Oh my goodness, as we walked through the atrium of 20 Pakenham Street today, the memories came flooding back; struggling up the narrow stairs in the apartment with the huge suitcases, sitting around the little circular glass table with a laptop sorting out mobile phones, taxes and others bits and pieces of life admin, falling asleep on the couch whilst watching the Bledisloe Cup, hefting a huge box containing a recently purchased printer/scanner from town. It felt like only yesterday but at the same time so much else has happened. We have been to so many places, learnt so many new things and above all have met so many wonderful people. People who have touched and enriched our lives in so many ways. We are the much the better for knowing them and I hope, even if it’s in a small way, they feel the same.
It’s been an odd few months, saying goodbye to so many people and visiting favourite places one last time, all the while wondering what the future has in store. Sadness and excitement rolled into one potent package. But crikey dick we’ve certainly crammed it in. We’ve spent some time in Canterbury in the South Island, stayed in a beach hut in the Coromandel, visited Sydney and New South Wales, Melbourne and Phillip Island, spent the weekend on an avocado farm, idled away some time in the coastal communities of Raglan and Orewa and finally got that overnight stop in the island of Waiheke. Enough adventure for a dozen holidays and more.
So what’s left here? Not a lot. There’s a container full of furniture and household goods making its way north, diverted around the southern tip of Africa to avoid potential trouble in the Middle East. Another two suitcases were air freighted away last week so we’ll have some clothing for later in the year when the nights draw in and the temperatures turn chilly. So all we have here are a rucksack each. Just enough space to contain the clothes we need for our journey northwards. Not wanting to waste an opportunity, we’re travelling through the US on our way home; landing in San Francisco and travelling overland by train to New York. Although we’ll be trading autumn for spring, the temperatures are going to be a little cooler but we’ll soon be back in summer. Double summer. Yey!
Admittedly, the adventure we embarked upon took a little longer than we planned. Our two year trip to New Zealand became four, then six and here were are nearly ten years later. Had we thought that we’d still be here all those years ago, I doubt we’d have ever left. It would’ve just seemed …well too much of a commitment, too much of an unknown so we would’ve hesitated and then stepped back into our comfort zone. And yet the time has flown by, except perhaps for the two years that were stolen by the pandemic. They were fun…not! Although, on reflection, we were so lucky to be safely ensconced in New Zealand during that time.
I don’t know yet how I am going to feel when I board the Air New Zealand flight in just a few days time. Sadness? Yes probably. Trepidation? Maybe. Whichever other emotions come along for the ride, excitement will definitely be one of them. We are just as excited about our next chapter as we were when we started this one. Another little big adventure? If life isn’t for adventures then what’s the point?
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