I ain't no princess!

From the archives, here's a photo of me back in around 1983, swimming at Piha Beach in Auckland. 

With trusty green kickboard in hand, I spent hours cruising the lagoon behind Lion Rock and it was awesome.  I don't remember rips or holes or jellies (stingers for all you Aussies).  

We had family friends with a bach (a beach house for those not from NZ) at Piha, so we would go stay there some weekends.  In those days, it was quite a drive out to Piha - now it's like 40 mins from the CBD.  Each trip was like a holiday - the bach was right across the road from the beach and I swam several times a day, every day.  Those were the days - no cares about wetsuits and swim times, it was just me, the water and my kickboard.  Gold!

I also found these next two bike photos in the archives - me with my trusty trike circa 1981, and my awesome home built bike, circa 1984.  I loved the "bitser" home built bike almost as much as I loved my strawberry shoes.  

I really should photoshop out this ugly hat. 

And how cute are these shoes?

I was meant to get up and go swimming this morning.  I packed all my stuff last night, got all organised and had forgotten about the boiler replacement at the local pool this week.  There's not enough time to go to the other pool I frequent before work in the morning, so it looks like I'll be trying yet another new pool tonight after uni.  Mint!

Let me defend my lack of will to swim in a stone cold indoor pool by pointing out that I'm no princess.  I love to go camping, have no problems with mud or bike grease, change my own flat tyres and know way more about cars, computers and gadgets than is deemed cool for a girl.  I grew up with several brothers, helping my dad fix cars, climbing trees, building things with Lego, and riding my bike.

To this day, I really don't care about makeup and fashion and manicures.  Sure, I wear lip gloss, love maxi dresses, get a pedicure occasionally and my hair coloured (to hide my greys, ha ha!) - but since conventional fashion isn't geared to anyone over a size 10 and I spend all my spare time swimming, biking, running, weight training, sleeping and eating, why would I bother with fashion?  I'd rather spend the money on my bike!

More later, have to get ready for work :-)