This months Blog was about my travels in the Northern Territory.  Updates were sporadic as I was hitching through the real OUTBACK where there is no cellphone coverage, let alone internet cafe's!

It was primarily an internal journey.

I travelled without glider and laptop, without much in the way of baggage at all.  Letting go of the past, seeing what was left .... and making room for the new. Life in the desert was simple - water, transport, shelter and food.

A most extra-ordinary time....

Travellers come together and travellers part, each grown a little more from the meeting, each sharing a small part of the Whole that they have carried with them to this moment.

I cannot pretend that my heart is not sore, but I am also happy and excited to be on the road again.  The desert call is too strong to resist.  I see a picture in my mind, the same one that called to me in South Africa last year, the one that sparked this journey. I am walking in a bleak and incredibly flat landscape, the air filled with energy, an endless horison drawing me onwards.

Andreas and I have talked of having a child together, of meeting each others parents. It would be so easy to go this path, my urge to become pregnant with our child so incredibly, surprisingly strong... but part of me resists.  There is still a wall.  I want to take down that wall before I surrender to a very special relationship.

 Follow this link if you want to know where I am now. 

I will be off-line for awhile.  I have no plans of where to go.  I just know that I must go.  Inshallah

Clearing out my photo's as my hard drive has filled to the point where the programs can no longer run properly, I came across this old album of my trip to Thailand in 2006.  The original photographs on a CD were lost, but these few I had emailed home.

My stay in Thailand was very short, only two weeks, but I was ill at the time and grateful to have them.  I pampered myself at the Four Seasons Hotel and Spa in Chang Mai for 3 nights (all I could afford in this wonderful sanctuary) and then made up for that extravagance by sleeping in a few low grade street rooms near Burma, before I came upon Tam Wua Monastery where I stayed for 9 nights.

Tam Wua monks were of the few Thai monasteries where I felt that women welcome.  I lived with the nuns and the cooks and the monks did their best to teach me meditation.  They were lovely, but I was a hopeless student.  GALLERY

Tomorrow I am on the road again ... hitching up past Barraba, Bingara, to Warialda.  There are no trains or busses going in that direction on Friday.  From there I head west to Moree where I am staying the night with Hope and Rod Rix, Ex-Rhodesians.  Together we will travel to Mungindi on Saturday 4th July for the Op Skop.  The dress is formal.  Now what am I going to wear ...?

There is magic at work here in Australia.  There is a Collective Consciousness which is the most efficient communication system I have ever tapped into.  Call it what you will, but this Dreamtime landscape is just waiting for you and for me to let it know what your heart desires, and then ... if it agrees, it finds a way to make it happen for you.... and for me.  It does not always come about in the way I visualise it, but my patient Australian friends have taught me to open up and let this new world in, and I am a good student.

My Mum phoned me from South Africa this evening to tell me news that is likely to make my stay here in Australia financially easier in the coming months.  Not that I would do anything a whole lot differently, but it will be nice to have access to some extra cash and not be on such a hand to mouth basis.

They say that when times are hard, that is when you evolve the most.  I am used to having money and being independent, so being on such a knife edge budget has been hard.  I have had to learn to receive without the ability to always repay, a situation I found uncomfortable.  In my previous life, I was always the one giving, or so it seemed to me.  But as the Australians so often say to me, 'We are just passing on a kindness someone did for me and or my family.  When you get the opportunity, you can do the same' 

I have always detested feeling vulnerable.  No, I feared it.  In the months I have spent here in this country, I have come to know vulnerability in early stage relationships and in finances .... and I have been met only with kindness. (Ignore the hitch hiking incident - it was a warning, which is a kindness in itself)

I am learning that it is OK to be me, emotions and all.  In fact, one day, my emotions will be one of my greatest assets for they connect me to People, to Nature and to The Universe.  I can use my emotions to make me strong or weak.   I have fully explored their ability to weaken me.  In fact I have done this to death and lost years of my life. Now I am learning how they can strengthen me.  And to my pleasant surprise, under the guidance of my new friends, I have found that emotions explored and understood better, can actually be quite pleasant.

On another note,  I started a Category under Travel Australia called WWOOFing.  :-) It stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms.  This is an official organisation that operates world wide.  In a way, WWOOFing is what I have been doing unofficially these past 4 months.  Staying in people's homes and on occasion doing odd jobs around the house or garden in return for my accommodation and food.  Hosts and Workers sign up for this and I have put a web address contact in the category.  In my case, I am fortunate to have the Australian paragliding network who have been looking after me where ever I travel on this very friendly island continent.

At present I am living in Barraba in a house that is almost 100 years old.  Some months ago, Cliff Axelsen and Raphaela picked me up beside the road as I was hitching back to Godfrey's.  I waxed lyrical about my flight with eagles and was highly animated as pilots are when they fly with these magnificent birds.  Cliff had always wanted to experience paragliding and flying with eagles (his dogs name is Wedge) and our meeting was the decider for him.  In the coming weeks he went for a tandem flight with Bob and signed up for the course with Godfrey.  We kept in touch as he mentioned that he was starting a WWOOFing farm in Barraba and invited me to stay.  I am his first unofficial WWOOFer :-)

Under the WWOOFing category, I will write about my time at his beautiful homestead and our adventures in restoring it to its former glory.  Well, for me at least, only a small part of the project. I have to leave something for other WWOOFers :-)

But time for me to catch some shut eye in the Goddess bedroom.  There is also a Dragon bedroom but the Goddess room obviously appealed :-) The accommodation here is so luxurious I certainly feel special and I swear there is something magical about one of the walls.....

Anything is possible in this Dreamtime country and I look forward to exploring some of those possibilities.

Happy Birthday Godfrey!!!!

Here is wishing you a magical day, for you, your friends and family :-)

Godfrey Wenness of    MANILLA Paragliding

New South Wales, Australia

Whilst travelling in Australia, these are my contact details - Contact Flygirl  

I am extending my stay in Australia to end July.  I love this country and its people and all that they are teaching me. 

There is a saying :   When the Student is ready the Teacher shall appear..

Flygirl contact details:

Whilst in Australia, my number is : +61 429 809 895

Skype : gaynor_flygirl

Email : This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

SPOT tracking link set to show flights only for 7 days.

I cannot access any messages on my South African cell number as it does not operate here in the rurals. Please use the Australian cell.

I have been in Australia for two days now (arrived evening of the 2nd Feb)

I am suffering from jet lag - sleeping neither on South African time nor Australian time, more like Indian Ocean time. First day I woke up at 2am and that was it - wide awake into the new day, taking pics in the paddocks at dawn.  By 3pm I was trashed and fell asleep in 38 degrees heat for about 4 hours, which really messed up my evening sleep. Only fell asleep at 5am this morning!!! and then woke up at 11am!!!!!!!  Just in time to stumble into the Borah Basher (Turkey to take off vehicle) and get my ass up the mountain.

No big flying for me at present - yesterday bumbled around for an hour, enjoying a superb low save on the west side, getting up again and flying back over to the east side to land at Godfrey's ranch.  Others flew 60 - 80kms towards Narrabri, Bingara and triangles in the opposite direction towards the lakes and Manilla, so a good day missed by me due to nervous tension re possible over development, no cellphone for this area, nor retrieve.

Today I decided to  try my hand at cross country as it looked fantastic.  I was having a really nice and easy flight  with the hangies before I went off and did my own thing for an hour, only to succumbed to the Tarpoly Sink Hole just 14kms out.  You only hear about these known sink holes later :-( But it was an enjoyable flight, so I am happy, sort of :-)  Others are reporting hectic air experiences, including the hang glider pilots who gave me a lift back to Manilla, but maybe I am jet lag sleeping through it :-)

There is an international hang glider competition here this week.  One hangie from Russia fell over a thermal and broke up mid air, throwing reserve.  The  others report wide awake attention to flying, with Hans Bausenwein experiencing a horseshoe with his gliders wingtips clapping handies in front of him yesterday :-)  There are about 55 hang glider pilots and it really is fun flying with them with around 30 paraglider pilots marking thermals. Interesting waiting for a thermal on take off and observing they way they watch the paraglider pilots who are already in the air.  Hunched over in their harnesses, with their wings above them, waiting on the lip of the mountain like predatory hawks ready to launch a strike when they see one of us rock back into a thermal.

Why are hang glider pilots as a whole, so much more good looking than paraglider pilots?????  Sigh, enjoying the window shopping :-)))

Such interesting Australian people I meet along the way eg. Like the Lindt Chocolate Sales Lady whose husband the Hairdresser is also a Wild Boar Hunter (just remember that next time you go get your hair clipped and coiffeured) and Kylie the Lady Rodeo Rider who gave me lift from Manilla to Godfrey's .....  Such colourful, friendly people!

Who won the weight loss contest?  Neither Mom nor I made our target of a 5kg weight reduction.

And we were doing so well before the Christmas and New Year festivities......sigh.  At least we are ahead of those who are only starting their New Years resolutions today :-)

No point in berating myself for my weakness.  This is what I have learned from our month long project.

- I learned that I feel good about my body when I weigh in at 76kgs (these photo's are at 77.5kgs) but it is a start!
- Feeling good about my body builds confidence, allowing me to be more open in social situations and when facing the camera.
- Confidence encourages me to feel good about who I am and not to shrink from the world as I did in 2008.
- As my confidence recovers ...... so will my flying.  We are One.

More images in  Body Sculpting - Sports Nutrition

Our weight today:
Mom 77.9kg     (was 78.7kgs = 0.8kgs)
Gaynor 77.5kgs    (was 79.8kgs = 2.3kgs)

I have no past
I have only the present
I am what I am
And today is what it is

This world is an illusion
Of our own creation
I will make mine
Mine

Gaynor Schoeman                 

I am selling the last of my possessions -  Plot of land in Hout Bay (see Building an Eco Home) 892m2 -  R3.8 M last written offer received

                                                                         - Two Years old Toyota Fortuna Diesel 3l 4x4

(UPDATE:- 05 December 2008.  The Universe is a magical thing, the best travel 'computer' known to Man! My folkes are wanting a 4x4 but cannot afford to buy one at this stage, so they are taking over half my cars monthly repayments whilst I am away.  That way they get to go to Namibia over the Christmas period and do the Skelton Coast, Etosha etc (Take me, take me!!!)  Bonus to me is that I can afford to retain ownership of my 'Flygirl Mobile' :-).  I love my Toyota Fortuna and very gald that I am not forced to sell it to fund my wanderlust.  The Universe is taking care of everything so I can travel and do the XC Open World Series next year.  Isn't the Ribbon of Life GREAT!)
                                                                       
                                                                      - My business in the Film Industry supplying boats to the Film Industry - www.gaynor.co.za

Please contact me should you be interested.  I will be travelling for several months in 2009, perhaps a year, and need to finance my journey, should I find no other way.

Flying was unsuccessful for me today.  Tjokkie and a new pilot by the name of Ian flew, with Tjokkie having the best flight of the day in smooth postfrontal conditions.  He taunted us with vario sounds over the radio as he cruised along the Porterville ridge to Bumpy :-) whilst we followed by car at 40kms an hour.

Rain had been pouring down everywhere on the way up - Tjokkie assuring me all the while that the conditions were perfect.  I was some what pessimistic watching the water fall from the gutters in Wellington..

Standing on Pampoenfontein alone - well actually our kind driver Hans, Ian's Dad, agreed to sit with me whilst I tried to gather up the courage to take off. I was totally psyched out by the clouds.  The launch conditions were fine.  Wind light south and south west.  A no brainer, but I was imagining cloudsuck was in store for me once in the air.  The others were obscured from my view as they took off from Dasklip around the corner.  I could not launch.  Feeling very mortal these days

It is obvious that something is very seriously wrong with my flying since my return to paragliding in August.  At first there was no feeling for it - good or bad. I did perhaps think that the numbness was still in play, but now I feel incredibly vulnerable....  Maybe when the Koringberg and De Aar flats switch on it will be different.... But for now, it is a struggle.

P.S. Ian and Tjokkie swear by Swiftsoft forecasts and yesterday we were checking it all the time from Ian's Latop and Cell phone.  100% accurate forecast.  We all agree though that it would be nice if the land mass was easier to discern.  Maybe Paul, you could put a very visible dot or 'P' over Porterville town so it is easier to orientate?  Same with the other sites?

A formal Supper Club dinner with my folks was set for 7.30pm.  At 8pm I still had my para-boots on and rushing back from Porterville.  A late entrance, but I made it in time for the main meal and still 'cleaned up good' in dress up garb.  An interesting evening with well travelled people sharing their adventures at full volume.

Massive overdevelopment once again.

Flygirl still flying like a palooka.

Amit had best flight of the day from Chia, going over the back and landing on the N110 near the Villafranca turnoff.  Not that any of us wanted to follow him.... A downpour of heavy rain and hail came out of the sky before we got to him with retrieve, but fortunately he took cover at a bus shelter. 

We enjoyed the rest of the day exploring Salamance town about 60kms away from Piedrahita where Steve had to fetch the competition shirts.  The air is hot and muggy and this OD'ing is really locking down the distance flying.

All I can say is that I am not peaking early for sure!!!  Really  hope I get my act together soon.

A person once observed:

'Gaynor, when I look at you, I can almost hear your brain ticking over.  It is deciding whether you are happy or not where you are.  And when it comes to a decision, it is like a switch has been thrown, and if you decide you don't like where you are at that moment, you get up an go.  Just like that.  I admire that freedom.  It makes you happy.'

Not the answer for everyone, but a sense of freedom is what makes me happy and I was reminded of that recently.  This observation was made whilst I was still in my four years of 'honeymoon' paragliding. The 'honeymoon' is over, but I can be free again .... and who knows .... It is like a good cross country flight over unknown territory.  All that is certain is that I have land below me and sky above me.  What I do with the stuff in between, is My Journey .... destination unknown.

Selling much of what I have collected over the years, possessions that hinder freedom, has been a liberating experience and as I make ready to leave my home of ten years for the last time this week, I feel a release from all the shackles I put on myself, a release from the pressure to try and conform ... and I look ahead.... Destination Unknown .... with eagerness.

Treatment Action Campaign is arranging a march in Cape town city against Xenophobia Violence for MONDAY 02 JUNE 2008.  Meet at Keizergracht, next to Cape Technikon in District Six at 10AM. 

If we don't make a stand against violence of this kind and make the Government fully cognicent of the fact that, we, the people of South Africa find it utterly unacceptable, we, the people of South Africa, will experience this horror again ..... and the  next time it could be you and me they come after.  We have the history of Africa to know that this is our future if we don't stand together NOW and stop the tide before it becomes a flood, before it becomes the norm.

In Hout Bay the police and security companies put out the flames of hate before they claimed the township and did any long term damage.  The greater community of Hout Bay and Llandudno protected the foreign nationals by going into the township and evacuating the people who were targeted.  I believe this confused the residents of Imizamo Yethu who did not expect our intervention.  Let us clear up that confusion for them.

Let us show them on a greater scale that we do NOT accept xenophobic violence and we will stand against it, together.  On Monday, make yourselves seen and heard in this peace march. I have never been on a march before, but self preservation seems like a good enough reason to me.

Please, for all our sakes, stand as one ...... Make yourself available for few hours on Monday and stand united.

Here is a list to all IOL Xenophobia stories

Another successful evening at City Rock .  Worked on building my upper body strength, Bouldering. Decided to have a go at the Monster Traverse straight off whilst I was still fresh. My movements are more fluid on the sections I know as I negotiated my way confidently past Reception.
 
Then came the psychological barrier that stopped me last time - climbing over a section that does not have nice thick soft mats on the floor with a blind corner to swing around and where the rock then overhangs.  I was stopped here by failing strength last time, but mostly by my mind.  The way the wall is shaped I was concerned that if and when my arms could not hold me anymore, I would fall awkwardly and possibly break or twist a wrist, elbow or ankle on the hard mats 3 or 4 metres below. I had resolved to use moveable cushions next time I tried this and to climb lower than the MT routes to slowly break down this fear and build confidence.  But I had forgotten all this and quite frankly did not expect that I would manage to get this far without the usual clumsy effort.  But suddenly there I was.  I decided to push on, confident that I had enough strength in my arms to at least hold me until I could fall with some premeditated planning and body positioning.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I positioned my body upclose to the corner and peaked around for the next hold which was just out of reach.  I swung my body around and committed to taking the hand hold, found some feet rests and I did it!  What can I say?  I was like an excited kid inside.  But then as I negotiated my way around this new face of rock my foot slipped and the other was between purchases and my face smacked into the rock, imbedding a tooth in my upperlip.  Still holding on, I found footholds, tasted a little blood and was reminded of my kickboxing days :-)

Gaynor 'Flygirl' Schoeman

Is this what happens when the passion is gone and goals like competition and long distance flying no longer seem important?  How bizarre.  I never thought I would find myself in this position.  How can the events that took place at the All Africa (I was banned from Flyers Lodge and Dasklip Pass by Rob Manzoni for posting the results on my website against his wishes) and the furor that followed, extinguish the tiny spark that got me through the XC Open World Series?  Surely I am tougher than that?  It would seem not.

I think I might finally be realising that my flying career has ended.  Interesting..

I am a little sad, true.  I miss the camaraderie I once experienced with fellow paraglider pilots and the sense of achievement I felt after a good flight and low save.  I even experience a twinge when I read the names of pilots I know on competition registration lists around the world. But it is ok.   And that is a novel feeling. To have moved on without the feeling that I have lost a part of myself.

So many great film shoots this month.

I will open up an album soon and post some of my more interesting images, but I promised these Amstel Flygirls I would post this pic today :-)