Winston Churchill and the BRAVE Project

It's been a pretty amazing few days. The camp at Ewen Maddock Dam was what I think of as 'bush' although for the real bushmen it was probably too civilised. Stayed in bunk houses with 30 men for the gathering during the week....lots of real heart-sharing, then another 50 men joined us for a much more structured festival at the weekend. It always amazes me how similar we all are with our struggles when we open our hearts to eachother, it feels like I gained a load of Aussie and Kiwi brothers.

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our men are back..all with stories to tell

its monday morning now, i ususally blog on an evening but with all the fanfare for the returning men and the feasting and dancing i didnt get to the computer

carlin and i had a trip out to Chenrezig buddhist retreat-check out  www.chenrezig.com.au, with angela the lovely hairdresser, it was amazing!!, pete's hovering now he wants to check the blog so i will be back later

sue

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yes.. another girlie blog.... when pete gets back tomorrow from 5 days worth on men's gathering he can do a blokey blog

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ok im sick of hearing myself talk about mosquito bites, but old ones are healing and i keep getting a few new ones but i can deal with 1 or 2 at a time, grrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhhhhh,

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hello you lovely ones

first of all  the world should know that the 2 lindas who posted comments are both amazing women and my life is enriched by our journeys together, you both know what i mean!!!!!  we are never alone!!!!

yes... my feet are slowly getting better but im probably scarred for life so wont win a beautiful feet competition ever, pete would probably say you wouldnt have won a comp with those feet anyway, im somotehred in smeely tea tree insect repellant at the mo and covered in clothes from head to foot and its hot and humid but a breeze blows through the house, we have doors and windows open with netting to stop annoying insects getting in... the cicadas are chorusing!!!!!

today maureen took carlin on i on another  adventure, first we stopped at a small garden centre / botanical garden place, then we went o an amzing ginger factory - tons of it are grown and processed here, we had a tour of the factory and a yummy tasting session, very enlightening, then we had a picnic lunch at Coolam beach and then drove to Noosa, before i came an aussie surestart BHT worker said i must visit Noosa - get loosa at noosa, well we were quite restrained, its a lovely place, beautiful sand and sea and walks and shops and cafes etc, so we indulged and i paddled in the sea, we tootle along the road singing along to various cd's in the car, laughing and talking and getting to know each other and we keep ending up with impromptu 'heart sharing' moments that delay our plans but it matters not!!!

tonight we are going out to eat locally, tomorrow maureen is going in to work, its national teachers day, carlin and i have a woman coming to the house who is going to give us both a massage... how delicious

so thats it for now, another day in paradise

catch you later

mwahhh

sue

xxx 

hello everyone  who reads this blog, our offspring, our families, our friends - old and new, our work mates and loved ones

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hello all

well im feeling proper sorry for my self, good job we are in paradise that eases the suffering, my feet are so bad -- swollen, red, purple, angry, itchy...only slept a few hours last night but im still managing to have a good time, chris and maureen cooked us a lovely meal.... hey we had prawns and lamb chops cooked on the barbie... dinky die!!! and a fair amount of red wine - medicinal of course and lots of good chatter, i have felt pretty pathetic with my poor old feet, those bloody mossys love my blood!!!

so i woke about 3am and laid awake till the dawn chorus... and i mean DAWN CHORUS started and the light filtered through, this area is the hinterland but it felt like we were ina rain forest with all the whistling, chattering, whooping and singing, i ended up out on the veranda with a spectacular view out across the valley and to the ocean (too early for mosquitos ha) pete came and joined me, then maureen, then carling then chris and jed and the birds put on a spectacular show for us... 2 koookaburras spying on big snails just a few yards from us, we've seen -  spangled drongos, rainbow lorikeets, funereal cockatoos, pink parrot, cheeky magpies, the red backed wrens,and so many more wonderful species its like being in a big nature park, the cicadas are holloring at the moment, pete and i had a walk with chris all around his land...i hobbled, and w ehad a ride in his jute to nambura, and then carlin and i and ziggy the dog waved chris jed and pete off to the men's gathering, maureen is a primary school teacher so she has been at work today, but she is going to take a couple of days off with usd

tonight...just to make you all jealous, i am going to have an open air bath under the stars, the bath is in the garden . i will probably take my glass of wine with me

so its all female energy in this house now until sunday, we have massages lined up for friday and im going to have my hair cut and maybe a crazy colour put in

the austrailia zoo is near hear, whats that guy called? he leaps around with crocodiles i think, we might go got to see some koalas

right ive got some pampering to get on with, pete is going to collect some comments for our research whilst at the gathering

please send me some healing vibes for my feet

love to all

sue

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I'm doing the blog tonight (Pete speaking) 'cos Sue has her feet up on Chris's (our host) sofa, with ice packs, Aloe vera, calomine lotion and God knows what else on her 20 or so mosie bites on her poor feet. We travelled up from Byron Bay by coach and train to Palmwoods, north of Brisbane staying with the organiser of the men's gathering. We spent the morning finishing off our Byron business, breakfast in the Bakehouse, surfing with boogie boards, having little tattoos to commerorate our trip and finishing our didgereedoo.

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petes doing the didge, adding more animals i think, we have had our tatoos done this morning at sharky's, a small footprint on our shoulders, i've got right he's got left, it symbolises our journey and going walkabout

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Just wanted to add my bit about the whales even though Sue mentioned it. Watching the mother baby and young'un playing around leaping out of the sea was one of the sights of my life, such amazing creatures, what a privilege. To think that we almost wiped them out, that would have been one of our worst crimes.....long live the whales, and long live those crazies that fought to save the whales......Thanks

phew, its been a hot day, we were up early to make sure we met lee for the trip out to sea, all systems go, his partner kim and daughter hayley and friend belinda came along, we left from brunswick heads, a tricky 'bar' to get through into the ocean, we soon had dolphins swimming with us, cruised around a while and saw some whales in the distance slapping the water with their huge fins, had a few distant sightings, cruised aroung, pete and i lording it on the front of the boat, whale spotting, coffee and cakes out at sea, nice ride around the tip of the coast and the lighthouse, the most easterly part of australia, then has we were heading back we cam across a mum, a baby and a juvenile playing - breeching, and we got quite close, mum rolled on her back and slapped the water with her fins which lee read as a sign we were coming too close, they swam a little way from us and carried on, the bay seemed to be having great fun learning to breech and we were 'made up', i've caught the sun today on my nose, cheeks, forearms and feet, even though i had hat sunglasses and sun cream on. it was wonderful and special, then this aft neil who we met at the men and family resource centre picked us up and took us to his place and to meet his partner arlee - an amazing creative woman who does magic things with stained glass art, and facilitates 'the gift' a 3 day 'workshop / event' for women, we had a lovely lunch, lots of chat and a look round their place with all its jungly wild land and arlees beautiful studio and the house that neil and arlee built, ... quite a day

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well the sun was out all day today and we have seen plenty of it, though im being careful of course and try to show as little of my body to the sun, but hey you gotta let go sometimes so i've been dashed around in the sea today , pete bought a canvas blow up boogie boeard thing with handles the waves were so powerful that when you caught one it flew you into shore at great speed and it was exhausting getting back... good fun though

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hi lovelies

couldnt blog last night we wre at a different email place and the computer wouldnt get bloghi up, so here we are in the bakehouse again, its a lovely sunny day and a warm breeze is blowing on me from the open door, we have just had a very healthy muesli, fruit, yoghurt, honey and fresh orange juice breakfast, pete has gone to post off another parcel of 'resources' book videos Tshirt leaflets papers from our research visits, evryone is so kind we have so much information, jess hasnt been able to pick up the first parcel we sent from NZ yet and there about 4 more in transit, we just cant carry the stuff with us in our little back packs

it rained heavily till late afternoon yesterday, the ausies are really glad cos they need the water, we had a bit of a wander then had an appt at Uncles project in byron, its based in a very youth friendly youth centre, and we met neil young (not the singer) an english guy who is manager there, Uncles is a project that has male volunteers who commit to 'mentoring' young boys - the aim helping boys to become men and neil added men to become men and men to become boys, historically there used to be a lot of single parent womein byron and fatherless boys, Uncles grew from the recognised need for boys to have men in their lives, neil has been an uncle to a young man since he was 9 and he is now 15, they go surfing together and do lots of other activities, taking the boys out to camp, talking circles etc, the boys hear the men talk honestly, all men who apply are well screened and references are taken up..... great stuff

 as the sun came out we got a couple of boogie boards and went to the beach but it was a bit frustrating as the waves were all over the place and we didnt seem to get anywhere, still fun though, but there were some horrible looking blue jelly fish swept up on the beach, we saw a dead turtletoo like the one from finding nemo

we had lunch in agreat cafe called twisted sista....huge delicious cakes

petes back now so we have got to go catch some rays

g'day

sue and pete

well its rained all day today but mattered not as we were on a research mission, we caught a bus to limore to visit an agency called men and family resource centre, lovey guy stuart met us off the bus and took us up there, we had lunch with all the great guys and women who work there, the place grew from Mensline and the needs of the men calling and asking for help, they do violence prevention programmes, support for women, and parenting courses, we exchanges stories and asked questions, then we were invited to sit in on their 'business meeting' where they sorted out details about how does what group, new ideas, christmas parties etc, and we were able 'experientially' to be part of their 'way of working together' the ethos of the organisation, how they relate to each other, their beliefs and philosophies etc, we watched a pp on the HEALS method of working with anger, and shared tips for good execises for groups, new innovative ideas etc

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hello again

well quite a day,  as we headed for the beach we were drawn into a place where you could paint your own didgeridoo  had a really interesting chat with 2 of the guys in there who were making / painting about aborigine culture, their stories and said we would call back, we walked along the beach and through the jungle / forest to the lighthouse, and then swam or in my case got thrown around in the sea, after about 6 waves and the undertow had finished with me i dragged my self out whilst pete bobbed around with his fancy flippers / fins!!!!!

we then went and chose and are now in the middle of decorating , with our story, our very own didge!!!!, we then had a demonstration from a very talented and knowledgable guy who made beautiful music and when we all tried (you have to make a seal with your lips around the end and blow raspberries) we were pathetic but had lots of will and sounded like  i dont know what... its a work of art in progress will keep you informed

just had a coupple of hours meeting / chatting / interviewing gary simpson from 'Common Ground" porject that does lots of work /programmes with men and boys

he is a lovely man, shared a lot about his work and his self, pete will meet up with him again at the men's gathering in Queensland, i made loads of notes... all good stuff, tomorrow we are going to men's resource centre in Lismore

i have been in touch with lee the guy who took me joide and jess whale watching last time we were here, he has used a few of the photos i sent him on his leaflet, the back tip of jess's head and half back view of jodies shoulder and head very close to a whale that was looking at us.... we hope to go out if the sea calms a bit which lee expects it will. thats it for now, pete and i now have a double room , thank goodness, the shared bunks room was an interesting experience for both of us in terms of who was in with us and the goings on... cant go into it here

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LOVELY AND PRECIOUS SISTER BELINDA FOR 20 OCTOBER, THINKING OF YOU!!!!!!!!

love

sue

hi folks

its 6.am

i didnt sleep well last night and i've been awake for a while, it gets light at about 5am here, so i decided to get up and see if pete is up cos he's usually an early riser and he doesnt have a watch, im on my way to the beach, cos if he's up thats where im likely to find him, also might see a few dolphins cruising the bay

we have to make some calls today to set up appointments and most importantly whale watching, i think i've found the contact details for the guy who took us out before

suns coming up, im in the bakehouse and it smells good

catch you later

sue

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well suprise

 we did not go back to sydney, we are in byron bay, the contact we had who worked close to the blue mountains couldnt see us until thursday, and  that left us short of time to get up here, so we would have been going back to sydney for one day and although we planned to meet up with brian jones who works with men who are violent i am going contact brian to see if we can do an interview by email, i saw brian at jeds workshop as well!

so we decided byron, and have had a 9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hour train journey, quite a swish train, very comfortable and we entertained ourselves  , and guess what.......we saw kangaroos!!!!!! hee hee may not seem too suprising to you as we are in australia but to seem them bouncing along in the wild is quite somthing

 after the train we had an hrs coach journey but here safe and sound, tried to get a bed at the bunkhouse where i stayed with jodie and jess but it was full so we are just up the road in the YMCA (sing along) and its just as crazy, im emailing from the bakehouse, and the town is lively

we intend to get in touch with a project called Uncles here - men mentoring boys and theres also a good project in Lismore just up the road that does great work with boys and men and fathering, oh and hope to go whale watching, boogie board, surf and walk to the lighthouse...how lucky are we????

thers a suprise every day!!!

pete and i are doing this whole thing fine!!!

bye all

sue

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ps ive just checked that pete has told you he ate kangaroo pie, i've been singing the skippy song to hom for those of you old enough to remember skippy the bush kangaroo

Well we're in Byron Bay, we decided to train it up here straight from Newcastle. I think we got the last two beds in Byron Bay, in separate rooms.

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hi lovely ones

we've just had a meal at bogies hole cafe!!!!!, i've been to jed diamonds workshop all day, it was actually called working with men over 40 ... but it was so much more than that... lots of really good talking, sharing, theories, bought come cd's. took lots of notes all very relevant to relate to what men need and in turn what boys need, and the research

pete meanwhile wrestled with aboogie board and the sea, he came and met me and we went on a long walk along the harbour front and all the way to nobbys head (sand spit type walkwat that takes you right out into the sea and is a bit scary and we got wet with the waves)

pete was out like a light last night but i sat up typing comments from the women's gathering which brought back loads of good memories, their comments about what boys need..... good stuff

i felt a bit homesick tonight, missing jodie and jess, family and friends, my own bed, our kitchen table. cellar v, im probably tired from a full days workshop... so off back to the YMCA (sing along now)

who knows where we will be tomorrow

love

sue

the austrailians really love their english names so yes...we are in Newcastle, a 3 hr train journey stopping at evry littel station on the way from sydney, the reason we have come here is that jed diamond is doing a workshop here tomorrow and the lonely planet guide says this is a nice little place and if the sun shines tomoz pete will catch some waves

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hi all

 well we flew to sydney today and hopped straight on the ferry to manly as we were going to come here tomorrow anyway, but first ...our day

after packing our bags and leaving them at the hostel we went for a wander along the yarra river from the city towwards the docklands, it was hot and sunny, lots of rowers on the river, in 4s and 6s and 8's with a coach cycling along the river bank shouting through a loud hailer, we found the 'web bridge' that was created by an artist and an architect , this pleased us as we saw a lovely pic of it on the front of the quantas brochure and it is beautiful and curved, then we walked all the way back (we have walked miles around melbourne) and had an iced mocha to cool off, have to say it beats cellar v (guiselely folk will know what i mean) for the view of the yarra and the dancing waters fountain, little kids were running in and out of the water so pete and i joined in (like kids)  then had to catch a buse to avalon airport (felt like it was in the bush, no frills airline, you dont get a seat number its a free for all, tiny ariport building, 4 check in desks and on the airline the hostys wore polo shirts very casual. we decided to get the train straight to circular quay and hop on the manly ferry...jodie and jess do you remember when we came back on the manly ferry .. batman and robin!!!, pulling out of the harbour with the bridge and the opera house in the dusk....incredible sight

we had to hike around to find a backpackers but found one at last the bunkhouse near the ocean shore, will be lovely to wake up to, just had a meal and candy's coffee house, so candy not only has a massage parlour!!!!
thats it for now< we are trying  to arrange to get to a worksop that jed diamond is doing in newcastle
but tomorrow a relaxing day
oh>>>> on the ferry a local guy told us to walk along the town beach to a rocky place where there are a couple of mating penguins< we checked it out and saw a really cute little guy or girl penguin preening ahhhhhh
oh alos when we went to see la clique at the spiegal tent i was interviewed in the queue for channel 7 tv.... no one has said they saw me yet.....pete said something about my big gob!!!!!! ha ha

right im off

byeeeeeeee

xx

well we are pretty exhausted, doing all these cultural things, the 3 day conference that we are still 'filtering through' in our minds, sightseeing, walking for miles, riding around on the trams and the research

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hey all you poms

we have had a lovely lovely day today, free breakfast at hostel today was bacon sausage and muesli, fresh fruit and yoghurt!!!!!!!!!! yum what a treat

 we had a sightseeing day... got the free city circle tram that is suppoosed to go all round the city but cant cons of road works so we only got a few stops, then we got a tram to St Kilda couldnt get the hang of buying a ticket so we didnt and rode free...naughty,, loved st kilda... amazing cake shops, nice cafes, scary Lunar park faces, beach, sun, soft sand..aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

met up with lovely greek nick  (we met at the conference )and had more coffee chats and a 'yarn' he took us around ellwood where he used to live, saw bits of melbourne we wouldnt have seen, then had a walk around the docklands and went to see a fantastic show as parrt of the arts festival in the famous spiegeltent called La Clique- sexy, burlesque,  acrobatics, gorgeous bodies, a nude woman produced a red handkerchief from her ****** and a lovely sexy man did some spectacular acrobatics over and in a bath of water on the small stage we were in front row and got wet!!! eat your heart out girlfriends we are meeting with danny Blay at No To Violence in richmond tomoz... gotta do some work!!!!

off now love you alll

thanks jill for comment.... lots of lovely love to you all

mmwwaahhh

sue

just laughing at jess's comments about 'thongs' ha ha, hey cush seeing as i am blogging here's my  email:

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i know petes blogging at the same time but from my perspective, feel a bit more human today, long day yesterday and bit of jet lag was wearying, felt a bit odd being around so many people

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As Sue mentioned my shaven head I thought I'd better add a little about it. It was purely in the cause of cultural exchange. The men's gathering at Taupo was a very spiritual occasion, it's such a beautiful place it couldn't have been anything else, but asking Kiwi men to be totally spiritual for a whole weekend is asking too much, so Sat night we organised a celebration, so each "home group' had to come up with a skit of some sort. Ours was based around me having my hair cut by two very camp hairdressers, need less to say they made a complete pigs ear of it and it ended with me being even more bald, to the delight of all the other men. However I kept to the spiritual theme by speaking sensitively about what my hair had meant to me over the years, as they sheared me.

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we are here at last... in melbourne its been warm and sunny all day and we've been holed up in the m ens health conference.... but i'll back track...

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hello all

thanks for comments pete and candy we do love to hear from you all not much time for personal emails hey candy you've got a massage parlour in napier - i took a pic!!!!

i set off at 7.30am to drive to taupo, heard on the radio that hhighway 1 desert road was closed due to snow....... my road!!!!!!, luckilyit had opend by the time i got to snowy bit!!!!! and im in sun now in taupo

hey the guy wanted for muder was caught last night near sanson where my campsite was yikkesss, its a rural area!!1 if you dont own a farm theres not much work locally, when i left sara and peter were going out for a 4 hr asparagus pick they hire local men who are on the dole.... who spit fart and swear.... poor sara having to put up with that,its beautifil countryside though

thanks sara and peter forgiving me some home comforts

nearly time to pickup pete, im going for a little wander, might have a juice in our favourite cafe and write postcards as we have NZ stamps left.

sleeptight all

sue...glad to be alive n kicking in taupo!!!!

well its been quite a time, i am now staying on a farm with sara who i met at the womens gathering, her and peter (an english man) have a farm (its asparagus season right now) 12ks from Bulls, i had booked into a creepy campsite in the dark, lashing rain, with 2 guys in the kitchen who grunted hello at me and one was reading a hunting mag, and rugby was on telly, and a german backpacker was murdered here over a week ago and a local man is on the run prime suspect, and i was feeling alone then sara knocked on my window and rescued me and then as i negotiated a small cattle grid and turned into her yard to park i sraped the side of the van on a wooden fence post..... hhhmmmm a low point !!!!!! but sod it, will just have to pay on insurance hope we dont get stung too badly today the sun shone amongst heavy rain... we went to whangenui which i loved, got a skrt and top for $4 in a second hand clothes shop, had a lovely lunch, talked about what boys need to sara and her friend kathleen who are both teachers and learned a lot about maori culture customs and tatooing, if i had time i would have had a tatoo!!!!!!!!, but we are back at saras now and her 2 daughters and their [artners are coming for dinner, tomoz i will be up early to drive to taupo to meet pete and then to aukland we fly to melbourne early monday morning. thats its for now byyeee from the intrepid travellerxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

hi everyone asleep in bed i expect

i have had a long drive, left my little cosy campsite mid morning after some serious typing whilst gazing out of the window of the camper at the lovely beach and sea, parked city centre and wandered, the sea front is amazing, sun was hot, after a couple of hours i went on down to the sea horse farn, its a working farm as in sea horses, crabs and lobsters, and it was a rather distressing experience... thousands of sea horses. mostly in big tanks (big ugly tanks) the first bit had them in nice glass aquariums (though maybe not nice to sea horses) they breed these beautiful creatures either for pets (to go to pet shops all over NZ) and to sell to the chinese for their herbal medicine, i didnt sty for the whole tour, but learned a few things about lobsters.. they continually shed their skin, as they grow, even their eyeballs pop out of the old shell with the rest of em. they had a 70-80 yr old lobster called Tonka!!! hummmm well it was what i expected

i then drove down the coast to  Cape Kidnappers... quite beautifull ..didnt go far along the beach , apparantly lots of gannets nest there, then a long drive across the island to palmerstone north, i am soo used to the rolling hills and mountains there wasnt a lot new but as i came into palmerston i went through a gorge with a very wide river  - the Manwatu - winding trhough it, i had to hug the cliff sides and there were signs all over saying beware of falling rocks, that was a bit hairy 

anyway now i have an email from my buddy sara from thee women's gathering and she lives in Bulls not far from here so im off to have a wild time with her cos Bulls needs livening up!!

haaaa the rains stopped, i will be on my merry way

catch you later

love sue

hi all its a gorgeous day here, napier is a beautiful town, they had an earthquake in the 1930's and rebuilt the town art deco style, very stylish, when i got to the campsite last night, as i drove up to park on the hill overlooking hawkes bay a couple of rabbits - one black one sandy sat in the middle of the road looking  at me, they have been hopping all around the site, i had a lovely view, the beach is black and pebbley but very quiet

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hi all

didnt go to wangenui was advised that to come to this coast is better (some may disagree) it was weird dropping pete off at the tauhara centre at Taupo, cos theres so many memories there for me, and also im on my own now for 4 days with the camper so this is a first, felt a bit wobbly at first but i have had a lovely 2hr drive through more amazing scenery, hills and mountains, i pulled off at a sign for a scenic view, jumped out, went to the edge and there before my eyes materialised a spectacular waterfall!!! that you wouldnt see from the road...so im here in napier havent got a camp site yet but i know theres one back up the road by the bay where pete stayed when he was here, this morning we went to the hot river again in taupo, cos we didnt take a camera last time, it was great fun, we now have taken nearly 300 pics but they are all on our lap top , and i need to get help in an internet place to get em off the laptop onto the blog, might have to put them on the memory stick...ho hum technology

we are staggered and breathless by the beauty of NZ, the people are so friendly, im lost for words

we are picking up some great resources for the violence prevention work, great comments from women and men, and i have a lot of typing to do now, unless i find myself distracted with an adventure, pete and i think of all our families, friends and work mates, you are in our hearts, i love your comments...hi at last dave..hope ireland is good, congrats to my niece carly on passing her driving test, silas is now in thailand..chillin on a beach somewhere i guess, and im off now to plan my evening, i'll be back tomoz

love

sue

hi all

couldnt blog last night at rotorua cos the computer had a kiddy screen and decided bloghi an unsafe site, will have to be quick cos im on a timed machine so watch out for curious spelling mistakes

first of all forgot to tell u about hot river at taupo we found it after trekking around and getting lost, after the womens gathering, the red hot too hot to sit in in parts river runs into the huuuuuugggggge river that goes into Huka (scary) falls, we sat in the hot river being showered by hot water looking at the huuuuuuuuge freezing river and the rain teeming down on us how surreral, we loved raglan, looked at 2 surf beaches very scary waves with lots of brave surfers none of which was pete... tooo cold!! we will wait for australia, stopped off at bridle veil falls -- spectacular, then had a meet for the research at Hamilton Abuse Intervention Project, they are writing a youth programme...doing great work, then we motored up to Rotorua----- bubbling smelly mud pools but very interesting place the guy we spoke to in our thermal pool under the stars said rotorua is right on a Tectonic plate, think ive got the spelling right, there is hissing steam very where, our site is called cosy cottage camp site, we are a short walk from a very busy Marae... lots of Maori families and the community were gathered there last night, its rained all today but we had a Kiwi encounter and saw cute little baby kiwis (at a conservation place) then after an afternoon reading and deep conversation in our van came up to taupo, just had indian meal and we are tired, petes off to his mens gathering at Tahaura centre tomoz afternoon and im off on my ownsome for an adventure, heading down towrds wanganhui

better sigh off before it cuts off and cant send it

hi cush thank for comment you wonderrrfulllllll woman, and love and big hugs to all of you,

hi folks

we are in Raglan now on the west coast, its lovely, had a scenic drive here from taupo and trekked (tramped as they call it here) to some staggeringly beautiful waterfalls, my time is running out on email so gotta go will be more nesy tomoz off to cook tea now

hey theres a surf school here, heres hopi!!

love

sue and pete happy campers

im back but cant say much at mo cos im exhausted and we need to go fro soemthing to eat... my cup is full and running over, the womens gathering was all i thought it would be and more, i have been deeply affected ( i hear some of you say i was aready so!!) to be in the company of 48 amaaaaaaaazing women, the work shops, the rituals, the story telling, the heart sharing....... emma.. you will know what i mean... our heart sharing took 4hrs and my heart w as beating wildly and propelled me out of my seat first.... every other woman followed and we all stayed 'connected' for all that time..... priceless!! i have laughed and cried and learned so much!!!!

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Still Pete writing, I'm about to go and pick up Sue from her gathering. I stayed in a lovely campsite right on the beach at Mount Maunganui, near Taronga, with some hot salt water pools next to it and some pretty good surf on the beach. I lazed in the hot pools for an hour, then had a coffee in a sports bar watching rugby on the big screen and reflecting that it wasn't such fun as the Pa rugby I'd watched earlier. There I'd watched the Maoris beat the hell out of eachother for an hour, then line up to Hongi (nose-kiss) eachother at the final whistle.

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