A O T E A R O A · N E W Z E A L A N D

Whakatōhia te kākano — Plant the seed

A   L I V I N G  D I A R Y.
It has always been about those once in a lifetime life-changing decisions that turn one’s own world upside down, literally.
About that one dream that has been in the back burner for who knows how much time. About all the tiny ideas that surrounded it and made it seem more realistic as days went by. About the tiny steps that were being taken both consciously and unconsciously which were bringing me closer there Down Under, to the other side of the world. About letting go of everything that had been once known, familiar and within my comfort zone. About blindly trusting the process with the hopes that everything will fall into place on its own divine timing.

That is why I choose to plant the seed in this vey moment, right here right now.

TāHuna (queenstown) & TE KIRIKIRI (FRANKTON)

Every adventure has a starting point and mine was in Tāhuna which happened to be “Remarkable”.
It was the week to find some grounding in Aotearoa: to be in the place, to feel the place, to roam the place, to process the fact that I am in it.
My time in Tāhuna turned out to be the right way to dive a little deeper into the present moment through spending time outdoors and behind the viewfinder yet again, trying to comprehend and make sense of how I made it this far.

There has always been a big gap in between the first steps of any journey and whichever the final destination turns to be. All paths come with challenges to be faced along the way - some tougher than others for sure, but all of which add up and make it unique. This time around I decided to take mostly trails; the steep and bumpy ones, those that often lead to some of the greatest views of a place. Views that hide the courage, willingness and a the amount of time that has in fact been invested in order to achieve what you signed up for when you started.

Empowering spots that remind me why I decided to go through this in the first place: to challenge myself in all possible ways. Taking that leap of faith into new and unknown environments that give anyone a completely different outlook on life allowing diverse and spontaneous things to happen. Such as moments with plenty of space and time to recharge batteries from a new perspective, the chance to embrace and take in the raw beauty and vastness of the landscapes that lay right in front, peace and joy while taking a well deserved break eating the most delicious average sandwich, and even a few unexpected interactions that randomly start by taking a photo of a stranger with whom a little later one will spend a few minutes exchanging kind words of support and recommendations for what now has become my reality. 

As days go by, the feeling of not belonging - that of being just yet another visitor - does not seem to be willing to vanish anytime soon. Making myself feel at home this far from the one I used to call mine, presents itself as a challenge of sorts, a long term one I have chosen to navigate on my own no matter how long it takes me. And so, everyday I look forward to losing myself as I wake up in a town I barely arrived a few days earlier and know nothing about. That day, choosing to wander the less trodden paths led me to a sunny and calm afternoon sitting on a wooden bench underneath the shade of the only tree around with the most idyllic views of a lake and its turquoise clear waters.

And of course, not two days are ever the same.

When moving countries without an actual plan of how things are supposed to be and look like for at least the first few weeks or even couple months -due to unexpected turned longterm happenings back home when the flights were already booked-, makes the whole thing turn slightly somewhat spontaneous. Lacking a daily routine and instead having the entire day every single day to myself, gave the moving experience a bit of a foggy feeling not really knowing what the next steps would even be and just letting the clouds roll by.

GLENORCHY & KINLOCH

Attraction, I think, is such a delicate and intricate feeling whenever being and seeing places for the first time, and even more when these sensations are between me and vast landscapes. There is something in Mother Nature’s raw and pure way of just being, in my own way of being with it as one, that humbles me in the most soft and caring ways. This location has by far exceeded my expectations of it, and having had the chance to live here, even if just for a few weeks, has given me the chance to see several of its different facets.

Facets that change constantly, just as days and weeks go by incessantly one after the other while working and wandering in Kinloch, a remote location at the top point of Lake Wakatipu. Thus choosing to be present here and now, noticing the tiniest of shifts in everything that surrounds me, is definitely what keeps me grounded and brings me back over and over again to the reason why I started this adventure to begin with. And along with it, of course, give myself the space I didn’t have to navigate the overwhelm that comes with the loss of a dear loved one and leave behind my support system as I moved to the other side of the world.

 Since I arrived in Kinloch, one thing proved itself to be true yet again: the places where I feel the tiniest in comparison to Mother Nature’s art piece, to which I also belong, are the ones I am more drawn to, connected with and at peace at. Locations that, given the right time, place and people can quickly become a safe treasure where there is no need to fear getting lost in. Though I wouldn’t say these were the exact circumstances in which I wished to find myself there, I made sure as much as I possibly could to give myself the space and time to experience and embrace it in my own way.

But it is not only the landscape that marvels me, but the textures within it. During these past weeks I have been giving myself the chance to explore them with close attention, zooming in to the core essence of those which were below my two feet; the steadfast ground that holds me while being far away from home. A way to be present and grateful of where I am today, a way to capture visual snippets of the existing living matter, a way to truly get to appreciate the tiniest of things in the midst of the nothingness.

to be continued…