Tauranga on its feet

When Ray moved back to new Zealand, he worked in a project called Tauranga on its feet - getting people in the city to walk. Well, we're trying hard to do a walk every day, and very pleasant it is.

I enjoy our walks at home – as we set off each day, we decide which side of the hill we are going up – everything is up from our house!, whether we are going through the Park, if we’re going to do the extra loop to add another ½ km, or if we’re going to go somewhere where Lindt can get a bit of a run.
But walking in Tauranga has brought a new interest to walking. Firstly, we are walking without Lindt – which feels a bit strange. And then we are walking in a completely different area.

We’ve had a couple of interesting walks around Greerton, the suburb in which Nic and Ray live. Lots of the roads are dead ends, so we find ourselves retracing our steps quite a lot as we try to find our way around. There is a delightful shopping area called Greerton Village quite close and we have walked around it and had coffee at some of the delightful coffee shops. Coffee and breakfast are expensive but lunch is quite reasonable. Houses are mostly timber clad and some are on very small pieces of land, but the roses everywhere are amazingly beautiful. Obviously this is real rose climate. All along the road are vans selling avos, strawberries, asparagus and oranges – very reasonable at this time of the year.

We’ve also had a walk around the Mount with Nic – and this time we had to stop for her. Yes, she is pregnant, but I am fitter than last time and it wasn’t such an effort for me. I really want to go up the Mount one of these days. Nic’s midwife has said she needs to walk a lot to get Ricky to turn from breech, so we’ll try the Mount one of these days.

There are also a lot of “reserves” - green belts in amongst the houses. Just opposite Nic and Ray’s house is the Argyll reserve – a long, narrow and steep piece of land between Argyll Road and the light Industrial area on the bottom of the ridge. It is beautiful as it opens up into green lawns amongst big trees and tree ferns, but definitely a daytime walk.

A walk through the Fraser Road reserve started in Yatton Park – another daytime place to be – apparently it is a bit scary at night as it is right adjacent to the “Vale” – a rough part of town. It was a great walk – through the park, down some stairs to the river and then a walk along the banks of the cove to the Fraser Cove shopping Centre. The tide was in and we waded through some water that had overflowed onto the path on our way down, but on the way back, the tide was out and the path was dry. We met an old man on his mobility scooter taking his elderly and portly dog for a walk along the path – he tells me he brings the dog down every day for a walk. After a cup of coffee at Fraser Cove we walked back a different way and went along the edges of beautiful lush gardens stretching right down to the reserve – and not a wall, piece of razor wire or electric fence in sight.

Today we walked around the Estuary – the tide was in and it was a beautiful day – a cool breeze but mostly sunny. We started with a walk through the bush, then along a boardwalk though the mudflats, then along the deeper edge of the estuary on a path alongside the road. Lots of birds – white faced herons wading in the long grasses, quizzy pukekos – a native bird that is as stupid as a guinea fowl, but very pretty, Egyptian geese, cormorants ad lots of lbj’s. Walking back along the road we had a brilliant view of the Mount across the water. Nic tells us that when the next tsunami hits, it will go over the Mount and roar up the Estuary – but today, with a blue sky and gentle breeze, it all seems so unlikely, even though it’s really more about “when” than “if.” The GPS turned itself off, so there are conflicting opinions about how long the walk was – but my legs tell me it was at least 10kms!

Walks still to come are Papamoa Hills, McLaren Falls and the Karangahake Gorge. Lots to look forward to. Ray would be proud.

A year closer to 60

Another birthday – not a “big” one but a special one as it is the first time for 5 years since I woke up on my birthday in the same house as Nicky. I’m 58 today – 2 years off 60 and a year retired.
Maybe retiring before 60 makes it feel different, but for me, it’s been a great adventure. There’s been no regret that I have stopped working formally – except on pay day when there is no salary! – and no feeling that I am on the downhill slope to old age. In fact, I feel younger, more alive and more energetic than I did a year ago.

As I had a little snooze after lunch today – after a 5 km walk and a Turkish takeaway for lunch – I thought about how different my birthdays usually have been – working till late in the afternoon, rushing home to smile and pretend I really do want to go out to dinner, but meanwhile thinking of all the reports I should be working on, and then falling into bed exhausted so I can get up early and be at school before anyone else in the morning in order to get some work done before the hurly-burly of the day.

I love being a pensioner; having a pensioners’ card so we can get money off things – not that I’ve actually used it; going for walks in the morning after the traffic has gone; travelling out of school holidays; shopping on weekday mornings; watching the cooking channel while I have lunch; eating breakfast and lunch on the verandah; reading the newspaper or not with my morning coffee– because there is time to do it later if I feel like it; checking facebook when I want to and not when there is a 5 minute gap – yes, there are a lot of advantages to being older.

I don’t know how I had time to work – my life is busy and fulfilled. What a pity people ever have to work – young people could really do with the joy of the kind of life we have right now. But maybe we only appreciate it because we haven’t had it before.

I look forward to another special year – roll on 59!

The Main Attraction

The curtain has gone up on the Main Attraction. Since the last time we were in New Zealand, two years ago, we have talked about how we would spend 3 months here in the first year we were retired. Well, it’s November and we are here. Better late than never!

I wrote on Facebook the other night that this trip was the central plan in our first year of freedom, and that everything else we’ve done has been a dress rehearsal for this moment. And now it’s here. We had to change plans a few times and dates changed even after we’d booked when we realised that Ricky was imminent, but it’s always been there – a great adventure.

The week before we left was busy – trying to get everything finished – my UKZN marks, a Reading to Learn Strategic Planning day the day before we left, Pete’s Planned Giving envelopes for Church, buying cat food, baking for Sarah and Sihle, having our family round for brunch, preparing for a farewell dinner with our House Group, taking Lindt to the vet, making sure clothes were ready to pack and picking up all the things people wanted to send to friends and relations – and the new baby-to-be! So there wasn’t really time to think – but the day before we left on our 10.00pm flight was loooong. And so was the flight – better than Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong last time, but still long.

We got into Auckland at 5 in the morning, got through customs without a murmur – no one wanted to even look in our bags – unlike OR Tambo where they searched our hand baggage and Australia where we were “quarantined” while we were in transit – I felt as though I was in Border Patrol. Then we walked out of the arrivals hall and there were Nic and Ray. I’ve known she was pregnant – I’ve seen her tummy growing on Facebook and even had a close up look on Skype, and seen the scans and videos – but nothing prepared me for the rush of emotion as I saw my little girl with her big(ish) tummy and knew that her little girl, Ricky, is growing and developing and being loved as she makes her way out into the big world. I felt so protective – of Nic and Ric (do you think the name will stick?) and incredibly happy to be with this special little family.

But as for adventure? We love Nic and Ray’s new home and all they have done in the house and garden, we love Mo, their cat who has so much character, and it was great to see Rita and Graham last night for dinner, but it doesn’t feel like an adventure. It feels like home. Driving into town and walking up to Greerton village we felt as though we were on very familiar turf and as though we belong.

I suppose what I’m saying is - Home is where the heart is – and my heart has pieces of it all over the place – Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria, Tauranga – where my precious kids are. And so we are at home here with Nic, Ray, Mo and Ricky, just as we are with Sarah, Riaan, Kev and Harriet, and with Sihle, Lindt, Jingle and Bell. Lucky parents to have such an amazing family.

So the main attraction may end up being a very familiar reality show and not a great adventure. It may not be “Grand ….” or “Extreme …..” or “Desperate ….” But that doesn’t matter – because it will be filled with all the love we have.

The end of year one

A week to go and we will be almost on the plane to New Zealand. We fly out at 22:00 next Monday. The 3 months in New Zealand was always the focal point of this first year of retirement – decided on as soon as we realised Nic and Ray were going to be staying there for a while. We’ve planned and thought and longed for it – changed dates and times, changed the reasons for going, changed our mind about clothes, presents and suitcases - and at last it’s upon us.

Originally, I wanted to get on the plane the first day of February but as Nic and Ray only left here mid-January, that seemed a bit crazy. Then we thought of April, but other things came up. Then we didn’t want to spend winter there. Then we hoped, and hoped there would be a grandchild to go and welcome. And now that’s exactly what we will be doing – but having some time to spend with Nic and Ray for the last time as parents, not grandparents, before little Ric makes her appearance.

So, what has this year brought for us? For Pete, it’s been a year of total unwinding. He has lost weight, got fit, bought new clothes, relaxed, painted and renovated the house, taken photos, watched sport on TV and done a fair bit of 4x4 travelling to satisfy his adventurous heart. He’s had a bit of fishing – with Kevin and with his brother, Neil, and also on his own. He looks 20 years younger! I keep saying that all he needs is a little blond hair colour and an ear-ring and he will look like “a footballer” like Becks. He has not worked – he’s just said “no” when people have tried to get him to locum. He said he would take a “gap year” and he has. The other day, he went to Pretoria to a Pharmacy Council meeting and I hardly recognised him in “work” clothes.

We’ve done some travelling – a short trip via Clarens to Gauteng, a trip around the outside of Lesotho – our 11 Passes trip – and our month at the Wild Coast. And some trips to Pretoria to look after Kev while Sarah and Riaan went off on some travels. We’ve also done a lot of walking – taking Lindt on short and long walks, and some great walks down on the Wild Coast – on the cliffs and on the beach.

And my time? – well, my plan was to change my style of work, but not stop working and I’ve done just that. Two not so successful ventures – a term at St Nics co-ordinating the 21st birthday term – not a good idea to go back – and a couple of months working as a consultant for Schoolnet. That also ended badly – I should never have accepted the job knowing my other commitments and the personality clashes I knew I would have with a member of the organisation. But I did it, and I’m glad of the experience – and have also realised I want to work in my own time and my own schedule – not being at the beck and call of others.

Then there have been the wonderfully successful things – working with Reading to Learn and understanding and enjoying the methodology more and more, travelling to Kenya to train there, doing some training here and planning for an exciting future. It’s been great to work with Mike Hart and to realise we can work over cappuccinos at Essence with our computers! Working at UKZN with the PGCE students was also great – I loved the full time students and going to Umngazi with 12 of them was an amazing experience. I have 12 new members of my family!

I’ve given a lot more time to my personal wellbeing – losing 20 kgs and exercising regularly has been great – I have cut my blood pressure and anti-depressant medication by half. I think I could drop the anti-depressants altogether, but my doctor thinks I should keep on with them until I have stopped dieting. Everyone says I look younger – I certainly feel younger!

What have I missed? Seeing special friends regularly – both the friends I worked with and our House Group friends – we all seem to have been away such a lot this year. Getting to St Matthews every Sunday – we have missed a lot of church. Teaching kids – but not the marking, the Admin or the fights!

So – the trip is here and the year is ending. The best part – spending time with my beloved – getting to fall in love all over again. Roll on the next 20-30-40 years of retirement. We’re baby boomers – we are making our retirement count!