Winter Vegetable Garden

Despite my initial reservations about trying to grow vegetables over winter - it appears that in Wellington it is possible. We have had a rather mild and wet winter and my vegetable patch is looking quite impressive at the moment. I have been regularly harvesting the rocket and silverbeet and my spring onions are ready to start picking.


Cabbages, broccoli, rocket and lettuces


Broad beans, silverbeet, potato

Potatoes, spring onions, rocket

I have also just planted some garlic and more potatoes - I am trying to stagger growing potatoes so that they aren't all ready at the same time. I think that potatoes and garlic are my favourite vegetables to grow. They are so easy. You just put the potato or garlic clove in the ground and so far all of them have grown. I am having more luck with my rocket during the winter as all summer it just bolted and went to seed within a few weeks. As a result I have several self-seeded rocket plants in the garden from where I was growing it in summer - not that I mind!

This gardening thing is quite addictive - I have to admit that most mornings I go out and check how everything is going. I seem to have finally trained the cats not to jump in and dig it all up!

Kayaking in the Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia

This was the holiday we were supposed to have in September 2008 - but it got postponed after Aaron broke his wrist snowboarding. In some ways I think this was the holiday that was never supposed to happen as we had a few disasters getting to Queensland (we missed our flight and lost some stuff!)

Anyway we finally all made it to Airlie Beach - Louisa, Lisa, Anne-Laure, Aaron and Helen. Louisa and Lisa did a supermarket sweep style shop for five days of food as the supermarket was closing on Monday night and we set off early on Tuesday morning from Shute Harbour on the water taxi out to Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island.

Heading out in the water taxi with all our stuff!

Whitehaven Beach is one of the iconic places in the Whitsundays. It is 8km of white sand and very popular for the day trippers. We were dropped off at the southern end, and set up camp. Then we spent the rest of the day snorkelling and going for a short paddle over to Haslewood Island to get a feel for the kayaks.


Whitehaven Beach

Although the Whitsundays are in the Great Barrier Reef marine park, they are relatively near to the coast and therefore the reefs are predominantly full of soft coral and organisms that can cope with a bit of sediment. They are still quite impressive in places and just off Whitehaven Beach there were quite a few soft corals, hard corals, giant clams, algae, fish etc..

Clam


Corals

After a relaxing first day/night at Whitehaven Beach it was time to load up the kayaks and set off on our first big day of paddling. We had set a route, recommended by our friend Dave who has previously done this trip. Unfortunately for us after several weeks of minimal winds and calm seas the forecast was for 15-20 knot winds and as soon as we got around the corner from Whitehaven Beach we started to get rather large swells coming in from the Southeast. This was rather unnerving to begin with as we weren't used to the kayaks, especially loaded up with all our camping gear, clothes, food and lots of water for the next 5 days. Once we realised how stable the kayaks were, relaxed and stopped fighting the waves it was much better. Unfortunately there were five of us, so one person had to take the slightly less stable single kayak. Once we got to Hamilton Island we were sheltered from the main southeasterly swell and the wind blew us towards Henning Island, about ~20 km of paddling in about 4 hours.

The team (left to right) Anne-Laure, Aaron, Louisa and Lisa (Helen behind the camera in the single kayak).

The nice thing about kayaking is that it is quiet and you see quite a lot of wildlife. Within 20 minutes of setting off from Whitehaven Beach several pilot whales were swimming through the passage about 100 m away from us. We also saw several turtles that popped their heads up to have a look at us.


Whales!!


Sea turtle

At the campsites there were quite a few birds and goannas around. We also had to store our food in the kayaks overnight as there were a few large mice/rat like creatures that chewed through several of our bags to get at our museli bars! Despite the rather rapid shop and a few minor losses to the mice, we had plenty of food and water. The weather was perfect for camping, not too hot and just a couple of drops of rain one night.

Goanna

From Henning Island we were supposed to cross the main passage over to South Molle Island. From our campsite the passage didn't look too rough, but as we set out north it got pretty rough and scary. The wind was behind us but this meant that there were large waves breaking over the back of the boats and we were surfing down the front. We soon abandoned our plans to cross the passage and headed in to a nice calm Cid Harbour. We paddled around Cid Island to check out the campsite on the western side, only to find that this was not very sheltered from the wind and a big sign saying this was not a campsite (so the map was wrong). We retreated back to Cid Harbour where lots of sailing boats were sheltering and ended up camping at Nari's Beach. This is a very small, but probably the nicest camp site we had the whole time.

The forecast was for continued 20-25 knot winds for the next day, so we called up the water taxi to transport us across the main passage the next day. While we were waiting for the water taxi we further explored several of the inlets in Cid Harbour. As it turned out when we were finally transported across the passage in the early afternoon the wind had died down slightly and we probably could have paddled across. Oh well! We were dropped at our next camp site on South Molle Island.

Before setting off for our final paddle across to Shute Harbour we went for a wander on the walking tracks on South Molle Island. We headed up to the top of Mt Jacobs to get some views out across the Whitsundays.

Anne-Laure, Louisa and Lisa looking out from the top of Mt Jacobs, South Molle Island

The paddle back into Shute Harbour was still a little rough, but we had got quite used to the conditions and were almost enjoying the challenge....

So the conditions weren't quite what we had expected, but it worked out fine. We all got on really well. Although the camping was great it was nice to get into the shower and wash off all the salt at the end of it...

Biking in Canberra

Rad^Sick!!

Winter Solstice madness

Every year our office has a winter solstice party called the Poultice. It involves a quadrathlon around the bay over to the small aquaculture site for some refreshments and then back to the office for a party. The quadrathlon starts with a kayak down the bay, followed by a bike ride to to Mahanga Bay and then a run back to the office and finally a walk around the carpark and buildings. There is also an indoor quiz and other shananagans! Each year there is a theme - this year it was Shakespeare - who wrote a line

So we organise team and dress up - half the fun is in the costume making and dressing up. We were The Scottish play witches - with beards! My friends little daughter Neve, kept telling us that grownups don't dress up and was quite stunned by our messing around - although she was very happy to inherit her mother's witches outfit afterwards!


Anne-Laure and Jo getting dressed in our witches outfits. (Neve in the middle is wearing one of the party hats)


Brodie's Beer-ded Bedlams - Sadie, Becka, Jo, Niamh

Some people twist the theme ......


Shake-your-spear - Sam, Trevor, Amelia, Michele


Many different types of vessel used for this leg down the bay. Canadian canoes, open top surf ski's, outriggers, home made wooden boats, and our Betty - probably the most conventional of the boats.

This year I did the bike leg and flew around the course on my broomstick

Bearded witch Helen on broomstick!

I'm sure you all knew I was a witch.

Cheese making

Well Wellington winters are cold, wet and windy - doesn't really inspire outdoor activity and weekends also seem to coincide with the southerly storms. So you come up with a few different ways to keep entertained. A few weeks ago I did a cheese making course with my friend Barbara. I have always thought that cheese making would be really tricky and that is why no one really does it other than commercial enterprises. Anyway it turns out it is not so tricky and only requires a couple of ingredients - milk, citric acid/culture, rennet, salt (to taste at the end), and a few pieces of equipment - big pots, cheese cloth and most critically a thermometer. However it does require patience and confidence - something we would not have had if we hadn't seen it done in the course.

So finally Barbara and I had a free weekend when the weather was foul - so we got together to make some cheese - three different types of cheese - feta, mozzarella and ricotta. For our first attempt at making cheese it was very successful. We made all three cheeses in about 3 hours. Other than the feta the other two cheeses are ready straight away. So we made dinner of spinach and ricotta canneloni and we tried some mozzarella for an entree. I am not sure that it costs any less than buying the cheese - it cost us about $30 for 14 litres of milk and we made 4 slabs of fetta and 4 balls of mozzarella and 250g of ricotta. However, it was really fun and a huge sense of satisfaction and the cheese even tastes like it should. I think this might have to become a regular event over the winter months. I have several friends ask if they can join in the fun next time.....

Will take some photos of the cheesiness next time.

Tip Track

Thursday, Bec and I got up stupid-early and went for a ride up the Tip Track on the way to work. Helen stayed in bed and slept in. I was out of the house by 7:00AM to meet Bec and the bottom of the Tip Track at 7:30AM.

It was probably the coldest morning we have had this year. A southerly had been blowing all week and the skies actually cleared Wednesday night. This meant that it was about 5°C (41°F) when I left the house. Down in the valleys there was frost on most cars and some lawns. In some places there was quite a lot of fog as well.

The sun hadn't risen high enough yet so we started the climb in the shade. This isn't necessarily such a bad thing as it is pretty steep and you get pretty warm just from the exertion of trying to ride up it. It didn't take long before we were high enough for the first rays of morning sun to hit us. We could then see the harbour completely fogged in with the top of Mount Victoria just poking through.

Mount Vic just poking through the clouds.

The view across to the Orongorongos was amazing! Island Bay was completely fogged in. The highest point on the skyline in Mount Mathews, which we climbed back in March.


Island Bay and the Orongorongos

Bec had to be at work a bit earlier than I expected so we had to boogie down the hill and didn't get a chance to ride a couple of the better singletracks up on the ridge. Oh well, next time!

Mount Holdsworth

After a few weekends of terrible weather we decided we needed to get out of Wellington - even if it was only for a day. So when the weather forecast was for no rain or southerly gales we decided to take a chance on a day walk up Mt Holdsworth. Bec has not been walking in the Tararuas yet - so this is one of the nicest day walks as the track is in good shape and not too steep/muddy/rocky/rooty. It has been quite cold lately, so we were all dressed and prepared for bitter cold and wet. As it turned out, we got sweaty as it was a bit muggy on our ascent.


Aaron, Helen and Bec at Rocky lookout - with Mt Holdsworth behind (under the clouds)

As we got up to Powell Hut, at the tree line, we started to see patches of snow. After lunch at the hut we headed up to the top of Mt Holdsworth and there was a lot more snow, and the temperature definitely dropped a couple of degrees. It was, however, surprisingly calm, cloudy - with no views to speak of, but the sun did try to break through a couple of times.


Near the summit


On the edge


Mount Holdsworth summit trig and the sun (well sort of)

We got back to the car park at 5pm, a little tired and sore. The walk is about 17 km and over 1000 m of ascent/descent. We had a nice dinner in Upper Hutt on the way home - it was great to get out of the house and do something... needless to say we will spend the rest of the weekend recovering.