The World and Me

In February of this year I dusted off the shackles of a 9 to 5, I packed my suitcase, I downloaded the travel apps and headed for New Zealand on the travel adventure of a lifetime, all the while toe tappin’ to Dolly Parton’s classic. Months of planning lead me to this point and lead me to explore the land of the Hobbit. I’m Irish so I know all too well about the stigma tourists can often attached to a country, leprechauns spring to mind. So I decided to embark on this adventure with no preconceptions, misconceptions or otherwise. Instead I just decided to be a human shaped sponge and soak up everything New Zealand had to throw at me. Sunshine, surf, mountains, epic landscapes, film sets, food, coffee or clear night skies! I equipped myself with my trusty film camera, and my not so trusty phone camera to capture my daily adventures around the North and South Islands. Fiirst was Auckland. We busied ourselves touring around the city, Brown’s Bay, Long Bay, Mirangi Bay renting kayaking, swimming and surfing. By land, or sea or sky we were determined to see New Zealand from all angles. Next we blew the Auckland popsicle stand in pursuit of bigger mind lowing adventures. And did we find such adventures? You betchya. We catapulted ourselves head first into adventure on the northern shores of the North Island. At the most northerly point of New Zealand sits 90 Mile Beach, Cape Regina, and the most epic giant sand dunes I’ve witnessed in my short existents chasing sand dunes. It was like a backdrop from Star Wars. Once we rounded the top of the island we swiftly made our way back down toward Auckland before heading east to the Coromandel Peninsula, all the while becoming pros at assembling and disassembling a tent. We ate like kings, we drank at local breweries, we took it all in. We saw the sights, we booked the tours, we cycled, we saw glowworm, we ran out of money. After weeks and weeks of travelling we slowly realised that our trip of a lifetime fund had taking quite the beating, our bankcards looked dishevelled, so we decided to briskly make our way to our next destination. I think it was the lyrics of the ‘Cheers’ theme song that said it best – Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot. Well we’d taking our break, we seen part of New Zealand and now to was time to get some jobs, earn some cash so we could see the rest. Now to countdown the pay cheques until we can go again.