50 shades of Green

March 21

I just pulled over the car.  I am sitting on hwy... um actually I do not know, but I do know I am driving one way until I get to hwy 6.  And hwy 6 will take me to another coast line.  

... "Please try to find yourself a little ray of Sunshine.  Take it easy have a drink an try ta settle down, don't worry 'bout the rest of it and everything will be alright. ...... Cause what we go is just like Paradise in Palestine." ~ Cast Iron Filter

This morning I woke at 8:30, made coffee, checked the weather, ate muesli with bananas and did some gardening.  2 flower beds, around the lemon tree, and the small strawberry patch.  Kevin has hooked my computer up to the loud speakers so I can listen to music while working :)  Mid-day I decided it was time to leave Collingwood, I've been in the Golden Bay area for one week.  It's been a good week, but surf is looking good on the West Coast so I'm heading in that general direction.  The family I just left was amazing, they are really genuinely happy people.  One thing I have come accustomed to and very much admire for the Kiwi's is whether it be a friend, a job, or even a stranger, they will have a bed ready and meal cooked and then they just hang around getting to know one another.  They live life, they enjoy life and they share about life.  I told Alexi my only "rule" in this trip is to never backtrack and keep going forward, he said his father (Kevin)'s motto is to never go backward.  As I left, waving, Kevin said anytime I want to come back to Takaka I have my bed, and don't look at  it as going backwards, thanks Heywood family for sharing your little piece of NZ with me:)

The road speed limit outside of any town is 100km, but the drive is so beautiful that I tend to go a little slow, allowing a car or two around me, so I can continue at my own pace.  This time, right now I had to physically turn off my car.  There is a river, a bridge, and at least 50 shades of green in the valleys, the bushes, the long grasses, and in every different kind of tree.  A car passes every 6-7 minutes, some pass quickly, others slow to a wave, and one or two will stop as well just to see whatever it is that I may be looking at.  It is a beautiful country, NZ, but it is also a beautiful world, so wherever you are go slow and remember to admire the people and the things around you.