Day 1 of the Symposium on Theology, Spirituality and Cancer has gone really well - I had a great time!  For the most part the papers were interesting and excellent - and those that lacked excellence (mostly because too much was attempted in the time allotted) were still interesting.  Mine was well received with some good, but not too tricky, questions and I was well in side the allocated time.  Lots of people sought me out to thank me for my paper, valuing it as sharing of story, appropriate openness/honesty and saying it was helpful.

During the course of the day I met a fair few other Baptists, including a delightful couple who are going to take me to their church on Sunday (it being 'not that kind of Baptist church') and then for lunch - how kind is that?  Today a few folk took me under thier wing to ensure I had company at lunch time and tea time.

Had a sly smile when the evening keynote speaker refered to 'neece' (NICE) which he asserted was UK, and I hadn't the heart to point out that it is SIGN in Scotland, and it was an engaging, wide ranging and thoughtful talk.

Am tired but looking forward to day two - and staying up late to try to buy Glasgow 2014 netball final tickets....

My minimal smattering of Maori now includes Matotapu - Holy/Sacred Island.

Didn't actually get there, but was on the next one, Rangitoto - which means 'blood red sky' reflecting its origin from a volcanic eruption.

Unlike UK Holy Islands, there is no religious settlement/community there, it is being developed as a nature reserve.  But it did remind me of an essay I wrote a very long time ago about a water rite associated with tapu (taboo)  and some sort of nice circularity in now visiting the part of the world from which it originated.

In some ways I struggle with the idea of sacred places/spaces as I think the 'thinness' is often in us not the physical location with which we associate it.  The idea of the earth as sacred, now that I'll sign up for any day of the week!

is allegedly the favourite ice-cream flavour in Auckland - caramel icrecream with honeycomb and caramel bits in it.  It was quite tasty!

PS I was in the shade otherwise I'd have had a hat on too!

Another hot, sunny day in the antipodes… 27 degrees, very glad of my factor 50 sunscreen and probably the only person wandering around with their arms covered up (one lymphoedema sleeve and glove combo and  one tanned arm would just look silly!).  Using the second day of my tour bus ticket meant I got to see some different parts of the city, including climbing to the top of Mount Eden, visiting Eden Gardens (not the Garden of Eden!!), the entrance to Government House and the rugby ground.

Eden Gardens is a pay-to enter public garden in a volcanic crater, funded to a greater or lesser degree by memorials – not just the ubiquitous benches, but little plaques on walls a bit like you might see at a crematorium – only without the crematorium.  What seems to be a new initiative was a pet memorial wall (only three plaques and some dried out plaster where had fallen off!).  I did like it as an idea though – a pleasant place to go to remember Auntie Betty or Uncle Bill, or Rover or Fluffy for that matter.  A nice café, lots of paths to walk along, nooks and crannies, wonderful planting – if as the twee poem goes 'you're nearer to God in a garden' what better place to draw near to lost loved ones?

Setting aside the near impossibility of finding bread, biscuits, ready meals or even cooked meat (!) that do not contain soya, capsicums/paprika or both, my experience of supermarkets  which seems to fly in the face of the 'clean, green New Zealand' mantra.  Turning up with my own cotton bag and expecting that I'll use it has met with bewilderment… do I not want a single use, disposable plastic bag, then?  That'd be a no.  Intriguing.  I have had some nice NZ lamb chops and delicious sweet corn and lots of fresh fruit and have tried to avoid familiar brands in favour of indigenous ones where possible – nice gloopy yoghourts, 'interesting' museli largely devoid of oats. 

Now it's time to relax and get my things together for tomorrow's trip to one of the islands across the bay from here