Goodbye, goodnight

We prepare now to leave Golden Bay. Over the weekend, we partook in a celebration. Throughout the evening, we spoke with locals, transplants, hippies. They spoke a recurring mantra: we love it here not for one aspect, but many. We hitched from Takaka with an US expat couple. They did not follow jobs, they enjoyed the quality of life and community, and the job followed. The are now designing sustainable housing and communities. Everyday is the same, the sun shines, it grows hot, and then clear nights. At the party, a roaring fire (by permit) incited howling, dancing, singing. They leave stressful jobs, home countries, or feel the demand to return home, rich and poor alike, meld, find the life, find the community they love, for which the have searched. A light dust covers their eyes, not just from the drought and dust. We will shake the dust from our shoes, clothes, and shake the ennui from our eyes.