06/07/2025
My friend who became my sister. We have been together in many wonderful places together over the years. Met in good old Argy when you briefly lived there, together in Coffs Harbour, Park Beach, Emerald Beach, Serenity Beach, Rajastan, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Agra (at the Taj Mahal), Singapore, and Bali, to name a handful. Other than Emerald Beach (and maybe the Taj Mahal lol), Candidasa Beach in Bali is my favourite – our special spot. At the retreat in 2023, we were lucky to get to spend your birth day together (pretty rare occurrence over the years, funnily enough).
You have been an inspiration over the years. You surfed J Bay as a surfie chick about 50 years ago (before another surfer, somethink like Fanning, made it famous when he fought off a great white lol). You later turned to teaching yoga (bit like another famous surfer – somethink like Lopez lol), and your style was Iyengar. You taught for over 30 years before you left the teaching mat, and innumerable students have felt the benefit of your knowledge, experience, and teaching – myself included.
You were a wife – lucky to find your soul mate early in life, a mother, a daughter, a grandaughter and grandmother, an aunty, a cousin etc, and a friend to many; a world traveller; a shearer of sheep in New Zealand, you have been a cook, a shop owner, a fruiterer, a landlord, an advocate of organic foods (long before it became trendy), you were knowledgeable about plants, herbs, nutrition and holistic health. You guided your daughters in their sporting endeavours and helped them pursue their passions. They have become strong, independent, and accomplished women, that you can be rightly proud of. You advised and helped countless people over the years. And this is only to name some of your achievements.
This clip from Candidasa is dedicated to you. It was compiled by another person at the retreat we attended, who took pieces from our group chat, and strung them together. The very first bit (with the flapping sheets) was filmed by me, and it is my favourite bit – I only have to hear that sound, and I am transported there, in a moment, in my mind’s eye. Except for the earthquake that shook us almost out of our beds at 4am in the morning (just to help make it ever more memorable), it was a wonderful time together, for which I am forever grateful.
I will continue to love you till the day I die, and I miss you already. Namaste and Om Shanti