Life Changes

The Cave

jn1613 — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 12:35:00 GMT

The Cave

3/22
I'd like to thank my mom now for reminding me to journal because I don't think this story would have reached you with the amount of detail it has got if she hadn't . The following is a direct transposition from my travel journal to my blog. I don't often make such direct translations because what I write about in my travel journal are details from my travels in order to remind me of my experiences, and what I write about in this blog is what I might find interesting or inspiring to those reading it, in this case I think it's both. :)

2/18
Today my mom reminded me to be journaling about my experiences. Two days ago at this time I was in a cavern underground with two German girls, Louisa and Silke, and a young man named Inky. What a crazy life this is. Some experiences, like those of Sunday, remind me how mad life can be and how infinity is possible, because the chances of the these events actually happening the way they did in reality are so unlikely that no computer would ever be able to compute the probability.

The cave adventure began the first night of Evolve when all four of us Inki, Louisa, Silke and myself, met for the first time. Little did we know that first night around the fire that we would all be sharing in one of the most memorable misadventures of our lives. The first night of Evolve there was a small group gathered around the fire after the music had stopped. I as sitting with Amadeus (my co-WWOOFer from Scott and Verena's) near two other German girls. When Inky came up and introduced himself to the girls, and to no one else, I thought “Who the fuck is this guy?” I would find out more the next day.
The second day of Evolve was a good one. The sun was out but not too hot. I went to a couple workshops, Tribe in Transition, Powerful Listening and another talk by Barry Brailsford. When I saw the two German Girls, I chatted with them about their night in the tent under the plane. I had trusted them with my blanket the night before, and planned to meet up with them later to grab it. They day proceeded into evening with smiles and dancing. Evolve is a truly special festival full of good people and wise teachers.

Sunday morning was an early one. I woke up for Qi Gung and afterward Silke, Louisa, and Inky joined me for yoga. We had breakfast together under the tail of the buccaneer (the cargo plane we had camped under), and Inki shared with us his plan for adventure. He told us about this cave just past Motueka, and after the cave we would go to Takaka where a group of good people meet each month for the full moon and hold a drum circle and dancing on the beach. He told us how it was a magical cave with a river and waterfall, with stone pillars and all that jazz. He told it in a way that I knew I better not trust him to make all the decisions and to prepare myself for anything. But despite his exuberance I could tell from the first night that he had a good heart and good intentions even though he might be a little too “blissed out” to be fully aware of all the realities of the physical world. The girls however were fully convinced and it sounded like a proper adventure so I was in. After the second Barry Brailsford talk, the girls packed the tent and we were on our way. It was an hours drive to the cave and we would have to hitch, so we traveled in two's, Silke and I, Inky and Louisa.
It took about twenty minutes for Silke and I to get picked up. We go a ride from two young German guys on their way to hike the Able Tasman track, they took us as far as Motueka. Here I got some cash and we got some food from the supermarket. I laughed to myself a little bit as I realized that Inki and Louisa had only bread and had no plans to get more food, excitement and naivety can be a powerful energy. But I was with Silke and we were both happy to be sharing this adventure together. Her and I had grown close during the festival, and we made a really good team traveling. It didn't take long for us to catch our second ride with two more German girls who took us to the Riwaka Resurgence trail head where Inki and Louisa were waiting. Inki led us up the trail and we dove into the bush about half way up. After about a three minutes walk through the bush we came to the cave entrance, a dark hole in the ground. Inki's blind optimism made him a great adventure guide. He gave us a solid safety talk and tips for when we got down into the cave. He really made everyone feel very comfortable and confident. He led the way down into the earth as each of us followed, one by one.

The beginning was a series of down climbs into the cold wet darkness, because of my rock climbing experience I was quite confident on these down climbs, but the cave added a whole new element to this. I was surprised and impressed at how well the girls were handing themselves in the unfamiliar, dangerous environment. As we climbed deeper and deeper down into the earth my mind started to become aware of all these dangers. Inky was a helpful guide but I think he was over estimating the caving skills of the girls, and at one particularly steep, and tight crevasse I was a little worried that someone might slip, or worse that a rock might come loose and block our exit, it wouldn't take much, the space was big enough for only one person at a time. But we pressed on, further into the cave. About two thirds in the cave opened up into a chamber with stalactites and stalagmites. I have been in caves before, but only on guided tours, where there is a path with lights and a tour guide, but this was much different. With only the light from our head lamps to explore the room, I grew excited from newness and danger of it all. At this point I decided to leave my sandals in the room before we continued on. I had brought them into the cave at Inki's suggestion but had gotten this far in with only my bare feet. I found the sandals to be unsafe when climbing and they were becoming a nuisance in these tight spaces. Little did I know at the time that I would be leaving the cave without them.

We continued on into the cold darkness, the path had become easier but tighter and we began to walk through icy cold water up past our ankles. The path got narrower and narrower until we were nearly crawling through the water on our hands and feet. We could hear running water in front of us and I could tell by he sound that the space in front of us was large. Suddenly the chamber room that was our goal exploded in front of us. Each of us felt the magnitude of it, the expanse of it. It was a room perhaps twenty stories tall and a football field in length. It was like being in an airplane hanger underground, and we were on the edge of it. At one end a river flowed in and at the other a water fall flowed out through an underground river. Near to the water fall there was a massive rock column pouring out from the cave wall. It looked as if it was a water fall of rock formed by sediment and thousands of years of flowing water. There were pools that had formed on the flat parts. These pools were of crystal clear water and some were five or six feet deep. These were possibly formed from dripping water or perhaps different mineral types that eroded at different rates.

We spent maybe twenty or thirty minutes exploring this space. At one point Inki shared with us a beautiful prayer to mother earth. Thanking her for nurturing life through these damp, dark, womb like spaces. This space was truly magical. With each exhale your breath would instantly turn to water vapor, but it would hang in the air and drift off, very slowly, into the dark depths of the cave. Despite this magic it was very cold and I could feel myself, and see in Silke and the others, that were all getting a bit weak from cold and being underground for nearly two hours. This effect was what surprised me most about this experience. Being underground and climbing through these spaces, your mind would begin to do strange things. The entire time your body is telling you that this is not right, turn around, go someplace warm and safe. To be aware of this and not let the anxiety take over. As we left the cave this was easier said than done. I could tell by the way Inki was rushing us that he was feeling this effect as well. He never dropped his positive attitude but his actions were telling me that he was beginning to rush us and he and Louisa kept getting further and further ahead of Silke and I. At this point Silke was visibly weak and disoriented and going back was slow. When we reached the first chamber Inki and Louisa had already gone ahead. I searched around for where I had left my sandals but could not find them. Silke got the end of the chamber and was waiting for me there. I was certain that I had left my sandals clearly in the path. I went back into the small chamber and searched again. I could feel the anxiety getting control of my thoughts and actions. I went back to Silke who was huddled in a ball to keep warm. I asked her to come help me look for them, my mind was telling me I had to find my sandals, they were the only shoes I had brought with me and we still had traveling to do after all of this. I began to rush back into the chamber, I hit my head on a low stalactite, I knew the situation was getting the better of me. I checked the spot again, and checked if they may have slipped or been kicked under a rock or to the side of the chamber, I began to rush. I looked back and realized Silke had only followed me back a short way. I went back to where I had left her. I will never forget the moment I saw her standing in that chamber. The look on her face as she stood shivering, staring into the complete darkness. At that moment I knew we had to get out of that cave. I pushed her towards the cave mouth. We still had three more accents before we were out, including the steep and narrow one. At each climb we took it slow. In some spots I would place her feet into the rock where she would not slip, at one point putting her feet on my shoulder and pushing her up. At this point I was saying anything I could to get her to laugh, to keep her present, keep her focused. Finally, cold, wet, and hungry we emerged from the cave, four hours from when we entered. This was to be the end of one adventure and the beginning of the next.

As soon as Silke and I got out o the cave Inki was saying how they should go on ahead of us and catch a ride, how we needed to stagger ourselves in order to get rides to Takaka where we could meet up at the full moon drumming. This was when I said no. “No Inki, calm down, we're not splitting up, we just got out of the cave, we're tired and hungry, lets take a breath and collect ourselves.” he protested saying it was already late and we still had a seven kilometer walk before we could even get a ride to Takaka. I explained to him that I understood all this but we need to regroup since he was the only one that knew where we were going. At this point we were all still disoriented from the cave. The girls were silent from exhaustion and the disagreement between Inky and I. I still wanted to go back into the cave to get my sandals, I didn't want to be barefoot for the next two days, and Inki was determined to remain in control and on schedule for his grand romantic plan. I took a deep breath.... In through the nose... I looked from above at our situation. Forget the sandals, just material possessions and I know I can handle the walk barefoot. We need to catch a ride to the main road, or we'll be stuck out here for the night... Out through the mouth... I shared my thoughts with the group and we left the cave mouth, I turned and smiled. What a crazy thing we had just done, and here we are, on our way to the next crazy moment of our lives. I thanked the cave for allowing us safe passage and for sharing the experience.

As we followed the trail out Silke and I ate the nuts and apples we had gotten earlier. Inki and Louisa had eaten while they waited for us. When we got to the trail head there were no cars in the parking lot, we knew we would be walking the seven kilometers to the road. As we continued up the road the mood lightened, we had food in our belly and sky above us, we began to laugh at the craziness of our situation and accepted it happily. There were a few farm houses on the road and thankfully the second house had people in it. We knocked on the door and asked kindly if they could take us up to the main road. We explained our situation as they looked at our muddy cloths and they took pity on us, as well as a bit of our money, and drove us the seven K to the main road. Inki was still determined to get to Takaka, in order to make the full moon drum circle on the beach. I began to have my doubts about sticking with him. Silke and I went further up the road in order to catch the first ride. At this point the traffic was very light. Silke and I found a good hitch spot. Here Silke and I changed into some clean, warm cloths, I laid out my blanked, lit some incense, and here we waited comfortably for a ride to come our way.

As it went from dusk to darkness I started to discuss with Silke about going back to my WWOOFing home in Nelson. Traffic that direction was heavier and there we had food for certain was well as a warm place to sleep. In Takaka neither of those were guaranteed. After about thirty minutes Inki and Louisa came down the road to meet us. Silke and I were laying comfortably as I told Inki my concerns about Takaka. He was still determined to make it to Takaka. His plan was to hike up the road in order to get cell service and maybe get a ride to Takaka on the way. If he didn't soon he planned to hitch back to Motueka where we would get a room at a back packers or hotel. This is where our paths parted, I told him that I would get as close to Nelson s I could that night.
This put the girls in a difficult position. They were traveling together but Louisa was certainly sticking with Inki and Silke was happy to be with me. As Louisa and Inki hiked up the road Silke and I packed up our cozy spot. Silke and I would stay together and perhaps meet up with Inki and Louisa in Motueka. We crossed the road and stuck out or thumbs. It was maybe three minutes and the first car that passed us pulled over. It was a group of young Germans, and hey were going all the way to Nelson that night. :) It was 10pm and we were finally headed “home” to a warm bed, tea and food. It seemed the Universe was telling us this was the right direction. We soon passed Louisa and Inki trying to hitch that same direction. But what could we do? The van was packed , four Germans plus one. Silke and I looked at each other, genuinely wished them the best, and smiled.

An hour and a half later we arrived back at the gypsy van that I called home. There Silke and I washed up in the sink the best we could. I put the kettle on and we ate peanut butter and cucumber sandwiches. We listened to music, smoked a bit and laughed at our misadventure, before cuddling up and crashing from exhaustion. I'm still processing the lessons in this whole experience, but I look back with a contented smile. At no point did I ever feel like I totally lost my sense of awarness. Sure there were moments that were out of our control, but I felt okay in that. I felt confident of my own individuality within the grater mystery. I knew myself in the unknown of the moment, and I never lost awarness, I never let the fear of “I don't know what will happen next.” get control of my thoughts or emotions. I never slipped out of awareness and I can say without ego that I am proud of myself for that, and I am thankful to all of my teachers who have led me down such a path. I will remain vigilant in my practice of cultivating awareness and remain vigilant in my practice, and open to the experiences that continue to teach me.

3/22
Rewriting this, it all seems like it might have happened to someone else but then in the same moment I can recall all the little details of the cave, the smell, the damp coldness of it. Little did I know when I wrote this that I would be going back to this cave with a different group of people but this time being much more prepared and having the freedom and luxury of a car. I am deeply thankful for Inki, Louisa and Silke for sharing this little adventure with me. What a great story to be able to share for years and years. And this would not be the last time that I saw Inki and the girls. Over the next month we would be spending more time with each other and becoming quite close.

The next day after the cave experience I told Scott and Verena about the whole thing and they wanted to go check it out for themselves. :) That week I worked with Scott and Verena doing some more mud brick work as well as some mud plastering. That week we also got a new WWOOFer. I was curious who it might be, I was open to it being anyone, but I was slightly hoping that perhaps they be from some place other Germany. It turned out to be a Frenchman named Arthur. Over the next week Arthur and I became good friends. He is trained in Wing Chun and has had experience with Qi Kung and other forms of energy work. During that week at Scott and Verena's we got to know each other well working together pulling out old mans beard, an obnoxious vine that loved to grow in the goss bushes. During this week we found out we had many things in common. Things that we wanted to achieve in this life and things we wanted to see changed in the world. This would be my last week with Scott and Verena, and afterwords my goal would be to try and find apple picking work someplace.

So now, only a week after my first cave adventure I was back. This time with a Swiss, a Kiwi, and a Frenchman. The four of us all got into the little suburb and headed back to the cave. This trip was much less adventurous and much more an exploration. Verena has been into many caves around New Zealand so she was quite excited to be going into one she had never explored yet. On this trip we brought with us a decent camera (that got no decent pictures), a didgeridoo, and a flute. We thought to bring the musical instruments into the cavern to see how the acoustics sounded in there. It was quite powerful to hear a didg in such a large space, but it seemed like the dampness in the cave, and maybe the small didg that we had, kind of killed to deep resonating tones. The flute's high notes however carried really well and I got some good recordings. On this second trip in I was really hoping that my sandals might still be there someplace, but alas they are forever lost to the cave :) After the four of us emerged from the cave we walked down to where the car was parked and decided we would camp there that night. So in a river valley we made a big meal that night from the back of the Suburu and chatted about our life's adventures well into the night.
The next day Scott, Verena, and Arthur dropped me in a good hitching spot and I split up with with my WWOOFing tribe, soon to see them again. I was now headed over the mountains to Takaka. There I would meet with Silke, Louisa and Inki. They had been having their own adventure the week I was working and now I was headed up the coast share some more time with them.

3/26
As I type this Arthur is playing the flute and I'm preparing a meal for the both of us. We have only three days left of work and we're looking forward to it. I still have no idea what I will be doing after work. Arthur and I were talking about finding a beach someplace and chilling out for a few days. Maybe find someplace where diving for food is good. What a feeling not knowing where your home will be in three days. :) Ahh but we will be rich men after these apples, and we will be free again from the demands of the field. :)

I've been thinking a lot. One of the luxuries, or curses, of this apple picking job is it gives you lot of time to think. For some people this can drive them mad. Some people think of girls or boys, or maybe what they might do with the money they've earned from apple picking. I've been quite happy with all this time to think. Maybe because I don't know what my future holds so I can ponder all of the infinite potentials that my life may take. No matter where my thoughts may lead me they always end up coming back to a question at the core of my heart, what am I doing here? Was I put on this earth to pick apples? I put it to you, what do you think our purpose is here?

I believe firmly that we are all here for a reason. If each of us weren’t here for something then we would be dead, we wouldn't exist in this physical form. Now I know this “Why are we here” question may seem cliche but it's one that has been the core of my thoughts for a few years now. I implore each of you to ask yourself this question from time to time as well, at least keep it in the back of your mind as you go to work each day or eat your lunch. I've come to my own answers for this question and they are constantly shifting, changing shape and form, but I'm incredibly grateful and happy for the path that this asking has taken me down. If this question seems too big, too “out there” for you, try asking yourself this, are you happy?

I've found that if at any point in my life I find myself lost, without direction or inspiration, I ask myself, “Am I Happy?” and if not I do something to change it. Perhaps that change is simply one of my own perception of the moment.Now I understand that at some point there needs to be sacrifice, discipline and boundaries in ones life, but I think that at the foundation of these boundaries and sacrifices there needs to be happiness, gratitude, forgiveness, compassion, love. For your Self and Other, but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.... :)

I think apple picking illustrates my point well. When I tell people how hard physically and mentally apple picking is, they always seem to have a response like, oh well it will be over soon, or at least your getting good money or... Hold on, I didn't say my situation was a miserable one, I said said it is a difficult one, that doesn’t mean I'm necessarily unhappy now and then at some future date I will be more happy. This experience, in this moment right now, is the ONE that I'm going through, and I'm incredibly grateful for this experience. In another week, or another day or another breath, I'll be having a different experience, because it will be a different moment. If we are really living Life, then it will always present us with hurdles and challenges,but isn't something worth doing sometimes difficult? And no matter how much power or money or social status we may have, Life will always throw us challenges and will be difficult in one way or another. However, I think that whether our life is a happy one or a miserable one, it is completely up to us. We can never truly know our future but we can know our present, and from the here and now we can shape our future into something we believe in.

So which emotion are you nurturing? Happiness or Sadness? What vibration are you making stronger with your thoughts, emotions, words and actions? Love or Fear? No one outside of ourselves can give us the answers to these difficult questions, but that does not mean they are not worth asking. The world may not have all the answers we're looking for, but everywhere around us there are insights into the deepest questions. Insight may come from a work of art or music, from nature or from a child. Perhaps it comes from a spiritual teacher, philosopher, psychologist, author, poet,friend, lover, enemy. Insight is everywhere all at once and can come from any direction at any time, but we have to be open to its lessons and we need to be asking the right questions :)

3/28
I'm sitting now in the darkness of camp editing what I have written so far. Arthur and I have eatin and had good conversation. Today was our last full day apple picking and tomorrow will be our last day of the season. We're both looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to getting what I've written so far posted. With my new wealth I plan to find someplace comfortable for he next couple days and do lots of reading, writing and meditating. Maybe by the end of the week I will have caught you up in time with the experiences I've had here, and perhaps by the end of this lifetime I might be lucky to have shared with you some of my revelations. :) Good night and I Love you :)

3/29
Our last day apple picking! :) What an experience this has been. It's a noticeable relief to know that I wont have to be waking up in the cold to walk down rows of apples, carrying forty or fifty K of apples down a ladder. It's bitter sweet tho really. This whole experience has been a great one. There is not much rest for the weary however. We plan to take tomorrow easy, but we have to break camp and tidy up our spot. Tomorrow evening I may very well be on my way north, to where I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to make sure that it has big warm bath of some sort. Arthur is on his way east to rescue his damsel in Blenheim, I look forward to seeing him again soon. The next few days I will find someplace to myself, somewhere to write, read, yoga, meditate, nap, just general expanding

I plan to keep up with this blog daily as best I can. I feel like the daily practice is a bit easier for me and maybe a more accurate and honest representation for you. :) Please let me know if this is too long of an entry and please give me some feedback, share your opinions. I'll be posting again whenever I may be someplace with internet.
Lots of Love.

Evolve

jn1613 — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 16:37:00 GMT

The Present 3/17
Since so much time has passed between now and the festival, I think maybe the best way to proceed would be to start is from this moment right now.
Right now I am tired. Very tired in fact and feeling particularly unmotivated and uncreative. I'm watching the sun go down, being eaten by mosquitos and thinking I should go back to camp and help Arthur cook dinner. I'm all these things but I'm also very happy. :) The fact that it is difficult to explain ALL the things that I have been through even in the last week, let alone the last month, brings a small smile to my tired face.
Arthur and I have been apple picking now for two and a half weeks, and its been full on. We wake up each morning at 530 or 6. We pull ourselves out of our tents and welcome the new day with yoga and Qi Gong. Then we eat our musli, and walk down the rows to where we had left off the day before and we start picking. We've done some playful calculations as to how much we do each day. We're not quite sure how accurate they are but they are certainly ball park figures. We've been told that each bin we do is 400kg and about 5,000 apples. This means that on an average day we will have taken about 2 tons of apple from the trees, to the ground and into the bins. Two tons of apples per day per person! That is roughly 25,000 apples per person per day, and some of the fast pickers will do 8 or 9 bins a day!
We pick in all weather. Sometimes were in the hot New Zealand sun all day, sometimes it's rainy and wet, but most of the time its a clear day with clouds here and there to keep you cool, and maybe a cool breeze to keep the sting of the UV rays off your neck. After a full 8 hour day Arthur and I walk back to our little bush camp. Where this is the end of the day for most people it is in many ways the beginning of ours. We have no refrigerator or freezer so we make a grocery run by bike into town 3 or 4 times a week. Our water is from a sink further up the row and our showers, laundry, and internet is about a 2 or 3 minute walk from our camp. All these may seem like inconvenience but really they are quite nice little rituals that really make you appreciate each one for what they really are, food and water. Each night we try and get dinner started by 7. So we have a little time to do things like check the internet, take a shower, do laundry and all those things. On top of all this Arthur and I have diciplined ourselves to teach each other something new at least twice a week. Arthur has been teaching me Qi Gung and a mixture of other martial arts. I have been teaching him yoga, and meditation techniques.

We have really made an excellent team out here. We manage to get along really well considering the conditions.

3/18

I'm going to keep this as live as possible for the next three days or so. It is 21:11 on the 18^th of March and we just finished dinner, probably read a little bit and sleep soon, in order to start our day bright and early tomorrow. :) Tomorrow is a grocery day....

3/19

It's 19:20 and Arthur and I just got back from grocery shopping. We got off work about 16, had a short break, maybe 30 min, then jumped on our bikes and rode into to pick up food.
It's amazing how difficult it can be to think logically when your brain is starving. The littlest things can sometimes be so difficult. Even this sentence right now I'm noticing how often I backspace, or how long it takes me to finish a thought and then type it out.
Getting groceries always takes such an effort because it is always right after work, and we bike into the Richmond mall where the nearest supermarket is. So you can easily imagine two guys who have been living in tents for 3 weeks and have still not showered from a days work in the field, coming into the mall... The Mall! Arthur and I jokingly call it our weekly trip back into Babylon, where consumerism, ego and judgment are glorified, but then we buy our fair trade dark chocolate and fuck off out of there. :)
Currently we are boiling water for some dinner, probably fat with carbs and protein of some kind. Nothing really that romantic. I should stop typing and check the water...
And now we eat food and watch the hobbit 2 :) 23:12. Another night, drivin to success by the root chakra. We've just finished dinner, and a bit of the second hobbit. Little luxuries like watching a movie in our bush camp that makes one smile at the end of each day, and puts it all in to perspective in order to really enjoy all of these moments. To think how crazy our lives are that have brought us to this moment...

Its the first night of a waning full moon and we certainly felt it this morning. Like a sadness, a lack of strength from the previous two or three days. My legs hurt, and I can see in Arthur that he is not as strong in some ways either. But we press on, and make each other laugh and smile when the moment is right. Little luxuries like the Hobbit keep us feeling good as well. But tomorrow will be another day started with yoga in the cold, really hoping our sun salutations at sunrise will bring out the rays of sun and keep us in good spirits. And we do thank the moon each night for her gifts and beauty as well, The energy of this moon seems to have a calm clarifying light about her.
Well lunch is packed for tomorrow. Musli is made a sealed so the rats don't get into it. Now I crawl into the cozy cocoon that is my tent and sleep like a baby upon the earth. :)

3/20

Its now 20:00 and we still need to eat. It was a long day today 81/2 hours and only 5 bins. Was distracted from the apples today, I made a couple music play lists. :) One for apple picking and the other for a friend, it was a good distraction and led me to some thoughts about why I'm picking thousands of apples each day. :)
Came back from picking and our tarp had come down in the wind today. The wind was from a different direction and it got up under it. No worries tho, not expecting rain. Did yoga and some Qi Gung. Which flowed into some energy work and some sparing forms I learned from Arthur. I should probably get back to camp now and help him cook...

3/22
It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting in the shade of a pear tree determined to get this blog caught up. I've been thinking so much about my present and my future lately that I think this blog will refresh my thoughts about where I've come from recently. I am going to write about these experiences as honestly as possible while still keeping some of them my own. I hope it makes for good reading. :)

Evolve
I would like to start by saying that if you have never been to a music festival, go to one. There are thousands of them out there in the world for all kinds of different interests and communities. If you think your too old to go to one your lieing to yourself, and if you think your too young, then their lieing to you. There were maybe 450 to 500 people at Evolve and it was a lot of families. They had work shops and areas for the kids as much as they did for the adults and I saw people well into their 70's out on the dance floor Saturday night.
The Evolve music festival seems like so long ago. I know that many of you reading this have been to a music festival of some kind, so you can relate to how difficult, or impossible, it is to put that kind of experience into words. So instead of struggling to try and do so I'll simply explain a little bit about the festival and some of the things I saw and did there. The most exciting story comes from some people I met there and what we did after the festival but I'll get to that in a minute.

Evolve was a festival more about raising awareness than about music and dancing. It had loads of workshops, from energy work and yoga, to community consciousness and communication. It was a three day festival from Friday afternoon into Sunday, with music and work shops during the day and then music ending about 11 on Friday and Saturday. It was an all ages event that encouraged sober participation, although many people indulged in one thing or another more or less responsibly. There was only one stage at the center of the venue where all the artists would be performing. The venue was an outdoor heritage museum in Nelson. It was great place to have a festival. It had original buildings from the 1800's where many of the workshops were held. I went to a work shop on communication in the original church of Nelson and had another workshop held via Skype in the towns old printing press building where they would print the towns newspapers. :) Along with the music and the workshops there were vendors selling or trading art, stones, food, even skills or ideas. It was a gathering of good people looking to share space and share ideas.
The vibe here was all about raising awareness, about all the things going on in our world presently. From our addiction to oil, the mining of the sea bed, genetically engineered food, the changing weather patterns, all of the crazy things that are happening to our planet and to ourselves. But the vibe was not a cynical one. There was never a feeling of “All these things are bad we need to change them or we're going to die” it was more optimistic. It was more a feeling of “These are the things we can do NOW in order to live a happier more fulfilling life, I leave it to you to do them or not.” This was such a welcome change from the states where it seems there is this feeling of impending doom if we don't take action, and DO! DO! DO! And if you don't DO, well than we might as well party and get blissed out until someone else DO.
Many of the people there were already doing so much. Many of the people were WWOOFers or working towards permaculture practices. Some people had quite their unsatisfying jobs of years and years and were starting to travel or take steps to improve their own lives as well as those around them.
The bands that played there were great as well. There was lots of world music, flutes, and jimbes, but there were also some great alternative bands as well. Probably my favorite group was the Formidable Vegetable Sound System. They were just a couple of guys from Australia that made an album all about permaculture. Check them out on spotify or youtube if you get a chance, they've got a really positive upbeat sound with really brilliant lyrics. Many of these artists would jump onstage with each other and collaborate live as well which is always really amazing to witness and be a part of.
Overall the festival was great. Full of great people, great music, and great ideas. At this point in my journey I didn't really have a plan of what to do other than to find work apple picking someplace in the area. I knew Evolve would be a great place to meet people and share great experience, but nothing could have prepared me for what I would soon experience with Inky the hippy from the states and two young German girls, Silke and Louisa.

3/25
I'm sitting in a little room in a little shack on a little apple orchard on an island in the pasific smiling at my poor attempt to edit the writtings I did this weekend. It was another full day of work Monday and today and I'm feeling it already. This will be the last week for Arthur and I and then we are Free men once again. I"m finding hard to write during this time, and finding it exeptionallly hard to write creatively or concisely. I will post my most recent writtings and will try to keep up with this day to day, more like a little jornal. That way I won't be able to get so behind and work so hard to play catch up. So bearing that in mind, as I write from the present I will try and write about the past here and there when I can in order to catch everyone up with the unique expereiences I've been having. I'm looking forward to writting about my reflections on this apple picking job. It has been so full on and so intense that it has been hard to do anything other than just hold on, stay strong, and go with it. There hasn't been to much time to sit and think about all the deep shit I've been going through at the same time, and Arthur and I agree that there has been loads of deep shit thats we've both been going through.
Thanks for being patient with me and I hope that these stories from a small island in the pacific give you a little light and inspiration in your day to day back home.
:) Love :)

Wellington To Nelson

jn1613 — Tue, 4 Mar 2014 14:44:00 GMT

1/3/14

My bus ride from New Plymouth to Wellington was a pretty uneventful one. I got to do lots of reading and a bit of writing. I had six hours to kill between my bus arriving in Wellington to when my ferry left. I didn't really have any plans while I was there. I thought maybe I would grab a beer someplace and do more writing. This plan changed however when the bus driver announced that we would be taking an insubstantial detour from the normal route due to the Rugby World 7's tournament happening in Wellington. I understand that for most of you this might not mean much, but for me this was an epic happenstance.

During my years at University, though a friend of a friend, I had grown close to a young man named Trevor Richards who during this time played a bit for the US rugby 7's team. Well through the years Trevor and I became good friends and eventually moved to Seattle together where we lived with our buddy Steve for nearly two years. During this time I grew an interest in ruby and especially 7's which is quicker and more exciting than the more well known, but slower, 15's.

So here I was on a bus to arguably one of the most famous cities to hold this tournament. Within the rugby community it's known as the city where the fans get the craziest, and I had six hours there. :) When I arrived the weather was shit, cloudy, cold and rainy, it reminded me of Seattle. But in the streets it was like Halloween. People were dressed up as anything and everything. From banana costumes to power rangers. This tournament seemed to be an excuse to dress up and get piss drunk. When I got off the bus I went straight to the ferry terminal dropped my big bag off and headed to the backpackers across the street for some food and a beer. I was barely through the door when an Irishman with a cape, checkered tights and suspenders came over and asked if I would like a beer. I replied “shit yeah” and we sat down with a pint. I had only been in the city maybe fifteen minutes and I already had a pint going. I wasn't about to catch up tho, it seems like most everyone else had been drinking since 3 or 4. I got some pasta from the hostel kitchen and shared it with some German girls who were trowing glitter on people next to us. They bought me a pint as well. After the food and the second pint the German girls were ready to move on, and since my Irish friend was now sitting in the booth with ONLY his cape on, yelling at another German girl about his tattoo, I was ready to move on as well.
Soon I was walking down the street with three young, very drunk, Germans trying to asses the madness that was around me. They were chugging some kind of wine out of a pepsi bottle, and one of the girls was telling me about how so many people needed to be told what to do, at which point she decided she needed to pee, dropped trow and simply went in the street. Some people stared, but most of people were dressed as pirates or some sort of other crazy thing and were just as pissed (drunk) as she was, they hardly took notice. It was like something out of clockwork orange or mad max. It was a weird dream that was actually happening, It was great :) We walked maybe four or five blocks which took us the better part of 45 minutes since my party was pretty wasted at this stage. We arrived at our destination, which was a street rowed on either side by bars and clubs. The street had been closed off, just for this occasion. It is impossible to describe the scene (I've taken videos which I will happily share :). Imagine four blocks lined on either end with bars and clubs. The streets are filled with people, most of them had been drinking all day, and all of them were dressed as something crazy. It was madness. It was like I was this sober observer in a drunk surrealist's dream. I had had enough to drink by that point in order to blend in but I was dead sober compared to nearly everyone around me, outside those checking ID's.
Once my three German compaddres were inside the closed off street we headed to the nearest bar. There were more drinks had, more glitter bombs, and random drunken singing and dancing. After about an hour of this, and after I realized I had spent just as much on drinks in the last 2 hours as I had on food in the last week. I left my drunken German friends to their own devices. I wish them the best, and doubt they will even remember me :)
I proceeded to make my way back to the ferry terminal, taking my time since it was maybe 11:30 or 12AM and my ferry didn't leave until 1:30AM I had time. At this point the rugby tournament was over and there was a sea of drunk, costumed people moving in the direction opposite me. It was such a crazy experience. I was the only one dressed normally and the only one, outside of the taxi drivers that was not wasted. It was a strange phenomenon that most people would hardly notice me or would notice how sober I was and pay me no attention. Moving against this sea of people, I hardly bumped into anyone, people were falling down in the street and somehow I barely had move around anyone, it was like I had this bubble of sobriety around me that no one wanted to enter less they actually realize how wasted they really were. It was one of the most unforgettably surreal experiences I have ever had.
I made it back to the ferry terminal without incident. At this point I could feel a small hangover already setting in from my five or six pints, wine and glass of whiskey that I had just consumed in a matter of four hours. When I said sober before, I meant relative to everyone else around me ;) I chugged some water and fell asleep on the floor. When I woke up the terminal was full and they were beginning loading. I chatted up a couple girls in line and one of them it turns out was from Portland and had been living in Christchurch for the last three years. We boarded the ferry, found a place to spread out and soon all three of us were asleep on the overnight ferry to Picton.

We arrived in Piction at about 4:30 AM, maybe 5, from there I got off and took the shuttle into town until the last stop, where the bus driver suggested the best place to hitch hike. It wasn't long, maybe fifteen minutes, before someone from the ferry headed inland picked me up. He took me as far as Blenheim, where he dropped me off at a gas station and said I would have good luck catching a ride to Nelson. It was maybe 6 or 630 at this point and I was tired but running of the excitement of my journey. I went into the gas station, grabbed a muffin and a chocolate milk and placed myself next to the road with my thumb out. This early in the day the traffic was light so my ride didn't find me until about 730 or 8. It was a nice young German couple who were living in Blenheim and doing a day trip up the coast and would be passing right near to my next WWOOFing spot. Finally I would be arriving at my new home north of Nelson.

Nelson

When I arrived at my new WWOOFing place my hosts, Verena and Scott, were actually gone to a music festival and the other WWOOFer, a German named Amadeus, greeted me and showed me to my new digs. The main house was made of mud brick and had big windows facing he northern sky. I would be staying up the hill behind the house. My accommodation was an old gypsy truck that Verena and Scott stayed in while they were building their new home. As soon as I entered the truck I immediately felt at home. It had running water, a little spot to cook, a table a small couch and a lofted bed above the cab of the truck, all of which was made of wood. It was a cozy little place with loads of character. It had drawings that Verena's daughter had done, little pictures and post cards that other WWOOFers had left, books, a stereo and a box of crayons which for whatever reason I was compelled to open and use. The first evening in my gypsy truck I spent drinking tea, listening to music, and coloring. It was such a welcome transition from the chaos that was Solscape. I finally had my own space where I could spread out and really sink into a space, and make it my own for two weeks.

When Verena and Scott arrived the next day they were very worn out from the festival. It was five days of trance music for 24 hours a day, intense stuff. That night we all had dinner together and talked about what we might be up to the next day. Verena was born in Switzerland but came to New Zealand when she was 16 to do some WWOOFing. Her first host was an earth builder and she became drawn to the practice. Shewent to school near Nelson and finally emigrated when she was twenty she has been here ever since. She is raising two really bright children and has owned her own business making earth bricks for about four years now. Her partner Scott was a forty one year old traveler who was finally settling down someplace. He has long dreads to the bottom of his back, has a quite cool, and is a patient teacher and a really kind guy.

Our first day Amadeus and I spent the day mixing and laying a clay floor for a second little building they were making. It was hard work in the sun but I learned a lot that first day. Most everything made from the earth is just clay, sand and some kind of binding element, like straw or sawdust. With the combination of these things in different ways you can make just about anything. That second night Verena's friends were coming over for dinner, one of them worked for Green Peace and the other was a musician from New Zealand. That night we all had wild pork roast which was hunted and killed by a local hunter and given to the woman from Green Peace. It was delicious. We ended the night with a splif and Matiu the musican played music into the night.

That week was a mixture of flipping and stacking mud bricks that had already been made and applying a clay plaster wall the the new building. Matiu had told about a music festival that weekend in Nelson called Evolve, so I thought I would check it out. Evolve was a little hippie festival that was only twenty five dollars for three days of music and work shops, this was possibly one of my only chances to go to music festival in New Zealand and I had a little bit of spare cash from my work at Solscape so I thought I would indulge myself a little bit and go for it. It would be a decision that I would not regret and never forget.

Evolve......

Raglan to New Plymouth

jn1613 — Tue, 4 Mar 2014 14:31:00 GMT

3/1/14
I can hardly belive that it has been over a month since I have last written anytihng for this blog. It feels like it's only been week and and in the same moment lifetimes. Thank you Trevor Richards for inspiring me to sit down and write mine out. Trevor is a really good friend of mine who is currently on a motor cycle in South America, his blog is http://wp.me/p4fQ4h-2K, if you think what I am doing is adventurous I encourage you to read his latest story. :)
My time since Raglan has been....? Well if Raglan was a test of who I thought I was and a check in with my intention for being here than my time spent in Nelson has been a confermation and a test of my dedication to this path. These next few entries will be the short version of my long road from Raglan to Nelson.

My last day in Raglan was the 5^th of February, and from there I traveled with good friends south, to New Plymouth. I was a drifter, just along for the ride and the experience. I was traveling with surfers and this was a surf trip. We were all hoping for good swell at the famous point break Stent Road and hopefully good beach breaks where we would be free camping in New Plymouth.
The four hour drive south along highway 3 wasn't breathtaking but it was lovely. Moving from steep mountain passes to open plains, with the ocean on our right, massive mount Taranaki on our left, and warm sun in our smiling faces. We met up with some friends who had already been staying there for a week and they quickly told all of us how epic the surf had been. Thomas, from France, Tom, from the UK, Danny and Brandon, from the US could not wait for the next day. They slipped into their wet suits and ran down the sandy cliffs to catch the last 20 min of sunlight. After their surf session we all had a big dinner and hoped that we would be okay in the spot for the night. I was not feeling well so I went to my tent shortly after dinner. One of the less glamerous things about traveling is that sooner or later you will end up getting sick. Well, this night was the night. I will spare you the details but I had caught the twenty four hour flu. I was up most of the night with fever sweats and that “oh did I just shit my pants” feeling. Let me tell you, this experience is much more difficult to deal with when you are in a one person tent, the nearest toilet is a bush, and your toilet paper is a McDonalds take out bag you found in the same bush. For those same reasons it makes it much more easy to laugh at your situation and just deal with it, insead of feeling sorry for yourself. :) Add it to the list of things that I will never take for granted.
The next morning I walked to the nearest bathroom, a kilometer away, to take a sink shower and wash my things. When I returned to camp the surfers were angry at me for keeping them from the surf and anxious to get going. When I told them how my night went they smiled and became a bit more understanding :)
After a breakfast of pancakes we made the 30 min drive to Stent Road. The swell was descent and the wind was offshore (this is a good thing). More importantly there wasn't another surfer in the water. This point break was world famous and these boys had it all to themselves. They didn't waste a moment jumping in. I was still feeling pretty shit at this point so I took the opportunity to get some more sleep in one of the vans. I slept like a rock. When everyone got back they woke me, what seemed like a few minutes of sleep had actually been two hours, I felt much better. The rest of the day was pretty chill. We drove back to New Plymouth and posted up in our new spot for the night. A park on the east end of New Plymouth, right on the beach. By this time I was feeling pretty much one hundred percent and I cooked dinner as everyone made a fire and a chill spot on the beach. That night on the beach had its own kind of magic, and we were all up giggling late into the night.
The next day the surf was flat so we went into town to use the internet at the library. I booked my bus ticked for the next day and prepared myself for my journey south. Our good byes were bitter sweet. We had all shared so much experience together in Raglan. Most of us had been together for a month or longer, which when your traveling is ages, but this was it, some of us may never see each other again outside of facebook. There were hugs and kisses, and some awkward silences but finally the bandaid was ripped and I was off. Finally on my way to Wellington to catch my ferry to the south island of New Zealand.

Raglan Warms Up.

jn1613 — Sat, 1 Feb 2014 06:13:00 GMT

1/30/14

It's nearing the end of my time here in Raglan and I must say that it has been a rejuvenating experience. There has been difficult times and good times, highs and lows. Points of overwork and complete boredom, but all together it has been a rejuvenating experience. I would almost say that my time here has been closer to a holiday than WWOOFing work. A necessary vacation that I needed to clear my head and to do a deep check in with why I am in New Zealand.

Raglan has been really cool, but here I am mowing lawns, cleaning rooms, running errands, little things here and there. The work is easy and the surf is great, but Raglan gave me an opportunity to to ask myself “Why are you here Joe? Really. Why did you come on this trip?” So I kept checking in with my intention. I came here to learn how to live sustainably, to be able to show and teach others these practices and to have deep, profound, experiences with as many people as I could. To open my eyes to their experience and to open theirs to new perspectives. Solscape gives me the opportunity for the latter but not really the former.

Raglan is a destination spot, many of the jobs here are service jobs, bartender, barista, waiter, cook, those kinds of things. I think that it would be really cool to live here but I know that I want to contribute more than that. I think that the community of Raglan has got a lot to offer tho. I could definitely see myself coming back and getting more involved here, but not yet. I think I have to leave and come back, that will be good for me.

At each place I've traveled I've learned something new. Here in Raglan I would have to say that one of the deepest lessons I've learned, or maybe I should say the most potent reminder Raglan has given me, is the temporary nature of EVERYTHING. Surfing is a great teacher of this. The temporary nature of a good wave, or a bad wave, a long ride or a short ride, or even the surf itself, is there swell happening that day. Sometimes you get smashed by the surf, or you cannot catch a wave, other times everything is perfect, but it will never, never, be the same experience twice.

Staying at a backpackers here has given me new perspective on the temporary nature of relationships as well. You form deep, deep friendships with some of these people, and then you have to say goodbye to them. Everyone knows from the start that time is short so no one really plays games or holds back, everyone is really honest really quickly and deep friendships can form in an evening. This kind of setup lends itself to deep shared experience. But now that its approaching the time to go its like “Well that was amazing, good luck, lets try and keep in touch, and be safe. Goodbye.” This happens so often that you can't really be sad about it, or you will never get over it and your not likely to keep traveling. The same happens with people anywhere. In the “real world” people grow apart over time, maybe months or years, but things change and we loose touch. Here that same thing happens but it is in a condensed amount of time, maybe a matter of weeks or days, and sometimes it seems like it is forced, like your not ready for it.

All this together is a potent reminder that All things are temporary. Our bodies, our homes, our thoughts, feelings, emotions, memories, expectations, our good days and our bad days. All the things we've done or will do, eventually will be lost in the incomprehensible vastness of time. Even the earth and our solar system will not exist forever. In this temporality we have the wonderful opportunity to see beauty and humor NOW, in every experience that arises, even the shit ones. To bring our full Awareness to the NOW and fully comprehend every single moment, Every. Single. Moment. Each is completely unique and will never exist again like this. To realize that the bad times AND the good times will fade. This is the challenge that I face; to bring equanimity to both the good and the bad experiences. To not get lost in bliss when things do go my way and to not let some unfortunate event ruin my day or my mood. To find balance in that middle. To bring calm and tranquility to the turbulent ocean that is our thoughts and emotions. Or at least keep a Buddha smile as you ride the pulsing wave of the universe, the ups the downs, the good and the bad.

I think that this Buddha smile is a good representation of that which is changeless. That despite the temporal nature of all these things, our thoughts about them, or feelings, our memories, there is something that seems to have some kind of permanence. Some kernel within this experience that permeates the entire universe. Perhaps this kernel is our Awareness, our Consciousness. The fact that each of us has the ability to be fully Aware of things like happiness, sadness, temporality, pain, and yet have the opportunity to not identify with these things but to simply be Aware of them, NOW. To observe them. To feel sadness but to say “I am not sadness” to feel fear, hate, happiness, ecstasy, to know that these things are not permanent, but part of something permanent. I am a tall, skinny, white kid from small town Nebraska who goes through ups and downs like everyone else, but I know I am more than all these things as well. What is this? Where does this Awareness come from? Who observes the observer? I think these questions have different answers for everyone, but ask them of yourself and see what comes to you. And don't forget to smile and have a sense of humor about it, everything’s temporary anyway right? ;)

The Holidays

jn1613 — Fri, 3 Jan 2014 16:31:00 GMT

1/3/14

It's been so long since I've written in this that I feel compelled to write something. I'm sorry to all of those following me that I haven't written sooner, but these last few weeks have been crazy, as I'm sure they have been for many of you as well.
It feels like when a lot of people share their travel experiences they always tell about the good. The amazing things that they have done or the crazy things that they have seen. Since I've written last a lot has happened, the holidays have been tough, there's been good and bad.
I heard from really good people that Raglan, on the west coast, was a great place to come and spend some time and since I didn't have any plans for Christmas or New Years I thought I would go and check it out. Before I left Rex and Jo's place I had setup a WWOOFing spot in Raglan. It was with a family just outside of Raglan and we agreed that it would be for a short time because they wanted to have Christmas by themselves, just the family. So I had five days from the day I arrived in Raglan until I had to find another place to stay, I figured from what I had heard that I would meet some good people in Raglan that might take me in no problem. I could crash on a couch or in a back yard and meet some good people to spend Christmas with. Time with Katy, Ian and their son Jackson was great. They were really forward thinking people and to see the home that Ian had built was truly impressive. I spent a few days getting their garden ready for planting and spending some time looking for places to go. I soon found out that Raglan goes from a town of about three thousand to a town of about twelve or fifteen thousand during the holiday season of Christmas and New Years. So as my time at Katy and Ian's grew closer and closer to Christmas Eve I began to realize that finding a place would be hard to do. Not only were hostels and backpackers booked up, but I also found that many of the locals grew a certain kind of coldness. I got a sense of how cool Raglan was for most of the year, but due to the massive amount of travelers that came here for holiday many of the locals grew a polite barrier that I found really hard to penetrate. Finally on December 22 I had a conversation with Ian. He knew that I really had no place to stay but he had to be honest to himself and his family and say that I had to be out by the 24th. At first this seemed really cold, kicking someone out two days before Christmas, in retrospect I think it was probably pretty difficult for Ian to make that call, but I very much respect him for it. He lit a fire under my ass to find a new place to stay. I began making calls and traveling to backpackers in the area. I eventually came to Solscape. They were fully booked up but after I convinced them that my tent was very small, and that I would be willing to WWOOF they gave me a spot in the back. So now I had a home for Christmas.
It is very interesting being a traveler on Christmas. I was finally with other travelers so we were with each other for the holidays but although we were all in the same boat it was hard for anyone to become very close, because many of us would be moving on in a week or so. Christmas eve was merry, and Christmas day was nice, the whole experience was unique but it didn't feel very special. It's summer here. There's no hot chocolate or Christmas lights, no Christmas music on the radio. It didn't really feel like Christmas this year. I think another thing that made this hard was knowing that so many people had a place, had family, had friends that they were spending time with and making the day special. Despite this feeling I did get to go surfing twice on Christmas day :) I suppose the thing I really missed most about Christmas was having someone close to spend it with. Just having someone that you could really share the experience with deeply.
New years was tough too. I am on a pretty tight budget so I could not afford to go out on the town for new years. Pretty much everyone from Solscape went into town new years eve and partied, watched fire works and got wild, I missed out on this experience. Part of me is okay with this because I got up the next morning and saw some of the greatest surfing I think I will ever see and I know what getting wasted on New Years is like, and I would have spent at least 50 to 75 dollars that night, but its still tough to see so many people going out and sharing deep experience and missing out on that. I felt very lonely this holiday season....
Ha, but as I write this I see the lesson in all of that. I will never again take for granted spending the holidays with friends and loved ones, because now I know what It's like to be without.
My New Years resolution this year is to be more compassionate to myself and to others. To not get down on myself for feeling down. To just take experience as it comes and to not get caught in the rut of loneliness or sadness, because it will pass, and if you really take a deep breath there is beauty all around you, things to be grateful for every moment.

Since these last few weeks have been so crazy, and my food and shelter was not guaranteed I've fallen out of my Yoga and Meditation practice (which seems like the most necessary time to continue the practice). This certainly exacerbated my rut. :) Things are all good now though. The holidays have passed, and the tourists are starting to go back home. The locals here are starting to warm up and see that I plan to stay a bit and that my intentions are much more than just coming here to surf and get tan. I have been doing more work for Solscape and have started to really bond with some of the staff. It's been nice weather lately too. I feel like Solscape has given me the space to process some of the profound lessons I've taken on in the last month or so. I've been doing yoga each morning and meditating twice a day. It's been great to take some time and get some perspective on my experience, good and bad, to see that it's not necessarily good and bad, that these are just distinctions that I give it. It's simply experience, it's phenomenon, it's only my perspective that changes. Only my perspective that makes it good or bad, it's my expectation of an experience to be a certain way that makes that experience seem good or bad. So to engage in the practice of removing my expectation and simply Being with what Is, Being Fully Present in the moment of each experience. I will inevitably go through ups and downs again in life but maybe next time I will be able to be more aware of them, to observe them rather than to identify with them and get caught up by them.
Sure the holidays this year were tough, but retrospectively, I Love the tough stuff! Because that's where you learn the most about yourself and the world. :)
Lots of Love, and I'll be in touch. :)
Joe

KatiKati to Raglan in 16 days.

jn1613 — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 19:48:00 GMT

319 Busby Road :)
12/15
The simplest way I can think to describe my two weeks spent with Rex, Jo and fellow WWOOFer Blake would be that it seems I lived lifetimes of experience in the period of fourteen days. Most of what happened here cannot be put into words. The conversations we all had about permaculture, sustainable practices, the state of the world, the state of ourselves and the state of Being, can really only be comprehended in the context of our shared experience.
Rex and Jo are wonderfully enlightening human beings. I first noticed that their home was packed with books. Books on permaculture, zero point field theory, childrens books, science fiction books, self help books, its virtually a library here. On top of all this they are both full of information and are so happy to share their knowledge on whatever topic one may be curious about. Jo is a white haired fire cracker of a woman who is an energetic planner and a DOER. She takes in the situation and the problem at hand, the people involved and spits out solutions and plans of action. Rex is her perfect counter part, a quiet 65 year old boy from England, who reads children's books, wears a Buddha smile and laughs from his belly. :)
Upon our arrival Jo gave us a tour of their three acres and introduced us to their two Kune Kune pigs, Juno and Ceres, they are kind fat waddling dogs, they love to eat and they love their belly scratched.. There was definitely not a lack of things to learn and spaces to explore.
Rex and Jo have an amazing job doing a lot with a little. They have 5 garden beds, a food forest, a section for native species of plants, a paddock for the Kune Kune's, a tunnel house, a small area for the chooks (chickens), they collect and store all their own water, and have a shelter belt of olive trees and other trees that they incorporate into their permaculture design. And everything on their property is organic and chemical free. :) So of course we ate really well! :) Jo is an excellent cook and we had so much good food, and delicious deserts. Rex and Jo are such good teachers as well. All of their permaculture practices and design principles they had made into power points so we could study at night what we had learned during the day and really get a good idea of the philosophy and execution of what a permaculture property looks like. :) I feel like I've taken a two week intensive course in permaculture design.

Not only were we learning about boots on the ground kind of stuff but we were also getting “Way out there” with some really juicy abstract thinking :) Both Rex and Jo work with Reiki, which is a form of energetic healing. Our first evening here we were talking about quantum physics which led into the new sciences, research and practices coming up around energy work. I know some people reading this may be skeptical of energy work and energy healing but I assure you it is real, not only can I attest to it's validity from my own experience but this is also a very real phenomenon that is supported by many scientific studies, many of which were not conducted until the 80's or 90's, so this is certainly on the cutting edge of how we perceive and interact with the universe. This is an incredibly dense topic and certainly a long conversation that I cannot even begin to touch on in the space of this little blog but I invite your questions if you have any and would be happy to share with you what I know already and what I learned here at 319 Busy Road. :)

12/19 I'm sitting in a hammock looking at the garden of my new WWOOFing spot. The atmosphere here is way more relaxed and laid back. It's certainly a welcome break from my last experience. I loved Rex and Jo's place immensely but it feels like I took a two week intensive course on Permaculture, Energy work, and Myself. It will be nice to spend some time relaxing with only my imagination to fill my time. That said I feel like I should start getting into town and meeting some people. The home I am at is a wonderful place. Ian, Katy, and their son Jackson are great, and the way that it worked out to stay with them for a few days before Christmas is a blessing. But they do want to have Christmas to themselves and their own family. So I have between now and Christmas in order to find some place to crash and some good people to spend the holidays with. I remain optimistic but I'm beginning to feel the pressure to meet some people.

What an interesting thing to think about... Ha, I am literally forced to meet new people in order to have a home or a sense of community or belonging on the holidays. What an interesting departure from the everyday grind where we can be so isolated for weeks getting caught up in our own routines. I kinda miss routine. :) Blake, the WWOOFer that I was working with at Rex and Jo's, her and I were talking about how all this can be so damned exhausting. I mean we went through two weeks of what felt like university courses, did an overnight in the mountains, found out that we're great friends, who have drastically different perspectives on the world but, though honesty and communication, as well as some head butting and toilet humor, make each other better people in the end by truly sharing perspectives. All in a period of fourteen days! And then after all that Life learning stuff, we have to say our good byes, promise to keep in touch and launch into an entirely new situation with new people and new dynamics! Ha, this travel stuff is crazy. Its teaching me so much about how we all spend our time, and how challenging, rewarding, and astonishing simply Being in the moment can actually be...

I'm very interested to see what my Christmas will be... If your reading this promise to appreciate those that are close to you, and wish well those that are far away. Take a moment to be thankful to be with family and think of all of those who will be without close Loved ones near, or even a warm place to sleep, and don't feel guilty if you don't do those things either ;)
Just take a deep breath, and be a present as you can....
Lots of Love.
Joe

A Few Days At The Matatoki Cheese Barn

jn1613 — Wed, 4 Dec 2013 12:19:00 GMT

11/24/13

I've been at my first WWOOFing spot, The Matatoki Cheese Barn, for about a week now, and I've only been in New Zealand for about eleven days. In that time I have already seen and done so many cool things that it feels like I've been here weeks. So far Cathy, Kelvin and their daughter Holly have been great. I really feel at home here in New Zealand. Between Kelvin and Cathy they really keep me busy during the day with jobs here and there but it's nice that they give me space on my own time.

My first morning here I was in the dairy helping Kelvin sort out an equipment problem. He had me skimming milk by hand. After that he put me in the cooler in order to flip and wax wheels of cheese. Its really not as much of a process as you might think. Its taking a wheel of cheese dipping at sponge into a bucket of essentially edible glue and rubbing it into the the cheese. He does this so the cheese can breath out but not in, this way the cheese stops aging and keeps. Other projects they've had me doing is washing the outside of the house and spraying it for spiders (natural spray of course ;). This job is not quite what I imagined when I started WWOOFing but when they are feeding me I'm happy to do it. :) It was a good job to have for the first couple of days really, I got to be outside in the sun, getting my tan on and keeping cool at the same time. Since then I've been helping Kelvin in the fields. We've been putting up gates and fence so the sheep , singular sheep, dosnt get out as well as wresteling the alpaka into differnet paddoks (what they call fields here) :)
Other than that we've been running errands into town and trying to clean their pool. Its been so nice having a summer. Yesterday I was laying in the sun thinking about how it seemed I didn't really have a summer last year and thinking of all the things I should be getting done, the emails I should be sending, or the maps I should be looking at, when it occurred to me that I busted my ass in order to get to this place. I sacrificed my summer in Seattle so I could have this experience by the pool. So I shut my eyes, took a deep breath of gratitude and soaked up the sunshine.

12/2/13

It seems so long since the last time I wrote and I'm quite weary from my traveling today that it's almost impossible to even begin, but I must if I intend to keep up with this journal in order to share my experience.

My time spent on The Matatoki Cheese farm was full of experience. I learned loads from Kelvin about the basics of making differnet tiypes of cheese, Gouda care, butter, ghee, yogurt, and a number of other dairy products, but also getting to go into Auckland and learn the ins and outs of his marketing, distribution, and customer base not to mention the day to day things of running a farm. It was so cool to get to bounce ideas off of him about marketing strategies, developing new markets, nurturing customer bases and just talking about the different levels of his business.
The area where they live in in the Wrotorunga valley is so nice. Matatoki farm is situated at the foot of steep hills, not quite mountains, to the north of me and flat plains to the south. The weather has been everything from hot and sunny to cool and stormy. I've met so many good people here, it seems everyone has a place that I must “absolutely see”. I got to meet Kelvin's mother Joy and his uncle who's name I'm forgetting now. They were a well spring of knowledge and history and I'm so lucky to have gotten to meet and talk with them. In the cafe on the farm there are four lovely girls working, mostly students. I really connected with one of them, Chantal, she is naturopath living near home and working in the cafe before moving to Wellington in order to start a new practice there. She was kind enough to take me up the Rotorunga valley for a hike and a swim. The valley was stunning and Chantal and I had great conversation. It was great to get her insights on the current state of New Zealand as well as talk astrology, stones and the Present state of the Universe. :)

Having only been here for three weeks I'm constantly being surprised by the little things that I find. I knew coming down here that the night sky would be different, but here Orion is right side up instead of upside down, and the milky way is completely different from the southern perspective. Of course there are things here that I would have never expected as well, like the surprising amount of racism that sneaks its way into the culture of New Zealand towards the Native Marui people. I'm finding that this is fueled by lots of cultural differences and historical events but at the core of any generalization of a people it comes mostly from misinformation by the media and educations system and misunderstanding between two different perspectives. Another thing that has surprised me is the amount of agriculture here. I guess I had it in my mind that New Zealand would be this untouched piece of the world that has not really had enough time to be transformed, but I'm finding that just like in the rest of the world, Europeans were quick to come in and make drastic changes. People tell me that the south island is a little more rugged but I'm sure there will be little surprises there as well. :)

What else is there to share in this short little piece of space and time...? The people here are so nice and open. Everyone here is very laid back. Perhaps it is just because I am a traveler but I get this sense that here people are very willing to simply accept you as you are and let you do your own thing. Not in a way that is like “I'm doing my thing and I'll let you do your thing” it is somehow more warm than that. Its as if people are really interested in each others individuality, people are just more open to having a conversation about anything, and willing to really meet you half way when it comes to new experience. My experience with Kelvin and Chantal has been a great reflection of that. Just two really genuine individuals open to learning and sharing with another, and the experiences they bring to the exchange.

I'm headed now to KatiKati where I expect my stay to be much different. Kelvin is a “good ol' boy”, he's an incredibly grounded individual, and a really hard worker. He is so efficient, tough and full of energy and knowledge, I'm so grateful to have gotten to spend so much time with him on the farm. I would really like to thank Chantal as well. I think I would have gone mad if it wasn't for her getting me off the farm and into the mountains. Thank you so much Chantal for being a partner in some really juicy abstract thinking and for your deep sharing. I feel ready for the transition to my new place, maybe a little tired, but ready. My next WWOOFing farm I expect will be a little more airy, more "out there" kinda place.
Currently I'm finding it hard to share my feelings and experiences. I'm riding in a bus through the valley now and its quite beautiful, its like this crazy combination of the rocks of the Rocky mountains and the steepness, the newness of the northwestern alps. But with palm trees, ferns and pine all on the same slope. :) Like so many beautiful moments on this trip I'm excited to see whats around the next corner, through the next valley, or over the next hill. :)
So much Love to be had and shared in this world I'm excited and grateful for every millisecond of it. :)
Until I see you again.

Joe

After Fat Cat

jn1613 — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 20:18:00 GMT

Today I left Fat Cat and arrived at my first WWOOFing house just south of Thames.

Part of my main intention for this trip, was to build relationships and create good connections, I covered that in two days at Fat Cat. It's hard to even know where to begin when I try and put into words my experience at Fat Cat Hostel in Auckland. I am so happy that Fat Cat was the place that I landed on when I chose my hostel. In the short amount of time that I was there I met so many good people. I have never before heard so many different languages being spoken all at once in the same room. At one point I was disscussing the enviornment with a young woman from France, a girl from Brazil listened and a group of Germans were off on a tangent. At some points there were conversations in German, French, Spanish, Polish, Estonian, Portogese and unavoidably English, happening at the same time in the same room. :)

Upon arriving at Fat Cat I knew that this was a place that would be willing to feed me if I worked hard for them when I could and would build genuine relationships with the people there. So on my first day there I made sure that I became useful. After an unfortunate morning trying to open a bank account and to get a cell phone I spent the rest of my day at Fat Cat cleaning the fireplace in the commons area as well as cleaning the fire pit under the fire bath, two jobs that needed to be done but not to many people really wanted to do. After this the long term WWOOFers really warmed up to me and I felt welcomed into their community, my time at Fat Cat became smooth as silk.

In exchange for free meals I worked out a deal with the managers to tune up the bikes they rented to backpackers so they would be able to go into town. Friday I tuned up seven bikes, which was a very tall order considering the condition of the bikes and the tools available in the garage. But myself and my German protege Jan got them all done about the same time that many of the WWOOFers were returning from their day selling fruit. Friday night was a very good night. Having made a run to the "Coffee Shop" everyone was in high spirts that night. There was music, good conversation, wine, and another night in the fire bath. :)

There always seemed to be someone cooking, most likely someone French. There was merryment and cheer all of the time. Besides the thirty or so WWOOFers that were staying long term at the house there were probably eight to ten backpackers comming or going. In the back between the garden and the tree house there was a yard full of tents. We all ate dinners together. Thirty or more people sitting on the floor gathered around a big table talking over one another in different languages, stopping only to cheer the cook of the night or to eat home made bread with wine. After dinners there was always conversation, relaxing around the fireplace, maybe tea or coffee, and always cigarettes being rolled, most likely by someone French. :)

Fat Cat was such a wonderfully perfect first experience in New Zealand. It quickly imparted upon me the laid back nature of New Zealand and how truely open it is to new people and powerful new experience. It was hard to leave such a wonderful community of people, a place that I felt so comfortable and a place that I could have definately stayed longer. Yet it was at the same time very exciting to leave knowing that this is just the begining of the journey, that this trip has just begun, and that I have only scratched the surface of my own potential here. :)

My first day in New Zealand

jn1613 — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 11:47:00 GMT

My arrival in New Zealand was smooth and very welcome. After traveling for 26 hours, 17 of that in the air, I was ready to be stationary for a night. Customs was a breeze, stamp stamp, follow the arrows and I was to the bus stop. From there I took a bus to a train and a train to my hostel, where a very nice young woman from Austria showed me to the house.

Fat Cats Hostel is such a warm and welcoming place. I arrived around dinner time and after a short tour of the grounds I was eating with 27 other travelers from France, Sweden, Germany, and even another Joe from Seattle. The rest of the night was getting to know people, and keeping the fire going for everyone. As the night started to settle down I started up the fire bath they had setup outside. I stoked the fire underneith my bottom as I watched the moon travel through the northern sky. From my hot bath outside, I smiled at how much like a dream this all seemed. Then took a deep breath and listened to the strange new bird calls around me and grew deeply grateful for this moment in time :)

A moment to thank those who made this a reality.

jn1613 — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 11:25:00 GMT

This is a post that I wrote in the air on my way to New Zealand.

I want to take this simple and, absolutely profound moment to thank all the people in my life that have made this possible.
I want to thank John and Dana Stream for making this moment financially possible, I could not have realized this potential without you and your enlightening little nest in the North West :) I want to thank Trevor Richards for being such a good friend and and all around good human being, and for supplying the soundtrack to this moment. This is the fist time in close to two years that I've been this mobile with music. It changes the scene for sure. :) I want to thank Mari Shibuya for being an inspirational Being in my life, I know you will understand that I have no words to write than can express how grateful I am for you. :)

To all my teachers who I have learned SO much about every level of lifes experience. Melany Bell for literally giving me the strength, and the knowledge to keep it, in order that I may carry my home on my back. :) Thank you to Joel and Michelle Levey who have been amazing teachers and have given me the spiritual strength, as well as the practices to keep it, to go on this trip through time and space, I carry you in my heart. :) I want to thank Michael Cleveland and his whole family for being so smooth and so cool, and teaching me so many things about how to build a House and a Home :) Thank you Kevin Sikes for being a bad-ass, for showing me some Midwest love in the dark and cloudy North West, and for being a reflection of what I'm truly capable of. Thank you to so much to my Whole Seattle community, Stephen Hrivnak, Heather Lambert, Everett Keithcart, Masaru Higasa, Kevin Wrenn, Nina Von Feldmann, Emma Staake, Liam Bowler, and all the Dream Dance Community, for helping me dig deep and discover the light inside of me. Thank you to my brother, Jesse Brettin who has given me this tool on which I write this message, I am so grateful to have you as my brother, I can't wait to someday ride motorcycles with you and shoot bow and arrow. :) I want to thank Tommy Hester for being like a brother through so much of my life, we've got solid roots in the Land of Heart brother. In fact the whole Hester family, Audey Hester, Tom and Jason, thanks for being so supportive. :) Thank you to Joel Tabor, Amy Tabor, Zack Blume, Asher Ball, Crystal and all my midwest homies for keeping the fire burning in the heartland.

Thank you to all my my Japanese relations, Rina Nagayoshi, Reiko Taniguchi, Carlos Barbosa, and the Teko cave family. I would not have the courage or the strength to make this trip without each of you and the experiences you shared.

And from the bottom of my heart and literally every cell and wave of my Being I want to thank my mom and dad, Ken and Mary Norseen for truly creating this moment in the Universe. My cells, my psyche, and my spirit thank you for continuing to pass down all of your wisdom, life experiences and lessons. At the same time you both gave me the space, independence and freedom to blossom into my own individual Self.

Thank you to all my family, Rich Johnson, Diane, and the girls. Ross and Kathy Herseth, Mike Johnson, Mark and Michael, Charlie, Val and growing family. To my aunts, uncles and cousins on the Norseen side, especially my Grandma Eldean, who continues to share unconditional Love and, without whom, I would have known much less about where I come from.

Thank you for being there to shape and mold me into this Joe, the good and the bad, the light and the dark, the silly and the serious.
Thank you to each and every person that has touched my life in a special way. All of you that I may not have mentioned but who have really, truly made a difference in my life. If we've ever had a conversation, a deep connection, even if you've read this far, you are an important part of my life.Through our shared experience, whether remembered or not, your life has continued to make an impact on the human being flying through the air now, over the Rockies, crusing at 455 miles per hour 30,000 feet in the air.

:) Peace and Love until I see you again. :)

Joe Norseen