Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth inspired hath in every holt and heeth tendre croppes (Geoffrey Chaucer)

November last year: the last time I used my cross trainer. 

Sadly since then it's been undergoing repairs in Napier.

But on Monday I was given a loaner while the struggle to repair the beast continued - something about resistance motors, magnets, and servos (I think). As you know I'm not the most mechanically minded male so my eyes tend to glaze over quickly when people try explaining this stuff to me. My brain just doesn't work that way.

The fixer (lovely guy, Vern) is very helpful but he's been crook so I've had to be patient. Luckily, the Tongariro Crossing adventure and work around Red Phoenix Farm and now Rochdene has meant I'm still pretty active.

But getting the loaner meant I was finally able to get back into a (semi) regular exercise regime. I aim for two days a week and one session on the weekend.

It was a good feeling - there's nothing like the sense of achievement of successfully negotiating an exercise programme, but I definitely miss my regular cross trainer (the one we brought back from Al Ain). 

I managed 30 minutes and didn't raise a sweat so I must be at a reasonable fitness level. Not quite ready for the sweat bands, weights onto my wrists or headbands yet though - give it a month or two!

Love and peace - Wozza

P.S. Please note well the new layout to celebrate spring! Hope you like all those earth tones and green shoots!

It gets deeper, let me say, and it gets higher, day by day (Ike and Tina Turner)

Being away on Year 12 camp is one of the year's highlights, what with all that back to nature stuff, testing oneself against the elements stuff, and seeing how people react to adversity stuff going on.

Okay, so here we go:

New Principal Julie meets Purdzilla

It was cold!!

Wozza climbs the mountain high

My students show their love and respect!

Wozza takes one for the team.

Woodford House Year 12 + fans

Love and peace - Wozza

I'm trampin trampin, try'n-a make heaven my home... (Patti Smith)

Bin a big week this week. Big week. Bigger than big for a secret achieving mountain man. Yep - me (stop sniggering at the back).

Wassup? Been smashed by a snowball fight club while trampin' to hell and back and puttin' my body on the line; been wrestling with my skiing demons, going beyond human pain thresholds, laughing in the face of death, been forging a path over a volcano and eating food prepared by students.

The things I do.



Looks innocent enough right?

Twas Year 12 camp: a day spent crossing over the ACTIVE Tongariro volcano (don't call it a..shhhh..mountain - Ms Woods will have your guts!);  and a day dodging snowballs on the ski slopes of another ACTIVE volcano (Ruapehu) on the desolate central plateau of Nu Zild in a place cunningly called - Happy Valley. Ha!

Not for nothing did the area provide the scenes for the most sinister of the Lord of the Rings locations, Mordor, the strong hold of the dark Lord Sauron.  

Impressed? You should be. It was hell I tell you. Hell.

Oh sure - the photos reveal the surface 'fun' but look harder at these faces and you'll see the pain below the surface.

Poor wee mites. Bless. They never knew what hit 'em.

As the trampin' continued the girls were herded into small groups and given a teacher and an alpine guide to traverse the volcano. Here's my lot. I took the picture shortly before Amy charged at me with the ice axe. You've read/seen Lord Of The Flies? A walk in the park compared to these girls!

Although the weather wasn't flash the views of the blue lake were spooky like.

 

The journey down the volcano was tough. Tougher than tough, but eventually we staggered down the track to get a lift back to our base camp.

 

 

 

Day three saw us conquering said slopes of Ruapehu but I was too busy dodging snowballs to take any snaps, sorry 'bout that. Let me reassure you, though, that a ripper time was had by all.

 

 

Love and peace - Mountain Man