From the East Side to the West Side

I left Opotiki a week ago, after a month's of work without a day's rest. From kiwi picking to working at a packhouse grading, sorting and packing, I have seen everything there is regarding those fuzzy little fruits. It was time to move on.

 

My journey around the East Cape took four days, across remote countryside between coastal waves, crop fields and cattle. The farmland here has passed through Maori families for hundreds of years. Every few kilometers, you would see a red wooden structure, ornately carved with Maori designs. These were places of worship, remembrance, or spiritual significance.

 

On the third day, I could not go on, as the rain was too heavy. But I happened upon a Swiss girl, who kept me company for the day. She was going to Te Urewera National Park the next day, and I decided to follow her there. After a hectic month working, I missed the wilderness and peacefulness of nature. So I wandered around Lake Waikaremoana, experiencing this spiritual place for the Maori. Two days later, I found my way to Napier, a bright coastal city, with architecture and atmosphere that brought you back to the 1920s.

 

From the East Side to the West Side, here you find me now in small town Inglewood, beneath a towering volcano on the West Coast. It is certainly winter now. The weather has turned to frequent cold, wet, and windy days. Rain pours down in waterfalls. And disappointment falls.

 

I had planned since October to come here, the Taranaki Environment Center, to work on some sustainability projects. But for the last week, my contact person seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Without anywhere else to go, I showed up at the Taranaki Environment Center steps, with my large backpack and without a place to stay. To my relief, the couple running the place gave me a roof over my head for the next few days. It's another one of those nonstop rainy days, and who knows where the traveling bee will take me tomorrow…