Prawn Park and getting in to hot water

18/03/09

Another busy day today (well, for people on holiday). The weather improved massively so we went off to meet Shawn the prawn and try to catch some of his buddies at Huka Prawn Park in Taupo. I was reluctant to go as I didn't want to catch anything but I tagged along anyway as the riding stable was booked up.

The Prawn Park is a funny place. Ric paid $20 (about 8 quid) to fish all day in the four large ponds. He was given a bamboo rod, a bucket of icy water and some cubed Ox heart for bait and sent on his way. The park keeper said I should do the baiting because female pheromones attract sea-creatures and that once we caught our first prawn we should prize the flesh out and use it to bait the rest - so we learned than the prawn is also cannibalistic creature!

Unsurprisingly, without a rod I started to get bored very quickly. I went off to make Ric a sandwich, then walked right round the park, had a go on the some of the interactive attractions including the 'water bikes' (which were pretty lame), cleaned out the car, and then had a go with Ric's rod, thinking I wouldn't catch anything of course...and then I snagged one!

I felt really confused - elated on the one hand but guilty on the other. I couldn't kill this creature could I? What a bad vegetarian! But it was quite exciting. Perhaps I could get myself a rod anyway to pass the time...

So that's what I did. I became a vegetarian who, when very very bored, is prepared to fish for prawns. I only caught three but one of them seemed to be about to spawn thousands of tiny yellow eggs - I would have put it back if it hadn't died in the bucket straight away. Ric also caught three. There should, in total be enough for a small sandwich.

After a day's worth of fishing excitement we went back to the Spa Thermal Park for a soak. It seemed much hotter than yesterday, and busier - I think a whole bus load of student travelers had been dropped off, with their crates of beer.

Our new hypnotherapist friend was there again and this time with, of all people, his teacher Brian Cattermole who founded the "ZennaE" program and has been treating people with everything from anxiety disorders to cancer for 20 years (when he's not being an electrician). It was a strange coincidence indeed. Reiterating what was said to me the day before, Brian spoke of how in a relatively short space of time he could release me of my problems by enabling me to explore their roots. His theory is that most of us carry unresolved 'issues' or emotions from our early childhood in to adulthood and that by tapping in to our memory we can unleash some of these feelings which can in turn restore good health - or something like that.

So his method is basically to combine theories of psychoanalysis with hypnosis and something 'other' of which not even he can speak.

I didn't want to come across as a cynic and he is an interesting guy who clearly believes in what he does but I have seen a lot of therapists and read a lot of books in my time and he wasn't giving me enough hard facts or evidence to suggest his method would help me. I'm not prepared to place faith in miracles as wonderful as they sound.

It's very easy to sum up the causal factors and believe systems of a typical anorexic, bulimic, OCD sufferer and the like. In a way he was right to say bulimia is largely about self-loathing and a desire to purge and punish but that's not all it is about. Sure, the first seven years of our lives are important in shaping our future, but that's not where all the damage is done or where the answers lie. If I had $240 floating about and wasn't rushing to get to Auckland in a week I probably would have done it out of curiosity, but the more I read and read in to his aphoristic materials and think about what he said, the less I am inclined to take him seriously, especially when he describes cancer as a 'black energy form' and something he can 'squeeze out' of a patient's body. He goes on to say that 'cancer is all about emotions originally suppressed by the child'. I'm sorry but I just can't take this seriously. If you really have found a 'cure' for cancer then go and test it thoroughly and get it officiated!

Once we had boiled ourselves at the thermal river again we went for a bite to eat in town. While crossing a roundabout we were honked at very loudly and for a long time by some scum-bag on our tail. Annoyed by this unprovoked aural abuse, Ric stuck a finger up to the driver and thought nothing more of it, that is until he pulled up beside us when we parked, leaped out of his seat and threatened Ric with all sorts of obscenities, even telling us that he'd come back to get us later.
That was probably the least relaxing dinner we have ever eaten. All was well in the end though.

It's a shame how incidents like that can really put one of place. I don't fancy returning to Manila after that beggar woman mugged me.