18. Too easy can be difficult as well...

When I decided to end my life as I knew it, leave everything behind and made the decision to travel for an unknown time, I had no idea where to start. I knew that I wanted to go to New Zealand, because of Lord of The Rings…when I saw that trilogy I dreamed of seeing the scenery and nature in real life. So my destination was concrete…but where to start? It was the same with not having the problem that you don’t like ANYthing, but that you like EVERYthing. Sometimes being too easy and flexible is a problem itself. I always mentioned that you don’t have to know what you want, as long as you know what you don’t want… but I have to admit: sometimes it is handy to know what you want. To have a certain direction in mind and to make some decisions whether to go right, left or straight ahead. Unfortunately and fortunately I didn’t have any one in my surroundings that knew anyone that had done a similar thing…of course there were people who knew people that went abroad for a half year or longer for an internship or friends that travelled for 2 or 3 months with a partner or friend. But that is still something totally different than exploring the world on your own and planning not to come back for a long time or not at all. So I had to do some research and I read a lot….more than a lot… all the tips that I could find on the internet about traveling, traveling alone, traveling for the first time and so on…

One of the tips that I’ve come across the most was “Don’t plan ahead, you never know who you are going to meet or where you are going to go next”. I’ve travelled so far according to that advice and it has been stressful.

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It was Thursday morning  the 11th of February when the French/Spanish guy, the Australian and I, myself checked out from the hostel and I had decided to go back to Auckland for that night, so that I could volunteer at the event of the Biggest Waterslide on Friday the 12th of February. What I would do or where I would stay that weekend I hadn’t planned out yet.

The guys weren’t planning on going to Auckland and we had to find a place that offered free WiFi so that I could find a way to get to Auckland by bus. Not to make an abrupt ending to our road trip, we followed a tip from the Canadian hostel-owner and payed a visit to Paxton Point also known as “The White Beach”. In life I’ve seen so many beaches and I am honestly not impressed when I hear someone talk about “the most beautiful beach ever”, in the end it will just be an ocean with sand attached to the coastline..

However I am interested in animals and know quite a lot about several animals because of National Geographic, Discovery and Animal Planet (bigger nerd than I get credit for). So when we arrived at Paxton Point I was intrigued by the amount of fish and jellyfish that had been washed ashore and found death on the heating white sand. Even if it wouldn’t have been a graveyard for ocean animals, I would have loved to spend a day on this beach. It really was nice and warm, with the softest sand underneath your feet. Because of the jellyfish, I didn’t feel the water but I can tell you that it had the colour blue that oceans intend to have. 

We couldn’t stay for too long because we had to hurry to find a place with free WiFi and after having lunch in Kaitia, we drove up to the library and I found out that we had only 2 hours to get me to Paihia, so that I could get the last bus to Auckland. It would be close…very close (and I don’t mean the distance: 100,6km).

Credits for the French/Spanish guy for driving fast and decent!

Nothing but love for you! Xxx

Because of the nice lady (the same nice lady that had stored my backpack during my Hole-in-the-Rock-Tour) that was waiting for me and had printed out my bus ticket and the friendly bus driver with Dutch roots, I had some time to say goodbye to my 2 road trip guys, not knowing when I would be seeing them again. I got on the bus and drove off to another adventure to meet so many amazing people...

Lifesavers on Thursday the 11th of February: 4