12 - Bye Bye Big Sarah ....

I returned to the Pattersons, and again it was like coming home, like I had never left.

I slotted right back into their family, and had a great time catching up with all the kids ... and of course Jo :)

Hannah has a friend called Sarah, and so to distinguish between who they were talking about, I was referred to as 'Big Sarah' by Keith, and the name just stuck.

They had moved up to their B&B Lodge, and it was great! It's a fantastic place to play hide and seek!  We had lots of fun on the bush walk, hiding army men for the garden fairies to marry, building assault courses out of logs and feeding the sheep.  (incidentally, I discovered that I am terrified of them!)

The winter was just coming, so the majority of the outdoor sports were finished with.  The kids still did swimming and other clubs, but no more cricket.

Jo and I used the majority of my time here to research the apocalypse, and how to protect ourselves from elctro-magnetic radiation ... it started out as a little joke, however Jo then went on to stock a medical box and buy seeds and rice 'just in case!'. 

Jo was massively into homeopathy and healthy eating ... and I took a great interest in picking her brains and finding out as much as I could about it all.  I made a conscious decision to implement some of her knowledge into my daily life :)

Hannah was like my little limpet whilst I was there, as she knew this time when I left it would be for considerably longer ...

My BUNAC Friend Phil, whom I spent New Years with on Waiheke Island came up to visit me, and wasa novelty with the boys.  Zak wanted to talk computers with him, Cooper wanted to play Scooby-Doo on the playstation and Keith just wanted to play anything.  It's safe to say I didn't get a look in that weekend!

While he was here we went on a trip to New Plymouth, with a girl who also au-paired for a family in Stratford.  We had a night out with Jo and her friends, and went to the Cinema.

I spent a whole month with them, but it felt like just a week.  All too soon it was time to leave ...

I applied for my tax refund, and all was approved, packed my bag, cried my eyes out and went on a coach to Auckland.  I was fully prepared and ready to sleep in the airport (wouldn't be the first time...) But Jo had paid for a hotel for me, and so I had a night of absolute luxury before my flight back to England*

*Notice how I say England, and not 'home'!

The flight was ok, although long with a couple of stop offs.  I managed to have a shower in the airport in Dubai - although didn't have a towel, so dried myself with a dirty shirt ...

I landed at Heathrow...and burst into tears! I collected my bag, and after spending a year away with friendly Kiwis, it shocked me how rude and unhelpful people are in London!

I got on ANOTHER flight, to Manchester .... so that Adam could pick me up ... WITH MY BESTEST FRIEND!

I got through the doors at arrivals, and saw them both standing there - they had never met, but arranged on Facebook for him to pick her up to come and get me and take me back home :)

It was so good to see them :)

We finally got home, and my family were all waiting at my house for me, along with my other best friend.

I missed them while I was away, but seriously when I got back everything was the same.  I knew that nothing drastic had happened, but still I was surprised at how 'normal' everything was.  And why wouldn't it be?  The world doesn't stop turning just because you're not around to see it do so.

I had a small bout of the "poor me's" on my return ... I guess it was just hard adjusting to a 'normal' life after having such a great adventure for the past year.

My advice to anyone is to travel.  Anywhere.  I truly believe there is nothing better for person than to widen their knowledge - and what better way to do that than to go and experience life in a different culture, with different customs and ideals.  Travel until you feel like you've seen what you want to.  Don't say to yourself 'maybe one day ...' because before you know it 'maybe one day...' will have turned into 'I wish I had...'. Just do it.

I made some (hopefully) lifelong friends, and shared some lovely memories with what I guess you could call strangers :)

I learnt more about myself in one year than I had in the past 20. Whilst I had and made friends, I essentially travelled by myself. I realised the kind of person I am, the things I want and the things I don't. At home it can sometimes be easy to get persuaded into things, because it's the 'norm'. Whilst I was away, I was responsible for my own actions and my own experiences. I had the best of times. I'm not saying some of it wasn't difficult at times, but I remain firm in saying it was the best year of my life. I know this may sound a bit ... preachy/cheesy ... but it's what I firmly believe.  I had the best year doing the best stuff!

A quote from one of my favourite books (actually one of the ones I am holding Ransom until Lizz comes to get it ... in APRIL!) is as follows:

"No man is brave that has never walked a hundred miles. If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name. Travel is the great leveler, the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueler than mirror-glass. A long stretch of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet introspection"

 

 

 

My bags and my boy :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11 - A 'best' hot chocolate hunt, pyramid beer pong, ice skating and a friend for life ... must be Autumn in Queenstown :)

After returning from Thailand, I said my goodbyes to Claire (who was off over the water to AUSTRALIA MATE!) and made my way to the Base hostel in Auckland.

Now, I had very little money left, after having some of it stolen in Thailand (word of warning ... do not fall to sleep on the overnight coach from Bangkok!  Claire and I both had our bags at our feet and were robbed.  fortunately for me, it was just money.  Unfortunately for Claire, it was money and some things of a sentimental value rather than a money one.  I would like to point out that whilst inconvenient and obviously unkind, this is not the thing I focus on when I think about Thailand ... definitely not!)

It was Easter Bank holiday when I arrived back in Auckland, and my flight to Queenstown wasn't for a couple of days...

BUT WHAT A COUPLE OF DAYS I HAD!!!

Like I said, I had very little money and it was Easter bank holiday.  This meant that the money I had transferred from my English account wouldn't clear, and I didn't have my credit card (which I brought for scenarios like this!) because it had expired and though my mum had sent me a new one, it hadn't arrived in the post!

I had just enough to get by (mostly!) and checked into Base.  There I met some really very wonderful girls ... Mathilde, Synne and Anna.  We quickly became good friend, got 'suited and booted' and dressed up fancy to enjoy a very fancy pants dinner ... of instant noodles in the Base hostel.  I learnt a fantastic new card game with them called 'games' and laughed A LOT.  Goes to show ... money can't buy you happiness! :)

The next day we had a really exciting day ... bungee jumping (I watched, due to my lack of funds!) hair cuts, piercings ... the next day Synne and Mathilde had to leave so we went out that night to play pool and met some really good pool players.  We had a few beers and made a few other friends.

After our goodbyes to Synne and Mathilda, Anna and I hung out in the city.  Anna had previously couch surfed, and was meeting another possible host.  We went to meet him and went for a burger (he paid ... winner!  Having no money is surprisingly easy when you have a loud and charming Italian girl with you!).  Anna persuaded me to get a tattoo with her that night!  She said she owuld pay and I could just wire her the money at some other point (how very trusting! I did so a couple of weeks later).  So we went to a tattoo shop in Auckland, and whilst Anna was getting hers done (A silver fern) I was doodling away and copying some of the other designs.

The tattoo-ist looked at what I was doing ... and long story short offered to hire me and teach me how to tattoo!!!!!  WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY!

I would say I am sad to say, but I'm not because everything worked out great, that I didn't take him up on this.  Auckland was my least favourite place in New Zealand, I had a ticket to Queenstown and my very good friend Lizz was already there.  So after much deliberation and pro's and con's lists, I turned it down, whilst thanking him profusely!  He let me do half of my own tattoo, which was on my foot and hurt like a beeatch.

After Anna left, I got talking to one of the guys we met playing pool, Matthew.  We talked about heaps of stuff, including our travel plans, our views on life, Adam (mostly me on that one haha) but most importantly we talked about my favourite book...

My Swedish friend Eve told me about a book called 'The book theif'.  She described it to me as the most heartbreakingly beautiful thing she has ever read, and so I was eager to read it.  As chance would have it, I found a battered up old copy of it in the first hotel we stayed at in Bangkok!  I read it within 3 days and I totally fell in love with it.  I left the book at another hotel, becuase I truly believe that everyone should read it!  I described this book with so much passion to Matt, that he went out and bought it!

Now, Matt was aware of my no money situation, and insisted on taking me out for a 'good dinner'.  I finally agreed (I didn't want his pity!) and expected to go to Wendys or McDonalds ... but nope - he had a table booked at the revolving restaurant in Auckland, AND He had brought me a present!

The present was a copy of the book theif.  He told me that everyone should have a copy of the book they love that much.  We talked endlessly about human nature and morals ... and his gift to me put a little more faith in humanity.  Thank you Matt, it's great that there are people like you around :)

I had expected a bit of a lonely quiet stay in Auckland, but instead, because of the truly friendly and wonderful people I met, it was anything but.

The flight into Queenstown was beeeeeeeeeeeeeutiful!  Canadian Lizz had her housemate drive her to the airport to meet me ... and MAN DID WE HUG!!!!

Within a week I had a room in a house sorted and despite it being 'quiet' season, I got a job in a bar/cafe.

Queenstown is so beautiful it's unreal.  I was there during Autumn, and one of the most vivid memories I have is walking by the lake with Lizz, wrapped up in scarves and gloves, drinking from our Ramones thermos flasks.  A breeze came along and blew a million yellow, red and bronze leaves up into the air.  It remains to this day one of my favourite moments :)

Lizz and I became such good friends.  She is a girl after my own heart, and I love her dearly.  we have many shared interests and hobbies, and she is just a beautiful person :)

A couple of weeks after I arrived, Adam was due to get to Queenstown.  Unfortunately, I was working when he got there!  I hadn't told him where my work was, so whilst wiping the bar down, I glanced up at the window ... and there he was!

He came and lived with me, for just $30 more a week to my landlord. 

Our friend Oli from Paihia was also in Queenstown.  He is an absolute sweetheart with the brightest of outlooks, and a fantastic cook!

I met Faye (the BUNACer I originally wanted to be BFFs with ... she is an absolute sweetheart and is really funny!) and made some other new friends - my housemates.  I cheated a bit and baked cookies on my first night - so they HAD to like me ... who doesn't love a cookie maker?!

I could write endlessly about Queenstown, but in all honesty, I didn't have that many shifts, and we really didn't 'do' much.  We watched a lot of movies, walked alot, and spent a lot of time just enjoying the town :)  The time I spent here was really good, in a hundred different ways.

I had mulled wine (in MAY!), ice skated, enjoyed many delicious dinners with good friends, went bowling, drank from teapots, learnt I am TERRIBLE at Frisbee golf, did daily rounds of the swwet shops and cookie shop to sample all of their freebies  and fell somehow even more in love with New Zealand.

Although a hard decision to make, I decided that I would go and stay with the Pattersons for one more month.  They were such a huge part of my experience that I knew I would regret it forever if I didn't.  They were more than happy to accomodate this request :)

Adam left Queenstown, to make his way back home to England, with brief stop offs in LA and Hawaii.  Whilst I had my doubts about what it would be like for us as a couple back in England, I knew that if it was meant to be, it would be. 

I said a very hard goodbye to the sister of my soul, and told her that I had packed her 2 favourite books in my suitcase, and that she could have them when she came to get them.  In England.

I flew back up to Auckland, and again had no money (as I said, it was quiet season!  My rent was $165/week.  One week my pay check was $167...)  I got off the bus and Faye was stood right in front of me! She was headed home soon, but was spending some time in Auckland with a friend. I visited the tattoo man to say hi, and he touched up the part of my tattoo that had not healed properly.

I was $1.50 short of enough money to stay in the Base hostel!  As luck would have it, I bumped into someone that lives in Stratford and was a regular at the pub I worked at.  He kindly helped me out with the $1.50, and I embarassingly let him!  I had a tin of spaghetti and a bread roll in the space of 48 hours and I didn't die of hunger!

Queenstown was the period of my travels where I had the least amount of money.  Equally, it may be where I had the most amount of happiness.

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10 - Part of that world :)

April 2012

The super incredible thing I did in Thailand for 3 days? 

SCUBA DIVING!

Claire and I now have our PADI open water diving qualification.

Thailand is probably the cheapest place in the world to learn to dive, so Claire and I figured 'when in Rome' (or Thailand, as the case may be).

So we spent 3 days learning a heap of technical stuff about diving, practising in the pool and doing tests in the classroom.

We also did 2 beach dives and 2 dives at a place called Sail rock, which is arguably the best dive site in the gulf of Thailand.

I was blown away by the beach dive, it's so calm and beautiful down there, no one can talk to you and you just SEE.

I saw a clown fish and its baby playing in an anemone ... I actually saw Marlin and Nemo :)

It felt like a whole new world..

As I said I was totally blown away by the beach dives, but they were nothing in comparison to our dive at Sail Rock!!  After a pretty sketchy start on the boat - it was VERY stormy and I was sick twice - we got all our gear on and jumped in.  It was so rough on the surface but as soon as we were under the water it was a different story.

As cheesy and cliche as it sounds, I actually felt like Ariel from the little mermaid.  There is so much to see and so many colours, and so many fish just swimming right by you, close enough to touch!

Sail Rock has a natural 'chimney' in it, where you can enter into the middle of the rock and swim right up to the surface.  Being such a Disney fan, it felt like that's where the inspiration came from for Ariels' grotto - where she keeps all her 'gadgets and gizmos'.

Scuba Diving in Thailand was one of the best activities I have ever done, bring on the Great Barrier Reef!

The 'Chimney'

9 - Khop khun kha Thailand, I had a blast!

April 2012


And so it was time to live New Zealand ... only temporarily of course!  My destination? THAILAND.


I met up with Claire in Auckland, and stayed with her for a night.  For a huge portion of her time here in New Zealand she lived with 2 lovely women called Helen and Lucy, who knew her mum from England.  They are very hospitable and had me to stay a couple of times.


Claire and I had no real plan for Thailand, we booked a couple nights accommodation in Bangkok for the first 2 days, but beyond that we were just going to see what happened ...


We flew to Thailand with a brief airport stop in Kuala Lumpur.


On arrival to Bangkok, we managed to hail down a Tuk Tuk (typical transport, in Bangkok anyway) and after having a chat with a dude, we headed to the International Booking Office to see about what we fancied doing.


We decided on Southern Thailand, to an Island called Koh Phangan in the Gulf of Thailand.  The overnight coach, return ferry rides, hotel transfer and 7 nights accommodation cost us the equivalent of 97 GBP.  Honest.


We made the most of our time in Bangkok, although I quickly decided it wasn't my kind of place.  We visited the Palace and a lot of temples, ate some wonderful food and were regular visitors to Khao San Road - the main 'backpacker' street.


Bangkok was busy, dirty and a bit overwhelming.  Our lack of Thai knowledge probably made it harder too, and as much as I am very glad I visited, I'm in no rush to get back.


Southern Thailand on the other hand ... Wow.


After one heck of a wait for our overnight bus (which arrived 3 hours late to pick us up ... I genuinely though we had been scammed!) a ferry ride and a hotel transfer, we arrived at our accommodation in Koh Phangan: A resort named Hacienda, run and owned by an English guy called Dave.


When we booked, we asked for basic accommodation.  Basic is not the word!! It was a shed on stilts.  With a bed, a mosquito net and a toilet and cold shower out the back.  Claire was not impressed in the slightest, but after a couple of days we both actually really enjoyed it :)


Koh Phangan is one of 3 main Islands in the Gulf and it is just so beautiful.


There was a night time food market on every night and MAN WAS IT INCREDIBLE.  I think it was my favourite place.


Claire and I grew fond of a place called Blue Vanilla which served delicious fresh fruit smoothies for less than 1GBP...


I could actually write a whole blog on my food experience alone, but I wont.  What I will say is that I had a wish granted when I was able to eat an authentic Thai green curry.  And it was all I ever dreamed of! :)


We lay by the beach, swam, read books and explored.  We spent 3 days doing something unbelievable but I'll save that for another post.


We did a days tour with an awesome guy called Hans, where we did a jungle trek, played in a waterfall, visited some very special temples, had a fabulous lunch and went for a snorkel at Koh Mah beach.


The 2 weeks were up far too quickly, and I was very disappointed to be leaving after having such a great time.


Over the holiday, obviously I spent a lot of time with Claire.  She is such a funny person, and I hope to see her when we have both finished our current adventures.


Thailand was such a cool place to go to, and I cannot wait to go back!

Our first Tuk Tuk ride

Khao San Road

My first Pad Thai (first of MANY)

The Grand Palace

In the Palace

Claire ... :)

Feeding the pigeons!

?

Our 5 star accommodation...

Koh Phangan at night

Thai green curry ... <3

The beach

THE most delicious food I have ever eaten.

The sign says it all really ...

Me, Hans and Claire

Claire and I

I spent the majority of our days doing this while Claire complained at me for being antisocial!

Playing in the waterfall pool in the Jungle :)