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i’ve lost count …

Sep 27, 2013 | ,

… i’ve lost count of all the amazing things i’ve seen in the last 9 days. cheesy title for a post? sure. but it’s true so i went with it.

in a lot of ways i don’t even know where to start trying to relay everything. or even just a slice of everything. i don’t know how to put on paper the kindness i’ve felt, the accents i’ve wanted to bottle up and take home with me or the beauty that i am surrounded by. it’s true – this country really is a [slightly hidden] slice of paradise.

but since i know that is not going to cut it for most folks following this journey of mine, i’ll try to conjure up something magical so you can ride along side me for a while. maybe go grab a cup of coffee? or a cold brew? this might take a while …

let’s start with a map. i’ve had a few people say how cool it would be to have a map, push pins and string to follow my travels. i agree. that would be pretty cool! it makes me think of those scenes in Indian Jones where he’s going from one epic place to the next. Hollywood always depicted that with an airplane graphic sailing across a map and a bright red line trailing behind… I secretly hope my life is like that somewhere… But since I know it’s not, I made ya’ll a map to follow me.

 

Follow that red line and you can see where I’ve been, ending with Motueka – my home for at least a few more weeks.
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In my first few days I had a lot of people (here and at home) ask me what my plan was – where am i going and what do i want to see in NZ. Since I didn’t come prepared with much of a plan, yet I’m a HUGE planner, I really clung to the fact that I had to get to the S Island in a week to start work. It was a little invigorating and also a lot stressful to have so many possibilities for the time in the middle. Do I buy a car? Or maybe instead I take the train? What about the bus? Do I stay with friends on my way? Or do I fly to Wellington and see friends later? And how long do I stay in Wellington?? What about when I get to the S Island? How do I get to work? Car? Bus? And do I want to stay somewhere along the way? And for how long?
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Yikes even typing that out again is stressful. Someone get me a glass of wine, please!
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In the end I decided to take the bus, to stop and see friends then to come back to the North Island later to explore.
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Once I settled on that, I was pretty excited that my very next stop after Auckland would be a friend’s house! Like, a real person that I know from the states. Granted, I had only met her a few times – maybe even just once back in 2004 – but I was still incredibly grateful to have received an offer to stay with them!
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Meet Kelsey and her fiancé, Warren.

 

They reside in Hamilton and have a lovely home full of charm with lively chickens, buzzing bees and delicious tangelos. To be clear, all of the later live outside.
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I got to sleep in a real [big!] bed, I was treated to some incredibly delicious food and I even walked away with a laundry list of places I should go to in NZ. I can’t thank you two enough!! And I certainly hope to make it back up for the wedding in March 🙂
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Then, on Thursday I packed everything up again, left the comfort of their home, grabbed a stellar cup of coffee and hoped on a bus for 9 hours to get from Hamilton all the way down to Wellington.
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The bus was enormous but decently comfortable, considering how long I was on it.
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I thought for sure I would spend a decent amount of my ride reading, or writing emails, or maybe even working on the scarf I decided to make because it’s a wee bit colder than I thought it would be… But did I do any of that? Nope. I looked out the window. For 9 hours.
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I figured I had plenty of time to read, write and crochet later, but I might only pass through here once so I might as well pay attention!!
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To my pleasant surprise, we stopped off for afternoon tea at a little roadside cafe. I traipsed around a bit and snapped a few spring photos that I’m kinda in love with …
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Then we continued onward and made it into Wellington about 7:30 that evening, well after dark. I found my hostel, settled in a smidge and then went off in search of something amazing to eat. I ended up having one of the best margarita pizzas + wine served by one of the funniest Italian waters I’ve ever met. I turned in early that night since the next day was to be another relatively long one.

Bright and early I headed off to the ferry terminal to catch the early boat over to Picton. A gal in my room the night before said if the weather was good I should head to the sun deck straight away to ensure I got a great seat for the journey. It was quite literally a breathtaking sight from up there …

 

Once we headed off it got incredibly windy so the deck cleared off except for a few of us hardy folk. In some ways I couldn’t imagine going below and putting glass between me and that beauty.

So, I suited up in my raincoat and scarf and hunkered down in my seat for the long haul.

 

3.5 hrs later, after meandering round a while, we arrived in Picton.

 

From there I grabbed my bag and took off on yet another bus. This one to Nelson.

Which by the way, having that as a last name has entertained me to no end. I’ve had a handful of ‘double take’ type replies when I give it. My favorite was the bus driver who I’m pretty sure thought I didn’t speak English.
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“Last name?”
“Nelson.”
“Yes.” … Likely assuming I was trying to tell her where I was going … “But what’s your  last name?”
“No, sorry, my last name IS Nelson.”
“Oh buggar. Jessica? So it is!”
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So away I went. My last bus for the day took me into Nelson. It was a smaller town than the others I’d been to, very quaint and in an insanely beautiful spot! To get there we cruised through the mountains and then all of a sudden the road opened up to the ocean.
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I gathered my belongings, took off for the hostel and again got settled in. This hostel was definitely new and happened to have a bar attached. That evening I was thrilled to finally have found my first amazing beer here in NZ. I really felt quite at home in that town.
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But alas, I only spent one day there too. The next day [which if you’ve lost track by this point, was Saturday] I had my final bus to catch. I was headed to Motueka – my home for at least a few weeks + site of my one and only pre-arranged job.
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More on that in another post because this one has become INSANELY long. I’m willing to bet I’ve lost quite a few people so I’ll wrap it up quickly here …
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Things are going well. I’m having an amazing time. I miss everyone from back home but I am starting to decompress. I need that. Clearly.
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The last photo for now will be a precursor to my next … This is the beach about 1/4 mile from the B&B. Stunning, I know. And this is where I get to call home.
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Cheers!

the adventure starts here

Sep 22, 2013 | ,

well, i have landed in another country. i have slept off most of my jet lag. i have walked at least 10 miles in just over 3 days. and i have had only one beer because it is so expensive here!

but i’m in Auckland, New Zealand!

 

it is pretty amazing. and by ‘pretty’ i mean incredibly. while, i am still in what some are calling The Honeymoon Stage of my journey, i am pleasantly surprised at how comfortable i’ve felt. i’ll admit, i’ve skyped with my dad quite a few times and have a local phone number which is allowing me to text with other iPhone users back home so it’s not like i’ve quit my MN life cold turkey or anything. but i have made it almost 3 days without doing anything too stupid in a foreign country and have even made a few friends! bravo, jess. bravo!

so, what have I been doing? well, mostly walking since that’s free 🙂 I spent several hours down by the wharf wandering around, breathing in the ocean air and fantasizing about my next meal.

 

i have walked up some very steep hills and back down the other sides. i visited an absolutely INCREDIBLE museum and have taken a decent crop of photos.

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i’ve also taken a handful of self portraits which i think will feel less and less lame as i continue on this solo journey. or at least i hope they do!
oh yeah, along those lines, i documented my excitement when i got to brush my teeth for the first time after landing and then again when i got to shower for the first time … those amazing feelings won’t soon be forgotten, let me tell you!

… well, i think that will do for my first international post. nothing super exciting has happened but i’m rather pleased with what has. it’s the simple life for me and i like that.
Cheers!

another year

Aug 30, 2013 |

my mind has been a million places this last year [hell, these last 2 years] and more often than not i can’t settle it down to spit out a post. i know that most of this scatterbrained feeling can be attributed to not knowing how best to sum up where i’m at with life. how do you really explain quitting a great full time job, giving up the home that i love so much and leaving my incredible[!!!!] friends and family, all to hop on a plane to go 1/2 way around the world for 7 months? it’s hard on paper. but it makes a lot more sense when you see me and can tell that’s exactly what i need. i’ve had a few people tell me “you seem happier” … and that is probably the absolute BEST compliment someone could give me right now. happiness is what i crave.
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but sometimes music has that touch to inspire writing. i love that.
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as i sit here drowning in books, moving boxes, tape, string, cats who love string and more boxes, i was surprised when a selection of songs broke my concentration and made me sit back and look around. i took a moment to think about how happy i was to create this home, how much i have obsessively loved this home over the last 4 years and how much i have lost in this home.
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and that made me think, “yeah maybe now is the time to write THAT post.”
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today is not September 1st but it’s just around the corner which is too close for comfort. it will mark another year. i would like to be able to look at the positives and say, “yes, it is another year of loss but it is also another year of survival!” but right now i’m not feeling that. right now i am focused on how he could get lost in reading his Sibley Guide to Trees, how he practically refused to miss Hawkeye football games, how he loved his little nephew in the most adorable way and how he put up with the girls even if they did play tag on the bed while he tried to sleep. he wanted to travel everywhere, he wanted to own a house, he wanted to get married and he wanted to always have good food and beer in our fridge. right now i am focused on those kinds of little things that so often fill my mind.
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[ps – if you have gotten to this point and are wondering what this entire cryptic post is about, maybe check this out and then after that, how about this one … those should be the candles in the dark you might need]
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so what is my plan for the 1st? great question. a small smattering of people have also asked me that. well, up until two nights ago i really had no concrete plan. the problem [sorta] is that i decided a little over a year ago that i would do something incredibly epic each year on this anniversary. last year was a good start. i was thrilled to climb a mountain in Yellowstone with a great friend and cheers some delicious Minnesota beers at the top. it was invigorating, refreshing and exactly what he would have wanted me to do at that exact moment.
  
but when i thought about this year i got stuck. i had wanted to do a hot air balloon ride for some reason but after a while that didn’t feel quite right. after racking my brain [and honestly, doing more avoiding than thinking] i told another great friend my thoughts and she said, very insightfully, “Jess, you are moving out of your home and going to New Zealand all within the following 2.5 weeks  … isn’t that pretty epic?” … Yes, I see where you are going with that… So instead she proposed the idea of doing a myriad of small activities around town that would honor Mur and the bazillion things he loved about life, Minnesota and me. That seemed like a really nice and low stress way to celebrate him as i wrap my head around all the emotions involved with leaving. So that’s what I’ve decided. We’ll see if I can get our canoe out on a lake, but it’s one of my goals. That and drinking lots of beer, cooking from one of his favorite cookbooks [Fat], hiking in the woods, watching the Hawkeyes kick some A, brewing a new batch of beer with dad and loving each of the memories that I have with him and how thankful I am to have more than doubled my family because i knew him. I owe him a lot!
 
 
 
i hope to still post a few things before i leave but i also hope to bake cookies before my garage sale next weekend as well as paint a herringbone pattern on a bedroom wall at my dad’s house. we’ll see what of those 3 actually get done! if you don’t hear from me again real soon know that i am moving into a special chapter of my life and figuring out what that looks like. i still LOOOOOOOVE animals and in fact, plan to do some work with them in New Zealand while i’m there – i hear they have a few sheep?? and when i get back to the states next spring i plan to pick Chocolate Moose up right where i am leaving off. if you want to see all that you can see of my trips, i’d say find me on instagram and start following [@chocomooseimages].
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so until next time, know that i am powering forward, day by day. and i will be literally powering 18hours ahead of Central Time in just 3 short weeks. wow. i should maybe get back to boxing up those books now.
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hugs and besos!!!!

Indi :: minneapolis pet photographer

Aug 22, 2013 | ,

Oh boy. I’m not sure there is anything I love more during a photo shoot than an AH-MAZING sunset with an amazing animal and their family!! Seriously, I get giddy!!

That is exactly what happened with the photos of Indi from last week. As Indi + family were walking me to one of their favorite spots to swim I had to stifle my squeals of excitement the further down the path we walked. The sun was amazing, the clouds were amazing, the privacy was amazing, the outfits were amazing, the people were amazing and Indi was pretty amazing as well 🙂 

 

 

what a sweetie!!!! 🙂 i love what i do but it’s always extra fun when i know the folks i’m working with. Thanks Tyler and Kathleen for sharing your night, splashing around in the lake and introducing me to your pretty incredible pup!!! 🙂