New Zealand 2015: Mild winter with occasional showers
Full photo album for New Zealand 2015.
Early in 2015 I started to think about travelling and there was a Treasure Maps in Vancouver, Canada around mid year. I had been chatting to my friend Su in New Zealand during that time and I was trying to see how I could stop in Auckland at some point during the trip. In the end the trip to Canada didn’t happen, but the thought of just heading off to NZ for a couple of weeks became more appealing.
I had travelled to NZ in 1995, trekking around the South Island. This trip would be the first time to the North Island where I would visit Auckland and the Bay of Islands.
I started my Focusing Certification early 2011. I had quickly completed the modules and assisting in classes, but completing the major projects was proving harder to start. I wanted this trip to NZ to be an opportunity to disconnect from work that dominated my time so I could feel free to create. To use a common phrase from David Allen of GTD, I didn’t have the mental bandwidth to create something new.
Wednesday 24 to Sunday 28 June 2015
Landing in Auckland Wednesday evening, I was met at the airport by Su and would be staying at her place about an hour north of Auckland for the next couple of days.
Su was working on Thursday and Friday so I was able to chill out, get some reading and writing done. While I wanted to work on my major project. I didn’t get that far with it. What I was able to do was tidy up a lot of notes I had taken that were disjointed and in various places, and slowly make my way through one of the Focusing textbooks.
Client–Centred Therapy: The Focusing-Oriented Approach by Campbell Purton is slow reading. I find I need a lot of space to read this book and want to make sure I don’t forget the interesting passages, so I would highlight them, then type them up, adding my thoughts. This process makes reading even slower, but now as I write this blog I’m grateful because I have something to go back to and read.
I also relaxed and wandered around her property, taking photos of trees, flowers, ponies and chooks; collecting eggs and firewood, keeping the fire going during the day so she would come home in the evening to a warm home.
On the Friday afternoon we headed up to Bay of Islands for a couple of nights. We stopped at Pahia to get dinner before catching the ferry to Russell. It was dark by the time we reached the Bach.
Bach is a NZ term describing a holiday or beach house. There are two theories on how this term developed: 1. short for bachelor pad or 2. Welsh for small house (TyBach).
Saturday morning we woke to blue skies so we set out to investigate Russell and the surrounding beaches. During the weekend we did a couple of Yin Yoga sessions and during the visit we also did a number of Focusing sessions.
We had dinner in Russell on the Saturday night and then late Sunday morning we headed back to Su’s place so she could tend to her animals and other chores before preparing for her work week. Su dropped me at Grand Mercure Auckland on Customs Street East on Sunday night for the next few days of my trip.
Monday 29 June to Friday 3 July 2015
In order to have this space to create, I purposely did not have a data plan with my phone. I had been offline since Wednesday. Su realised Sunday morning that I was unaware of the decision in the US Supreme Court requiring all states to grant same-sex marriages and recognise same-sex marriages granted in other states. I go offline for 4 days and this major shift occurs. I didn’t realise until much later that NZ legalised same-sex marriage nearly 2 years before. In Australia it would take 2.5 years and an expensive postal vote before the same would be legal here.
The room I had in the Grand Mecure has a view of the Waitematā Harbour, between the buildings. My plan was to venture out in the morning and then spend the afternoon writing. This worked somewhat, but normally by the time I settle down to write it is around 4pm and if I planned to meet with Su for dinner around 6pm, 2 hours didn’t feel like enough time. So I continued to work on tidying up some things I had been working on and taking notes of the book I was reading.
And sometimes what was happening with ships berthing at the wharf would captivate my attention. I also had broadband access at the hotel, so the idea of going offline was thwarted somewhat. Although in 2015 the broadband access was usually slow, so I limited myself to reading some news and catching up on Facebook. And posting photos of sites visited.
Monday 29 June was a tour around Auckland, seeing where all the sights were with a couple of stops to take photos. We headed out across the bridge to get the view of Auckland as we re-crossed. The bus driver provided a lot of information about Auckland and New Zealand in general. It was his patter in particular that made me realise that what would be considered ‘forward thinking’ in Australia is normal here.
The tour ended up at Sky Tower, so I went up to look about.
Tuesday 30 June was a cruise around Hauraki Gulf, travelling out past Rangitoto Island, turning back towards the city just before Motuihe Island. After the cruise I noodled around in the Maritime Museum for an hour before heading back to work some more on my notes.
Wednesday 1 July I went to the Auckland Art Gallery before heading back to Britomart and discovering the joys of hot chocolate from Milse. Why oh why had I not found this place on Monday. I had wasted 2 days when I could have had hot chocolate goodness. I also discovered there is such a thing as too much chocolate. I had a chocolate tart and hot chocolate. I obviously need to space out my intake.
Thursday 2 July I headed to the west coast of Auckland with Claire from Gala Local Tours. First stop was in the Waitakere Ranges to get photos of the views and tour through the Arataki Visitor Centre.
Next to Karekare beach to see the black sand beaches. Last stop was to Piha beach, to view Lion Rock. After the quiet waters of the harbour around Auckland, the wildness of the West Coast is a startling change.
Returning back to Auckland I head back to Milse for hot chocolate and some macaroons to go. I was working away in the hotel room for a few hours when I thought I’d stop for a cup of tea and a macaroon to discover they were delicious. Too much chocolate isn’t too much when you have it in moderation!
Friday 3 July I flew out of NZ early in the morning, leaving the hotel before daylight. Taxis sure aren’t cheap.
I loved my little break in NZ. I came home for another week of leave before heading back to the craziness of work, but the seed had been sown that maybe the job I had was no longer the right thing for me. Things were changing at the office and over the next 6 months I became more dissatisfied with my work. Management was complimentary on the work I did, but actions didn’t reflect this.
I remember looking at the homes around Piha beach and wondering what it would be like to take 12 months sabbatical to just write. Contemplating further, I realised that even 3 months would be bliss. Before heading to NZ I started taking anti-histamines for hives I had been suffering from for 4 months. By the end of the year my health was declining and I had made a decision that I was no longer happy in my job and would not renew my contract mid 2016.
It was early in 2016 that I started to conceive the trip to Cape Verde and Jamaica, and in order to do all that I wanted to do, needed to have work beyond my contract. Sadly nothing was forthcoming by the middle of the year and a month later my health finally packed it in and I essentially became house bound. It was in early September that I realised that I needed to cut all ties to the workplace and my health improved immediately. I changed some of my 2016 trip plans and actually started to be motivated to exercise and work on various projects.
Sadly my certification was not one of them. Part of the reason for that was I didn’t have a clear idea of what I was going to do. Actually that isn’t correct. About a week after returning from NZ I attended ‘Stand up, Speak up & Persuade’ workshop with Persuasive Presentations. Sharon spoke of mind-mapping a presentation using post-it notes, so I used that method when I started to map out my project. Although over time I continued to work on the project, it took a number of years to find the direction, and build the project in a way that I could be 100% behind.
