New Zealand

Sun May 10
My dinner, Paua or abalone.

My dinner, Paua or abalone.

Mon Feb 23
The Heaphy Track- Everything in New Zealand is weather dependant. The Heaphy Track is no different. The Heaphy is a Great Walk, meaning that it is designated by the NZ Dept. of Conservation as being amazing in some way. Usually it means there is some great views, but in the case of the Heaphy Track the designation comes from the variety of changes in flora and fauna. It goes from beech trees, rainforest, most covered forest, sandy colored bush and to the beaches of the west coast. Click on the picture above for more pictures. The track was incredible. Everyday I saw a new landscape of New Zealand. While there are only a few pics here, realize I took over 100 shots. I just cannot upload them all. The best part of the walk was the actual walk. I needed 5 days of walking by myself to think about my place on this earth. And I had wonderful scenery to accompany those thoughts.

The Heaphy Track-

Everything in New Zealand is weather dependant. The Heaphy Track is no different. The Heaphy is a Great Walk, meaning that it is designated by the NZ Dept. of Conservation as being amazing in some way. Usually it means there is some great views, but in the case of the Heaphy Track the designation comes from the variety of changes in flora and fauna. It goes from beech trees, rainforest, most covered forest, sandy colored bush and to the beaches of the west coast. Click on the picture above for more pictures. The track was incredible. Everyday I saw a new landscape of New Zealand. While there are only a few pics here, realize I took over 100 shots. I just cannot upload them all. The best part of the walk was the actual walk. I needed 5 days of walking by myself to think about my place on this earth. And I had wonderful scenery to accompany those thoughts.

The Beginning of the Heaphy Track

The Beginning of the Heaphy Track

Thu Feb 5
View from Anhata Yoga Retreat- Click on the picture for more photos. The last week has been interesting. I went to Anahata Yoga retreat to get into better shape and I found instead a much broader understanding of yoga. Who knew it was a spiritual path? I expected yoga postures, but the Anahata Yoga Retreat was really more for an ashram. For those of you that don’t know what that is, an ashram is spirtual place of work. Which means we woke up between 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m, depending on the day, and we chanted mantras in sanskrit. Sanskrit is an ancient language that supposedly the vibrations of the language are supposed to channel certain energies. Honestly, after chanting 108 times a mantra, it get in your head. So I still find myself absent mindedly chanting in sanskit. Honestly, I don’t think it works except for when I chant Ohm breathing out, I feel a little more peaceful. Ohm is supposed to be the most powerful of the vibratiosn because it is the sound of the universe. And that concept would take to long for me to explain here. So after chanting we would have breakfast in silence, usually porridge with fruit and some tea. A note about the tea, coffee isn’t really allowed at an ashram since it is a place of discipline, so I had massive coffee withdrawals. My last job was working at a cafe as a barista, so naturally I drank about 5 flat whites (essentially 5 lattes) a day. After breakfast we had Karma Yoga. Again, no yoga postures; we were assigned to clean the ashram for good karma. Then we had Yoga Nidra, which again involved no postures. It is more like a guided meditation and its purpose was to keep your mind awake while your body slept. It was relaxing, but not very physical. Lunch generally was some ultra vegetarian meal with mung beans, maybe some quinona, occasionally tofu and plain soup. You would think I would lose weight, but since there is no fat, I ate like a hog. I needed to do it so that I would feel full. There was evening meditaions as well as bi-weekly havans. Havan is a fire ceremony that involves lots of chanting (108 times) while  throwing sacred grains into the fire. They were usually at sunrise and sundown. I sometimes had the afternoon free and I would explore the area. Sometimes I would read by the was an amazing waterfall hidden in the mountain with bright green moss growing alongside it. The place was beautiful.   We were on top of a mountain range that overlooked all of Golden Bay. Sunset in the mountains was magnificent. We also had some cheeky Keas that came around to steal people’s jandals (flip-flops). Keas are a native NZ parrot that are green with red underarms. They would come in groups of 4 or 5 and hobble over to us, trying to steal sunglasses, shoes, basically anything they could carry away. The noises they made sounded like someone laughing. Hahahahaha they would say to us. And I felt like they had every right to laugh. The situaion I found myself in was comical. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like religion. And suddenly I found myself in what seemed like a cult. I was encouraged to visit with Swami Muktidharma. It was his ashram and he lived on a house on the land. We talked about his background, he was born in Colombia, became a priest, fell out with the church and then went to India to study in an ashram for 16 years. His teacher was another swami that really big in Satyandanda yoga. He gave me a few meditation techniques, he tealked about ways he could help me and tried to convince me to stay at the ashram. While it was a beautiful place, it was not my lifestyle. So after my week was up, I headed down the mountain. I learned alot that week and in celebration I had a nice juicy steak, a bottle of red wine and chocolate for dessert. Life is good.

View from Anhata Yoga Retreat- Click on the picture for more photos.

The last week has been interesting. I went to Anahata Yoga retreat to get into better shape and I found instead a much broader understanding of yoga. Who knew it was a spiritual path? I expected yoga postures, but the Anahata Yoga Retreat was really more for an ashram. For those of you that don’t know what that is, an ashram is spirtual place of work. Which means we woke up between 5:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m, depending on the day, and we chanted mantras in sanskrit. Sanskrit is an ancient language that supposedly the vibrations of the language are supposed to channel certain energies. Honestly, after chanting 108 times a mantra, it get in your head. So I still find myself absent mindedly chanting in sanskit. Honestly, I don’t think it works except for when I chant Ohm breathing out, I feel a little more peaceful. Ohm is supposed to be the most powerful of the vibratiosn because it is the sound of the universe. And that concept would take to long for me to explain here. So after chanting we would have breakfast in silence, usually porridge with fruit and some tea. A note about the tea, coffee isn’t really allowed at an ashram since it is a place of discipline, so I had massive coffee withdrawals. My last job was working at a cafe as a barista, so naturally I drank about 5 flat whites (essentially 5 lattes) a day. After breakfast we had Karma Yoga. Again, no yoga postures; we were assigned to clean the ashram for good karma. Then we had Yoga Nidra, which again involved no postures. It is more like a guided meditation and its purpose was to keep your mind awake while your body slept. It was relaxing, but not very physical. Lunch generally was some ultra vegetarian meal with mung beans, maybe some quinona, occasionally tofu and plain soup. You would think I would lose weight, but since there is no fat, I ate like a hog. I needed to do it so that I would feel full. There was evening meditaions as well as bi-weekly havans. Havan is a fire ceremony that involves lots of chanting (108 times) while  throwing sacred grains into the fire. They were usually at sunrise and sundown.

I sometimes had the afternoon free and I would explore the area. Sometimes I would read by the was an amazing waterfall hidden in the mountain with bright green moss growing alongside it. The place was beautiful.   We were on top of a mountain range that overlooked all of Golden Bay. Sunset in the mountains was magnificent. We also had some cheeky Keas that came around to steal people’s jandals (flip-flops). Keas are a native NZ parrot that are green with red underarms. They would come in groups of 4 or 5 and hobble over to us, trying to steal sunglasses, shoes, basically anything they could carry away. The noises they made sounded like someone laughing. Hahahahaha they would say to us. And I felt like they had every right to laugh. The situaion I found myself in was comical. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like religion. And suddenly I found myself in what seemed like a cult. I was encouraged to visit with Swami Muktidharma. It was his ashram and he lived on a house on the land. We talked about his background, he was born in Colombia, became a priest, fell out with the church and then went to India to study in an ashram for 16 years. His teacher was another swami that really big in Satyandanda yoga. He gave me a few meditation techniques, he tealked about ways he could help me and tried to convince me to stay at the ashram. While it was a beautiful place, it was not my lifestyle. So after my week was up, I headed down the mountain. I learned alot that week and in celebration I had a nice juicy steak, a bottle of red wine and chocolate for dessert. Life is good.

Sun Jan 25
My First Veggie Garden!!In exchange for free accomodation at Annie’s Nirvana Lounge, I built my first veggie garden. I dug up a full van load of weeds, discarded seashells and even an animal skeleton in the yard. I raked the dirt, spread weed-kill and covered the area. Allan, the hostel owner, and I went to the beach and gathered huge rocks. We used these to create a border and to help keep the soil from erosion. We were going to use seaweed for compost, but the tide wasn’t right to gather it that day. Then I got the wheelbarrow out and we began moving good topsoil onto the garden area. That was hard work in the burning hot New Zealand sun. After that was done, we planted the seedlings we bought at the Saturday market. We planted broccoli, peppers, tomatos, stringbeans, rosemary, parsley, celery, lettuce and kale. As a lifelong Chicagoan, I am new to gardening. But I discovered that I really love it. I love the feel of the soil under my hands as I pack down another seedling into its new home. I can’t wait to start my veggie garden in Chicago. And start composting my food scraps for the garden. New Zealand is teaching me a lot about myself. Tomorrow I start WWOOFing at Anahata Yoga Studio http://www.anahata-retreat.org.nz/wiki/tiki-view_homepage.phpI will probably be there for a few weeks in their remote location on top of Takaka Mountain Range. I will probably not have internet service or cell phone service. But when I get into town again, I will update everyone on my adventure. Cheers!

My First Veggie Garden!!


In exchange for free accomodation at Annie’s Nirvana Lounge, I built my first veggie garden. I dug up a full van load of weeds, discarded seashells and even an animal skeleton in the yard. I raked the dirt, spread weed-kill and covered the area. Allan, the hostel owner, and I went to the beach and gathered huge rocks. We used these to create a border and to help keep the soil from erosion. We were going to use seaweed for compost, but the tide wasn’t right to gather it that day. Then I got the wheelbarrow out and we began moving good topsoil onto the garden area. That was hard work in the burning hot New Zealand sun. After that was done, we planted the seedlings we bought at the Saturday market. We planted broccoli, peppers, tomatos, stringbeans, rosemary, parsley, celery, lettuce and kale. As a lifelong Chicagoan, I am new to gardening. But I discovered that I really love it. I love the feel of the soil under my hands as I pack down another seedling into its new home. I can’t wait to start my veggie garden in Chicago. And start composting my food scraps for the garden.

New Zealand is teaching me a lot about myself. Tomorrow I start WWOOFing at Anahata Yoga Studio http://www.anahata-retreat.org.nz/wiki/tiki-view_homepage.php
I will probably be there for a few weeks in their remote location on top of Takaka Mountain Range. I will probably not have internet service or cell phone service. But when I get into town again, I will update everyone on my adventure. Cheers!

Fri Jan 23
This is the gang. It was a great expereience to work at the cafe on the Farewell Spit. The people I met were incredible. In this picture you will see from left to right,Joanna a sweet young German girl that is wwoofing with her boyfriend, Kymbarlee, a local woman with an amazing character, me, Goran the Serbian chef who is a sweetheart once you get past the hard-ass act, Crissy a woman with an incredibley peaceful nature and an amazing gardener, Mitchel Joanna’s boyfriend and a really nice guy that stood up for all of us, and Miss Jo, the biker chick from Auckland that will chase anyone down the street with her jandal (flip-flop). It was a tearful goodbye. We left earlier than anticipated, but we made some really good friends in a short time. Living on the Spit was amazing. I woke up to the black swans on teh beach just outside my window every day. The house we lived in was a Dept. of Conservation house, there are only two houses on the Farewell Spit. The other house also belongs to DOC. We had the privledge of being in an area that tourists are allowed to visit in the daytime, but after dark it was ours. We had tea (dinner) on the porch almost every night and listened to the tides come in as we sipped our beer. The Farewell Spit is a natural bird migration point of birds flying north to China, Siberia and ending up in Alaska. On my last day at the spit, I tried to save a dying blue penguin that seemed to have been attacked by something. Poor thing didn’t make it, but that’s nature. I saw many differnt birds- no kiwis- but I saw Weka, Tui, woodhens, oystercatchers, herons, a penguin, and many other birds I couldn’t figure out what they were. It was really a special place. I’m going to miss my friends there, but I will always remember them. Although I was a traveller, they befriended me and took me in. They offered me their homes and their friendship. I will miss them all.

This is the gang.

It was a great expereience to work at the cafe on the Farewell Spit. The people I met were incredible. In this picture you will see from left to right,Joanna a sweet young German girl that is wwoofing with her boyfriend, Kymbarlee, a local woman with an amazing character, me, Goran the Serbian chef who is a sweetheart once you get past the hard-ass act, Crissy a woman with an incredibley peaceful nature and an amazing gardener, Mitchel Joanna’s boyfriend and a really nice guy that stood up for all of us, and Miss Jo, the biker chick from Auckland that will chase anyone down the street with her jandal (flip-flop). It was a tearful goodbye. We left earlier than anticipated, but we made some really good friends in a short time.
Living on the Spit was amazing. I woke up to the black swans on teh beach just outside my window every day. The house we lived in was a Dept. of Conservation house, there are only two houses on the Farewell Spit. The other house also belongs to DOC. We had the privledge of being in an area that tourists are allowed to visit in the daytime, but after dark it was ours. We had tea (dinner) on the porch almost every night and listened to the tides come in as we sipped our beer. The Farewell Spit is a natural bird migration point of birds flying north to China, Siberia and ending up in Alaska. On my last day at the spit, I tried to save a dying blue penguin that seemed to have been attacked by something. Poor thing didn’t make it, but that’s nature. I saw many differnt birds- no kiwis- but I saw Weka, Tui, woodhens, oystercatchers, herons, a penguin, and many other birds I couldn’t figure out what they were. It was really a special place. I’m going to miss my friends there, but I will always remember them. Although I was a traveller, they befriended me and took me in. They offered me their homes and their friendship. I will miss them all.

Thu Jan 15
View from my window at the Farewell Spit. Those birds you see are black swans.

View from my window at the Farewell Spit. Those birds you see are black swans.

Update from the Farewell Spit

I only have a few minutes on the internet, but I want to update everyone quickly to what I have been doing. I am working as a barista/kitchen staff at The Paddle Crab Cafe located on the Farewell Spit. I have to drive 50km to the nearest town to get online and get supplies. I am living and working with Leighton, the cafe owner, Joanna and Mitchell- a German couple, and Jo- an Auckland sweetheart. Anyway, miss you all, and I will update as soon as I get out of the sticks again.

Sun Jan 4
Farewell Spit Happy New Year Everyone! After debating between a swanky lounge and a family run cafe on the Farewell Spit (pictured) I decided to work on the Spit. For only 25 hours of my time, I receive food and accomodation, not to mention living on the SPit, enjoying the sand dunes when the tourists are on their way home, and its a natural bird santuary. I will have limited internet access (there are only 2 houses on the spit and i live in one of them), so I may not be able to provide updates as quickly. Since it is very early and I am on my way to the Spit soon, I cannot make this  long post. I will be living with Leighton and Jenny, middle-aged couple running the cafe and two other WWOOFers. For those that aren’t keen, WWOOF is an organization that pairs volunteers with organic farms or small businesses that exchange food and lodging for about 5 hours of work a day. Call it slave labor, I call it cultural exchange. Anyway, I will write more as soon as I have internet access again. Wish me luck!

Farewell Spit

Happy New Year Everyone! After debating between a swanky lounge and a family run cafe on the Farewell Spit (pictured) I decided to work on the Spit. For only 25 hours of my time, I receive food and accomodation, not to mention living on the SPit, enjoying the sand dunes when the tourists are on their way home, and its a natural bird santuary. I will have limited internet access (there are only 2 houses on the spit and i live in one of them), so I may not be able to provide updates as quickly. Since it is very early and I am on my way to the Spit soon, I cannot make this  long post. I will be living with Leighton and Jenny, middle-aged couple running the cafe and two other WWOOFers. For those that aren’t keen, WWOOF is an organization that pairs volunteers with organic farms or small businesses that exchange food and lodging for about 5 hours of work a day. Call it slave labor, I call it cultural exchange. Anyway, I will write more as soon as I have internet access again. Wish me luck!

Mon Dec 29
Christmas BBQ After the Abel Tasman track I decided it was time to go back to Wellington and be amongst friends for Christmas. I am so glad I did! There is nothing like being amongst friends at Christmas. Those that know me well, know I am not religious. But since I am culturally Catholic, I have grown up with the celebration of Christmas. Kiersten and Meghan generously volunteered their lovely flat and rooftop for a Christmas BBQ. It was supposed to be warm and sunny, but of course Christmas Eve, the day of the BBQ, it was cold and rainy. So we decided to summon the sun gods with our bikinis and sing Silent Night. Didn’t really work, but at least it was fun. You can see the pictures by clicking on the picture of me and the tree. It will link you to my Flickr page. After eating a gluttonous spread of burgers, sausage, chicken? and dessert, I happily laid on the couch with my glass of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Life was good, food, friends, and wine. And the Rolling Stones were playing on the record player. Yes, not ipod, not radio, not CD player, but a great sounding record player. After 10 hours of celebration, I realized the couch was my bed. Woke up on Christmas morning to friends, sunshine and an eerily quiet Wellington. I walked back to the hostel where I changed to beach clothes. I spent the next six hours walking on the beach and thinking of my friends and family back home. What a great holiday.

Christmas BBQ

After the Abel Tasman track I decided it was time to go back to Wellington and be amongst friends for Christmas. I am so glad I did! There is nothing like being amongst friends at Christmas. Those that know me well, know I am not religious. But since I am culturally Catholic, I have grown up with the celebration of Christmas. Kiersten and Meghan generously volunteered their lovely flat and rooftop for a Christmas BBQ. It was supposed to be warm and sunny, but of course Christmas Eve, the day of the BBQ, it was cold and rainy. So we decided to summon the sun gods with our bikinis and sing Silent Night. Didn’t really work, but at least it was fun. You can see the pictures by clicking on the picture of me and the tree. It will link you to my Flickr page.

After eating a gluttonous spread of burgers, sausage, chicken? and dessert, I happily laid on the couch with my glass of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Life was good, food, friends, and wine. And the Rolling Stones were playing on the record player. Yes, not ipod, not radio, not CD player, but a great sounding record player. After 10 hours of celebration, I realized the couch was my bed. Woke up on Christmas morning to friends, sunshine and an eerily quiet Wellington. I walked back to the hostel where I changed to beach clothes. I spent the next six hours walking on the beach and thinking of my friends and family back home. What a great holiday.