Kiwi Konnections!

Boiling Mud at Geothermal Wonderland

Channel exit at Huka Falls

After months of traveling, we finally caught up with our tribe. Our month in New Zealand started with a tour of the northern and central part of the North Island, traveling in a Spaceship. Not the kind with rocket engines, but the kind that is a campervan with a nicely engineered swing out stove, hidden storage and two double beds including one that extends out the back with a cool canvas piece that connects the open hatch to the rear fender, and one that pops up on the roof. We saw various interesting and pretty places, a

Kerosene Creek

few of which were memorable. We went to Kerosene Creek that is one of the most awesome places on Earth. The entire creek is a completely undeveloped, natural hot spring with hot-tub temperature water including waterfalls with a picture-perfect swimming area below. We also went to the awe-inspiring Huka Falls several times, by car, hiking and mountain biking. A sizeable river is funneled through an improbably narrow and shallow 300 feet long, natural thermally-hardened rock channel that is only 50 feet wide and 20 feet deep where the water churns with the most intensity I’ve ever seen before plunging over a major waterfall. Another highlight

Avi in front of Mt. Doom (from Lord of the Rings) at Tongariro

was Spa Park where another hot spring stream beautifully runs into the impossibly clear, blue water of the Waikato River, creating a pick-your-temperature great place to soak. We had an amazing empowering day hiking the “best day hike in New Zealand”, the 12 mile long Tongariro Alpine Crossing. We went to Hobbiton and the boys took a tour of the beautiful Hobbit/Lord of the Rings movie set for the Shire (we’re not allowed to post photos until the Hobbit movie comes out).

The heart of our trip to New Zealand was on the north coast of the South Island. We spent a heart-

Avi climbing at Harwoods Hole near Luminate,
the deepest tomo in the Southern Hemisphere, over 1000 ft deep

warming 9 days at the exceptionally wonderful Luminate Festival at Canaan Downs (the location where they filmed the hilltop scene in which Aragorn reveals his identity to the hobbits). All of us felt relief and joy in the company of our Kiwi tribe (about 2000 on the weekend of the seven-day festival), people who looked and “felt” like us. The festival felt most like the Beloved Festival in Oregon. It had three main zones: a Live Zone which was basically the main stage with live music and beautiful fabric art very much like the Beloved stage, an Electronic Zone with electronic music, and a Tribal Zone with drumming and dancing. All three zones had fires with a big one at Tribal. The area had numerous tomos (craters due to collapse of the underlying limestone) including a huge tomo about 300 feet across and 50 feet deep. There was a powerful, ecstatic ritual in that tomo that started off the event in a glorious way! My

One of many cool gypsy campervans at Luminate

favorite musical experiences were Ganga Giri who really rocked the main stage with didj, drum and electronic music, and an intimate acoustic solo sampled-and-layered music set by Matiu, a sweet and very talented Maori man, in the comfy Chill Zone (chai Kitchen/cuddle zone). There was a central area with food and craft booths including an amazing ayurvedic kitchen where I enjoyed free yummy food in exchange for all my volunteer work. Luminate features a lot of great workshops in four different venues. Veronica and I were blessed to be able to present our Heart Opening Journey workshop there. We did it at the very beginning of the gathering (before the printed programs arrived) and close to the end so I wasn’t sure how many people would come. We were thrilled to have 55 people show up the first time and 45 the second. We received a lot of wonderful feedback and it was very gratifying to feel resonance and support for our work in far-away New Zealand. Looks like a Heart Opening workshop tour of New Zealand may be brewing for next year! On a side note, we finally launched a draft of our website (oneloveawakening.com). I also volunteered as the festival doctor, carrying a walkie-talkie for all 9 days and having a lot of fun helping out a number of sweet people. The only life-threatening situation worked out fine with emergency transport to the hospital. The family members came back from the hospital to pick up their 17 year old son and our Isaac! Coincidentally and karmically the family I helped included one of Isaac’s best new friends from Luminate who brought him home for two great teenaged days before we left the festival to pick him up. Luminate felt like the best of the festivals we have back home with people who were even more open, kind and gentle. These qualities was beautifully reflected in our camping neighbors Purna and Tamal. Their mature and grounded Krishna consciousness was inspiring and beautiful to us. There was not very much costuming, less colorful than home and less affectation. The gentle, non-egoic nature of the people was very compelling. Highly recommended to all who love tribal gatherings!

Seal Pups at Whaririki Beach

Tui Community Garden after Flood 

After Luminate, we spent five days exploring Golden Bay, Abel Tasman National Park and visiting friends from Luminate along with our empowered and remarkably mature 18-year-old friend Georgia. Wharariki Beach was incredibly beautiful and we were blessed with an hour in the close company of two seal pups! We got to visit my new friend Shruti, the talented and spiritual chef from the Luminate kitchen, for an excellent lunch at his “Space of Love” nestled in the organic community garden in Takaka, the only by-donation restaurant in New Zealand. We then spent a week woofing (Working On an Organic Farm) at the Tui Community incredibly perched on the water, right at the eastern margin of Abel Tasman National Park. Tui is one of very few successful, long-standing (27 years) intentional communities that we know. They have about 40 permanent residents, most of whom are full members in the community. The community owns the land; individuals own the home they build or buy. A few work for the community; about 12 work for Tui Balms on-site that makes wonderful skin products. The community had a large garden until two months before we arrived when a flood covered the garden with over a meter of sand! We had the satisfaction of helping them clear debris; Isaac and I worked together salvaging roofs and

Community Dinner at Tui Common House

lumber from a couple garden buildings that were buried deep in the sand. We spent a day running a new water line through the dense bush up a steep slope. Another day was spent in the large orchard, netting grapes, mulching avocado trees and harvesting plums. On our last workday we got to compost, mulch and plant a small interim garden as well as set up an irrigation system. Isaac and Avi were epic in using a pickaxe to help dig a trench across the road to run the irrigation line. Veronica and I are very proud of how hard and effectively the boys worked! We stayed in a bedroom in the wonderful community house there which features a large hangout/dining area, a big kitchen and even a billiards table. Amazingly, my dear friend Leora from Singing Alive was at Luminate Festival and at Tui with us.  She and I much enjoyed co-leading Heartsong Circles at both Luminate and at Tui. The Heartsong Circle at Tui, as well
as a Heart Opening Journey that Veronica and I led at Tui, were both at Tui T’ Mala, a beautiful circular room with wood floor and conical ceiling located at the top of a forested trail with a commanding view of the community and ocean. We made many new friends and were inspired by the gentle spirit and success of Tui Community. Golden Bay on the north coast of the South Island of New Zealand, including the great town of Takaka and the Tui Community, is a place to be noted by all who seek incredible natural beauty, intentional community, and open-minded, openhearted and gentle people.