Let the training begin ...

As you may have noticed, I've a got a few things planned for New Zealand next year; not least a 10 day trek down the west coast of New Zealand's south island. I found it on the RealGap website, but then realised that I'm too old ... My Thailand trip is booked via Gap Year for Grownups so I looked for a similar trip there - only for old people like myself ... But no. The grownup version looks great, but it looks a bit too "molly coddled" for my taste, is also twice as expensive as the young person version and the dates don't work.

So I did a bit more research and found the exact same trek (young person's version) being offered by a NZ company who didn't have an age limit. Hurray - maybe I could do it after all!? Before I made my booking I spotted the "health and fitness" link on their website...

What makes the trip great is that it will be proper camping, away from middle aged Japanese tourists, fantastic hiking, fantastic off the main track surroundings etc. However, what has made me reconsider a moment is that fact that the trip involves 3 multi-day hikes which means we'll be carrying everything - tents, food and our own gear. The estimate is a pack weight of 12kg and the longest hiking is 7 hours ... Hmmmmmmm Am I fit enough?

So, I've filled my rucksack with towels and pillows wrapped around my dumbells and I've embarked upon a wee training regime. 3.5km this morning, the rucksack was 14 kg and it took me c. 45mins. Not great, but for a weedy bird I didn't think it was too bad - room to improve but not disastrous! Incidentally, I know how heavy the rucksack is because I bought some weighing scales yesterday for the purpose of checking the pack weight. However, one unpleasant side effect of purchasing scales was seeing my own weight! Oh dear ... Of course, having to buy bigger clothes should have been a bit of a give away, but seeing the reality of it, glowing in all its hideous LCD glory was a bit depressing.

Using the old "calories in, calories out" calculation: I haven't started eating or drinking any more than I used to, and I can't stop taking some medication I'm on (which I think may be contributing somewhat), therefore the only side of the equation that I can do something about is the calories out bit. Fingers crossed it'll work ... I really don't like the insides of my thighs rubbing together and the emergency walking lunges didn't really have much of an effect, so I reckon I'm going to have to be focussed and hopefully reap the benefits all round and am going to give it a couple of weeks before I decide to book the walk or not ...

New Zealand Ideas

14 days exploring North Island.

To include:

Auckland

Caves and glow worms

Gloopy mud stuff & hot springs

Tandem sky dive over Lake Taupo

New Zealand Festival in Wellington

Wine tasting in Hawkes Bay

Couple of days hiking

Chilling on a beach

10 days treking down the West Coast of South Island

Day 1 Nelson / Flora Saddle /Kahurangi National Park – 11km/4 hours hiking Overnighting in an old goldminers’ rock shelter.
Day 2 Wednesday sinkholes and caves /Gordon’s Pyramid / Mount Arthur Buller Gorge – 15km/7 hours hiking
Day 3 Cape Foulwind / New Zealand fur seals / Charleston / hike up a limestone river canyon in Paparoa National Park. During our hike we learn river-crossing techniques, collect firewood along the way and set up camp under the massive Ballroom Overhang. – 12km/6 hours hiking
Day 4 Limestone canyon and caves / Punakaiki (Pancake Rocks)/ Hokitika Ross – 8km/5 hours hiking
Day 5 Franz Josef Glacier /Okarito – 10km/4 hours hiking
Day 6 Okarito – 10km/4 hours kayaking, evening meal cooked in a hangi, an underground Maori earth oven.
Day 7 Copland Valley - Welcome Flat – 18km/7 hours hiking across swing-bridges and mountain streams ending up with a soak in the natural hot pools with vies of 3000m peaks.
Day 8 Welcome Flat – either 8km/4 hours hiking or REST
Day 9 Moeraki – 18km/6 hours hiking
Day 10 Ship Creek / Lake Hawea / ending in Queenstown – 3km/2 hours hiking

Is this the right Daemon for me?

Very brief update

You know, sometimes there's so much going on, there's too much to tell. So here's a list of the past and the future:

• The house is sold
• I've handed in my notice at work
• I finish work on 7th December - have a good leaving do in the planning
• I then pack, put things into storage and terminate the tenancy on the house
• 17th January: fly to Thailand
• 16th February: fly to New Zealand
• blah March: fly to Australia
• blah April: fly back to UK

More details to follow when I've worked them out - which I'm really looking forward to. For those who know me, the "planning" is almost as exciting as the "doing"! However, I think this one is going to far outshine anything I've ever done before.