An Avalanche of baby photos

Hi Little Ted you're looking great for 2 days old

Can she do it?

Well I guess you are all wondering how the big get fit for tramping is going. And I am happy to report 15th October, 15days=15hours walked (about 75km). Oh, and the other little matter 800g lost - waaah, you'd think it would be lots more. I'm starting to try out the instant meals that I will take - Food made fast is oh so important when you get to the hut. Then I will have to sample the chocolate bars as they are a necessity....
My sessions of physio have totalling altered my walking style. It has had some unexpected benefits. I can look around without loosing my balance - in fact my balance is better all round. When we had our first aid course test, I could kneel for all 3 resusitations  -when I looked aroung all the other teachers where up on their haunches, and couldn't kneel for as long as me!!!!!!!

On Track

Yes, its time for me to get fit again as it is only about 2 months until we do the Routeburn, a track of about 35km in Fiordland. It lies between the valley which you travel up to do the Milford (off the end of Te Anau) and Lake Wakatipu where Queenstown is. It passes over the Harris Saddle  which is subalpine, and bound to have at least some snow in December (1255m high) We pass over the Ailsa mountains and then through a valley of the Humboldt Range. It is not a track to be taken lightly, despite its short length.
So I went to the doctor and asked him to sort out my hip problems - I thought it was another bursar in my hip, but the doctor - who is a keen tramper and has done the Routeburn - wasn't quite in agreement. A long set of sessions with the Physio, Moira, whom I've played golf with from time to time,  followed, starting off with a miracle cure, then a massive set back. I do understand what has been going on now and I must be patient as this problem was probably a couple of decades in the making.
Basically its my balance which is not helped by my bowed toe. So to achieve my balance I am swaying from side to side. I can't do a long stride without unbalancing myself, so my stride length is very short. As long as I recognise this and train in short steps I will be OK. To make up for lost time, and not to put my fellow trampers in danger I began on the first of October a schedule of 7 hours walking a week.
At present of course this involves an hour a day, but during the holidays I will probably do longer walks on some days, so will not have to do so much on other days.
I know the necessity of doing this - my life may depend on it.
Who knows - I might even lose some weight.

Roll on summer

We went up to pick up the caravan from Hamilton a few weeks ago where it had been fixed, and we took it back to Ohiwa where the weather was just gorgeous.


I was just resting in the caravan - not sleeping as I let out an involuntary gasp as this swooshing sound heralded the arrival of a paraglider. She landed just infront of us and packed her hangglider up, and waited for her ride!

 There was the obligatory walk around the headland

 and Duncan tried a bit of a paddle - his verdict - too cold for swimming yet.Meanwhile I contemplated trying out the flying fox - which I had thought might be a bigger affair than this, but didn't want to break Todd's good work before even a summer had passed.

One of the neighbours bought us three very juicy, smoked kahawai fillets, so Duncan didn't bother fishing. After 2 fine days we had rain that night, which confirmed the caravan had been fixed, so we headed home, happy campers. Looking forward to the next holiday there. Might snatch a few days over Labour weekend.