I enquired about any doctor or medical help being available. After phone calls to so-called "on call" people - no luck. So to sum up: A remote location, Sunday, raining, no medical help, not even a pharmacy! Not looking good.
This was one of those challenging times you hope won't happen on a holiday! However, we have a daily practice of writing our Gratitude Journal every evening. By that evening we had a list of things to be grateful for:
- the motel having room to let us stay an extra night.
- thinking of offering my friend some "Sea Legs" medication which we had with us. It did help.
- a friend in Auckland suggesting (via text message) that we take a shorter route home and cancel the plans we had for the final days of our holiday. Good advice!
- the motel manager calling a friend who works for St John's Ambulance. She came and checked out various issues and gave some re-assurance.
- being warm and dry in a comfortable bed - near a bathroom (!) - on a wet day which would have been awful for travel.
The following two days for our re-arranged return journey to Christchurch were sunny and beautiful. Although my friend was still a bit wobbly it was fine to set off and we had time to see some beautiful places we would not otherwise have explored.
We reflected as we drove that we were also grateful that we were both able to let go the plans we had made and accept what had happened. The places we missed are places we can visit another time. It was a good chance to practice "letting go" and an attitude of trust even though it was certainly a challenging time.
