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.

My Little Sister and I ... today

My little sister, Sandra, suffers being photographed while I mostly avoid it by being photographer however ... today, in the midst of photographing my sister's family, Katie-niece decided that there had to be photographs taken of the sisters who hadn't seen each other in so long.

We survived it together.

That Belgian Photographer Bloke ...

The Belgian bloke out in the McKenzie Country ...

I think I've convinced him about New Zealand being the greatest little island-continent in the world.

We're in Twizel tonight, using the slowest internet in the world, cursing it a little ... as one does.  But the room is lovely and we spent an hour chatting with our neighbours here.  Frank and Dianne Sedlar from Michigan.

The Cabbage Tree ... (Cordyline australis)

Cabbage trees have lovely scented flowers in early summer, which turn into bluish-white berries that birds love to eat. Growing to heights of 12 to 20 metres, cabbage trees have long narrow leaves that may be up to a metre long.

The view from the balcony at Hunter and Clare's this morning ...

The Big New Zealand RoadTrip - Day One

We drove almost 500 hundred kilometres yesterday, down the east coast from Dunedin to Invercargill via the Catlins, stopping to walk an old favourite bush walk of mine at Tautuku. It was raining but that was entirely appropriate, as school camps there were all about rain and wet woollen outdoor gear and that drying room where clothes went to recover after some time in the rain.

But honestly, New Zealand smells so damn good in the rain. There's the peat of the forest floor, the various ferns, the sea or the river, the stones under-foot … all of it, wet, is New Zealand to me.

I was driver, as we're left-side of the road here but I was lovely, stopping where ever Gert wanted to stop. Stopping where ever I wanted to stop too.

The landscape … well, let's just say I was like a very proud mother, showing her longed-for baby off to the stranger. I love this country. I love the 'ta-dah!' moments it offers up. This beach, that mountain, the view .. there were so very many 'ta-dah!' moments yesterday.

And as we wandered through Invercargill, quite behind schedule as we searched for my Nana's house … a childhood favourite destination of mine; then searching for another (affordable) 32GB usb stick for photo-backup (because we're taking millions of photographs), I let those memories of long ago wash over me.

Our little red car is going well but needs its tank filled every 400km, just to be sure, as the gauge doesn't work. Things got a tiny little bit worrisome as we made the journey between Riverton and Tuatapere … with me uncertain about the 'where' of the next petrol station.

The south coast of the South Island offered us an empty highway, exquisite seascapes, and great stands of wind-twisted trees ...bent low by the force of powerful winds. We stopped often.

Then we turned the car west and headed for the mountains and Manapouri. Gert pulled out his camera and occasionally took photographs from the passenger seat, in-between stops for beautiful scenes. It's stunning out there. I'm not sure how one returns to Belgium but that's for another day.

We arrived at Hunter and Clare's place just after 6pm, and it was so damn good to see them after so long. They had come to us in Belgium but I used to live in Te Anau and we became friends here.  This is one of those places where I do believe I might have left a piece of my soul.

Hunter is a long-time local in this wild corner of New Zealand. I have an interview with him that I would like to write up over the winter ahead. He and Clare have created a small paradise here but even that is an entire story I need to write up with photographs.

We caught up over a delicious homemade, (homegrown, actually) venison stew, in their renovated (since last time I was there) dining room. We talked, then they invited us down to the lake … The Lake … where we ooohed and ahhhed over the sun going down in the mountains.

Bedtime arrived and voila, they had yet another stunning surprise in store. We are staying on their property, in their exquisite (truly exquisite) little self-sufficient B&B cabin.  We are here!

As I type this, I'm sitting out on the verandah (or deck, as they call them here in New Zealand). It's 8.45am and the landscape is exploding with the most beautiful birdsong. We have heard the Bellbird and the Magpies chiming away and now … now there's this chorus of multiple birds. I believe this might be there 'happy to be alive'chorus.

I opened the curtains to trees and mountains and sunshine and now … well, we must head out and explore. Mustn't we ...

I'll leave you with an image of the wind-twisted pines of yesterday, down on the south coast of the South Island of New Zealand.