24th September 2018

When I came out to New Zealand almost 8 months ago, I had no idea what would happen. Would I do okay on my own? Would I make friends, find work, challenge myself and maybe even feel at home here?

I discovered my love of travel over a decade ago now but it’s still only in recent years that I’ve travelled alone. And while I have pushed myself in various ways over the last half a dozen years, I still struggle with any kind of change and my self confidence. How would I cope leaving all that’s familiar behind?

Well. It’s not always been easy but then I didn’t expect it to be. As anyone who knows me well knows, I love quotes and there’s one writing that describes this perfectly.

‘Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.’

I found this to be true when I spent 4 months traveling three years ago and it’s certainly still true now- though I am still working on the leaving something good behind part. I hope showing small kindness’ to people as I go is a good place to start. Pay it forward and all that.

Near on two months into my stay here I found myself still struggling. Not because I wanted to go home but more because I couldn’t stop thinking of all I had left behind. I’d spent 10 years working for the same company and had spent the last couple of years making a decent career out of it. I have a good group of friends even if I didn’t get to see them as much as I’d like and my life was pretty stable if not that enjoyable on a day to day basis. For someone who finds new things scary, it was difficult to remember why I had thought coming to the other side of the world was a good idea.

Still there was no question that I wanted to get past this mind-set and I would soon find a way to, in the form of wwoofing.
In 3 months I wwoofed in 3 different places, making new friends with my bosses, other woofers and the animals I was helping to look after. Along the way I travelled a few new places in the north island and met some great people along the way.

I decided early on to apply for my 2nd year Visa as I needed it done by my next birthday to be eligible. This came with it’s own issues as some of my medical tests came back with abnormalities so what should have been a month long process took over 2 months with me worrying for a good part of it that something could be wrong with me (there wasn’t guys just so you know).

Coming back to Rotorua to visit my first wwoofing place where I had come to look at my ‘boss'and family as just that, family, I was finally feeling confident and ready to start working before my visit home in August. The -rough- plan was to spend the week catching up with the family and Hannan the other woofer and perhaps do some wwoofing myself before spending my last 6 weeks or so traveling and /or working.

Of course nothing ever seems to go to plan and this was no different What would follow would be the not so pretty side to traveling.

Having gone hiking with Hannan I had a bad accident, one which quite honestly could have cost me my life. Thanks to Hannans quick actions I somehow only suffered -relatively- minor injuries and was expected to make a full recovery.

Without the amazing support of those I met in Rotorua I don’t know how I would have coped. Well. Yes I do. I would have been on a plane home at the first opportunity. But thanks to my Nz ‘family’ and the support of new and old friends, I made it through the next two months slowly getting my mobility back.

Given my struggles in the past I was surprised at how few meltdowns I had over everything that had happened. And I think it says a lot that despite my accident my prearranged visit home would remain just that. A visit. I would be coming back to New Zealand as planned and see out the rest of my Visa which I had recently found out was now a two year one.

Now almost 3 months since my accident I’m back in New Zealand. In the three weeks since I’ve been back, I spent some time in Auckland meeting with a friend I made back here 3 years ago and also enjoyed going to my 3rd concert in New Zealand- Pink.

I’ve spent a week traveling with a friend from home where I got used to driving the roads a bit more and found my passion for exploring being awakened for the first time in awhile. I got to share some of the places that made me fall in love with this country to begin with and also supposedly reacted with childlike excitement at us watching Orcas off the coast on only the 3rd day of our trip. Well. I say us...but really just me...Will saw a fin but couldn’t make anything else out after that brief glimpse.

I’m now back at my Nz home again and job hunting. I’m nervous of what’s next and unsure of what I want to do work wise but I’m excited to see what happens in the next year.

A few short years ago I never would have imagined I would be living half way around the world and yet here I am. All I can do is say yes to the opportunities that come my way and live with as few regrets as possible.

So I hope to continue- or perhaps more accurately begin- my writing again so that I can both share my life and experiences here down under and also record what I hope will be an amazing account to look back on in the future.

I may do some short shots from moments that have happened over the past few months. But either way I will try and do regular updates of what I’m up to...for your entertainment if nothing else, so stick with me and I’ll d my best 