I wish you love....

Just heard this song for the first time... Think it was Natalie Coles version, but unsure. The lyrics though.... just captured something.

Will try and find a version to stick up here for you to hear.


Goodbye, no use leading with our chins

This is where our story ends

Never lovers, ever friends

Goodbye, let our hearts call it a day

But before you walk away

I sincerely want to say

I wish you bluebirds in the spring

To give your heart a song to sing

And then a kiss, but more than this

I wish you love

And in july a lemonade

To cool you in some leafy glade

I wish you health

But more than wealth

I wish you love

My breaking heart and I agree

That you and I could never be

So with my best

My very best

I set you free

I wish you shelter from the storm

A cozy fire to keep you warm

But most of all when snowflakes fall

I wish you love

But most of all when snowflakes fall

I wish you love

I wish you love

I wish you love, love, love, love, love

I wish you love

Dansey's Pass

You start off in the hills.... dirt road, a few trees around. And you end up winding your way into this.



and from out of nowhere, this is what you stumble across....



I honestly thought that I'd turned off the road somewhere and was about to drive right upto someones house. It's bizarre, and yet.... somewhere I want to get lost again soon.



Those chairs and that fireplace have my name on them... to curl up with a good book, perhaps while it's snowing outside. WOHOOO!





It's really like steping back in time, and those places are certainly worth stumbling across on a late sunny afternoon.

And then... this is the view that greets you on the other side.




Not bad for a drive home, huh. :)

Now... when are you guys all coming over?

xx

just....

boulders...

A little bit outside of Oamaru you come across a beach which is named after these boulders; Moeraki. You can't actually see them from the road, and this was the first time I'd had the time to stop and go check it all out.

Once you get down next to them you see how remarkable they really are. I've just seen them on postcards, and gone... yeah. Up close and personal - it's another one of those. WOW things.

this day....

Last night, while I was trying to sleep....
a party of tractors came and found me. I don't know why? But they drove over me, again and again... and left me feeling squashed and sore this morning, along with a flip flop kinda stomach.

I just emailed the boss to tell him, and I'm about to go crawl back into bed.

I realise I've been slack in the department of writing these days. And don't think for one moment that it means that I don't think about everyone who so sweetly leaves me notes. I do. Life would be so boring without the sweet people who impart wisdom, and share their thoughts. So, because I know that I don't say it often enough.

I appreciate you guys... and just pray abundant blessings for you!

Now... going to moan and groan my way through the day.

xx

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man o fvalue."
~ Albert Einstein

out the door....

Yes.. it's a short trip south today. Only gone for 3 days, but some amazing miles to make up in that time. :)

The sun is out, the leaves are golden, and I'm singing at the top of my lungs....


see you all on the other side.

xx

"Unhappiness is not knowing what we want and killing ourselves to get it"
~ Don Herald

along the queen charlotte drive....

Every time I drive along this road, I find something else that catches my eye. There is a walk that you can do over a few days called the Queen Charlotte, which sounds just gorgeous! Now that I'm not able to go home over Easter - maybe I should pack up everything and head that way? I think Benny might have left his tent in the car, so I could grab that and run?! I'd much rather be doing something like that with friends - but I'm really beginning to realise that if I want to do something, I just need to do it when I can. Grab the opportunities and RUN! :)

(taken standing in the middle of a long one lane bridge)

I was driving through Arthurs pass. It was an incredible night... went from clear skies - a gorgeous sunset, to driving into swirling dark cloud when I was almost all the way through. It was kind of creepy, and airy. Then, when I was outside of Springfield, I just drove out of it, and had the most amazing stary night all around me again.

I had to stop the car, and jump out.
And as I stood on the side of the road, out in the middle of the country, I looked up and got to see a shooting star blaze through the sky.

If I'd had my sleeping bag in the car I could have very easily just got it out, and gone to sleep out there - with the amazing sky as my blanket. Just getting lost in the vastness of it all.

pics

funny

I think one of the things I enjoy the most about my job and the tiki touring, is the fact that I get to share it all later on, when I eventually get around to sitting down to check out the pics. :)

This is a letter box, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. Yeah - funny how everything I find is in the middle of nowhere!
Actually.... if you drive out of Picton, which is right at the top of the South island, and follow the windy road along the coast - you end up here. Found a bach here, that I just loved. Could very easily take the design and use it for a backpackers. Ahhhh... dreaming away.

Yeah... I'll miss certain aspects of the job, but I can't wait for the next adventure!

what we need to learn....

I'll often pick up a chicken soup when I'm feeling tired, and a little down. It's a lovely little book to grab when you need some good story to encourage you.

When I was living in the States I read this book by Robert Fulghum. I don't remember anything now, other than the first few pages. I'm pretty sure everyone can take something from it.

Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.
These are the things I learned:
Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Have a balanced life. Learn some and think some and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and sane living.
Think of what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nations to always put back where we found them and clean up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is better to hold hands and stick together.

punting....

long time.....

woweeee... time has this nasty habit of zooming.
It's an alarming thing each time I sit down here and realise how long it's been since I've had a moment.
I'm actually just feeling completely drained, and somewhat dried up - but missing catching up with people out there.

So... a quick catch up.

It's so funny that I wrote on my birthday, and since then, I've had many people through to stay - and it's been all go. All good too! :)

To catch up though... the highlights.

My birthday party was a pizza party in Hagley Park - which is such a gorgeous place. The theme; Ladies and Gentlemen.
Everyone was to get dressed up, and bring along a pizza to munch on.
It was fantastic. I had candles everywhere, and lanterns hanging in the trees. Totally beautiful, and just me! :)
Alot of people arrived... in dribs and drabs, and we'd just said grace before ploughing into the pizzas when another group started wandering towards us. I had no idea who was actually going to show up - pretty much leaving it open to anyone and everyone. Always figure, the more the merrier.
Anyway... was sitting there when I looked up, and couldn't figure out who was coming towards us. (It was getting darker - and had NOTHING to do with my old age, and not having my glasses on!)
It kind of looked like Jill, but I really didn't think it could have been... I jumped up when I realised it was... and ran over laughing. When I got there, I found Jill, John and....

MUM AND DAD!!!

I couldn't believe it!

They had flown down to surprise me, meeting Jill and John who drove down from Nelson.

I was totally blown away by it all. Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

So, my friend Shane flew down from Wellington for the weekend and I had mum, dad, jill and john as well. Just awesome!

The flatmates, Shane and myself all ended up at a Jazz Bar until closing. So, I partied till 3am, and came home to eat cold pizza before crashing.

The next day, Jackie took us all punting down the avon. It was gorgeous floating down the river... watching the ducks and just hanging out with these people. :)

The next week was tough. Going from having so many people around to being on the road alone. It was a tough week at work too, but you get those.
Still dealing with lots of rejection issues, which I should have expected with this book - which is yet to be finished. I've been trying to fit in school work, but it's been left a little.

Shall post some pics of the last few weeks out on the road, and of the party.

Hope that everyone is well, toasty warm, and hopefully someone is getting some blossom too, somewhere!

Arohanui.
xx



Dad me and mum at the boat sheds.