Travel Packing Guide

Blue skies, swaying palms, golden sands, warm sunshine...

We like to travel.  Particularly to tropical destinations.  We love Vitamin D - how it feels on the skin as we soak it up, lying on vanilla sands as we gaze across azure waters.  Our next destination: New Caledonia.  A little French-speaking island in the South Pacific.  Never been there before but if the pictures are anything to be believed, a veritable Robinson Crusoe destination.  Multi-coloured blue oceans and lagoons, coconut palm-fringed beaches, mellow yellow sandy coves and desert-like landscapes in the hinterland.  Can't wait to explore!  We are headed to Noumea, to a self-contained BnB for 4 nights in Mont Dore, then 5 nights on the island of Lifou (highly recommended by an Algerian-born Frenchman who makes pizzas in Katikati), and the last 3 nights back in Noumea at a beach-side hotel.   

Fiji time.

 A few tropical holidays over the past few years and we now have packing down to a T!  We used to start 3 weeks ahead of time, but now it begins a week in advance, using our trusty holiday packing list.  This way, we can print a new copy off each time, cross off what we are unlikely to need for that particular trip, add anything new and start to tick off what goes into our suitcase.

 The suitcase is a whole new adventure in itself, we bought a second hand, hard body Zootcase on wheels, from the Bowling Club garage sale across the road from us a couple of weeks ago, for a princely sum of $10.  Anyone out there who has had to purchase a new suitcase will know that these cost anything up to $180 for a new version, so I am feeling particularly chuffed with this.  It has a small ding on the outside (probably why someone gave it up but I have reinforced the inside with duct tape) but inside is like brand new!  It's all zips, secret compartments and pockets!  The inbuilt combination lock is sans-combination, but that's okay, I have a little combination lock which can be used to lock the zips together.  Mike has one side (all fully zip-locked close when done, to separate his from hers).  I'm in love!

I will share our list, simply because it makes travelling so much easier - adapt it as you will, for the occasion.  Note; this is a travel list for tropical destinations!

Travel List

Clothes/ Extra:	Cosmetics/other:	Food/other:
Dress/skirts	Nail brush	Stock cubes
Drink bottles	Face-cream	Coffee
Books	Insect repellent	Plunger
Camera/batteries	soap	Tea bags
Hats	sunscreen	rice
slops	Shampoo	Pasta
Walking shoes	Conditioner	Cereal
T-shirts	Massage oil	Lollies
Undies	Dental floss	Travel snacks
Towels	Foot scraper	Salt
Shorts	Nail clippers	Skim milk
Socks	Tooth brush/paste	Sugar
Swim togs	Plasters	Empty H2O bottle
Walking shoes	Healing Cream	Coconut oil
Light jersey	Koromiko (remedy)
Rain jacket	Tissues	Kitchen Sponge
Reef shoes	Waist pouch	Sunlight soap
Sunnies	Mobile phone	Washline
Goggles/snorkel	Credit cards	Pegs
Mossie Coils/mats	Money	Ziploc bags
Diary and pens	Computer/iPad	Travel adaptor
Daypack	Shaver	Mending kit
Incense	Shopping Bag	Swiss army knife
Travel material	Battery Charger	Solar torch

A footnote on some of the above items:  

Koromiko is a homeopathic remedy for traveller's diarrhoea.  I have had to use it once in Bali, and it was a lifesaver.  The shopping bag is a little fold-up bag which takes very little space, and can be used when shopping in markets or shops instead of using that unsustainable option - the use-once plastic bag!  Ziploc bags are the new airport must-have, to parcel up any cosmetics, personal care items or lotions.  Keeps them from spilling into your luggage, as well as handy for showing or declaring to customs.  Incense is a must-have for me, I like to mask smells in hotel rooms, or accommodation where there is a strong odour of cleaners or mustiness.  And it makes me feel instantly at home!  I like to keep an old fashioned diary of our travels - I use this to log any ideas, thoughts and experiences.  Long after the memories have faded, reading the travel diary evokes strong visual memories and feelings.  We don't always take all the food options, depending on where we are staying and what we will doing - for example, I like to self-cater, so stock cubes can turn any bland meal into something quite delicious and palatable.  Tea, coffee, milk powder and sugar is an essential, along with a small stainless steel (indestructible) plunger.  I have crafted a bungey-cord washing line which can be strung over the bath, and we usually hand wash our day's clothes every evening so that we do not have to take huge amounts of clothing. A bar of pure sunlight soap works wonders, I use it for dish-washing as well as laundry soap.  One item, many uses.  

Fruit blended smoothies, a great tropical location meal.

We have started to take our Nutri Ninja, so we can blend up fruit smoothies even in a hotel.  My Swiss army knife prepares many a meal, I just make sure it goes in the luggage hold or else it'll be confiscated!!  (Been there, done that before!)  I take coconut oil in a small jar, good for skin, lips, hair - all. Sunscreen - well, I make that.

Ingredients to make natural sunscreen.

Melting the wax to make holiday sunscreen fills the kitchen with the smell of honey!

Melted beeswax, olive oil, essential oils and zinc oxide powder whisked together.

Sunscreen on right, in screw-tight, wide-mouthed plastic jar.  For recipe, click here.

Tetrapak (recycled) Travel Sewing Kit

 We will only be taking the one suitcase (23kg) and 2 small day packs (cabin luggage), so every item is scrutinised for necessity.

His and Hers compartments.  Our Pre-Loved New suitcase - perfect for the job!

New Caledonia, here we come!  One week to go........

Attracting Birds

We don't have any crows to scare.  In fact, I want to attract birds, not frighten them away!  Birds scratch up the ground (tilling) in search of worms and bugs and eat a lot of pesky insects (pest control).  I recently made a Garden Sprite (note, not scarecrow), to be company for our faithful Josephine (another Garden Sprite).  The newcomer's name is Aurora.  She was constructed in the garden shed, one cold end-of-Winter's day, from off-cut scraps of Cedar shutters.  I simply used the pieces in the lengths they were found, so she has a child-like appearance.

Aurora, the Garden Sprite

Aurora's eyes are 2 old wooden door knobs, the nose; a circular cut-out I drilled to make a hole in a bird nesting box, and the mouth a strip of old plaited leather belt (whose buckle broke).  I have had a small piece of mirror lying around the shed for ages, so it was a good project to use it on - it gives the appearance of a hole in the center of her stomach!  My mother's old broken jandal soles have become her feet.  (Sadly, yes, I do horde lots of things for that one day, when I might use it!!)

Coming back to attracting birds to the garden, they need food, water and shelter and here are some ways to achieve that:

• Improve the backyard habitat and create a safe oasis for birds to visit and live.
• As Spring is on our doorstep, add a few nesting boxes around the garden, on a fence or tree, where cats cannot get to them.  Ones that open can be cleaned out before Spring, each year, to make way for a new family.
• A Bird Supermarket is simply a collection of nesting materials provided for them to forage and use in the building of nests - human hair, straw, string, wool, strips of fabric etc.

3 different nesting boxes and a Bird Supermarket on the right.

The Bird Supermarket need not be so specific, just a collection of natural nesting materials for easy bird access.  This one is made from bits of wood, old perspex pieces and "landing" perches.

• Birds need access to water.  Have several drinking sources around the garden for them on a hot day.  If the container is flat, it offers a wonderful opportunity for them to have a quick bath on a hot day.  Water needs to be changed regularly, to ensure it is clean and safe.
• Shrubs and trees - birds need places to hide, to nest and to forage in - we planted kowhai trees specifically to attract the mighty-beautiful tui.  If you grow fruit, then you may need to bag your growing fruit (I have sewn individual little bags which I peg around near-ripening fruit) or else you will be growing fruit only for the birds and none for yourself.  I leave the fruit at the top which I cannot reach, for the hungry little birds to eat.  Fair share for us and for them.

This water source is good for a drink, not a bath.

• Birds need not be fed over the summer months as there is plenty to scavenge in the garden, however, in the colder months, I like to feed them.  Scraps of bread or rice get thrown out on the grass and soon attract hordes of wax-eyes and sparrows.  I have been making Seed Cups lately (melt coconut oil and mix in wild bird seed, pour into a cup and hang in the tree) and enjoying the Feeding Frenzy that results.

Seed Cups

My seed cups last about a week as the birds get to know about them!

• Birds need a cat-free garden, or like ours, a Super Lazy Cat, who allows them to creep right up on her while she sleeps, and sneak her remaining food right out of her bowl!  From a kitten, we have discouraged her from catching birds (yes, it can be done!).

Our old birdbath (needing a good scrub and filling up with fresh water).

Buddha Head Bath is always a good drinking hole for birds as well as the cat!!  

I sometimes used to curse the birds in our garden, as I would find them scratching up new seedlings, or pecking every ripening fruit or messing up my newly laid out pathways, but I have learned to live alongside them.  I have a few little blackbirds that forage for worms within my grasp, while weeding.  They have come to know and trust us.  A few thrushes living in our garden are wonderful garden helpers - we hear them pounding the snails they find, on our stepping stones and it makes us smile, they are working hard at saving our crops from snails!  When I plant new seedlings, I have to put collars around them (plastic bottles or cans) to stop hungry little birdies from scratching at their roots - but these extra measures just ensure that we all stay happy, and in harmony with one another!  The joy of seeing them in the garden, and the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. 

Wood you, could you?

Reduce, reuse, recycle.  The "Green" mantra these days.  Well, I love being able to avoid unecessary  waste heading off to landfill.  Trying to be mindful and less wasteful, I try to see the possibility in normal end-of-use throw away items.  Recently I made enough cleaning clothes out of an old threadbare winter sheet.  Long past it's use-by date, with a threadbare middle where bottoms lie, tossing and turning the night away, week after month after year!  Usually, sheets maintain their fluffy integrity all around the sides, so I cut the sheet in intervals, tore them into strips and sewed them into user-friendly-sized cleaning clothes.  If you use 3 or 4 layers, the cloths are padded and extra strong.   I even managed to make a couple for each of my kids to use in their flats.  These flannel winter-sheet cloths make for excellent cleaning and leave very little (if any) lint on windows, kitchen and bathroom surfaces or benchtops.  They are soft and do not scratch delicate surfaces.  

Sold?  Next time you're about to throw away that old sheet, think again - a couple of year's supply of cleaning cloths lie in them thar unused sides!! 

Great little soft housekeeping helpers at hand.

Another fun scrap crafting project is to buy hemp string (I buy mine from the $2 shop).  Hemp is a rough string and when knitted into a 24 stitch square, it makes an excellent dish cloth.  The roughness of the finished knitting makes it ideal for scrubbing plates, pots, dirty cutlery etc. needing a scrubbing brush or extra muscle power.

Down in the garden shed, I have been a busy little bee, enjoying using the cedar scraps which Mike collects for kindling.  I sort through them first and squirrel away pieces for my little woodwork projects.  Made a few items and working on another scarecrow at the moment (Josephine, our old one, needs a mate).

Little Bay Leaf storage box.

I tried to copy a Star of David design which a helpxchanger, Marcus Sykora, made us, many, many years ago.  I added a little scrap focal point from an aluminium piece of a "V" can I picked up on the road.

A recipe book holder

Holder with recipe book.
A wooden coddling moth pheromone trap, now's the time to hang it, just before bud burst (well, I may be a little early, hopeful really) to monitor the moths and snag some of the lusty males.  It's made from scraps - an old sheet of perspex, blind slats, old curtain wire and voila!  Should do the job nicely.  It pays to change the pheromone plugs after 5 weeks (available from farm supplies).

Coddling Moth Pheromone trap

On a wet and dull day, non-stop raining, I have been stuck inside making sweet treats today, so I shall put on my raincoat and head to the garden shed to continue to make Josephine's buddy.  Sweet!

Seedy Side of Life

Seed Cups

Anyone for a cuppa seeds?

Yay, for the World Wide Web of shared ideas!  I came across this idea, of creating a feeder for wild birds in the garden.  Down to the Opp Shop (second hand store) I nipped and came away with 3 pre-loved tea cups for the grand total of NZ$1.50.  Once at home, I threw some rather old coconut oil (that I usually use for oiling my wooden creations) in a pot and melted it, added wild bird seed and tossed that into the cups.  It took less than 10 mins!

Next, I rummaged in my sewing box and came up with some old lace and fabric tape to tie around the handles of the tea cups. waiting rather impatiently for the coconut oil to set hard! As soon as this was evident, I whisked outdoors to hang the seed cups in a tree right in front of our kitchen/dining windows so we could easily view the feeding birds.

This seed cup had the remaining melted coconut oil poured over the top to form a hard seal.

I waited and watched.  Nothing.  De nada!  Nil.  No birds came.  The next day I watched, still nothing!  Bugger!  They don't work, I fretted!  All that for nothing!  

Then later in that day, we saw some sparrows hanging upside down trying to get to the seed and I felt a whoosh of joy!  It took them a while to get the hang of feeding upside down!

2 feeding cups placed at eye level for easy bird watching from inside our house.

And then we were truly rewarded, when we spotted a little Silver-eye, or white-eye hanging upside down and feeding with relative ease, like it was used to eating upside down!  I ran for the camera and thanks to a zoom lens, was able to capture these images from about 3 1/2 metres away, through double-glazed windows!  Hooray for modern technology!

Yummy Bird Treats

Look at this gem - wings beating at a 100km per second, this little guy selected exactly the seeds he wanted!

I see my cat scheming, thinking of ways to reach the seed cups, but I think I can rest easy, these are cat-proof!  She often eats the bread or left-over cooked grains I put out for the birds on the grass!

Do I look like a bird?  Maybe I'll get fed!

Guess not....  I'll just have to wait till dinner-time!  

Healthy Soil, Healthy Food

Ending of Winter.  Time to prune and tidy up the garden for the Big Spring into Action!  We end up with unsightly heaps like this below.  Bring in the trusty little home gardener Masport mulcher.  It is the Winter gardener's Best Little Helper.  Chews up branches and spits them out in teeny little pieces which can be spread on bare ground as a weed-suppressing mulch, which ultimately breaks down over 9-12 months to feed and condition the soil.

What a mess!

Chewing through the fallout, one branch at a time.

The only downside of this exercise is that our little mulcher takes branches no bigger than 4cm diameter.  And often gets jammed, so I have to wait for the branch to dry out and shrink a bit before I can pull it out and start again, sometimes waiting 2-3 weeks for that process!!

The bigger branches which can't go through the mulcher are chopped up with my electric chainsaw, for firewood.

Smaller branches are chopped to size to keep as kindling for next winter's fires.

Mulch is distributed on cardboard for walkways, or straight on the ground around fruit trees etc.

I leave the mulch to stand for 5 weeks before distributing, as it can leach nitrogen from the soil as it decays.  It works to suppress weeds and over time, fungi decompose the woody chips and help to condition and enrich the soil.  We are also lucky enough to have a local tree chopper guy who dumps fresh wood chip for us when we ask, as we would never be able to produce enough on our own.  We used to have to pay for loads, so this is a truly valuable contact!  If he is in the area, it saves him travelling to dump it.  We both win!!

Before: A mess!  Weeds have overgrown this area of the orchard over winter!

Day 1, halfway weeded.

Day 2, job complete and area is mulched for weed suppression.

Asparagus bed and path weeded for spring growth.  I have been busy!  This area will need mulch too, if I am not to weed it all over again in 2-3 weeks time! 

Untreated sawdust makes a good "floor" in front of the bee hives.  It suppresses the weeds and is soft and spongy to walk on.  Mike occasionally collects a large bag-full from a local woodworker.

Peach tree weeded and pathways mulched.

Bee foraging garden weeded and mulched.  Note how the frosts have killed the grassed area!

All  those weeds and prunings end up returning to the soil as wonderful rich compost!

Time to sort out seeds and plan for a busy sowing season ahead!  Yay!  Love this activity!  A time of planning, renewal and growth.

Compost feeds the crops

A brown seaweed sits in water, steeping out all the goodness.  I use this, highly diluted to feed food crops, also use it concentrated, in the compost bin to help accelerate the decomposition process.  Every couple of weeks, I head down to the harbour and collect a bucket full.

Sea lettuce collected from the shores of our harbour, steeped in water or added directly into the compost bin provides a good source of sea-rich nutrients.  It can be used as a direct mulch on garden beds, however, I do not collect enough at any one time to put this into practice.

The worm farm in the foreground, provides vermicast and worm-wee tea, which is also diluted and fed to hungry growing food crops.

Winter crops fastapproaching harvest.

Celery looking good.  Healthy soil = healthy plants.

The citrus is looking good; lemons, limes, mandarins, grapefruit and oranges all ripening nicely, thanks to healthy soil!

Recently I have enjoyed making a couple of log bug-homes.  It's a simple idea I found on the World Wide Web.  Drill several different gauge holes into a section of log.  Add a hook on the top, some rope and hang it in a tree.  Now I just need to wait and see who takes up residence.  I added a roof of old floor vinyl to protect the top from rain.

I spied this wonderful sight below, while out walking in Katikati.  Someone has used big water bottles with the bottoms cut off, as mini glass houses to protect his/her new seedlings in the veg bed.  Brilliant recycling idea!  Love it!!

And lastly, talking about healthy soil, healthy food..... we are enjoying our smoothies most days - I throw a bunch of garden produce into the blender and whizz away.  Simply deliciously healthy kai!

I freeze fruit when it's in glut, for lean times like in winter - frozen blueberries and cubes of feijoa pulp.  Our one frost-surviving bunch of bananas is slowly ripening in the garden shed, fodder for smoothies over the coming weeks....