The boards

The boards - i've mainly been using the one on the right... which isn't mine.

The blue swallow, the 6'2 thruster, and the 7'0 fun board which belongs to Hamish, and the 6'1 slacker posing in front.

<-- A better picture of the boards without someone blocking the view.

Post-work

So last week finished on Wednesday for me. Three months (just about) of work have gone by really quickly. Conclusions? I want to do more - eventually. It's a privilege to practice medicine anywhere in the world. Working as a house surgeon, or first year doctor, is not challenging anymore. Time for some focused direction, as ever.

Anyway, so having successfully negotiated my yearly 3 month work stint - could this be the start of something? -, I have been using my new resources to full extent.

I slept most of Thursday, because I could. Between a couple of parties, I nipped for a run on the saturday morning with the Marathon Clinic of Pukekura Park. After a few weeks out for work and cold reasons, I was a little surprised when, to the question "how long is this one going to be?", the answer I got was:

- 35 kilometers or roughly 3 and a half hours. This is the big one.

- gulp -

Well I ran it - 33km in 3h15 - for better or for worse. The next day my right foot woke up feeling a little sore. Trying my best to put my underworked medical mind under wraps, I've been resting it and taking ibuprofen. I figure it's likely plantar fasciitis which is inflammation of the soft tissues of the sole of the foot. Apparently it's one of the 'Big 5' common running injuries, but it's really just a pain in the .. foot. Xav has apparently done about the same but no news of any limping.

Nevermind, though, because I've been compensating my self-enforced break from running with an added verve for surfing. This verve was in part, inspired by a movie called 'Bustin down the door' about how a bunch of talented aussie and south african surfers - who are know legends - tried to the local surf scene on the North Shore of Hawaii. Apparently it's also a book, and I recommend getting your hands on either or both.

Shaun Tomson

Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew

So yesterday, Idris and I, both free for the day, went down the coast of the peninsula to find the break which most suited the weather conditions. We were in search of the best waves. Although we took about an hour to settle on a spot, a place called Kumara Patch provided some of the best surf I've been lucky enough to experience.

Kumaras and Kumara Patch - not my pics.

This surf break is not as easily accessible as most. It takes a 30 minute drive to arrive at the end of a small dirt road by the sea. At which point, one puts on a wetsuit, picks up one's board and anything else one may not want to walk 30 minutes back for. That's because, it's a bit of a trot along the beach - about a mile - to the actual break. In fact, from the 'car park', one can barely see how the waves are breaking, so the trek is always a gamble of sorts. On this occasion, luck was very much on our side as the 'patch' gave us some wonderful peeling waves. At one point the wind was so still the waves were glassy without a single ripple, as they broke left around the point. Primo.

Glassy wave - sort of like that, but not quite.

After 4 hours of paddling and actually catching the odd ride - I think I may be improving -, my body was spent... but my mind was up for another session at Back beach to catch up with my housemates who'd been sur...- err -working all day.

Still riding a surf high, I even got up at 6 am the next day for another session. After that however, I properly crashed out for a few hours on one of the 'sofas' in the lounge which is just a glorified mattress laid out on the floor.

Actually back to work this week as I have two more locum ED shifts. I'll then be truly unemployed and 'free'...

Other things I've done of late, in no particular order of interest or importance:

- watched a game of Twenty20 cricket at Pukekura park, the home side unfortunately lost.

- renewed the vehicle registration for Simon.

- bought some wetsuit glue to repair a few wholes.

- spoke to a surfboard shaper of my designs for shaping a board, he tried his best to put me off.

- played mixed beach netball, what a silly game, you can't touch anybody!

- played mixed touch rugby, what an awesome game, you can touch anybody!

- dressed up as a ninja for a fancy dress party.

- took the Blue Swallow to the surfboard shaper, to get a few dinks fixed.

Sweet as, bros...

Terror in Taradise

So it's now raining in Taranaki - maybe a slight jinx from the last post. Surf is still up and down every couple of days. I haven't done much running as I've been malingering with this head cold. The main bit of news around these parts, however, has been the return of a local celebrity.

I was first told about her when I first arrived. This was immediately preceeding my first surf session in New Plymouth and I immediately dismissed it as a joke. A few months later - i have been here about 10 weeks now - the story has been lent a little further credance.

This week, locals fishing off a sea kayak in the Port of New Plymouth spotted a Great White shark. A great white, in Taranaki. Estimated at a mere 6 metres, it was assuredly spotted by the locals and the news has spread like wildfire. So this is the return of the Great White Shark, dubbed the 'Taranaki Terror' by the Taranaki Daily News.

a Great White Shark (below), not THE Taranaki Terror

First spotted a few years ago, when it harassed people fishing in a dingy, this sea monster has remained elusive despite attempts made by local shark enthusiasts - marine biologists - to find and meet this creature by air, sea, or 'cleverly' dropping bits of bait in the water. While no photographic record of Double T seems to exist, it has returned each year to pray on the local seal colony at the Sugarloaf Islands near the Port of Taranaki.

The Sugar Loaf Islands - you can climb to the top of the tallest one and look around for miles of sea, beaches, the sun setting to the west... and the local powerplant, the port with it's thousands of containers.

The local media have obviously lept onto it, to change from the local routine of domestic violence stories, alcoholic excesses and juvenile delinquence - albeit by a 10 year old who took his mother's car for a 100km joy ride. It certainly has added a little spice to Taradise - Paradise with a T instead of a P so it sounds like ... I didn't make this up.

Box Jellyfish, Saltwater Crocodiles and Great White sharks all add a little adventure to the beaches of Australia, plus they also have snakes and spiders...

So it's not only Australia - with it's Great Whites, Box Jellyfish, and Saltwater Crocodiles - that has the monopoly on lethal sea creatures. The Taranaki Terror appears to be so in name only, however, and the last documented shark attack around the peninsula dates back to the 1960's. Sadly, in other news this week, a search is still ongoing for a fisherman who's boat was found drifting in the Port of Taranaki last week.

The newspapers haven't linked the two together but... this isn't Jaws , and there isn't going to be a big hunt as Great White sharks are a protected species. Here's hoping they find the guy alive and the shark goes away.

I'm still going surfing... and running - a little safer perhaps?

Cold, is it?

Apparently in Europe, it's pretty cold at the moment. - sniff -

Snow in London, Cornwall, Geneva, Paris...

Over here, the weather has been pretty amazing. Clear skies, warm evenings. Rain does fall at times, but just a little. Enough to keep the countryside a nice shade of green. Shorts, T-shirt and Jandals are the main uniform. If you're wondering what Jandals are, well... They are JA-panese sa-NDALS. Also known as Thongs in Oz, Tongues to French-speakers and Flipflops to most Brits. - sniff - Kiwis seem to have a knack for renaming all sorts of things in their own vernacular style. You may not recognise the expressions but you find the pictures familiar...

Chilly bin

Jandals

Handles

Capsicum

Stubbies - the short shorts - more people wear these than you would imagine.

Other colloquial expressions include:

'Good on ya' - exclamation - good for you, well done, great, super...

'Choice', 'Primo' - adjectives - great, super, perfect...

and the proverbial ...

'Sweet As' ... (insert nothing) ... - a ubiquitously-used unfinised similee which pretty much suits all weathers...

After an epic weekend on-call last week, while it was freezing cold in Europe, and wonderfully temperate here, I caught a cold. - sniff - So, as I was laid down by this heavy cold front, the swell picked up and Olly was dragged me out for surf at a spot called Graveyards. Managed to catch a choice wave. The biggest I'd ever caught, easily twice as tall as me, barrelling, etc... well that's how it felt. Actually it felt... sweet as... Didn't catch much after that, and my cold felt quite a lot worse the next day. The sacrifices we make for a primo wave. Good on ya i hear you think.

I went to work til the end of the week, severely handicapped by this cold. - sniff - On saturday, I removed myself from my bed and dressed up as a robber to hit the biggest house party of the year so far at Mill Road. It was a fancy dress party, in case your wondering. Primo.

The casual burglar, the smurfette - who also repainted the house blue -, and the 'ironic' geeky doctor

Sunday was spent - recovering - playing softball and reading a good little book called A Country Doctor's Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov. A gripping account of the experiences of young doctors practicing in remote hospitals in the Russian countryside around the time of the Russian Revolution. Not exactly topical but quite riveting nonetheless.

Monday and Tuesday I've had off, and tomorrow, I get to start three ED (Emergency Room) shifts - 4pm til 2am - as they needed someone to fill in. Should be exciting, as it's been about 2 years since I last worked in Emergency Medicine. - sniff - Plus, it'll be over Waitangi Day, the commemoration of the Treaty of Waitangi, when most people get mashed and then smashed, then go to ED with their mates to get stitched up. Sweet as.

- sniff, sniff - Where's that hankerchief gone ...