Legolin’s Weblog

My creative side has been feeling a bit neglected lately… working as a project manager is more about dealing than doing, and I was missing playing around with brushes, colors, textures and shapes. So when yesterday, by following a little blue bird, I stumbled upon some very good photoshop tutorials, my creative side got all excited.

The result is this vintage travel diary of my trip in New Zealand:

To try yourself and make your own travel diary check out the tutorial on Abduzeedo

I’m finally here. The great trip around New Zealand ended 15 days ago on a cloudy early morning. That day, before landing on Sydney, I was excited: ahead of me the Unknown, with its full, scary, amazing potential of new opportunities. And oh if they came. Not even 8 hours after landing I was having an interview with one of Australia’s fastest growing and well-known digital companies. Two days after I was offered a job. After two more days I started working at Reactive. Everything happened so fast I still find it hard to believe. I felt a bit like a pioneer arriving to the New World, and realizing that there everything is possible.
It does feel like a new world here in Sydney somehow. It’s so different from anywhere else I’ve been living so far, and yet it’s so easily familiar. I surprised myself yesterday evening, when almost without thinking I put on my flip-flops, went down to the near-by pizza place, ordered a pizza and waited there reading The Sydney Morning Herald. As if I’d been doing that every week of my life.
It was a nice feeling. That’s probably what amazes me the most about Sydney: you can be here since two days and already feel home. I guess the reason lies in the people: every face you come across in the street, in the shops, on the train, no matter what nationality, color, age, gender or sexual orientation, seems to smile you back, totally at ease in this vibrant, dynamic, multicultural city. There is no feeling foreigner in Sydney, and I really like that.

Ruby Bay, Mapua, NZ.
When I booked the 3-hour horse ride with Cape Farewell Horse Treks I didn’t know that was going to be the best ride of my life.

When we were at the stables waiting for our mounts to be ready, I dwelt upon a newspaper’s article that was pinned to the wall. It was a letter from an American lady, telling about her experience in New Zealand and how much herself and her sons enjoyed the horse trek at Cape Farewell. She reported a comment from Gail (owner and guide), about one of her sons throwing himself down-hill at fast gallop: “He doesn’t think. He just dares and damn the consequences”. I liked that. I thought I was kinda doing the same, joining a 3-hour fast ride with an experienced rider in the group without having ever had one single horse riding lesson in my life. But I wasn’t scared, I felt it was going to be exciting. Well, it was, far beyond my expectations.

I was matched with Kahn, a strong beautiful dark brown horse. Before mounting, while I was stroking his head, I catched a glimpse of deep pride and far away wildness in his eyes. Things were going to be interesting. Once all the four of us were in the saddle, we headed off. The first bit of the trek was along a gravel road, where we practiced a bit of trotting. At some stage we left the road and climbed up a steep narrow path through some bushes and found ourselves in the middle of a quiet and beautiful landscape. As far as the eye could see there were just gentle hills swept by the strong wind and scattered with sheep. Initially Kahn was giving me a bit of a hard time being cranky with the other horses, but after a while he calmed himself down and we started getting along pretty well. The first time I launched him into canter I immediately felt that pride I had glimpsed in his eyes. It was a nice feeling. Following our way up and down the hills we finally reached Wharariki Beach. What a view. Behind the white dunes of sand, the endless, empty, wind-blown beach. The blue, slight sea. The high rocks half way between the sea and the beach, home of several sleepy seals. It was astounding. And it was in such an incredibile set that we pushed our horses into gallop. What an amazing feeling. In few seconds we reached a considerable (and unexpected!) speed and I was now feeling like myself and Kahn were one single thing. The sound of Khan’s hooves hitting the sand, his deep breathing, the wind blowing hard from the side: it was just awesome, like sensing freedom with your skin. I enjoyed it so much that I encouraged him to go faster and race the other horses. He seemed to appreciate that, ‘couse he pushed even further and we got ahead of everybody else: we were now riding so fast my eyes kept filling up with tears due to the strong air passing through my sunglasses. But I didn’t mind, it was such a great feeling, I wished the beach really could be endless, so that we could ride like that forever.

When we stopped, I think my heart was beating as fast as Khan’s, and I had the widest smile on my face, from one ear to the other :)
But the fun wasn’t over yet, ‘couse we dismounted for a break and just around a big rock there they were: baby seals playing in the rock pools left by the receding tide. Incredibly funny and really cute. I felt really lucky to get to see them so close in their own habitat. Back in the saddle there was still time for another amazing race and then we took our way back, walking, trotting, cantering… and scaring the shit out of the passing sheep! ;)

Once back at the stables, with my legs stiff and still the big smile pinned on my face, I felt glad that I did not think: I did dared and I did damn the consequences, and it was just awesome.

Lake Tekapo, South Island, NZ.
A lake with the most amazing turquoise water, gem-set in a ring of gentle mountains. A quiet shore. A chair under a friendly tree. The sun passing through the branches and burning my feet. A little perfect moment. The kind of precious rare moments it’s worth living for.