From countrygirl back to citygirl

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Well, what can I say….

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My bag has been packed, my car has been sold, and I am ready. Below you can read my little reflection on the past year.

I learned many wonderful things during my stay here: about life, about myself and about others, and about New Zealand...  It was a wonderful year. All of my questions that I left the Netherlands with have been answered, and even more..

I feel very grateful for the wonderful people I met. Thank you Joel, Kenyon, Gavin, Dave, Dafydd, Libby, Dave, Michael,  Mechy, Arthur, Willi, Vicky, Simon, Phil, David, Merijn, Maurus, Bert, Alexander, Marelize, Jess, Betty, Jim, Nick, Mary  and others for sharing, your  lives, wisdom and stories with me..

I also feel grateful for being offered a job which gave me the opportunity to give, and at the same time (unexpectedly) receive so much.

Last but not least I  feel grateful for the immense beauty of nature. And  for having the opportunity to experience this nature in so many ways. I feel deeply moved by the greatness.  I especially cherish the moments I spend with others and by myself in nature: hiking in it, drinking from it, showering in it, sleeping in it. To me it was magic. At the same time, it has been hard to see the devastation in some places, like the immense amount of trees being cut down. It makes me question my own lifestyle and wonder how awareness in the world could grow.

Some of you might be wondering about the answer to my big question..:  Do I want to emigrate to NZ..?

The answer is ‘yes’. I feel a connection with the country, the people and the lifestyle. I feel at home here and can see myself making the move. My feelings right now are very mixed. I feel very sad about leaving. On the other side I feel  drawn to going back to the Netherlands, to see my family and friends and to give shape to new ideas in the field of my work. And I am looking forward to appelstroop, firm dark bread and iceskating.

While being here I realised happiness is not determined by where one lives, but depends largely on the presence and intensity of passions in one’s life. During the past year I met many different people with many different passions:  hiking,  skating, drawing, rugby, gardening, christianity, buddhism, painting, making drums, singing, outdoor sports, composting, vegan living...  Personally I feel a true passion for my work, for nature and for a connection with God. These are things that make me smile when I open my eyes in the morning, wherever I am. I also learned that feeling and acting upon your passions is impossible when they are covered with fears. For example: one fear I had was to sleep all by myself in the bush. Not facing this fear would have kept me from longing to do any multidayhikes by myself. I trust that continuing the journey of facing and confronting fears will help me to choose for my passions.

In short: my passions might keep me in the Netherlands, or they might draw me back to New Zealand... The future will give the answers 

Thank you for reading my blog. I wish you all a wonderful christmas and a new year filled with all the ingredients that make you smile and feel alive.

Love,

Nienke

January

February

March

April



May



June



July

August

September



October

November



December



Last night

While you are reading this




~The End~

Down the west coast

Less then 20 days left.. and I am 1500 km away from the airport and still driving further south. I quess it is not necessary to say that a (big) part of me really does not want to leave this country. My journey of the past week took me from Nelson lakes down south along the west coast with its glaciers.

View at mnt Tasman (3496 m) and mnt Cook (3754 m)
 from lake Matheson

Real mountains :)

Fox glacier. In the morning I went for a run to the look out.
Even though it was very cloudy I was still impressed by the huge glacier.



West coast between Hokatika and the Franz Joseph glacier



Haast river valley

Haast river valley

The road between Wanaka and Makarora

Yes, I am starting another hike: to Brewster hut

The first challenge: crossing Haast river which was not very hard. The water was knee deep.

View at the mountains inMnt aspiring national park. The trail followed a high ridge to Brewster hut.

Me tired, but almost there...



Brewster hut




View from the hut at the Brewster glacier.



Just me on my own in the hut. Except from the shrieks of kea's (mountain parrots) and the sound of the river, there was complete silence. It was quite cold in the hut (no logfire). I enjoyed the whole experience.

Fairytale forrest on the way to the hut

I am back in Wanaka now, which is great. Still as beautiful as before. I am visiting friends here in the next few days. It is very nice to see all of them again.

They say I haven't changed, except for the fact that my calfs have become twice as big ;) It's true that my legs have become very muscular. I don't even fit my dutch jeans :(

WHOOOAAAAAWWW!! Back in the Wanaka region :))

In winter...

In summer...

In winter...

In summer...

Within a few days I am driving back to Auckland in search for a buyer for my beloved car. If you know anyone in or coming to New Zealand who wants to buy a car (and guitar, pillows, bike, hairdryer, canopener.. etc :) Let me know..

And if you know anyone who can take my tears away about leaving this country.. Let me know as well..

Ps to all the dutch people: have a nice Sinterklaas.. :))

Nelson Lakes national park

After I finished the walk to Pelorus bridge I went in search for some bigger mountains. I found them in Nelson lakes national park. When I arrived in the park, there was a strongwind warning which made it unsafe to start the hike that I liked to do. I was also told a bridge had been washed away. The water level seemed pretty high indeed…

A nice picknickspot in Lake Rotoiti

So I went back to Nelson, to wait for better weather. I love Nelson for various reasons: it is a town surrounded by four(!) national parks, a skifield and beaches. It has the highest rate of sunshine hours in NZ. And if you ask me, the best and most comfortable library (in Richmond).  I think I am not the only one who likes Nelson. Some people seem to arrive at the campsite and never leave again…

Campsite Matai valley Nelson

 

I treated myself to a lazy day of reading. And I treated Summer (my car) to a carwash given by children who were raising funds for a bagpipes band. Two days later I drove to Nelson lakes again. The water level had dropped, and the wind had eased so I left for a three day hike.



The road from Nelson to St Arnaud





Shore of Lake Rotoiti. The sun is back :))





I was having lunch at the lakefront and wondering where all the peeping was coming from..
This is who I found under the table



Lake Rotoiti, view from Mnt Robert

Bush line hut

The first night I spend at Bushline hut. There was a nice variety of people staying that night, from New Zealand, Israel, France, Holland, Australia… When I woke up in the morning I was too excited  to go back to sleep. I sneaked out of the hut and packed my backpack outside. At 6:20 am I started walking. The trail climbed up and followed a high ridge. It was warm, and there was no wind at all. It was simply breathtaking. I did not see anyone for the first two hours.

Sunday morning 6:30 am ..

On the way to Angeles hut

Around 11 am I reached Angeles hut and lake Angeles. I took a long break and dipped in the lake (for about 3 seconds;). By coincedence I met a local family that I met before in Wanaka. It was interesting to talk with them. The three kids have been home-schooling since four years, and the parents take them in the meantime to lots of places where they go tramping, climbing and skiing.

Lake Angeles with Angeles hut on the shore

Father and son on an iceberg



I lost control at the market in Nelson on saturday morning, and bought soo many vegetables and fruit. I had to face the consequences: carry them for three days and eat as much as possible



In the afternoon I continued walking to Speargrass hut. It was a long hike, and I got tired from crossing the river again,again and again. Eventually I arrived at the hut around 5 pm. There was no one. I felt very much at peace and enjoyed the silence and landscape.



Speargrass valley



 

Alone but not lonely

Speargrass hut (1050 m)

Later at night two women from New Zealand arrived and I shared the hut with them. The next morning I walked for four hours, back to St Arnaud. It was a beautiful hike through beech forrest. In St Arnaud I picked up a french hitchhiker, Nico. We shared a our hiking stories. He told me about a night at the Kepler track where he camped on the trail. In the middle of the night he heard a big noise, and looked out of his tent (didn’t see much). The next morning, while getting out of his tent, he noticed a huge tree that had fallen down, 50 cm from his tent!! He showed me the picture. I couldn’t believe it!!

As most of you know, I will leave NZ at the 22nd of december. I am heading south now to spend another week in Otago.