This blog
has emerged from the realisation that our pace of life has exceeded our
capacity to share our lives with our whanau in person. Conveniently, possibly
poetically, this also provides a neat metaphor for the philosophies underlying
much of our current life-restructuring project; as time has marched on, we
realised that what we want from life is far more expansive than the time we
have available to put to it, and we need to paint with broader brushes. True of
all of humanity, I surmise. The sensation that time is getting away will
shortly have a philosophical blog of its own, but for now, notes on 2017, and
the immediate product of the project – plans for 2018.
I want to
start by saying that it’s been a busy year. I’m a little intimidated by reading
it. And this time last year, I probably would have been completely paralysed by
the thought of it – over summer 2016/17, I decided, with the support of Bevan,
to get some help for my mental health and happiness. Best decision ever! Please
please please, if life doesn’t feel alright, find some help. There’s really no
need to try to work it all out yourself. That strategy lost me a lot of time in
my life, and I’ve spent the time since trying to make up for it, as you will
read…
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| New Years Eve at Mavora |
New Year’s
Eve 2016 was spent at Mavora Lakes with dear friends. It was my first ever bona
fide camping trip, and my first ever off track tramp. We decided to climb to a
ridge to celebrate the new year; the peri-Fiordland weather, true to form, had
other ideas, and crapped all over us within 10 seconds of finding a good spot.
We retreated to the bush, and had a grand old time with our wine, cheese, and
crackers, and somehow managed to avoid falling down any bluffs on the way back
to camp, merrily singing the Grease soundtrack and koala-bearing our way down
the tree falls… Used one of our nine lives, quite possibly…!
March and
April were notable for the celebration of THREE weddings, two within two days
of one another (one on each island!), extended visits from my mother and her
husband, and from my father and paternal grandma, and a solo trip to Wellington
to sing with the New Zealand Youth Choir (more on that later) and catch up with
friends. The Irish band I play in also rocked the Clutha Golf Club on St
Patrick’s day!!! In addition to my usual instruments, I’ve also picked up the
tin whistle and bodhran (“bow-rahn”, Irish hand drum) on a couple of songs this
year – just enough to make a dick of myself when we travel to Ireland next year
;-)
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| Abhainn Mhór at Balclutha Golf Club - St Patrick's Day 2017 (you can see my feet at the keyboard!) |
Another
major event culminated in March. In November 2016, I handed my notice in at
work. I had been working in rural mixed veterinary practice for almost exactly
three years. I was almost halfway through my Master of Veterinary Medicine (MVM)
degree, facing another year of practice and part time study, along with my many
other commitments and interests – something had to go. Suffice to say that it
was a complex decision, and as it has turned out, one that I couldn’t be
happier with. I finished up on the 17th of March, and launched into
full-time MVM study. On the 13th of November, I completed my final
postgraduate exam in endocrinology, and on the 6th of December, I
handed in my completed thesis: “The Epidemiology of Dropped Hock Syndrome in
New Zealand Cattle”. I can’t say it was the subject of my dreams (an
impossibility, in fact, given the novelty of the topic!), but the opportunity
to expand my epidemiology training upon a previously undescribed disease with
various funding sources in place was just too great to pass up… And lo, it was
the delivery of my first mind-child, and it was great! And just as importantly,
the project made space for personal expansion in myriad other ways – a topic
for another post.
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| Galen and me sharing a special moment |
Expanding
my understanding and skill in horse training was another goal for the year. A
couple of friends and myself and our horses tripped out to Mavora Lakes for a
three-day stint in February. It was a highlight of my life to date! Fabulous
riding and people and a great time was had by all, including a night around the
campfire singing and laughing with a wonderful group of whanau travelling
together with a whole herd of horses. One of the folks drives his rig around
with a PIANO in the back next to his horse!!! Since February, I have also been
caring for a very wonderful and well-trained mare in addition to my handsome
gelding, and she has contributed to my knowledge and skill in different ways to
any human teachers I’ve had. Between Miss Mare, the Mavora trip, participating
in a five day horsemanship camp in Canterbury, a couple of other Parelli
clinics over the year, and a clinic with Warwick Schiller in October, watching
another couple of clinics, and joining the NZ Clicker Training group, I feel
I’ve met my horsemanship goal! Since October, the horses have been on holiday
due to my other commitments. Hopefully (maybe?!) January will bring some new
circumstances?!
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| The horse paddock at Mavora Lakes - February 2017 |
Musically,
the last twelve months have been challenging in all the right ways. On the 2nd
of December 2016, I auditioned for the New Zealand Youth Choir with the support
of an amazing classical teacher. The NZYC were winners of every category in
which they competed at the 24th International Festival of Academic
Choirs in Pardubice in 2016, including the overall Grand Prix… Somehow, I was
invited to sing as a soprano reserve with them! I’m effectively ‘on the bench’,
and have the opportunity to participate in workshops with the choir throughout
the next three years. I will never forget the first of these, in April, in
Wellington, when these incredible voices erupted around me. There I was,
invited to be singing alongside - a truly transformative moment in my vocal
self-belief, and equally opening my eyes to just how much there is yet to learn.
I am forever indebted to the staff and members of the NZYC, it’s truly such a
special organisation with a fabulous culture. This experience, along with my
previous life as a wannabe barbershop singer and musician, led me to volunteer
to provide some coaching to the local Balclutha Phoenix Singers group each week
for the latter part of the year, along with some coaching of soloists at the
South Otago Theatrical Society – my first paid music teaching! The challenge of
being invited to perform in a new style of singing led me to another wonderful
voice coach in the months prior to the final concert, and a whole new world of
learning. So much to practice! A recording of the piece I performed can be
found here (just a rehearsal – the character has descended into prostitution in
order to support herelf and her fatherless love child after the loss of her job
in revolutionary France): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iQtM5ZWAdHwS2eEUAHTz09x_AwM-LxQh/view?usp=sharing
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| D&D group breakfasting at the holiday house in Te Anau |
In combination with the second NZYC trip of
the year, Bevan and I did a road trip up the North Island, stopping in to spend
a few days with friends and their new baby on the way up from Wellington,
stopping in for tea with others, and culminating in an epic Dungeons &
Dragons session in Auckland with yet more friends! Dungeons & Dragons has
been a smaller part of our lives this year, with our regular group dwindling to
a core of four with the departure of “Fyren” to Auckland. We did, however,
manage a long weekend trip to Te Anau at the end of October with Fyren making
it all the way down to join us for what will probably be turn out to be The
Final Session before we all head our separate ways. We can highly recommend the
glowworm cave tour, absolutely magical!!! Very different to Waitomo.
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| One of our babies and me! |
August and
September brought lambs, and lots of them. From our 25 ewes, we lambed two sets
of quads (including one caesarean!), and ended with 52 live lambs in total –
not bad! We’ve sent 38 of these away so far, but are now getting very dry. Our
house cow, Maple, had her calf without trouble, and yielded enough milk for the
house for about a month, before Fleck got the better of her udder!!! Some time
during the spring, I worked in Dunedin at a purely small animal clinic there.
It was my first clinical work in about six months, and I looooooooved the job,
and Dunedin – so much so that it’s led on to a fixed term part time position at
a different clinic. Since the start of November, I’ve been working 2-3 days a
week in town, and making the most of my time in a ‘Big Smoke’ (ha ha!), going
rock climbing and learning the aerial silks in the evenings. I’ve also had the
pleasure of staying with a close friend, and have made many more friends there
since, which has been wonderful! Some time around the start of November, I also
volunteered to help a friend train for a half marathon... I’m sure a lot fitter
and faster than I was, but my ankles are not holding up to the road running,
very sadly, and I just can’t manage the longer runs, and won’t be doing one of
my own in the foreseeable future.
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| Learning to rock climb outdoors |
Last
weekend, we went on a whirlwind trip up to my family base north of Auckland. It
always feels in a way like going home; the last threads of my childhood. We
started the trip with a divine stew as only my Grandma can make, followed by a
late night on the town with my father, first dancing at a tango milonga, and
then sampling some really good polenta chips in the early hours at the Belgian
Beer Bar before collecting Dad and heading home by about 3am… The rest of the weekend involved a
faaaabulous party for my Auntie’s Significant Birthday, a trail run up the Dome
valley, a picnic trip to a favourite childhood beach haunt, and family
Christmas out to dinner, complete with tree and presents! We flew down to
Wellington from there, and spent a day and half with close friends, coming away
feeling inspired and refreshed – great friends to have, and they’re actually
procreating to boot. Glad there will be more like them in the world before
long!
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| Christmas dinner with Dad's family |
By way of a
clumsy segue into next year, because I’m running out of time to write this elegantly
before Christmas… During the middle part of the year, friends invited us to
join them on a 10-day tramping circuit around Torres del Paine national park in
southern Chile in March 2018. We said yes! We decided to be sensible, and
prepare ourselves for what is going to be more physical than anything we’ve
done before. September brought our first overnight tramp, up to Big Hut in the
Rock and Pillar Range near Middlemarch. It’s a vertical kilometre, straight up,
and it feels like it. I spent the evening, after a pretty decadent dinner,
lying around listening to the election coverage on the radio, wearing every
item of clothing I had brought along for warmth, and feeling on top of the
world, literally and figuratively! Check out photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/zuV7BvlRNkRb2VHS2
. This was the start of the slippery slope to overhauling our lives... We vowed
to do more of this new thing, leading us eventually to my birthday trip to the
West Coast, on which a photo blog can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/FRCP0AHzxWkThXav2
These
tastes of adventure, along with prior trips to the Queensland rainforest and
Vanuatu, have given us The Bug, the scent of freedom (and motivation to be fit
and strong)...
One thing I
have become aware of is that it’s easy to fall into trying to solve the world’s
problems within one’s own day –recycling plastics, growing fruit, veggies,
meat, and milk… all intended to be almost a defiant act against the modern
economy… along with, in my case, saving animals one at a time, and talking to
people about nutrition and permaculture at dinner parties in an effort to
improve their health and the health of our planet… but the approach is limiting
and limited in many ways. We’ve had a lot of enjoyment and personal growth out
of these experiences, but I’ve realised there’s no harm in buying others’
organic produce and having time in the day to expand myself and contribute in
other ways! It’s time to move on to new adventures and a fresh approach. So, as
of February, we will be ‘BIzzy’ travelling, and tasting the antipasti of life J
The trip to
South America has extended to two months around Chile and Argentina, meeting
various folks on the way, and culminating in a couple of weeks in Buenos Aires
with my father. Bevan’s sister is getting married at the end of April, giving
us a proper line in the sand for which to be back in New Zealand... But, the
big but, is that Bevan has also handed his notice in – we will be free agents
as of mid-February, and are loosely planning to head to the Northern Hemisphere
for their summer, with no end-date at this stage. There are further loose plans
to locum around the world, and possibly other places in New Zealand in time –
we will see what life brings! I have also formed the seed of a PhD idea (for
some hypothetical future), which needs solidifying around some real world
experiences and a whole load of reading - some combination of the nutritional
epidemiology of western lifestyle disease, food economics, and climate change
and other environmental impacts of the food production systems created in
response to the demands of capitalism. In a nutshell, how human nutrition and
nutritional disease, the planet, and capitalism interact. AKA ‘soup of my every
interest’ – mind-child number two?
What, you
say? You have a farm! And animals! Yes, we do, but not for long. We have made
what, I’m sure you can imagine, is a pained decision to find mid-term to
permanent homes for each of our treasured furry and feathered friends (though
the fishy ones are staying put) for the duration of our trip. Our property
renovations have been progressing (slowly) over the year, and will be complete
by mid-January ready to put the property on the market soon after. If not sold
prior to our departure, we will put a tenant in place and lease the land until
the property sells. Much of our stuff will go into storage for the time when we
may settle somewhere… And as for us… backpacks it is! Exciting times ahead.
I’d love
for feedback on our plans, travel suggestions, contacts, and for your pearls of
wisdom about life in general – please, comment away!
Arohanui, whanau :-)
