Sorry for my absence from writing but I have a pretty good reason. I was off the grid hiking in New Zealand. I highly recommend getting off the grid every now and then. Whether it be for a run or for a long backpacking trip. There's something very freeing about being unavailable.
To start we wanted to go to New Zealand last year but I didn't know you had to book the huts a year in advance. So we post pone our trip for a year and I checked every Friday for several months to see when the bookings would become available. Once the date was posted that they would become available, I put a meeting on my calendar and quickly planned out when we were aiming to take the hikes. The day came and I successfully booked huts for hikes 9 months into the future and cashed in airline miles for two tickets to New Zealand. Life has a funny way of taking your plans and flipping them upside down. I found out a few months later that my position was ending with the grant I was working on just a few weeks before we were slatted to head out. I went into a bit of a panic mode of should we still go even though I was going to be out of work. We decided that yes we were still going because well we had already paid for everything and couldn't get refunds for everything. I can honestly say that I am glad we went. Taking the time away is something that I do not regret. I also found out that if organizations want you, they will understand and work with you on interview times and schedules. While I still do not have a job, I am hopeful.
So here is a little photo teaser about some up coming blog posts about New Zealand:
Hiking through a set of Lord of the Rings?
Also here are some planned blog posts for the up coming weeks.
- Review of the Milford Track
- Review of the Routeburn Track
- Planning, packing, and preparing for trekking in New Zealand
- South Island activities
- Restaurants and food to try in New Zealand
- Blog just with photos of the many ferns I spotted
- Souvenirs
- Maybe a couple of recipe reviews from my new dessert cookbook on New Zealand desserts
- And a funny story involving hiking, meltdown, and early pioneers.