This is the personal blog of Paul Petch (formally a site about mountain biking) a self professed outdoor addict, reformed graphic designer, picture taker & IT geek living in Christchurch New Zealand. While you are here why not subscribe to my random tweets, Flickr photos, RSS feed and of course Posterous.

Featured

Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next
Toycamera Analogcolor

Toycamera Analogcolor

The retro Toycamera Analogcolor application (now say that 20 times I dare you!) is one heck of a sweet little toy for both mac and PC. With a click of a button it takes us all back to when cameras were analog and not so pixel perfect! With some cool presets and manual control too, [...]

Continue Reading

Body Surfing…

Body Surfing…

What a sweet little collection of images this Aussie website has! I’ve never really been keen on surfing or the ocean since being scared shitless by the movie Jaws…but people can change right? Body surfing is free, simple and by the looks of it…..a heap of fun! If we ever get above 35degs this summer, [...]

Continue Reading

Brett Walker

Brett Walker

I’ve just stumbled this guys work and its bloody breath taking. I’m all for black and white, saturated colours as well as a bit of photoshop tinkering- but these images take it to the next level don’t they? Check out his popular his Flickr collection here. Wow… just wow.

Continue Reading

2009 Kepler Challenge Photographs

2009 Kepler Challenge Photographs

I set a challenge to run a 60KM Ultra Trail within 6 months and against all the odds- from lack of experience, injuries and getting very sick in the week leading upto the event……I pulled it off in 9.35! Wow what a day!
Amy & I have just got back from Te Anau Fiordland after 9+ [...]

Continue Reading

Wellington Weekend

Wellington Weekend

Amy’s boss shouted air fare and accommodation for us back in October (better late than never to blog huh) to visit Wellington as a thank you for some recent projects that she had just competed. Nice eh. Flying into Wellington we could not believe how sketchy the landing was, but once on our feet it [...]

Continue Reading

Anne Keller Photography

Anne Keller Photography

A bit of mountain biking, friends and the outdoors captured so nicely by Anne Keller. I absolutely love this girls work and the website is pretty well designed too. Very nice work that inspires me to get back into my outdoor photography for 2010.

Continue Reading

My first ultra marathon distance of 49KM

My first ultra marathon distance of 49KM

After a nice weekend on the mountain bike where I rode a solo to Godley Head, this weeks training has felt much better than the last with a little more juice in the batteries.  Tuesday’s “lunchtime” run was a good one and I hit the road to Hagley Park and after several laps I was [...]

Continue Reading

Port Hills Crater Rim 30KM trail run

Port Hills Crater Rim 30KM trail run

Only a few more weeks now before I start to taper off for the Kepler & I’m really looking forward to it. Since last weekend I’ve clocked up about 75KM which, as you can imagine is a first for me!  The Mcleans 12hr mountain bike event last weekend found me racing flat out for 1.5hrs [...]

Continue Reading

The Wharfedale Track – wet n’ wild

The Wharfedale Track – wet n’ wild

After recruiting a small group of crazies from the Derailed forum we headed out to the infamous Wharfedale Track near Oxford yesterday. After getting lost on route (again :)) Spence and I were on course for lateness as usual but made it in time. We all checked over our gear- threw on knee pads and [...]

Continue Reading

Christchurch SBS Marathon photos

Christchurch SBS Marathon photos

Better late than never I suppose :) My first half marathon at 21.1 KM was on the 31st May 2009 and on a cold and snowy/ wet morning here in Christchurch. I ran a time of 1.55.18 which I was really happy with. Here are a few a photos that my Wife Amy took.

Continue Reading

Weight loss, nutrition & cycling

Weight loss, nutrition & cycling

Fun, fat and flabby? (no idea what title to put in here :) )
It’s Winter time here in New Zealand and I’ve been thinking about the past of late and in particular my fitness and where I’m at. I’d say that currently I’m the fittest and healthiest that I’ve been since being a teenager- and [...]

Continue Reading

Hanmer 12 hour by Blue Dog Events

Hanmer 12 hour by Blue Dog Events

Getting ready
Taking Friday off and packing for the weekends sillyness at the Hanmer 12hr race was a great idea and a relatively stress free experience in contrast to the Cyclic Saga only a few weeks prior. Infact by the time Craig got here for 7ish I was totally ready to rock and roll… and chomping [...]

Continue Reading

Little River Rail Trail-Christchurch

Little River Rail Trail-Christchurch

Today was another beautiful sunny day so Amy and I decided to go check out the Little River rail trail just outside of Christchurch. With a flask of coffee and some tasty lunch we headed out nice and early to enjoy the best part of the day. I took the single speed Cove and swapped [...]

Continue Reading

Latest Posts

Lifes a beach

I headed off this afternoon on the scooter to have a bit of an explore of the beaches towards Taylors Mistake/ Godley Head. I’ve ridden many times into this secluded beach/ town from the Porthills, but In the 2.5yrs years that I’ve been here, I’ve never had a look around on foot. Dodging traffic on the way I called into the main (and most popular) beach at Sumner and just laid reading a magazine while soaking up some UV for an hour or so.  After enough sun I zipped up and around the coast to Taylors Mistake which was heaps of fun on the new scooter, and so much easier to find a park once I arrived too :) I strolled barefoot along the beach and ignored the signage for the walkway and then hopped over rocks along the coast line instead. I’ve always had a fascination with rock hopping on the coast ever since I first arrived in Australia and in particular Walkerville, where we used to stay very often at a family retreat. Anyway, the rocks were quite sharp and slippery so I had to slow down and take due care not to injure myself further this season- but it’s great having to choose the best line through the rocks isn’t it? :) (more…)

The solution to creative burn out? Stefan Sagmeister

Renan Ozturk’s ramblings

“This is our decision to live fast and die young. We’ve got the vision, now let’s have some fun. Yeah it’s overwhelming, but what else can we do? Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute?”



“I want to yell up at Renan that I’ve had it. I can’t swallow, can’t talk…can barely breath, and all of it makes me want to descend. I know he feels the same because I can see it in his face. But our mouths stay shut, moving upwards steadily as a cohesive unit. No, it doesn’t make any sense…but we’ve never pretended to understand. Life is reduced to a consecutive series of familiar motions. Our arms begin to cramp due to lack of fluid. The glands in our mouths stop producing saliva. We are dried up… All the variables in the equation equal out towards descent. But math was never my strong point…apparently Renan suffers from the same learning disabilities.”

More @ North Face

Daelim Bonita – our new family member!

It has been on the cards for a number of months now and today Amy and I headed into City Scooters here in Christchurch to lay down some cash on a new scooter. After some careful research we opted for a nice 50cc motor bike from Daelim- called the Bonita.

Having no mode of transport for 3 years since arriving in Christchurch has been just fine, but with the amount of training that I’m currently doing I just cannot fit it all in. One of the hardest parts of my ultra training last year was the lack of  variety on offer due to having to cycle everywhere. I’m really looking forward to being able to head to the Port Hills for a good hill run or walk…..without the hassles of having to come home- get changed- and bike there and back. Infact, I’m looking forward to being able to head there straight from work! (more…)

Running in 2010

I’m not one for the whole new years resolutions as I tend to set goals on the fly and just do it. Saying that, I do have some personal running/ fitness goals that I’d like to achieve.

2009 was mental!

With 2009 being the nuttiest year yet with regards to my physical challenges, I’m keen to roll with this into 2010. Oddly, training last year was a real eye opener and taught me a lot about “me” and in particular self restraint, my limits and that it’s about quality and quantity when it comes to running ultra distances.  More importantly, I discovered a love for running and that I’m actually quite “ok” at it too- with the endurance side of things coming together really well. To have run a 61.7KM distance at the Kepler Challenge for my first ever distance event is just bloody amazing! (more…)

Geoff Kabush has crossed over…

Meeting Grace & Phil

Phil contacted me via twitter some weeks ago to chat about some South Island running trails. Grace and Phil are currently a few weeks away from returning to BC in Canada after spending 3 months traveling, hiking, kayaking and camping across Australia and New Zealand. Awesome! Currently in Christchurch we met up for Thai on Monday after work and chewed the fat about all things adventure. These guys have done the lot of crazy stuff from 24hr mountain biking to epic hikes, ultras and even touring across Canada.

It was great to catchup guys and all the best for your new life on your return to BC. When Amy & I visit next year, we will be sure to catch up again so that you can show us the Rockies and of course the North Shore MTB trails. (more…)


Get Adobe Flash playerPlugin by wpburn.com wordpress themes