To our forum members down under (Australian and New Zealand)

[ivar]

Hi all,

Next week I will be taling to a few journalists from New Zealand and Australia here in Santiago. Just some basic info on the camino, background and so on...

Question to our members "down under": Is there a pilgrim association in this region? I don't think so, but I have heard some rumblings about that there might be something in the works...

Anything that I should pass along to these folks? Ideas?

Greetings from a Santiago in full summer!!
Ivar

 

[sillydoll]

Ivar - about a year ago I posted a notice of a workshop in Christchurch.
http://www.caminodownunder.com

I posted this a year ago too: A small group of NZ pilgrims, past and future are beginning to organise a St James' day celebration for the evening of July 26 (which of course will be the 25th in Spain!)at St James church, Nixon St, in Hamilton. New Zealand. A bit of a long shot.. but just in case there is anyone else out there who may be interested in attending , you can email me for more information.
Kay: kaylfrazer@hotmail. com

Don't forget to mention that a few Australian pilgrims have written books on their caminos.

The Year We Seized the Day by two Australian authors
Walking the Camino, by Tony Kevin
Camino Footsteps: Reflections on a Journey to Santiago de Compostela by Wells Kim & Wells Malcolm

A Camino tour company owned by an Australian - Nativa Travel http://www.ntvtravel.com

A camino dvd: The Way:Camino de Santiago - The documentary by Australian Mark Shea (Overlander 2008)

And, don't forget the Australian connection with the Eucalyptus trees!
In 1846 a Spanish priest from Galicia, by the name of Rosendo Salvado, founded the Benedictine monastery of New Norcia north of Perth in Western Australia. Salvado took the first eucalyptus trees to Spain. Salvado Street in Santiago de Compostela is named after him.

 

[ivar]

Gracias Sil!

I will make a note of all of this...

Saludos from 26c and sunny Santiago,
Ivar

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Hi ivar,
No, as far as I know there isn't a pilgrim association as such in either New Zealand or Australia.

As far as New Zealand goes, there was a special service held for St James' Day, organised in Hamilton -NZ- by the Anglican church- in 2008. I was invited but it was a bit far to travel and I was jetlagged as I had not long been home. It is the service that sil talks about in her post

I think that most, if not all, 'information days' I have seen advertised here have been organised by people (perhaps mainly Australian) who are doing it as a business, and they have been very expensive.

I think that contacts do happen here between former and prospective pilgrims on an informal basis. I get PMs and e-mails from people via both the forum and the albergue, or via word of mouth. I am about to give a second talk to a local tramping club. I know that another forum member in Adelaide has given talks about the Camino to all sorts of groups, and I had some long phone conversations with her before I left for Le Puy!
Margaret

 

[ivar]

Thanks for your feedback...

Saludos,
Ivar

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Coincidentally, on this ANZAC thread, I have reached 1111 posts. :shock: It is tempting to stop here and maintain this lovely symmetry. But ivar had a better idea..... a screen capture! So this photo will make me 1112 and the moment of such symmetry will be past and gone.... :lol:
Margaret

 

[hel&scott]

We've been contacted a couple of times by people wanting to set up networks or associations and have noted that most kiwi's get into the camino because of a tramping / walking connections rather then any religious reasons.

While we've run into a fair number of Australian's on our various camino's we've yet to meet another kiwi on the way. Not to mention all the Australian Gum Trees (Eucalyptus) in Galicia...We came close to running into an 80 year old kiwi on the Camino Frances - and by the albergue at Cappilade Santaguino there is a great New Zealand Cabbage tree (Cordyline) I guess that counts.

Cheers

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I did meet a handful of Kiwis en route.... there were just under 200 of us received a Compostela in 2008 I noticed. I met one of a group of 9 Kiwis who were on a ten day tour that included a few days on the Norte then walking from Sarria, so I am not sure what proportion walked like that. I also know several Kiwis who have walked/ are about to walk the Camino for religious reasons.

I am impressed you saw a Cordyline. I was very surprised to see this pohutukawa growing at Finisterre and wondered how on earth it came to be there....
Margaret

 

[jl]

Just to update on Adelaide activities and thought I would also let you know of another activity that I have embarked on. I now run a course with the WEA (Workers Education Association) here in Adelaide. This is a 6 hour "course" - talk - that will run on June 20th (a date change from the 6th - costs approx $45). In this course I show the sort of places they could walk - should they choose to do the Camino - the sort of gear to take, where it is possible to buy it in Australia, give them guide book suggestions, other books and DVD suggestions, and show photos of ALL the paths I have walked on, and many of the albergues / gites / refuges I have stayed in.

I try really hard to give them the "big picture", letting them know that there are numerous options both in France, Spain and beyond. At the course they receive notes on useful web sites and blogs (Sil's and Kiwinomads!) as well as the forum and information about CSJ, and other pilgrim organisations, a comprehensive book list (I actually take a lot of mine for them to peruse). Their course notes also give them all the differnt names for the Camino so that they are better equipped to search should they wish to go on a less travelled road. This course was run for the first time about a month after my return from the Vezelay / del Norte way and was very well recieved. I am hopeful that after this next course we can get something up and running here in Adelaide.

Because Australia is so big it is hard to think "National" in this. I know that there are a group of pilgrims that meet on a regular monthly basis in Sydney - a social "reminisce and get information" format I think.

I am in touch with numerous forum members throughout the country, and have a list / contact details of about 50 people alone who have walked the Camino here in Adelaide. Regards, Janet

 

[Kiwi Catholic]

Planning to walk the Camino Sept / Oct 2011

I'm not sure how to contact others who are planning to walk the Camino in Sept / Oct 2011, but I would be keen to.

From what I have read, probably the Camino Frances is the route I will take...
Keen on some planning / travelling companions, if there are any out there.

Thanks
PS - I am based in Wellington but am often in different parts of the country so could meet up

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I'm just up the road in Palmie and am quite often down Wellington way to see my nieces... I walked in 2008, and would be happy to talk over any questions you might have.
Margaret

 

[kaylfrazer]

Hi again Margaret.. re the pohutukawa.. did you see this newspaper article http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=218169 from 2001. I read about it shortly before my 2001 camino and actually visited A Coruna in the hope of seeing the tree.. not knowing where it actually was and in my innocence not realising how big A Coruna was. I didn't find it of course but had a lovely day out with a German pilgrim anyway.

And Kiwi Catholic.. if you are ever in Hamilton you are most welcome to drop around.. we love talking about the camino! Margaret's info is probably more up to date though..

Kay

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Hi again Margaret.. re the pohutukawa.. did you see this newspaper article http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=218169 from 2001. Kay

Ahhh, now having just studied a paper in NZ Flora, I can quite see why the British might have had a hand in pohutukawa ending up in Spain. There were very close links between early NZ botanists /explorers with those in charge at Kew Gardens. So I guess the plant I saw in Finisterre could indeed have come from seed from the tree in A Coruna or somewhere else in Galicia. I had fondly imagined some Kiwi-Camino-Pilgrim had gone back and hand-delivered it!!
Margaret

 

[Rebekah Scott]

that tree is a comely thing. Anyone coming this way from down there can feel free to bring me a seed or cutting or two... instead of a rock for the Cruz de Ferro, maybe? I never saw anything quite like it!

Reb
(in chilly Castilla, where exotica don´t survive usually)

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I suspect your climate would be too extreme for it Reb.... too cold in winter for the evergreen leaves. Pohutukawa mainly grow near our northern beaches, and where they have been planted further south, they grow well if they escape frost, but seed doesn't set.
Margaret

 

[Tia Valeria]

..............
I was very surprised to see this pohutukawa growing at Finisterre and wondered how on earth it came to be there....
Margaret
...........

We saw a similar plant in Cee. It was growing in the square and was about 1.5 metres tall. So pleased to know what it is. Beautiful.

TerryB and Tia Valeria

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Ahhh it makes my Kiwi heart glad to see that tree at Cee! The pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa) flowers around Christmastime here, and I have one in my backyard that has many buds that look nearly ready to open!
This wikipedia article mentions Spain as a country it can be found in nowadays. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrosideros_excelsa
Margaret

 

[camino-david]

Hi to everyone in Australia and New Zealand,
On July 25 this year there is a celebration concert at St James Church in Sydney, called 'Friends Gala Concert for St James Day'. Full details and booking information is at
http://www.cityrecitalhall.com/events/i ... a-Concert/
Several of our Sydney members will be there, and for further information on our gatherings every month in Sydney, please send me a PM
Camino-David

 

[camino-david]

Re my post about the concert on St James Day in Sydney, I see that the web site was not fully shown so here is the missing part

events/id/1039/Friends-Gala-Concert

Don't know why the missing parts did not come up, as the preview showed it
Camino-David