Verandering

/ Christina B / 11 Comments

Geskryf in opdrag van Scrapydo2 se Toeka-Tokkel: Verandering.

(Apologies to non-Afrikaans readers.)

Ek het nog nooit baie gehou van verandering nie. Ek weet nie of dit iets te doen het met die feit dat as kind, ons nooit getrek het nie. Ek het in een huis grootgeword, na een laerskool en een hoërskool gegaan. Wat wonderlike stabiliteit was as kind, het my moontlik avers gemaak vir verandering later in my lewe – wie sal ooit weet.

Ek raak tuis in my gemaksone en sien dan geen rede om enigiets daaraan te verander nie. Maar hierdie karaktertrek het ek eers met die verloop van tyd in myself herken. Ander mense is baie meer avontuurlustig en pak sommer maklik ‘n nuwe uitdaging aan. So het ek lang trane gehuil toe ek besef het my man was ernstig oor trek uit Suid-Afrika. Vanuit my (gemaksone) oogpunt het ek net nie dieselfe dringendheid ervaar nie. Op die ou end het hy my oorgehaal met ‘n avontuur in Dubai vir ‘n paar jaar.

Steeds was dit nie vir my maklik nie – die agterlaat van ‘n lewe wat opgebou is oor jare, familie, vriende en alles wat daarmee saamgaan – maar die gedagte dat dit nie permanent sou wees nie het die verandering draaglik gemaak. Dit het uitgedraai in ‘n wonderlike avontuur, al het ons vir minder as ‘n jaar daar gebly (of miskien juis vir daai rede, iets waaroor ek soms wonder. Miskien was dit juis so interressant, eksoties en anders omdat ons weer weggetrek het voordat enigiets kon alledaags raak.)

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Op pad na ons avontuur in Dubai met Emirates

Dit was in 2004. Die werksaanbod vanuit Perth het gekom drie maande nadat ons in Dubai ingetrek het. Ek het net begin aanpas by linkerhandstuur, bestuur aan die regterkant van die pad, vreemde winkels en produkte, nuwe vriende, skole en lewenstyl toe ek besef die Perth ding is ‘n werklikheid wat ek nie kon ignoreer nie. Dit was ‘n aanbod wat ons eenvoudig nie van die hand kon wys nie. Na baie sielewroeging (ek het net begin tuis voel in Dubai) het ek besef dat nog verandering en trek na ‘n derde kontinent in ‘n kwessie van 10 maande, onvermydelik is.

Noudat ek terugdink wonder ek watter verandering die grootste was – Stellenbosch na Dubai of Dubai na Perth – en dis moeilik om te sê. Stellenbosch na Dubai was ‘n groot kulturele aanpassing, maar vir dieselfde rede ook baie pret. Dit was die eerste groot verandering waarby ek myself moes belê. Bygesê, in my agterkop was dit altyd net tydelik. Om die tweede groot (en hierdie keer permanente) verandering so kort na die eerste te maak was nie maklik nie.

Maar miskien was dit die lewe se manier om my te leer dat dit moontlik is om êrens anders gelukkig te wees. Dat sodra ek die besluit gemaak het wat ek geweet het die beste sal wees vir my familie op die  langtermyn, ek dit sal maak werk. Dat ek eintlik enige plek kon woon, solank my familie gesond en veilig was. Dat ‘n lewe anders as wat ek tot 13 jaar gelede vir myself ingedink het beter kan wees. Ek moes net leer (op die harde manier vir my) om oop te wees vir ander moontlikhede.

Tyd het gelukkig ‘n manier om aan te stap en ons het kort voor lank gewoond geraak aan Perth as ons huis, en Perth het gewoond geraak aan ons. Ons is nou so tuis en gelukkig hier dat ons lewe in Stellenbosch voel soos ‘n veraf herinnering. Hierdie is nou ons lewe en realiteit en ek is so dankbaar dat ek die veranderings deurgemaak het wat ek het.

Tyd het my ook geleer dat verandering ‘n gegewe is in die lewe. Soms gebeur daai veranderings net meer geleidelik as ander kere en dis eers wanneer jy besig is om die verandering te beleef dat jy daarvan bewus word. So het ons kinders grootgeword en van die drie is nou net een nog op skool. Kinders op universiteit wat motors bestuur is weer iets anders om aan gewoond te raak. En net soos ek dink ek het hierdie fase onder die knie sal die volgende fase my seker in die gesig staar. Ek hoop die veranderings oor die jare het my darem ook gevorm en help groei as mens.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

/ Christina B / 12 Comments

Back in March I visited the annual Sculptures by the Sea exhibition at Cottesloe Beach near Perth. It’s a unique outdoor exhibition that showcased the work of 77 sculptors from 18 countries and attracted around 200 000 visitors.

The sculpture in the photo below is by Will Clift (USA) and is called “Enclosing Form Reaching Together”. The artist’s statement regarding the sculpture reads as follows: “Exploring the interaction of form with gravity and balance, the interplay between weight and weightlessness, and the creation of gesture within a static form.”

I think the curved lines of the sculpture fits this photo challenge well.

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Sculptures by the Sea, Cottesloe Beach, Western Australia, 2016

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Curve

The King of the Sky Comes to Perth

/ Christina B / 16 Comments

A couple of weekends ago the world’s biggest aeroplane came to Perth. Thousands of aviation enthusiasts flocked to the airport to catch a glimpse of it. Not even a two hour delay in Kuala Lumpur before the last leg of its journey to deliver a 116 tonne generator for a mine, deterred people.

My husband and I were equally keen to see it. When we lived in Dubai our house was under the flight path of busy Dubai airport and we loved watching the planes take off one after the other, quite often only about 90 seconds apart. It became a regular pastime especially when we were in the pool with the kids, to watch and identify all the planes.

This plane is in a league of its own though, and none of us had ever seen it. The Antonov 225 was built in Ukraine in the ‘80’s to carry the Russian space shuttle. It has since been converted to carry cargo weighing up to 250 tonnes.

When I told Child No 2 that Ironman and I were going to try and see this plane, she shook her head and said: “You have to be old to think that’s interesting”. “I’m not old!” I replied, taken aback. She only raised her eyebrows as if to say: “If you say so!”

Old or not, we didn’t feel like waiting for 4 hours to see this plane so we decided on a different tactic. All morning my husband watched the Perth airport flight tracker to check in which direction the planes were landing and worked out a perfect spot to see it right under the flight path. We drove there, parked the car and I took some practice photos of other planes coming in overhead. We were quite close to the airport and had avoided the throngs of people and traffic jams and generally quite pleased with ourselves.

Thirty five minutes before the Antonov was due to land, a plane suddenly took off in our direction though, meaning the wind direction had changed and the Antonov would be landing from the opposite side. Our hearts sank. Getting to the airport at that point was out of the question due to the traffic, and getting around the airport to the other side to wait under the flight path there would take much longer than 35 minutes. We weren’t ready to give up yet, we’d come all that way and it was still something we badly wanted to see. After swiftly planning the fastest way to get around to the other side of the airport Ironman said: “Let’s go”. We jumped back in the car and took off.

Twenty minutes later we’d nearly got there when we got stuck in traffic. I sat ready with my camera in hand. We had minutes to spare and we pulled off at the first possible opportunity just as Ironman spotted the Antonov in the distance. It was truly as impressive as we’d thought, even though we weren’t as close as we’d hoped to have been. To see an 88 metre long plane with 6 engines, 7 sets of back wheels and a wing span of 84 metres glide effortlessly through the sky had us in awe.

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Our first glimpse of the Antonov 225

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The Antonov 225 coming in to land at Perth airport

Within a few seconds it had disappeared from our view but we were happy that we’d gone. It was going to be at Perth airport for another day and a half (it took 12 hours just to unload the mining generator through the front of the plane that lifts up). Like true (old?) enthusiasts we went to the airport the next day to see it where it was parked in front of the international terminal. It was massive, but the true perspective of its size only sunk in when a Boeing 737 taxied past and you were able to compare the size of the two planes.

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The Antonov 225 at Perth airport

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The Antonov 225 at Perth airport

But we still hadn’t seen the king of the sky fly overhead so the next morning we left home at 4:30am to try and be under its flight path as it took off at 5:30am. We were there by about 5am, with one other hopeful person. We got out of the car and stood chatting to the friendly gentleman in the dark and chilly early morning. We desperately hoped we were in the right spot this time. Plane after plane started taking off and flew straight overhead, most of them taking fly-in-fly-out miners up north. We breathed a sigh of relief, but still worried that the wind might change again and leave us stranded in the wrong spot. The gentleman we’d been chatting to said drily: ”This is as good a spot as you’ll get. I might move 5 feet that way.” By this time there were about 30 to 40 other cars parked there as well with some people still in their pyjamas.

Around 6am we heard another plane take off in our direction, but this was very distinctively a much louder and bigger sound than all the previous ones. I didn’t bother with my camera since it was still dark but had my phone ready to video. It didn’t disappoint. It came straight overhead, and away it went, its first visit to Australia having proven a very popular one. My husband wasn’t videoing and watching it with the naked eye he was struck by the fire in all 6 engines in stark contrast to the dark sky. We were all spellbound by the sheer size of it and the engineering behind getting a machine of that size and weight to take to the skies. It was worth leaving home at 4:30am and standing around in the freezing cold for about an hour. I didn’t get the photos I wanted though and neither does the video do it justice so I suppose these two “oldies” will go and see it again if it ever returns to Perth.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Numbers

/ Christina B / 17 Comments

The Rabbit Proof Fence is a pest-exclusion fence that was constructed in Western Australia between 1901 and 1907 to keep rabbits and other agricultural pests from the eastern parts of the country out of the Western Australian pastoral areas.

There are three fences. The original No 1 fence crosses the state from south to north and when it was completed in 1907 the 1833 kilometre long fence was the longest unbroken fence in the world. It is visible from space.

The fence also features in the movie by the same name, that tells the story of three Aboriginal girls who were forcibly removed from their families in 1931 to be trained as domestic servants as part of Australian government policy. They make a daring escape and embark on an epic 2400 kilometre journey to get back home – along the rabbit proof fence that bisects the Australian continent, with the authorities in pursuit.

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A part of the rabbit proof fence

In response to the Weekly Photo Challenge: Numbers.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Earth

/ Christina B / 17 Comments

Great was my excitement when I saw the topic of this week’s photo challenge. I’m fascinated by and love the earth and, as Jen says, always feel at peace with my fingers in the dirt (in my garden) or capturing something about it on camera.

My first choice for my contribution fell on these two photos (I couldn’t pick only one) I took a few years ago on Denmark’s Ocean Beach. I was intrigued by the seaweed and the way it looked through the lens.

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Seaweed at Ocean Beach in Denmark, Western Australia

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Seaweed at Ocean Beach, Denmark, Western Australia

Weekly Photo Challenge: Admiration

/ Christina B / 10 Comments

There are many people that I admire. People who accomplish great things but more so those who have overcome adversity and are still positive and make the best of their circumstances. People who do it tough and don’t have the things I take for granted every day – good health, family and living in a safe and beautiful place – and yet they are still grateful for what they have.

It’s a tricky topic for me to pick for a photo challenge since I don’t really have photos like that to share so I chose instead to go with my admiration for people who do endurance sport. It takes incredible motivation, dedication, endless hours of training, perseverance, willpower and tenacity to complete what they set out to do.

My husband is one of those people who loves endurance sport and has completed 10 Comrades Marathons (a 90 kilometre ultra-marathon in South Africa), 16 Two Oceans Marathons (a 56 kilometre ultra-marathon in South Africa), more than 50 marathons,  2 Ironman, a few Half-Ironmans but the latest and arguably the most admirable in my mind is the Rottnest Channel Swim (a 19.7 kilometre swim from Cottesloe Beach near Perth to Rottnest Island). Last year when he did the solo swim, the conditions were very tough (one  swimmer’s support boat sunk) and it required pure strength of will to keep going and be able to step out on dry land on the other side after about 10 hours of swimming.

I only have pure admiration for people who step off the beach, not touch a boat or kayak at all during that time and get their own bodies across a 19.7 kilometre stretch of ocean to the finish line.

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Paddlers and support boats waiting for their swimmers with Rottnest Island in the background

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View of the swimmers and support boats and kayaks. The mainland is in the background.

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The swimmers, support boats and kayaks. Taken towards the island.

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The finishing channel

(This week’s photo challenge is to show someone or something we admire, and tell something about them too.)

Z…

/ Christina B / 18 Comments

Z is for Zebra. During our visits to Etosha National Park in Namibia we were lucky enough to see plenty of them around. On both the last two occasions the park had been experiencing good rainfall and there were little puddles of water everywhere (even in the middle of the road) where they’d drink from. We saw so many that we in fact became spoilt. During the first couple of days we stopped whenever we saw anything of interest and took heaps of photos but after a few days of seeing so many zebras (and no elephants yet), we didn’t stop to take any more photos of them, instead opting to keep going to try and see animals we hand’t yet seen.

Zebras in Etosha National Park, Namibia

There were some zebras on my sister and brother-in-law’s farm in the Kalahari at one stage but it’s  a very sandy area which meant that the zebras’ hooves (which are shaped like those of a horse) didn’t naturally wear down because the sand was so soft. They used to catch the zebras and cut their hooves to help them because if they didn’t the hooves would keep growing to the point where the animal wasn’t able to walk properly. It was quite an experience doing this for a wild animal.

Z, being the last letter, also signals the end of this challenge. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, I’ve really enjoyed interacting with all of you and reading your A to Z posts as well.

Y…

/ Christina B / 8 Comments

Y is for Yellow-throated miner and Yellow-billed spoonbill. The Yellow-throated miner is a medium sized honeyeater  and we always see them when we camp at Coral Bay. We’re usually there in October which falls in their breeding season and we’ve been swooped a few times (when they feel threatened if someone gets too close to their nest) and sometimes they can be a bit cheeky, trying to get to our food.

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Yellow-throated miner at Coral Bay

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Yellow-throated miner at Coral Bay

The Yellow-faced spoonbill is a large white waterbird which we haven’t seen very often. The only photo I have is one I took in Albany a few years ago, which isn’t very clear unfortunately.

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Yellow-billed spoonbill (on the left)

Y is also for Yanchep National Park, about 45 minutes’ drive north of Perth. We’ve been there a number of times for a picnic, a little walk and/or bike ride and to visit their Koala sanctuary. There are beautiful sweeping lawns, lots of trees and barbecue areas.

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The lake at Yanchep National Park

Finally, Y is also for Yallingup, south west of Perth, close to Margaret River. Yallingup is a popular holiday destination with beautiful beaches and also because of it’s proximity to the wineries and tourist attractions around Margaret River.

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Yallingup, near Margaret River in south west Australia

 

X…

/ Christina B / 13 Comments

X is for X-ray which Child No 3 had to have a few of last year when she fractured her wrist. We ended up at Perth’s children’s hospital during what seemed to be rush hour for sporting injuries on a Saturday afternoon (I wrote a previous post about it here). All in all she received great care at no cost to us whatsoever. Unfortunately I don’t have a photo of the x-ray but I do have a much more interesting photo of the cast complete with artwork by her best friend.

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Another person in our family had to have an x-ray last year. Ironman had a really bad fall off his mountain bike one Saturday which resulted in 7 hours being spent at the public hospital to have x-rays (which were inconclusive) and in the end a CT-scan. Thankfully nothing was broken but the fall was quite bad and he was on crutches for a few weeks, struggling to walk. This, however, didn’t stop him from still taking part in two (easy, he called it) stages of the four days of a mountain bike race in the south west he had planned to do with some mates. It did require one of his mates helping him onto the bike and giving him a little push-off (or hupstootjie as it’s called in Afrikaans) and again waiting at the finish line with the crutches. Needless to say I wasn’t there or I would have put a stop to it! We definitely didn’t need any more reasons to go for x-rays!