Life is out there #5 – Solitude

The time has come for me to set sails again. Our house has gradually become very quiet and of thirteen people its just five of us living now, of which we are only two from our initial group. We will hopefully meet again with the friends down the Southie as people here say. It feels like birds migrating to warm climate! So do we migrate. And as always in such time the sadness and joy are both present. Sad to say goodbye, but excited for the new adventures ahead. Its time for contemplation and solitude.

Muruvai beach

The sun is becoming very strong and this was first weekend we felt the summer fully. Twenty one degrees Celsius, swimming in the ocean, night exploration of the glow-worm forest and resting in the hot springs! Was an amazing weekend and the promise of more days like that. Even the beach was full of sunbathing people. Not many would dare to swim yet, but plenty got out to enjoy the sun rays.

For me its last week before Vipassana meditation. You can read more about it if you are interested. But basically its ten days without social interaction, internet, books or any other type of distraction, only long hours in meditation, eating, walking and discussing the matters with teachers. I'm not exactly sure how many hours we will have to spend in mediation a day, but I'll find out for you in week. I was trying to practice meditation for last month and I'm amazed finding new dimension inside my mind, there is lot to learn and I'm sure the Vipassana will be amazing experience. Unfortunately there is no way how you can sit for hours without moving and without huge pain. I tried all the positions I could think of and all of them were painful in half an hour, so I kind of get to the conclusion that the pain is part of it and maybe first step to meditation is to either accept pain, disconnect from it, or suffer through it. I will most likely know more on this subject after ten days hehe. Don't worry I will happily share some of this pain with you guys ;)

When the meditation ends I will embark on the big journey of Te Araroa! Te Araroa is epic New Zealand trek, actually most epic trek I ever heard of so far. It goes 3000 km, start in the north tip of north island Cape Reinga and goes all the way down to the southern tip of south island. Some of you will probably feel like its a bit mad, but trust me there is nothing better then walking in the pristine nature without having to worry about anything , but just enjoying the present moment. I was playing with the idea since I first read about the trek in the plane arriving to NZ, but now I'm going to give it try and see how far I can get. So when I finish the meditation I will hitch hike my way up north and start the trek. I take it as continuing of my meditation and will try to be offline as much as possible so please don't spam me with messages. I will not be replying to any. I will try to write short reports from time to time to let you know I'm ok, but I will only have limited options as I'm leaving my computer in Auckland. The trek itself take between three to four months to walk, but I will be in no rush so may take me more.
I'm very pleased to announce I have persuade my friend amek to join me and walk also! He will arrive to Auckland on 2nd of December and finally may fulfil his wish to once in a life celebrate his birthday on a beach in shorts. So the plan is I have to manage to get down to Auckland in month time to meet him there, celebrate together and leave the city together. That's 600km in month time, hopefully doable!

That gets me to one more thing I'm now considering quite important and that's the weight of my backpack. Just yesterday I did my first weight check and I'm at 15kg without food or water. Can't say I'm very happy with that. I would like to reduce to 12-13kg, but can't see what to get rid of. Here is the list of things I packed up, but please its first version so I will most likely reduce. And you know you can help me and tell me what I don't need!

Essentials(5 700g):
-Osprey antigravity backpack 2100g
-Tent Hannah Desert 2 2200g
-Sleeping bag Boll 3 season 900g
-Sleeping mat Termarest 500g

Cloths(4400g):
2x long trousers
3x tshirts
1x thermal set (lovedumpers + long sleeve)
3x shorts
3x socks
1x swimming shorts
1x towel
1x japanese wooden hat
2x poncho (I know, I know, but rather take my hand!)
1x rain coat
1x hoodie

Cooking (1800g)
-Coleman petrol stove
-Set of two cooking pots
-Plastic cup, plate and cutlery

Accessories
-Te Araroa guide book 700g
-Sawier water filter
-Swimming googles
-Head torch
-First aid kit + survival gear (1300g)( there is plenty of small things, can't bother you will all of it)
-Duck tape
-Diary
-Rope
-Swiss army knife
-Finger chain saw
-Sun cream & sunglasses

Electronics (1300g)
-Samsung S3 phone
-Solar battery
-Portable solar lamp
-Bluetooth speaker
-Kindle
-USB charger

Well now looking at it I can already see I need to reduce a bit! Will do my best to get at least 3kg down and hopefully that will be enough. I read blog of German traveller who is walking the same trek, but he only has 5kg! I'm feeling like Peruvian bus compared to him, but you know I don't want to just run this walk, I want to walk slowly and enjoy it as holidays so I need my things of distraction with me!

As for the last month not much was happening. I was quite busy with work, getting up and running many masternodes to create some passive income to make sure money will keep coming in when I walk. Not many of you probably know what that is, but those who know, know. Its been quite successful and I have now about 15 masternodes of various cryptocoins creating decent passive income! Life of digital nomad is great. If anyone would be interested to learn more about this you can visit us in our cryptotribe telegram channel

Hope you all had great end of summer and now are enjoying the colourful autumn. All the best my friends and next report will be probably already from the trek. Stay tuned!

Aloha @bluudz

Gallery:
Black swans near Muruwai