Figuring Out Life -1 Adventure At A Time

Post winter flying visit to Canada 🇨🇦

It’s time to start the snow dance ❄️❄️❄️❄️

Change is not always easy, it may be scary and daunting but someone once said to me 'never try, never know’. Such a simple phrase but so true. I think that half the battle is accepting that to get to your goal, however big or small it maybe, you may experience a period of uncertainly, fear, confusion and frustration to name but a few emotions. Believe me when I say that I have felt all of these things at one time or another and undoubtedly will again in the future but the only thing stopping you is yourself and if you take a deep breath, make a commitment to the change and surround yourself with positive people good things will happen. Once in a while take a chance because you never know where it might lead.

US winter is alright eh! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

The local sights! Dots diner, the Moover bus, view from the look out at work, our house and the view from the local hill. Not a bad wee spot to spend the winter eh?

All in all it’s been a great start to the winter with some great start of the season snow so there are no complaints from me!

So, currently I am gearing up (read as ‘twiddling my thumbs waiting’) to head to the US for the winter. I have a job working as an instructor at a private ski hill in Vermont. It’s a pretty exciting opportunity to work in America, even more so because I have never actually been to the US before. As my first instructor job I think it will be a great foundation of experience going forward and I am keen to put into practice everything I have learnt in New Zealand and start my journey of being a snow sports instructor.

Pictures are like a diary - memories of a time and place in your life and what was going on. Pretty cool eh?

U.K. wanderings to pass the time between winters. It’s not my cup of tea but there are a few pretty sweet spots, some of the people aren't too bad either! 🇬🇧

Good friends are worth their weight in gold and I for one consider myself rich. Rich with good friends that I have made from a wealth of different places and experiences. Old friends that are in the UK, newer friends from all over the world that I have met over the course of my travels in the last 7 years. What has become interesting to me is that when you live a transient life of back and forth travel, belonging everywhere but nowhere at the same time, you come to realise that time doesn't stop. People move on in their lives. Sometimes it can feel like you have drifted apart from the friendship you once had in a certain time and place but you know what? That's ok. Things change. People change. What doesn't change though is the fact that good friends are good friends. Just because you may now be on different paths to the one you were both on when you initially forged the friendship it doesn't mean it had to end. After all, if everyone was the same and ended up wanting the same things from life the world would be a very different place. I guess you could say it's this diversity in opinions, cultures, beliefs and wants that drives me to go to more places, meet more people, have more experiences and make more friends. Friends that I am yet to meet. Not everyone you meet will be a friend forever but whether they are passing through your life for a matter of days or weeks or will be there for you for many years to come my advice is to embrace them for the friendship they offer at that moment in time and enjoy your similarities and differences in equal measure. Friendship is valuable. Embrace old friends and make new friends, for friendship really is worth its weight in gold.

In summery it was a great trip, I met some cool people, caught up with old friends and had a fab holiday in perfect weather before headed back to NZ to get on with a winter of riding, training and general shenanigans. Onwards and upwards to the next challenge!

My final destination was to be Cairns in the tropical North Queensland. Tropical it definitely was with several random down pours of rain in the few days I was there that never lasted for long but would have you soaked to the bone if you got caught out! The main thing I was looking forward to was my snorkelling trip to the Great Barrier Reef and after an hour or so fast speed transfer out to the reef on our boat we were good to go. Upon diving into the water I was greeted by an underwater wonderland, it was like I had submerged into a tropical fish tank, just amazing. We snorkelled at three different sites during the day and I saw so much amazing sea life. A reef shark, massive clams and sea cucumbers on the sea bed, clown fish, parrot fish, all different type of coral and so much more. I think it is safe to say that I have another big tick on my bucket list.

Airlie Beach is the gateway to the Whitsunday islands where I took a 2 day boat trip on a trimaran to explore the islands. The experience turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip and the 24 other people on the boat were a great fun international group. The water was as flat as a pancake which made for a lot of chilled out cruising around to various snorkelling spots which held a huge variety of fish of all sizes shapes and colours! We also visited the famous idillic white silica sand shores of Whitehaven beach where the sand is so fine you can use it to buff your skin and even clean your teeth! The 3 man crew of the by were fab and really knew their stuff about the areas ecosystem. One evening when we're heading into a bay to anchor up for the night we were even treated to a visit from a sea eagle who was more than happy to spend some time circling the boat whilst the crew threw steak into the sky for it to catch clean out of the air as it swooped past.

Stretching for 120 km just off the Queensland coast is the worlds largest sand bar island - Fraser Island. You can't visit the east coast of Aus without taking a trip so I signed up to go on a 3 day tour of the island. The days were spent cruising around in a convoy of 4x4s seeing all the sights and the evenings spent camping in the bush. Fortunately the camp was already set up and functioning so all we had to do was turn up, roll out our sleeping bags and cook our dinner. I ended up in a wagon with a great bunch of people and did a lot of the driving which was great fun, a mix of bouncing around negotiating the inland tracks and then blasting along the wide flat beaches. We saw all the sights from the ship wreak of SS Maheno to the champagne rock pools big enough for swimming and more. A highlight for me was watching some whales from the rocky crop panoramic vantage point called Indian Head. They were so close you could see their whole bodies, magnificent creatures.

10 mins up the road from Buderim I stopped for a flying visit for 24 hours to see my friend from the winter, Amy. We started the day with some SUP surfing, great fun but harder than it looks! This was followed by heading inland to a creek for some swimming, it was bloody freezing but there were some fun rope swings so we braved the cold. We finished off the day back on the sea front toasting marshmallows for yet another sunset. A glorious day with a glorious friend who I will hopefully see again sooner rather than later somewhere around the world!

My friends Helen and Ade moved 'down under' three years ago and it had actually been a total of seven years since we'd last met up, they now live in a town called Buderim located on the Sunshine Coast and these guys were a must do on my trip over to Aussie. With them now being a family with four kids my visit was always going to be non stop action. Throw a 7th birthday celebration into the mix and I think it is fair to say I had a great time, albeit a slightly exhausting one! It was great to see them, they certainly looked after me and I think it shows the test of good friendship that despite not having seen them for many years it seemed like only last week since we had last met.

My next brief stop was the city of Brisbane. Upon arrival it struck me as very similar to London in that there is a meandering river which slices through the middle of the city. As a city it has all of the usual art galleries and museums, however on the banks of the river it also has the unique feature of a the city centre south bank area complete with man made beach, lagoon and lifeguard!