Duathlons

In the Autumn months we still keep busy. Duathlons replace triathlons and we ignore the frigid waters for mountain bike duties. Today saw the final race on Rabbit Island (the finger of land projecting from top left)- below - just outside Nelson

I still managed to swim in the water a couple of weeks ago, but the locals are soft, and triathlons only begin again in November. To be fair, snow is already falling in the mountains around Nelson:

But the weather is mostly cool and calm, but we still get heaps of sun and the seas are calm.

Apart from that, life is pretty chilled. We walk the dog for hours and hours, we live, laugh and play, and we miss our chums in the UK!

Love and best wishes,

C&B! x x

Phil and Margaret in Kiwi-land!

Hey!

Autumn is well and truly here, which means warm temperatures still, but also millions of acorns dropping onto our house, around our house and no squirrels to eat them (seemingly the one rodent not introduced here).

Our great chums Phil and Margaret recently spent 11 days touring around the South Island, here's the proof...

We met P&M in Christchurch with Margaret's Mum and Dad - they dont mind a drink or two either:

We had a sniff around Chch which is in drought, like much of the counntry:

We called in at the organic farm where I worked 9 years ago in a past life! Pru, the owner was as lovely and mad as I can remember!

P&M, B and myself then headed up to Kaikoura to go whale watching, but the windy weather put an end to that dream. We played around in rock pools instead and found some Paua (Abelone) to eat. We also stopped at a roadside crayfish stall for a lovely feast:

So we headed up to Marlborough for plenty of fine wine tasting:

Before heading home, packing our back-packs, and heading into the bush:

We walked fast!:
We returned to sunny Nelson for more fine food and wine at our house:

I uploaded the following pic and then realised that I have no idea where or what it is!:

We also went to Pupu Springs which is a very spiritual place:

Before heading to a salmon farm where we caught 4 beauties anf took them home to eat!

Just before a sad farewell, we headed to Woolaston Winery just outside Nelson for a final wine tasting and bottle in the garden, looking out over the grapes and mountains:

In order to cope with the loss of Phil and Margaret we bought a small native forest and spent 3 days planting them into what was our front garden:

We already have native birds feeding from the berries!

Love and best wishes to all,

C&B! x x

Kia Ora!

Hello All, from sunny Nelson!





We hope you're all well! We're entering autumn now, but we still have mostly sunny days with temperatures in the low 20's. We get to eat outside a lot at our new table and chairs...

We're still eating well too... venison pie tonight - a deer one of my student's shot!

And B bought this sweet dresser...

I went to cut my hair one weekend and thought I'd give Bernie a surprise...

I kept it on over the weekend, it made me much faster in a triathlon! Bernie made me shave it all off before going to school on Monday though!

The girls are still well:

I've been spending a lot of time with them recently... the triathlon season has finished and I've really got stuck into the garden.

I bought 2 barrels and plumbed them in to collect rainwater...

I have also extended the tiny veggie patch from about 2 square metres to about 20!

As well as building the world's first double-decker chicken coop! The 4 layers are still providing a constant stream of eggs but that ain't enough - we have 6 chicks on order to fatten up for the table and they will reside downstairs to avoid fighting...

We still have lots to do on the place, but 3 months in and we've really taken to our first house!

We've also planted a lot of plants, shrubs, grasses and trees in the front of the garden - hard to see a lot here, but most stuff is pretty small at the mo!

We're both fighting fit and looking forward to a 2-week break which begins in 5 days! Phil and Margaret will be whale watching and wine tasting with us and sleeping in rock shelters - what more could you ask for?!

Love to all,

C&B! x x

Conservation's Cool!

The school year has started well. Bernie is doing the same job as last year, but now has a permanent contract rather than an ad hoc arrangement, which gives her more stability to plan her week and obvious security (and regular money!) The work is not too stimulating, but she enjoys being part of the school community and works with senior management - who can be as trying as the kids by the sounds of it!

My classes are all good, my Conservation group are the most interesting for me. I have essentially invented a course (you have the freedom to do that here!) and the students will complete 5 projects through the year which earn them credits. Its not all credit farming though - we have already been to a sanctuary, 5 mins outside Nelson, which was never slashed and burnt. There is a project underway to put a fence around the 500 hectare virgin site before all pests are trapped within and then native species of animals are released. My group of students and I will keep visiting the sanctuary to help with making traps, weeding and planting native plants to help the project along.

This is the visitors building:



And these are some of the rare natives which will be released when the fence and trapping are complete (some time in 2012 hopefully). Native geckos:



The worlds largest parrot (flightless), the Kakapo. There are now just over 100 of these alive (in the world!), all on 2 islands in the south of the South Island - we'll be the first to have these on the mainland!

Kakariki (crowned parakeets) which are less rare, but I've never seen one:

And of course Kiwi. They will be allowed to populate the sanctuary and then over years, some will be released into the wider area outside the park:

Other rare birds such as the saddleback which are also only found on a few islands will be released:

Plus my favourite slouch - the Tuatara. These have been around, unchanged for 200 million years! We have seen one (on a pest-free island), they don't move all day - they simply wait for prey to walk right in front of their nose before snapping them up - very slow metabolisms... nobody knows how long they live for (well over 100 years!):

I teach normal classes too, plus horticulture to some Seniors (they are looking forward to the unit where we study and use hydroponics for some reason!), but its great to be able to get involved in some great conservation projects. Each student has to come up with their own project in Nelson, liaising with the council, local Maori people and businesses. We're also going to visit a pest-free island as part of a field trip where there are several other rare native species...

On top of school life, B is cooking many wonderful things, from chocolate brownies, to her increasingly infamous muesli, courgette flans and pesto! I excelled myself too, picking golden peaches from our two peach trees and making stewed peaches - the recipe is very tricky...!!

I'm... training heaps - been really getting into cycle races on Saturdays - racing over several stages through the wineries and valleys. More importantly, Phil and Margaret will be with us in just over a month!

Love and best wishes to all, we both hope you're happy and healthy!

C&B! x x

The final leg...

In between the Wanaka and Timaru triathlons I had 9 precious days to recover and prepare for the longer distance Timaru race. After a week of hard training and little else (the result of living with your coach 24/7!) we were able to check out and do the run and bike sections of the course, as well as eating huge quantities of my coach's Mother's great baking! We mostly trained as a pair and I learnt heaps from my very experienced friend. We also joined up with a swim team comprised of 16-18 year-old human eels! I did my best to keep up with them, but I'm not used to doing over 6km per session so made use of the spa pool at about that point as they all carried on windmilling!

The East coast is not the most inspiring part of the country, but it is reasonably similar to the Cotswold's with rolling hills and great surf beaches... the second part is sadly not true of the Cotswold's, but I didn't have the energy to make the most of them here.



The race went well for me. It was cool and cloudy for most of the week which is not normal summer weather here, but ideal for training and racing. I made a fast start, running into the water like a girl:

(Third from right) Sadly this picture made it into the main Christchurch paper the following day!

The swim was horrible - not only did I forget my handbag, but huge rafts of kelp impeded us frequently on the 1.5km swim. The 40km bike was hilly which I enjoy - flat roads become quite boring when you cycle 8-10 hours a week - including one monster zig-zag hill which made the legs explode! The run was the best part for me, I did the 10km in 41 mins and finished second in my age group again which scores me heaps more points in the national series.

Unfortunately I didn't win the huge BBQ or any other spot prizes, but I drove empty handed up to our friend's in Christchurch and drank red wine in their spa pool as the sun went down!

The following morning I wearily drove back to sunny Nelson and the real summer weather I had been missing. We're both back at school now which is really nice - we work with so many great people, and there are heaps of experiences to share and plan for the near future.

I'm still training like mad, there are heaps of separate running, cycling and swim races around Nelson so I use lots of these for my training sessions to get my speed up. I did a 2.8km sea swim around Hualashore island (below) this morning which is a rather nice way to spend a Sunday morning!

Bernie has taken her baking to new heights, making bread from scratch in the oven (not whilst physically in the oven herself of course!) and the usual quiches, cakes and salads... we eat well!

Bern's has also been the main force in making our new home even more comfortable and well organised. We have a posh new table and chair set (bought from people moving over seas) on our balcony which is nestled half way up a group of oak trees which plays home to monarch butterflies, birds and cicadas which sing all day.

We were so fortunate in having so many guests visiting this summer and wait in keen anticipation for our special friends Phil and Margaret who arrive in April - so much so that I've been asking around for inside knowledge on suitable hedge-diving hedges which are sadly a scarce entity in this country!

I'm sat sipping a lovely Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc to keep me cool on this fine evening. Its 6:30pm and finally its cooling towards the low 20's... what I'd do for a pint of Murphy's and pie 'n mash before going to Upton Park for a game then a curry on Brick lane before throwing down some shapes in a few clubs before going to sleep in my old bed... maybe this September....

Love to all,

C&B x x