About Me

An 'Interesting' Childhood

My full name is Sarla Morningstar Blackbird Donovan and I grew up a free-range kid under a mountain in small-town New Zealand - Kaikoura.

It was the 1970’s and my father built a house around us using demolition materials; we had candles and kerosene lamps (no electricity) and my mother cooked cornbread and jam tarts on a coal range. Laundry was done in a wood-fired copper and we didn’t get a television until 1982 when New Zealand made it into the Football World Cup.

It was an interesting way to grow up! We left for the city when I was 13 but I still love being in nature and especially being close to the mountains.

My First Overseas Adventure

Because I had a family young, travelling is something I’ve only recently been able to do. My 20’s were taken up with study, being a mum and a teacher and it wasn’t till my late 30’s that I had my first overseas adventure, to south India with my mother.

It’s definitely off the beaten path but my mother has been a Buddhist nun for the past 33 years and southern India is home to several big Tibetan monasteries and refugee communities.

Anyone who’s travelled with a parent knows it can be challenging but in this instance, it made things easier especially as she spoke Tibetan. Those three weeks in Bangalore, Kerala and Bylakuppe taught me that travelling isn’t just about physically moving from one place to another; it takes you through space and time.

Seeing scores of red-robed monks debating in a vast stone courtyard; villagers cooking on open fires, ploughing fields with oxen, washing laundry in rivers….it gave me glimpses into a way of life so far removed from my personal experience I can only describe it as a kind of time travel. 

The Magic of Coming Home

I still remember landing back in Christchurch in harsh January sunlight and the shock of seeing the clean and orderly streets, clear skies and clipped, green lawns. I will never forget that feeling of coming back – it was like my eyeballs had been peeled, (in a good way).

Coming home is still one of the things I love best about going away. I’m lucky enough to now live in the beautiful seaside village of Sumner with my partner and his 10-year-old. We’re close to the ocean but can see the mountains, which is pretty special. 

The More You See, The More You Want to See

Since India I’ve been to lots of places, from New York to Nepal and what they say is completely true - that the more you see the more you want to see. My aim on this blog is to share insights and experiences from my own trips, along with interviews with people who’ve had inspiring, intrepid or just plain interesting adventures. A year ago I got a gorgeous dog called Rudy, so I don’t usually travel for periods longer than a few weeks. But I reckon just because you’re a mid-lifer with responsibilities doesn’t mean you can’t dream, plan and execute amazing trips! Maybe I’ll even do one with Rudy one of these days. I look forward to sharing them with you.