A Life Worth Living

It was a keenly anticipated holiday. One that would come after months of long hours, stress and worry. One that would mean two weeks of not having to think about work, of being able to reconnect with myself and of engaging in one of my favourite activities, traveling.

It also meant actually being able to focus completely on one of the most important things in the world, relationships.

Almost a week has passed since the fourteen days spent with my mum, brother and Daniel touring New Zealand and seeing some of the most amazing sights in the world.


The tour started at Auckland where we made our way down to the South Island, stopping at

• Waitomo to see some glowworms and sleeping in a plane motel,
  
• taking the ferry from Wellington to Picton,
  
• swimming with fur seals at Kaikoura, nearly freezing to death,
  
• soaking in hot pools at Hanmer Springs that looked suspiciously like glorified swimming pools,
  
• being snowed on while crossing the Lewis Pass and having to get out of the car to play in the snow,
  
• climbing a glacier at Franz Joseph,
• meeting up and having dinner with a friend and his family whom I haven't seen in about five years,
• inhaling the "aromatic" scents, seeing live kiwi birds, going on luge rides, and of course Zorbing down a hill in Rotorua,
• peering into geysers, bubbling mud pools and actually trying to soak in a mineral pool at the motel that was way too hot, and
  
• tramping around a live active marine volcano at Whakatane

It has been an incredible experience to be able to travel around such a beautiful country. I've lost count of the number of times when we either had to stop the car or hang out of the car to take photo. We averaged about 150 photos a day.

But most of all, the holiday has refreshed and revitalised me.

I actually feel ready to face work again.