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

Hmmm....

What a week!  I keep promising to update, but life has been so full, so much so that most nights I only get to bed between 3 and 4 am.  Life experiences have taken on more of a personal nature.

This weekend I made a breakthrough which I will explain in Girl Talk later.  It is about taking 'control'.  About bringing my Body and Mind into alignment when it comes to working out what I want in male relationships and acting accordingly.

This week I move to Paul McKimmies home for a few days.  A new and interesting development has arisen.  The company I keep in Australia is mostly that of 40-50 year old bachelors.  These men are different to those I remember of my 20's and 30's.  Yeah, it has been a long time since I have really socialised.  They men are established in life, know what they like and don't like and enjoy conversation and company. 

In Australia, help in the form of maids and the like are few and far between.  Labour is just too expensive and Australians have this quaint way of cleaning up before their maid (if they have one) arrives.  But very often, men don't have anyone to clean up after them and do everything themselves as well as go to work.  Wherever I have stayed these past three months, I have attempted to balance the scales a little and give back where I can, be it renovating a bathroom, doing a little gardening, spring cleaning a house, taking care of pets etc.  None of this is expected from me. None of this is equal to what I benefit. In fact, the Australians are always a little taken aback by my obvious need to do something for them in return.  They give without expectation and do so naturally and easily that I am constantly amazed.  From my side, I do make an effort to receive gracefully, but baulk at the concept of being a 'paragliding bum', of living off other people.  In my previous life, I was generally the one who was financially well off and could afford to be generous.  However, in order to travel for a year, I know I have to get over this sensibility.  And the Australians have been so incredibly good to me in this respect ... still.  I believe in trade.  I believe in win-win situations and I do what I can with my time and abilities in return.

The result is, I enjoy my travels and the people I meet along the way and it would seem that those whose homes I have stayed at, have enjoyed my company too.  Without exception, all have invited me to return should I be in their area again.  This is a major turning point for me.  I am normally awkward in other people's company, ill at ease in other peoples homes and, in the past, almost never invited people, even friends, into my own home.  What if they found out I was not who they thought I was, not the woman they created in their imagination.  What if they found out I was human, and flawed and 'messy' in my emotions? In this the Australians are amazing.  They don't care.  They accept me for who I am and work with what they see.  It is OK to be flawed.  It is OK to be vulnerable.  An Australian will invariably decide within minutes whether he/she likes you or not and in that moment, when you become a friend, all else is irrelevant, all failings are accepted.  You are Friend. Thanks to the Australians, I am learning to relax and have fun and to enjoy conversing.  I am learning not to apologise for who I am and as one person commented, I am starting to come out of my shell.

Flygirl afraid of people?  Living in a shell?  Yes, I have been, but that is now changing.  I know it sounds strange, but I have seldom felt confident around people on a social level.  Don't confuse the extrovert I am on a paragliding take-off and during action activities or work.  I can be with people when there is stuff to be done and I am doing it, but when it comes to sitting down and having a conversation with a group of people for the evening, I become quiet and within a short space of time, I 'disappear'.  Large groups of people overwhelmed and intimidated me.  There is so much energy I find myself throwing up walls to block it out and in the process, I become separated, alienated from the group energy.  It is in a crowd that I feel so incredibly lonely and run. 

Lately I am learning to push through this, gently learning to filter the energy rather than block it all out indiscriminately.

So in keeping with opening myself up to friendships I have finally joined Facebook.

This evening off to the 2008/2009 Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour in Sydney.  Here is the Intro

Later....

Just a quick update on this years Banff Mountain Film Festival .... IT SUCKS!!!!  How can an organisation make extreme adventure sports and videography 'extravaganza' sooooo boring!!!!????

The YouTube clip is misleading.  What is in that clip is not necessarily what was chosen to tour the world.  I mean, the selectors put in a cartoon about origami (paper folding) for heavens sake!  8 video clips were shown, 3 were ok, but the other 5???  Why bother.  One of the friends I went with fell asleep and for the most part the audience was silent and uninspired.

Strangely enough, the quality of the projection screening also seemed very poor - dark and a little fuzzy.  Not good quality at all.

I definitely do not recommend the BANFF this year.  I think they made a really big mistake in their selection and the Seymour Centre in Sydney where it was shown, needs a projection upgrade.

It was Full Moon and the Witch Gina, commanded that there be Fire .... And there was Fire.

Despite the temperatures dropping (we arrived Friday night to find it was 4 degrees in Manilla) the paragliding stalwarts decided that a bonfire was just what they needed.  As luck would have it, the air was not as cold as in previous evenings....

Good flying yesterday.  Ion flew 41kms in the direction of Split Rock and the Quarry, stopped by a forest with no options for retrieve or landings.  I flitted around for 2.5 hours, very happy, going nowhere in particular, just communing with the Universe, getting a lift from Tarpoly with Annie.

It has been a magic weekend of flying in Manilla, New South Wales, Australia.  No amazing distances, but that is completely irrelevant.  I am loving being in the air, completely at peace, communing with the Universe, going inside of myself, feeling everything through my solar plexus/sternum.  I see and feel everything from within, from this area that radiates warmth and calm throughout my body, from my sternum to the base of my spine, to the tips of my toes, to the sides of my rib cage, up through my neck, to the crown of my head, up my arms and into my hands.

From take-off, to thermalling, to reaching for the clouds, to being a part of the air, to flying with the eagles, to 'just being', to the point of touch down, to the glow of the sunset in dry golden fields, to travelling home ..... this is my World, this moment is everything.

Australia has worked its Dreamtime magic.  I am a part of the air once more. For the love of paragliding ... Flygirl has returned.

Another repeat of yesterday. Early morning flying, ummm... and I mean they were in the air by 07h30! Too weird.

Students ridgesoaring and doing manoeuvres.  I took off at 09h00.  A first for me.  Soaring with eagles out for their breakfast, in buoyant air on the west face.  Toplanded for the second time at 10h30 for a feed and a wee, expecting to go cross country in fifteen minutes.  All pilots excited and getting ready for a big day.  We had been climbing to 1000m easily and it was getting better.

Relaunched a 10h45 and immediately realised that things had changed.  Wind very strong.  Gale hanging. DHV1 pilots having to speedbar clear off the hill then hang around out front.  Not my cup of team. Seriously blown out by 11h30. 

Adventure Paragliding Plus Instructor Ant got away on his Omega 7 to Manilla.  61km with 10% brake.  He elected to spiral down.

The day is blown out.  Students learnt how to do a glider inspection and now sitting in front of the telly for video instruction.  Ground handling postponed - wind too full on.  S*%#.  I really wanted to fly today!!!

Wind eased off enough towards sunset to allow the students their first taste of launching a glider.  Licensed pilots went up the hill ... we were desperate, it was gusting to 54 km!!!  But we really hoped it would drop suddenly near sunset...... It did not and we froze our butts off!!!

No XC again today as the sky is covered in a sheet of thin cloud as with yesterday.  The thermals yesterday were very soft, but buoyant.  Nice for boating around near the ridge, doing manoeuvres and working on light conditions sensitivity.  We flew for hours in front of launch. Pretty heavy traffic.  The Manilla Paragliding students enjoying a tandem instruction day with Godfrey, Bob and Hollywood.

This will be my last day in Manilla for awhile.  I need to hit the road, breathe some fresh air and just follow a path unknown.  Taking my trusty long time friend the Shaolin with me for company.  Don't want to be separated now that we have found each other again.  We may not get much flying in, but at least we can ground handle and perhaps ridge soar the occasional bumps I find along the road.

Where am I heading?  West, following the sun and the horizon. 

Here are a few images from yesterday.

Been off the net for a week.  Leaving Lightening Ridge, an Opal Mining town tomorrow.  But then again, I say that every day :-)  So much to see and photograph. Even tried my hand an fossicking for opals :-)

Tomorrow I might be at the foot of Mount Oxley near Bourke, where I hope to get a little flight in.  Or maybe a long one :-) cause I am traveling light and can take my gear with me.  No real plans, drifting....

Quick update:

Hitched in fine soaking rain to Gunnedah for lunch and purchasing of an emergency bag for warmth and two cheap plastic ponchos to protect me and my Shaolin against the rain. Then on to Narrabri for two nights where I hold up waiting out the rain in typical pub accommodation at the Tourist Hotel. I only have three sets of clothes and was down to one dry. They kindly dried my kit out for me. However, by the third day I could not bear to stay in one place any longer and was on the road again, in the rain.

Lifts to Burren Junction where I was very fortunate to meet up with some lovely people having a breakfast tea of cakes and tea and coffee for a 'gold coin' donation.  This was in aid of raising funds for cancer research. Steve and Margaret from near Coffs Harbour, whisked me off to the local hot water thermal pools - 40 degrees in the water, 'out' of the cold :-)  Big community camping around it, plus 1000 head fo cattle being droved past.  Gotta love the remote territories.

That night I stayed with the local post mistress, Louise Fowler and her husband Bill, Louise's sister Barbs, and their 11 dogs, 8 cats and a yard full of ducks, goats, sheep, hens etc.  True blue Australian hospitality!  The next day they gave me a lift to Lightening Ridge which was not originally on my list of places to visit, but it is all new, all good and I have no particular destination or need to be anywhere right now.

Have taken over 1000 photos, cannot upload from this remote area as I do not have my laptop.

On the road again ..

I have to laugh....:-)

It is nice to feel the bubbles inside again.  Managed to finally get in touch with the people who own the land where Mount Oxley is, but sadly the lady will not let me fly from there.  They are worried about insurance and being sued should I have an accident.  If this is to become a flying site, someone will need to broker an arrangement with the owners.

So why am I laughing?

Because, whilst breakfasting at Chats Cafe in town, I was talking to everyone as per usual and someone overheard I was looking for a lift out of town and recognised my accent.  The result is, I have a lift out of town ...... in a Cessna!!!  The pilot is an ex-South African from Cape Town (30 years ago) and I have accommodation for the night with his family.  Had not intended to go to Moree .... but then this is the beauty of drifting and letting the Universe connect me with beautiful people and make my traveling arrangements.

Back in Manilla after a little hitch hiking  around New South Wales.  Places visited : Gunnedah, Narrabri, Burren Junction, Walget, Lightening Ridge and Moree.

Hitch hiking in Australia has been very good to me.  I have travelled in cars, big trucks, school busses and most recently a Cessna aircraft.  Traveling in this way I get to meet people from all walks of life; the drifter, the prospector, the single mother of two, the postmistress, the ex-South African, the truckie and I blearn more about the Australian Way of Life.

In four months I have had only good experiences.  People have invited me into their homes, fed me, accommodated me, answered all my endless questions and shared with me a little bit about their lives.  I would never have experienced so much had I been in the position to hire a car and stay in motels.

There is something to be said for trusting in the Univers to provide.  I have to stay open and resist the temptation to shut down under stress and go back into my recluse way of life.  The Universe is about being connected and when I shut down, I shut out all the opportunities that are out there.  When I am open .... life flows.

In Austrlia it seems to me that there is magic working.  Anything you want, is out there, waiting to be attracted in.  I have to be more careful with my words for they have the power to become reality in this Dreamtime landscape.

I came to Australia to rediscover my love for flying.  I have been granted this very special Gift. Every flight since York has been a joy.

I want to immigrate to Australia.  One day soon I will meet the people who  can assist me. This is where I want to be.

It is here in Australia that I am learning about friendship, relationships and ways to better deal with my emotions.

And in myself.

Well I guess it had to happen at some point.  Yesterday I had my first unpleasant hitch hiking experience.  And strangely enough, it was somewhere where I least expected it - right here in Manilla on my way out to Mount Borah.

I have been staying with Tom and Vic at the Royal Hotel for the weekend and have been hitching out each day to fly.  On the outskirts of town a silver Ute 1/4 tonner pulled up with two people in it.  I asked the young male passenger if they were going out in the direction of Godfrey's and he said yes and to get in.  I dumped my paraglider kit in the back of the Ute/bakkie and bent down to look inside the cab.  Could not see the driver but realised there was no space for me in the front even if we all squeezed up.  The young man said for me to climb in and sit on his lap.  Alarm bells went off for the first time. If this was a fellow paraglider pilot and or friend, no problem, but this was a stranger.  I said I would climb in the back and jumped on before he could argue. Behind us a car with two women had stopped.  I thought they had done this because the Ute was blocking the road.

We sped along the dirt road in the direction of Godfreyś. The passenger of the Ute was gesticulating to me from the inside of  the cab.  The window was slightly tinted.  I looked hard to see what he was trying to say.  One hand had made a circle with thumb and forefinger.  The other was thrusting a finger through the circle back and forth.  I went cold.  The imagery was unmistakable.  I was in a vehicle with two men, one of whom was making references to having sex.  I turned away and looked at the clouds and the fields.  In my peripheral vision I could see him going on and on, trying to get my attention through the back window.

What could I do?  They were heading in the direction I wanted to go.  If they turned off onto a side road or farm road and did not stop and allow me to get off, I could be in trouble.  This was so unexpected.  I have never heard of a woman paraglider pilot being hassled like this in Manilla.

In the back of the Ute with me was a large piece of machinery like a sprayer of some sort.  There were also new metal fence posts.  If the driver turned off and did not allow me to get off, I was going to throw his machinery off the back of the vehicle which should get his attention.  If not, a steel post would do some serious damage to his back window and shiny silver paint work.  I had no doubt that I could get them to stop, but then I might have a fight on my hands.  The passenger I could take care of, but the driver was an unknown quantity.  I had not gotten a good look at him, but he was driving fast and in control of his vehicle.  He might be more of a problem should he be so inclined.  I was very grateful that there were not three men to deal with. 

Note to Self:  Do not ever get into a vehicle with three men I do not know.

Unable to get my attention through the back window, the passenger opened his car door window and hung out, offering me a Jack Daniels mixed drink from a can.  It was about ten in the morning.  I politely refused and he withfdrew back into the car  We were about 6 km out of town when the car slowed.  It was turning into Myoora farm.  Before it came to a complete stop, I got up and climbed to the side of the Ute and grabbed my pack.  The vehicle did stop, much to my relief and I jumped off.  As I loaded my pack onto my back, the yobbo passenger asked where I came from and I replied.  He then proceeded to give me a long list of sexual services I could do for him in return for the lift, the least was to give him head

I was sick.  I don't think so, was all I could manage and I turned away, closing my ears to the obscenities that continued. The car with the girls that had stopped behind the Ute in Manilla, pulled up behind the Ute again.  They were grinning.  Whatever party they had come from was just really beginning.  I was glad not to be a part of it.