Leaving behind friends and a memorable experience at Willow Creek Farm I was greatly anticipating getting stuck into an art project. A lovely roast lamb cooked by farm co-worker/new friend Annie made for a great evening’s grub and company before heading to Motueka to meet Barbara. Myself and Barbara had exchanged many emails regarding an exhibition she had ideas for one gallery or maybe more…
Barbara was a kind soul, deeply interested in philosophy and art- particularly important shifts in art movements pre 20th century. I arrived after a scenic bridge drive over to the other side of Motueka where I was welcomed into Redwood Cottage. This was to be my home for the next week, and how perfect this turned out to be. I felt instantly comfortable and in a great mind-set to discuss the artworks Barbara wanted me to create. We had interesting discussions about our ideas and where to begin, I was very much in a position of planning, curating, and offering my advice and experience. Barbara had many intriguing books particularly focussed around Paleolithic and Neolithic art- right up my street. The Lascaux cave paintings situated in France seemed like a fitting starting point given the chronological date and my deep interest in caves and sacred stone structures. The very next day I began work armed with all the materials I could possibly need, listening to The Pentangle, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen to set the tone.
Work flowed organically. I played with texture, different scales, a limited colour palette, as well as metallics to produce a coherent set that I believe evoke the feel of the caves and invite the viewer to experience a unique insight. I was on a creative buzz all week, enjoying down time chatting to friendly Japanese and German wwoofers staying in Barbara’s house, and friends back home over a gin or 3 in the cottage that felt so like home.
Renee was staying in nearby Nelson and joined me for my last night, drinking gin (a theme?) and playing board games- we had previously enjoyed the Light Nelson event, which was a free event creatively lighting up the city. It was pretty impressive (what I can remember of it!) But I wanted one last trek up Abel Tasman way, and managed to twist Renee’s arm into joining me. This place was called Harwoods Hole, at 176 metres deep it is the known as the ‘biggest vertical shaft’ in New Zealand (tee hee) The walk to it was also used for filming scenes of ‘Chetwood Forest’ in Lord of the Rings.
We walked, Renee with her melodica in hand (we found it at the cottage) and decided to play Zelda tunes as we walked around (we’re too cool) when approaching the semi circle of immensely high rock formations we could feel this was a special place, egging each other on to get nearer the edge and peer down, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Awesome, enigmatic, and bloody scary all at the same time. A look out point on the way down proved to be a justified detour, that is until I fell onto very sharp angular rocks, giving myself a good few good cuts and bruises. It’s moments like this that it’s important to have a mate around- I was glad to have Ren there as I concerned my knee had given up the ghost.
Time to depart through the famously scenic Queen Charlotte Track, gradually heading south towards Kaikoura, situated on the east coast. Kaikoura is predominantly known for its whale and seal watching and was a beautiful first glimpse of those famous snow capped mountains. I stopped off at the Ohau Stream Walk to watch baby seals swimming playfully, it’s also where I happened to bump into Danny- the super cool bus driver from Hobbiton , well met with a hug and quick catchup, this lifted my spirits even more. 
After a night in Kaikoura it was time to swing on down to Christchurch. Christchurch was a place I certainly wanted to at least pass through whilst in New Zealand. It is another large city, but this one experienced a devastating earthquake, a 6.3 on the richter scale in fact, killing many and destroying the surroundings and leaving the city unrecognisable. When I arrived it was a grey day and I was moved by the mess of it all. People I’d met on my journey so far had spoken about the optimisim and creative regeneration emerging through shipping containers, and impressive ‘cardboard cathedral’ and the like- sadly, it certainly had a long way to go in my opinion. As a diversion from isolating feelings of walking around a now soul-less city, it was to be a sociable few days ahead.
I sat myself in a nearby Mexican restaurant sipping a tasty margarita, anticipating the arrival of Californian Steve. Steve purchased one of my first ever glass works I created, inspired by the band Dead Can Dance. We had been in contact since then, and the dates worked so that we could meet up on his last night in New Zealand. 
We greeted with a hug and it felt instantly comfortable with flowing conversation including his incredible life stories managing bands, running radio stations, hanging out with famous faces, his INCREDIBLE music collection oh, and he’s an award-winning racquetball extraordinaire. We spoke for hours over a tasty Asian meal, I left feeling glad we had the chance to meet.
The next day was time to meet a friend from back home, Matt, who has just recently secured permanent residency in New Zealand. We have been friends for many years, usually frequenting at the Beautiful Days festival or numerous Levellers gigs. Although he wasn’t feeling 100% when we met (more like 40% in fact) he was sweet conversation and it felt like all was well. 
The following day was The Cure day! I flew myself (I’ve grown wings) up to Auckland to meet free-spirited Linda (Hobbiton bus driver) as we had previously bonded over a love of great music and stayed in regular contact since my departure. To say I was excited to see The Cure would be an understatement. I have loved them and been inspired by Robert Smith since I was about 12. The fun, quirky, gothy, playful goodness of the band is so unique, and 40 years later they haven’t ‘sold out’, they are still attracting fans of all ages, and quite frankly write bloody good songs and perform them exceptionally well. Altogether an emotionally exilerating 3.5hr gig that confirmed my love for the band- the first time I’d seen them myself and my partner at the time cried afterwards- it was overwhelming 🙂 Linda and I sunk a few, rocked out with fellow fans, and just had a bloody good time.
A hungover Carly, a cancelled flight, and 2 days of waiting at the airport failed to take off the shine…
Soundtrack: The Cure – How Beautiful You Are, The Doors – The Crystal Ship
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