Kia ora tatou, greetings
I am rewalking Aotearoa New Zealand a second time. Started in early Oct 2022 at bottom of South Island, Awanui (Bluff). Walking north to finish at Cape Te Reinga around late Jan 2023. Walking south to north this time. About half way through the South Island right now.
5 years ago in 2017, I walked New Zealand from north to south. About 2200km in about 100 days.
Reasons for walking. The original reasons still remain from 2017. Climate resilience, national character building and peaceful coexistence beyond the current global warfare tensions. Things may have worsened in last 5 years with climate change combined with post-covid impact, increasing cost of living and escalating global conflict. So I walk both highway and natural backcountry to provoke both reactions and curiosity from people working and driving by. People ask me. Why are you walking this long Southland stretch of road? Why are you walking Aotearoa? I just keep my answers simple and relevant to what I feel they are asking.
As I walk, I am also doing my methodology for a PhD titled “The WOA Path”.
The First WOA Path is WALK OF AHAU (Self). The inner journey of myself. Walking the topography of one’s inner being. The mountains, the rivers, the wilderness within us. The walk of life from our first breath to our final gasp. Each breath, each step. A walking prayer as our native American cousins call it. Te Hokau Hau, The Walking Breath in Maori.
The Second WOA Path is THE WALK OF AOTEAROA. Walking the wilderness and the wastage of Aotearoa NZ. Seeing the beauty of Southern Alps. Snow capped mountains. Then the misery of dead rivers, algae and deforested hillsides. Housing developments. Pollution and rubbish. Bitumen road kerbs full of dead bees, worms, insects, birds killed by vehicles. Essential to the eco-system these tiny toilers of nature whose increasing death is contributing to soil dieback, river dieback, forest dieback eventually human dieback if we do not start reweaving the dying web of life.
The Third WOA Path is THE WALK OF ATUA (The Divine Presence). One becomes aware of the spiritual, divine presence that exists beyond our daily reality. It can be the kind person who stops to give me money or water. Or a glorious mountain peak reflecting the red dawn sunlight momentarily. Or finding dry shelter in nick of time before a rainstorm breaks overhead. Or feeling the presence of ancestors as you witness old rock paintings or places of spiritual significance. You also realise you do not need a lot. What you can carry in a pack on your back. And the walk starts each day with the first step. And the haa breath. It is both a spiritual stride and physical step you make.
The Ancient Spiral of Hawaiki. Ancient consciousness is also awakening on the planet right now. The ancestral continent of many names Mu, Hawaiki Nui, Hawaiki Loa, Hawaiki Mamao, LeMuria and more is being rebirthed and reearthed into the amniotic waters of the planet. The Ocean of Peace where life gestates before berthing onto the land surface of the planet. Surrounded by the Placenta of Fire (Volcanic Ring of Fire that surrounds the Pacific Ocean.
Tenei Au,
Tenei Ahau
Ko te hokai nuku
Ko te hokai rangi
Ko tenei WOA
E pakanga nei ahau
He Rau Aroha
He Mu i Ora
Ka Ao Ka Awatea
Greetings! Very useful advice in this particular article! Its the little changes that will make the biggest changes. Thanks for sharing!