The surrender of travel

Chelita Kahutianui o-te-Rangi Zainey, Waitaha/Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Kahu/Ngāti Haua Chelita is a māmā, writer, Kai Rongoā, spiritual mentor, and certified breathwork facilitator. Her passion activates and inspires others to heal and transform their lives into one of aligned purpose, love, and joy.

As people of the Pacific, travel is in our blood, intrinsically etched into our DNA. In our pūrakau or creation stories, our Tūpuna were esteemed Kaihautu, navigators of the oceans, who mapped their path with the stars.

My son is named for a navigator – Nukutawhiti, the grandson of Kupe, who sailed the Ngātokimatawhaorua waka into the golden light of the Hokianga Harbour. Even now, my little Kaihautu lives up to his name. He draws us up maps, and off we go.

Our most recent travels saw us spend six weeks traversing Te Whenua Tawhito o nga iwi Moemoea – the ancient lands of The Dreaming tribes, otherwise known as Australia.

During this time, we got to step foot on Yaggera, Kabi Kabi, Jinibara, Dharug, and Gundungarra Country, each whenua unique and rich with story, memory, and often intense history.

As someone who works in the realms of the seen and unseen, it can be an energetically intense experience to walk in ancient places because I sense, feel, see, and hear the history of that land and those that have lived there.

The first thing that struck me walking on Country was how old it was, how much more history those lands held, good, bad, and otherwise, and how much was waiting to be acknowledged.

If there was one touch point that I took to heart on this trip, it was that acknowledgements to Country and its people are pivotal.

My final day on Country was the perfect weave of everything I hold dear when it comes to travelling. We spent time being whisked around Jinibara Country in a 4WD by BJ Murphy, a Dungidau man of the Jinibara Nation, who shared with us the highest of peaks and some of the lowest of lows, historically speaking.

It was breathtaking to connect to the vast beauty of this place but equally poignant to be touched by the depths of the mamae/sadness that has embedded itself there historically. As is our way, we mihi and acknowledged all and the sheer mana and resilience of our indigenous whānau of these lands.

Our final stop on the journey was to a pounamu-green waterhole. Diving into its stillness reminded me of home. Afterwards, we raced to watch the burning sunset light up the sky with its rosy glow.

I kept being urged to surrender my expectations and perceptions, and the deeper I dropped into this practice, the more the divinity of the journey unfolded. Our epic last day of adventure was proof that surrendering to the unknown could take you to magical places with equally magical people.

As I sit here back on home soil, I dream of what inspired our Tūpuna to set sail in their waka and how many times they had to surrender to the unknown.

Wherever you travel, take a breath wherever your feet land, acknowledge the land you stand on and the people of that place, surrender, and enjoy the beauty that unfolds.