New Zealand – Coramandel and Coville
So I traveled from San Fran to LA, LA to Auckland, Auckland to Thames, Thames to Coramandel, and Coramandel to Colville without much of a break (so no need to explain why I look so tired in the pictures with Stephanie and Jenny!). Amy dropped me off at the airport in San Fran at about 12ish on Monday and I flew to LA at about 3:00 I think, then had to wait a couple of hours in LA for my flight to Auckland. I finally got to Mahamudra Center at about 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday. I didn’t have anyone sitting next to me on the plane, so was able to stretch out across two seats to nap a little, but I couldn’t sleep too well. Surprisingly, I easily found a bus—not the shuttle that I had originally planned to take to the bus terminal. Met a couple of nice people in line who were also traveling long distances across oceans and countries…most people I meet are doing the fly around the world airfare…I’ll have to check into this when I have longer periods of time to travel.
I met a Kiwi named Stephanie at the bus station. She’s a student at the University in Auckland. We sat together on the bus and she taught me all about NZ. First, just in case any of you had some misinformation (like me!)—New Zealanders refer to themselves as Kiwis…not after the fruit (which isn’t originally from New Zealand), but after the bird—a pretty big brown bird that doesn’t fly, but is native to New Zealand. It’s feathers look like fur and it has thin legs…Stephanie drew me a picture of it on her Blackberry-like device. She also taught me about the education system, the Maori culture, and the Greenies—it seems that lots of New Zealanders are in to keeping NZ clean and unpolluted and they also won’t allow factory farming here. The bus took us through lots of farming land and I have to admit, the cows that I saw seemed pretty content—lots of room to graze the beautiful green hillsides.
I was trying to figure out how to get a hold of Karl, the bus driver, to get from Coromandel to Mahamudra in Colville. By the way New Zealanders definitely live up to their reputation of being very friendly! A woman at the information center let me leave my luggage there (sans yoga mat—I forgot it in the little van that had just dropped me off!) so that I could figure out how to get my ride to Mahamudra. I did have a few struggles, but really didn’t experience any stress. First, I went to use the pay phone to call Mahamudra and Karl, but it wouldn’t take my calling card or my credit card! It also didn’t take change. So I went to a little organic grocery store—Terri’s—and they were so nice and they let me use their phone. I learned when I called the center that Karl was the postman, so went across the street to the post office and learned that he was gone and I probably wasn’t going to get a ride from him! Luckily, Jenny overheard that I was looking for a ride and offered to give me a lift since she was going that way.
So, I hitched a ride (mom don’t freak out!) with Jenny and her two dogs to Colville! Jenny used to put together the outfits for a band from London called Thin Lizzie as well as Graham Nash. She rolls her own cigarrettes (lots of people seem to smoke here) and she has lead a very free spirited adventurous life. She offered to come and get me yesterday (Thursday) to take me to the beach, but I didn’t make it into town—Richie and I were waiting for Stephan to return with the car, but it took longer than expected, so we didn’t make it—will go to town with Richie and Stephan later today to post this blog and send some emails, so will call Jenny while I’m there.
So backing up to continue the the story about my challenges—so I only had $100 in NZ currency—spent $20 for bus ticket and a bottle of water—and then when I was trying to buy groceries at Terri’s, they didn’t take my kind of credit card there—so, I have limited cash and credit cards that don’t work at the store or on the phone! Amazingly, I didn’t freak out! I figured that things would work out—spent $50 of my cash on groceries and then met Jenny for my ride. She took me to a little cafe in Colville before dropping me off at Mahamudra. There was a little store next to the cafe and Yeah! their machine took my credit card with no problem, so was able to purchase some more food!
So, I got to Mahamudra and the office didn’t open until 2:00 and I wanted a shower sooo bad! So Brendan, one of the people staying here, showed me where the group showers were and told me that it was OK to use someone’s towel there and I was able to get cleaned up. I’m learning to be very flexible—and it’s really not that challenging. I am having to be flexible about being a vegan (don’t always have a choice for soy versus milk) and I don’t know if I’ve ever used someone else’s used but dry towel before! But it’s really exciting to go beyond my typical boundaries. I’m learning that I’m a lot more flexible than I ever dreamed and I’m having the time of my life!
Will tell you more about my time with Amy in San Fran and my time here at Mahamudra in the next blog, but need to do some yoga and meditation before heading into town. Please don’t feel bad when I say that although I love all of you very much, I haven’t had much time to think about Arizona, etc…too busy having an amazing time and enjoying my new adventurous life…probably a good thing that my condo didn’t sell before I left or I might not come back for reals!
I will post the pics later…internet is very slow!
Peace and love,
Donna
