For the entire evening before heading up to my first ever ice dive, I could not get this Metallica song out of my head! I was really excited in the weeks leading up to the date, but a few days out I very suddenly became quite nervous and worried. What if I actually got stuck…
Two years ago, I took my first freediving course in Wellington, New Zealand at Dive Wellington. When I signed up, I was operating on the idea that I wanted to overcome my fears of the ocean. A year earlier I went on a snorkelling trip in Cape Town, and while exploring their beautiful kelp forest,…
The drive to Whakatane was super windy and lovely, dodging around large hills and giving you heaps of both scenery and forest to watch as you drive. The worst part was a massive pothole that I hit, causing me to pull over. It was so loud I thought the tire had burst! Luckily that didn’t…
I got a little more work done with Terry and Emily before deciding to leave Colville. I’m not great at goodbyes and always draw them out, but finally got in the car and headed south. I left the night before my 30th birthday to reach Mt. Maunganui and slept in my campercar for the first…
After Christmas, it was time to get back to work! This time, my hosts had me cutting some weatherboards to clad an exterior cabinet that houses their hot water tank and electrical controls for it. My hosts live off of solar and wind power, and built their own systems to manage the generation and distribution…
On my way out of Auckland, I stopped at a park for a trail run! Over a week of having between 1 and many beers each day had taken its toll, and I needed to get active. The park was really nice, and it was my first taste of New Zealand wilderness. It was so…
It was a really long night in Nadi, Fiji after saying goodbye to Alexa, as my hostel-mate and I were appalled to find several bed bugs in our beds. It was a long, sleepless night with a very early drive back to the airport. But, my excitement grew slowly over the flight, and holy cow…
Long flights suck, and I slept especially poorly on this one. However, I did get to watch Blackberry (hilarious, I highly recommend it) and I learned from another passenger that I can rent all the tramping gear I need for the great walks in NZ. Landing in Fiji and getting a bus ride to my…
After one last dinner with my bestie and triple checking my bag (kidding, just barely managed to fit everything in!) and I am off! I hugged my dad at the train station and eventually climbed aboard one of VIA’s newest trains and cozied up for the ride. When the car lurched forward, that’s when I…
Getting ready for the biggest change you’ve ever experienced is very hard. I thought that going to university, or moving cities for work would be tough, but this has been a few of the most challenging weeks of my life, and I am so lucky that everything has worked out as well as it has.…
