But I will no longer let it take over my life - and I no longer need it to, I've got other things to concentrate on.

House renovations? Well, it's been a long time in the planning, but we're ready to take the plans to the council. I'm starting to think small houses are even harder. We're changing our 72 square meter cottage considerably, but it will still only be 80 sq.m. so the juggling of space has been fairly intense. Just so long as I can fit the Thermomix in my new kitchen.

And a couple more photos to wrap it up...

The bloody swines!

The burglars came back last week and took our new (insurance replacement) TV. This despite the alarm going nuts and the guards being on their way.

They obviously have it well worked out how long the security company will take to respond and how long it takes them to unplug the TV and kick open the back doors to get it out.

It was much harder for them to get in this time, but they still managed to do it. There's not much more we can do - I refuse to live in a house with bars on the windows - but we will be bolting the TV and cabinet to the floor next time!

Why don't they just get a job and earn money for this stuff like the rest of us do?

But enough of this wailing and gnashing of teeth.

How about some pretty pictures to cheer up a winter's day? Check out this gorgeous campsite where we spent Easter. It's at Oakura, just south of New Plymouth. And the photo below is of our caravan and ute by this lovely beach.

Our fifteen minutes of 'fame'

Seems a few of you caught our appearance on TV One's Breakfast show - but luckily most people missed it! We also had an interview with Maggie Barry on Radio Live. That was really enjoyable, as I have great respect for her as an interviewer.

So what was this all about? Our trip to Outward Bound. Because this was the first ever couples' course, there was quite a bit of interest in how it went.

It was, without doubt, one of the best things I've ever done, and Craig feels the same about it.

Of course, there were whole moments of time when all I could think was "What the hell am I doing here?". But the overall experience was amazing, as were the four other couples on the course with us.

It would have been better if Craig had stopped pretending to be a keel when we were kayaking and going down all the rapids upside down.

And my meltdown while 15 metres up in the air clipped to a couple of high wires was certainly a sight to behold!

I'm not going to tell you all our war stories from the trip - it is best experienced yourself, and not knowing what is coming is part of that experience.

There are two things I will say - I absolutely recommend Outward Bound for anyone, whether it be teenagers, couples or someone of any age needing a challenge. And the other thing? The sea is very cold in June.

The southerly front won't come through till this afternoon

Famous last words. (Okay not exactly last words. It’s not like I was Oates stepping out of the tent saying “I’m going outside, I may be some time")

But nonetheless the southerly did come through mid-morning instead of mid-afternoon. Which meant we were halfway up Mt Lowry when the wind and hail hit.

Mind you, even calling the thing a mountain is something of an exaggeration. 373m may technically be a mountain, but it only takes just over an hour to tramp/scramble to the top. Even in pouring rain and bouncing hail.

And it did clear up before we got to the top. The trip down was mostly in sunshine. And the views are SPECTACULAR.

Pics to come. Haven’t downloaded yet.

Oh – and I don’t have a phone yet, either.

How do yours score?

I’ve had my fair share of dealing with institutions – both public and private – in the last couple of weeks.

It started with the burglary at our place. That was on a Tuesday. Now, I get it that our police force is really busy, and burglaries are a low priority (to them, not to the people whose house got broken in to), but I really would have expected to see someone before Sunday. And maybe even someone who was old enough to shave.

So, once we got the police out of the way, it was time for the insurance claim. Just thinking about it makes you heave a sigh and roll your eyes, doesn’t it?

We sent the claim through on Tuesday and it was approved on Wednesday. That’s right, the next day. We even had a call from the appliance store Wednesday afternoon to say they had our TV model in stock and it was ready to pick up. Impressive work.*

After dealing with all this, it was time to make our home more secure, so we’ve installed a burglar alarm. That part was pretty simple. But to have your alarm monitored, you need a telephone – and we’ve never bothered with a home phone. Fair enough, time to join the grown up world and have the phone put on.

I rang the phone company on Friday and arranged for the installer to come on Tuesday morning – and to ring half an hour in advance so I can meet them there. On Monday afternoon the phone company rang to confirm the installation for the next day. On Monday evening the phone company rang to say my account hadn’t yet been approved and I had to fax them two forms of identification. I did that on Tuesday morning then rang to follow up. They had no record of that request and said my account had been approved on Monday morning and my installation would still happen on Tuesday. No call from the installer on Tuesday – but got home to find a card in the letterbox saying they had been but I wasn’t home. No shit, Sherlock!

Rang them again this morning and now the phone won’t go in till Thursday.

So, my scorecard goes:
NZ Police – 6 out of 10 (because I know they’re doing their best)
NZI Insurance – 10 out of 10
Telstraclear – 2 out of 10 (and I don’t actually have my phone yet, so that could still go down)


*Just a word on this – keep all your receipts and take photos of stuff. Our claim included a receipt for the TV, a photo of the TV, and a photo of the space where the TV used to be. Bombard them with information and they really can’t argue.

What's up with Outward Bound?

The couples’ course is a new thing for Outward Bound – I’m having a bit of trouble getting my head around it as I’d always thought of OB as being very much about self-realisation, so going with your partner must add a WHOLE new dimension!

I love this line from the website:
‘The course does not offer any counseling services and is not intended to serve couples in crisis.’

So if you’re already at each other’s throats – don’t bother dropping in. We can’t help you.

One of the things I'm enjoying about this is I get to buy huge numbers of the most un-sexy things you’ve ever seen. If the tramping boots to make my legs resemble tree trunks aren’t enough, how about woolly hats that remind me of my geography teacher on a field trip?

Don’t believe me? Well, if you can’t see what I look like on the swing bridge in my profile shot, check out this gorgeous pic from our hike up Mt Taranaki at Easter. It’s no wonder Craig can’t keep his hands off me!

Our aim is to be as fit as possible before we go – the fitter we are the more we should enjoy it. The minimum fitness requirement is to be able to do 3km in 25 minutes (I can walk that if I have to), be capable of a full day’s activity (think we’ve got that covered) and swim 20m (I’m choosing not to think about that – we’re talking about the Marlborough sounds in June. It’s going to be bloody cold. Trust me. Beyond cold).

So our exercise lives at the moment go something like this:
Monday – gym (PT for me, workout for Craig)
Tuesday – gym
Wednesday – nothing. Traditionally this is Hump Day. No, that doesn’t mean we go home and hump. It means we celebrate getting over the hump of the work week by relaxing with a few quiets.
Thursday – gym (PT for Craig, workout for me)
Friday – just me, lunchtime session with the PT
Saturday – a nice long tramp somewhere
Sunday – maybe drag ourselves down to the waterfront for a walk/jog

A couple of weeks ago we had a crack at one of those indoor climbing walls – neither of us having done it before. It was kinda fun – not something I’d fall in love with and want to do all the time, but enough fun that I’d do it occasionally. It certainly used a few muscles that hadn’t had much work for a while. And gave me the opportunity to wear more un-sexy stuff – although I think guys look worse in those harnesses than us girls do.

See how great my life is - outdoor slogging, gym torture, unflattering clothes. Oh, and I have to have short fingernails so I don't rip the ends off my fingers on a rock wall!

That's okay - I chose this!

Bounding?

Seems a silly title for a blog, doesn't it.

But it describes my current outlook - I'm bounding through life. Yep, taking it in leaps and bounds, trying to fit in everything at once and having a bloody great time doing it.

Also, the name is partially inspired by Outward Bound. This is the next adventure we've got lined up - the one week couples' course in June.

So this blog is going to be about all sorts of things. Our adventures in the outdoors. Our caravan trips. The renovations we're about to start on our cottage.

No promises on regularity of posts or entertainment value. But there will be photos!