Back Home to My Stressful Life

After five and a half months away I am finally home again where I can now see my profile photo in real life, instead of looking at the photo and dreaming of being back to the wonderland below!

Every single day I have to sit on my stressful north facing deck, listen to the roar of the surf (and not the sound of vehicles), look over the bush and ocean (and not at the neightbours houses and fences), smell the salt in the air (and not car fumes) and decide what I am going to do for the day.

And becasue I have been away for so long there are so many places to go and decisions to make each day. Do I go to the beach - but where on the beach should I go? Into one of the 4 main guts, or out onto the mid tide reef? Then there are the exposed ocean rocks which have different life than the rocks protected by the reef as well as the rocks between the guts or the main rock pool area or into the lagoon or past there to the boulder beach. Then there are the other 2 beaches close to here as well where I spend quite a bit of time. Oh the stress of where to go!

But wait, there's more! If the tides are not right should I go for a walk - but where? Along the coastal cliff walk or up the escarpment? Or the many tracks in my own place, or the neighbours place? Decisions, decisions!

And none of this takes into account the places further afield that I often go to, like Cape Reinga, and the other beaches up that way, or out to the west coast.

Then there is the work to be down around home, chain sawing, slashing, mulching, ripping out invasive pest weeds, shooting other pests and track clearing which has to all be fitted in around wandering the beach and the land.

Below are some of the flora and fauna I have already seen since being home - but I have not even covered 25% of all the places I need to revisit.

So spare a thought for me, especially if you have 5 stress free days of knowing what to do and only have to make decisions on what to do in the weekend. Not everyone has the luxury of your stress free life and this is a hard life, but someone has to live it! LOL

Posted on October 25, 2017 09:26 PM by tangatawhenua