Providing opportunities to realise the potential in ourselves and others
Providing opportunities to realise the potential in ourselves and others
Kia ora whanau, Yes its been a long time since I got behind the keyboard and wrote something for you all. It hasn’t been the lack of wanting to write, 2024 was a bit of a whirlwind to say the least. Since my last post I have been somewhat busy, between a new job that …
. June 7 and 8 saw a group of 26 disabled people aged 18 – 35 with a wide diversity of access needs head to Ruapehu. I love working with the MidCentral Enabling Good Lives Young Adults And Youth (YAAY) for many, their first time being in the snow. It once again reminded me that so many people don’t get to experience the outdoor places of New Zealand, not necessarily because of an impairment, but because although the outdoors exists for “free”, accessing it is not always so easy.
I know you were expecting a blog about taking a group of young people up to Whakapapa, but, in the week leading up to the house rising Grant Roberston pulled a stunt, that once again shows that disabled people, 25% of the population are not worth putting the money and effort into. I don’t usually …
The end of May rolled around way too quickly. I felt like I finished my 10km in pretty good shape, but my body decided that I had pushed it and picked up a cold. I’d spent a lot of time trialling nutrition, hydration and recovery methods, before, during and after training. My legs and muscles …
April began with me trying to get the footage I had taken at Alice Nash edited (I’m still trying!), some meetings and preparing to take 3 friends out to Alice Nash for an overnighter. Then I realized that the deer hunting season had kicked off, that there was a lot of talk of father/son hunting trips and that Aotearoa was in full lockdown this time last year…
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March kicked off with a visit to the local court to see ADNZ Raven’s support crew many of the courthouse staff all chip in towards Raven’s fundraising effort. The place was a bit chaotic due to a change in Covid19 Alert Levels. I don’t think Raven fully appreciates what “Social Distancing” means! Thank you so much for your continued support of Raven and Assistance Dogs NZ Trust.
Holdsworth Lodge; Tararua Forest Park. 9 & 10 Feb 2021.
I have been wanting to get out bush and clear my head for awhile. It was well overdue and thanks to a couple of friends we locked in a date and off we went. A lot of trips would be out of my “range” at the moment so I deliberately picked Holdsworth Lodge, a bit of a cruisy, glamping trip. I have walked past Holdsworth Lodge plenty of times on my way into Donnelley’s Flats and thought “I need to measure up that ramp and the doorways”. This was the perfect opportunity to do a measure up and see how feasible this site could be for others to use. However the main intent for this trip was to get out of town and cellphone range to chill for the night.
2020 seems to have flown by, I know that it’s been a year none of us will forget. Globally Covid has been a bit of a shit-show; I am thankful and grateful to be in New Zealand and the decisions our leadership has made. On a personal level was a year of re-examining what is important to me and prioritizing, a year of accessing the medical and disability services and support that would have been beneficial over the last two decades. I guess like many, it’s been a year of uncertainty, confusion and a rapidly changing “normal”.
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Once again it feels like just the other I sat down and got stuck into writing a blog, but in reality it’s been awhile since my last one. For me life had been in this weird space of both carrying on and being on pause. While we in New Zealand have seemingly successfully navigated Levels 4 and 3 of our Covid Alert system; the sun rose each morning, yet so much of life was “on hold”. And now we have moved down through Level 2 and now after several weeks of Level 1 some sense of “normality” was happening before New Zealand had a “second waves” cluster/s appear in the last few weeks.
Read MoreWe haven’t had a lot of opportunity to do public access with Assistance Dogs NZ (ADNZ) Raven while we’ve been on lock-down, and today she rocked it in her new harness. ADNZ Raven’s physiology is different to ADNZ Ben so we’ve been getting the set up right for her public mobility tasks. If you would like to support ADNZ Raven’s fundraising please head to: https://give.everydayhero.com/nz/assistance-dogs-nz-ben-has-retired-please-support-his-succes
Video description: ADNZ Raven is wearing a bright blue harness with a Y-front and small handle attached to a D-ring on the back of her harness, to the right of her body. Antnz is on Raven’s right (behind in frame). They are walking into a bank. Antnz is using crutches.
Read MoreWe’ve been together a wee while now, but lockdown prevented the face to face time with a trainer. We’re off to a good start today.
I’ve finally dragged out the GoPro and been taking some footage here and there. This was us getting out on a “government approved exercise” walk on the 23rd April. Assistance Dogs NZ Raven is still getting used to this route and where the barking dogs live. I needed to get my editing groove on again, so put this together…. I hope you enjoy.
Stay Home, Save Lives.
Antnz
It seems like yesterday I was writing a tribute to Assistance Dogs NZ (ADNZ) Ben, then next thing I know; the world is looking a whole lot different! ADNZ Raven is here and our entire country is in a state of emergency on “Level 4 Covid 19 Alert”; which is essentially “only leave your house for essential services like food or medical care, or your employment is classed as an essential service, the borders are now closed”.
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