Looking for the key to a happy life? According to my 11-year-old, it’s simple: “Big stick equals happy kid”.
As we walked along a breathtaking stretch of coastline in New Zealand, that is what my son Augie shouted to me with glee.
Globally, we spend billions chasing happiness. Think fast cars, designer clothes, weight-loss pills and endless recommendations from social media influencers. In Augie’s world, find a stick as tall as yourself and just walk.
For the next four hours, he proceeded to clutch that natural pole as we trekked 10km in search of fur seals, just south of windy Wellington.
He hit things with it. He dug it into the sand. He poked at rocks and seaweed. He whirled it above his head and used it like a golf club – all with constant joy.
Known for its stone formations and crimson red rocks, this rugged beach is nothing like the stretches we have on the Sunshine Coast: it is wild and woolly.
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My boots crunched on grey rocks and gritty sand as I looked out to a fierce horizon with angry waves crashing to shore. Dozens of shipwrecks lie on the bottom of that ocean.
Our walk was pure bliss. Hundreds of huge seagulls that were seemingly on steroids flapped and flocked. Paua shells glistened with their purple and green iridescent bands as they sat flat in the sunshine.
We were fixated by the horizon where headlands were covered in low-lying mist as we followed the twists and turns in search of those fur seals.
Our commitment to the walk was rewarded tenfold when we saw dozens and dozens of glorious seals basking on the rocks only a few metres away from us.
We felt as though we were on the very edge of the world and it reminded me how special Mother Nature can be.
But the thing I will remember most about this miraculous day is Augie’s obsession with that stick – his pure happiness and contentment from something so simple.
I did a little poking around (pardon the pun) and found an online site dedicated to people posting pictures of themselves and their sticks. Official Stick Reviews has 3.5m followers, with thousands of happy stick-holders.
May my boy, and all of you, find your great stick!
Sami Muirhead is a radio announcer, blogger and commentator, wife and mum of three.
