New Zealand Garden Diary: Rampant Rampicante Squash
The cucumbers planted nearby are still tiny, but the rampicante squash is rambling all over. Tastes pretty good (like a courgette/zucchini) when young, but I’m looking to store the big one.
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Living in New Zealand: Wild Swimming Safely Is Hard When There Are Idiots on Jet Skis
In the summer I usually swim loads in Lyttelton Harbour. But it has been an odd summer with too many cool, windy days and the Lyttelton Port Company have been dredging the inner harbour through January and February, our prime swimming months. Plus I have been exceptionally busy in the garden sorting out my new studio. A lot of excuses! But I did swim a lot when I was on Quail Island as volunteer DOC warden. And it reminded me just how much I loathe jet-skis.
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Jet-skis are an abomination and I wish they were only ever used by trained lifeguards (not by bevvied-up blokes and their 10 year old kids, neither of whom know the regulations.)
The speed limit near swimmers is 5 knots, but many boaties and jetskiers ignore this in New Zealand
Whenever I'm swimming I and I see jet-skis I think about poor Kirsty MacColl and I have terrible, murderous thoughts.
At least (for now) you can find places without jetskiers.
Cormorant at Quail Island
Living in New Zealand: Cruising Around the Harbour Seeing Hectors Dolphins and a Lot of Coal
Really enjoyed seeing Whakaraupo/Lyttelton Harbour from another perspective.
Hectors dolphins in Whakaraupo. Click to see options for using the image
New Zealand's dirty little secret: coal. Shipped via Lyttelton.
Arctic Circle Cartoon - Airfix Kits and Plastic in the Fossil Record
When I was a kid, Airfix branched out from their core business of plastic model kits to make airplanes to a variety of things to appeal to children. I made a T Rex. I thought I might have misremembered this, but a quick search shows you can still buy the kit I used (though Airfix have gone back to their core business).
I have a horrible feeling that the Tyrannosaurus rex I made is now in landfill. Like most of them.
