Hello again!

Well, it's been a while, and a few things have changed. I'm in a job that I still think is the best job I've ever had after 4 years. Darren and I moved in together and then got married. No kids though, I'm too old for that lark. I started playing console games (if you can't beat them, join them) and got obsessed with that for a while - then I bought an iPhone and rediscovered Facebook. But some things have not changed. As Garfield allegedly said, "I'm not overweight, I'm undertall." By about 4 feet, I'd say. Somewhere along the way I got out of the walking habit, in fact to be honest I've become almost totally slothful. It's starting to take a toll on my health, and I'm still not getting any younger (dammit!) so it's time to get the motivational toolkit out and start mountaineering up the health/fitness curve again. Since it's freezing cold in the middle of winter, I've joined a gym. I don't think I'll be taking many photos - after all, if you've seen one treadmill you've seen them all. But I'll do my best to keep a record of my progress; hopefully this will be in a positive direction! I may even jot down a few thoughts and insights if I happen to stumble across any worth sharing. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!

Back to the Colonial Knob reserve again, about an hour of walking, not too energetic.

A prickly situation

Today I revisited the circuit where I took my poroporo picture that's now been attached to a Wikipedia entry. Sadly (but unsurprisingly) the road has become overgrown with gorse and in some parts it's only just possible to walk through without gardening implements. I didn't notice any poroporo along the way, it's probably been overcome by the gorse. Anyway, it was a good solid walk of about an hour and a half, with uphill bits. Step count: 4533 = 2.4km

Aotea Lagoon

Today I decided to check out Aotea Lagoon, since I hadn't been there before. It's an artificial lagoon, cut off from the rest of the Porirua harbour by the railway line and motorway. The park is a reasonably nice place, with a small formal garden at one end, the lagoon in the middle with a (disused?) mini-railway line running around it, and a children's play area at the other end. I spent about an hour exploring the park thoroughly and taking photos, then decided to do a quick non-stop lap around the lagoon itself. At least that was the plan. I slowed down to have another look at part of the railway line and stopped for a minute or so to watch some ducklings pottering about. According to the city council web site, the distance around the water's edge is 732 metres, and my nearly-non-stop lap took 15 minutes. I haven't yet looked to see how the photos came out. In the meantime, here are some I found on someone else's blog.

I'm being watched

Thanks for keeping an eye on my blog, Hugh, it helps to keep me honest. Yours makes good reading too - I love that snake, I'm going to copy the idea when I have a place of my own to put it in. I seem to have given myself a day off from being good. I have done no job-hunting activities or walking, and I spent the afternoon playing Ratchet and Clank on the playstation and had fish and chips for tea. I didn't even update my blog - I'm faking the timestamp, because I'm really doing it after 1am but I want it to appear with the right date - should show up as November 4, 23:59. Tomorrow I will do better, I'm thinking of doing a long flat walk along one of the main roads, just going as far as I feel like going and then catching a bus home. I had better do something job-hunting-wise too. I got home this evening and found that my lastest application has not been successful, so it's time to get some more on the go.

Back to the bush - hooray!

Walked about 50 minutes today, back at the Spicer Park end of Colonial Knob for the first time in ages. There have been a few small changes: access to the track is now officially gained via Spicer Park, and some new footbridges have been built - in particular, there's now one across the stream that I wrote about nearly two years ago. Lots of birds, even a kereru close to the track - I didn't see it but I heard it at close quarters when I startled it and flew away. I got a good close look at a fantail (piwakawaka) when it sat still long enough - that doesn't happen often - and decided that must be what I saw when I went to Belmont Park last week. I even caught sight of a wax-eye flittering about. 2532 steps for today, or 1.37km. No brownie points, apparently.

Another walk around the local suburb, much the same as on Friday, but extended a little. About 1hr 10min, I think. It must be working, because I only stopped 4 times on the last uphill stretch back home, last time it was 5.