Hi! It’s been a while since I have had two spare mins to type my own name since arriving in NZ. I am on the home stretch now, two weeks left of warmth, family and friends before heading back to the freezing temperatures of London.
Home has been exciting - my sis’ wedding, Christmas, New Year’s, a roadie, another wedding this time in Sydney and now back to Auckland to spend time with friends and family.
I have had a great time being with my friends who have known me forever. One night before Christmas the three of us were laughing like teenagers, causing a husband to say ‘Look at the state of you lot!’ It was like we had never been apart. It’s been amazing meeting the kids as well. They are so cute and have really begun to grow up and have personalities.
I always find New Year an odd time. There is a huge pressure for an amazing night, which if I am honest never really happens. I have a good time, but throughout the year I have amazing nights that are normally better than New Year. I also find it a time for reflection, goal setting and wondering what the future holds for me. This New Year had the added interesting addition of a tropical cyclone thrown in. Nothing like tenting in the pouring rain.
I woke up on New Years Eve at about 2am to see that my tent was still standing in a thunder storm with torrential rain. And then could not get back to sleep. I had to get up at 6am to pick up some friends from the airport in Auckland and then head back up to the beach where we were going to welcome the New Year in with a cocktail party. So I was a tad jaded and tired when I accepted my first cocktail – a vodka, champagne concoction. And then the fun began, there was really no time for reflection amongst the laughing, the dancing in the rain like hippies and the singing along to a friend on the guitar. However, it was during a rendition of ‘You better be home soon’, that I began to wonder when I would be home again. I have been encouraged by my friends to come home sooner rather than later. For the first time in a long time someone has put that into words and it made me sad.
But not for long. We had an awesome night and I fell into bed and passed out. The next day the roadie of Northland began and we had a ball. I laughed pretty much constantly for three days straight. I got to drive again, which is way more tiring than I remember, and also see some places that I had never been to before. I was disappointed to see how commercial Paihia has become. I remember being there in my early 20’s, but I guess things move on. So we headed further north to KeriKeri and camped there. It was cool to show off my country to both a Kiwi who had never been that far north and a Brit who had never been to NZ.
It was sad to say goodbye to them when they headed further South and I headed out to Sydney. One of the hardest things about travelling is the amount of goodbyes that you have to say. You form bonds very quickly through shared experiences, but often they are only for short times. I hate the fact that when you say goodbye you never know when you are going to see someone again. It is the one thing about travelling that I absolutely hate. And everyone knows how I cope with goodbye. I was very good and waited till I was driving away before having a good old meltdown. Luckily, I was not far from one of my fav beaches.
Piha is a great place to have a think and a recharge. And whilst I still don’t have the answers to the questions that this New Year has bought me, I am a step closer I think. I love being out there and when I got there, it was teeming with people and the sun was shining, who can’t be happy with that?
So what did you do for New Year? Did you make resolutions? Do you find it a reflective time or a party time? Are you as bad as me at goodbye?
No comments:
Post a Comment