Where to start.....

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.