With big hands the trees on Hakanoa street have an imposing presence. In summer they flesh out with strong big leaves. In winter they sit bare, allowing light through into the houses below. No matter what the the time of year they stand there, strong, beautiful and present with the seasons.

Two and half hours South of Auckland is Mount Maunganui. Growing up in Hamilton the ‘Mount’ was the summer pilgrimage for two-weeks. We would hire a bach with 60′s and 70′s furniture and store up on Vitamin D for the year. A couple of years ago my parents finally achieved their dream; a bach at the Mount. Not long after they purchased it I moved to the UK, so now I am back at the bottom of the earth it is time to take the opportunity to spend time at this stunning place. The beach is well… the most beautiful in the world that I am sure. In 2008 I went to the official ’9th’ best beach in the world in Fiji. It didn’t rate anywhere near the Mount hence my proclamation as ‘the best.’

On this occasion I was to be at a meeting 3-hours South of Auckland at 9am so I drove 2.5 hours to the Mount and stayed the night there before enjoying a morning on the beach to sooth my soul before my meeting. As the Buddha said, “if you open your eyes and see what you are looking at, in that moment, there is as much Dharma in the leaf of a tree as there is in a scripture.”