“Awe is the feeling of respect and amazement that you have when you are faced with something wonderful and often rather frightening.”
“Wonder is a feeling of great surprise and pleasure that you have, for example when you see something that is very beautiful, or when something happens that you thought was impossible.”
My default mode in life tends to be control. I plan, prepare, overthink. It’s become my default mostly I think to combat anxiety. Recently however, I was reminded of the moments that you just cannot make and what it is like to give up control to experience these moments – of awe and of wonder.
Milford Sound, Aotearoa
When I actually found myself on a plane traveling south, this third version of the trip was only planned to the minimum, leaving room to be surprised or perhaps just simply content with a few days away.
After a very early departure for a backwards/northwards flight to go south again, we eventually found ourselves flying into Queenstown through the Southern Alps. The experience was almost dreamlike, as if we were floating and suspended in these unbelievable, snowy mountains.
This arrival (which I thought wouldn’t be able to be topped as the highlight of the trip) ended up setting the scene for the experiences we were in for over the next six days. Out of those days, only one was grey and rainy. The rest were FREEZING, but picture perfect with blue sky and many exclamations of “this isn’t our life..!?!”
We returned home with a photo library full of postcard worthy images, a few of which are included here. These photos, and the memories they represent, for me are tangible proof of the moments you simply cannot make.
I couldn’t have planned the way that it had snowed and then stayed cold,
or when the road iced over so we couldn’t pass (leading to an unintentional trip to Aoraki/Mt Cook as the sun set),
or they way the sun shone on the mostly blue sky days.
Many days, weeks, months and even years might leave one feeling heavy and burdened by the things in life we simply cannot control. But every now and again it is a gift to be surprised by the moments that you simply could not have forced to be that way – but that you wouldn’t have had any other way.
Those moments are all the better for it.
Lindis Pass, Aotearoa
