One down 4 to go

At the end of my first chemo cycle we were lucky to get a relatively drug free week into which we crammed, kayaking cycling, golfing and a tiki tour around Dunedin and Oamaru, Danseys Pass and St Bathans Lake.

We love walking around the Lake as the views are always wonderful and there is always something new to see. In New Zealand, you feel that you are far away from the problems of the rest of the world.

Obviously, some of the early settlers in even in the middle of the South Island were still afraid;

these days the locals are more concerned with the invasion of too many tourists but haven’t resorted to shooting at them (yet)


Kayaking out of Sunshine Bay with our monster double kayak was great fun.
Lake Wakatipu always looks benign and inviting, but we were reminded what a treacherous place it can be when we were caught in huge gusts and roller coaster waves that make you feel like you a paddling across a washing machine. We didn’t quite get as far as we would have liked but lived to tell the tale; this year’s objective is to kayak the whole length of the Lake by taking the car to different drop off points and doing a bit at a time.

New Year, new Car. Fu Fu joined the family. Here she is with monster on her head

We had a fabulous adventure when we collected her from Dunedin, Day 1 we took her along the coast north of Dunedin to see Moeraki Boulders and walk along the beach.

At the end of the Alps to Ocean cycle ride, we found Oamaru, home to a variety of creative arts.
Steam Punk – using old scrap metal (mostly railway related) to make things

Oamaru carvings using whitestone, a hard compact limestone.

Wood carving, painting and of course cheese making (one of our favourites is Whitestone blue cheese from Oamaru)








Lots of old bicycles too, but none I fancied riding. Sarah (always game to try anything) had a go.

We christened Fu Fu by taking her offroad over Danseys Pass in a thunder storm. Sarah has been fascinated by this area (map below)

wanting to go here and explore for sometime. Luckily the storm passed as we ascended and at the top we got some clear views.

Overnight in the Danseys Pass coach inn was less successful as we probably had the worst meal we have ever had in NZ.

The weather is not always so good and we hit a rainy day around the Hawkdun Range, following an old water course instead of climbing to the tops (for obvious reasons)

After a windy, drizzly walk, bush-wacking back to the track after going off piste, we headed for The Vulcan Hotel at St Bathans for cream tea. (Spot ghost in room 1)

This area was mined for gold and the old quarry at St Bathens is now a lake.

Sadly the walking track around it had been damaged in recent flash floods so we were restricted to scouting around the base of old workings.

We have been busy trying out new recipes after an over dose of Christmas ham. Every year we buy ham and spend a month trying to eat it all and vow not to do it again but always forget. Sarah’s idea of a desert usually involves chocolate, ice cream or cake, but this week we had fried bananas with homemade banana and sultana icecream.

I made some Avocado ice cream with pistachio,

bottled some peaches in light syrup

and dried pineapple, peaches, nectarines and apricots in a dehydrator.

We often go exploring together to see different the flora and fauna. Many of the things we find are similar to UK.
Red clover

Rowan tree berries

We visit the home of a baby hedge hog occasionally to see how it is doing; sleeping mostly.

Some are not.
Wallabies were introduced from Australia (smuggled in apparently) and have become pest

And a couple of plants never to cycle over for fear of getting your tyres shredded
Wild Irishman – very prickly

A Spaniard – sharp as wire

We watched a National Theatre production of Peter Pan in an old Church in Cromwell this week. Needless to say as 25% of the audience, this theatre is not for profit.

Peter Pan reminded me of someone I know and love; Sarah is currently calling me: “little curly whirly” or “curly top” rubbing or patting my hair and running away giggling.

Sarah has moved on from her obsession with cuckoos and is exploring the world of bumble bees as she reads Dave Goulson “A Sting in the Tail”.

It’s a book packed with facts e.g. how tits feast on bees (scraping out their brains), how they reproduce (sex is determined by a single gene, male bees have no father), how bumblebees were exported to NZ and now that some of their type are now extinct in the UK they are being sent back from NZ, the role of the worker bee, male bee and queen bees, infanticide, cuckoo bees etc. We are learning all the time about the other worlds around us that we have previously been oblivious to.

I’ve started the year the way I mean to go on; be positive and exercise as much as I can when I can, as if I was not sick at all. If I get exhausted and tired, I will take a break or rest or adapt until I can go again on my own steam. This means full on adventure when on steroids and adjust or rest when feeling like shit.

Life is too short to just pass up so many opportunities to explore and get out when the sun shines. (and it shines a lot here)
More sunset photos...

We have started planning again for trips out and about in February and that is what I hope to fill my blog with in the weeks to come. I will still feel like shit several days a week when the thalidomide makes me dog tired and it will get worse (the treatment is cumulative), but so far so good.

It should be a good year.
I'd rather be out doing something even when feeling rubbish than mope around wishing i felt better.
I'll be the youngest one riding in the cart on the golf course and I'll still be pushing my bike up hills, but I plan to be out there somewhere...

xxxx