It has happened. The orgastic orgy of overeating and exeuberance has occured and left us weighty and torpid. This is not a blog about christmas, however. This is a public service announcement. Reminding us

The red eye fixed on me, wherever the head wavered to, the eye remained firmly studying me. It’s creator hadn’t deemed just any red eye acceptable though, it seemed to me staring back deep in to it, the most scarlet of berries had been utilised for sight in this creature. It’s head was just free of the shrubbery, and I could not help thinking we had stumbled into the velociraptor of the island. It had stalked it’s prey across the island’s confines and hid, still as the rocks on which it stood, eyeing me.

Of course the Weka stood no chance of eating a person and in fact had no interest in doing so, standing under 50cm it was far more interested in the lunch that my girlfriend and I were chowing down on. It stalked it with a grace and tactic that reminded us of it’s long lost cousin from Jurassic park and indeed there was much to this island that smacked of Crighton’s famous stories.

It’s easy to get swept up in the Christmas cheer. Turn to the media and it’s all carols, happy families and joy for the festive season. The reality for many is a lot different.  

This is my inaugural post as the gaming blogger for Voxy.co.nz and it looks to be a rather inauspicious start; once through with the obligatory introductions I plan on disappearing into the holiday season until the New Year, as I'm sure many of you do. Even so, I thought it best to make some noise sooner rather than later, let you readers know where I would like this blog to go, and get down to some serious gaming talk.

Why sugar plum fairy, you might ask. She's a character in Tchaikovsky's ballet Nutcracker. And she's a keeper of sweets. Such as the sweet I'm about to make - plum leather.

Forest & Bird is shocked that squid fishers will be allowed to kill 40 per cent more threatened New Zealand sea lions in the coming season.

New Fisheries Minister Phil Heatley announced today that the number of sea lions allowed to be killed in the squid fishery this season has been raised from 81 last year to 113.

1) What are you celebrating? 

Today I worked all day in the hospice kitchen - believe it or not - a wonderful place to work.

A little thrill rushed through my body this morning as an advert for the epic film Gladiator came on the TV. It's one of those films that no matter how many times you see it, there is always a plethora of emotions as you get dragged into the story by the vivid images of war torn Roman Europe, right through to the bitter sweet ending.

As you will soon be able to see from my avatar - drawn by the incredibly talented Margaret Tolland - my universe is filled with food. If it was up to me this blog would be an edible one filled with gooey chocolate, freshly baked bread and home made pizza. Mind you, not all at the same time.