Back to Black

As I farewell Elinor once more, and make my way onto a small propeller plane, we're warned that we're going to be taking off into a stiff, gusty northerly from Wellington.

The twin prop jettisons from the runway, and immediately hits bouncy turbulence as the blades whir over the Wellington harbour, and lift us skyward. As the turbulence gets increasingly vigorous, I tighten my seatbelt around my lap and divert my attention from National Geographic to the horizon to try to steady my stomach.

Clouds soon break from a monotonous grey into more fluffy, shapely forms, and the sun breaks through. The propellers hit a steady whir, and we hit a more settling stride onward to Tauranga.

Single serves are dolled out, and the half-empty plane's passengers gaze downward into their newspapers, whilst I begin to sketch out my understanding of what I'm heading up to the Bay of Plenty to take part in. Boxes, circles and bullet points soon fill my page, as I build the picture of who, what & how I will help to co-ordinate for the community cleanup response of the Rena oil spill. Pen down for now, I think things may well have changed in the four days I've been away. Every day brings emergent changes in the whole operation.

I can't help but let my mind wander from the slick black oil spills on the Bay of Plenty beaches, to the nation's pride (and perhaps relief) flowing forth from the weekend's world cup win by the All Blacks after 24 years of efforts.

For 3 years I have watched keenly as the All Black prepare for the world cup through tests both in Aotearoa and overseas. Three years of seeing a team mature, a style of play develop, and a confidence flow forth… and expectation building all the time in the country's many rugby-mad followers. Sure, perhaps it wasn't the best game of rugby in the final (that came in the semi's for the AB's against France… simply breathtaking!) but the grit, training, strategy and desire was there in the final to see the boys through. The country is proud - hence the ticker-tape parades through every major city!

My mind snaps back to the job at hand though, and I steel myself for the coming days - reminding myself that despite the apparent complexity and unknowns, I have the knowledge, experience & skills to do this role as I have done many before. When I wrote 'paths less travelled' awhile back, I didn't necessarily expect to find myself sitting in an incident control centre for a major southern hemisphere oil spill - but I still feel lucky to have the opportunity to be involved.

 Whilst I have the tendency to feel a little isolated on these journeys up north, I also remind myself of the amazing support I am getting from Elinor, from CV, from family and friends around the world, and know that I shall just broaden my shoulders and get the job done. Thanks everyone for all your support, it means a lot.