Summer Season #3

Another perfect morning, another opportunity to conquer Mt Kaukau - but this time with the advantage of track knowledge.

Interesting Fact of the Day
The Northern Walkway is a section of the national Te Araroa Trail - which will apparently take you from Cape Reinga to Bluff, or of course in the reverse direction.

The climb itself was no less challenging but at least when at the top we were at the transmitter and not faced with a trek across the hilltops to reach it.

While climbing my mind went to that often used Irish blessing. Now I'm quite happy with the whole wind, sunshine, soft rain and God parts, but that first line always strikes me as the very opposite of what would be a blessing to a walker.

Walking on the flat is fine. Walking down a hill is great. Walking up is a torturous necessity if you want to gain a stunning view. Surely the road rising up to meet you would effectively make a pleasant stroll into a hill climb, and the worst kind of hill climb, similar to actual stairs rather than a gentle incline. A blessing would be if the road fell before you and you spent your life walking downhill.

Album of the Day

Track/Video of the Day 

Summer Season #2

After my big walking day yesterday, today has been a little more relaxed. Actually my whole life would appear to be considerably more relaxed than my next door neighbour's. I was just having a nice lie down after a morning of brunch and shopping, and read in the Dominion Post that she has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours. Her list of personal achievements was quite extensive.

Should look nice on the wall.

I have very nice neighbours here in Petone, but how lovely to have one with an added bit of class! I also read about the terrible traffic congestion up north as holiday makers flee the bad weather troubling that area. The Wellington region has really been the place to be this holiday break. Summer kicked in very nicely on Christmas Eve and the days have continued with relentless blue skies and sunshine, culminating in Lower Hutt making the nation's highest temperature yesterday. Today it has been an absolute pleasure to welcome in the rain to relieve our parched gardens. And not just any rain, but the very best kind - straight-down-no-wind rain. Still nice and warm though!

Often the best idea for Christmas and New Year in Godzone.

Question of the Day

Who thought that the very best way to deliver boiling hot water to cafe and restaurant customers would be to put it in stainless steel jugs? I'm practically nursing third degree burns.

With pleasure there is often pain.

Related Question of the Day

Why do I always forget those nasty stainless steel handles are about to deliver instant pain?

Album of the Day

Track/Video of the Day

Summer Season #1

Happy New Year! Now the busyness of 2015 is well behind and summer holidays stretch ahead Petone Ponderings is commencing its new 'summer season' of postings for the disappointed visitors who have so missed regular postings last year.

Fact of the Day: 1/1/16
Mount Kaukau, with a summit of 445 metres above sea level, is the most visible high point in the Wellington landscape.

Useful Tip of the Day:
No matter how much your walking companion insists that following the track marked 'alternate route to Mt Kaukau' will make no difference to the difficulty or length of the walk, ignore them at all costs.

And so we set off on what can only be described as a spectacular Wellington morning. Not a breath of wind, no matter how high or long we toiled on our way to the top.

Are we there yet? Later revealed to be nowhere near despite the already stunning views.

I have to admit, that even taking into account that we probably walked three times the distance we needed to had we taken the other fork in the track, it was well worth the effort and afforded spectacular views at the summit - the South Island with the sounds and Kaikouras in splendid view and the full 360 degree aspect of the greater Wellington region.

Some time later ...

This holiday I am planning to make better use of my CD collection, and so we come to our new feature for the summer season ....

Album of the Day:

Video/Track of the Day:

God Save the Queen

I saw a documentary recently about life in North Korea. It all revolves around following the directions of The Glorious Leader, who really takes the whole dictatorship thing very seriously. He'll tell you what to think, what to say and even how to do your hair.

Though it's probably wiser to copy his own style if you really want the high brownie points.

North Korea has a six day working week, so life it pretty busy and full for the average worker. On the seventh day they are so filled with national pride that every one of them volunteers that day to completing worthy civic duties.

By all accounts, the population are falling over themselves in enthusiastic street cleaning, tending to civic gardens and parks, and painting and polishing monuments.

I imagine a whole lot of them might be busy practising for the annual Mass Games, where precision really is appreciated by The Glorious Leader. Which really made me wonder how they do it. Not the cleaning and synchronised displays of national supremacy. How do they fit in the rest of their lives? Not anything exciting, just the running the house, cooking, shopping stuff. Today I cleaned my house from end to end, did the washing and ironing, went to the supermarket, tended to some school work and cooked a nice paleo dinner. Most weekends at least half the time is spent on chores of some sort or other, setting me up for another week's busyness. I don't mind it, I like playing house, but it takes time. And it's also nice to have time for lazy alarm-free mornings, seeing friends and generally pottering. I can hardly fit it all into a two day weekend. I'd never make it in North Korea. 

I fear I would disappoint The Glorious Leader when I couldn't find the time to break out the Brasso to demonstrate my fervent love. Which is why I'm feeling so smug tonight. All the 'must do's are done and I still have the equivalent of a whole weekend up my sleeve.

God save the Queen, and all her heirs and successors.

Body Image

I'm pretty happy with my body, though it is showing the signs of dating from the chic 'mid-century retro' era that is so on trend in home decorating. Given ridiculous amounts of money I might be tempted to sample the delights of minor tweaking through botox, tummy tucks and face lifts, but there are other things I would splurge on way ahead of these if I had a less satisfactory lower division lotto win. I don't hanker at all for one of these ...

What the ...?

... or find this look in any way attractive ...

Shudder ...

... nor aspire to making even the smallest section of skin into a canvas.

Hate this twee crap even on walls ... at least it's not a skull ...

No, I'm pretty happy and there is one part of my body of which I have always been particularly proud. They have featured in an earlier blog post in all their gloriously seriated beauty, nature having blessed me with the built in satisfaction of tidy toes.

Like correctly ordered Cuisenaire rods, the staircases are complete. I'm not vain enough to suppose I have the world's most perfect toes, just fairly close. I have never seen a set I aspire to more than my own. While having them pampered recently I looked up to see a large poster of a set of toes which are apparently the industry standard. Has anyone, ever seen toes that look like these?

Do you suppose they photoshop toes?

I'm refering to the little toes. Does anyone really have little toes that are not snarled, twisted little specimens with barely a nail to paint? I think not! Luckily, I've got to where I am today without being burdened by extremes of body image dictated by the fashion industry and I won't be hiding my toes in shame or shelling out for 'phalange five enhancement' surgery. 

Good Looking

I know it's hard to believe, given my youthful good looks, energetic personality and upbeat outlook on life, but I am getting older. One of the side effects of growing a little middle aged is that people start to look like other people. I see the faces of friends in the faces of strangers and often have to pause to decide whether someone approaching is indeed someone I actually know or a mere doppelgänger. I tend to err on the side of caution and so I apologise to those who may think I have snubbed them. Recently this quirky feature of marvellous me ramped itself up to a whole new level. I have a wide and eclectic taste in television viewing and one of my favourites is Family Guy.

My favourite character is, of course, Stewie. 

In the spirit of one of my earliest television memories called "My Mother, the Car", there before me was Stewie ... spooky ...

Time to Say Goodbye

I'm not the sort who is afraid of too much. I can't bear those who shriek and cause a commotion at seeing a spider or any kind of bug. It's not as though we live in a country where any wee bug poses any real threat.

I have similar distain for those who fuss over a mouse or rat. I have disposed of many over the years. Humanely collecting the live ones carried into my house by feline companions, gathering them up gently to deposit in the nearby garden of a least liked neighbour. Extracting the dead from nooks and crannies - by necessity, one acquires a nose for decaying rodent - and, at my last address, disposing of the bodies with a practised flick of the spade to launch them well into the bush.

But what I do have a heightened fear of is identity theft. No scrap of paper ever enters my recycling bin bearing my name or address. I angst over the wisdom of putting sender details on envelopes or parcels I send, consumed with worry that my friends and associates will not take similar care with the disposal of my personal information at the other end. Soon after arriving at the beach four years ago - I know, where did the time go? - my beloved paper shredder gave its last determined whirr before it locked tight and sent up smoke signals to indicate that its days of productivity had come to an end. Such a loyal and true friend could not be disposed of completely and it continues to serve as the kindling repository.

Since it took on its new role I have tried vainly to keep up with manual ripping up of paper, but with bills and bank statements flowing in at an alarming rate - and no, I don't want electronic billing, thank you - drawers and desks are overflowing. Today is the day to say goodbye to 2014, and more importantly its paperwork and that of the three years before. A new model has arrived - Dick Smith's finest, $29.99 - and at last it is time to say goodbye to the accumulation.

Barely scratching the surface, but a start nonetheless!

And on it will go.

My New Year resolution will be 'pay, and throw away'. Other than that, a year as happy as this one has been will be just fine. Happy New Year everyone - may it be a great one for you, too!