All is.... WET... in paradise

Having arrived on Thursday afternoon ready for the weekend plans were afoot for fishing. I’d be working from the bach on Friday and Tom had a few things to finish off, some quotes to do and a couple of errands to run but we’d be all go for Saturday… wouldn’t we?
Alas no… for anyone that was starting to get the impression our little piece of paradise was the perfect island retreat… a little shot of reality is in order…

Yep, it’s persisting down and has been ever since Friday evening.

There will be no fishing … aside from the couch fishing…

We may even not make it back to the mainland as scheduled tomorrow!! Tom is meant to be going back on the ferry and I have a flight booked in the afternoon… oh well, not much that can be done about that!!

Still… on a brighter note, this is the very first blog entry from the island!! Yay for the satellite dish… that is amazingly still attached to the roof!!

Just another weekend in paradise

It got off to a bit of a false start with my Thursday afternoon flight being cancelled because of the weather. I immediately re-booked for the following morning for the etra flight they put on at 8am. Tommy met me at the airport and we went up to the bach to get coffee.
We decided that it was too breezy to go out in the bay so we decided to pack all the kayaks up and head to Harataonga and then see what would happen. Once there we loaded our gear onto the yaks and paddled down the creek to the beach. The surf was quite big but we decided to head out and try and find a more sheltered spot to base ourselves. Getting through the surf was a bit of fun but we all got through without any spillages. Gina did well considering she wasn't too keen to begin with but she paddled through like a pro.










We found a small beach around the corner and paddled over there to make it our base. Tom and I both had a fish while the others fished off the rocks for bait fish. Once they'd stocked up on bait we all went out for a bit more fishing. Tom and I cuaght enough snapper for everyone to have some for dinner so when we caught up with Tim and Angus to find that Angus had caught a good sized Porae we knew we definately had plenty for dinner. Gina had already gone back by this stage but we tried fishing a little longer before heading back. The swell seemed bigger on the way back in. Tim and Angus beached okay but Tom and I both canned out!
We called into the Club on the way home and ended up there until quite late with the guys getting a bit carried away playing table tennis.
Everyone woke up pretty late on Saturday morning so we mooched around the place until the afternoon when we decided to go to the hot pools. First though we went for a drive to Whangaparapara and had a couple of beers at the lodge. By the time we drove back to the track to the hot pools all the vehicles that had been there had gone so it looked like we would have the place to ourselves. I'm not entirely sure how long it takes us to walk the track to the pools - half an hour maybe - it's always quicker to get there though than coming back. Tom and I climbed into the main pool where the track meets the stream and proceeded to soak while the others explored a bit further up the stream. After a while we were starting to over cook and about then Angus came down the track to tell us they'd found a deeper pool further up. We bundled off up the track and climbed over the rocks to find a fabulous pool - deeper and more like a spa pool ... ahh... bliss!
The walk back to the car after our soak was a bit more sedate than the trip in as we were all so relaxed. Of course... we had to call into the club for the boys to get their ping-pong fix on the way home.

It was an early start on Sunday morning to get down to the wharf and try another spot of fishing. The conditions weren't fantastic but we'd been out in worse. We decided it was too breezy to venture out of the bay so we drift fished our way back along the coast and into the bay. The fish started coming onto the bite when we'd been out for half an hour or so. I kept two snapper for the bin. As we were driftining at different speeds and in different dirrections it was hard to say how the others were doing but once back at the wharf we had 6 snapper to take home for lunch. you don't get it much fresher than that!

The sun came out fierce after midday and having had an early and active morning, once we'd had our fill of fish we all found our own spots out of the sun for a bit of a kip. We roused ourselves about 4 o'clock, all a bit grumpy from sleeping in the heat, so the cure for that was to head to the bottom end of Kaitoke beach for a swim and snorkle around the rocks. Once in the water all the earlier grumpiness faded and we had a great time swimming. Tom came out of the water with his pockets stuffed with mussels so Tim and Angus took up the challenge to get us enough for dinner... hunter-gatherers!

Dinner was of course mussels - some steamed and eaten out of the shells and the rest I made into mussel fritters. It's a fantastic feeling to end the day knowing you've provided yourself with a couple of meals from catching to cooking. I had a fantastic sleep that night!

Sadly, Monday morning rolled around and it was time for me to head back down to the airport to catch the 7:30 flight back to the shore. Still, I can't complain... we seem to pack so much into our days that I felt as though I'd been away for a week!

New Challenges

Last night was the first night back at Belly Dance classes for the year.
I’ve moved up a level into a new class (Level 3) because I felt I needed a bit more of a challenge. We practised using the same moves/routine to various pieces of music, all different styles and tempos. This was a really interesting exercise and although I felt quite clumsy at times it will be things like this that will really start to stretch me. We also spent time playing zills so I’ve dusted mine off and have them with me so that I can continue to practise when the opportunity arises.
There is a Solo Development class held straight after the Level 3 class which I have also enrolled in. This is certainly going to be challenging! I think we are going to be creating/choreographing our own dance to a piece of music. Our homework for the first week is to listen to music tracks given to us on a CD and chose one of them. The style I have is Tribal Fusion and I am wondering if perhaps I’ve bitten off a bit more than I can chew! Still, I wanted to push myself a bit more and this will most certainly do that! Everyone in the class has been given a different style of music/dance so that makes it even more interesting. There can be no copying so the resulting dances will all be truly unique from each other. In some ways I think that this will also take some of the pressure off in as much as there won’t be any direct comparisons between each person… still a bit daunting though!
Being in both classes will boost my incentive to practise– something I had gotten quite slack about in the last couple of terms! I’m pleased that I’ve made the move into the move advanced class and am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the term brings!!

Melt down!!

Gah!! It's very hot! Normally I don't break out in a sweat doing the dishes but.... sheesh! I got home from work to an oven! With the house shut up all day the rush of hot air nearly knocked me over as I opened up the front door! It's not so much the heat, the mugginess is horrible... it needs to have a good downpour to flush the air. It feels quite oppressive but perhaps we'll get some rain tonight... certainly feels as though we might!
I suppose it doesn't help that I've had the dehydrator going all day! I got a load of outdoor tomatoes from the markets yesterday and set a batch going to dry. I've vaccuum packed the first lot and set another batch going... I plan on making loads this year as they were great to use in rissotos and stews but I didn't make nearly enough last year. My tomato plants haven't yeilded much so far, I was a bit late getting them in, so I'm starting off with bought tomatoes. At $10 for 4 buckets you can't really go wrong!!

Steep learning curve

It’s been a real process trying to figure out the whole internet thing for the island. You see, the plan is to start spending more time over there but to do that I would need to start working remotely. For this to happen we need a computer … and broadband internet access.
Over time we had started researching the options for getting broadband. There is no existing phone on the section although it looks as though there may be cables running close by to hook up to. Even if we did get a phone line in to the section we are still limited to dial-up internet as broadband is only available through Claris and more recently Tryphena, but not up our way. It seemed to us that our only option was going to be internet via satellite.
I did a little bit of research to find some providers in NZ and see what sort of reviews people gave them. In an effort to get more opinions I left a couple of messages on internet forums – the replies to the messages on both forums were not particularly useful on the satellite front although one response gave me information on booster aerials for cell-phones (we ended up getting one that has proved successful)
As much as I searched the internet for information it seemed that we were going to have to go one step further and contact a satellite internet provider. This was a bit of a leap as I really had no idea what to ask!! Well, first of all we needed to know if there was coverage for GBI… there’s the first question. Hmmm and given the limited power resources, did the satellite set-up require and if so how much? Also given that installation for the bach would only be until we have built so could a satellite be transferred to the main building at a later date? I sent off these initial questions to a company that I had seen good reports of and by the end of the day I had a response. This was promising and a flurry of emails ensued with more detailed info on the power setup and narrowing down what angle of view of the sky we needed to have to ensure connection.
It seemed that every time we had a response answering our questions it prompted even more questions…. The more we found out the more we realized we needed to find out!
Just as it seemed we were beginning to understand things I mentioned it to our IT man at work. He started talking about lag and latency and how this could potentially be a problem with working on the remote desktop…. Oh no!! More stuff to try and understand!
Back to the Satellite people I went asking about the lag issues, trying to seem as though I knew what I was talking about despite, at this stage, only having a very basic understanding… this however proved to be too difficult for them to answer simply for me. In fact I almost felt as if I was being fobbed off… certainly not comforting given the equipment alone was going to cost around $2,500…. It was a lot of money to be shelling out on a system that no-one could guarantee would work for me.
We came to a bit of a standstill until Tom spent some time on the island working (October 07) and got talking to some of the locals who gave him advice on what they were using and most importantly told us who on the island did installations! Tom came home and got in contact with Orcon, based on the info he’d gleaned and the recommendation of the chap who does the installations. We negotiated buying the equipment only from them on the understanding we would have the installation done and would be using their service once it was all up and running…. We placed the order!
The gear arrived and we had it freighted over to the island just before Christmas. By the time we arrived out on the island for a holiday on December 31st the dish was installed!! Wow!
All that remained before I could test it out was to install an inverter to convert power to 240V so that I could plug the laptop in. The boys spent a morning getting the 2 extra batteries hooked up to the solar panels and then it was all go… at least it was once I worked out how to install the wireless router that we’d taken over… Woohoo! We had internet! And now the moment of truth… could I connect to work via remote desktop? Oh yes I could!! Woohoo (again)!!! I was able to answer a few queries via email on jobs that I’d left with other people to do while I was on holiday… excellent!! Not only that but we were also now able to look up the latest tide and weather info when we wanted to go fishing!!
Later in January I went over for the long weekend (Auckland Anniversary) but went a day earlier with the intention of working on Friday to make sure that all the usage over the internet to work was functioning properly. This was crucial as if this worked it would mean that I can start spending more time over there and work remotely … and it doesn’t get much more remote the Great Barrier!! I had figured that if the experiment failed it would only be one day out of my holidays but, thankfully, everything went smoothly and I was able to work as if I was still in the office… Fantastic!

So now the transition to the island can truly begin!

Writer's block

no ... to be honest it's hardly that, I've certainly got plenty of things to talk about! I think the problem is not having a regular time set aside to blog... I need to get a bit more disciplined about this!! At the moment I have quite a list of things I could be writing about but it just seems to get longer and longer... and is becoming a bit daunting so I poke my head in the sand and pretend not to notice that I haven't updated... so perhaps a challenge is in order... a posting at least once a week, on a Monday perhaps... lets see if I can do this!!

I'm neglecting y'all

Sorry!! I haven't been around much!!

Up until Christmas I got really tied up with getting a DVD made for friends and family. It was a culmination of photos and videos from throughout the year to send to friends and family. I was really pleased with the final result but it sucked up a lot of time and so updates suffered...

Then of course we were off to the island for 2 weeks after Christmas and although we've hit a huge milestone and have internet access over there now it was time for friends and family... yet again updates suffered...

Since I got back to work it has been manic. I've worked every day including weekends and even on weekdays have had to put in extra time... I've been too stuffed when I have had time away from work and the last thing I've wanted to do is spend more time in front of a screen so updates have suffered even more...

But... I've been thinking of y'all and so here I am, letting you know I just haven't had time. Perhaps soon I'll become a little more disciplined about updates... that is however a work in progress....
...
...

Home-grown

When Tommy arrived back from the Barrier the other week he brought back a wee surprise....




... Potatoes!! The garden had been trampled as work started on building the deck so unless it recovers from the beating (and it may yet) there won't be any vege ready for the holiday at New Year. Luckily Tommy decided to see if there was actually anything under the soil and found some lovely tatties under the ruins... Our first Barrier crop!!


And they were delicious!

Random acts of …

Driving to work this morning, feeling very pleased with myself achieving so much over the weekend, I spotted something… er... unusual.
I was in a queue of traffic waiting for the lights. A few spots ahead of me there was a bus and someone standing on the pavement beside it. I thought perhaps she was waiting to cross the road and wondered why she didn’t cross while the traffic was at a stand still. Then as the bus started moving of she started waving madly at the bus… ah… she’s waving someone off… a friend or perhaps a child on their way to school. But then as the next car moved forward she turned and waved at it too. I could see the driver stiffen up with shock.
As I passed she looked me in the eye, her face was beaming a happy smile,eyes twinkling merrily, and as she waved at me I couldn’t help but smile and wave back. I looked in the rear view mirror as the traffic moved slowly forward and could see her waving at every single car that passed.
I wonder how many people waved back?
Was she a bit loopy? Had she “escaped” the hospital? Or was she just spreading the luuurrrve?
Whatever the motivation it gave me the warm fuzzies and I can’t help but quietly smile each time I think of it... I hope that my smile and wave does the same for her!

Home alone...

Early Thursday morning Tom left to catch the ferry over to Great Barrier for four days. I heard from him in the evening with very exciting news… the deck is under way and will be finished in the next week or so!! Very cool, I can’t wait to see it! Tommy suggested I fly over for the weekend… damn… that was a tough one. I tossed it up, live for the moment and go over to hell with the housework. The problem was I had planned to do stuff around the house and I knew if I went away then I’d be thinking about what wasn’t getting done. I decided not to go…
When Friday dawned grey and bleak so my decision was sealed… the housework would get done after all. I had hoped to get away from work a bit earlier so I could get a head start on the tasks I’d set for myself. Unfortunately a couple of key people were away so I stayed on in case anything came up that I could help with. After that I didn’t much feel like doing anything but I cleared the dining table and tidied the lounge before I sat down to upload the duck video in the last entry…. Bloody thing kept falling over and I got interested in a late movie so it was 2:00am before I finally went to bed.
The sun streaming in the window woke me … or rather pierced my eyelids around 8am… Gaaah!! Lots to do… gimme coffee!
I rearranged the closet in Libby’s room, cleared the laundry, put a couple of loads of washing through the machine and hung them out… Did the dishes, scrubbed out the kitchen sink and laundry tub… screwed the seat back onto one of the dining chairs, re-attached the drawer handle in the bathroom and Libby’s dressing table, and a few other small chores. I’ve been wanting to make another batch of apricot and chilli jam for ages so that was next on the list. This time I pureed a can of mango and added that to. When I added the sugar it looked like a lot more than normal but it was already mixed in… turned out okay though so I guess I’ve “improved” the recipe again… happy accident!
With all that out of the way I decided I should tackle the digital photos. This is a job I sort of started quite a while ago after we had a bit of scare with the computer but had lost momentum on. My plan was to format the external drive we already have and move all the photos over to there as well as having CD/DVD backups. With Tommy away it was the perfect opportunity but first I had to try and create a logical way to file everything. Everything that was taken since I went digital was pretty much in chronological order but Tom’s photos taken prior to that weren’t really in any sort of system. It took a while to knock them into shape but I got there in the end. Everything got copied over to the external drive and then deleted from the PC as I also made DVD copies of everything. After that I found some random CDs with photos on from various sources so they also got copied to the external drive… Yeehaaa!! All done now so I’m very happy about that!!
I headed off to bed earlier than the previous night but hard a hard time getting to sleep and then dreamt crazy dreams all night…
I was up and on my way to the markets by 7am. I did both Takapuna and Browns bay and stopped in at a temporary clothing sale and scored some bargains… Xmas party dress for $15!! Score!!
Back from the markets, I made a quick coffee while I sprayed the oven then went next door to see Eunice and drop her washing basket back to her (she saved my washing from the rain earlier in the week – what a love!). I also took her over a small jar of my apricot/chilli jam. I spent about an hour chatting with her and by the time I got back the oven was ready for wiping out and rinsing. Then I put the new cushion covers I picked up from the dollar shop on my old cushions … instant makeover! I had “discovered” the curtains for the dining area when I clearing Lib’s room on Saturday so the next thing to tackle was putting them back up! They came down a year ago when we were having the house painted so it was well over-due getting them back up.
It’s been a busy weekend and I’m really pleased with what I’ve achieved. It’s also been quite weird having the house to myself for a whole weekend… It seems like a very long time since it last happened! I’ve really enjoyed being able to do things in my own time without having to think about anyone else. I really has been very productive and yet very relaxing. I’ve been able to get stuck into my list early in the day which has left time for more relaxing pursuits in the afternoons. At the same time it’s been very odd going to bed knowing Tommy won’t be there when I wake up. I have to say that I’m looking forward to him getting home in a couple of hours…. He’s on the ferry back right now. It feels that he’s been away much longer three nights!! We have so much to catch up on!!!

Mid-week Oasis

Yesterday I went to the Ellerslie Flower Show with Mum and some of her friends. It was a bit of a treat to have a day off work in the middle of the week!

Mum and co had left Dargaville early and arrived to pick me up - or rather get me to drive - around 9:30. It had beed raining so the traffic was pretty congested and we copped a few showers of rain on the way over. Still, we had a really good time. I don't know whether the weather had put people off going or if perhaps being midweek not as many people could go on that day but whatever the cause there weren't any great crowds there. This meant that we didn't have to queue for any of the exhibitions which was a blessing. I reckon going on the first day was a great idea... thanks Mum!

It was a real feast of colour, shapes and ideas. I tucked a few ideas away and managed to restrain my plant buying to three small pots of Bower Beauty... I couldn't resist the lushness of it!! I also treated myself to some smoked garlic and smoked/spiced salt... mmmm!

We were pretty lucky with the weather... well mostly... it rained a few times while we in the exhibition marquees but when we all meet up for lunch it faired hosed down!! We raced to get shelter under a tent near the entrance. It eased (but didn't stop) after a while and we all had coats or umbrellas so we decided to carry on and meet up in another hour. By this stage we'd seen most of the show and what was left was essentially just stalls... still... you never know what you might have missed....

Ha!! Those little fellas sure were having a blast!!

It cleared up not long after this so we went back and revisited some stalls to buy goodies ... I try to leave the actual buying part until just before leaving so that there's less to lug around the show and it also means I've got time to decide if I really do want those things and avoid impulse purchases!

All in all a good day... will have to do it again next year!!

Crackers!

We were invited to a BBQ dinner and fireworks on Monday (Guy Fawkes) with friends. They have two young children that were very excited about the prospect of seeing their crackers going off. We had a nice meal and as it got dark we started making preparations, filling a large bin with compost as a base to sit the fireworks in and taking everything down to the back of the section.

I had taken my camera so that I could play about with the settings and try to get some photos. I'm trying to learn a bit more about the multitude of features on the camera each time I use it so it was an interesting experiment. A lot of the photos I took were duds... blurry, over exposed, under exposed, or just plain missed the action. There were a few that have escaped the delete key... the sparkler photos turned out kind of cool.

It seems to me that the crackers aren't as spectactular, don't last as long and the sparklers burn too quickly now. Everything seemed so much more magical when I was a kid. They can't have changed too much though because the kids still obviously enjoyed themselves as much as I used to.

I feel quite sad at the prospect that fireworks may be banned in the future because of accidents that occur or the down-right stupidity of some of the people that use them or the poor (dangerous) quality of some brands. Why does the majority have to miss out because of the actions of a few? Every year it seems we get closer to losing this. There are reports of burns and fires caused by fireworks. I find it a bit strange how around Guy Fawkes the media reports on fires more (even though many of these aren't necessarily firework related) but they are really more interested in ratings so fuelling the fire with sensational reporting is the name of the game. Grrrr!

There are so many things out there in far more use and causing far more damage on a more regular basis than fireworks... cars.... alcohol... just for starters. Both individually and in conjunction with one another cause more havoc on a daily basis than fireworks do but I don't think they'll be getting banned anytime soon!

Like I said ... crackers!!

New Addition...

Meet Lululoo... my new laptop!! We haven't really gotten to know much about each other yet although I suspect she already knows more about me than I do her!!

Do you think you'll hear from me a bit more often now?

Nana's china cabinet

In the corner of my grandparents’ living room was an oak, lead glass china cabinet. It had been there as long as I could remember. It was always a fascination and held all sorts of treasures. There was the obligatory china – cups, saucer and cake plate sets, little knickknacks, vases and figurines collected over the years. Pretty much everything in there had a story attached to it – sadly I don’t remember them all.

There was a figurine of a lady that had been broken and carefully glued back together a couple of times. This was something my mother (as a girl) had bought as a present for my grandmother at some point.

There were mementos from Mum's wedding - her bouquet, garter and the wee figures off the cake.

There was a tiny wee elephant in a bean. My grandfather and one of his friends had a thing going where they would try and outdo each other finding the smallest gifts… I have a feeling this might have won. I remember, if we’d been really good, my grandfather showing it to us. He’d take the wee box out of the cabinet, carefully removed the cotton wool wadding and reveal a little wee bean with an ivory cap. We’d sit very still while he would fumble with his big fingers to remove the cap and then very carefully shake out the contents… a tiny carved ivory elephant. We would look at it, dwarfed in his big hands, sitting as still as we could and holding our breath in case we caused it to be dropped. Getting it back into the bean and the lid back on was always a more precarious procedure than removing it. I used to love it when we were allowed to have a look and wonder at such a tiny wee thing.

There was a weekend, before the farm was sold, that I was up for a visit. Nana was getting a new lounge suite and was in the process of moving out the old furniture out, having a spring clean and getting rid of the china cabinet…… WHAT?!?!?!?

She said it had been there for years and she was sick of it, she’d take it to the dump or a second hand shop….. WHAT?!?!?!?

All the memories… all the history… it had been there as long as I could remember!! How could she just biff it out?? I was horrified!
“Nana, I’ll buy it off you! Don’t take just throw it out! We’ll get it valued and find out what it’s worth and I’ll buy it off you.”
Nana wasn’t having any of that…. But she said I could have it. She wasn’t interested in the money… she just wanted to make room for her new couch.

She had taken a few things out that she wanted to keep, including a few tea-cup sets that she was putting aside to give to nieces on their 21st, and then she told me to pick out what I wanted and she’d pack up what was left so my sister could look at it and pick things out. Being the eldest I often had first pick at things and having already been given the cabinet I didn’t feel right about taking first dibs on the contents. I asked Nana if we could pack it up and store it under the spare bed until my sister was visiting and could have first choice on what was there. Nana agreed and so we started wrapping the bit’s and pieces and packing them into boxes.

My grandfather (Tom) came in to see how we were getting on, he sat in his chair while we packed and told me where the china cabinet had come from. Before Tom was balloted the farm my Grandparents and Mum lived between Waima and Taheke (South Hokianga). When they were going to move the locals organised a farewell party for them and had a whip-around which was used to pay for the beer. According to Tom, Nana’s brother (who didn’t drink) reckoned they’d bought too much beer but Tom reckoned it was a pretty good party and they had enough…. Anyways, they were presented with the balance of the money from the whip-around and with it they paid for the china cabinet.

While Tom was telling us this Mum had come into the room. She was about seven when they moved to Omamari and had been given a cup, saucer and cake plate with a kingfisher design by the ladies in the CWI as a farewell gift. She said that it should stay with the china cabinet so she would dig it out of the cupboard for me.

And so… I now have the china-cabinet and some of the original contents. As it turned out when my sister had her pick of the contents she chose things that I had not been so keen on so that worked out well. For a long time it had a place in my lounge or dining area of the various homes I’ve lived in since then. Sadly now we are short of space and it now lives in Libby’s room. I feel a bit mean relegating it to a little place where it is not often seen although I do occasionally go and peer through the glass or pick out something to look at… it acts as a prompt to memories and although it seems lonely I can’t bear to part with it altogether.

One day I will have another home where it can once again have pride of place… but until then I will just have to live with the occasional visits to the spare room.

Happy Hips

Finally it came around… the show! We had been hyping ourselves up for this all term. As well as practising in class we’d had special rehearsals on Saturday afternoons for 3 weeks.

The first group practise was rather daunting trying to get the “formation flying” right. We had all learnt the dance we were going to perform but it was being modified slightly for the group performance to create more movement around the stage and make it more interesting... More interesting alright! For a while there I was a bit worried about whether I’d manage to get it together. In some places instead of doing the moves stepping first to one side then the other (turn stepping right, stepping back to left, turn stepping right) we were meant to turn it into more of an L shape. It doesn’t sound to complex and seemed okay walking through it but once the music was on and we were doing it at speed it all seemed to go pear shaped. After the first rehearsal I vowed to practise it until I got it.

I got up early on the mornings and practised the routine over and over until it was time to leave for work. By the end of that first week I was feeling pretty good about it all. One of my classmates, Santi, however was not! I got a call on the Friday afternoon asking if she could come around and practise with me because she was so worried. We went over the routine at least half a dozen times until she felt better about it and took off home to practise by herself.

As it turned out at the rehearsal the next day the extra practice paid off!

Only one more week until the show!!

We had a very quick rehearsal on the day of the show then headed over to the theatre for a run through on the stage. Wow!! The excitement was building especially with all the other dancers arriving and getting ready. Santi & I went for a wander to the shops and downed a RTD each then despite there being nearly and hour and a half before we had to be ready we decided to get into costume. I’m glad we did because not long after it was almost impossible to move in the dressing rooms. We were the first group on stage and I knew it would all be over in a flash so I was determined to enjoy every moment… that shouldn’t be too hard given I always feel as though my face will split from smiling when we’re dancing!!

Santi & I went out for another RTD to kill a more time and for a wee bit more dutch courage! Then I got a text from Tom saying that he’d forgotten his camera and to meet him outside and to give him mine so he could get some snaps…. Trouble was they were still on their way and the countdown was on for going on stage!

Sadly I had to be on stage before Tom could get to me so I didn’t get any photos of us on stage (although there’s a couple here - #10 & 11) but from all accounts we looked great!

As we were waiting behind the curtain for the audience to seat we were fizzing with excitement. The show had sold out so we'd be dancing for a full house.

At last the audience went quiet and we could hear the MC welcoming everyone. Then the curain opened and..... it was all over so fast!! So much preparation for just a couple of minutes ... But what a buzz! I'd do it all over again!

I caught up with Tom and the others at intermission. Throughout the break there would be drummers on stage and anyone that wanted to dance could get up so I quickly helped Libby into her costume and she hauled me up to the stage! She looked great and had a great time dancing “in the show”.

I watched the second half of the show from an area set aside for the performers, upstairs behind the main seating. It was a bit cramped but I took loads more photos to pass onto others I knew who were performing. It was great to see all the different groups from all over, different levels and styles and so many beautiful costumes! Stunning!

I am busting to see the DVD of the whole show to see what we looked like on stage but I guess I will just have to wait until next term to see that! In the meantime I'll just have to be content watching Libby's time in the spotlight...

Avast ye!

Ahoy mateys!!! I hope ye all be finding much merriement this fine "talk like a pirate day"
Bless ye and all who sail with ye!

Dreaming...

I’ve started thinking about making another bedlah (bra and belt) for my belly dancing. I had started dreaming about a costume in burgundy and gold and had figured I could use some of my off-cuts of silks and brocades to create a patchwork for the base and then add sequins and beads for the trim.

The problem is I have a couple of other projects I really should finish first… a cross-stitch that I am nearing the end of. I’m just about sick of the sight of it but am determined that it will not go into the cupboard unfinished to haunt me later!!

I also have a patchwork quilt that is all hand sewn and pretty time intensive – I am aiming for it to be big enough for a queen sized bed and am probably a quarter of the way there... that will get dragged back out of the cupboard once the cross-stitch is finished.

In the meantime there’s no harm in dreaming about how the bra and belt will be... is there?

Perhaps not as it will keep creating opportunities to find other suitable bits and pieces for the construction... For example, I was in Ikes in Browns Bay, an emporium-style end-of-line-bits-and-pieces shop, where I was looking for some black stretch velvet and I found the most gorgeous sheer burgundy material with gold embroidery. I could barely contain myself as I stroked it and started thinking of my new costume... Loooveelly...

THWACK!!!I gave myself a mental slap to remind myself I was on a mission of other sorts and started searching the aisles for the velvet. Ikes has loads of material but there is really no structure to the way it is arranged, some on lying stacked on shelves, some stacked upright against each other in aisles. You have to be prepared to search quite hard to find what you are after and even then you aren’t guaranteed to find it... sometimes you’ll see something one day and then decide to go back the next to buy it but find it has disappeared altogether. I scoured the place, but each time I walked past the burgundy would pause, reaching out to it….

THWACK! I had to remind myself of the mission... the mission… black velvet. After half an hour of shuffling through the stacks I eventually asked the shop assistants if they had any of what I wanted in stock and alas – no!!

I returned to the burgundy, stroked it, unrolled some to see how it would move through the air, imagined how it would look as a skirt, a veil, a choli... Drooooool...

The entire time I struggled with the knowledge that even if I bought it I could not allow myself to start another project until I had finished my others... also knowing that if I left the shop I may never see the delectable stuff again... I relented and bought some – plenty enough to make a skirt, top and veil… tucked away in the sewing cupboard it waits for me... and I keep dreaming...

Time flies....

.... when you're having fun. God Lord it's been a long time since I've been here! Life has been too busy and I've let the updates slide. Will have to do something about that in the very near future!! Stay tuned for imminent updates!

It's Secret Santa...

...and the secret is there is no Santa! At least there was no Santa to be seen at our secret Santa gift swap today.... there was however a fairy!!



I betcha she was sweltering under all that hair!

Happy Birthday To Me!!

What a wonderful day!! And one of the best gifts I could ever have is waking up this morning with my Tommy.... aaaaaaw!! I love ya babe!!

I feel very blessed today.

I am still basking in the afterglow of a fabulous weekend on Great Barrier Island where we soaked up the magic of the place and had a wonderful time! Just being there is special enough but there were a number of events that made it an extra special weekend. Our flight over was in a wee 6 seater which was awesome! As we flew over the island we got our first glimpse of the new driveway below us!!
On Saturday morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast then went down to the Claris Club to see the local Market Day and Santa Parade.
!!
After a luxurious nap early afternoon we headed over to Pah Beach where we enjoyed a fantastic evening at The Currach where they were holding a local Singer/Songwriter Competition. An amazing evening with some great music, great company and special guest judge Dave Dobbyn (who also seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself and treated us to a few performances of his own)! Wow, words can't do the night justice!

And... my very early birthday present from Tom came into it's own... On Sunday I went on my first couple of dives since my course and thoroughly enjoyed myself!! Look for yourself!!

td>

Today has been very low key at work, not many people have realised it is my birthday so my feet are fairly well planted on the ground. I met with my very good friend Michelle at 2:00 and enjoyed a very nice lunch. This made me feel a wee bit sleepy for the rest of the afternoon... or maybe I'd become too accustomed to an afternoon nap on the Barrier!!

From here on in work became progressively worse... things I was looking into became increasingly problematic and I was pleased when it was time to leave for the day!!

Then it was home to field calls from my family wishing me a Happy Day before going to Quiz Night. This included talking to my wee 2 yr old niece on speaker phone... this was extremely confusing for her because although she could hear Aunty Neen, she couldn't see me.... it was all resolved once we were talking without speaker phone... a much easier concept to deal with!

then of course... QUIZ!! Happy happy... at the end of the evening and a very quick play off... (the answer being Dick Turpin) we ended up in 3rd place.... yeah baby!

How much better can a birthday get?

Up the creek without a....

We have been so busy that we haven't been out together with the kayaks in ages. Tommy has his nights out with the boys most Wednesdays but I've been itching to get out for a paddle. Last Sunday afternoon we finally did it. We packed up some fishing gear and headed off. Skip waved us off "Don't forget your paddles! Ha-ha!!"

Some friends were taking their kids fishing off the wharf at Torpedo Bay so we headed down that way. We got to the boat ramp and started unloading. It was then Tom turned to me and said "Did you put your paddle in?"

AAAARGGGGH!!! Oh crap, I felt like a right eejit! Oh well... I thought Tom had put it in but next time I'll have a better system for packing! Every time we go out we learn something new but I have to say this was a bit of a major foo-foo!! So... I left Tom to get suited up and play with his fishing gear and drove home again to get the paddle!!

Once I got back WITH MY PADDLE we got started. We paddled out to the end of the wharf where we saw Mel, Chris, and the kids then paddled our way around the corner to Cheltenham Beach. Being a Sunday afternoon they was an lot of traffic in the harbour, most of it heading back into Auckland. At times it was a bit like I'd imagine it to be if you were cycling on the motorway... bigger vessels all about at a much greater rate of knots than we were doing... and us putt-putting along. We headed back up towards Deveonport and the wake from the larger boats was churning up the surf. I discovered that my kayak rides the waves well... much to my delight!! Wheeeee!! Tommy was aching to have a fish but I wasn't so keen. I didn't yet have a paddle leash and the thought of trying to keep a hold of it and fish was not really very appealing... besides leaving it behind once in an outing was enough for me... and I was starting to have a lot of fun riding the waves! Tommy went back around the point to have a fish and left me to my own devices paddling out deeper then rollercoasting back in again.... Over .... and over. After an hour or so of that I was starting to wonder if it had been a good idea after all as my muscles were starting to complain. I was quite pleased to see Tom heading back.

As we got the kayaks out of the water and started changing out of our wet gear we couldn't wipe the cheesy grins off our dials. Tom was rabbiting on about all the little things he had learnt, where to put the gear while fishing, where to stow it coming back, blither blither... and me still buzzing from riding the surf... we had had a fantastic afternoon... it's the simple things in life that are the best!!

And after all that sun, salt, and surf.... we slept like logs!!

The fun never ends!!

So... after you've been out diving for the day what do you do in the evening... kick back and relax?? Hell no! Hafla!

On the Sunday I finished my dive course I raced home showered, changed, grabbed the cheese logs and crackers I'd prepared earlier and headed off to the Hafla that our dance teacher had organised. This was basically a get together of belly dancers from the various classes my teacher runs and we perform dances we've learnt in class as well as having a a general boogie. I love it because it's great to see the other dancers in their costumes and it's a great excuse to get into mine!!!
Tommy decided to get into the spirit and found himself some baggie pants, a stripey vest and skull-cap type hat... he looked quite the part. Another couple of friends came along too to see what it was all about. Christine looked the part... ethnic if not bellydancer but Chris piked out of wearing his big fake moustache, turban and Turkish flag. Still, there's always next time
There weren't as many people at this party but I still enjoyed myself immensely! It was also an opportunity to warm the dance blood up ready for the following weekend... I had been asked to dance at my Great-Uncle's 80th birthday!! Gak!!

Still, I had agreed to it and it was too late to bail out. Really there wasn't much chance of that, I enjoy it too much and since I've successfully completed the dive course I kinda feel a bit bullet proof... hell, if I can breathe under water a wee belly dance for 100 or so people would be a doddle!!

I had taken a look at the venue and figured out that with everyone seated I'd be able to dance up and down the aisle between the two rows of tables... great... plenty of room! My Aunty and Uncle had sorted out the logistics of my entrance and and getting the music sorted out ready to play... this was going to be a piece of cake!! Hmmm I spoke too soon!

When the door was opened for me to make my entrance I was confronted with the back of a wheelchair... no worries I negotiated my way around that ... when is the music starting... aha... there it is... ready set go!! I started dancing the choreography that I know like the back of my hand... I've done it so many times now I can just about do it blindfolded... thank God I didn't!! I turned to dance my way down the room and discovered a row of eager eyes peering up at me... Yipes! Before I'd arrived the children who were at the party had sensed (as children do) that something was about to happen and had crept up as close could to where they figured the action would be! This did not leave me with as much floor space as I had expected and already the choreography had gone out the window! Oh well... to hell with it!! I'll make it up as I go along!! So I wiggled and squiggled and jiggled my way through the music... above it I could hear Libby "Daddy... DADDY!!!! LOOOOOK!! Janene is bellydancing... BELLYDANCING!! Squeeeee!!"

It was hardly fair that only those up the front of the room were getting a good look at the show so I managed to jump over and through the kids so I could get a few turns up and down the hall! It was a very accomodating crowd and I only had to mime clapping above my head once to get them all clapping along... bless'em!! I have no idea what the performance looked like from the audience's point of view. People are often reluctant to give negative critcisms, it's alsways difficult to to tell if they are just being nice when they say they enjoyed it... oh well... I enjoyed myself and my Aunt and Uncle thanked me profusely.... All in all it was quite exhilerating!!

I may even do it again... one day...

Move over Jacques!

Sunday started early as I had to be at the Dive Centre by 6:30am to pack the gear ready for day two. Funnily enough there was no leaving committee today… can’t blame them really… I’d managed okay the day before and came back safe and sane enough!

We were tagging onto a charter trip so would be going a bit farther a field for our next two dives. We arrived at the wharf and as we were unpacking a lady came and introduced herself saying she was going out on the charter. I thought that it would be nice to have some female company aboard and got quite a surprise when 3 more women arrived with dive gear! With only one guy booked on the charter the guys were outnumbered – something that has only happened to my instructor on one other trip!! It gave me quite a lot of confidence to have so many other female divers aboard.

We had a smooth trip out to Sail Rock. We saw several boil-ups where the gannets were working schools of fish that were being worked from below by dolphins. Some of the dolphins accompanied us for a while until they couldn’t resist the easy pickings any longer! We started gearing up as we got closer to Sail Rock so that we could jump in as soon as we could. The others all took off in various directions as we jumped in to complete weight removal and BCD removal at the surface. The water seemed extra cold as we jumped in and my heart started racing… first we had to remove and replace our weight belt, my hands were frozen and I had problems hanging onto the 14 kilos of led in the belt. Eventually I got it back around me but had problems again getting it done up tight enough… then we had to Remove and replace our BCDs … remember the problems I had in the pool? Add to that the extra 2 kilos in my weight belt, colder water, waves and a current… I really thought I wasn’t going to make it … I starting feeling a bit panicky and taking in water which did not help! Eventually I got into it, I asked the instructor if we would have to do it again – “Yep” ... I felt my heart sink… crap…. By this stage I felt exhausted and frightened, but worse than that, my confidence had taken a knock and I was starting to feel quite worried about the dive… Still, I wasn’t giving up yet… I may have wanted to cry but I still wanted to master this. In a way it didn’t help that Sail Rock itself seemed so foreboding up close… a massive pillar of rock rising straight up from the deep, the water was dark, cold and murky when we first started to descend. The current sucked at your energy… it was hard work just staying in the same place… how the hell were we going to manage down below? We worked our way down the anchor line, Phil seemed to be having trouble equalising and we waited a couple of times as he got comfortable. I looked around as we descended but all I could see was the green murky water, I was suspended in soup… when we got down to twelve metres our instructor signalled for us to follow him and we headed off into nothingness. All of a sudden we came up to the rock, a sheer wall, even under the water. Wow… even though the visibility wasn’t great we saw loads of different sea life, it was fascinating to see these things alive right in front of you instead of in a book or on TV. This was for real, you could reach out and touch these (if you were game enough). At one point the instructor pointed out something that looked like bunches of many white, gelatinous fingers attached to some kelp and swaying in the current… he told us later these were octopus eggs. We stopped for a few minutes to show that we could clear our masks and then do fin pivots by manually inflating our BCDs (blowing them up between breaths). Once that was out of the way we spent the rest of our air swimming down the wall to around 18 metres and working our way along and up. Very cool! When we got back to the surface it was still a bit choppy and I was surprised at how tired I felt… and we still had to make it back to the boat which was above us in the current…. Crap! I got a bit of a tow from my instructor as we worked our way along the rock until we were opposite the boat then swam back across the current… Phew!! I found it strange to feel so tired… despite the thrashing about to get our BCDs on at the beginning I didn’t think it had been that strenuous. Phil pointed out it was probably because there had been a bit of current… I had forgotten about that, you don’t have the same sense of the water motion when you are under it. We were treated to some warm soup as the skipper prepared for the next leg of the trip and spotted some seals lounging about on the rocks.

The trip across to the Hen and Chicken Islands was spent listening to the other women talking about their dive experiences. One woman was preparing to get her Divemaster ticket and have just returned from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia having done a 6 day, live-aboard dive trip. Two of the others had spent time diving in Thailand… very interesting to listen to… and inspiring! Maybe next time we stopover in Malaysia… well…slow down … I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself…

Our next stop was at Hen Island and by this time I had discovered that the only skills we had to demonstrate this dive was mask removal and replacement and a hover (suspended in the water without swimming and using lung control to maintain position off the bottom). HALLELUJAH!!! No BCD removal!!! I had spent the 10 minutes prior to arriving doing my happy dance!! Woooo hoooo!!! I couldn’t wait to get in…. this time we descended without a visual guide… no anchor rope, no wall… just sinking through the blue-green… what a bizarre feeling, nothing above, nothing below… eventually I made out the bottom and we “landed”. We got straight into the class tasks and then we went exploring… this was more like it! What a buzz! It was a really interesting bottom with lots of huge boulders and crevices… it was like fairyland and I was floating through it…. I had to try it…. I pointed my head downwards and did a sommersault… wheeeeeee!!! Ha-ha! It was all I could do to not laugh!! The instructor came towards me… I think he was worried I’d had an embolism… I gave him big a double handed okay signal and felt as though the grin was going to split my face open…. He nodded and okayed back….. This is more like it!! This is what everyone has told me about!! Wheeeeeeee!!! We were having a really good look around, no current so the going was pretty easy. I made a note to keep checking my gauges and looking for my buddy. At one point I looked back and couldn’t see Phil… What!! He was there a second ago!! I turned back in the direction we had come from and spotted a massive flurry or bubbles coming up from behind a rock… when I got there I found him grappling with a crayfish… Ha!! Got him… good on ya mate! I looked around for our instructor who had also doubled back. I snorted to myself… no laughing remember! Way to go Phil! We started heading off again when I got a tug on my fins… it was Phil… and his crayfish! He was making sure I’d seen it before letting it go again so that there would be no doubt when we got to the surface – he was assuring he had a witness!! The rest of the dive was great. We found a big nest of crays nestled into a crack in the rock… there must have been at least a dozen of them in there! Mmmmm! I got in a couple more somersaults …Wheeeeeee…. just so I could tell Tommy I’d done it… and because it was a cool feeling to be so weightless! Wheeee! Ha-ha!

Back at the surface I was buzzing…. I’d done it! I’d passed! I felt as though I’d been through trials of fire and survived! What a rush! From now on diving would be just that… and, God willing… I’ll never have to do another emergency procedure again!! Awesome!! Bring it on!!

Jumping in the deep end....

The alarm went off at 6:30 on Saturday morning so I got out of bed, turned on the jug and fired some bread in the toaster. I’d packed everything the night before so was pretty organised and didn’t have to race about… I wanted to keep the stress level at a minimum! The most surprising thing was Tommy getting up at that time of the day to see me off… Aaaaaww! What a love!!

I got to the dive centre by 7:30 to meet the instructor. We loaded up the tanks and gear and we were off. We were meeting Phil at Leigh and Heather would be doing her open water dives in Rarotonga so there would be just the two of us which would keep things pretty relaxed. We were going out on the dive charter boat Divercity and had the whole boat to ourselves… again, this kept the stress levels low! We togged up as the boat motored out from the wharf. As we were only a small group we wouldn’t be going very far which was all the same to us…

Our first dive was an orientation and to make sure we were comfortable in the sea. Bracing!! The water temp was 15Degrees and for a moment I regretted not wearing gloves but it didn’t take long before the water in the wetsuits warmed up and it got a lot more comfortable. Down we went…. Just like in the pool…. But deeper! Our instructor took us for a swim around pointing out various features, creatures and crayfish! At one point we were going up over a rock and all of a sudden I started heading for the surface… oh crap… I tried releasing air from the BCD but it didn’t seem to be working… double crap! I could see the fins of the others heading off as I continued to rise … I reached around to bang on my tank to alert them but a combination of my short arms and nothing solid to hit against the tank made that useless… so I tried clapping my hands but their fins were disappearing and I had arrived at the surface… Bugger! I could see the bubbles of the others and considered going back down but we had been taught that if we lost a buddy we should look for a minute and then surface, hopefully to find your buddy there. I wasn’t sure how long it would be before they realised I was gone but figured it wouldn’t be long and that I should just stay put until they surfaced. After a minute or two they popped up, I got a lesson in how to dump air from the BCD using the emergency exhaust and then we went back down for some more exploration until air started getting low. Then it was back to the surface to practise some skills like swapping from snorkel to reg, tired diver tows, cramp removal etc before getting back on the boat. We swapped our tanks over to full ones and were treated to a cup of soup.

Dive two involved a lot more lesson work, the first of which was probably the worst, a controlled emergency swimming ascent (CESA) which involved heading to the bottom and once comfortable taking a deep breath then without inhaling again (and exhaling all the way) kicking like mad to get to the surface. I got about 2 feet from the surface when I ran out of air to breathe out so had to kick like mad to get to the top…. Damn! Suck at that air!! I was worried that my lack of bubbles at the end would mean the instructor would think I’d taken a breath and wouldn’t pass me…. Please don’t make me do that again!! PLEASE!! Anyway, he said that I’d done it okay and it was on to the rest of the skills… Alternate air source use, regulator recovery, compass use underwater and at the surface, mask clearing, and fin pivots. I enjoy the fin pivots and other buoyancy control exercises as there is no rush to complete them and you get time to slow yourself down and have a look around. It was while I was doing this I discovered that laughing underwater is not advisable… as I was lying there doing my fin pivots a wee cod swam right up to my mask and peered in… I watched him and he watched me for a minute then it was like he cocked his head and gave me a look as if to say “What the @#$%^%$ are YOU?” … I couldn’t help myself and snorted out a chuckle which quickly filled my nose with water and made me splutter and cough into my regulator. The resulting bubbles scared the fish off and I learnt another valuable lesson... laughing underwater is hazardous to your health! We got to have a good look around, more crayfish, loads of interesting, weird and wonderful stuff to look at!! Awesome!!

The trip back is all a bit of a blur, between the sea air and all the mental and physical exertion I was exhausted... and I had yet to relay it all to Tommy who would want to know all about it!! Poor boy has been concerned that this has been the worst birthday present ever... I'd better relieve him of that notion!!

Scuba rodeo... ride 'em!!

Tuesday was our last session in the pool so we covered off the skills that we had left to go over including removing all our scuba gear at the bottom of the pool and then putting it all back on again. Interesting exercise but we need to know this in case we ever get tangled in something... often the best solution is to remove it all in order to get loose again. This wasn’t too bad to achieve... not as hard as doing it at the surface!

On the surface you had to remove the unit without letting go... you still have weights on so letting go of the BCD and tank was not a good idea if you wanted to remain at the surface! No pressure (yeah right) but I was hanging onto that sucker with a death grip! You then had to let enough air out of the BCD so that you could manoeuvre it easily under the water and through your legs so that the jacket was behind you and you were sitting at the bottom of the tank, riding it so to speak. Then it was a simple matter of reaching back slipping your arms through the arm holes and sliding forward, off of the tank and ... voila... you’re in... hmmm... sounds simple doesn’t it?

Well I think I got a rogue tank! My first attempt I nearly got it, one arm through... yeah! ... then reach back with the other... whoooaa... whoa! Easy now... wooo-woooo-WHOOAA!! Splash!! DON'T LET GO!!! Kick-kick-splutter... hanging on with for dear life... Have another go. The second attempt the tank was onto me already and bucked me off in three seconds flat. By this time I was tired, cold and starting to cramp up from all that kicking to stay at the surface. I took a moment to rest and work the cramp out, the others in the class had completed this by then and were off out of the pool... Sheesh!! Okay... I have to do this... It’s the last task so I’m gonna do this if it kills me!! Well... not literally... Righto, the instructor checked the air in my BCD and let some more out. This of course made it a lot less buoyant and, as it turned out, a lot more compliant. Still I wasn’t going to muck about because I didn’t fancy being bucked off again!! Kick-kick-kick, wrangle that sucker... flip shove... Alright... I’m on! One arm... two arms, slide forward... lean back, velcro up, click the belly strap in, pull down the chest cords... I’m in!!! Yeeeehaw!! Another box ticked which of course meant I could get it off again and get out of the pool... Yes!

Thursday was the exam... I felt fairly confident about it. To pass you had to score 75% so we had to get 38 of the 50 questions right... no worries! Most of it was pretty much common sense and all throughout the course the instructor had continued to emphasis the important points both in and out of the water. I finished up with a score of 49 so was pretty chuffed with myself. I got a run-down from the instructor on what the plan was for the open water dives, what to bring, what time to meet and I was off!! Woohoo! Open water... here I come!!

Everythings gonna be alright

Well... after the trauma of Tuesday and the absolute terror I suppose it was understandable that I was somewhat nervous about my next dive lesson on Thursday evening. I tried my best to keep all distressed thoughts out and to not think about it. By about 3 in the afternoon however my stomach had started to churn. I got home, took some rescue remedy and concentrated on quelling the uprising trepidation.
The theory part of the lesson took a bit longer because we were going over dive profile and calculating times and pressure groups etc from the dive tables. Eventually though it was time to gear up. I downed another dose of rescue remedy, suited up and headed for the pool. We assembled the tanks, BCDs and regulators then got all that on and went throught the predive buddy check (BWRAF... BCD, Weights, Releases, Air, Final ok... OR... Bruce Willis Ruins All Films). Then in was time to enter the pool... Giant Stride ... splash!

A quick warm up around the pool snorkling... no signs of panic... good... thats good... Then practising various tired diver tows in case we ever need to assist getting a tired or incapacitated diver back to the boat or shore... no sweat... Then there was the cramp removal and assisting a buddy with cramp... again... No sweat!

Our instructor then explained we'd be going up and down to practice descents and ascents and also to do various activities on the bottom... okay... I can do this... remember to control my breathing.

The first thing to achieve was a fin pivot where we had to control our buoyancy with our breathe and BCD and prove we could remain neutrally buoyant. We did this using the auto fill on the BCD then again filling it ourselves by blowing into it... Once we did that it was off to swim around using these skills to keep us off the bottom... wow! this is cool! I feel so light and no resistance when I swim... look at me I'm doing this.... breathe in, go up, breathe out, go down... yippee!! We got the signal to head back to the top... Shit hot... that was easy! What's next?

Next we were practising using an alternate air source, something we had already tried, but this time we had to show we could swim with a buddy whilst doing this. To make the exercise more real our instructor was going to turn our air off... Excuse me? turn the air - the stuff I need to survive - OFF?? Oh crap! Okay, lets get this over with! It all went pretty well. My air was turned off, I signalled "Out of air" to my buddy then got hold of the alternate and went to put it in my mouth... that's when the instructor intervened and ripped it out off my hands!! Hey Fecker!! Give it back! I need that ... I need air... ohshit I need to breathe!! GIVE IT... oh... whoops I had it up the wrong way! He let me have it back and I plugged in as quick as I could ffffffffffffffffft.... aaaaaaaaaaah...... fffffffffft.... AMEN! So I came close to having a panic but got through it in the end.... I'm on a roll! Bring it on!

The next exercise was a bit more daunting. Whilst, apparently, it is unusual to have a gear failure we had to learn how to breathe from a free flowing regulator. This meant holding the mouthpiece at the corner of your mouth whilst holding the "purge" on (to simmulate the freeflow) and "sipping at bubbles" we were told, as if that was the most natural thing in the world to be doing. Alright for the instructor... he's done it a zillion times! Oh well we need to get all the boxes ticked to become certified and I figured I'd been through too much to let something as "simple" as sipping from random bubbles for 30 seconds on the bottom of the dive pool stop me! You'll be surprised how fast 30 seconds passes the instructor said... Yeah right! We were to practise on the platform until we felt comfortable. I put my head under, assumed the position and... sipped.... fff..fft... Woohooo! I got some! Not much but some! Try again... sippy, sip-sip... exhale... sippysip, gurgle splutter cough cough cough!! Oh crap! Try again... Sip, sip, aaaaah.... sipsippy.... aaah, sipsplutter... Doh! How the hell am I going to get through this? It was about then that I realised I wasn't holding the purge down hard enough so I wasn't getting full free flow. Lets, give this another shot... Sipwoooooosh... Wow!! The air practically blasts into your cheek and you just have to be careful not to breathe any water with it. After a few successful practise runs and everyone comfortable (or in my case just wanting to get this over with). We went back down to the bottom and one by one went through the drill while the instructor timed us. As I watched the others I was amazed at how long they were able to take exhaling and it seemed they they only had to take a couple of goes at sippysipping! I had figured I had a smaller lung capacity but could there be that much difference? Oh well... no point dwelling on that now because it's my turn now.... mouthpiece out... exhale, aaaaaaaaahhhh! Okay, sippysip, sip, sip... aaaaaaahhh.... sippysip... aaaaah.... sipsipsip, aah oh man... how much longer? sipsipspluttersip... the instructor signalled 3-2-1. Plug in... ffffffffffffft... AAAAAAHHH! I did it!! The instructor gave me the OK. Yeah!! If I can do that I can do anything! Yay Me!! Back up to topside.

The last thing we had to do in the pool that night was practise an emergency ascent... in case you air runs out and your buddy isn't close by (bad buddy!). All these emergency procedures must make you wonder (as I did) why anyone would ever take up such a dangerous pastime, one that required so much emergency training... well, according to the instructor you very rarely need to use any of these skills, but you need to know them just in case you are unlucky enough to get into a sticky situation. Better you should know how to deal with it than panic and drown... I have to say I would tend to agree... having no air in your tank is no time to decide to take a dive course!! So, to practise the emergencey ascent we had to swim without inhaling across the pool... well two thirds of the way... in comparison to the others this was a breeze! No problemo!! Hot diggety-dog!


I was soooo proud of myself at he end of the night! I could barely contain the relief at not having to deal with "The Terror" again! The sense of achievement was enormous, I had broken through the barrier and I was sooooo glad I had given it another shot!! As I was leaving my instructor said "You were doing well with your descents this weekend, you seemed alot more relaxed". I told him how close I had come to not returning but that I was glad I had and he gave me a hug... I bet you he knew that all along.

Forever blowing bubbles...

If I'd known just how hard doing a dive course would be I would never have started!! Here was me thinking "How bad can it be? Sure I'll be underwater but they teach you to breathe! All the floating about... It'll be great!".

Oh dear, how wrong was I?

Tonight was our second night in the pool... and I was still terrified! I had so underestimated the power of our inbuilt survival mechanism.... Instinct.

I had thought I was really relaxed tonight when we were setting up our gear and getting ready to get in the pool. In fact I was quite looking forward to it, after all what were the chances I'd have again have so many unexpected things happen that seemed so frightening my first time in the pool? And anyway I now knew what it felt like to be breathing below the surface... it was no longer completely new and so the fear of the unknown would be gone.

We'd talked through all the theory, discussed the homework and completed the test for the session. Even getting the wetsuit on did not seem to be such a struggle tonight... this was going to be a piece of cake! We assembled all the gear and practised the buddy pre-dive check then learnt to back roll over the edge of the pool... my entry was a bit inelegant but otherwise it was all good. We snorkled around the pool to warm up... That's when it began... About half way around the pool... I don't know if it's the water over my ears, having the mask on, or the "darth vader" sound effects breathing through a snorkle or regulator, or maybe I was still subconciously scared shitless... but the terror started creeping in. Whatever it was that triggered it, it started very quietly and insidiously - undermining my newfound confidence at an alarming rate... and I was not even doing something I considered "scary".

There was no logic to it, we were in a controlled environment with a trained instructor supervising our every move... even if something did go wrong it could hardly go dangerously wrong!! I think my fear was compounded by the fact I just hadn’t expected to be so scared again... I was scared that I was scared!! Jeez – how illogical is that? What a wuss!!

Anyways... I'd worked myself into such a state that when it was my turn to remove my mask for a minute under water I shook my head and gave the "trouble" signal. The next person took their turn while I contemplated standing up and just getting out, never to return... yeah... I could do that... and then the instructor came back and signalled to me that it was my turn... Feck... I figured I didn't want to make a scene so ripped my mask off and fought down the waves of panic. One minute under with your eyes closed (because of my contacts lenses) is a looooonnnnng time!! I got the tap on my arm that signalled I could put my mask back on and then we all surfaced... Crap... How could I run away after getting through that... I’ll wait until I get home then tell Tom I can’t do this anymore and then never go back!! Yeah... that's a better plan! Then I'll not have to deal with disappointing the class and the instructor, I'd never have to face them again... yeah... that's what I'll do... assuming I survive this lesson that is

The rest of the night was a roller coaster of dread with each new manouvre we were told to try, panic when it was my turn to execute the move and elation when I got through it to find I'd survived one more ordeal.

By the end of the night we were in the bottom of the pool and I was trying to use the time to get myself more relaxed... I was finally able to stop swimming in circles like a demented goldfish and I sat at the bottom for a bit looking up at the surface watching the bubbles. It's quite an amazing thing to be looking at the surface of the water from underneath... very different from the view topside. The colours and the light give it all quite a magical quality. I suddenly realised that my jaw was no longer clenched down on the regulator mouthpiece and was surprised by a quiet wee thought that popped into my head "Hmmmm... Yeah... I can see there’s a certain attraction in this".


...That’s when I knew I would be going back for the next lesson.





(...Still cried like a baby when I got home though. Excitement, terror, elation, tension, relief... After such an emotional roller coaster I think I was entitled to releasing my stress valve!!)

Turtles breathe through their butts....

... one of the infinate wee pieces of information you get glean from the emails that circulate... a fascinating peice of information don't you think?

So.... how was my first foray underwater for my dive course?

Oh Lordy... it was a bit... scratch that... it was exceptionally traumatic!!

First there was trying to get into the wetsuit... Cripes, that was a workout in itself. The only other female on the course slipped into hers like an eel in comparison to my pushing and prodding... a crow bar would have come in handy!! My... ummm... wide... legs meant the suit I had was a large... you wouldn’t know it but apparently if you wear a large you must be 15 ft tall... not 5ft4!! Gak!! Okay, so I exaggerate a little but you try moving about in a suit that is at least a foot too long in the legs!! When I got to the pool our instructor looked at me critically and said... "hmmm it seems to fit okay in some places... but others....?"
I thought he was referring to the crotch being halfway to my knees but he was more concerned about my "Bulky ankles"... like I said there was a lot more suit than I had legs!

It was the first time in the pool with all the gear on. They have a platform on the side where you practice stuff like clearing your mask and using each others regulators etc before we go deep. First our instructor had to put loads and loads of extra weights in me because every time I tried to kneel on the bottom I popped back up to the top like a cork. Then while the other 2 on the course were practising something I fell over of my knees and over onto my back... oh god... it was all like......

shit I’ve fallen over, under the water I can see the surface, aaarrrggghhh, I can’t get up, ok, ok don’t panic you can still breathe remember <> aaarrgghhh... I still can’t get up... aaargh!! Panic panic... NOOO! DON'T PANIC!! BREATHE!!!... what do I do?... ok... keep breathing... that's a good start! Someone will have to help me up... Breathe... breathe... Breathe... oh now the instructor is signalling to see if I’m okay... what’s the signal for "help me"?? Oh shit I cant remember... I can’t remember... and they sure as hell haven’t taught me the signal for... "Oh god I’m stuck on my back like some sort of deformed weeble-who-wobbled-and-DID-fall-down and I’m fucking terrified!!!"

I can laugh about it now but in the moment I was nearly shitting myself (except that the wetsuit was not mine so I had to restrain my bodily functions in that regard). After practising on the platform for about and hour and a half we went out into the middle to descend to the bottom. I was still feeling a bit shaky from the turtle incident (and it doesn’t help to hear turtles breathe out their butt... because I only LOOKED like a stranded turtle!! Butt breathing was NOT an option for me). I went down about 2 feet and AAAAAH!!! Wicked vicious cramp in my calf muscle... owie owie owow!! Managed to remember to signal I was going back up again... so felt as though I had progressed a little since my previous... er... misfortune accident. The instructor massaged (read "squeezed the livin’ shit out of") my leg then said "Right now? Okay lets go... if it happens again on the bottom point to your leg and I’ll massage it again"... HUH???... WHAT!!! You mean I have to stay underwater while I’m in major pain? Waaah I want my mummy!!

Once I’d been down for a minute or two (without the cramp returning) I started to relax a bit... (mental note... the regulator stays in your mouth without you having to bite down on it like a pitbull with lockjaw) ... okay... breathe... floaty... breathe... maybe this wouldn’t be so bad... floaty-float float...breathe... Ha!! I think I'm getting the hang of this... hang on... oh no!... Oh crap what’s that?... My flipper has fallen off! Here we go again!! Okay breathe, relax... there’s no way I’m going to get that back on underwater with all this gear on... not without doing the turtle thing and lying on the bottom... and how much fun will that be? Okay, for now lets just try and recover it and worry about getting it back on later... Kick (the remaining flipper)... zoom in a circle... Kick... zoom in a circle... Kick... (you get the idea...)
The instructor was busy watching the chap in our class practice clearing his mask... in the finish the other girl in my class saw my predicament and helped me out…. So I gave her a big doubled handed "OK" signal because thankyou is not in the sign vocabulary.

After that I managed to get through the further practice runs of "losing" the regulator and retrieving it as well as filling and clearing my mask without losing my shit yet again... So I guess some of the lesson had stuck to my brain! But I have to admit I was really quite relieved when we got the signal to ascend... If I say so myself I think I managed to ascend really well... but in hindsight I probably just didn't want to have to do a repeat perfomance if I mucked it up... I guess I was ready to get the hell out of there!!

I am hoping like hell that this is not someone telling me "Diving is not for you" and at this stage am putting it down to being so nervous. Hell, there is so much to remember... a bit like when you learn to drive... you have to know where everything is, how it works, when to use it, the signals and protocols, the check of gauges, watch the mirrors, watch out for others, look in the mirrors, not bunnyhop and look like a dick (Heh!)... except when you learn to drive a car you do not rely on tank with a hose attached to provide you with the vitals of life!!

Anyhow, I am pretty confident that it can only get better... And have my fingers crossed that all the scary things have already happened (bad things only happen in 3's - don't they?)... from here on it’ll be a piece of cake, a doddle, easy peasy... PLEASE GOD!!!

Goggles

Having a pretty crappy time of it lately.... but this always makes me smile!