Living in New Zealand: Level 3 Trip to Quail Island to Gather Walnuts (Fail)

Level 3 of lookdown in New Zealand means that we are still not allowed to travel too far, even within NZ (though I am buoyed by the news that we may soon be in a trans-Tasman bubble with Australia). But we are now allowed out on the water, as long as we aren't in a powered craft.

Suits me.

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The autumn often means calm conditions in Lyttelton harbour, with very little wind and flat water. It has been very difficult to resist going out in Level 4, as the Harbour looked like a millpond then.

Conditions in Level 3 have been pretty good too. It was amazing to be on my paddle board last week with no jetskis or boats with outboard motors around me. The birdlife must be loving lockdown and there were noticeably more shore birds around the popular beaches of Quail Island/Otamahua.

Lepers Beach, Quail Island, Lyttelton Harbour, New Zealand

But there weren’t any walnuts.

Scrumped apples and walnuts

I brought back a big bag of apples and they cooked up beautifully. Stewed apple (with a couple of added feijoas) Is one of my favourite comfort foods.

And it's probably better for me than chocolate.

New Zealand Garden Diary: Feijoa Season is Here

I planted Fiona the feijoa back in 2018 and she is doing great, despite very little rain.

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Living in New Zealand: (Self) Preservation - Kefir and Poached Pears

I’ve been self-medicating my anxiety during lockdown by eating a lot of chocolate and drinking too much wine. At the end of four weeks, I started to get my act together and now only have a lot of chocolate and wine at the weekend.

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I’ve been using the extra time in lockdown to preserve our home grown produce (fermenting rhubarb kombucha, poaching pears and drying chillies). But I won’t be adding kefir to my fermentation roster, no matter how good it is for me.

Poached pears preserve perfectly

Until I wrote this up, I had no idea how to spell (or say) cardamom.

Living in New Zealand: Governors Bay and its Historic Jetty

Near the head of Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupo, lies the small settlement of Governors Bay. We use to walk our dogs down by the shoreline and I loved walking to the end of the ridiculously long jetty. But that was a long time ago and the jetty has seen better days. It was falling into disrepair even before the earthquake of 2011, but that finished it off. 

A lot of people around here love the jetty and don’t want it to disappear. A campaign was launched and ownership of the historic structure passed into the hands of the local community. If you want to see photos of this beautiful structure and/or ensure that the Covid 19 pandemic doesn't divert the funds needed to conserve this unique piece of history, head to the Save the Jetty website.