The geography of the river is largely towering granite walls painted in red, oranges and blacks. The rock is folded and creased and cut sharply through the middle where the river has carved a path. Often in the morning and evening we were in the shadow of the mountains on either side of us.
It is hard for me to describe the feeling of being on the water in that place. In the early morning there are so many sensual experiences. The cold and wet grass tickling your feet. Drops of water falling off the paddle onto your bare legs as you pull your self through the water with smooth, even strokes, twisting your hand and shoulders to put the blade into the water. the sun burns the backs of your eyes as you watch a bird that is just a black shape against the light blue sky. In the evening the feelings are very different. Your body is exhausted and done. Your brain is on hold from feeling completely dominated by the environment around you. There is dirt everywhere but it is comforting and feels like it is keeping you warm. There are so many things that simply do not matter on the river and living becomes elemental. It is so physical all day that the physical becomes all you can focus on. Food, sleep, water are all your body needs. It leaves your mind and spirit completely empty and then fills it with the unforgettable scenery which becomes seared onto your pupils so that even when you close your eyes at night, in your sleeping bag, you see the silouette of the granite against the sky. And even in the night the physical environment cannot be ignored. It seems as though you must memorise every star and all the star dust and their place in the sky before you can sleep. It cannot be possible that anywhere else on the world is the sky as full as the earth.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
rain, sunburns and the Orange river
Oleo just came dashing in, disgusted that the sky is once again promising to fall on her head. It has been thundering and lightning all day and the humidity is gross. You could say that a monkey is getting married cos it is raining at last, but the sun is till shining through the drops. The humidty after the rain is always worse because the water evaporates off the hot concrete.
K went to a workshop yesterday and didn't know it was outdoors. As a result he spent most of the day in a borrowed hat and trying to hide his crispy forearms under his shirt, behind his back and any other place that could give him some relief. His face is brown as a farmer's but his arms are nothing short of two large lobsters. Sleeping next to him last night was like sleeping next to a radiator. I on the other hand am looking more like my natural colour. Just from swimming and walking around I have got a healthy hue back.
We will be canoeing down the Orange river next week, we'll be going with the International Youth Award students. Four adults, fifty teens - promises to be fun. I made the lead teacher promise to let me be in the same canoe as K and his sunburn. I am feeling more than a little apprehensive as I have never even managed to make a kayak go backwards, let alone forwards over rapids! The advantage of having fifty kids with you is that I won't have to wash a single dish! I am looking forward to sitting at a fire, watching the glow of the embers, while the unending stars are above us.
K went to a workshop yesterday and didn't know it was outdoors. As a result he spent most of the day in a borrowed hat and trying to hide his crispy forearms under his shirt, behind his back and any other place that could give him some relief. His face is brown as a farmer's but his arms are nothing short of two large lobsters. Sleeping next to him last night was like sleeping next to a radiator. I on the other hand am looking more like my natural colour. Just from swimming and walking around I have got a healthy hue back.
We will be canoeing down the Orange river next week, we'll be going with the International Youth Award students. Four adults, fifty teens - promises to be fun. I made the lead teacher promise to let me be in the same canoe as K and his sunburn. I am feeling more than a little apprehensive as I have never even managed to make a kayak go backwards, let alone forwards over rapids! The advantage of having fifty kids with you is that I won't have to wash a single dish! I am looking forward to sitting at a fire, watching the glow of the embers, while the unending stars are above us.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Catchup
I have now been here two weeks and as cliched as it is, time seems to pass differently here. It is like two weeks have been stretched out till I never left. And yet, I seem to not have done very much in the days I have had.
The house is all set up, and we have hung pictures, which goes the furthest to making a place feel like home. We bought and borrowed furniture from various sources so that now we have a lovely lounge and small dining room table. Most of you will understand that a small dining room table doesn't leave much space for scat or speed scrabble. Which is fine as we end up next door at L's most nights anyway.
C is already tired of speed scrabble but the rest of us love it so much that a night hasn't passed in the last six that we haven't played a game. The scat has gone down equally well with the more rowdy crowd. Of course that makes me happy as my bliss is to play cards all night, every night.
The cats are in heaven, Henry gallavants and is fast making buddies with all the neighbours, including L's cat and H's two wee dogs. The one is actually smaller than Henry - giving him an unfair advantage, it won't be long before there are complaints about our roving ginger boy. Oleo is as happy as a pig in mud, she has favourite spot under a bush for her mornings, and a spot in the ferns for the hot afternoons. They are getting along and even snuggle together with me when it finally cools down at about 3 in the morning.
I am walking everyday with H and in the evenings with L, the only times of the day when you want to be moving further than the fridge for water, which must be boiled and then cooled before drunk. On these walks I get thrills from all the birds I see that I have missed. This evening we saw guinea fowl, as well as the blue waxbill which looks like it was dipped in paint.
I have occasionally swum in the new town pool with R and that is lovely. As always, getting in is the hardest part. Your body is warm from the car ride, and the water is still cold from the previous night. Swimming under the sun, with the water glinting in front of me makes me impatient for visitors so that I can share these simple things that define life here.
The house is all set up, and we have hung pictures, which goes the furthest to making a place feel like home. We bought and borrowed furniture from various sources so that now we have a lovely lounge and small dining room table. Most of you will understand that a small dining room table doesn't leave much space for scat or speed scrabble. Which is fine as we end up next door at L's most nights anyway.
C is already tired of speed scrabble but the rest of us love it so much that a night hasn't passed in the last six that we haven't played a game. The scat has gone down equally well with the more rowdy crowd. Of course that makes me happy as my bliss is to play cards all night, every night.
The cats are in heaven, Henry gallavants and is fast making buddies with all the neighbours, including L's cat and H's two wee dogs. The one is actually smaller than Henry - giving him an unfair advantage, it won't be long before there are complaints about our roving ginger boy. Oleo is as happy as a pig in mud, she has favourite spot under a bush for her mornings, and a spot in the ferns for the hot afternoons. They are getting along and even snuggle together with me when it finally cools down at about 3 in the morning.
I am walking everyday with H and in the evenings with L, the only times of the day when you want to be moving further than the fridge for water, which must be boiled and then cooled before drunk. On these walks I get thrills from all the birds I see that I have missed. This evening we saw guinea fowl, as well as the blue waxbill which looks like it was dipped in paint.
I have occasionally swum in the new town pool with R and that is lovely. As always, getting in is the hardest part. Your body is warm from the car ride, and the water is still cold from the previous night. Swimming under the sun, with the water glinting in front of me makes me impatient for visitors so that I can share these simple things that define life here.
A Closed Mouth gathers no Foot.
Last night I sat at my Mother's table and played cards with her, my two sisters, a boyfriend and my husband. The title of this post was something said by S - the boyfriend. It made us all laugh so hard and in that moment I was overrun by the feeling of being home and being held in the normalcy of here.
There are so many changes to the town, and to the people that are here, almost everything is slightly different. Whole new suburbs where, for me "here be dragons" was once stamped on the map. Wanaheda, Rocky Crest, Prosperita, these were not words that were part of my childhood. Now they are sections of the city I have never been to, in a city where I have lived in 18 houses in half a dozen suburbs, in a city where half a dozen suburbs was all there was.
There are also things that are the same and it is these things that give me silence in my soul. The roads still smell like evaporating petrol. The smell of rain (petrichor - I looked it up) and the smell of dust are all sensory reminders that I am where I always have been in my heart. They also remind me that these smells will always be here, wherever I go. The backs of my Mother's hands are still as soft as talc and the couch's texture is grainy. The sky is so blue and all the other colours are washed out by the sun. Everyone spells colours this way.
I do miss WDC. She is a large and vibrant city that sucks your time and leaves you with a nervous and tense energy that almost never fades until you collapse on your couch determined to ignore her, waiting, just outside the window.
WHK is so different, the breeze blows in my open door, and warmth of the passing day leaves a layer of dust on my skin that seems to make my day slow and gentle.
There are so many changes to the town, and to the people that are here, almost everything is slightly different. Whole new suburbs where, for me "here be dragons" was once stamped on the map. Wanaheda, Rocky Crest, Prosperita, these were not words that were part of my childhood. Now they are sections of the city I have never been to, in a city where I have lived in 18 houses in half a dozen suburbs, in a city where half a dozen suburbs was all there was.
There are also things that are the same and it is these things that give me silence in my soul. The roads still smell like evaporating petrol. The smell of rain (petrichor - I looked it up) and the smell of dust are all sensory reminders that I am where I always have been in my heart. They also remind me that these smells will always be here, wherever I go. The backs of my Mother's hands are still as soft as talc and the couch's texture is grainy. The sky is so blue and all the other colours are washed out by the sun. Everyone spells colours this way.
I do miss WDC. She is a large and vibrant city that sucks your time and leaves you with a nervous and tense energy that almost never fades until you collapse on your couch determined to ignore her, waiting, just outside the window.
WHK is so different, the breeze blows in my open door, and warmth of the passing day leaves a layer of dust on my skin that seems to make my day slow and gentle.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)