Beyond Noumea

The backdrop to Noumea. I was booked on a tour to go 4wding through this area but it was cancelled due to insufficient numbers. I was very disappointed as I longed to get up into those mountainous areas.

Rock mandala

I have a tendency, in true Capricorn fashion, to collect rocks from all around the world. Some I’ve incorporated into art works, others I have sitting in plastic bags. Yesterday I decided to take all my rocks and create a rock mandala in front of my Buddha statue. I wanted it to be a natural, free form mandala. Perhaps one day, I will take the time to form a real pattern from the rocks.

This is the view I awake to every morning from my bedroom window.

Mandalas are very important in the Buddhist faith.

Many of these rocks come from the Himalayas including the Mt Everest region of Tibet.

Also included, are rocks from the Southern Alps in New Zealand. If you look closely you may also see a single shell in the very centre collected from a New Zealand beach. It is sitting on black volcanic sand from that same beach.

So now my Buddha sits under his weeping Eucalypt (newly staked) with his new rock mandala in front of him.

I think he is happy with the additions. I will continue to add to this collection as I find new rocks on my travels. My aim is to fill the entire concrete circle with rocks.

Just because…

Just because it looks cold in this picture…

I wish I was in the snow right now.  I wish I was in the mountains.

Tibet

These ruins are all in Tibet around the Shegar area, not too far from Mt Everest. I felt there was a real power and presence in this landscape and with these ancient ruins that dated back hundreds of years. They aren’t from the more recent events in Tibetan history. I think they were from the 16th Century but I can’t swear to that.

I just found the colours and textures of the place amazing. Everything was on an awesome scale and was quite breathtaking. All of these shots were taken from a moving vehicle through a closed window so that is why they are a bit blurry and fuzzy. I actually think that adds to the mystique of them.

These shots were all taken using the still photo option on my video camera. It adjusts for movement very nicely. And yes, those are power lines running through the middle photo. Progress is everywhere it seems.

Aoraki/Mt Cook

It is impossible to miss Aoraki/Mt Cook – she is set slightly back from the main chain of mountains and dominates the surroundings. She leaps out at you and, as Samuel Butler once wrote, you can have no doubt that this is Mt Cook. It is a most memorable drive with Lake Pukaki and part of the Southern Alps chain to the right and Aoraki/Mt Cook straight ahead.

From Peter’s lookout you look straight up the Tasman River valley to an undisturbed view of Aoraki/Mt Cook – all of it! No hiding behind neighbours here – you can see it from ground level to the very summit. On my visit an interesting crescent shaped cloud hung over the very top. I could just imagine the wind currents up at that height being diverted up and over Aoraki/Mt Cook’s crown. The scene was white on white – a white sky framing the white mountain. For some reason I was glad it wasn’t clear and sunny with a bright blue sky – perhaps it seemed more atmospheric. Last time I’d been there, 23 years earlier, the mountain had remained clouded and I hadn’t seen her full majesty. This time I was honoured with a sensational view. I stood staring at the mountain for a while until a tour bus pulled up and the silence was shattered.

Near the mountain, on the Hooker trail, stands a memorial that is well worth spending some time examining. On the base were many plaques, placed by grieving families, in memory of climbers who have died on and around the mountain. It is moving and sobering to read these. Many climbers were very young when they died here. The one thing that really stood out in each dedication was the passion and deep love for the mountains and for climbing that each climber had. I wouldn’t wish death on anyone, especially those so young, but somehow it seemed fitting to me that they died in their beloved mountains doing what they loved so well. I felt a great welling up of respect and admiration for these climbers. I love mountains but don’t feel that driving ambition to climb to the top of them. I think you have to have that to succeed. But I do understand the lure and siren call of the mountains and how they can get inside your skin, enter your bloodstream and permeate your thoughts.

Kanchenjunga

During the three months I spent in the Darjeeling region in early 2007, I only caught sight of Kanchenjunga on three occasions. It was winter and very foggy and misty and visibility was low. But the awe and wonder when she did appear made the wait worthwhile. I have seen both the highest and third highest mountains in the world now. Kanchenjunga has five distinct peaks and towers over Darjeeling. I wasn’t ever able to get a really good shot of her, this is about the best of my photos. But the thrill of seeing such a majestic sight will stay with me forever.

I loved Darjeeling. I felt at home there and wish to return someday. I loved the people, the geography, the scenery, the atmosphere, the history and the energy of the place.

K2 watch out … I’m after a photo of you next.

Mt Everest

Mt Everest is big.

I mean really big.

I consider myself one of the luckiest people on the planet because I’ve actually seen her, in the flesh, so to speak. Last year I visited Everest’s north face base camp in Tibet. I was over 5 km above sea level. The air is pretty thin up there. From the Tibetan side you get a fantastic view of the entire mountain.

She is awe-inspiring and magnificent. She radiates a power and a presence. You understand why the Sherpas call her ‘Chomolongma’ – ‘Mother Goddess of the Universe’. I wanted to fall to my knees and worship.Standing before her I felt humility – such a tiny human presence before such a majestic presence. Chomolongma is alive.

I am not a mountaineer and I do not understand the compulsion that drives people to climb to the peak. For me it is enough to stand before the mountain and soak up the atmosphere and the magnificent sight. Nonetheless, it fascinates me how long it takes to climb a peak like Everest. How many times the climbers ascend and descend, each time pushing a little higher to acclimatise and prepare the way for the next push upward. It takes months. And even then only a relative few ever make it to the top.

Unfortunately it seems the climb to the summit has become just another industry these days – no longer the great adventure it once was. The once pristine slopes are now littered with rubbish and the dead.I’m still torn between admiration for those who’ve climbed her and the belief that there are some places that mankind should never go. I hate it when people use the term ‘conquered’ with regard to climbing mountains.

I have no desire to climb her but I am glad to have been privileged enough to stand before her.