Somerset adventures

 The last time I went to Wells it was a freezing January day and the cathedral looked forbidding. I also didn't have much time to explore so getting to go back on a warm September day was a treat. Driving from Bristol through the Cheddar Gorge was amazing. Such an interesting landscape carved through rolling Somerset countryside. The road is fun, narrow and winding with lots of blind corners. There are plans for a whole weekend there exploring, school holidays were not the best time to stop. 

I love exploring the history of this place. I've read Pillars of the Earth, that huge book about the building of a cathedral, a few times over the years and visiting similar places brings back the stories. The lives of generations of stonemasons and builders so entwined in the history, their skilled craft on show, and how they managed to make such magnificent structures with rudimentary tools. Wells Cathedral is one of those special places where the whispers of history are in every corner. The Bishops Palace next to the Cathedral is a peaceful spot with a moat surrounding gardens, ruins and buildings. 

Onwards from Wells after exploring the area, we arrived at a very special place, Nunney. It's hard to describe Nunney except to say I'd love to live in one of those picturesque cottages with gorgeous gardens beside the stream, near the ancient bridge, overlooking the Norman castle. Yes, the Norman castle. Having learned more about my family history, I have a smattering of Norman ancestry on my father's side so Norman history is suddenly interesting. After a wander over the moat and through the ruins, a Somerset cider at the local pub was needed. Another place to return for a longer visit. Stonehenge was on the way home so I click a quick pic through the window. It didn't look too bad with a filter. 

This week has been one to catch up on pieces I'm needing to get completed. With the Queen passing there is an air of subdued sadness and all conversations are royals related. A time of grief and new beginnings and many stories of how the Queen has impacted people's lives. I was talking to a young friend about how he might see a queen and two kings in his lifetime. Being 23, his comment was he may see three kings. Extraordinary to think most of us have only known Queen Elizabeth, what history she has reigned through. I was at Windsor the day before she passed and it was very quiet, not so now. 

Bishops Palace Wells

Inside Nunney Castle - Couldn't resist the dog

Nunney Castle and moat

Moat action - Majestic swans and their babies

A distant Stonehenge

Time to say goodbye.....

What time to be in the UK with her Majesty the Queen passing and a country united in sadness, as it was united in joy during her 70th Jubilee. A great lady who will be missed. The news is full of stories about her and I'm learning so much I didn't know. 

One gem was when she pranked some tourists wandering on the pathways near Balmoral. They had quite a conversation about the queen with the queen and her close protection officer played along. I can imagine their surprise when someone identifies the elderly lady in the selfie they took with her. 

I wonder what these next days of official mourning and commemorations will bring. I suspect our weekend plans for a trip to London will be on hold for now. My condolences to her family. 

I have arrived

Well so much for writing on the plane! I was totally exhausted by the time I sat in that seat - physically and emotionally. Leaving is never easy, leaving those precious grandies after spending almost 9 years nearby is the hardest. Those final things to get organised took more time than I thought they would - experience tells me they always do, optimism has me believing it will be different this time. Nope. 

Long story short, I'm here! Where exactly? Farnborough in Hampshire. It's great to have a base I can come and go from, revisit places I love, and explore those places only the locals know. Like the local pub where everyone knows your name, Windsor and Wells, and some hidden gems like Nunney, Waverley Abbey and Portishead. And here I was thinking it's just a band I've always enjoyed. It's also a gorgeous spot to wander along the waterfront and canal and enjoy the best Italian food at Aqua. 

I've always been fascinated with the tidal range in different parts of the world. Portishead has the second largest range in the world according to one of the information boards, up to15 metres at high tide. Having watched the tide sweep in at Mont Saint Michel, I can imagine how fierce the tide is at Portishead. 

Next stop was the Clifton suspension bridge, an amazing feat of engineering by Brunel bridging the Avon Gorge. Clifton is a treat of a place, high on a hill with views across the countryside and the Bristol Channel. Terraced houses tumbling down steep streets. The ancient history of the area is visible  as I stood within the iron age Clifton Camp hillfort. Descending into the caves in the hillside was a treat with minerals colouring the rocks to the side. It was a squeeze even for me but the view from the platform over the gorge was worth the steps.  

The photos are only phone ones. My big camera will get and outing soon. And more stories will follow. 

Portishead Marina

Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge from Clifton Camp

2022 - New beginnings

Wow it's been so long since I wrote here. And so many changes since I have. My word for 2021 was Being, turns out that was being able to start a new adventure, being able to regroup after a much needed employment change and being able to rest and recover. Heading away from a job towards being self employed has worked really well for me. 2021 was a year of change, regrouping, exploring and flourishing in a different way, all from the safety of my lovely apartment. 

Like all of us, most of the change was related to the scourge alarming the world and causing grief for so many people. I don't cope well with being isolated from my family and friends and the past 18 months have been isolating with small bright spots when the windows to travel happened. I got to New Zealand once when I would usually have been 4-5 times and I'm off there again in a few weeks. It's been over a year since I saw my family there, the longest time for me. The closer ones were also unavailable, that's thankfully changed now. 

My 2022 word is Beginning. An odd one I thought as it came to me and stayed. Begin, beginnings, then I realised my 12 year cycle ended in 2021 and begins this year so it did seem appropriate after all. What a year it's been so far! New friends, new adventures, new openness to opportunities, big decisions and actions, journalling again, inviting change. And change there is.

I recently sold my lovely apartment, my container for two and a half years, and am now selling the pieces I've gathered along the way. The treasures I will store until I need them again. Making a fresh start in another country, moving once again with 30 kilos and a back pack. I'm getting too old for this shit really! 

So I'll begin a series of posts here, quite possibly beginning on the plane, as I go on this new adventure. I have to laugh at the many reactions I've had to my news, I will miss this place and my people here but, as Arnie would say, 'I'll be back!'

Autumn sunrise!

Being

It's been a year since I moved into my new home, up on a hill overlooking the Gold Coast beaches. Time moves in funny ways. I bought exactly 10 years after I sold my last home in Christchurch and moved in at a time I usually manage moving, in December. It's also been almost two years since I began this new journey of work and lifestyle and I'm enjoying it here. My word for 2020 was Prosper - emotionally, spiritually, financially and socially - and COVID made that one a challenge. 

I don't cope too well with isolation and my work is a place of social engagement as well as the business in hand. Working from home and being locked down for a short time meant I gave away the notion of Prosper and concentrated on making it through and keeping well. I have the very best home in which to isolate, the very best environment so I'm lucky. I so miss the ability to travel. Not so much travel to far flung places, more the freedom to travel to see my family. I so miss my New Zealand crew, this is the longest time I've ever been apart from them and they are so tantalisingly close. 

Then there's the Sydney peeps. Having been so close for so long and having had them all up for a holiday in January 2020, I miss the everyday contact. Even my Brisbane family was off limits for a while with travel restrictions. I drove from here to Sydney, a 10 hour drive, in August so got to enjoy some time with Miss 6 and Mr 2 and their mum and dad. The borders shut soon after that, I'm hoping they are open for a south trip towards the end of January.

Each year I choose a word, this year the word is Being - being present, being open, being contented and being happy. Sounds simple, I'll keep you posted. 

Here are some pics from my place - Sunrise, a whale well watched and the evening beach.

An update

My new role on the Gold Coast gives me plenty of opportunities for getting out and about. February is full on and I'm really enjoying meeting my colleagues all over Australia and being present at places where I can influence.

Let's roll back a bit. I spent 2018 working hard on a project in The UAE. Back to the old haunts and catching up with old friends. My word for 2018 was Abundance and it came as I worked hard on and in my business. Abundance of family, friends, adventures, travel and funds. And right at the end an abundance of change.

In 2018 I got to go to Kenya with a very good friend, a Kenyan with deep family roots in this most splendid of places. I got the insider tour including the most amazing tented camp safari where we followed a lion pride on a kill one evening then met them the next day when they were resting after their evening feast. Where a very large bull elephant had us spellbound by with his aggression, where we were all bit worried he would charge.

And the rhinos, who could forget those most majestic of animals. We were there when Sudan the last male Northern White Rhino died. A tragedy keenly felt by his keepers and the teams who protect the rhinos. We visited a rhino graveyard, reading the stories of how these ones died at the hands of poachers. The senselessness of their deaths made me weep.

My lovely friend Lyn said we were going riding on the reserve, I'd seen enough to know being on horseback would provide the lions with a gourmet meal so I was not keen. Lyn led me to believe that's where we were riding, there was great hilarity when she saw the relief on my face that we were riding in a safe enclosure with animals not interested in their food on horseback. An amazing experience enjoying the abundance of wildlife for the back of my docile horse.

There's so much to tell about our Kenyan adventure including a party at Muthaiga Country Club, a very posh colonial club that featured in Out of Africa. Dressing for dinner was required. Kenya, the land of contrasts. Of flower farms and giraffes and pumba and herds of zebra and hyena in family groups frolicking in the dusk. There are many photos, here's a few.

My word for 2019 was connection, connections aplenty as I fit into a new place, new role, new relationships and reconnections. another set of stories for another day.

Beautiful countryside

Rhino graveyard on dusk

The pride we followed - long zoom used 

Changes - so many changes

It's been a long time since I've ventured here and the time to revisit might just be now. Where to begin.

My new travel companion mentioned in the last entry turned out to be different in real life, as happens, and since then I've had many adventures. Along the way I've met wonderful people, realised some are in my life for a reason, some a season and some for a lifetime.

My family have grown with the joy of new grand babies. I've moved home 4 times, within Sydney and interstate and I'm now happily living in my own place on the Gold Coast. The place I am very unexpectedly at after answering a phone call in late 2018. My willingness to say yes often lands me in places where I shake my head and wonder about how I let that brain explosion guide me. Not this time.

As always for me it's about the people. I met the people, said yes, packed up my life and came on this new adventure. I was at a cross roads after an abundant year of work, friends and travel. Things that come so easily can only be good. One year on and I am thriving within a team of positive people all walking in the same direction. Dedicated people who only want to best for children and their families. My kind of people.

So I do hope to write more here as things progress. Back stories to provide the context, current stories as I explore this new place and get some travel time. Best of all family stories. There are reports to write now and a workshop I'm co-presenting on Wednesday, followed by a walk on the beach and dinner with friends. One year in my new life is good, very good indeed.