I am sitting under an awning outside my villa at the Vintner's Retreat in Marlborough, New Zealand, gazing at a magnificent expanse of vineyards stretching out before me, and thinking, why this looks a lot like the Napa Valley : a lush valley surrounded by hills and beautiful vines everywhere, but no, this is a sometimes tropical, very green landscape where they drive on the wrong side of the road, where they speak in often unfathomable accents with the flat a's and e's, eat sausage rolls, and say, "jolly good," and "brilliant" for positive emphasis. Very hospitable, very safe they are here. Reminds me of traveling in Ireland where the goodwill and hospitality of the Irish washed over me and in no time caused me to become more cheery, genteel, and kind myself!
After staying in a house near Auckland for some days, and making numerous drives into the countryside around, we headed to the South Island for the next chapter of our visit. Though plagued for days by a head cold that won't quit, I soldier on because I must, and have been responding right and left to the kindness that surrounds me. My terribly clogged head has made understanding the Kiwis just a little harder than normal, but I don't mind asking people politely to repeat themselves. I guess it comes with age.
The landscape here defies description.... I have been meaning to chronicle the visual experience and each time I was about to sit down with it, I paused, and hesitated, and in fact didn't move forward. I think when it comes to capturing physical beauty I am (we are) daunted. Language can be painfully inadequate when it comes to looking at the sublime. But oh well, here I go:
The oceans and bays here have water that is various blues and greens and turquoises, and crystal clear. Like the tropical waters I've floated on in the Caribbean... The forests are dark and lush, almost jungle like, with trees I've never seen before. The mountains are significant and covered in green. Lakes abound and again with a pristine beauty that surpasses most bodies of water I've laid eyes on. Yet, here I sit at the edge of a vineyard and there are big pink rose bushes growing (not so foreign), and yesterday we saw eucalyptus and beautiful crops of silvery grey olives trees at the edge of one of the vineyards -- again something familiar. We took a wine tour yesterday with a beautiful warm woman called Faye who drove a cushy black BMW 700 with perfect air conditioning and took us from one end of the valley to the other as she narrated the inspiring details about the NZ wine culture. They have been at it for only forty years and seem to be flawlessly at the top of their game, many of them producing organic wines. She had worked herself in the vineyards when she was younger, and she knew her stuff. The temperature hit the high 80's and we motored on through the intense heat, sipping way too much Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, but it felt glorious and perfect somehow!
This land is lovingly cared for, diligently protected and nurtured by the people here. This is a young country with a lot of earnest wisdom about conserving resources, and loving the environment. They are a younger people than we are in America but they seem on some levels wiser and more present when it comes to the land, sea, and animals. We took a boat trip on Queen Charlotte Sound the other day looking for dolphins, and viewing rare seabirds. The island of Motuara is a bird sanctuary, one of many where birds close to extinction are helped to live without predators. They are monitored and protected, the most incredible of which was the small (and rare!) blue penguin. We were able to see them nesting in little especially constructed boxes as they molted and protected their eggs -- a matched pair -- husband and wife. The ethereal grayish blue of their feathers that made you want to reach out and stroke it. We stood in silence and just loved them instead... We learned about Project Jonah which trains anyone to assist in the tending of stranded seals and small whales, and I bought a kooky reusable tea/coffee cup to remind me of their valiant mission.
I thought that I would miss my usual cultural fixes when I came here, so conditioned am I to museums and art and heady learning, but I have found this refreshing and inspiring. Yes, there is art, and yes, people do write and read books here, but it is the culture of stewardship of the land and all that comes from the land that is so interesting and moving. From that come all the extraordinary wines, the quite sophisticated cuisine with bountiful seafood, the exotic carved green jade, and hard woods which are products of the enduring Maori culture, and most importantly: the good will.
People drive fast here on that wrong side of the road - we've discovered that - but they are kind and generous and content in their lives from what I've seen. A non fiction writer I've been reading lately described the state of contentment as "being in the right life (living in a place where you connect to a community, doing meaningful work, surrounding yourself with people you enjoy, respect, and love)." Yes. When you are doing earnest and righteous work and living in awareness of the present moment, this sort of happiness comes. I believe this is going on here, and it is a very good thing indeed.
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