Morning thermos of coffee and a mini-yoga practice at Te Auaunga this morning and I'm still buzzing. When I took photos of the soft mushrooms on logs I got a bit carried away and slipped and fell down the bank, but somehow I managed to roll in what was a fairly graceful manner and only endured a couple of scrapes. I did make a very weird noise though, a sort of alarmed grunt.
I've been reading a bit more about Te Auaunga which became known as Oakley Creek, so named for Edwin Oakley, a chap who tried to get a number of enterprises up and running back in the mid 1800's.
Whether he successfully ran a flax mill appears to be a mystery, and the fact that he committed suicide in Hawaii (1824 - 1886) at the age of 62 really saddened me. His brother had also taken his life many years before, reportedly due to 'financial difficulties'. I'd say it takes more than just financial difficulties for someone to end up that depressed, but I guess it would depend on what you thought made you 'worth while'.
It seems quite fitting that the very imposing Whau Lunatic Asylum (later known simply as 'Oakley' or 'Carrington') was built on the Carrington Road side of the creek. My own grandfather was sent there (in the 1950's) and I wonder if the ghosts of the lonely and mentally unwell have escaped their confines and enjoy freedom as they walk along the river side. This thought doesn't give me the creeps at all; on the contrary, I feel such an enormous amount of well-being when I'm there.
The Next Mini-Adventure: picnic, hot pools, time to get lost, time to explore.
This afternoon a friend and I are going to the Miranda Hotpools, but I always seem to get lost when I drive there.The maps thing on my phone doesn't work when I'm out that way, and I have difficulty reading a normal map.The way to solve this problem is to allow time for getting lost; to plan to get lost and to enjoy it.
I shall report back with how this next Mini-Adventure pans out; in the meantime, I challenge you to crawl around like a bug on the floor (it's really good exercise).
Comments
Post a Comment