Three Weeks Away

On Wednesday I flew from the South Island to the North Island to visit my daughter and family at their new rural property. They moved from being only 5 hours by car from our cottage, to being about 15 hours away by car, then ferry, then car again. Although I don’t relish flying and being limited to taking so much less that’s squished into a large suitcase, traveling for that many hours might have been good for the old pioneers but I prefer something more immediate. Hence I limited what I took or tried to, in my very last minute packing dilemma that occurred until 3 in the morning of the night before the flight. I’ve often said that I am the world’s worst packer and I certainly could use a brush up course on taking the right things in the right way in the least amount of time possible…rather than the opposite. But I did arrive and I did mostly bring the stuff I mostly needed kind of…almost. 

Once here, it has been a whirlwind of catching up, seeing the garden at dusk, walking around the acreage until it became too dark, squeezing my grandson with random hugs and then drooling over the inside of this rather beautiful custom home, built by a couple with real vision thirty years ago. He installed all the wood touches in the house, the perfect floors with narrow short planks, all the cupboards and timber accents, as woodworking was his specialty. Then over the years they created a divine garden to anchor their home to the multi level land, which they did with considerable grace and creativity. Being winter now the bare bones of the trees and shrubs are stark but highlight the architectural skeletons of their plantings. But there are also heaps of large camellia bushes with blooms opening now, rhododendrons soon to burst into bloom and some native vines and trees that also have a good winter feed on them for the many wild birds that share this bounty with the residents. My daughter insists that the place looks awful now in comparison to when they purchased it in the spring with the sweeping wisteria on the front overhang dramatically softening the view from the house, along with scads of well established roses of countless varieties and a cacophony of birdsong in the many native plants and trees that grow in masses of different shades of greens, at different heights and configurations that all meld together lyrically. But seeing it bare for me suited my tastes just fine. I can picture how lush it will be in summer but I can also appreciate where it’s at today. Overall I was shocked by the sprawling and stately bits of nature that took me in from the moment we reached the long tree lined driveway laced with bulbs already in bloom amidst other flowers, months earlier than at our house. Then multiple pathways with arbors and massive timber supports and some water features aside from the creek that runs way down the track at the far edge of the far paddock, marked by orange hued willows that line its banks. We’d already trudged past the well developed walnut grove of very prolific trees that apparently dropped their walnuts, as if on command, all at once months ago. And in the dim light saw some cattle grazing in the distance past the dam that can refill overnight from nearby trickling waterfalls that replenish it and probably an underground spring. It was wild and free and manicured in other places with ferns growing out of trees and succulents coming out of rocks and I couldn’t see enough of it, with those sharply angled seven sisters of hills in the background behind the cows.

Eventually when it was really too dark to find the footpath easily and with a smitten look of glee and wonderment on my face, I finally entered the house to be equally enthralled at the comfortable interior that flows from room to room with garden views and hill views from every window. It’s a big house with two stories and many enticements for me in particular, coming from a much smaller domestic arrangement with little storage, even though it’s quietly unpretentious and unassuming, though really classy. Here there’s room for everything and so much of the décor is understated with a few choice pieces of very ideal furnishings next to huge windows that draw your eyes into the exquisite setting and don’t let go. 

A feeling of peace washed over me. I finally saw that my eldest child will be fine here despite the fact we are so much further apart now from those easy regular visits. They’re all thriving in this little off the beaten path town, in this enchanted place they found on the last day of their house search to relocate close enough to a new position in a new company. My son-in-law, my girl and my miracle grandson live in this paradise and are enjoying it so much. Pulling up roots on this move was particularly difficult and I was supposed to help on the last day by accompanying my daughter from one place to the other, but I had to opt out at the last minute. So this visit is a long overdue catch-up in person and I now know I can finally stop worrying about them all. They’re all fine now with lots of new friends and new beginnings. Phew.