Following my other related interest of permaculture, I met Arees again for a tour of his current home at KahiPatea in Albany, not far from Auckland. It is a community lover’s dream.  A mini village within the city.  25m swimming pool, mechanic workshop, art department, pizza oven, industrial kitchen, allotment etc.  Virtually everything you’d need.  But it hasn’t always been this way. Most Kiwi’s will recognize it formerly as “Centerpoint” where some weird psychological experimentation, mass orgies and sex abuse went on, under the auspices of it’s supreme leader.  It       …..More Crumbs >>

It’s a wonderful thing that the Maori names were either restored or retained for many of the New Zealand towns.  Kare Kare has a ring to it, and is where my friend Pat from the Maitraya retreat lives. A piece of paradise.  Lush green forest surrounded by emerald mountains, and a wind swept white sandy beach with some menacing waves.  She hosted a great party at her house, where I met several interesting characters.  One of which was Arees and the other Andy.  Arees was dressed like a monk, and       …..More Crumbs >>

After Kare Kare, I headed back to Auckland for a few days where I caught up with the Grant, my other non-related “cousin”, couchsurfed with a private detective and met my crewmate Julie from the Cool Bananas yacht ride from New Caledonia.  She seems a lot happier now she has a seafaring boyfriend! The Private dick told me some interesting stories, including being discovered by his target and running away to save his life. Then it was off to visit Grant’s brother Dean again, this time at his new bigger       …..More Crumbs >>

After Vipassana, I hooked up with a fellow devotee and headed to the stunningly beautiful Waiheke island by ferry from Auckland ($32 return). Waiheke comes under the umbrella of Auckland city, but mostly operates like separate entity.  That’s the way they like it, and are usually not welcoming to interference from Auckland city council.  Still, without Auckland money maybe this little Utopia might not be so sustainable. There are a number of self sufficiency initiatives in place and enough alternative minds to work towards this model, although it is intermixed       …..More Crumbs >>

Unfortunately I came back to Christchurch utterly confused and without direction.  I felt abused and downtrodden after the self help company PSI from California, that had done so much for my life when I was there, screwed me out of $1500.  Basically half of the money I had left.  It just didn’t make any sense.  I’d heard good things about the 10 day Vipassana retreats (apart from the God awful cassette they listen to), and decided to attend the upcoming course near Auckland to get my head straight. Due to       …..More Crumbs >>