New Zealand News from Hermie

I was soon to find out what life was like in Wanaka, South Island. The pace of life was easy and so laid back, weather was perfect for each day I was there and I was living there for a month!

Dan and Matt looked after me well and showed me round my new surroundings. I even got my passport stamped at their Post Office!

They drove up the mountain roads from Wanaka to Cardrona where the ski parks and chairlifts were. They showed me where they skied and jumped. The snow was jolly cold on my trotters especially after the hot sand in France!

Then disaster struck, my horns fell off again. Oh dear! Don't I look weird without them!

It must have been the frost getting to my bones!

Later that day, once I'd recovered from my shock, I was shown something familiar, that i hadn't seen in ages...

some more sheep... New Zealand sheep, Baaaa, I want to join them!!

Hermie arrives in New Zealand

I told you I was set to do something else exciting....

well Gill's sons were out in New Zealand for 4 months.They love skiing and were out in South Island for the winter!

I was parcelled up in my little box and sent by airmail to Wanaka.

It took just 4 days for me to arrive- I was thirsty and jet lagged,

but I was able to stretch my legs down by Lake Wanaka,

even some straw to eat and what d'you know I was feeling much better in no time.

My new surroundings looked wonderful, the sun was setting over the snow capped mountains and the reflection on the lake was just perfect.

Mmmm, I could get used to this life!

Oliver of Otterburn goes west to Steep Point

Oliver of Otterburn goes West to Steep Point

The objective of today’s trip is to reach the furthest west point of
the Australian continent. It is named Steep Point and it is quite a remote spot.

It is possible to drive there but to do so requires a well equipped tough 4-wheel-drive vehicle and the time to undertake a
return journey over 300 kms of dirt road and soft sand.

So, I am going with Ray & Margaret and we will do it the easy way, in a light plane from the small town of Denham in Western Australia.

It will be a flight of about an hour and we will fly over the beautiful blue waters of Shark Bay.

This is a World Heritage Area and the
extensive sea grass meadows of the bay shelter some of the most diverse marine life anywhere in the world.

The view of the surrounding landscape is stunning.

It is dry and remote and few people live here. The land ends with stark steep cliffs
dropping dramatically down into the Indian Ocean. Steep Point pokes itself out into the sea, there is no sign of humanity, not even the
campspot of fishermen.

Across a shallow passage from Steep Point is Dirk Hartog Island. It is long, narrow and sandy but has a special place in Australian history.

In the year 1616 the Dutch trading ship ‘Eendracht’, en route to Batavia landed here.

The captain, Dirk Hartog hammered flat a pewter plate, inscribed some details of his voyage, and nailed the plate to a tree. It was the very first European object to be placed on
the Australian continent. It remained there for many years but is now displayed in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

So, there you have it, a Northumbrian sheep at the western edge of Australia.

Lady Maairy walks on the Roman Wall

Hello!

Tis me, Lady Maairy on my most recent escapade!

Some tall adolescent lads decided to take me on their trip camping along Hadrian’s wall!

It was a very enjoyable trip (apart from sleeping in the tent, which was a bit cramped, seeing as I normally enjoy the luxury of my own field).

We set out from just outside Carlisle and walked all the way back to my home, just outside Morpeth, and let me tell you, my little legs were completely worn out by the first mile! (Low fat grass in the future I think) But at least one of the lads gave me a lift in a private compartment in their rucksack!

Along the wall, the Romans built a milecastle every Roman mile! I ponder looking at one of the ruins I found where the sheep lived? Hopefully inside the castle seeing as there is many dangerous cliffs about and I don’t think I would be able to cling on, never mind old Sheepious Maximus!

The wall stretches about 73 miles end to end, and while we only covered two-thirds of it, it was quite enough I can tell you! There is some very pretty stretches of the wall where it slinks over into the distance which looked very cool!

On our final camping night I came across a very welcome and familiar sight! It turns out that the farm we were staying at owned a small flock of Ryland sheep!! Just like back home! I went and had a little converse with these new sheep and they were very polite, although they spoke in some strange language, latan or something, and they had a big chief sheep called Baaaaaaaa-us Maximus!

Overall it was a very enjoyable trip and who knows what great length I will be walking next time!!!

Lady Maairy in the Holyland (Part2)

Fairly close to here, a small flock of sheep, fed up with being prayed on by wolves and the like, bribed a human to look after them, creating not only the World’s first true ‘Industry’ but creating the original profession – Shepherd! Yoav had kindly leant me a Bible to read in my spare moments so I was interested to read these transcripts. I’ve found a very impressive 189 references to sheep so far, mostly ‘lamb of God’ and ‘Lord is my shepherd’ type of thing but there are the odd ‘sacrificial lamb’ that I find a bit upsetting. Still Noah had the right idea, inviting 7 pairs of ‘clean’ animals such as ourselves aboard to ‘help feed the animals’. I can just imagine my hardworking ancestors filling the 2 horses’ hay-nets and washing the 2 dogs’ bowls, mind i’ve always wondered what the pair of Lions ate. Talking of food.. Haggling can make you very hungry so we went to have lunch in one of the local Arab restaurants. For some reason the meat dishes made me think of my old auntie Mildred but the Falafel balls and plate of Hummus were delicious. (Photo 4) No clover in it at all but still I could get used to it…

With no time to waste Yoav and his wife Adi took me to Nazareth. A wonderful city which is an amazing mixture of old and new, markets full of local fruit, vegetables and spices, traffic jams , oh ,and a few holy sites as well. We visited the Basilica of the Annunciation which felt quite special ….. (Photos 5)

….. and then went shopping for souvenirs. I took a fancy to these polished ram horns. Yoav said they were used as horns at Jewish prayers to part the skies to let the prayers get through. Must be a local breed, very impressive horns, wish I could meet these boys. (Photo 6)

Never ever listen to the locals, smoking is bad for you!!! If I ever wake up I’ll send another blog … on the other hand I could get used to this stuff.

(Photo 7)

Lady Maairy in the Holy Land (Part 1)

Lady Maairy visits the Holyland

This is me and Yoav, my host on this trip. ‘OK’ I hear you say, ‘I didn’t realise the ‘Holyland’ was so green’. I don’t want to mislead you but this was my last chance of grass for 2 wks and I think Yoav was pointing towards Mecca (Photo1)

So here I am in the ‘Holyland’, it’s a bit hot in my crate and I was wishing i’d asked for a No 1 all over instead of a standard shear so a dip in the sea of Galilea hit the right spot. No, I can hear you ask – I did not attempt to walk on water! (Photo2)

However I wasn’t quite prepared for

the next water encounter with a baptismal ritual in the Jordan river, I mean haven’t they read the recommendations? One minute whole body, including head, for sheep scab not just a bowl of water over my scalp! I want my money back! (Photo 3)

World Challengers - A fantastic life changing achievement (Part 4)

The day of the trek has arrived and we are all packed up, waiting for our Guide to arrive and the jeeps to transport us to the start! We are all excited but also very nervous, as we are not quite sure what to expect!

We will be starting our 12 day trek into the Great Himalaya Range - the Marka Valley trek. It is 115 kms in total and we will be trekking from 3500m up to 5240m.

The journey from Leh was quite hairy, as the road wasn't really a road, single track just stones and sand, barren land, the river Indus and a huge drop to the side of us! We noticed many packs of horses, pony's and mules carrying heavy packs with the sherpas along the track. Two of the animals tried to run into our jeep and just missed! The landscape was brown, dusty and really barren. We noticed a family - father, mother and tiny baby, building the stoney track; they were black with the sun, there was no shade for them and it was quite upsetting for us to see this scene.

We eventualy reached our first camp at JingJang and set up our tents for the night. It was next to the stream and our team of sherpas and 30 animals for the next 2 weeks were already there.

It's hard to believe we are in India in the Himalayas! We are all so lucky! It's an early night tonight as we are up at 5.30am tomorrow!

It's a beautiful clear crisp morning, with the sun kissing the peaks. We were on our way with a good breakfast inside us and it wasn't long before our first river crossing! What excitement and freezing cold water straight off the glacier, brrr!

Our destination today was Snow Leopard Camp at Rumbag. Really hope I don't see any snow leopards as i think this will be the end for me!!

Four hours of trekking for everyone, I must admit i had it quite easy as i was snug inside the day sack! Just as well as the air temperature at night was minus degrees!

The next few days saw us trek higher and higher, we saw many herds of goats and sheep, donkeys, yaks, marmots, birds of prey and ram horns!

We reached the first of our highest pass of 4900m - Gandi La Pass. This was some climb, we were all gasping for air and our breathing was fast. Some of the students were sick and one passed out! we had to give everyone time to recover but we all made it!

What a fantastic feeling and breathtaking views! Miles and miles of the Himalayas, snowfields with an avalanche and prayer flags adorning the peak-so beautiful.

We became quicker & more adept at taking down and putting up our tents, packing our big rucksacks and coping with the high altitude, eating rice, noodles and dal each day, dealing with sickness and fatigue and living outside our comfort zones! I think all the young people became stronger characters and supported and helped each other on a daily basis.

No sooner had we climbed high but we would be sleeping low to allow our bodies time to recover.

We climbed four high passes with numerous river crossings

in between, which were real fun and very refreshing for our feet!

I know that by the time we reached the highest pass of 5240m Chaktsang Pass we were totally elated and emotions were running high. It was a proud moment as you can see from the pictures.

Trek phase completed, what's left to do?

Oh yes I remember now!

Sue asked if i could have my photograph taken at the Taj Mahal!

Well this was quite a sticky situation,as it was very hot and humid in Agra.

Little did we know but on entering the Taj, you get frisked and all bags are searched!

I was pulled out of my plastic shopping bag and put on view for all to see. The guard asked Gill what she was doing with a sheep in her bag!

Gill explained where I came from, about Sue being a writer etc. Gill was told NOT to bring me out of the bag as she could get fined 1000 indian rupees!

Oh dear, I'd travelled all this way especialy for this moment at the Taj Mahal only to find out I wasn't allowed in !!

However, as you can see from this photo, Gill took the risk and here I am in all my glory with Becky & Lily siting infront of the Taj Mahal.

Apologies Sue, we couldn't take the chance of sitting on Lady Di's seat, it was too public and too risky! If you would like one of Gill sitting on Lady Di's seat just let her know!

So folks this was me in India. it was the most amazing month away.

The young people are the only team so far this summer to successfully complete the Markha Valley trek.

We are very proud of their achievements!