Post Christmas Blog
It’s January the 6th and almost two weeks since
my last blog. Unsurprisingly a lot has
happened since the last blog so here is a little update for you.
Dan worked Christmas day- well he was at work, dressed as a reindeer
eating a lot of food with the nursing staff.
Being the social gentleman he is he had a hour and a half lunch break so
that he could share Christmas dinner with both the morning and afternoon nurses
as their shifts changed over (very clever).
Poor Dan did seem a little bored but better that than overwhelmed with
sick patients!
I struggled through the evening of Christmas eve, feeling
very tired and for the first time wanting the sun to go down so I could snuggle
up and watch a Christmas movie and eat chocolate, not that I need an excuse to
consume chocolate as Dan will tell you...
However Christmas morning greeted a fresh and excited Sarah. I had pancakes and strawberries at a friend’s
house before walking to the Baptist Church to partake in their Community Christmas
Meal. I arrived to a room of 130
beautifully set up place settings and the smell of Christmas dinner. My first job was to dish out deserts. Lay before me we were 150 bowls all with
Christmas pudding already served up. A
little perplexed I asked them what they wanted me to do as the puddings were
already served. However what ensued was
a mass operation filling each bowl with jelly, trifle, custard, pavlova and crumble
as well as the Christmas pudding. Being a woman of moderate appetite I was
amazed at the size of these deserts and even more amazed at their consumption
about an hour later! As people arrived the social diversity made
for a colourful and wonderful day. We
had travellers from the hostels, families with children (one family with 6
children!) a good proportion of our more senior friends and even a couple celebrating
their 60th wedding anniversary not to forget the cross dresser with
his family who was wearing a rather delightful dress! It was such a pleasure to serve people
Christmas dinner and even the mammoth washing up which followed had a sense of
community. I wonder if such a Community
Meal could work in the UK. This was
definitely not targeted at any particular group but an open invitation for
companionship and fun. In the afternoon
I was invited to dinner by Leanne and Jonathan who were going to his
mothers. As I arrived I realised I
actually knew all the other guests wither from the hospital or the Churches we
had visited. I had my second Christmas
dinner in the sun. It didn’t feel like
Christmas but it was wonderful.
On the Saturday after Christmas we set off for Nelson.
Driving through New Zealand is a pure
delight.
Every turn brings new
topography, hills, mountains, streams, forests the beauty rolls on and on
making the four hour journey to Nelson a pleasure
. As we approached our
destination the urbanisation of a New Zealand city started to emerge.
This meant hardware stores, multiple supermarkets,
garages, yet in the midst of unspoilt beaches with the Able Tasman nation park
as the back drop.
I would do this kind
of city life!
Our accommodation was an architectural
feast.
A New B&B overlooking the
beach.
It had a clear colour scheme-
white.
The owner was one of the funniest
characters I’ve met in a long time, she was in her 60s bleached blond hair and
very friendly to the point where I almost felt like a family friend.
Her
son had designed the building and we learnt that he was an eccentric chap who
liked to explore the world bare foot- random but put everything into context.
After a day chilling we met up with Steve and Stephen for
dinner.
Steve is a friend of ours, a
wonderful Godly young man, rather like my husband.
He is small and hairy and talks non
stop!
We attempted to have a meal but
the food was two hours in coming to fruition.
I was so impressed that the boys didn’t get ratty due to the ‘hunger’, a
true testament of their characters.
The
time was filled with a variety of conversation spanning deep theology to ridiculous
Dan/Steve humour. Steve, steve, steve, alan alan (Dan and Steve’s favourite you
tube clip).
After dinner we went ice skating on a
temporary ice rink.
Unfortunately having
two doctors around gave Steve a (false) sense of security on the ice.
He sped round at Tasmanian devil speed but
without the skill on the ice to control himself at those moments of lost
gravitation towards the ice.
However at
the end of the evening he had only wiped out twice and initial survey showed no
breaks.
I wonder, is this what it is
like having children....
Joanna is one of fifteen children (one is in
heaven) and we were invited to her family home for New Year. They
live just over the hill from Nelson so Dan and I met Steve and Stephen in
Nelson and then took Steve over the hill to Joanna’s. Monday morning was the departure date and
having not slept I consumed three strong coffees before leaving. This had the predictable diuretic effect and an
hour into the journey I had already had to have two toilet stops (which is
impressive even for me). Stephen (not to
be confused with Steve) wanted to show us the resurgence, an area of natural
beauty where a river springs from hillside making a clear pool of water and
then we decided to visit a picturesque beach for a bit of sunning and an
ice-cream.
On arrival to Joanna’s we were met by her mum and a few of
her siblings and some friends.
Some of
you will have heard of a psychological treatment called ‘flooding’.
This works by overwhelming the senses and
hopefully overcoming the fear/ phobia.
For
arachnophobia this would mean going into an enclosure full of spiders.
Looking back I think this initial experience was
a bit like a ‘flooding’ for me.
Any fear
of meeting new people was completely overwhelmed by the situation and the
realisation that these people were warm, open, loving and accepting- fear
quashed.
Soon I was singing with boys as
they played guitar and helping to fold the washing (of which there was lots!).
The evening was spent having a BBQ on the
beach, which was a two minute walk from their house, playing ultimate Frisbee,
football (Dan was impressed with my football skills), more singing and making
dampers (cooking dough on the end of a wooden pole and then filling it with
syrup) .
Dan had a ride on a dirt bike which
he thoroughly enjoyed and more highlights include the moon-bow which appeared
as a result of amazing moonlight and rain, and beautiful glow worms.
This time the glow worms were in a beachside
cave.
As you went into the cave there
were pockets perhaps a meter wide where fifty plus glow worms shone their
little lights all together.
They were so
magical I wished I could capture the moment to share with everyone, especially
Grandma- it was like our own little fairy cave, she would have loved it!
After a fantastic night we decided to head back over the
hill the next day. This enabled us to
have a day walking in the Abel Tasman National Park. We decided to sea taxi into the park and walk
out. The sea taxi was a forty minute
speed boat ride. On board was a family
with three small children. As we motored
to our destination the sea was quite chopping and the boat seemed to take off
and land with a thud producing that ‘stomach in mouth’ feeling. The three year old in front of us found this
hilarious and her infectious giggles were wonderful to hear. As we arrived it started to rain but we were
prepared and rain coats applied we continued on. I had decided to walk in shorts and had a
special bag which strapped round my waist, like a bum bag, but with pockets for
my drink each side. I had a mini Lara Croft
moment (see picture) only my guns were actually massive bottles of water (much
more useful!). We walked for four hours on coastal tracts,
through forest, across the beach, past mini waterfalls and finally over the estuary
back to the car. Exhausted but satisfied
we went back to the hostel for our final night in Nelson.
 |
| Lara Croft moment |
On our way back home we stopped for lunch in Takaka. We found this hippy cafe which was rather large
by New Zealand standards. We ordered our
food and then took our number and found a comfy sofa. Unfortunately our food came in staggered
intervals. Every time a waiter came out
Dan would eye ball the plates and if they seemed to match our order he would
start vigorously waving our number at them.
It was hilarious; it was as if he was trying to bid for his food, waving
this number like he was in an auction house.
Dan and my appetites somewhat balance each other out and at this point
Dan was hungry. I have seen Dan’s hunger
cause odd behaviour before but this is my favourite. I watched the people watching this mad
English man and thoroughly enjoyed a good giggle (yes out loud further
perpetuation the stares). It’s good to
giggle at oneself sometimes!
We are now back at work with Dan doing long days and I’m on
nights. My first night was pretty awful
but I’m afraid that’s part of the job. I
always have slight trepidation when I start a night shift but there is a part
of me that loves the adventure of not knowing what will come through the door.
I hope everyone had a lovely New Year and are looking
forward to 2013.
Much love
Sarah x
 |
| split apple rock |
