Smile to brighten your day...

Heading up to the store tonight for some groceries, i met Tiffany, an American who was volunteering for the NZ Red Cross. It's funny how a very short interlude with someone can pick your day up no end. It's probably helped that she was beautiful, like Megan Fox kinds beautiful, but it was the smile she had that immediately warmed you. She said hello and asked how my day was going, and that opened the conversation. We spoke for a good while, and it was one of those meetings where conversation flows and you can just ask a question, or say something about you, your day, or whatever, and it's always a smile in response. We'd talked for a while but she and her colleagues were wrapping up their day of getting signatures so i wished her a great evening and walked off towards the setting sun.

Slightly odd feeling as i walked off, felt like i should of told her how much energy she was giving out, and how wonderful and refreshing it was to see someone, out there doing compassionate work and truly making a difference to people days. She definitely made a difference to my day.

Maybe she'll be there tomorrow...

30,000km comes to an end....

So i'm in Auckland at the minute, house sitting for some friends until sunday then i head to Lake Taupo for a week or so then on to Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor centre again for another stint of work before making the trip down to Wanaka for the season. I'm going to be hitching pretty much the entire way, so i've got a 1,500km hitchhike ahead of me, and it's going to be an amazing trip. So far since being in NZ, and back home for that matter, my travel has revolved very centrally around having my own vehicle, but now that is not the case.

On Sunday i sold my beloved Hikoi, the van i have travelled nearly 30,000km of NZ in, and i've had the most incredible time with her, seen some of the most incredible things of my life, and spent some time with some of the greatest, closest and most loving people i have known. With selling Hikoi, i now have got the money back that i invested in her, and can now book a flight to get home in October, and sort out a few bits for winter too.

When back in the UK, I always thought that not having a car would make it so difficult to get around, and couldn't work out how people that didn't drive did it, but no i can see it's just a case of accepting and dealing with it. Since arriving in NZ, and coming across a new-found sense of peace and relaxation, things such as how i'll get from one place to another without my own car have melted away and i now look at them as an adventure to be had, excited for the prospects, the people i will meet, and the places i'll go.

It's been an amazing journey, but now a new stage in the journey of NZ, and the journey of my life, begins, and i like new beginnings...

Though the looking glass...

So today we saw the most incredible marbel statue in wellington botanic gardens. The beauty of the sculpture was already magnificent, but when you stood back and saw the nature reflecting in it, you could trully feel connected to the natural world. The tree's reflecting in it gave me an insight to see that i have been fortunate enough to tap into the energy flow of nature. Even by a creative sculpture, it still couldnt block me from seeing nature, the rock becoming a glass wall and i could see through it, the energy level and frequencies for that are crazy! To see a halo of the sun, to actually have that awareness, to look up, to long up at nature and be switched on enough to see it, that's incredible. Even looking into a human constructed object, like a skyscraper, i see the natural resources that produced it, the cement and bricks that were made from things we pulled out of the earth. We think that humans are building on the world but i refuse to lose my touch with the natural world...

Travel broadens the mind...

So i left Qt two weeks back and the journey has been incredible. It's amazing to see the peace inside that can come about rfom leaving a noisy, bustling situation for one of calm and relaxation. In the last two weeks i have drifted about New Zealand in the van, stopping off at anything that catches our fancy and taking each day as it comes. in the van we are fully sufficient, have everything we need and can go wherever we choose. The last weeks has been documented by highs of watching sunsets, sleepign in haybarns, cooking dinner on the back of the van , waking up on a beach, chilling out with great friends and generally living the purest of dreams... I left Qt to search for my NZ, and i found it so, so clearly as soon as i was on the road...

Space in your head...

Living in town for nearly 6months now and decided it is time to move on, having handed in my notice at work it is amazing to see the headspace i am now in. I am seeing town in such a different light, views i have seen time and time again are now somehow new to me, i feel lighter, happier and more free than i have more a long time. Queenstown is a place i both love and loath. The town is situated in the most beautiful location i have ever lived, i am amongst such a great group of people and the opportunities here are immense. But at the same time, the town is not real NZ, it has no real culture that i have found and is almost entirely made up of transients. I too am one of these, but feel it is time to head out again, get back to NZ and see, feel, touch, hear and taste the part of the world i came here to find...

mistakes

our mistakes do not define us now, they show us who we are not...

Learing how to Breathe...

So money is harder to make, or keep, i'm not sure yet, in Queenstown. Most jobs are minimum wage as there is a queue of people behind you waiting to take your job at the first chance so they needn't entice you in with the promise of high wages. With this, living costs are through the roof, a beer costs you nearly an hour's wage, and when you have to get your van fixed, a whole months pay cheque can be eaten up in one day! So this is where i am at, van is in the shop today for a bit of welding and then i can get it back road legal and be out exploring on my days off. I've been trapped by money, knee and lack of transport recently but things are finally looking to shape up with summer approaching. Knee is healing, van is nearly fixed, and work will be picking up as more people come through the town to visit. I've also been in a bit of a loose head space as it now over a year since i was home but i had a read through one of my books the other day and this helped to put things back into perspective, to see the true beauty in life and living for the moment, each one as precious as the last.

I have also re-found breathing, something that i lost in the pace of life over winter. I know that sounds funny but true, deep, pure breathing. Most situations can be easily sorted by just pausing and taking a deep, slow and deliberate breath, stresses melt away and perspective is re-achieved.
If you can change the outcome of it, you don't need to worry, and if you cannot change to the outcome, worrying will achieve nothing, instead just accept and move with it, don't let it consume you....