| I've just had a bloody marvellous weekend kayaking. I went on a course to allow myself to join the kayak club of New Zealand Yakity Yak We were taught basic skills in a pool - capsizing, getting back in, and then out on the open water, paddling skills. By the end of Saturday, we were all tired and cold and fed up! Fotunately, I was with a fantastic group. There were only four us, plus the instructor. On Sunday I returned to discover we all felt the same. We set out for the day in our kayaks and it really was laugh a minute. I've not laughed so hard, so long for a long time! We stayed local to where I live, so at least I'm more familiar with the waterways, and I even met the coastguard. I'm going out with them again on Tuesday night. They do lots of tours around NZ on kayaks, I'd like to be part of that. Steve already knows what I want for my birthday! I've been working hard to get fit. I had a 'weigh in' at the gym last week and have lost 6 kilos in 5 weeks! I've also lost 2-3 centimetres off different parts of me (legs, arms, abdo, etc). I've been told that's impressive - but I want more results more quickly! I don't think I look any different, but I feel fantastic. There's no way I could have done all that kayak training before I started working out. Steve and I did a couple of tramps last week. One of them we didn't know anything about but we discovered it was up a mountain!! It was a real leg burning hike, but we kept each other and I'm incredibly pleased to say we did it! The view was pretty amazing from the top. I've still not had the urge to drink or order takeout. Even when we've been really tired and the girls have been playing up, I've just pulled out the electric wok (best kitchen purchase in the world ever!) and stir fried up some chicken or beef and steamed some brown rice. I'm just in the process of enrolling for the Rotorua 10km fun walk. There is a half marathon as well, but I'm worried that I'm not up to par, so I'm happy just to walk the 10km. That's quite an accomplishment I think for me. That's on March 8, my birthday! So Steve will meet me afterwards and we'll go for a very deserved bathe in the spa pools. My parents have booked their flights on Feb 18 and they've told me they're staying for a month! Eek! Ah well, I've got so many exams and so much work ahead of me, I hope I won't have time to get bogged down in criticisms! Operation embracing 2009 whilst stuck in NZ is well and truly underway! |