Rachel Colenso

A dark night. I was driving home. Our daughters asleep in the back. It is a narrow coastal road, flanked on one side by steep mountain slopes. The opposite verge plummets some 30 meters straight into the icy Atlantic Ocean. I rounded a bend, and was faced with a small duiker (buck) caught in the glare of the headlights. It was wide eyed and paralyzed by fear to its spot in the central white line. It seemed ages in my mind. I braked steadily, hoping it would dash to one side. It didn't. I braked more aggressively, finally swerving rightwards, and jolting to a halt. I looked round, reversed, and studied the surrounds. It had vanished. VERY cautiously I completed the rest of the journey home. But I kept thinking about the duiker, and how it had done exactly what many of us do when confronted with danger, or a frightening situation. So often fear paralyses us. We are confronted head on with something big and unexpected, and our first reaction is ... to freeze. 'Fear' and ...

The past few months have been a bird's life. Flying to speak at conferences and returning to feed the kids. The only difference is bird's stay fit doing this. Now home and settled I am told we are famous in New Zealand! (Well for 5 minutes at least.)  Our TV docu drama for "I shouldn't be Alive" has just been aired there. It didn't dawn on me at first why people may have taken more note there than elsewhere. And now, having more time than allowed to down a steaming hot coffee whilst texting family and trying to board an air craft; it made sense. I married a Colenso! Whilst Bishop Colenso made his mark in Africa,  his cousin (William Colenso) has become renowned as a rather zealous New Zealand missionary explorer, travelling with Maori guides through trackless mountain forest over the Ruahine Range and across the Rangipo Desert. He was a keen botanist, and also responsible for the first printing of the Treaty of Waitangi and translating the New Testament int...