First Lesson Learned in the New Year

Our first lesson in the New Year is a life lesson we keep having to relearn.

The Journey is the Destination.

We have been so focused on the planning and prepping that we are having a hard time slowing down. We have been on auto pilot the past year, especially the last two months. Our mission was to get this trip started and arrive at our first destination at all cost.But you have no choice but to slow down in NZ because they take their holidays very seriously. The whole town shuts down.

After an awesome New Year's, I woke up at 5am and walked around Cathedral Square while Parker slept in. I finally woke him up an hour later and we walked around Christchurch as the city slowly woke up. We were making our checklist for the day, ready to get going to our next destination, Bluff, to get our hike started. We quickly found out that nothing was open.

As we were running around, the jet lag finally hit us. We were in and out of it all day. It was hard to make decisions, we were woozy , I was tripping all over the place and writing our first post was painful.

Since there was not a whole lot we could do during the holiday our new friends Kerri and Shane picked us up and drove us around the city. They drove us to the beach and on the scenic route around the town. We have been in the city and we were finally getting our first glimpse of New Zealand. We got to the top of the mountain that overlooks the city.

Then it finally hit us. What we are doing and where we are in the world. It is time to slow down and smell the roses. Infront of us was the dramatic coastline of New Zealand and the endless Pacific Ocean.