After much discussion, I decided that a 26 hour journey home from Christchurch to London was not appealing, and as I had made friends in south africa, I would take the unusual route home from christchurch, through sydney, where i had my 75ml toothpaste confiscated because it weighed 110g, (ggrrrrr) to Joburg, where I am now.
I have left the 5 degrees of the south of new zealand, and come to the 24 degree autumn of this fabulour country...
I have been and continue to be surprised by the the greenery in the city, and the open sapces, and many side walk restaurants.. it is not the way i imagined this city to be...
Only 45 minutes outside the city, I am back in the africa that I know... the bushveld... coarse, tough, dry, and still with a majestic beauty so different from the rolling green hills and snow covered mountains of new zealand...
tomorrow i fly to port elizabeth, to see my second family, where if im lucky, the weather will permit a couple of last dips in the indian ocean, before flying home on thursday see my first family...
People keep telling me that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity... my question is, why must that be the case? I watched a film this morning about the pilot amelia eckhart, the last line of which was "we all have oceans to fly, if we have the heart to do it. Is it wreckless? Maybe, but what do dreams know of boundaries?"
At almost the end of my maiden voyage, I wonder where my dreams will take me next...
Monday, 11 April 2011
The South Island
I flew to Queenstown, world renound for its beauty... The lake, the mountains, the trees, with red, yellow, green, orange leaves... yes it was stunning... almost too picturesque to be real... perfect, and so, somehow I found it imperfect... perhaps it was the 5 degree weather i found myself in!
I spent the afternoon at a farm, where i watched a sheep shearing, and sheep dog work, and saw deers. While everyone was oohing and ahhing at the male deer, i was taken back to my student days, and remembered a friend of mine who spent her third year exploring the roaring of red deer... isnt it amazing how that is considered part of psychology!??
The next day, I travelled to Milford Sound, fyords. The predicted snow had fallen, so the mountain tops were white, while the remainder glistened silver in the sunshine. The fyords, the rainforest, the mirror lakes... all were stunning, breath taking.. to the point that I find myself speechless.
We took a boat out on the fyords, and at everyaterfall, we saw a rainbow... just like in the tv programme, the care bears that I used to watch when I was supposed to be sleeping of an afternoon so I could stay up late for dinner...
I never knew such beauty existed... I was filled with an awe that, as I said, goes beyond words...
Wednesday, I took a coach up through the southen alps north, through mount cook, up to christchurch. . I have never been on a tour before when I did not know which side of the coach to look out of...
Christchurch, a city devasted by the earthquake that struck a few weeks ago... 20 or so blocks of the CBD are still closed, with no running water or functioning sewers... no,... i did not visit those areas. Although on my road, there were a couple of damaged buildings, and not all shops were open for business...
Not wanting to spend the day in the city, I did a tour out to Akaroa, a small village where I hoped to swim in the pacific ocean, (east coast of nz) with hectare dolphins, the smallest dolphins in the world...
when we got to the docks, all tours were cancelled, due to the 40 knot winds, and the 6m swells.... even I did nit mind missing out on that boat trip!! Plus the town was beautiful... picturesque, without the perfect quality of Queenstown, which made it even more appealing to me...
Someone said to me, accurately, that while in Austraia, you have to go looking for beauty, in new zealand, you turn round the corner, and you find something even more beautiful than where you have just been.
So what did i learn in new zealand?
1) two weeks there is not enough
2) the capital is wellington, not auckland
3) it has 24 recordable earthquakes a day, and yes, in christchurch, i did feel one
4) the moreton bay fig tree is the most beautiful tree i have ever seen
and 5) i want to go back there!
I spent the afternoon at a farm, where i watched a sheep shearing, and sheep dog work, and saw deers. While everyone was oohing and ahhing at the male deer, i was taken back to my student days, and remembered a friend of mine who spent her third year exploring the roaring of red deer... isnt it amazing how that is considered part of psychology!??
The next day, I travelled to Milford Sound, fyords. The predicted snow had fallen, so the mountain tops were white, while the remainder glistened silver in the sunshine. The fyords, the rainforest, the mirror lakes... all were stunning, breath taking.. to the point that I find myself speechless.
We took a boat out on the fyords, and at everyaterfall, we saw a rainbow... just like in the tv programme, the care bears that I used to watch when I was supposed to be sleeping of an afternoon so I could stay up late for dinner...
I never knew such beauty existed... I was filled with an awe that, as I said, goes beyond words...
Wednesday, I took a coach up through the southen alps north, through mount cook, up to christchurch. . I have never been on a tour before when I did not know which side of the coach to look out of...
Christchurch, a city devasted by the earthquake that struck a few weeks ago... 20 or so blocks of the CBD are still closed, with no running water or functioning sewers... no,... i did not visit those areas. Although on my road, there were a couple of damaged buildings, and not all shops were open for business...
Not wanting to spend the day in the city, I did a tour out to Akaroa, a small village where I hoped to swim in the pacific ocean, (east coast of nz) with hectare dolphins, the smallest dolphins in the world...
when we got to the docks, all tours were cancelled, due to the 40 knot winds, and the 6m swells.... even I did nit mind missing out on that boat trip!! Plus the town was beautiful... picturesque, without the perfect quality of Queenstown, which made it even more appealing to me...
Someone said to me, accurately, that while in Austraia, you have to go looking for beauty, in new zealand, you turn round the corner, and you find something even more beautiful than where you have just been.
So what did i learn in new zealand?
1) two weeks there is not enough
2) the capital is wellington, not auckland
3) it has 24 recordable earthquakes a day, and yes, in christchurch, i did feel one
4) the moreton bay fig tree is the most beautiful tree i have ever seen
and 5) i want to go back there!
Horse Riding
Monday morning, and Im feeling quite sick with nerves at the thought of spending a week on the back of a horse, when as child, I couldnt spend 5 minutes on a donkey walking round whitestone pond.
I am met at the bus stop an hour later by a woman who is to become my teacher... her warm easiness, the cup of tea and biscuits help me relax.
I learn to groom a horse and pick out its hooves.. not the most pleasant of tasks.. but necessary nonetheless!
After doing some rope exercises which enable me to make the hose move where I want her to go, I am shown how to saddle her up, and then actually get on her!! The day is spent in the paddocks, where I learn to walk, trott, and accidentally canter and jump. A natural, I was told... i obviously have the Lunzer genes.. the lunzers having been broguht up on horses!
The next day, after what became the daily grooming and cleaning of the horses, we went to the beach for a beach ride... The west coast of new zealand is called the wild coast, where the sand is black, (i may have already mentioned that, apologies if so), from the iron..unusual and stunning.
we then rode through the forest, the floor of which is still sandy, showing how high the sand dunes rose as we were, by that point, quite a way baove sea level.
The next day I learnt some clicker training, which is positive reinforcement for desired behaviour in horses.. i enjoyed this, although found it quite hard to negotiate a clicker, two ropes, a target, food and about three horses all at once!
I then had a pretty gruelling lesson, in which i was encourgaed to ride without holding on, and without stirrups and with my eyes closed. I was able to manage that, but when the horse then decided to trott towards a barrel, clever selina thought the horse would jump, and therefore sensibly decided to throw herself off the horse to prevent the believed apparant fall off the horse... yes.... well.... that was fun! Although I didnt look at the horse, apparantly, she looked at me for quite a while before bucking and trottering off to play with her friends!
Thursday and friday were spent doing gentle walks along the beach and throuhg the forest again... the horse, whose name was Toad, and I both seeming to prefer the gentle pace of her walk to the trot, which required much to much concentration and definitiely too the cantor, which made me yank on her reigns to the point that I must have hurt her. A forgiving horse, I was told, but one with plenty of attitude!!
The week ended and I returned to auckland with sore shoulders, back and legs... but I could still move so I thoight that was an achievemnt!
I went back to the synagogue next door to where I wa staying, that despite being the furthest i ever was from home, reminded me so much of my own synagogue that I felt quite comfortable... and I had the added bonus of being invited out to lunch which was lovely. The poeple i went to had a labradooddle, much like our own at home, so again, i felt very much at home!
I am met at the bus stop an hour later by a woman who is to become my teacher... her warm easiness, the cup of tea and biscuits help me relax.
I learn to groom a horse and pick out its hooves.. not the most pleasant of tasks.. but necessary nonetheless!
After doing some rope exercises which enable me to make the hose move where I want her to go, I am shown how to saddle her up, and then actually get on her!! The day is spent in the paddocks, where I learn to walk, trott, and accidentally canter and jump. A natural, I was told... i obviously have the Lunzer genes.. the lunzers having been broguht up on horses!
The next day, after what became the daily grooming and cleaning of the horses, we went to the beach for a beach ride... The west coast of new zealand is called the wild coast, where the sand is black, (i may have already mentioned that, apologies if so), from the iron..unusual and stunning.
we then rode through the forest, the floor of which is still sandy, showing how high the sand dunes rose as we were, by that point, quite a way baove sea level.
The next day I learnt some clicker training, which is positive reinforcement for desired behaviour in horses.. i enjoyed this, although found it quite hard to negotiate a clicker, two ropes, a target, food and about three horses all at once!
I then had a pretty gruelling lesson, in which i was encourgaed to ride without holding on, and without stirrups and with my eyes closed. I was able to manage that, but when the horse then decided to trott towards a barrel, clever selina thought the horse would jump, and therefore sensibly decided to throw herself off the horse to prevent the believed apparant fall off the horse... yes.... well.... that was fun! Although I didnt look at the horse, apparantly, she looked at me for quite a while before bucking and trottering off to play with her friends!
Thursday and friday were spent doing gentle walks along the beach and throuhg the forest again... the horse, whose name was Toad, and I both seeming to prefer the gentle pace of her walk to the trot, which required much to much concentration and definitiely too the cantor, which made me yank on her reigns to the point that I must have hurt her. A forgiving horse, I was told, but one with plenty of attitude!!
The week ended and I returned to auckland with sore shoulders, back and legs... but I could still move so I thoight that was an achievemnt!
I went back to the synagogue next door to where I wa staying, that despite being the furthest i ever was from home, reminded me so much of my own synagogue that I felt quite comfortable... and I had the added bonus of being invited out to lunch which was lovely. The poeple i went to had a labradooddle, much like our own at home, so again, i felt very much at home!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)