Settling Down in Nelson

Transitions and changes is the mantra of the backpacker, and just when I think I have settled into the rhythm of travel and new adventures daily I am settling in, in a town that has until now not known that I existed. The sound of the ocean breaking on the sandy shore, just minutes from where I stand, reaches my ears, these are waves I have never heard before but will become well acquainted with, with time. Time stretches out before me now. Weeks pull away into the distance, months so far off that not a glimmer registers on the horizon. I have lived a year in three months and now must slow to match the rhythm of the world around: the satiated, the stagnant and me. Theirs is a life of processes driven by worriless days and careless nights, it is hard to see that they work and live but easy to see that they do it effortlessly.

Staying in place, in one place where I get to know street names and shop owners, where I can make a special request and be around to receive it. I have an address and a bank account. I have a car and a job, things I gave up to come out here, to hunt and explore to find something new. This can’t be the end to give it all up just to arrive at my departure point. As my time flattens out and I become use to my new habits and repetitions my feet grow heavy and I see that I am starting to put down roots. There are people here I will miss and restaurateurs who know my name. I have a favorite bar and a regular seat. I am a local, drinking with and laughing like all the rest, and then I open my mouth and I am just another outsider, momentarily infiltrating their ranks. They are use to my kind and I see others just like me everywhere I go.

We adopt the dress and the pace but soon we will be seen trudging down the highway thumb out looking for a new road to hoe. Once more into the wild with a rucksack and a rapidly dwindling savings account, where a budget means having food to eat at all, let alone enough. We do not need all or as much as we think. We can get by on so much less