Leaving New Zealand....

My daughter, Ruby and I, have been in New Zealand for 6 weeks now.  Tomorrow we depart out of Auckland on Jetstar to Cairns, Australia.  The two of us have been on an adventure, and will continue to be on one, as we depart to Australia.

We came to New Zealand 2 years ago. After attending a yoga retreat in the Coromandel I decided to stay on and travel through out the North Island with little Ruby (then 2 years old) and really enjoyed our time touring the N. Island, but we didn't ever make it to the S. Island.  After I left NZ, I kept remembering it and couldn't get it out of my mind, for two years......so we finally made it back! And this time we finally made it to the S. Island!

Our 6 week venture took us through much of the N. Island and on the ferry to Picton.  It has been absolutely great to see so much of New Zealand.  It has been amazing to see the similarities of New Zealand and Alaska. Both are remote and "cut off" from the rest of the world. Both have had a history of a "gold rush" and the Green Stone, Jade, is the prominent "rock" or "stone".  There is also a large native population in both NZ and AK: NZ have the Maori and AK have the Aleut, Alutiiq, Yupiq, Inuit, Athabascan, Tlingit, Eskimo.  NZ is very close to the Antarctic, AK is part of the Arctic.  Both possess such beauty of nature.

It is no wonder I have become so homesick!


All these similarities so becoming, yet creating in me a longing for familiarity and for what I have known as home.

But, I am in New Zealand, so, accept it!

So, I do. I accept that I am here and realize that.......all is well.

The travel I have been doing brings me to a better understanding of  the people in the world, and this world.

It is a choice I made, to travel, just like others make a choice to purchase a house and make mortgage payments or rental payments on their quite possible, "box like" enclosure, they call home.

I could use this common statement I have heard so often, " It's all good". And from that, single statement, excuse my travels as an "act of good"..... Ha!!! But to me that is hilarious!!!

These past 6 weeks have been good, bad, ugly, beautiful.....and an experience!  What else would you like to know? I am willing to share! Just ask!  Love, Dayna

There IS an Easter bunny in New Zealand!

Today is actually April 24, 2011 - Easter Sunday.  Leave it to my tech skills that it says it is the day before........It has been well over a month since my last blog.  In that time Ruby and I have travelled the North Island of New Zealand, took the interislander ferry from Wellington to Picton and drove down the beautiful West coast of the South island and through Wanaka and now Dunedin, where we spent the last week.  And yes! There is an Easter Bunny who came to visit us this morning!  Though it is Fall here and not the usual Spring Easter, it is probably warmer than a Kodiak Easter.  It is absolutely beautiful here on the South Island.  West coast especially! I love the cabbage trees and the flax grass and of course, the ferns - they are huge and green, and lush.
The playgrounds are amazing here.  They have things I have never seen in the states, and I'm quite sure its due to the liability in the states.

The towns we've stayed at have been: Raglan; Rotorua; Taupo; Wellington; Picton; Nelson; Hokitika; Wanaca; and finally Dunedin.  We are here for less than a week and so plan to leave early tomo morning and start driving north to Picton, back on the interislander ferry and then up to Auckland.  Then, on to Cairns, Australia!

So ironic how easter here is in the fall.  Still, 'tis a time for rebirthing as old things are put aside let go of, and we enter a new season!
Happy easter, and happy rebirthing, and letting go.  Welcome the new, allow the old things to become new again.  ~  Namaste All ~ and Peace on earth