Hi, this week I am away in Nelson situated at the very top of the south island of New Zealand. I’m a guest speaker at an Aquaculture conference and my presentation will be about the benefits of Omega 3 in one’s diet, and ways to promote it’s health benefits. It’s been wonderful here so far, am thoroughly enjoying being back in the heartland of New Zealand, even if it is only for a week. I thought I’d post a few of my powerpoint slides here to give you a little taste of what it is I am going to be talking about.

By the way, if ever there was an idyllic place to grow up as a kid, two of the pics here show that place: Matauri Bay in another (northern) part of New Zealand, sometimes called “The Winterless North”, with views out over the Cavalli Islands … my husbands home for the first six years of his life!

A spectacular day here today, you couldn’t ask for better!

We were watching the latest Narnia movie – Voyage of the Dawn Treader – when I suddenly exclaimed to my son, “I’m sure that’s White Island.” Sure enough, there it was – the steaming ocean volcano that I had spent my childhood looking out to each day. Situated about 30km out from Whakatane on the east coast of the North Island, White Island is part of a volcanic line that runs the length of New Zealand. “Would you like visit it?” I asked my son. Of course he did. As any nine-year-old boy knows, walking on a live volcano majorly boosts your ‘popularity rating’ at school – especially when it’s also in a movie!

This may sound more like a travel blog than a nutrition blog but each time I’ve been out on the boat with White Island Tours I have been impressed with the lunch they provide. It’s not gourmet cuisine – after all we’re on an adventure tour walking past deadly sulphur mounds, hissing fumaroles and bubbling mud pools wearing gas masks. After an hour or so on the island we rinse the corrosive volcanic ash off our sneakers before re-board the boat. I feel just like a kid again as one of the friendly crew hand me my lunch-box and let me help myself to a can or bottle of soft drink, juice or water. It’s great to have the choice of water. I open my lunch-box to see what goodies it contains. When writing about healthy school lunch-boxes I suggest it has 5 elements: a drink, something to fill you up, something to last i.e. protein, some fruit and a treat. This lunch ticks all the boxes. It has an egg sandwich to both fill me up and last me, some fresh watermelon and pineapple, and a mini chocolate bar – yum! There are also a couple of hot mini savouries that are high in fat but which make the lunch feel a bit more special. After all these people have paid good money for an adventure, not a health camp.

Speaking of money, if you’ve seen the movie, you may be hoping to find some of the sparkling riches that enticed Eustace. Unfortunately you have to bring your own riches but it is possible to make them sparkle – just dip your tarnished coins or jewellery in the acid stream.