A New Adventure

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Geo: -37.8232, 144.973

Its Halloween.
12 months ago today, I was at Los Angeles airport trying to negotiate my way onto a flight back to Australia. It would be the final leg in completely circum-navigating the planet. It had been the best six and a half months of my life. 38 countries on 6 continents; by plane, ship, bus and train, with my excellent girlfriend alongside me every step of the way.

We all love a good holiday, but returning to routine is never easy; Work, debts, the daily grind - doesn't quite compare to the freedom and excitement of travel experiences.Recovering from this particular trip over the last 12 months was tough, especially having to return to live with our respective parents for 5 months, pending expiry of the 12 month lease we had out on our home. So many great memories and experiences have had me craving another trip, another adventure.So it seems only fitting that tomorrow, on the 12 month anniversary of the conclusion of our great adventure, that we should depart on another.

Nat and I have always wanted to see New Zealand. It's always been a case of 'It's so close that we can do it anytime (without actually doing it).'Seems like a similar case with Tasmania, which we've finally visited a couple times now (and loved).I'm expecting this trip to be a much grander, spectacular version of our Tasmania experiences.We have 10 nights to complete a circuit around the South Island, flying in and out of Christchurch.

On arrival, we'll be taking a hire car north, driving anti-clockwise around the island spending nights in; Christchurch, Blenheim, Nelson, Punakaiki, Franz Josef, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo. Some activities to look forward to include seal (and maybe whale) watching, tour of Marlborough wineries, Abel Tasman hiking, Pancake Rocks, Glacier hiking and Franz Josef, Kiwi zoo and cable car lookout in Queenstown, Fjordland and Mount Cook hiking, luxury accommodation and a boat trip at Milford Sound, Lake Tekapo stargazing and more. Hopefully I'll meet a Kiwi bird somewhere along the way!

As always, I'll blog our trip so I can remember the details of our adventure forever. I'm unsure of whether I'll get the opportunity to upload 'live' on a daily basis, or whether it will be a post-trip upload of blogs and photos. What I do know, is it's just over 24 hours until departure, and I can't wait to go overseas again.

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