One of the greatest experiences of my life was climbing up and down the Leaning Tower of Pisa

As I climbed and "swung" my way up the steps to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa I could not stop thinking to myself, here I am following in the footsteps of Galileo. While it is probably unlikely that Galileo used the tower to carry out his experiments on the effect of the weight of an object and its speed of descent, it seems likely to me, given he grew up in Pisa, that be would have climbed the tower at some time in his life - even if it was just to take in the view. On the other hand, even if Galileo never entered the tower, climbing it with thoughts of what he achieved gave me a real feeling of being part of the world where modern science began.

The importance of early experiences

As a young person my partner and I moved to the Waikato area so I could attend the local university. Accommodation proved to be difficult to find so we looked around at cottages for rent on local dairy farms.  Eventually we were offered a cottage on the understanding that we would run the farm for a month while the farmer went away on his annual holiday. This was not just rent in lieu of working on the farm, it was accommodation for actually running the farm! I said yes, we could do that although I had never really been on, or worked on a dairy farm in my life.  We had a weeks induction and then we were in charge! It was one of the greatest challenges in my life but we did it; the farm survived and I learnt an important lesson. Don’t be afraid of taking on really big challenges, even though they may seem daunting at the outset they are usually achievable. More importantly, by taking on big challenges you learn how to utilise the resources you will need to achieve the outcome you want. I have subsequently faced bigger challenges than running a farm for a month, but I am sure the lessons I learned from this experience made these new challenges more possible to achieve.

Tranquil bush scene



A tranquil section of bush near lake Wanaka New Zealand.

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Terry Yeo, Glider pilot

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