(note to reader: i found this post unpublished today.  it is from april 2011.  this is why writing is so powerful — to discover old words only to then reflect upon where your thoughts are now …)    just jump.   and so i did.  with nervous trepidation, the 40 meter, two second bungy jump was peacefully exhilarating.  other than the big jet plane taking off from pearson airport many months ago (destination: melbourne) i had never felt so free as i did swan diving off of the auckland harbor bridge.  there is great truth in the metaphor “when you jump off of a bridge you leave everything behind”.  indeed, my shit is somewhere scattered across the waitemata harbour left only for the wind to blow it away. although my eight day jaunt to the north shore of new zealand was too short it was breathtaking and fulfilling.  i was fortunate to experience two spiritual moments while lost amongst nature, explore dormant volcanoes and meet perhaps the quirkiest folk in both the northern and southern hemispheres combined.

spirituality (of the meditative sorts) is something i have silently been embracing lately but the full release came at 6am the other morning when i roamed the forest trails of rongitoto island alone.  recently abandoned by someone i entrusted for 15 years it was in this moment of solitude that i realised that the only thing one can truly take calming comfort in is the deep exhale of one’s own breath.auckland is made up of sprawling suburbs, volcanoes abound — so very different from her australian sister.  for many reasons that i don’t care to explain out loud i am glad that i escaped the walls of the outback for the serenity and fresh air that the land of the long white cloud encompasses.

i suppose even the flightless bird needs to take flight at some point.  so when in doubt, just jump …