Sth Canterbury is dark and its raining raining.

The good thing is to be inside, nice and dry and warm by the fire, while the rain sounds fab on the roof.

Keep high and dry  as the deluge comes.

Time for gumboots and keeping an eye out for others as this rain hits.

Forecast is for one of the worst rains in recent history. Take care and keep safe.

I have just finished a shift at the hospital and as I interact with many of the elderly I wonder about family care for those who come before us.

Mothers are always mothers no matter how old or frail they become.

Do we all truly care and take responsibility for our aged ones as our mothers took responsibility for us when we were young?

Life is about caring for others and sharing generations together as a whanau in good times and challenging ones.

We all need some laughs, some together times, to feel respected and to have the acknowledgement of contribution towards others,  even in the most minute ways.

Some thoughts for the evening as Autumn quickly moves  to Winter and awakeness turns to slumber.

There is nothing like a good cuppa  of Earl  Grey tea, after a big drive back from ChCH.

Do you put your milk in first )))

Dont you just love it when you have lots of exciting new ideas buzzing around in your very essence.

The head and the heart fires, ready and awaiting action for an amazing new reality.

Take the paths that others often fear to travel,  for this will make our porch stories  unique in the absolute.

For this will make our lives …. ALIVE …. with incredible connections.

Go Girls  create your own realities and live your new ideas.

What a fantastic Rail Trail girls!!

It was the best of all things, biking, new friends and cabaret- ing Art Deco, with all the laughs and chats that only good company brings.

Watch out for the story in pics to come )

This will definitely be on the agenda next year.

Two Sleeps to go and we are off on our Rail Trail bike tiki tour of the Maniatoto.

Did you know??

“The Rail Trail can be walked, cycled or horseback ridden and has the advantage of no cars or hills and is free. You can take as little or as long as you like to complete the Rail Trail and with so many great places to see along the way, it is well worth taking a leisurely tour. There are numerous small towns along the Rail Trail that all contain their own unique history and attractions for you to explore, and most come fully equipped with accommodation and satisfying food at the end of a long day. The Rail Trail itself provides a wonderful and unique insight into railway engineering of the early 20th Century with fantastic bridges, viaducts and tunnels to see and explore. The Rail Trail is also very flexible in that if you have little time, day trips can be made as access to the Rail Trail is easy from the main highways.

History
The Otago Central Rail Trail follows the 150km long Otago Central Branch Railway Line from Clyde to Middlemarch through the Central Otago, Maniototo and Strath Taieri regions. The railway line was constructed between 1879 and 1921 and was used for 83 years. It travelled 235km, from Wingatui, 12km south of Dunedin, through to Cromwell in Central Otago. It was closed in 1990 due to diminishing usage, from the increase of cars and decreasing truck restrictions. The Taieri Gorge Railway Limited bought 60km of the railway line for excursions from Dunedin to Middlemarch, while the rest was taken over by the Department of Conservation and opened in February 2000 as the Otago Central Rail Trail.” ( Otago Central Rail Trail website)

How do we begin the journey of our lives, before and after our stepping out into the big world in Dunedin in those 70′s hey days.
Oh those so fashionable flares, the platforms so aptly descibed, the London Lounge, the Robbie and the Crocodiles at the Shoreline. Matrons and Charge Nurses, Mitred corners and White caps, Pan rooms and Vim, The attic of Lindo Ferg and its eerie presence of the feminine kind. The lone night relief junior nurse waits as minutes counted down for the return of the senior nurse of the very humanoid kind.
My life and I guess yours as well, have tracked and traced many a storyline, and I love stories and their connectedness. For me, its often been ‘a road less travelled’ and today I have a company of that name, for ‘out of the ordinary travel experiences for women’.
A time to reconnect, to share the stories and experience times that rekindle and renourish our own inner selves and in turn, pass on good things to others.
I believe all have the ability to make a positive difference in this world, step by step moment by moment. Embrace these times ?))

How is it that one can be away for just mere days but it feels like so much more. I have just returned from a wee sorjourn to beautiful Tolaga Bay on the East Coast, where  a perfect kiwi, down to earth island experience was just what 2010 ordered. Tents, hot bread made by deft hands, alive and well on the coast, fresh crayfish and moki. The perfect camp for a perfect sense of place.

Sometimes, actually I think most times, its just so fab to be a kiwi, with kiwi ways,  living simply off the land and enjoying Aotearoa in its absolute.

Its always so exciting when I hear of women I know stepping out and setting up their own businesses.

Beautiful Judy who joined me in Bali last May has set up her own B and B in Arrowtown, Lavender Terrace.

Doesnt it just conjure up that wonderful scent of new lavender and moments of stillness.

I know Judy and her husband will be extra ordinary hosts.

Check out their website www.lavenderterrace.co.nz

As they say its never too old to ride the trail:))))

Join me for this fab bike tour with the girls,

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Otago Central Rail Trail Trust e-Newsletter
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Never too old…
Just to prove you’re never too old to cycle the Otago Central Rail Trail, and at a fair clip at that — which we don’t recommend as being head down and bum up is a sure fire way to miss wonderful scenery — 80 year old Southlander George Crack, a retired publican recently rode the trail in just two days. But what makes this feat even more newsworthy, George did it on a 1971 three-speed bike. Mind you he is no stranger to cycling achievements. In 1971 as the ‘Pedalling Publican’ he biked from Auckland to Bluff on the same three-speed bike in 23 days to raise money for the Stewart Island school to build a swimming pool. Thanks ‘Southland Times’ for making this a fun front page story.

Otago Central Rail Trail Trust, PO Box 399, Alexandra 9340, Central Otago, New Zealand
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