On Returning to Belgium ...

People keep asking me how the return to Belgium is going ... what can I say?

We have been pleasantly surprised by the 9 celsius temperatures we've had since returning but the grey grey days are testing me.  It's winter, I know, but Belgium does grey in a way that is unlike any other place I have known.  My tan will surely be leached out of me ... perhaps within days.

I miss New Zealand food.  I went to a Delhaize supermarket yesterday and came away sad over not finding anything nice, then realised I was searching for New Zealand food.  Just that.  Nothing else would do.

We are still tired after 60 hours mostly awake as we crossed the world, and in crazy-making ways.  Yesterday we set up my work station here at the desk and later, as we failed in so many ways at the supermarket, we realised that we had potentially used up our daily quota of intelligence on the work station.  The intricacies of supermarket shopping were all but beyond us.

Last night, coming home from a new year party, Gert kept nodding off on the tram.  He had to be quicker in recovering than me, as he has already had two days back at work ... but there was a price it seems.

I miss the freedom of driving long distances through beautiful scenery on almost empty roads.  I miss the little red car.  I miss mountains and rivers, endless coastlines, and the variations of forest and bush.  The smell of the air.  I miss sunshine, family and friends.  I miss a lot of things but I'm almost sure it will be okay fitting back into life here. 

I'm not going to ruin my life with all that I miss.  After all, it's as Justine Musk recently wrote, it is time for you to go on an adventure. 

Here's to some good adventures in 2013 ... for all of us.

 

Riding the Waimakariri River with Waimak Alpine Jetboat Company

My cousin Tania, and her husband Al, had gifted both Gert and I a ride on a Waimak Alpine Jetboat however Gert's inner ear problem meant that he couldn't risk coming with us.  He stayed behind on the sun-drenched bank of the Waimakariri River as photographer and sun-worshipper.

It was bliss out there in that world only accessible by boat and Greg, our driver, was simply superb.  At some point on the journey I became fascinated by his instinctive reading of the river and asked him if it was anything like riding a horse.  I was trying to get a sense of how it was to ride a river, jetboat-style.

I could see that the jetboat wasn't like a conventional boat.  It didn't have a propeller that hung down in the water, and so we were screaming over incredibly shallow areas of river at times. Not only that, we were flying past river canyon walls with very little room for error, and the 360º spins were breathtakingly excellent.

They explain on their website:  Invented in New Zealand by William Hamilton in 1954, the jet boat has an impeller [propeller] that is encased in a cylinder [stator] to protect it from hitting stones or the bed of the river. Unlike conventional propeller driven boats the jet boat's unit is above the water line enabling it to travel through extremely shallow water (3" or 75mm).

But still, there was more to it ... watching Gregwas like watching a photographer instinctively seeking light for an image.  There was what was known, the rules ... river level, weather, and the state of the bends and then there was the rest.   The instinctive knowing.

It seemed like that was the place where a 360º spin could happen, and knowing the precise moment when to head towards the rockface and miss it.  How fast that corner could be taken at.

It seemed like a cross between art and science. 

It was bliss.

There Were Days Like This Out On The Road ...

My cousin Tania owns the house I love best in the world ...

Situated near the foothills of the Southern Alps, on the edge of a sometimes mighty mountain-fed river, it is a place of beauty ... a place of peace.  I love it there.

I have memories of staying there in the past, of slipping outside and crossing the dew-covered lawn, just happy about being alive in that place.

This time the Belgian Bloke and I only managed to fit in an afternoon visit but one that involved an afternoon tea on the lawn in the shade of the trees, surrounded by the most exquisite flowers and birdsong.  Beer and lemonade were involved.  Stories were told and there was much laughter too.

Next time we'll stay longer.  We were trying to do and see everything back there in my world and there weren't enough days in those 5 weeks at home.

Next time ...

 

The Little Red Car, New Zealand

I don't think I posted photographs of the little red car that got us round New Zealand's South Island yet.  And I hope to get permission to post photographs of My Friend Fiona, the old friend with the lovely husband who found us The car.

It never missed a beat and only went faster as the journey progressed.  I loved it.  I would have bought it if I were staying in New Zealand.  Well, and if I had money.

Anyway here it is, at the start of the big journey ... down on the east coast of the South Island, in the Catlins.

Using Art to Change the World ... a powerful piece

We didn't push the limit; we just showed that they were further than anyone thought.

JR

And one year later ... 'Street artist JR made a wish in 2011: Join me in a worldwide photo project to show the world its true face. Now, a year after his TED Prize wish, he shows how giant posters of human faces, pasted in public, are connecting communities, making change, and turning the world inside out. You can join in at insideoutproject.net

What you would do if money were no object ...

Life really begins when you have discovered that you can do anything you want.

Amelia Earhart.

I needed to share this with you: 'In 1949, career counselor William J. Reilly penned How To Avoid Work  — a short guide to finding your purpose and doing what you love. Despite the occasional vintage self-helpism of the tone, the book is remarkable for many reasons — written at the dawn of the American corporate era and the golden age of the housewife, it not only encouraged people of all ages to pursue their passions over conventional, safe occupations, but it also spoke to both men and women with equal regard.

The rest of this interesting post can be found over on Brainpickings.org - a site full of interesting stuff.  It's worth checking out.  Inspirational even.

Oddly enough, this popped up just as I was writing this post and so I'm adding it. Casey Neistat and his idea that 'When nothing's for sure, anything can happen.'

I know.

 

Hunter and Clare Shaw's Eco Retreat, Fiordland, New Zealand

On the first night of our roadtrip round New Zealand's South Island ... otherwise known as Di's Island, we were heading for Hunter and Clare Shaw's eco retreat in Manapouri, Fiordland.

I first met Hunter and Clare when I was living in Te Anau, back in 90's, and one of my favourite life stories is about their daughter Phoebe who came home from school and told her mum about the new girl's interesting mum.  The  'favourite' part of that story is the part where she told Clare that I reminded her of Lucy Lawless ... aka Xena Warrior Princess.  Who could resist...?

And that was the beginning of the friendship.  Later, after we moved to Dunedin, Hunter used to come up to work with clients in his Hellerworks massage practice and so he would stay, bringing venison fresh from the mountains or farm.  He taught me how to cook the most divine venison steaks.

Still later and they popped in and stayed a few days with us here in Antwerp and there was always an invitation to go stay with them when I finally got home.

And so we did.

I cannot recommend booking their eco retreat highly enough.  Gert and I were stunned when we were shown the light-filled, spacious cabin where we would be spending our 2 nights in Fiordland.

It's private, it's an exquisitespace, and it felt like home.  I'm highly qualified in the field of 'feels like home' as I've been searching for places that feel like home since forever.

But here is a taste of what they offer in their words: Lake Manapouri is just 3km away, the start of your Manapouri-Doubtful Sound experience and we are well placed for trips to Milford Sound and Fiordland National Park. There are many walking tracks nearby of varying degrees of difficulty, whatever your fitness level you will find something to suit and be able to experience hiking in Fiordland from the popular tracks to those that are used by few.

Your hosts are Hunter and Claire Shaw who both have a wealth of knowledge about the local area, its history, and the flora and fauna of the surrounding park, not to mention the numerous places to visit.

Hunter is a professional guide with interpretation being his specialty and has lived in the area for over 50 years. All Hunter’s working life has been involved in the National Park - in the early years with wild deer hunting and more recently leading trips through the World Heritage forests of Fiordland.

And friendly, so friendly.  Hunter is a story-teller, a man I spent a couple of days interviewing once upon a time.  He is a book.  I didn't write it but he talks about doing it himself one day.

So ... all this to say, if you are heading to New Zealand, or if you live there, and you are thinking about visiting Fiordland, consider staying at Hunter and Clare's cabin in the woods.   You won't regret it.

One of the things I loved about New Zealand ...

I loved the friendliness of strangers back home in New Zealand.

It's like nowhere else for me.  Turkey has been a close second, then Italy but New Zealanders ... they're my people and I'm so proud of them.

It was across the board, from the supermarket workers, to the people at the cafe sitting nearby,  people on the beach, and those jetski guys, to name a few.

They came into view while we were out on the boat in Mercury Bay.  I had the long lens on and couldn't resist.  This is the last shot I took of them.  The farewell shot.  Before this, they put on quite the display, making me laugh as I attempted to capture them in action.

A beautiful day, courtesy of Christine and Peter, much-loved friends of ours.

Blogging as a way to stay awake ...

I woke 36 hours ago, apparently, and went out with my camera exploring that misty Coromandel morning.  Then there was the big boat adventure out in Mercury Bay.  A short crash-into-bed afternoon nap, then 'assisting' the Belgian bloke in packing the big suitcases.

Later ...fish and chips some place fabulous where a Blues performance could be heard down at the seashore.

We continued on to Auckland city, the airport, and a 1am eleven-hour flight to Singapore. 

I didn't get an aisle seat.  Last night I learned that I need one.  My old motorbike accident body needs to walk every hour or so and my lovely seat companions slept.  I had a wee sleep but watched enough movies to know that it wasn't longer than 2 hours. 

We arrived in Singapore 6.30am local time and hunted for something to settle us down enough for me to write my blog post for Fans of Flanders.  Nothing worked so we found ourselves an airport hotel room for 6 hours.  But! there was too much in my mind and I never slept and voila, here we are some 14 hours later ... still awake and waiting for our flight back to Europe.

I do believe there might be a Russian parked directly in front of the big sports tv, making a Skype call that we're all getting to share... or perhaps I've become delusional.  The Aussie couple nearby seem irritated enough to suggest that it's really happening here in Singapore Airport.

Anyway, another photograph from my early misty morning walk on the day I was leaving ...

Channeling Katherine Mansfield...

Very early morning. The sun was not yet risen, and the whole of Crescent Bay was hidden under a white sea-mist. The big bush-covered hills at the back were smothered. You could not see where they ended and the paddocks and bungalows began. The sandy road was gone and the paddocks and bungalows the other side of it; there were no white dunes covered with reddish grass beyond them; there was nothing to mark which was beach and where was the sea. A heavy dew had fallen. The grass was blue. Big drops hung on the bushes and just did not fall; the silvery, fluffy toi-toi was limp on its long stalks, and all the marigolds and the pinks in the bungalow gardens were bowed to the earth with wetness. Drenched were the cold fuchsias, round pearls of dew lay on the flat nasturtium leaves...

Katherine Mansfield, extract from At The Bay.

I love the above extract, more than any other, from New Zealand writer  Katherine Mansfield.  She was a rather remarkable modernist writer, the one who caused Virginia Woolf to write, after Katherine's early death from TB, that Katherine's writing was 'the only writing I have ever been jealous of'.

But back to tales from New Zealand ... yesterday morning I woke to what I've been known to call a Katherine Mansfield kind of morning.  All of the above was out there.  It was truly stunning at 7am, as the fog began to burn off.

I wandered along the walkway and down by the river and on to the beach where spotted these two, in conversation with one of the boats leaving via the river mouth.

Did I mention how much I love New Zealand ...


The Belgian Bloke Goes Boating in New Zealand

We honestly never really knew what each day would bring in my beautiful New Zealand. 

Yesterday, prior to our 1am flight from Auckland, you would have found us out in Mercury Bay with Peter, Christine and Michael Kirker.  They put him in the  driver's seat as we wandered all over the bay, pausing at the famous Cathedral Cave before bouncing off across a most stunning sea.

My Jade Pendant, Created by Jayme Anderson

Hei Matau is a jade carving in the shape of a highly stylised fish hook typical of the Māori people of New Zealand. They represent strength, good luck and safe travel across water..

It took a long time to find the jade pendant I loved enough to take home with me this time but I have it now ... a small piece of New Zealand to take away with me.

Jayme Anderson's work can be purchased online at the Hokitika Craft Gallery.  Although it's better if you can just pop in and just get a feel for the piece that is yours.

Gert gifted me this exquisite piece of Marsden jade. 

But Wait ... there's more!

Christine's lovely brother, Bruce, has loaned me both laptop and internet connection so here's the post I wrote earlier and stored on the usb stick.

There's talk of a boat and Cathedral Cave and all kinds of things so I'll post and run ...

And so we flew … north from Dunedin to Christchurch, then up again heading for Auckland, city of just over 1.5 million people.  

This 5-week journey home has been a journey into all kinds of intensity.  There has been the overwhelming reality of returning home after 8 years away and then this avalanche of incredible experiences gifted by family and friends. 

It has been a journey I was warned not to expect too much of but it became a journey that was much more than I could have dreamed of or imagined. 

And it hasn't stopped … that intensity.   You see, this time Auckland was partially about finally meeting my half-brother, Rob, and his family too.   A lovely man that I'm so happy to welcome into our family after all these years.  

Then, after lunch with Rob, the same friends who had eased us back into New Zealand all those weeks ago arrived  to gently slow us down and get us ready to leave this country I love so well.  We are spending 3 nights at their summer place and it is surely a little bit paradise here at beach-side village on the Coromandel Peninsula

You can't begin to imagine how much we've been fitting in here because we are without internet and I haven't been able to write but I have taken an early morning walk alone with my camera, visited Hot Water Beach – where you dig your own hole in the sand and relax into thermal water. Peter and Michael introduced us to the Shakespeare Bay lookout too. 

And then I faded, so ridiculously fast, into an afternoon nap that got me back on my feet in time for another New Zealand feast with Christine's extraordinarily lovely extended family.

But as I write this I'm realising that one of the huge challenges on this journey has been the fact that recording more than 1/5th of it has been impossible.  I couldn't write up all the good people we have met, shared meals with, nor all the food eaten, and then there are all the experiences I never ever want to forget. 

This morning finds me sitting at the dining room, in a welcome cross-breeze, table while Christine and Peter take care of us all.  The rain has stopped and humidity is high.  It's early-morning-18-celsius, and birdsong is exploding in through the open doors.  The Purangi River is out to my left, just a few metres away, and I can hear the conversation two kids are having as they paddle past.

We're located in a beautiful  little settlement called Cooks Beach, the place where Tahitian explorer and master mariner, Kupe first landed in about 950AD.  And where Captain Cook arrived back in 1769.  There is so much more but we're off … heading for Whitianga via the ferry and I'll load this at an internet cafe there.

Up North ...

I spent an hour or more writing a blog post about where we are now, way up in the north of New Zealand ...

We caught the ferry over to Whitianga only to learn that the internet cafe had closed and here I am, at the Information Centre, with no USB port.

On the USB stick in my pocket, I have the blog post and photograph, the one that where I attempted to capture the ongoing deliciousness and intensity of all we're experiencing here in New Zealand.

We're back with the friends who welcomed us into New Zealand, relaxing at their beach house in the Coromandel, almost exhausted by the incredible kindess we've experienced during our time in this beautiful Antipodean world of mine.

It's been bliss here, so much more than I could have dreamed it might have been.  So. Much. More.

We fly soon.  I believe I will simply spend the rest of the northern hemisphere winter blogging stories and photographs from New Zealand. 

See you once we're back online.

Christmas Day in the Land DownUnder...

Christmas Day has already arrived here in New Zealand, 12 hours ahead of our Belgian world ... and day has dawned the deepest blue, down here in Dunedin.

Some exquisite gifts have been exchanged and as I sit here writing, the delightful chaos of Christmas Day preparations is going on around me.

A Granita dessert has been made by Katie, Sandra has peeled the new potatoes, Gert is putting together the Salade Paysanne too.  The Pasta salad was whipped up last night by Sandra, and she's throwing the Turkey roast into the oven just now.  Tim has cut up plates of cold ham and a chicken will be roasted later.  

I was the pavlova girl but an evening out on one of the many hills around Dunedin, with two of my oldest friends in Fiona's beautiful house, means I'm moving a little more slowly than usual this morning.  It was an evening that requires an entire blog post really ... so special it was.

I need to peel carrots but wanted to wish you the loveliest of Christmas days

Till later.