What to Do When Things Are Not Working Out

Sarah Marino

Sarah Marino is a nature photographer, nature enthusiast, and writer based in rural southwestern Colorado in the United States. Sarah values open-mindedness, adaptability, and a dedication to the craft of photography in her creative practice, taking a slow and quiet approach focused on exploration, connecting with nature, and seeing opportunity in any landscape.

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In October 2025, I went on a month-long trip to New Zealand’s South Island with my husband and fellow nature photographer Ron Coscorrosa. By the time we arrived, we had driven six hours to the nearest international airport and taken three flights, totalling about two days of travel, to get to Christchurch, the South Island’s largest city. Next, we picked up our campervan, marvelling at the fact that the rental company just handed over the keys to a lumbering vehicle to two jet-lagged tourists who had never driven on the opposite side of the road.

We originally planned this trip for 2020 to celebrate milestone birthdays for both of us.

As we headed for our first destination along the West Coast, travelling up through the mountainous roads winding through Arthur’s Pass National Park, we remarked about the strength of the wind and heaviness of the rain, assuming it would ease up as we descended back toward the coast. Except for a few brief windows of respite, this wind and rain did not ease up for the next two weeks, and continued in long spurts for the rest of the trip. Slips, or mudslides as we call them in the United States, and downed trees closed down most of the roads leaving the West Coast and left a big portion of the island without power. Heavy rains caused extensive flooding, and as we travelled through the island’s southeastern region, we saw hundreds of non-native trees, previously growing in orderly hedgerows, uprooted and resting on the ground due to the strong winds.