Sunday, 17 February 2013

... to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

Port Albert on the Kaipara Harbour
I often go down to Port Albert to sit and read or write. I like being beside the water and it's not far from home. And there are huge flocks of birds there - oyster catchers and pied stilts especially which I like to observe. 
   This photo looks lovely, doesn't it? But it's not always so picturesque. When the tide is out, it looks like this:

Low tide at the wharf

And that's when I step out of my comfort zone. You see, I hate heights and the long wharf stands high above the mud flats at low tide. And I have this silly irrational fear that I'm going to have an Alice in Wonderland "Shrink me" type moment & fall through the gaps between the boards! Which was not helped by an official hazard sign on the shore stating the obvious - that you could fall off the wharf and drown!
  But today there were kingfishers at the end of the jetty, landing then flying and diving for fish, going round and round from the handrails to the water and back again. And I wanted to photograph them so, clutching the rail tightly and stepping ever so slowly, I made the long walk from the shore to the end of the wharf.
   By which time the kingfishers had seen me coming and abandoned the area completely!

2 comments:

  1. You are very brave, Wendy, because tide or no tide, you would not catch me walking on that wharf. I think I would become dizzy and pass out. I'm afraid of heights and I'm afraid of deep water.

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  2. Yes,Lucille,it was scary and with the wharf having a handrail on only one side I made sure I held on tight and didn't look down!

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