Learning to Travel

‘Freedom lies in being bold.’ – Robert Frost. 

It’s been three weeks since I left home. I can’t quite believe that it is now over a month since I finished work and it has been three weeks since I arrived in this beautiful country. It feels like no time at all, and yet I’ve already done and seen so much, it feels like an eternity!

I’m not really sure if I feel like a traveller. What does a traveller even feel like? If it means you happily live out of a rucksack, you aren’t worried about speaking to nearly every new person you meet, you start getting used to sharing a room and begin sleeping through night-time and early morning disturbances and you begin losing track of the days because you have no appointments, no meetings, nowhere in particular you need to be, then I am definitely becoming a traveller!

I am learning also to say ‘yes’ to every single opportunity that comes my way. This is definitely a good rule to live by when travelling (unless whatever you are being asked to do seriously endangers your life or someone else’s!). So far, I have done everything that has come my way, with one justifiable exception, and I’ve loved every minute of every day. I’ve been on a helicopter tour over Queenstown with a horrendous hangover, climbed Rangitoto volcano with a horrendous hangover (I had a nice hour long nap at the top!), swum with dolphins in Oke Bay with no-one else on the beach except me, gone as far north as it is possible to go in New Zealand, I’ve been out in Queenstown (great night out!) and eaten a Fergburger.

The exception to this rule was sand boarding – I’ve heard things about people getting injured doing it (indeed, the day after my group did it, one guy broke his foot, which equals at least a few weeks of your trip ruined, or seriously hampered). As well as this, I am NOT a fan of sand at all. It gets everywhere, even without throwing yourself down a really high sand dune at speeds of 60km or more. I have no regrets that I missed out on this activity and that I stood at the bottom taking photos of people and laughing at them all as they screamed their way down. Therefore, I don’t feel like I’ve missed out. And skipping it meant I also skipped the climb to the top in the bright sunshine and heat – win!!

I am embracing every experience that comes my way, hangover or no hangover. Back home, with a hangover, I would have spent the day dying on the sofa. Here, there’s no time to die – you’re missing out on other good things on offer. So I just struggle on… And it’s great! There is nothing better for a stubborn hangover than a helicopter tour over Queenstown and the Remarkable mountains. It’s a bit stomach churning, but so exhilarating you completely forget to feel ill!

I have now been in Queenstown since last Thursday, staying with one of my friends from home. Tomorrow, I start the next part of my adventure – heading off to travel the northern circuit of South Island – Mt Cook, Christchurch, Kaikoura, Picton, Abel Tasman and Franz Josef. I have an itinerary but it’s flexible and that’s the best thing about travelling – the flexibility. If I like somewhere, I stay longer, no biggie. It’s so great not to have any ties, to be able to stay or go as I please and not having to worry about sticking to any rigid schedule. The simplicity of it is fantastic. And that’s what I like most so far about travelling – no ties, no problems, no worries. As the Kiwis say – ‘sweet as, bro!’.

PS
The Kiwi accent is a funny one. They can’t pronounce my name, for starters, but it’s especially funny when they’re trying to use the words ‘deck’ and ‘as’. Our tour guide up to the Bay of Islands told us a story about the time he told some German girls to come and ‘sit on his deck’, explaining that it was a ‘big deck’. Thanks to his accent, they all thought he was saying ‘dick’, which led to some worried looks and edging away!! Some Germans also think that Kiwis are saying ‘sweet ass’ rather than ‘sweet as’ and take offence… Made me laugh anyway!