Belmont Park Retreat

I came from Wellington on the train and was greeted by a man with gray hair and a sweet smile. This was Ian. We drove into the hills, until we reached a little house next to a river. Here I met his wife, Alicia, and their daughter, Indigo. I started off straight away planting trees, and Ian brought me tea (with milk and honey) for an afternoon break.


The first couple of days were long and labor-intensive, as we dug holes and planted lots of trees. Hard work! I was so proud of my blisters and sore muscles. But after the work was done, it was so nice just to wander around the property. Bexie arrived a few days after me, and in our free time we knitted together and watched movies, went hiking, and swapped stories.

More people started arriving for the meditation retreat and everyone went into silence. Bexie and I were on cooking duty, so we made meal plans and sorted through the pantry searching for ingredients. It was fun, while everyone else was meditating silently, we were talking and laughing in the kitchen. But then we'd make sure to be quiet when the others came in from meditation.

She taught me a lot of new recipes. Here we're chopping a pumpkin that turned into pumpkin soup, pumpkin hummus, and roast pumpkin frittata. (We both love pumpkin.) There was baked bread, vegetable stir-fry, and banana curry.

Between cooking, we got to sit in on the meditation, 45-minute sits that sometimes lasted forever. The monk who taught was from Sri Lanka, and we called him Bhante Ji. He had a special meal plan; porridge for breakfast, curry for lunch, and cheese and chocolate and tea for dinner. We served him all of this on a silver tray.

After the retreat was over, and everyone came out of silence (and complimented the meals), Alicia took us hiking, and this was the view of their valley.


On my last night Bexie and I decided to cook, even though we'd been in the kitchen all weekend. This is the night we made the frittata and I made an apple crumble, and we had a nice dinner saying goodbye. They were such a sweet family, in their peaceful little valley. I loved staying with them, and am so glad I met Bexie.