Written in Oct 2010.....
I'm not really quite sure how to start this entry, to start from where we are now, when we met or anywhere in between!!
The right now is that we live together in a little house with our little kitten who turned 1 a couple of months ago, we're both studying and working as hard as we can which means we have precious little time together. We know this wont be forever and the hard times now will be worth it in the future.
The start was a dorm room, alcohol and whipped cream.....need I say more!
The in between was travelling, soaking up the NZ sunshine and all its amazing sites along with trips to Fiji and Tonga. Coming back to England seems boring in comparison.
I moved up to Paihia with expectations of a nice quiet life, finding a job and generally enjoying not having to do anything too taxing or stressful! However on my arrival at the Mousetrap, it was clear that life was anything but quiet.....we frequented the local club and bars on a regular basis, went on long beach walks which involved ending up stuck in an area of incoming tide and being waist deep in water before being able to reach safety...not quite the quiet lifestyle I had planned! But in all honesty, I didn't mind. It was great to make new friends, see new places and be myself away from everything I had ever known.
Johannes and I got together and worked away saving all the money we could and eventually left Paihia February 2010. At the time I couldn't wait to leave, but now I can't wait to go back. Its strange how you can't stop thinking about a place once you have left it but can't wait to get away when you're there.
Our first stop was back in Auckland and then onto Tonga for a week in aid of my 23rd birthday. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We had our own Fale, hammocks and beach front views with very few other people around. It was in short the perfect week and exactly what we needed after working flat out.
After that it was back to New Zealand, we picked up our trusty little car (a 1988 Honda Civic Shuttle) and headed down to the South Island with a night in Extreme backpackers in Turangi on the way down. This was mainly to break up the journey and allow us to enjoy the roadtrip, after all we weren't there to rush things! We arrived in Wellington the night before our ferry, checked into the Marriott hotel and went out for dinner at the Flying Burrito Brothers where we met up with a friend who was working there at the time.
The next morning we got the ferry to Picton which was where our adventures really began. Watching the sunrise over Wellington while waiting to board the ferry was beautiful and something I still remember to this day.
It hasn't been easy, but it has been worth it.
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Inspiration
Having recently read a blog about a couple who met while travelling, I have been inspired to write my blog (when I remember to keep it up to date which with my hectic life seems illusive at times) about how we met, how we made it work and our life together now.
Settling back into English life still has its difficulties, even now after being back well over a year, but for the purposes of this blog I intend to fully let myself go back to remembering our Kiwi lifestyle and live in the hope we will return to the land of the long white cloud one day soon. I think once you have spent so much time travelling, and I mean more than just a few weeks, the experiences change you and you become a different person. I know I'm not the same person anymore and I have my NZ experience to thank for that.
Coming up to spending our 3rd Christmas together, the first time we met I never would have imagined things turning out this way. I went to New Zealand determined to get away from everything, everyone and especially relationships. Having had a series of failed attempts during my university years, I decided that after graduating I deserved some 'me' time and would make this trip about what was good for me and not to please some boy I was dating.
So I bravely headed from Hong Kong to Auckland, hopes high and boys out my mind completely. I had only been in the country a few short weeks when I met the person who was to change my life forever. Hindsight is a great thing, but I don't think there are many things I would change about my time in New Zealand, and the things I would change are ones which were out of my control anyway. Meeting Johannes is one of those things I wouldn't change for anything.
I have already blogged about whipped cream times, and I wont go into further detail about that but being friends first helped and hindered our relationship. Would we spoil our friendship? What would happen if things didn't work and we still had to live together? What if it did work and then we had to leave each other to go back to our normal lives, after all NZ was only a working holiday, and for me, only 6 months. But after some time thinking and talking about it, it was obvious we couldn't stop feelings happening so we gave in and decided to see how things went.
I don't think there was one person in that hostel that thought it was anything more than a bit of fun and not at all serious between us, but that couldn't have been further from what it was at all. So to the pessimistic views of our fellow travellers, we continued to work, live together and make each other happy. We both held down 2 jobs, both of us working in the hostel we lived in, whilst I worked nights in a Chinese restaurant and Johannes in 4Square for the extra money which would fund our travels around the South Island, Fiji and Tonga.
The rest they say is history.
Settling back into English life still has its difficulties, even now after being back well over a year, but for the purposes of this blog I intend to fully let myself go back to remembering our Kiwi lifestyle and live in the hope we will return to the land of the long white cloud one day soon. I think once you have spent so much time travelling, and I mean more than just a few weeks, the experiences change you and you become a different person. I know I'm not the same person anymore and I have my NZ experience to thank for that.
Coming up to spending our 3rd Christmas together, the first time we met I never would have imagined things turning out this way. I went to New Zealand determined to get away from everything, everyone and especially relationships. Having had a series of failed attempts during my university years, I decided that after graduating I deserved some 'me' time and would make this trip about what was good for me and not to please some boy I was dating.
So I bravely headed from Hong Kong to Auckland, hopes high and boys out my mind completely. I had only been in the country a few short weeks when I met the person who was to change my life forever. Hindsight is a great thing, but I don't think there are many things I would change about my time in New Zealand, and the things I would change are ones which were out of my control anyway. Meeting Johannes is one of those things I wouldn't change for anything.
I have already blogged about whipped cream times, and I wont go into further detail about that but being friends first helped and hindered our relationship. Would we spoil our friendship? What would happen if things didn't work and we still had to live together? What if it did work and then we had to leave each other to go back to our normal lives, after all NZ was only a working holiday, and for me, only 6 months. But after some time thinking and talking about it, it was obvious we couldn't stop feelings happening so we gave in and decided to see how things went.
I don't think there was one person in that hostel that thought it was anything more than a bit of fun and not at all serious between us, but that couldn't have been further from what it was at all. So to the pessimistic views of our fellow travellers, we continued to work, live together and make each other happy. We both held down 2 jobs, both of us working in the hostel we lived in, whilst I worked nights in a Chinese restaurant and Johannes in 4Square for the extra money which would fund our travels around the South Island, Fiji and Tonga.
The rest they say is history.
Monday, 11 April 2011
I should maintain my blog better
So once again I have let my blog go. Its been just over a year since my last post and gosh what a year it has been.
When I last blogged, I had been holidaying with the family for New Year, so I suppose I should really carry on from that point. The family left for England and I returned to Paihia. I don't think I have mentioned at this point that I had met a boy, not just a boy, a German boy at that. Having settled in Paihia, we became friends, ended up drunk on a night out and it kind of went from there. He joined us for our Christmas/New Year break and although neither of us were looking for a relationship whilst travelling but we had made the decision to spend the rest of our time in NZ together. He had already bought a car so it made sense to travel together.
I had initially only planned to stay in NZ for 6 months and return to the UK in January with the family after their visit. My tickets were booked, I had a place to study for my PhD starting in January and it seemed all planned out. However the German played a role in my choice to stay for longer.
So after several conversations with Qantas, I had rearranged my flights for the end of May so I could spend more time travelling and enjoying the NZ lifestyle.
We were both working as much as we could until early February to earn the maximum amount of money to be able to travel work-free. I was working 5 nights and some mornings in the Chinese (still hardly understanding anything that went on in the kitchen!) and the German was working full time in a local supermarket (at least he earnt over minimum wage!). It was summer, the weather was beautiful and things were good. We lived 70m from the beach which is where any free time was spent.
We left Paihia in February and moved back down to Auckland for a few days, the highlight of this being an AC/DC concert (which I actually enjoyed!). Our holiday then really began with a week in Tonga. It was just what we needed at the time. We stayed in the most beautiful hotel, Fafa Island Resort and it was lovely. We were well looked after and apart from the occasional lizard (which I hadn't been prepared for but should have anticipated being on a tropical island) it was perfect. We spent most of the holiday on the island relaxing and sunbathing, although we did have a couple of days out. This included my birthday present which was a day trip to Eua on a tiny little plane which seated about 8 people! We also took a day trip to the main island of Tonga and hired a car (in a very dodgy deal) for the day, which turned out to be a Mazda car with a Toyota key! The day saw us drive around the whole island and visit the main tourist highlights, which included making a quick exit when we were approached by a man with a machete!
On the whole it was just the week we needed and returned to NZ feeling good and looking forward to the rest of our NZ adventures!
When I last blogged, I had been holidaying with the family for New Year, so I suppose I should really carry on from that point. The family left for England and I returned to Paihia. I don't think I have mentioned at this point that I had met a boy, not just a boy, a German boy at that. Having settled in Paihia, we became friends, ended up drunk on a night out and it kind of went from there. He joined us for our Christmas/New Year break and although neither of us were looking for a relationship whilst travelling but we had made the decision to spend the rest of our time in NZ together. He had already bought a car so it made sense to travel together.
I had initially only planned to stay in NZ for 6 months and return to the UK in January with the family after their visit. My tickets were booked, I had a place to study for my PhD starting in January and it seemed all planned out. However the German played a role in my choice to stay for longer.
So after several conversations with Qantas, I had rearranged my flights for the end of May so I could spend more time travelling and enjoying the NZ lifestyle.
We were both working as much as we could until early February to earn the maximum amount of money to be able to travel work-free. I was working 5 nights and some mornings in the Chinese (still hardly understanding anything that went on in the kitchen!) and the German was working full time in a local supermarket (at least he earnt over minimum wage!). It was summer, the weather was beautiful and things were good. We lived 70m from the beach which is where any free time was spent.
We left Paihia in February and moved back down to Auckland for a few days, the highlight of this being an AC/DC concert (which I actually enjoyed!). Our holiday then really began with a week in Tonga. It was just what we needed at the time. We stayed in the most beautiful hotel, Fafa Island Resort and it was lovely. We were well looked after and apart from the occasional lizard (which I hadn't been prepared for but should have anticipated being on a tropical island) it was perfect. We spent most of the holiday on the island relaxing and sunbathing, although we did have a couple of days out. This included my birthday present which was a day trip to Eua on a tiny little plane which seated about 8 people! We also took a day trip to the main island of Tonga and hired a car (in a very dodgy deal) for the day, which turned out to be a Mazda car with a Toyota key! The day saw us drive around the whole island and visit the main tourist highlights, which included making a quick exit when we were approached by a man with a machete!
On the whole it was just the week we needed and returned to NZ feeling good and looking forward to the rest of our NZ adventures!
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