And so back to Coromandel it was with my new found friend Hippie, a delightful man with an enourmous heart, magic ogre feet that rarely see shoes, a loud obxnoxious voice, twisted sense of humour and tendency towards uncouthness making him my perfect companion. Wilderlands is one of the oldest communes in New Zealand that's been going on since the 60s and encompasses wild bush, extensive vegetable gardens, orchards, a private beach, over a hundred hives, honey processing house, numerous self built homes, a sauna and communal hall. What was once someone's vision is now however coming to an end, or is transitioning into something else as all the long term residents had moved out or were on the verge of moving during my stay there and there was no formal organisation or structure. A Lot ... read more

The night before leaving to Kiwiburn and I am sitting in Rowena’s living room eating toast with peanut butter and drinking a glass of wine while the crickets chirp outside. My soul is so in need of Kiwi burn. Months of not letting my hair down properly have taken their toll and a dose of debauchery, uncouth behaviour, dancing and frolicking and being around my kind of people is well and truly needed. I am over half way through my journey now, and for the first time have started thinking about home and thinking about the future. I have really started missing certain things about London, like being surrounded by people who understand and love me and love me for being me. I feel like such an alien a lot of the time here…people in New ... read more

Who needs debauchery when you can wake up with the sun in your own little caravan, walk 5 minutes down the road to the beach and have a half an hour hoop followed by a skinny dip and all before breakfast? Not me it seems. Waiheke is a small island a 45 minute ferry ride away from Auckland and feels almost like it's own little country. It is full of idyllic little beaches, mangrove swamps, bush, and lots of holiday homes...almost 75% of the population disappear after the summer holidays. There is a real sense of community here though amongst the residents and most people from my experience are people who arrived here when they were my age 10 or 20 years ago and so are now a little bit older. My fist stop was at ... read more

A new country, a new continent, a new part of the planet. After having spent so long in a city like London building up constant barriers to protect myself it's a strange process letting myself unfold...peeling away layers, letting my surroundings under my skin. I suppose we humans are in constant interraction with our environment...we breathe in oxygen, we ingest nutrients and liquids, even our skin is semi-permeable, allowing certain substances from the external to the internal. But I've spent so long in denial of this, trying to block everything else out, the constant noise, distorted energies, other peoples emotion, other people's baggage. I am so sensitive I soak it all up like a sponge. Cursed and blessed. Depending on how you see it or where I am. Cursed, living somewhere like London. So being somewhere ... read more

I was awoken today in my hotel by the ubiquitous ringing of bells and mantra chanting. Laying in my bed, my good old stolen British airways blanket draped over me to protect me from frosty morning air I had to smile... not so many places in the world where you are woken up this way. I am starting to recognise many of the mantras, often find myself subconsciously humming them. Yesterday in our final ceremony at the Phool Chatti ashram where I stayed for the past week, we chanted one of them 108 times, sitting around a small fire, each with a little dish of seven different types of sacred wood shavings which we took a pinch of (using only middle, third finger and thumb - important, although not sure why) and threw in the fire ... read more