Filed under: travel
im a bit stressed out at the moment. This trip looks like it might cost a bit more than I had planned. I have only been here for a couple of days, so I really shouldn’t expect to have everything sorted out by now.
I think I will feel better when I find a job, even if its only a little bit of money I will feel better.
I am hoping to get up onto the mountain tomorrow. We need more snow, but at least its sunny and warm. Good weather to get back into it.
Filed under: travel
Im leaving tomorrow. That means that this is the last full day in the county.
I think I have fixed up everything I needed to, car is gone, motorbike is stored, room is packed up (well, almost). Now I am just exhausted.
Still have some stuff left to do. I have heaps of garbage that I need to take out.
Im constantly swinging between being tired and being excited. I think this trip will be good for me. Just have to remember not to get stressed out.
Filed under: God, afl, anxiety, church, family, life, reflection, travel
Its been a crazy few days. Yesterday I went to Sydney to say goodbye to my family. It was OK, no fights and I managed to have a conversation with my Mums husband without getting into an argument. It was good.
Today I watch the Swans play. We won! It was raining the whole game and quite cold but im glad that I went.
Tonight was my last night in Church. Its a bit weird since I dont know how long I will be gone for. Sarah’s sermon was really good. About simplicity and small things. I really liked it. Im the big gesture type, for example, I need to change my life so I am moving to another country. It made me think about all the small stuff I never bother with that would actually make a difference to my life and to the communities that I am involved in.
It has motivated me to find the time to do the things I never bother with.Things like praying, reading, yoga, stretching, breathing exercises (I dont breathe properly and it helps to make the anxiety issue bigger). Also things like cooking and cleaning.
Maybe I dont need to travel the world to be able to understand my place in it. Maybe I can do things on a smaller scale and it will be all good. I still think I need a year to straighten my mind out, I just dont need to be doing expensive or elaborate things during this year.
I ordered my new camera today. Its a Canon digital SLR. Its going to be great.
My camera at the moment is the type that takes film – yes, remember the days of film 
This is going to be a big step up. I cant wait. Especially since I will be in such a beautiful area of the world.
Im going to start to work out which clothes I am going to take tomorrow. I have to find a way to take the stuff I want and keep my baggage to 20kg. Im flying with Virgin Blue so I dont imagine that they are very lenient with their baggage allowances.
On Saturday I am going up to Sydney for lunch because my brother is going to Europe for 5 weeks so my Mum wants us to all get together to see him off. he leaves at 10pm, so we are doing the pre-airport farewell thing. Its a bit crazy, but most things involving my family are. It will be good to see my nan, I haven’t seen her in a while. She is convinced that I will go to New Zealand and fall in love – she is also convinced that a woman cannot be happy without a man, so she thinks that finding some guy will solve all my problems.
I am feeling much better now. Still quite scared of getting cold because I dont want to risk getting sick again.
Now I just need to get up the energy and motivation to start to pack all my stuff up. Its amazing how much stuff I have accumulated.
Its going to be hard work getting fit from this. I had started to work on it when I get sick and now I cant even walk for 10 mins. I think if I just eat well and exercise every day (when the doctor says I can) it should be OK. Oh, and I guess I need to keep warm in all that too.
Living in the snow is generally quite a different kind of cold to the rain. Its dry and all the buildings are designed to cope with the cold weather. So long as you wear appropriate clothing when outside its not bad at all. I hope that is what Queenstown is like. Not sure if it has the altitude to avoid all the rain.
I’ve had another exciting day of laying around watching DVD’s all day. How fun.
All this time to think could be bad for me, but I am just using it to make more crazy plans about my future. I looked up more info on the UK visas today.
Im only 25. If I can spend a few years living in the UK and travelling through Europe I dont see where that is a bad idea.
I dont mind my life here now in Wollongong, but all the things I want to do are not enough to keep me here. I really want to be involved in the development of the Uniting Church. I want to help turn it into something even better. That is going to take years and probably be disappointing. The thing that keeps running through my head is that no one ever regrets travelling, but heaps of people regret not getting around to it.
I feel like the main things I am giving up are my current church community, the thoughts and plans I had to grow the church (the broader church) and the idea of owning property and being financially stable early in life.
When it comes down to it, the church I have now will change anyway. Wanting to be involved in the church is not something that I have to do right now and maybe I can bring back some good ideas from the UK. The money thing, well I think that I will land on my feet in that regard. I dont need a house yet and I think that I have a decent earning potential. Money isnt everything anyway.
So what does all this mean? Basically, Im thinking of moving in December. Just depends on one main thing.
Filed under: travel
Im quite excited now. I just booked my flights and accommodation for my ski trip.
Im going on the 15th of July. Its a Sunday, I will land in Christchurch late and then catch a bus to Queenstown the next day.
This is going to be great. I love the snow.
Yay!
Well, after three weeks of laying around being useless I have found out that I have pneumonia. No wonder I have felt like crap.
Its an interesting thing for me to be actually sick. I dont like it very much at all.
The worst part is that I may need to delay my holiday a little bit. Actually, the worst part is not being able to stand up for more that 10 mins at a time, but I am really pissed about the trip.
Moving somewhere where the temperature is generally below zero isnt really the best move while recovering from pneumonia. If everything goes well (and lets face it, it rarely does) I should still be able to go in mid July. Only a week or so delay. It just all depends on how quickly I can get better.
Im not allowed to exercise at all. Not allowed to drink at all.
Part of me thinks that I brought this all on myself because I wanted to be sick. I dont think its my fault though. The only stupid thing I did was go for that run 2 weeks ago, since then I have been trying to look after myself. I try to talk myself into being sick a lot of the time, but I dont actually have that much power over my own body. If I did, I would have done this before now.
The only bright side is that I am much more mentally stable now than I was a few weeks ago. Im not sure how I would cope with a sick mind and body. Fighting illness on both fronts would be a bit too much I think.
I am starting to get excited about this trip. I started wearing my snowboarding boots this arvo to get used to them again. Its going to be so good.
I have a few practical things I need to sort out, like where am I going to leave all my stuff (especially my motorbike) since my Mum is not willing to be even remotely helpful (and in my maturity I have decided to be petty about it).
Im going to book a flight this week. Just going to check with a couple of travel agents to make sure they cant do a better deal for me. Hopefully this cough will go away soon so that I can start to go to they gym again. I really want to be more fit before I leave, and hopefully smaller.
I also have to work out what stuff I want to buy. Like a camera? ipod? backpack? snowboard?
I have all the gear I need for snowboarding except the actual board. I cant find one of my wrist guards and I need new gloves. None of this stuff is critical before I leave.
The other main thing to sort out is if I am going to do a subject by distance. Im thinking of doing a first year Philosophy subject. Umm, uni – really should finish one of the subjects I am already doing.
Filed under: travel
Change of plan I think. I am going to go to New Zealand and work in a ski resort. I really liked my lifestyle when I was working in the States. I can take Uni with me and do it by distance. This time I wont be smoking as much pot, but I think it will be fun anyway.
The hard part is getting a job. Im overqualified for office jobs and not young enough for the more fun jobs. I think that I would be a good ticket scanner. Im excited about this, I think that it will be good for me. I really need a change of scenery, and what is better to look at than snow covered mountains.
So I need to get thorough this semester of Uni and get a bit more fit so that I can last a day outside in the snow. Yay. I love snow.
