Cruising the Catlins

After two months of constantly working, me and Madeline decided that it was time for a little girls road trip. She was going to leave Te Anau soon and wanted to spent some time together. Not only for the company, but both of us just needed to get out of the house and travel again. That's why we planned to do 'the Catlins' together. It's a part of the bottom of the east coast (in the south island). It's known to be very little populated and very much into the middle of nowhere. At certain places there isn't any cellphone connection and you have to make sure that you have enough petrol, otherwise you're f*cked. So off we went on our little adventure, wondering how cold it was going to be while sleeping in the van. We travelled from Te Anau to Invercargill, got ourselves a smoothie in a freaky little coffeeshop and went on to Bluff. This is the little town at the bottom of the south island. Nothing to see really, just a sh*it tons of oysters to eat! And this is where we dropped Jake off. He was going to spent a couple of days on steward island, doing one of the great walks and enjoying the nature. The drive through the Catlins was beautiful. All you could see was sheep, trees and gravel road. Nothing but our sing along classics on the radio.

We decided to drive all the ways up to the Catlins and then drive our way back visiting everything. We arrived late at night on nugget point, a really famous lighthouse on the top of a cliff. What I hadn't mentioned before is that Madeline was pretty into photography as well and that our trip was also a little photography adventure. So we set an alarm in the middle of the night to check if there were some stars to photograph. And god we were surprised while opening the door. The sky was lid up with all these beautiful stars... we could even see the milky way! Never in my life have I seen these many stars before. It was magical... So off we went with our cameras, tripod and 3 pairs of socks. We went up to the lighthouse, and we weren't the only one with the idea. Experimenting with long exposure gave us such an energy rush! And the results are beautiful... I was so satisfied to finally have taking a real star picture! WE DID IT! Now back to the cold van and try to get some rest. Our bodies were freezing, but the hot water bottle in between us kept us warm at night. Hang on! We weren't finished yet... at 6 the other alarm went off. Of course we also wanted to see the sunset! Which was totally worth it. It's one of my favourite moments ever. I fill up my heart with the light of the rising sun and breath on the rhythm of the waves of the sea. My head empty.

Starting off with the morning tea in a small cafe in the middle of nowhere. Afterwords we visited some waterfalls, did some small hikes and took a little nap on the edge of a cliff watching over the sea. It was a beautiful day and although it rains most of the time, today we were spared from the wet cold weather. God we were grateful. Some crackers and avocado and ready to go again. Just chatting, enjoying the music and the thousands of sheep surrounding us. Until it got dark and we reached Curio Bay, place where you could potentially see penguins and sea lions. After a small walk we made some pasta, edited some pictures and went straight to bed. To then wake up in the morning with a big surprise... It had been raining all night and our van was parked on the grass. The result: we were absolutely stuck... I needed to find another person in order to push the car out. My trousers were completely filled with mud, but we made it! Up to Invercargill again.

Maddie needed to stay in Invercargill to sort out some 'car stuff'. So after our little journey together we had to split up. I felt such a deep connection with her after those days, and my body was filled with energy again! But then I realised that this was going to be one of our last days together. Madeline is a girl to never forget, and she meant so much to me during my travels. I wanted to give her something to always remember, and so did she. We thought about a little souvenir to hang on our camera's. When we walked into a little hippi shop, I saw some energy stones... that's it! I would pick one for her out of my intuition, and she would do the same. Afterwords we would make a little hanger out of it. So I looked between all of these beautiful stones and one was getting my attention, it felt right. Afterwords drinking our last coffee together, we searched what the stones that we just bought for each other meant. Both in a shock we looked at each other and knew our bond would last forever. The meaning of the stones completely hit the nail on the head. Insane how Intuition can work... just as my intuition said I made a friend for life while giving her my last goodbye hug. I'll miss her...