My recent trip to New Zealand was a well overdue one. It had been 15 years since I was last there. Time can certainly get away on one.

Time has flown by.
The last time I saw any of my aunts, uncles or cousins was at my mother’s funeral, now over 17 years ago. Phone and email is certainly not the same as knocking on their door. Email communication was even lost when my aunt changed internet providers which also changed her email address.

A short trip to Motueka was planned.
A few weeks before I was due to take off from San Antonio, my sister sent me a DM on Twitter. She said “we can do a 2-3 day trip while you are here, where would you like to go?”. I did not have to think twice, and immediately sent a reply: “Motueka to see our Aunt and cousins”.

Motueka is located at the North West tip of the South Island in the province of Marlborough.

The late fall weather was nice to me as it gave many days of sunshine.
Despite the fact that May is late fall, the weather was actually quite nice for the most part. Most days were sunny at least during the first 10 days or so. Then as the days approached for the trip to Motueka, the rain started coming down.

We took the inner route across the Lewis Pass.
Finally our plans to travel via the coast were abandoned and we took the inland route across the Lewis Pass. It is a beautiful scenic route, and of course the mountains were capped with snow.

It turned out to be very sunny in the center of the island. In fact we enjoyed the sun for the complete trip while Christchurch suffered a week of cold rain.

The drive from Christchurch to Motueka is a pleasant 5-6 hour trip including stops to enjoy the scenery. A longer stop was made for lunch by the falls.

Motueka is a small town, so it was easy to follow the directions straight to our aunt’s apartment. I got out of the car and knocked on the door and the door was opened by a very healthy looking lady smiling at me.

Our aunt is 82 years old and hardly looks 70. In the course of conversation I had to ask “are you taking any medications at all?” Nope, nothing. Some vitamins now and again.

So what then is her secret? Right diet, organic foods. That’s the example I am following.

• How about you?
• What do you want to look like at 82 years old?
• How do you want to feel? What do you want to still be able to do?

The time to decide that is now. The time to start working towards those goals is now!

Here’s something to get you started on checking your diet habits – a free ebook – “No Pain”.

Make your life healthy and happy!