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The
first one is the news that everyone involved has signed the contract for
the purchase of our new home in Waipawa, and we should get possession of
the granny flat on Giving
my very first talk about feet and pointe shoes in |
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I
gave the talk to a group of Physiotherapists and Podiatrists. They as
group of individual practitioners, come together one lunchtime in every
month to listen to a talk, often an invited speaker or one of them
presents a specific case that he or she is currently working on. The
novelty for me was that this group of experts had no concept or experience
of ballet and it’s injury problems. Instead they are much more familiar
with sports injury. With Fergus’s help, I had things prepared from a
more academic point of view. Luckily I insisted on showing the
presentation to Karen (the lady who invited me to speak) the night before
the event. It turned out that
what they actually wanted was a simple introduction into ballet and the
injuries that they might occasionally be presented with. After an almost
sleepless night I reworked it all to this different content and I think in
the end they got what they wanted. After the presentation, Karen like everyone else seemed very pleased and stimulated in thinking about this subject further. Karen took us out to lunch and recommended two more professional bodies that might be interested in my work. I felt so elated and Karen suggested that I could create a bit of a niche market for myself, but I have to go out talk to people and convince them that this might be a good idea. She also felt that my enthusiasm for the subject would help things along too. Well I floated for the rest of the day and started to write one of the letters to one of the suggested bodies. We will have to wait and see what happens next. |
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there were three more highlights. Just behind our |
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We found our way down to the river and were stunned at the beauty that presented itself to us. It was a lovely day and the sun was in a very sparkly mood. We just looked and stared for a bit and then decided to start the climb. It was very hot and the humidity high so I sweated like a little piggy. But it was worth it. The light coming through the tree ferns was stunning and we slowly climbed higher and higher. Then all of a sudden Fergus called out and as I could not see him I was worried about him. He had been looking up at the wonderful trees and unexpectedly lost his footing and fell down hard on his left bum and then slipping down the steep bank on his front trying to hold on for dear life to his beloved camera. A raised after him up the hill and found him hanging on and being very worried about his camera, which was luckily hanging from his neck. I did my best to rescue the camera and then help Fergus back up the bank. Thank god there was no real harm done apart from Fergus injuring his pride a little. He did fall quite heavily as his shorts and tea shirt where badly stained but that will come out in the wash I was more worried about him damaging a hip joint as that would not be very funny. As it turned out Fergus was ok but his left bum was uncomfortable for 48 hours and today he seems to be back to normal. Anyway we continued up the hill and eventually arrived at the very top of the hill, which had fantastic views of the sea, harbour and the entire city of Whangarei. I am so pleased we made it all the way to the top it was most certainly worth it. |
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| The next highlight is another bush walk, this time amongst the treetops in a Kauri wood. Kauri trees are protected now and no one is ever going to be allowed to fell one. Being so immensely tall and perfectly straight these trees used to be felled by the millions for shipbuilding and house building. They are also called the King of the Forrest and they have a very majestic feeling about them. Beautiful trees to touch and a feeling that one either stands in awe of them, or wants to hug them. We did visit the oldest known Kauri tree with Miranda and the ones in this forest are not as old but just as impressive. The plaque said that “They had grown peacefully for hundreds of years, side by side and will be doing so for hundreds of years to come”. What a wonderfully sobering thought as in comparison our life span is a mere fleeting moment and in the greater scheme of things it will not matter that we have been here at all. |  |
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We cycled for about two to three km to get to the start of this walk. We entered the walk via a large wooden bridge, with fantastic river and bush views. Again we stopped and starred and tried to capture what we saw with our cameras. Compared to the last walk this one was easy and the photos will tell the story. |
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| The final highlight is to be back by the sea. We left Whangarei on Sunday to travel back to Auckland. We have stopped at Wairera and are parked by the harbour wall, overlooking the loveliest beach. As soon as we got there I went and had a swim and then later in the evening we enjoyed a fantastic sunset….. |  |
