“Hello, you want sit here for nice dinner?” Two young Thai men beckon us towards large low tables where holiday-makers recline on triangular cushions as they eat dinner. We had already eaten there, under the stars with the waves lapping literally at our feet. Amazing setting, OK food.

Tonight we are flip-flopping in our jandals down Koh Samed beach, around the rocks, through to the next beach to Jeps Bungalows. The food here is fantastic. The menu offers every cuisine but we turn straight to the Thai dishes. What shall we eat tonight?

When I first visited Thailand in 1989 there were no fast food chains – and no overweight Thai people. Twenty years later there are loads of fast food chains and many overweight Thais. It’s a tragedy that the worst of our western food habits has infiltrated this amazing culture.

The short answer is yes – you can eat mussels if you have high cholesterol. Mussels are low in kilojoules, cholesterol and fat. The little fat they do have is mostly healthy unsaturated fat with plenty of omega-3’s to help stabilise the heart muscle, reduce triglycerides (a type of fat in the blood), make arteries more elastic (which helps reduce blood pressure) and reduce blood clotting and inflammation.

Douse your mussels with butter, cream or other saturated fat and they will be more of a heart hazard than anything else. But if you eat them as we did at the Boat Shed Cafe in Nelson (northern tip of New Zealand’s South Island) – steamed with garlic, wine and parsley and served with a local pinot gris – your heart and your taste-buds will be very happy.

Last week we jumped on board the Pelorous Sound mail boat which chugs the length of Pelorous Sound three times a week delivering mail

We were on our way to Picton to catch the ferry to Wellington but I couldn’t leave without popping into the Blenheim farmers market. As we walked past fresh vegetables, apricots, cherries and nectarines a friendly lady offered me a plate of pikelets topped with chunky apricot and rhubarb & ginger jam. “Would you like to try one? It will go well with your bottle of Riesling.” I was momentarily flummoxed. How did she know I’d bought Riesling? Then I recognised her. It was Chris from the Vavasour winery. I’d staggered in there yesterday on my brief afternoon cycle around the local wineries. “This is my other job,” she explained. “I make my jam without water – just fruit and sugar, cooked slowly over a low heat. You get a much more intense flavour – no watering down.”