The next day I was on my way out of town, but I remembered that there was supposedly a pretty cool beach fairly nearby. A moment later and I was swinging "Joyous" the campervan around and heading towards the coast.
It was about an hour drive down a very scenic, very windy dirt road. I soon arrived to one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen, but I had never been to one quite like this.
The beach itself was deeply covered in perfectly smooth rocks, which rolled up and down the coastal slope down to the sea.
The vegetation was as lush as any jungle, and the backdrop was a beautiful mountain range, covered in glacial ice and snow.
Mount Tasman and Cook seemed to pop out against that blue, New Zealand sky Without a cloud in the sky and the warmth of the midday sun, it was about beautiful as it gets.
After a few days of definitely leaving "tomorrow", I decided to stay the week. In a stroke of luck, every single day was full of sunshine and clear views of the mountains.
I just couldn't drag myself away, and my enthusiasm seemed to catch on. After hearing of all the little secrets I had found throughout the week, I gradually started accumulating neighbors; mostly fellow campers with similarly loose schedules.
"The End of the Road"
"Gillespie's Secret"
"Seal Wood"
"Open Spaces"
"Reflection #9"
I hiked down to an estuary at the far end of the beach to find yet another perfectly reflective body of water. The only disturbance was that evening, when the tide finally became high enough to breach the rock barrier, refreshing the estuary's water supply.
"Wiley Coyote"
I stayed until late in the evening, and then spent the long walk home photographing the picturesque driftwood that absolutely smothered the beach. My imagination ran wild, from coyote silhouetted trees to geometrically perfect bushes, I couldn't stop laughing at all the characters I'd see in my mind's eye.
"Silhouetted Symmetry"
The next day I went back to the same lagoon, and decided to cross over to see what was around the corner.
As if I couldn't be anymore impressed, the next strip of beach looked like something out of Jurassic Park. I half expected a pterodactyl (had to look up that spelling…!) to come swooping down off the cliffs!
"Hidden Estuary"
"Pterodactyl Beach"
There was no one within miles, but I quickly learned that there was a huge seal colony that pretty much owned the coastline. I tried to tread carefully over the huge boulders, but I inevitably would catch the poor seals offgaurd from time to time, napping in the hot sun.
Some would sigh, some would bark, and some would dash toward the sea. I knew if I came across the bull I could be in for some real shit, so I started to try and make as much noise as possible when I walked.
"Perfect Splash"
"Grumpy Seal"
They didn't trust me at first, but after an afternoon of chilling in the rocks with them, they eventually felt comfortable enough to start napping around me and going about their day.
At one point I woke up to find literally dozens all around me. It made me smile to think of myself bathing in the sun with all the seals.
"Forever and Ever"
"Sleepy Seals"
"Just Another Day"
"High Tide Line"
Before long, we had ourselves a little community, and I found myself surrounded by an eclectic group of people that I genuinely liked. Group coffees in the morning and bonfires in the evening, its amazing how much a little human interaction can do for our spirits.
After almost two weeks of that feeling of loneliness, one day it just vanished. I was in a beautiful spot, with a seemingly endless string of beautiful days. and surrounded by some pretty damn beautiful people. Things couldn't be better, and I needed it more than ever.
"Fairy Tale"
"Never Gets Old"
On my last night I showed an English couple this one bedroom house I had found that was made out of driftwood. We all hung out inside for awhile, but when they left, I had this idea to make a fire and photograph it during the very end of the sunset. Very few times do photographs come out how I see them in my mind's eye, but this one was pretty damn close.
My run of good luck was still going strong. It seems that cycles and streaks have a permanent place in our lives. I guess the only way to truly keep score is in how we react to those streaks, both the good and the bad. And, hopefully, that's something that at least resembles a thing called growth… the one constant that truly matters.
"Groundhog Day"
