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 ...