I spent my past 10 days travelling Northern New Zealand. The first 7 days were spent in a station wagon with 7 others, 2 from Canada, 2 from Germany and 2 others from the U.S. Although we all came from different places in life and on the globe, we were united by our shared desire to travel and strong appetite for adventure. This appetite is what piled all 7 of us and our big backpacks into one car to travel to the top of New Zeland.
As we ate out of one pot together, shared bonfires on the beach and slept under the stars we became this odd little road family. Along the way we met many others who colored and deepened our path. We drove for miles along windy paths beside the sea, on the beach, over the hills covered with sheep and through the forests. We saw more cows and sheep than people and millions of stars most nights. We sang along to bad songs on the radio (that is when one came in) and filled our car often with laughter. We spoke daily of how happy and blessed we all are to be living this way and proclaimed confidently as the rain fell on our tents continuously each night that we could think of no better way to travel.
I hope the following excerpts from my journal paint a picture for you of how beautiful both the land and people here in New Zealand are. My entries are no longer dated, for I have lost track of time.
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We left Auckland yesterday and I felt myslef awaken as we drove onward from the city. We met Felix on couch surfing and decided to head North together. Felix is a young artist and musician from Germany travelling New Zealand and living with artists for the next 6 months for inspiration. We hitch-hiked up to Whangarei with him in about 6 hours with 7 different drivers. We met wonderful people as we drove up the coast in the back of a construction workers van, a tourist shuttle bus from the airport, in the bed of a truck, sitting beside scared little kids wondering why we spoke so funny and why we were in their car, and in the back of Cathy's car who loved big trucks and screamed out the window at them as they passed by. (note hitch-hiking is legal here and a means of travel)
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After camping in the park we woke to rain and decided to head to the library for the day. There we met Sandra from Germany and Daniel from California. The 5 of us decided to rent a car together for the next week.
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I sit here now with my 5 friends and 2 more German guys that we are sharing this beautiful bay with. After driving through the countryside we settled here for the afternoon and as dinner cooks behind me I wait for the sun to set before me. He's making his decent and his colors are casting through the clouds and onto the water below. The birds are singing, Felix is painting, my spirit is dancing and I'm at peace.
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The sound of the water gently hitting the shore leaves me here in bed wanting nothing more than to listen to her sweet peaceful morning song. I can lay here and look out to her as the wind hits my tent and the birds sing. I feel alive and happy. I see the flames of last nights fire and hear the dreams and stories that were shared around her. I could spend every night as I spent last. I wish I could paint the stars on my mind and close my eyes and see them as I did last night.
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Today was spent in the car, the rain fell often on the windshield and we all fought frusteration as we continually got lost in the middle of no where. Around 6pm we gave up and went into a local pub. We were the youngest and dirtiest ones there, but the kiwis welcomed us and within minutes a 70 year old man named Rick offered to have us sleep at his house.
Almost an hour later we arrived back at Ricks house and realized we couldn't pay for a better place to stay. Rick's house sits above a lush hill overlooking the ocean with huge windows on every wall with breath-taking views out each of them. We shared dinner together and spent the night happy and thankful. Rick told us of his travels around the world, shared pictures with us and told us that he enjoyed our company and simply hoped that one day we would return the favor. I assuredly told him I would.
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Today we made it to the "toppest of the top" as Sandra would say. We walked down to Cape Regina against a strong wind and grey skies. I washed the pacific ocean and tasman sea crash together, representing the creation of life as the Maori believe that one sea is the man and the other the woman. The Maori believe that the spirits of the dead depart to afterlife here from this cape and I enjoyed reading these legends as I walked down to the lighthouse.
After getting dumped on by the angry sky and drenched with his tears we went to a beautiful bay to dry out and camp for the night. There we met 2 german guys who had rented a wicked campervan with a picture of Obama on it saying "yes we can" The 2 of them, 5 of us and Kat and Katie from Canada spent our night in Obama hiding out from the rain and getting to know one another.
The next day we all went to N.Z.'s biggest sand dunes and played in the sunshine. Our German friends and Obama had to take off so we decided to adopt our new Canadian friends for we really liked them and they had hitch-hiked up to the cape and were without an escape.
We left the dunes with 7 in our station wagon, 5 bags in the back and two on the roof.
We came across a Maori man in town who laughed at the sight of us as we stopped to ask him for a local camp spot. He offered to lighten our load and took us to a perfect camping spot. The beauty of the spot matched the beauty of this kind mans heart that seems to embody every kiwi we meet.
We were all so happy and ran to the ocean laughing, after her cool waves soaked our legs we ran to this little island and sat there together watching the waves crash against the rocks. We then collected firewood and cooked heaps of pasta and sweet potatoes over her flames. We spent the night talking, looking often to the millions of stars, and had a jam session with Felix on the harmonica and the rest of us hitting the frisbee, bottles, and pots with sticks.
I fell asleep beside the fire listening to her pop and crackle as the waves hit the shore and the stars glistened in the night illuminating the hills and dunes on either side of me. We all woke up in the middle of the night to rain drops and decided we better pitch our tents. Once inside the comforts of my home the rain drops started falling heavier as I dose off to sleep covered in sand.
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The next day we drove down the 90 mile beach, I sat out the window, feeling the wind collide against my skin. We stopped for fish and chips and then journeyed onward to mineral hot springs where we spent the evening soaking.
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I woke the next morning in the kaouri forest. There I met Tane Mahuta, the Lord of the Forest and Tew Matua Ngahere, the Father of the Forest. I stood before these ancienet trees (the 2nd largest in the world after CA sequoias) completely humbled. As happy as I was to meet these wise old trees, my spirit was also saddened by the circumstance and I found it difficult to stand before them with a bunch of tourists and our cameras, unable to hug the trees for a fence was around them. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine the day when these trees covered New Zeland. I prayed as I walked the paths and wished the forest well as I left with a hope for all the people who would come visit. A hope that they would see a creator, that they would better unserstand that all things are connected and that the trees and the earth have a spirit and give life to us so we must listen to that spirit, respect it and care for it.
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That night we camped at Kouto Point, created a dinner of pasta and foraged salad along with some bread, cheese and wine. Life is tough. Later we went to the local pub and met a maori man who invited us to his house where he played his flute for us and told us of his peoples past as we sat at the harbor. I began to imagine the land around me covered in ancient kaori trees and what the lives of the people living in the little villages tucked into the harbor, accessible only by canoe were like.
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Sitting at a scenic look out point, hanging over the ocean on a warm sunny day...
As the sun lit my face and warmed me I was emptied of all sadness, forgetting for that moment that there is anything wrong in the world. I wanted to laugh out loud in natural response to the happiness this beauty filled me with.
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We drove away from the coast, through the valley of two mighty mountains covered with trees. The sun danced in and out of the clouds all afternoon, casting rainbows of colors beside me.
