Regardless, I do enjoy a great non stick pan because I'm coming to realize I really enjoy cooking. I really like eating too - what are the odds? I've found it immensely satisfying to buy groceries on a budget and make some sweet meals. The staple of my culinary masterpieces... meat. Lots and lots of meat. The other night I made a soup dish and had more cheese sausage left than the soup. And I already had at least one piece in every bite. So satisfying.
On to things you may (or still may not) care about. I had a sweet day today. Went on my first proper hike, ended up being around 18kms (whatever that is...). My flatmate took his car so I got up, made a meaty-egg skillet in that nice pan and took off to the races. My aim was to start at Bethell Beach and follow the West Coast by the Tasman sea North. Bethell beach was fantastic - the West Coast is notoriously wild in terms of landscape. The wind was blowing in 10 foot swells too.
I was looking at a makeshift map I made from what I saw online and a couple walked up and struck up a conversation. Probably because I looked so foreign... :) They knew the area well, and owned a bach (pronounced Batch) which is a small weekend house that happened to be just up the way. So we journeyed off with their dog in tow to their favorite spot. We had to cross the tide in one spot and I had no choice but to soak my denim britches to the knees. Couldn't have cared less, we were exploring.
They led me to a spot where I could pick up the trail I told them about and offered to have me over for tea later if I was back over that way - quite a kind couple. I followed the trail and climbed to the ridge of the coastline and followed the Te Henga trail for 10km or so. It was beautiful, and nary a visitor were to be seen for a few long stretches of it. You do need to be careful of the sun though, the bugger. Apparently there's a huge percentage of Kiwi's that battle melanoma. There's also a huge hole in the ozone layer above Australia and New Zealand. You can be burned in minutes if you aren't careful. Sheep owners in Australia are actually taxed because the flatulations of their flock don't help the process either. So nows my chance to burn a silhouette of Michigan into my chest with carefully applied sunblock....
My plan was to connect the Te Henga (or Hillary Trail - For Sir Edmund Hillary, the first gentleman to climb Everest - who happens to be a Kiwi and also the face of their 5 dollar bill) with the Mokoroa Stream Track which was inland and ended at some pretty sweet falls. The trek up the stream was great, more natural than the other trails and much less traveled. Probably because it crossed the stream about 7 times. But my jeans were already soaked so who cares? On and off came the shoes...
I talked to another lovely older couple exploring the falls, which is also just a short walk from the carpark. And through sharing what we did for work I found out they were Christians too, pretty cool. Everyone is an opportunity to share. She's the one who took this picture. And through sharing what we did for work I found out they were Christians too, pretty cool. Either her or I can cover some sweet ground in the time it takes the 10 second self timer to go off... Timers are funny things. They make you put your camera in stupid places, propped up on one end by a pebble because the post you've selected for your "singlepod" isn't quite level... don't act like you haven't done it... There was also a younger couple who carried their 7-or-so month old daughter down to the water to splash her bare feet in the water while they held both her hands. Made me miss my niece Addie not a little bit :) Turned out to be a great day. Thanks for your prayers.
** No non-stick anythings were hurt in the writing of this post. Fence-posts were promoted to master-photographers though. Not ashamed.
Trust Jesus
JPS
No comments:
Post a Comment