Reflections: Where was your favorite place as a child?

I had two favorite places as a child.

One was staying with my Nana who lived at Russell, in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand.

My next favorite place was riding my horse.

I loved staying with Nana because her house overlooked the ocean and we just had to walk for 10 minutes, down the hill and we were at the beach.

The beach was so calm and safe and beautiful.

It was sandy but also had lots of rocks for fishing off, pools for finding shrimp and lots of seafood on the rocks too.

My Dad used to go diving for kina, paua and crayfish.

Amazing to think of it now, with all those things being so hard to find in the sea or terribly expensive to buy.

Nana spoilt me a bit when we stayed with her but not too much.

She was still strict and I had to eat my meal

Nana also had a piano in her house that I taught myself to minimally play.

I did this by reading the music books that were kept inside the piano stool.

Shops were also walking distance and as it was always the holidays, I had pocket money with which to buy lollies, ice creams and potato chips,sometimes even fizzy drinks like fanta or raspberry fizz.

It was all very special and carefree.

My Nana loved to take me walking through the village and proudly introduce me to her friends and shopkeepers. Often treats found their way to me on these walks.

Happiness, safety and security are my memories of visitng Nana plus continually being surrounded by the beauty of the ocean and the native bush, added to the uniqueness of this time.

Now riding my horse was my other favorite place to be and continued into my late teens.

On my horse, I could escape my household chores and my brother, who was a constant drag and a trouble maker.

I got to explore new places and occasionally I would meet new people.

Horse riding was a social time in our neighborhood, with most of the other girls owning horses or ponies, so we often went on road rides together.

Some days we would have races or set up jumps, just generally muck around at one another’s places.

Reflecting back on these times, I can see I always preferred and loved the great outdoors.

I loved being active and reveled in getting as much sunshine and fresh air, as I could each day.

I still to this day, crave activities in the open air and I still appreciate the wonder and beauty of the world around me.

Beaches and bush are still my favourite places.

Thanfkully living in New Zealand makes this an almost daily past time.