Discover Christchurch was on todays agenda

Just a quick blog today as i am off out agon very shortly, and have been out all afternoon - with Hassle-free tours.  I was testing ( for you) their new Discover Christchurch tour. i concur with an Asian traveller on board "I enjoy very much."  So, I'll be blogging about it on my wordpress travel blog soon so check there in a  few days.

Something I discovered about me today is how I need to be more aware of my lack of eating patterns . was hungry late morning, ate a couple of rice wafers and pickle, which of course took the edge off my hunger and it wasnt 'til i was waitng at the Tram Stop in the square for hassle-free to pick me up ( its so great living in the centre of ChCh -- which is how we shorten the name Christchurch) that I realised I hadn't eaten lunch! Not eating is not good when you are supposed to be eating well and regularly.

Well guess what, as soon as I was on board  the mini-bus I was given a little bar of chocolate and a tiny bag of crisps. (what Americans call chips). of cousre i ate them, and now home have worked out that calorie/food value wise, thay are about the same as a meal would be .. empty calories but at least not over my allowance.

now, with a meal of my organic home grown lettuce, potato, cold meat and dressing, i ma now full and ready so go out for the evening .... so ciao, and thanks for listening.
PS
 one change in behavour tonight was I didnt stop to get take aways from the Thai restaurant down the road ''cos its late and i have to go out' but came home and within 10mins had a tasty healthy meal in front of me. PPS
I didnt do the extra walk today as planned to make up for yesterdays sloth so tommorrow  I WILL!

and so the days go on

Well another day over and another day of ups and downs ... my nutrition intake was good but no excersise! I also had a great facebook message from a woman who lost a lot of weight and had her diabetes symptons disappear.

Maybe I can do double excersise tomorrow?

Anyone would think I was made of sugar and spice and all things nice and would have melted if I'd gone out in the rain. I know that's not true  -  more rain predicted for tomorrow.

Today has been spent on the couch, laptop on my lap and sorting out the story and photos about Kaikoura Wilderness Walks and talking to an editor about it.  I think I have sold it overseas but will wait for absolute comfirmation before I tell you where. As my dad told me "there's many a slip betweeet the cup and the lip"

Tommorrow I'm off out with a  local award winning Christchurch company  HassleFree Tours .. I have done their LotR tour ( see my blog on it here) and tommorrow I'm taking the Discover Christchurch tour.. so more to follow.

health issues continued

(Scroll down to read previous posts re the kiwitravelwriter and diabetes)

Well, here is is the end of another day and I'm not grumpy. YAY!

I sprung out of bed after a good nights sleep, had my fav breakfast ( avocado and tomato on wholegrain toast) along with my usual black coffee ... made in a French press ... and was soon out for a morning walk. I  walked, half city streets and half Hagley Park, alongside the the Avon river for 35 mins. i will do the same route each day for a week and hope to reduce the time - I'll then add more distance then repeat the procedure.

Then, oxygyn and endorphins coursing through my body, I wrote a book review that's been siting in my 'to do list' for a month or two, attended to some Soc of Authors business, visited my mother, picked broad beans and silver beet from my little, but productive and organic, garden. And now, its time to get a meal ready - not bad for day five of my diagnosis and determination to get healthy at last.

Hanmer Springs NZ

 Its been very easy to fool myself. for years i have reamined the same weight, do lots of walking ( and I live in on the thrid floor of an appartment block with  no lift/elevator) and walk around my city a lot - howver to be healthy it seems I need to do extra, actual excersise.  So that's todays check in - thanks for the support you have been sending via facebook, and twitter - and a few on this blog. kia ora to you all!

kiwitravelwriter and diabetes day 4

(Scroll down to see previous posts on this topic)

Well I was wrong when I said summer had arrived in my city a couple of days ago. This morming, with my new walking shoes at the ready for an early start, I woke to light rain and low temps.

I dont know if that's the reason for my mood but I have been a bit grumpy today: it started when I heard a couple of men telling porkies and I decided not to go out for my usual Saturday lunch with a group of friends - and have spent the afternoon snoozing and watching some unwatched, recorded TV shows.

Two good things though: I have eaten as I should, drunk water (which is like medicine to me) and this morning , before the black dog appeared, I nearly completed the story about Kaikoura Wilderness Walks -  a 2 day hike (6hrs the first day) I did last week. Check it out.

Now I am going to be un-ecofriendly and have a relaxing bath, do my nails, and go to bed  with a book (I''m reading a great book by a fellow member of NZ Society of Authors called  Under the Huang Jiao Tree by Jane Carswell ) for an early night - ready to start tomorrow, with a  new attitude!

As an old song says, "pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again." or something like that - and I  will. Things that were on todays list will be done tommorrow - including a longer walk in my new sneakers, with my pedometer which I now see doesn't count steps - just kilometres, miles and calories! (see how I just rushed onto TradeMe - the kiwi version of E-bay - and bought the cheap one ... assuming all pedometers caount steps.)

Oh well, will just do the kms .. but the smaller numbers will not look nearly as impressive as  those for 'steps'

Tomorrows post will be brighter - I promise - I'm not promising you, but myself, I dont like me like this.

Diabetes day three and Doctors are throwing water balloons!

(Scroll down to see previous posts re this topic)

Well its a wild and windy day here in Christchurch - one of our east coast's nor'wester - when the wind rushes over the Southern Alps, drops it's rain on the West Coast to allow the rain forrest to grow, then sweeps  dryly and warmly over the Canterbury Plains and drives many people mad. As someone who is often mad anyway, I actually  love this signature wind for us Cantabrians.

Whats this got to do with me and my health issues? well nothing really, except as part of a battery of tests I have been having over the past few months, I had to go to the hospital for an abominal scan - not easy with a full bladder - and I can confirm I am not pregnant. Whew. That's a relief.

But back to the Drs and their water balloons. As I left, a bevy of Drs and Nurses in various outfits, tinsel, cowboy hats, white over-alls, brightly coloured tights also left, heading over the bridge and heading towards 'the boatsheds' obviously something was about to happen, so I waited on the bridge. Also waiting there - and along the bank - were some child patients.

Soon,  along came the flotilla of colourful canoes, and those waiting on the bridge threw water balloons ... the paddlers were throwing them at their collegues too. It seems this was a charity event to raise funds for the childrens wards.

Before I continue, may I have a curmudgeonly moment. As someone who always picks up plastic on the beach, it concerns me that these broken balloons are now heading seaward and one at least will not doubt contribute to a mammals death.

So, diabetes day 3 has gone well. My pedometer has arrived so I can now tell how far I walk (despite being a writer, I do have a high incidental level of movement) and will set it up tonight ready to be attached to this obese body in the morning - well not to my body per se, but to the waist band of whatever I wear tommorrow.

Food wise I've done well, not hungry, and have eaten well - i'm looking forward to the chicken and kumera ( sweet pototo) and salad meal I plan on havong soon.

Thanks to the people who have supported and encouraged me via Twitter, Facebook, and this blog ... knowing you are on the sidelines cheering me on is really great. You are stars :)

A distinctly kiwi sign - at the Wellngton Zoo

Day two on the 'get healthy - loose weight' track

Ok, its day two  (Scroll down to see previous post) and lots of progress - amazing what a  metaphorical gun to the head in the form of a health scare does.

Well progress is not REALLY what it is my mind: I am the I-want-it-NOW type of person and the progress I secretly expected hasn't happened.

I'm told  normal,sane thinkers do not expect to have lost 10 kg in 24hrs - and I havent -  but, I have moved along the continuim towards that healthy, insulin producing body I need if I am to enjoy the more mature ( age-wise) years of my life.

• I have 'sort of ' eaten well today (actually I'm hungry as I havent eaten well so far today, just eaten less.)
• I have signed up for four months of weight-watchers (a miracle MUST happen in that length of time .. surely?)
• I have bought new Adidas (20% off) cross trainers
• I have had a 30-min walk
• I've now confessed to you ( I've been told I'm sick as my secrets, so this blog will be my 'dear diary' that keeps my sick-as secrets public) 
• And now, I''m off to the supermarket to stock up on tinned fish for lunchtime protien.

Being a writer is a problem - I sit and write too much and will have to get out and do more rather than write about what I do.  Actually, all  I  really have to do is eat a healthy diet, drink more water and walk more, and just for today I can do that!

Ciao, see you back here tommorrow,

kiwitravelwriter, diabetes, and a walk in the park

Well it's confession time . . . but first, my morning, this morning.

I have checked - and responded to some emails, Twitter conversations, (I havent checked my Facebook fan pages yet) and checked which of my wordpress blog posts people liked yesterday, then started an article about the Kaikoura Wilderness Walks which I did last week.

Then  I took a phone call from my Drs practice nurse.

After some weeks of various tests, it seems one thing has become clear - my 'pancreas is not working as well as it should' says nurse Shirley.

Oh dear - years of being a carbo-queen have come home to roost, and now, overweight, I have sucumbed to a disease that my family is riddled with - that's why this is shameful to confess: I have known the consequences of over-eating and under-excerising and, ignoring that knowledge has caught up with me.

So this will be my public humilitation page, where I will record my attempts to recover that old svelte body and hopefully a fully- functioning pancreas.

How have I started?

• 2 hours ago I bought a pedometer on trade-me
• I have been for a 30 min walk in the fabulous Hagley Park (the biggest city park in NZ) while listening to Radio NZ - I can tell my MP3 player/radio will be used even more now 
• I have picked an organic lettuce (& mint, parsley) from my garden
• Filled a jug of water and dropped a frozen lemon quarter in it in the hope it will make me drink more
• Examined my Adidas walking shoes and realise I need a new pair and maybe even a sports bra (an item I have never owned!)

So, now home again, it's time to make a salad for lunch and think about the things I saw in 'my' park ... people getting ready for the annual 'Christmas in the park' event this weekend; a mum and dad paradise shelduck with their long legged, still fuzzy-crewcut-haired ducklings, and the people who said 'Hi' to me and the many other walkers  - what an asset Hagley Park is to my city.

(see more here on Christchurchs' official website - I am just an enthusiastic promoter of my city - and check out my 'other blog' http://kiwitravelwriter.wordpress.com/ for lots of blogs and photos about this, the biggest city in the South Island of New Zealand and stories from all over the world.)

This is what paradise ducklings look like when they are only days old .. here with mum!

I  hope my public record will motivate me, and  that some of you will help keep me on the straight and narrow as I attempt to become healthier.

Dennis the Menace was a Kiwi - well well well

06 Oct 2009 One of the world’s best known comic strip characters, Dennis the Menace, was inspired by a mechanic who lives in a small Hawke’s Bay town in rural New Zealand.
Robert Fair, now 62, emigrated to New Zealand 40 years ago but used to visit the English home of David Law, the creator of Dennis the Menace, in the early 1950s.

It’s just been revealed that the young Robert’s childhood antics provided cartoonist Law with inspiration for what has become the longest running strip in the UK’s popular comic, The Beano.

‘Robert the Brat’  The revelation was news to Mr Fair who is a mechanic in Porangahau, a farming region of Central Hawke’s Bay.

He only learned of his place in literary history after Mr Law’s daughter Rosemary Moffat, revealed the secret to British media. She said Robert was a bit of a brat and used to visit her parents’ home in the early 1950s, as the Fairs and Laws were family friends.

She said her father had never told Robert Fair’s parents of the real story behind the inspiration for Dennis the Menace because he didn’t want to offend them.

"Magic" secret

But Robert Fair, who grew up in Dundee, said it was magic to find out the secret.

"I can remember reading the comic all those years ago, but I had no idea. I do remember getting up to a few little tricks. We used to wait for mum and dad to come in and we'd put books on top of the door and jump out the window. We were just getting up to mischief, it was nothing malicious," said Mr Fair.
Ms Moffat, who apparently inspired her father to create Beryl the Peril, told London’s Sunday Times that Mr Fair was a bit of a devil.

"Robert was a little brat when he was a boy and my father based Dennis’ energy, movement and sense of mischief on him when he was doing his drawings," she said.
Porangahau
The original maker may be interested to know where Dennis’ inspiration - Robert the brat - ended up.
The well-behaved former Scotsman lives on the coast of a quiet, isolated farming region where he’s a respected member of a tight-knit community.

His home town of Porangahau has one main claim to fame - it boasts the longest place name in the world.
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the name for Porangahau’s famous hill which has become a popular tourist attraction.
The name means ‘The hilltop where Tamatea, with big knees, conqueror of mountains, eater of land, traveller over land and sea, played his koauau (flute) to his beloved’.
Media frenzy
Robert Fair has been inundated with media interest since news of his Dennis the Menace link was publicised, much to his amusement, says wife Oli.
"He’s been on BBC radio, interviewed on television and had several phone calls from media in the UK, Australia and all over.
"Bob looks nothing like Dennis the Menace but he is a bit of a character and tells good jokes. He’s a clever man with a lot of good mates who get up to all sorts of things - boys will be boys," says Mrs Fair.
She says that in all the 40 years he’s lived in New Zealand Robert has never returned to Scotland even for a visit. His 94-year-old mother who lives in Dundee, has also been amused by the Dennis the Menace revelation and backed up the Laws’ theory by saying "Robert was into everything when he was a child."

The Beano

The first Dennis the Menace comic strip appeared in issue 452 of The Beano, released on 15 March 1951. From issue 1678 onwards (dated 14 September 1974) Dennis the Menace replaced Biffo the Bear on the front cover and has been there ever since.

The character’s dog Gnasher became part of the title in 1970 and the comic strip has been known as Dennis the Menace and Gnasher ever since.
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher was first drawn by David Law from 1951-1970 then by David Sutherland from 1970-1988 and other well known cartoonists have shared the role since.
A Dennis the Menace puppet series was also produced in the early 1990s for broadcast on children’s television and has been a popular cartoon on BBC One in the UK. A new animated series screened on CBBC this year.

For the comic strip’s 40th anniversary in 1991 a special pull-out poster supplement (including a story featuring Dennis appearing on This is Your Life) was produced in celebration. Dennis’s trade mark red-and-black hand knitted jumper and spiky hair was given a make over and he wore a tracksuit, sported a pair of shades and carried a personal stereo. But the revamp lasted only one story.

great review of my book- passing it on

An unsolicited email from an unknown reader

I purchased your book yesterday (Friday 14th August 09) after the Probus meeting and have just finished it.
It can only be described as an absolute gem. It is a fabulous travel book; it is an even greater person story. I read several books a week and for me this is The book of the year. Your comments on your success in the battle with alcohol for me made this book even greater. Well done Heather. You have the great skill and achievement of knowing what is important in life and of knowing what is trivial.
Also, places I have been to and know reasonably well especially S.E.Asia I could suddenly see in a whole new light, I guess that is the skill of the very observant traveller and the skilled travel writer
Cheers, Harry (NOTE - last name not added here in respect for this person’s privacy, Heather)
Another male wrote -
‘Suffering serious withdrawals after finishing Naked in Budapest, and being deprived of my daily fix of travel in far-away places. I have not enjoyed a book so much for yonks.’
Hugh Adams (author of ‘A bakers dozen’)
Read more reader comments here
Buy Naked in Budapest: travels with a passionate nomad (ISBN 978-0-473-11675-0) for Fathers Day: Details here http://kiwitravelwriter.com/

Hamner Springs, South Island NZ

hot mineral pools in the southern alps - click on any photo to enlarge