The Life of Riley

OLIVE’S SIXTY SEVENTH POST

(Don’t forget, folks, Olive loves to get comments from you.

Eric reads them to her each Friday morning at 10.30. She will try to answer questions as well.

Sadly Wordpress has disabled the ability we used have to comment on a comment in the actual comment section.)

Mike

Maria Amelia Lopez, Spain’s oldest blogger has put you on her blog, Ollie, even your movie clip.

Here’s her blog. (Her link’s on the side, folks, on our blogroll.)

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Olive

That’s nice

Mike

I’ve found out that Maria Amelia is very famous, especially in her own country.

Her fame’s comes because she’s blogging at 96, and she’s very engaged and opinionated, in the world, I mean.

More so than you. But then, you are 108!

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Mike

Here’s some photos of the President of Spain coming to see her.

His name is Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. but everyone calls him just Zapatero

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Mike

He was born in 1960 and was one of the youngest MP’s ever in Spain.

He’s very popular and it seems he gets some advice from Maria Amelia from time to time.

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Mike

No Australian politician has even noticed you, except the local ones, have they?

Olive

No, and I don’t care either.

Mike

Anyway, let’s hope we can keep in Contact with Maria.

Maybe when I go to Europe at the end of the month I can go see her, though I’ve no idea where she lives.

Now, I’ve got lots of news for you.

You know, Ollie, I wish you could still walk. I had some fantastic walking in New Zealand last week.

Olive

You can forget about that, boy.

Mike

I went to the very northern tip of the South Island, a place called Nelson, one of the oldest towns in New Zealand.
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Mike

From there I walked the Abel Tasman track, well part of it.

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Mike

They’ve got their walks very well organized in New Zealand.

You know, I think we could do a much better job here in Australia

We’ve got fantastic walks here too but you never see anyone on them except the locals.

Look at this view from our Patonga-Pearl Beach walk, right here on the Central Coast

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Olive

I know Patonga, been there many times.

Mike

Indeed, that’s where you had your portrait painted last year. (see the 21st. post. It’s a likeness)

Seems like we don’t sell our walks as a tourist attraction, not like the Kiwis do, and maybe we should

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You’ve never been to New Zealand, have you, Ollie?

Olive

No, I’d love to go, though.

Mike

Well, it’s only three hours away. I want to show you the place, the walk, everything.

But first, my niece, Chloe, asked me to take some photos to announce the Yoga class she’s giving.

We went down on Avoca beach (that’s a nice walk too) just after the sun came up.

How about these snaps to get us in a peaceful mood, eh?
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Mike

I know you walked a lot Ollie, with Bing Riley, your second husband.

Here you are on the Hawksbury river somewhere, maybe 50 years ago?

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Olive

Oh, we loved it, Bingie and me.

Mike

I know you used to get off at Berowra Station because here’s a photo of you on that station with some friends, though you don’t seem to be dressed for walking.

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Olive

Is that me?

Mike

It surely is.

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Olive

We used to hike down to Berowra Waters. I caught a 8 pound (18 kilos) flathead there once, on a 7 pound line too!

Mike

Really? How did you land it?

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Ollie

What a story! I’m on the rocks, yer see. I’m struggling with the fish, trying not to break me line.

There are some men around but they’re no use. So, I sing out to Bing, he was some ways off,
“Help! Bingie, bring the gaff.”

Bing comes leaping over the rocks, then gets down on his tummy and reaches out with the gaff and somehow he hooks it.

Mike

did you eat it?

Olive

We was staying in hotel at Berowra that time. Now, we wasn’t going to give it to the hotel people, so we gave it to a family with three kids.

They cooked it and invited us all for dinner. There was enough for everyone, it was so large.

Mike

Do you remember hearing about the Great North Walk?

It’s a famous trail which still exists today, all the way from Sydney to Newcastle, and it goes through Berowra Waters.

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Olive

I can’t say I do. I know we walked from Berowra to the next station up the line. What’d that be, Mike?

Mike

Cowan?

Olive

That’s right, Cowan

Mike

Then you MUST have been on the Great North Walk.

See here, I’ve marked the Great North Walk trail from Berowra Waters to Cowan.

You must have been on it, Ollie! I like the idea that you were, anyway.

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Mike

It’s my dream to do the whole walk.

Olive

Well, you can.

Mike

Did you camp overnight, you and Bing?

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Olive

Well, we didn’t go that far though we did sleep in rock caves a couple of times.

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Mike

I want to walk it all. So far, I’ve only done bits round Patonga. …..

But I was telling you about going to Nelson, top of the South Island, New Zealand and walking from there.

I flew from Christchurch in a smallish plane over mountains which’d cut you up like a saw if you came down in the wrong place.

I thought they made beautiful patterns, though

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Mike

This is Nelson from one of the surrounding hills

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Mike

It’s quite an old town for New Zealand and rather English-y looking and…

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Mike

…with a beautiful little river running through it.

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Mike

I found an old tree in Nelson, a Eucalypt, planted in 1857, 41 years before you were born and grown considerable larger

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Mike

I walked and walked, first on Nelson’s surrounding hills, overlooking the sea.

I had a pedometer, a thing you put on your belt to measure how far you’ve walked

It’s a great encouragement to do long, long walks . Here, it’ s showing Kilometers.

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Mike

Push the button and it shows steps. You’re supposed to do 10,000 steps a day for good health Did you know that, Ollie?

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Olive

Really, so many?

Mike

Walking gets very addictive with this gadget on your belt. It’s not hard to make 10,000.

So, there I was, up and down every hill round Nelson. One spot was marked, the Dead Centre of New Zealand.
What a fantastic view there was from up there.

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Mike

I walked all day, at last coming back to the port

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Mike

In the evening it was magic

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Mike

I was famished. Way below, I saw a place to eat right on the water.

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Olive

That must have been nice.

Mike

It was but getting down almost wrecked my knees.

Hunger rushed me, you should always come down slowly, legs bent, I had knee pain all the next day.

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Olive

Did you have oysters?

Mike

I don’t like oysters, Ollie, surely I told you that? Slimy things, Ugh!

You know what was strange though, the seagulls floated just off the end of the restaurant, waiting for scraps in a pool of light

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Mike

Here’s the map of the Abel Tasman track which I started the next day.

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Mike

I didn’t walk the whole thing, which takes about three days, just parts of it.

You can get dropped off by boat, water taxis…….

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Mike

Or the bigger beast which I took

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Mike

We rode along the coast, past marvelous outcrops and the rock they call the split apple, at last coming on the beach and my walk’s beginning

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Mike

So I started my walk…
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Mike

The path is mostly fine white sand.

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Mike

I found I was sharing the track with strapping lasses of Danish or German origin

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Mike

who overtook me on the curves

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Mike

There’s lot of sea kayaking done along the Able Tasman, and they go up the rivers too.

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Mike

The Abel Tasman is mostly a coastal track

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Mike

But sometimes you have to climb high and your legs ache.

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Mike

You can break the walk, stay overnight in huts which are pretty basic.

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Mike

I did six hours of walking that day, from Torrent bay to Marahau.

I’m told there’s a cafe just across that bridge. Can it be true?

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Mike

It is true! Heaven for tired legs.

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Mike

Never will lentil soup ever taste as good again!

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Mike

Many, it seems don’t make it, leaving sad relics along the track

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Mike

and so home, with stories for you and katya and Ellen

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Mike

Our walks are just as good, Ollie.

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We too could entice the hard hiking Swedes onto our trails I’m sure!.

Come on foreign folks, you strong legs with Euros.

Just behind those modest cottages, starts the Patonga walk and there are no traffic jams.

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Olive

We’re exhausted, Mike

Mike

True, Ollie I don’t know when to stop.

But I’ll tell you one thing, Ollie, I’ve lost ten kilos since New Zealand and you can’t sneeze at that.

With the pedometer came a seductive little book, Walking yourself thin. I took them at their word.

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