22nd April – 26th March
Well, I've now been travelling for 329 days and the last 5 weeks have definitely been some of the best.
I'm currently in Brisbane, sitting on a friend's balcony in the heart of the city after getting off the bus a few hours ago. I spent the past 3 nights down the coast in Surfer's Paradise, which sounds a lot hippier than it is and previously I wasn't the biggest fan but the last few days have been fantastic and Surfers really is just one big playground. I spent one night in luxury on the 16th floor of the brand new Holiday Inn (thanks Pris!) and 2 nights on a mattress in the middle of an empty room in the suburbs – completely random, much like the rest of this trip, and absolutely amazing fun! Sadly, all this fun always seems to end in some pretty sad goodbyes but I guess that's all part and parcel and hopefully not permanent.
So 5 weeks ago, I left LA on a high. We had a great night out at poop deck, the oldest bar in Hermosa, and then the infamous Sharkees for one last 'Big Wednesday' with the surf city crew before relaxing on the beach for the best part of the following day. My flight wasn't until 11pm so I had plenty of time to pack, go for the most amazing sushi dinner, hug out a lot more goodbyes, swap facebook details and get a lift to the airport with over an hour for some duty free shopping - but to be honest, I wish I'd just stayed and had that extra sake as LAX is one of the dullest airports I've ever been in. Still, I was on my way back to NZ so a few crappy shops and closed restaurants weren't going to drag me down. The flight was good; Qantas seem to be quite consistent on this one and I had 2 seats again and after some nostalgic movie watching of 'Where the Wild Things Are', I snuggled into my hoody and slept for over half of the journey. We touched town at 9am and round 2 began.
Claire had the house and room looking like a 5 star hotel again but 5 minutes after my arrival and the room looks like it exploded with the no-longer-kittens tearing red feathers from my Hermosa boa and dragging clothes aroundthe house. I must have a very calming influence. However, after 3 crazy weeks of bunk beds, this place is paradise. The Irish girls from Malaysia are in town so we have a full house and spend the entire weekend catching up, enjoying the sunshine and barbequing on the beach. By Sunday night, I've seen everyone and it's so damn good to be back. The following weeks pass with a mixture of birthday parties, BBQs, nights out and random trips here and there. The weather holds for the entire time and it's so easy to see why people rave about this country – not that I needed any more convincing. And we may even have got our 15 minutes of fame drinking chilled ciders on the beach in the background of the Westpac Beach Rescue show! The kid was fine by the way but being a small town, a make shift life saving crew of randoms on kayaks and the fire brigade were the unlikely stars until the helicopter arrived and stole the show.
The month flew past and towards the end, there was a lot of exciting talk of travel and Oktoberfest reunions and Neil even booked a one way flight to Australia to start his time overseas, which I cannot recommend enough. Months on end away from normality, free as a bird and living every day as it comes – hopping on buses and planes and boats with no real plans, swapping Lonely Planets, changing direction at the last second and doing anything you feel like doing. It is the best decision I have ever made and if you can find the balls to book those first flights then you can find the balls to do the entire thing. And if you do it right, you'll feel like a brand new person at the end of it. New Zealand is possibly my favourite country and a truly unexpected contender but it's the people that make a place and the fun that you make sure you have that makes the whole thing memorable. And the last few weeks have definitely been memorable. In fact, the whole thing has been so refreshing and amazing that I'm almost ready to go home... almost!
Next stop – San Francisco.
