Hollin: December 2010

The past few days have been such a whirlwind of fun. One of the wwoofers Jenna studied art therapy in school and inspired me to paint. It was actually the first time I had painted without anyone telling me what to do or what goals to have. It was really liberating and made me feel so good. Art therapy indeed. Later in the night we made a bunch of pizza's and had some blue grass dancing in the kitchen. Afterwards we all worked on a group art therapy project where a huge white paper was layed out with all sorts of drawing, coloring, and painting materials surrounding it. The goal was to draw whatever you feel and interrupt other people's work so that the whole thing became a flow of designs and color. Afterwards we were all really relaxed and happy.

The next day my friend Alex and I had decided we were going to hitchhike to this really pretty waterfall right outside of town, but then a few friends from the cafe stopped in and asked if anyone was looking for an afternoon of picking river rocks out of the river for a patio. Of course we agreed and went to this lovely little cottage in the woods. We played in the creek (and worked of course!) and they served us the best lunch. I found some really pretty crystals in the water and this really awesome deep red rock that the woman said was really rare to find. Afterwards they took us to the same waterfall we had been hoping to go to. The Waiua falls were gorgeous! It was so pretty and there was a huge waterhole beneith it. We swam and played for a while and then had to get back to the cafe to get ready for an art opening in town. The show was really nice and there was this really cool gypsie band playing. Some of our wwoofers served the wine, so we were well taken care of. After the show, there was a really fun after party with a dj and lots of dancin music. It was so fun and such a good way to say goodbye (lots of dancing and good music!). We danced pretty much the whole time and then made it back to the cafe late into the night.

I will miss this place and how refreshed and inspired I feel here, but I am so looking forward to seeing my wonderful family and friends in just two days!

I leave on the naked bus ferry (this makes me laugh... naked bus is the name of a company that provides cheap bus and ferry fairs) this evening for Auckland and catch my flight out tomorrow.

I'll be seeing you soon=)

Little day trip

Avocado pizza

Twenty second bluegrass dance off

Group art therapy with jenna

Pigs along the roadside

A necessary swim after playing with pigs

Wwoofers dancing dubstep

Alex and I

The past weeks have been so amazing here, and every day I feel more and more at home in Coromandel. I've put some pictures up below from my time the past week. A couple days ago my roommates Lena and Anais came to visit me in their northern travels through the coromandel. They picked me and my new friend Alex up from the cafe and we drove to Cathedral cove and a few other beaches in the area. Cathedral Cove was definitely one of the most beautiful places I've been to in New Zealand. When we first started travelling earlier in the day the weather was a little gray and rainy, but by the time we got to the park the sun had come out and it was gorgeous! There was about a half hour hike down to the beach with smaller beaches and lookouts along the way. It was such pretty views of the turquoise water. I loved it! When we got to the beach we just lazed about and spent a few good hours soaking in the views and the sun! We spent that night right next to Hahei beach and it was one of the best sleeps I think I've had in New Zealand. The waves were so peaceful and the night air was so cool and crisp. It was perfect tenting weather. The next day we explored a few of the beaches and continued to relax on our mini holiday off from the cafe.

This past week and half have been SO social. It's been really great. We are all becoming closer to everyone we work with and all us wwoofers are becoming really good friends (of course we are all about to leave =( ) We had a dinner party with some neighbor friends about a week ago and we all played games and they made us the most delicious dinner (and dessert- Bexie made a wonderful chocolate beet cake with avacado/cocoa icing...it was the most delicious dessert I've ever had!). We played apples to apples and this hilarious game called pits (I think). Then a week later they had another dinner party for our belated Day of Gratitude (thanksgiving in NZ!), they made so much food and I made a really yum (they say things are really 'yum' here all the time) apple crumble. Everyone from the cafe was there with their families and it was such a fun and sweet time. All the wwoofers, which we have now deemed the wwoof pack, stayed later and we played a game called werewoof, which is pretty much Mafia with a few rules changed. It was so fun.

Tomorrow Anusara, a friend from the cafe, is taking us to this really cool artsy clothes shop and then in the evening we are all going to mana, which is a retreat center about twenty minutes from the cafe. We're all going to relax in the sauna there. On Thursday we are all going to do Henna tatoos and have some art therapy time with my friend Jenna. The past week I have felt very inspired and artsy and excited to come home and do arts and crafts with kimmy and Jill. I have taught several people how to knit and my friend Magdalen just bought some new NZ yarn to learn tonight. It makes me so happy to knit and I've realized especially how therapeutic it is for me and how nice it is to pass it on to other people.

Anyway, I feel quite sad that my time is coming closely to an end, but I firmly believe that each place I have been and am going is been exactly where I'm supposed to be.