Preparations and transformations

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Less than 24 hours to go!!!! :-D

Wow, I cannot believe that it is finally here!!! :-D

Every time I though of it, it was something far away, something of the future and now it is only a few hours away!

So, first things first, for those who have no idea what I am talking about: after years of dreaming, months of planning, weeks of preparations and days of being hyperactive because of the mixture of excitement and being scared, I am finally leaving for New Zealand!!!

Since my very short lived but memorable au pairing experience, I have been putting aside all of my earnings in the hope that one day I will get on the plane and fly for days to land more down than Down Under and enjoy the most magnificent nature I have ever seen. Then, one day when I was supposed to be working in the VKE office, everybody was out and I decided to just check my e-mails, ok, still enough time for Facebook, a bit of Couchsurfing and finally I tumbled on the fantastic deal of Air Asia that I couldn't resist, so that's how it all started...

And now I am here, with my bag (over)packed, route planned, Couchsurfers contacted, NakedBus tickets purchased and just counting the minutes (which do go by really quickly in this state of half crazily excited and half super scared).

I thought that organising such a trip would be easier, but as the weeks went by, I got more and more useful advice, which always led to a bigger and bigger backpack... now I have a fast drying towel, a super light tent, a headlamp and loads more... and a very reluctant back :-P

Changes took part in me too (or should I rather say on me)? Deciding not to bother with hair dying in every 3 weeks any more, after 6 years, I am back to my original hair colour! I know, I know, it really was a HUGE sacrifice, but I hope it illustrates my obsession with travelling well enough ;-)

Here is my more-or-less ready route plan so that if you feel like you can come by and say hi ;-)

30th January - 1nd February - Paris (yay, I will finally get to see Mona Lisa! :-))

2nd - 3rd February - flying

3rd - 5th February - Christchurch

6th - 7th February - Kaikoura (or alternatively, Akaroa)

8th - 10th February - Dunedin (I am looking forward to the world' steepest street!)

11th - 12th February - Invercargill (and hopefully Bluff)

13th - 16th February - Kepler Track

16th February - Milford Sound

17th - 19th February - Routeburn Track

20th February - Queenstown

21st February - Wanaka

22nd - 23rd February - Franz Josef (plus Half Day Glacier hike! :-))

24nd February - 7th March - Punakaiki Beach Hostel

7th - 8th March - Nelson

9th March - Motueka

10th - 14th March - Abel Tasman National Park

15th March - Picton

16th March - ferry ride to Wellington

16th - 19th March - Wellingon

20th - 22nd March - Napier

23rd - 25th March - Gisborne

26th - 28th March - Tauranga

29th - 31st March - Rotorua

1st - 3rd April - Taupo

4th - 6th April - Tongariro Crossing

7th - 9th April - New Plymouth

10th - 12th April - Hamilton

13th - 17th April - Coromandel Peninsula

18th - 27th April - Northland

28th - 30th April - Auckland

1st May - flying to Sydney to start a new adventure :-)

So, if you wish, be excited with/for me and follow the way this fantastic adventure unfolds :-)

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