All good things...

Have to come to an end...

We all know that, but oh my, what a good thing we've had. 

We are coming up to our last week in New Zealand. I can't believe we've been here for just under a year. What a year we've had. When we decided to come to NZ I had no idea what to expect or how the year would pan out. On reflection, it has been pretty much perfect and I feel like we've had luck on our side. All we knew was that we wanted a van to travel around in and that we hoped we'd find work along the way. We had made a rough timeline of where we wanted to be, based on the wildlife we wanted to see and the fact that we wanted to be South for winter. That timeline changed frequently but that's the fun of travelling. As you may have read, we ended up tavelling the Northland twice, so we could help with the Kumara Harvest in Daragaville. We had rushed the Northland a little the first time anyway. We also met an amazing family in Auckland so we spent a fair bit of time there too. These moments have made our experience so special though. We then travelled down the West coast to the South Island. We spent 2 months in the South, maybe less than we had thought but most of our highlights are down there - everything in Wanaka, the bars in Queenstown, a boat ride into Milford, Skiing at Cardrona, The Glaciers, Otago Peninsula and whale watching and sea kayaking in Kaikoura. We weren't that nervous about living in a van in winter in the South and we were right not to be, it wasn't bad at all. Yes, it sometimes took an hour for our toes to warm up and yes, one morning the inside of our van was ice but these experiences are all part of the fun.

At one point I was a little nervous about finding work again. Down South most work required you to stay in a hostel so that would have been too expensive and a waste of our van. We were so lucky to find work in the Bay of Plenty and the fact we stayed nearly 4 months shows how much we enjoyed it. It's been interesting working with a mix of people and seeing the levels of work ethic. We have really loved working outdoors and getting stuck in with a variety of jobs.

In terms of van life, I have mixed feelings. I love the luxury of waking up in different places every morning, having the time to see everything, experiencing amazing sunrises, sunsets and milky ways, driving around your home with all you need in it, living in a small space (hey if you can live happily in a small van with your partner for a year I think that's a good test), leaving no waste and enjoying time together with time to read etc. However, we've been a little surprised with the atmosphere at some of the free camps. Some of the free camps are great but sometimes fellow campers don't even look up or say hi. We have met some amazing people though who we'll stay in touch with. The locals have always been so kind and helpful. I've lost count of the amount of people who offered us dinner, a shower or a place to stay for a night. Some of the places we've camped are memorable too - like staying by the side of the road in Manganui or waking up in the centre of Dunedin with people going to work arouns us. NZ is kind to freedom campers, but if we're not careful, soon there won't be any spots left. So many people leave litter and a lot don't give anything back to the small towns who offer a free spot to camp. Ok we might be the worst backpackers, but if there's a pub across the road, go and meet the locals and give some money back! I have loved finding random outdoor showers (even in winter) and randomly using our solar shower by the side of the road. Spacial awareness, however, is very important if you're going to love in a van - I probably bumped my head at least once a day.

It sounds very cheesy and contrived but travelling really is so important and it continues to make you think, reflect and wonder. I do believe I've changed a little this year. I am definitely more relaxed and I try not to worry about little things so much. I've enjoyed doing seasonal work and travelling, but I like to feel that I've got a purpose so I'm looking forward to finding that again. We have a few ideas on what we'd like to do next.

So that's us packed up, trying to sell our van and ready to go to the airport on the 11th. A 17 hour flight to Dubai then 8 hours to Edinburgh. We didn't have any jetlag coming here but this time it might be a different story. Thanks for keeping up to date and I'll write to you soon.

X gf v x 

P.s. here are some of my favourite photos: