So it’s been one month to the day since I arrived here in New Zealand. Thus far, I really haven’t travelled very far – I’ve been up and down the Northland region and Auckland, but have yet to truly get into the main part of the North Island. But you know what? That’s been perfectly fine with me! I’m really enjoying the slower pace style of travelling – being able to settle in for days at a time, see things that most travellers normally would skip right over, experience life at a more relaxed pace and simply be one with the world.
Okay, that last little part was just a joke, I’m far from having an existential experience down here. But still, New Zealand has be a pleasure for 31 days, and I’m looking forward to the remaining 300+ I still have. There are so many more things to see and do while I’m here – White Water raft the largest raft-able waterfall in the world (7m!), multi-day hiking, exploring the glaciers, bungy jumping, swimming with dolphins (I WILL swim with them at some point!), hang gliding, marry a kiwi girl, car camping, rock climbing, surfing, large scale farming, thermal pools, track down a kiwi bird, take in a rugby match…learn the rules of rugby, hit the beach on a warm enough day to lounge around on one, go fishing, and I’m sure much much more. I know some of them probably won’t happen (and I was kidding about marrying a kiwi), but there certainly is a lot I’m looking forward to doing. At a very slow, unplanned pace.
Speaking of unplanned, it both has and hasn’t been a departure for me so far on this trip. I still need to plan in advance WWOOFing host stays – usually 1-2 weeks in advance. But, I’ve been taking the more ‘let others decide my route’ type approach – I’m going where hosts have invited me to stay, rather than emailing specific hosts and asking to help them for a week or so. There have been and will be exceptions (I emailed my host in Kerikeri to stay up north), but 3/4 of my hosts so far have emailed me first. That number includes my next one, quite a bit further away from where I am now, in the area called the Bay of Plenty. I’ve got a week in between my current host and my next one, so I’m going to be returning to doing more touristy things, and possibly trying a 4-6 hour hike or two. And possibly doing a little car camping, if the weather looks good enough. Either way, I hope you have enjoyed following and reading my blog so far and continue to do so! If you have any suggestions, things you’d like to see me do or have ideas for me to try, I’m always up for changing my non-existant plans to something else. 🙂
