And so it begins...

This year of adventure, reflection, healing, time out and exploration - not necessarily in that order but encompassing them all.

It feels somewhat surreal and I can hardly believe that I'm actually doing this. A 12 month sabbatical! I didn't think I would have the courage to do something this big on my own.

Yet it became incredibly important to me to do this solo trip and a year 'out' feels completely right for me at this point in time.

My farewell from work was heartfelt and filled with many good wishes, a few stories and some laughs. There was an acknowledgement to country by one of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleague's followed by a minute's silence to honour and pay respect on the passing of Mum and another colleague's mother who had passed 6 weeks after Mum. Needless to say, it was a very emotional moment for me and no doubt for my colleague.

The last two weeks in Australia flew and were rather hectic trying to tie up loose ends at work before doing a road trip back to Brisbane to spend some time with family and loved ones before I left for the land of the long white cloud.

I have to say packing up your life for 12 months into two suitcases and one carry on is no mean feat!  Especially when there's very distinct seasons and snow involved. 

I decided earlier on that I may as well meet another fear of mine head on by flying into Queenstown airport. For those of you who know the area, you will understand the reason this has been a big deal for me. For those of you who don't know the area, perhaps these pics of coming in to land will be self explanatory.

  

And yes, I even had a window seat! It wasn't as bumpy as I thought it may be given the cloud cover and I've watched the planes come in between the mountains before, so I managed to swallow the fear and enjoy the scenery. Admittedly I was very glad to be on the ground safely but I have to say that the scenic views out both sides of the plane are pretty impressive.

I decided to mark the start of my year in NZ with a Wilderness Cruise on Doubtful Sound so booked a couple of nights in Te Anau in order to do the cruise the day after my arrival.  

NZ is normally 2 hours ahead of Australia, however, I arrived the night that the clocks were turned forward for daylight savings, which meant I had an extra early start the next day.  

The trip involves a 50 minute boat cruise across Lake Manapouri, followed by a 22 km bus ride across the Wilmott Pass where you then board the boat for a 3+ hour cruise on Doubtful Sound. There is something incredibly special about this remote wilderness and I imagine to be there quietly (as in not on a boat with 50+ other people) would be unforgettable. Just the sounds of nature and wildlife - bliss! 

I spent some time down by the lake before I left Te Anau and it didn't take long before thoughts of Mum drifted by. On my previous visit to Te Anau, I'd had a long phone conversation with Mum and it was during this conversation that she'd asked me to bring her with me on the next trip and show her all my favourite places. Sigh.. I think there may be a few of those bittersweet memory moments ahead.

During my first 2 days in NZ, I managed to come down with a heck of a head cold so was all germified when I arrived in Wanaka at my new digs. Thankfully, it appears that I've not shared them with my housemates!

I'm now at the end of my first week in NZ and that time has flown too. There's lots more I've done but I'll save those stories and share a little later otherwise I may need to resort to chapters! In the meantime, I can't end the post without at least one Wanaka pic.

Solo trip coming right up!

A change to life as I knew it, some time to pick up the pieces and a huge leap of faith... one might say it's been a big year so far and it's about to get bigger with one solo trip coming right up!

Am I excited? Hell yes! Am I scared? Definitely! I did mention the excited part too didn't I? And solo trip, why a solo trip I hear you ask? Because I need this. I need it for me. I need time to grieve and heal, time out from my life here, time to feel right with my world again.

But it's also more than that, much more than that. There are things I want to achieve on this trip of mine. I want to find my place and settle into this gorgeous part of the world that has a hold on my heart and is going to become home to me for a while.

I want to immerse myself in this little community, learn more about it's ways, take part in it's day to day life, it's culture, it's celebrations and it's festivals. For a relatively small place, it has a lot to offer.

This is going to be the adventure of my lifetime. It may be on a small scale compared to the adventures of others, but for me it's a big one and it's all about exploration on a variety of levels.

Not to mention that having the opportunity to explore more of this land I've come to love fills me with joy and a sense of anticipation.

The temptation to go technology free is huge! The thought of no phone or internet and just living in the moment, using pen and paper for capturing thoughts and communicating holds immense appeal.

Alas, it's not the world we live in today and at the very least, technology is needed for that little thing called work. So perhaps it will be about setting some boundaries and having some technology free days. I'm not sure what it will look like yet, but I sure am looking forward to it.

I've always loved letter writing (you know, that somewhat old fashioned method of communication that has fallen by the wayside as technology has taken over) and I will no doubt continue to keep in touch with my loved ones this way.

The thought of doing that from wherever I am makes me smile. I have visions of letter writing from the outdoor café in the snow at the top of the ski slopes where the views are magnificent or sitting by the lake among the lupins. So many possibilities!

So how close am I to doing all of this? Very close! It's just 3 short weeks until I fly out. I have less than 2 weeks up to pack up my life here in the tropics and start making my way back to Brisbane to spend some time with loved ones before I head off on my adventure.

Yes, I still have a LOT to do. Thank heavens for lists eh! This weekend will be a hive of activity, focused on sorting and packing, making sure I downsize to fit everything into my little car for the trip back to Brisbane and ensuring I can fit my life for the next year into a couple of suitcases.

So long as I have room for my essential oils, my camera, pen and paper, and maybe a couple of books, I'll be happy. Oh and some warm clothes, given it will much cooler there than it is here at the moment.

I have found somewhere to live in NZ and while I don't have a job to go to as yet, I do have a fairly solid lead on one. I'm looking forward to a little down time first though. I think I will need it after all the hectic activity leading up to my departure.

I'm thinking of doing something a little special when I arrive to mark the start of this adventure. I have a couple of ideas, but one seems to be resonating more than others. 

In the meantime, it's back to sorting and packing. Finding new homes for some of my belongings, storing others and giving away some things that have brought comfort and joy.

When Mum passed, the motel where my sister and I were staying gifted both of us with gorgeous little flowering cyclamen plants. While I love outdoor gardening and seem to have bit of a green thumb with them, indoor plants are a whole other story and I have fatalities with them more often than not. The cyclamen has survived for the last 4 months and is filling with buds once again so I've decided to gift it to a work colleague who has also recently lost her Mum.

In April last year when I moved into the little unit I'm in now, another colleague gave me an orchid and included in the instructions were don't kill it. My previous two orchids that I'd bought on my arrival up here had a short life sadly, hence the instruction. This one has not flowered in the 16 months I've had it until now and it's absolutely glorious. It currently has 9 flowers with another two buds likely to open in the coming days. So it seems fitting and will be with much pleasure I return the orchid to the colleague who gifted me in the first place.

So for now, it's all systems go as I go about packing up my life here ready to take this big step into a new adventure. I can hardly wait!