TAKAKA, NZ: Chasing the sun

Last night I ran up and down the coast in Golden Bay, NZ, made great friends, big fires, fun music, went rock climbing, bushwalking, made a gigantic mermaid on the beach out of stones, sand and seaweed, I danced with fire in my hands 'til the sun came up, jumped in the clearest natural springs in the world for rebirth, we fished for paua shells with our hands in the ocean then cleaned, cooked and ate them. We watched the sunset on the Tasman Sea and the next morning watched the sunrise on the Pacific Ocean. Dolphins, Seals, Penguins and Sea Lions are on the beaches when I wake up and go for a run. I've had a really spontaneous fall break here in the South Island. We drove north without plans or maps and came back without maps or plans. And as I travel on the weekends and meet people here at Uni, I find the world to be so small. I keep running into the same familiar faces and it's refreshing to feel local here in the otago/canterbury region.

I write you now to send some news from Nelson, for your humor. So, the other morning I was just chillin with friends under the Waitapi bridge in Takaka when a lady came by from the Nelson News and here it goes, ENJOY! (Must copy/paste link for viewing...its hilarious)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/3565715/Campers-living-free-and-easy

DUNEDIN, NZ: A tribute to Sababa

I love driving on the left side of the road! I kind of learned stick shift the other day.... right hand drive stick shift, that is. Love the new challenges. My car, Sababa, and I have fallen in love. We do everything together. One time Maegan and I met these 4 beautiful Israeli boys at a river near Cromwell...we made food together that night at the river and spoke about war, politics, love, race, humor and appetite...and the guys kept saying the word, "Sababa!" We came to find out that it means, Cool! In Hebrew. So that was that. I'll never forget those boys. So free and wild and funny. They were best friends, and we joined their family for the evening.

Sababa got us there.

I feel like she smiles when we go on adventures. I'm going to miss her, indefinitely. I really lucked out with this car...she's taken me EVERYWHERE I ever wanted to go. To the mountains, to the beach, thru the fjordlands, forests, dunes, rivers, to the springs, to waterfalls with baby fur seals and to the edge of Lake Hawea...the most beautiful place on earth. I push the seats down and sleep in the cramped back seat with the hatchback up, if weather permits. ONE TIME, we fit three girls in the back like sardines. We parked at the edge of the ocean at dusk and set up camp. We tented the back of the hatch against a huge bush...with bunjee cords and a tarp we found in the woods earlier that day. It was raining as we fell asleep in our sleeping bags side-by-side-by-side. It was quaint.

Until suddenly we awoke to find the tarp had been ripped from its cords, it was flailing in the wind, wild and monstrous. The rain was coming down in sheets and the ocean was meeting it halfway...It felt as if we were to be swallowed by the earths angst. As if we were not meant to be there...we were being told to leave. One of the girls was quite scared, but we stood our ground. We ended up closing the hatch, stuffing the tarp in the bush and tried sleeping sitting up in Sababa...cold, wet and exhausted. Though it was the coldest night of my life, I loved the struggle all the same. It makes beds and houses feel like heaven. I appreciate the little things a lot more these days.

TUNNEL BEACH, NZ: Smack! Wake up. Watch the waves and say SOMETHING.

We explored like true EXPLORERS. The windripping my splitends at their will, meanwhile Moby read us his lullabies through song and we landed in a cove yet unseen by my senses. This place lifted our chins, grabbed our hearts bayside and tempted our limbs to lose control.

I fell, with the rain...as it slipped onto these pages.
I fell, with the sun...as its rays made us ageless.
I fell, with the hail...as it sourced from bright blue sky.
I rose, with the rainbow...its toes dipped just below the horizon.

We slid down the steep-steep hill, an exfoliant for our barefeet. MUD everywhere. Sheep chasing, cactus jumping, photographs flying. With wine as our weapon we discovered TUNNEL BEACH, NZ. Into the most beautiful secret space, with rocks as faces. I danced allll over that beach. Maegan climbed. Country wine cured us. A sparrow listened to me sing the Titanic theme song in the cold darkness of the tunnel...it waited and waited and then found me! Fluttering about, he kissed me quick and then shot off into the sunlight.

SOMEWHERE, NZ: One can only live in the now, by the way

We're sitting here, the massive weight of the clouds parted by the ocean's lapping body. From the core of my perception, this water radiates from the center of never never land. That distant point in the dark blue abyss which has permission to start the signal of motion, some Maestro in the middle of the sea said, "It's okay to be YOU, here. The World can wait no longer for you to." The time is now. Now, to be those children between pink mountains and teal waves. The constancy of mornings push and pull. These salty brazilian berries give him a reason to channel me. To channel my energies into a form of information and realize that this is all just information.

We tented in a paddock in Owaka, NZ last night because we were talking so much that we ran out of gas. I feel full of TODAY, because we never consider what will happen an hour away. We're here, NOW.

DUNEDIN, NZ: Whakarongo Mai

Words don't work. English words don't work. So I'm here to learn new ones of new places, which hold the weight of new people, I've not yet met.

I've been living in a cave for 5 days on end. It's been so good that the earth shook and split Chile, causing us to wake up off the New Zealand beaches...pull our heads out of the sand...sit upon a mountain with sheep and lollies just to think about the earth's structure, power and the impression we're making upon it.

From city to country, city to country...everyday I travel. Dunedin is a town built for adventurers to bump into eachother, so that later they can meet up in the suburbs of Gaza Strip in Israel, the gardens of Toulouse, France or the fields of Rotorua - mountains high and valleys low. To cook, to share, to think, to be. To exchange a smile. To live together for awhile.

Word of warning, words of wisdom...on a full moon's night at high tide, bridge yourself a barrier between oceans edge and your fire. Might just save your dregs come morning's rise.

MANHATTAN, KS: My little house on the prairie

What luck to have the sun on our side, here in the little apple. As I embrace the extended winter I've granted myself by traveling to the Southern Hemisphere next month, I realize these are the most reflective days I could ask for. Mornings happen at different times, everywhere. By the way.

The windows feel thinner, as I sit alone in this house. Day Six at the Shire, I am at home. This morning I went to the highest point in my small town. I sat there and read Lord of the Rings outloud to Manhattan, and as I drank my chocolate milk and saw my ankles turn pink...I realized the 'edge' is just a fine place to be. It births decisions and contradictions.

I bought myself 27 baby roses last night. They woke me up this morning with open arms. I'm off to 'Restorative Yoga'.

I've loved each new day, differently. Waking up before the sunrise to make oatmeal for my parents. A puppy stretching outside, so he can jump SUPER high during the 15 seconds it takes us to get from the house to the car. Now, at my mom's office - where I grew up.

I wonder what the mornings are like in New Zealand...