Thoughts And Recollections Of A Tree Spirit

Warriewood Blowhole

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

Last weekend we all decided to go on a mission to check out the Warriewood Blowhole properly as it was such a nice day. Mat and I have been before but to see it properly it involves climbing over the edge of a cliff down a rope and I didn’t have the courage so always waited behind.

This time I was determined to conquer my fear of heights and go for it, as nothing could be as bad as the fifty metre Diamond fire lookout tree I climbed in Western Australia, which I am yet to write about. The Blowhole is located on the south cliff of Warriewood beach and is a tunnel going all the way through the cliff which you can swim through. You get to it by walking through a reserve and ignoring the danger sign that warns of a dangerous cliff edge and advises to keep away etc. etc. There is a path that goes down to the cliff and then all the way round the cliff to the other side. To get down to the blowhole you have to climb down two ropes onto ledges further down the cliff which then enable you to scramble down to it.

There is then a little ledge about fifteen feet above the narrow inlet that you can jump off, into the water, making sure you time it correctly so you jump into a wave as it comes through. I think you have to be careful about height of the tide as well, but it was fine when we got there. The rope descent was no where near as bad as I thought it would be and in actual fact was dead easy.

Here you can see Mat preparing to jum off the ledge into the water with Nick and Kat in the background. The second picture shows the height of the cliff behind and also some people in the background climbing up the bottom rope:

Here you can see (more…)

17.01.2009 Beats, Kazakhstan, Personal, Pictures, Videos 2 Comments

Farewell Kazakhstan

Monday, July 9th, 2007

It has just gone 9am Kazakh time and I am writing this (ready to type up later) as I sit on the plane having just taken off from Astana airport. As we took to the air, after thinking a last “I really hope I’m on the right plane – well if I’m not it’s too late now”, I looked over to the window on my left to see if I recognised anything as the city slowly receded below me.

The first thing I spotted was the recently constructed glass Pyramid. I immediately searched for the Presidential Palace and as I began to think how different everything looked from up here I suddenly got a fantastic view straight down the promenade from the palace, past the fountains and gardens to a much shrunk Bayterek, past more fountains and gardens right down to the offices of KazMunaiGas at the end. It was only then that the sadness of leaving Astana and my friends after such a wonderfull two weeks really hit me. (more…)

09.07.2007 Kazakhstan, Personal 1 Comment

Astana Day

Saturday, July 7th, 2007

I felt very honoured to be at the celebratory concert yesterday as it was limited entry and there were many citizens of Astana that were not able to get in. It just goes to show it always helps to have friends in high places (i.e. Irina’s dad).

Once we managed to get past security (which was a trial that deserves a post of its own) we found our allocated seats that were very comfy and gave a good view.
The night consisted of various warm up artists that performed a song each and were not modern pop but slightly more traditional, some being sung in the native Kazakh language (which is a bit like Welsh in Wales).
The artists then began to sing a few more songs each, presumably as they increased in popularity and status. Not having any knowledge of Russian or Kazakh pop charts I didn’t really know what I was listening to so just sat back and enjoyed the fact that it was live music. (more…)

07.07.2007 Kazakhstan, Personal No Comments

Happy Birthday Astana

Friday, July 6th, 2007

Today is the day of Astana (it became the new capital of Kazakhstan almost ten years ago). I am very lucky to be over here to partake in the celebrations. Irina’s dad has kindly got us tickets to go to the main concert tonight being held in the square near the Presidential Palace where I believe there will be many bands playing; Kazakh, Russian and international, and also a big firework display. It should be much fun.

Yesterday evening we went ice skating at the new ice rink in Astana which Chris and Irina had not been to before either. Accompanying us was Chris and Irina’s friend Losha, a very nice lad who is the son of one of Irina’s dad’s work colleagues.
We got there just before 9 o’clock and had an hour on the ice. It was fantastic as there were only two other people there. By 9.30 we had the whole rink to ourselves, much to mine and Chris’ joy as we are not quite as experienced as Irina and Losha, who by then were whizzing round like they had been born on the ice. It was so much fun not having to worry about looking ahead for a space in which to skate, only to get there and find someone else has got there first so you go smacking into them and end up having to endlessly apologise, or worse, help someone up off the ground that you splatted in your inexperience! (more…)

06.07.2007 Kazakhstan, Personal, Pictures 1 Comment

My first very own website… Yay!

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007

Wow, well here I am in Kazakhstan with Chris and Irina and I’m writing my very first post on my new blog on my very own domain.

It’s 4.30 in the morning here. We spent an enjoyable evening at a restaurant with Chris and Irina’s friend Oleg who has just come back from Moscow after finishing University there. We then came back to the flat and spent the next 4.5 hours playing monopoly (I just watched for the majority of it as I went bankrupt in the first hour or so) and after Oleg departed we watched an episode of Scrubs before realising the sun had begun to rise and it really was time we should be going to bed.

However, I decided I would just stay up a little while longer to post my first blog as it took me and Chris practically all day to set it up (I decided I wanted a customised template and it took us quite a few bodges before we got it to my liking).

So here it is… welcome to DryadMusings.com.

There will be more to follow but right now I really have to go to bed :-)

03.07.2007 Kazakhstan, Personal, Techie Stuff 1 Comment