This is a post that I never expected to be writing 6 months ago. Firstly because I was surprised and honoured to hear that I won the Vantastic South Australia leg, but secondly because I would never have thought it imaginable that Steve wouldn't be there sharing all the excitement with me. We had partied in Lagos, survived a cyclone in San Sebastian, cruised Santorini on a quad bike, taken god knows how many ferries around the Greek islands and eaten food off a chandelier in Turkey (that one will take some explaining).
When we moved to Bali 6 months ago on a one-way ticket, I was innocent and full of excitement at the unkown of moving to a new country; excited at the things we might do, the accomplishments we might achieve and the adventures we might end up going on. The feeling of freedom and unpredictability, of being out of your comfort zone is a wonderful one, and that's what makes travel so special. The future is uncertain and if you take risks you never know where it will lead, but that's one of the things I like about it.
Relationships and life are certainly unpredictable. Sometimes events, circumstances, timing and things that happen that are out of your control mean that the dreams that we imagined for ourselves just don't happen the way we thought they would. Steve and I had always wanted to live out of a van and drive the open road through Australia and I know we would have had a blast and made some great video together. But Steve said farewell to the competition and has set off on his own journey to Morocco to work as a web designer for a surf camp.
To lose my travel buddy for so long now is a difficult one, but sometimes when life knocks us down and things don't happen the way we imagined them too, we have to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and think of a new plan.
I'm greatful to the Vantastic team for letting me still take part in the competition and for giving me the opportunity to find a new partner. It's certainly going to be an adventure and you'll all get to come along for the ride!
So I'd like to introduce you to Trent.It's probably best if I let him do the talking so here's what he said about himself:
"I'm just a free spirit with a will to live for the moment. Cant say no! Loves peer pressure! All the bad cliches.I'm super accident prone, stuff happens to me that you won't
believe. I've got scars to show from paint cans exploding in my face, lawn mowers, falling through windows, broken glass... I've lived in
a caravan in stockholm for 5 months and I've been on a 6 month surfing trip
through Morocco and Portugal living off a shoe string budget causing caos
with my amigos, soooooo fun being poor. I'm into to people that add
spice to life and have passions, no matter what it is I just love to
see people love things. I love the outdoor lifestyle; surf, sun,
sports, climbing trees, picking wild fruit, jumpin off bridges and camping."
So Meet Trent and I in our Vantastic videos, we're going to make a great team so watch out for a Pom and and Ozzie hitting your screens!
