One of the main reasons I'm here in New Zealand right now is to celebrate the very beautiful relationship of two of the most wonderful people in the world, Phoebe and Shane.Phoebe and I have shared many things. Primary school, high school, a flat in Cuba Street, a flat in Tasman Street and a night or two in a hotel room in Mumbai once.
I was there the moment she met Shane, and we all shared a house and many cups of tea and glasses of wine, after that.
So when I stopped into see the two of them at their house in Te Marua, almost a year ago, and they told me they'd decided to get married, I decided to do my best to make it.
Fast forward a year, and we are at Soulscape, an eco resort just outside of Raglan, NZ. Family and friends have gathered for the weekend to eat, drink, sing and celebrate.
The morning after arriving, I opened my eyes to the inside of a teepee. I could hear the ever-vocal Tui calling out across the valley, and see a small square of sunshine through the exposed point of the construction. A fly quietly hummed his way about inside, trying to find the exit.
The next evening I would find myself going to sleep to the call of the Morepork, and I could so vividly imagine him proudly squatting on a branch somewhere, keeping a keen watch over the night time landscape.
On Saturday afternoon we prepared the forest for the wedding, hanging bunting and lanterns, making salads and setting tables. It is the first wedding I've been to where the bride, in a very relaxed manner, decided to delay the ceremony by an hour because the groom was late back from a morning surf.
Before the ceremony, the women walked together through the forest to meet the men, who were waiting in the teepee clearing.
And then all 35 of us sat inside of the biggest teepee, with paper cranes hanging from the 'roof', as the couple exchanged poems, thoughts, and rings. And I sat the entire time, with a tiny continual tear squeaking its way out of my right eye.
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