Excerpts from my personal album and journal - Page 2
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 Byron Bay BeachMy two hours on the beach reward me abundantly. I've found the perfect place to start, just a five-minute drive from my hilltop home, beside the Beach Café with a kilometer of beach to the left toward town and another to the right toward the point. On this cool, breezy morning at 9 a.m. this is a quiet beach, a few families already dug in for the day, a few walkers. The sea kayakers are just crossing the surf line for their pursuit of dolphins, but I spot mine from the lookout tower at the point the minute I arrive. |
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 St. Margaret's School, Berwick, near Melbourne, AustraliaMy first visit to this sister school where our girls were the first adventurers, trips built on trust, Virginia's and mine, and on the commonality of our visions and missions for these girls. So many girls have made the voyage and here they are safely returned! Their bright eyes translate the memories of their days with us. Nina brings wonderful lilies from the family nursery and reminiscences of her GAP year. The others share their different memories but all agree that the highlight was how small and friendly they found our Virginia school. |
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 Cape Otway Lighthouse, along the Great Ocean Road, AustraliaTurning off the Great Ocean Road, I follow the 12 kilometer entrance road through Cape Otway National Park to the lighthouse. I am enchanted! Here is a lush old forest with late afternoon light sliding through the white gnarled tree trunks and dappling the road. I'm alone with birds; the road sign warns of koalas and kangaroos and cows! Yes, the gates are closed, but the gatekeeper is just inside and lets me in, locking me onto the point. What will this be like? The lighthouse keeper's wife meets me inside and shows me the West Studio, surprised that I'm alone. Yes, I'm really alone! But here are my old friends, the birds swooping across my view, the sun lowering in the sky to the right, the sound of the ocean roaring in below my line of sight; I feel right at home! The new friend? The one I've been waiting for excitedly -The Lighthouse, right outside my door! I trade my dress up shoes for hiking boots and set out to mark the boundaries of my turf. First down the white railed boardwalk to the lighthouse, 1848, the oldest on mainland Australia, through the woods to the right to the World War II radar post hidden in the brush, down the path to the left (snakes active this time of year, so says the sign) to an early lighthouse keeper's home, back toward the gate keeping me inside, then back to my new home. Can I bottle this moment? |
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 The Twelve Apostles, along the Great Ocean RoadFrom Lavers Hill, the Great Ocean Road takes a long, slow, winding drop to Princetown (just 2 stores, a phone, David's not home), but the postmistress has more good advice on what to see and gives me the best guide yet. Now the serious tourist route has begun. The Twelve Apostles burst from the sea, yes, better than the postcards in their majesty. Port Campbell for lunch at a small café. This is a deep port, the most settled of these towns so far. These feel like people's homes, confirmed by the petrol station owner. He'd come for five years and stayed for twenty! Now David's home and we can talk of projects and plans, anticipate enjoying being together again. He'd love it here! |
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 Sydney, AustraliaI leave at 6:15 for the short walk around Circular Quay to the Opera House for the 8 o'clock performance in the Drama Theatre of Rose of Trelawany. This is a busy corner of the city: street theatre (I love the people who paint themselves as silver statures, only occasionally moving ever so slightly), ferry goers, street café diners. I sit down for a glass of sparkling water and watch the sun set behind the quay, coloring the Opera House where the almost full moon is peaking over the roof. I take a long walk around the building, inside and out. I'm ready for a rest! |
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 Milford Track, South Island, New Zealand, Day 112:00 Te Anau for buffet lunch and our last real coffee at the town café. 1:10 Group photo while we're still worth looking at, then back on the bus to Te Anau Downs and the one-hour ferry ride to our starting point. It is spectacular! First choppy, then smooth as glass, we move among forests, around islands, one with a cross to mark Mackinnon's loss, perhaps just here. 3:00 We disembark. About the sandflies? It's really true! How did I get this far in life never carrying a pack? This is hard. I'm going to have to ask for help to get it adjusted, but not today with only a 20-minute walk to Glade House, our first night's stop. We move into our bunkhouse, bunks for 6 but we're alone. The manager has my allergy list and the meals have all been planned, a huge relief. 4:00 A nature walk, without the pack, to Mackinnon's 2-mile hut, across another suspension bridge (but no one stopped to read the maximum load sign!), crystal clear aqua water in the Clinton River below. We see a two-foot trout on the return. A 500 year old red beech tree, a tiny hooded orchid, light filtering through the high leaf canopy, a slow walk back feeling the intensity of late afternoon green. 6:00 Dinner, roast beef family style. Who are all these people who travel the world and have actually been to places we've marveled over in books? We hear of Nepal and Machu Pichu, yes these are serious trekkers. We have a lot to learn! |
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 Milford Track, Day 23:00 On a rock in the shade, in the middle of the west branch of the Clinton River, water rushing along both sides of my rock - over fallen trees, beneath the tree roots that line the shore, one bird is calling to my left, a small, shrill yet gentle call. Ahead of me, Mackinnon Pass, flanked on either side by still green snow tipped peaks. Another version of paradise. We are now 8 miles into today's walk, along the river bank, through a wetland marsh (a carniverous flower that can live long on one sandfly, a tiny hooded orchid, past water falls on both sides, beneath moss draped beech trees, alongside radiant ferns). By the time we reached the lodge for lunch, I was tired, ready to take off my pack and boots, lie on the grass and gaze at the falls, an hour's stop was all I took. The kea swept in for a powerbar plucked from Tim's lunch sack; the children spotted mice beneath the floor. Now we move in and out together, in groups, alone. I love this new way of really seeing the world, God's splendor it its original form, well-tended so it will stay that way. For 30 minutes I've looked along the path for a spot like this, words for my chapel talk tumbling in my mind. I'll write some now, take a real picture, then just lie back to really see. 5:00 Arrival at last. David, refreshed, meets me at the entrance to Pamplonna Lodge, a series of small buildings linked by fire escape like stairways climbing up the hill. We're alone again in a 6 berth room, forest and ferns out the back window, a snow topped mountain outside the door. Tonight more of us drift off right after dinner, too tired to talk, a little anxious,in a good way, to meet tomorrow's challenge, a long climb and descent with the promise of Sutherland Falls at the end, if we can make it to the next lodge by 4:30, an incentive to stay on track. |
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 Milford Track, Day 3Success! David and I were committed to making it within the times so we left promptly at 7:30, made it easily to Mintaro Hut by 8:50 and reached Mackinnon Pass Hut for lunch at 11:45, after a short stop at the cross memorial to Mackinnon and quite a few photo stops on the way up. The climb was a consistent 8/1, which was easier than we'd thought it would be. It was definitely long, but not too rocky. Today was overcast, a pleasant change, just a few raindrops at the top. The trip down - 3000 feet, over 3 miles, in 3 hours - was as tough as I'd ever like to do. The Main Track was closed, potential avalanche zone, so we came down the Emergency Track - steep, rocky, essential to keep your eyes moving from rock to rock, finding a place to put each foot. By the last half hour, I was wobbly kneed, seriously tired. But we made it by 3:30! What did I like? The new wildflowers on the ascent, especially the delicate yellow and white Mount Cook lilies, the "toilet with a view" at Pass Hut, the bridges along the side of a water fall for a long portion of the descent, pausing to look long down the valleys on either side - where we'd been and we were heading, sharing this day back and forth with David, succeeding! |
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 Bay of Islands, New Zealand, aboard Trieste, a 28' sailboat
Last day!It's cold! But through the hatch door, I can see a clear blue sky, the trees against the hill. Time for coffee, but first I'll need to climb into the dew slippery cockpit to turn on the gas. Magnificent! Just moments ago the sun rose above the long line of islands on the horizon. From our anchorage in Keikei Cove, the entire Bay of Islands stands in profile under this blazing sun. Magnificent! From our cabin seats, still snuggled under all the covers we have, we drink this coffee and talk of the transition back, how I'll carry forward all I've learned. David says it well, "Your job is ¼ very, very hard issues, but the rest is all the things you really love to do. Somehow you need to remember that balance and not let the tough parts fill all the space." That sounds right to me. Hold on to the celebrations, cherish the joy. |
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| To email Margaret: margaret@sms.org | |
