Anniversary

Anniversaries are a strange thing. Giving pause to look back; challenges overcome, moments experienced and achievements.... errr.... achieved. Very rarely do they make one look ahead. Which is probably a good thing. Who knows what the reaction would be. No, best stick with the past. For one it's a lot clearer and for another it's done. No more energy required. Completed.

So why this sudden urge to be all retrospective? Well just a few days ago we passed our first anniversary of being in New Zealand. I know, I can hardly believe it myself. A whole year. Gone. Just like that. In fact, we'd already passed some other significant milestones on the way to this one; one year since quitting our UK jobs, one year since we moved out of our house, one year since we started sofa surfing and a year since we took off and left UK soil. 

We celebrated our first anniversary by walking to the Domain and having an ice cream, just like we did on our first weekend proper in Auckland. We looked around as we licked our salted caramel treats, and saw ourselves in the same place a year ago, remembering being amazed we'd made it this far..... and had the same feeling. Weren't we just the coolest cats?

So at the risk of sounding like one of those New Year television programs - you know the ones that review the events of the past twelve months - here are some of the highlights and lowlights;

Highlights

• Finding a lovely place to live 
• Meeting up with friends
• Sitting on Auckland's stunning beaches
• Settling in to a new workplace and making new friends
• The climate
• Kiwis
• Out stuff arriving from the UK - in one piece. 
• Sneaky side trips - Sydney for a weekend!
• Tahiti
• The Kepler Track
• 'Discovering' Moa beer
• Elbow at the Powerstation
• Joining a new running club
• Rekindling a love for the cinema (could be just the wine though)
• The regional and local parks
• Flowers
• Birds
• Mountains
• Lakes
• and of course pies

Lowlights

• Saying goodbye to friends and family
• Living out of a suitcase for two months
• Saying goodbye to new friends.
• Auckland rain (not very often but boy can it rain)
• Finding a lovely, but sometimes cold, place to live in
• Having to work for a living when it feels like we should be on holiday
• Actually looking forward to going to work when it's either too hot or too cold at home.
• The TV programmes - OMG what are they thinking?

And many more. It's like the past year just passed in front of my eyes.  So what now? What will the coming twelve months bring? One thing is for certain, it's going to be interesting....