Leaving on a Jet Plane

It started with an idea. A thought, really. We didn’t just wake up one day and have it all figured out. We didn’t whip out a 50-page proposal plan on our first day and know that that was what we were going to do. How it was going to go. We didn’t buy endless amounts of mapped out trails and highlight the route we wanted to go. Instead, nine months ago a thought passed through my head. An inkling of something to be. Something amazing. Something that would grow like ripples in the water from a stone skipping the surface of a glass lake. [Read more]

It's official. Alex and I have our first published magazine article. Thanks to NZ Multisport who has allowed us to be included in their most recent magazine (Issue 77). It's a little surreal to think that our plans and preparations for Te Araroa have brought us to this point. Something that has started so small has begun to grown into something bigger than I ever thought it would get to. And yet it is real. It is happening. And we haven't even started trekking yet. I can only imagine what adventure awaits us once we make our first steps along the trail in October.

Time is rushing past us as it is though. Our proposed start date for trekking (October 15) seems a world away, yet it will come soon enough. I have less than a week left in Broome before I head off cross-country to make my way to Auckland. It's hard to think about all that has brought me to Broome, all that has happened in Broome and know that in a few short days it will all be over and I will say goodbye. I have met so many incredible people here in this place - people I will never forget and hope that we will always remain in touch. But even still, soon I will have to leave them all behind. Yet another home I leave behind. My friends. My family.

But the new adventure awaits me and Alex in New Zealand and I couldn't be more excited for it. Alex and I have been madly making our last minute preparations before we meet up in Auckland in less than 2 weeks time and things have started to really fall into place. We have received word of our newest sponsor, Biovac, who will help us in providing a few more items to gear us up for the long distance trail. I have been pursuing the production of a promotional video within my spare time, railroading through all the obstacles modern technology can present while making such a product. Alex, still at home in the UK, has been sending out last minute emails and such to possible sponsors and people of interest that still may be able to help us out for our journey. And all the while we have been receiving great help from so many people in helping us reach our goal of $10000 for Indigo Foundation!

And even through all of this, there has been the day-to-day living experiences. My friend, Kirstin has recently performed in Broome's very own Worn Art production of which she was the MC and a performer in the show. There's been countless goodbyes from friends all around as people one-by-one drop off the radar to go on their own  next big adventure. I have started learning how to make feather earrings thanks to my friend Amanda (USA) and yoga has become the newest craze among those of us at the campsite as we roll out of bed each morning to stretch our limbs in positions we never thought possible. Even through all of that there has still been the beach days where my feet worm their way under the soft sand and I stare out blissfully at the Indian Ocean in it's rich torquoise blue color. If only I had my paints and canvases with me to capture all the colors Broome has to offer.

And so with that all in mind, time continues to tick on. Each day I wake up to make the most of it as I realize I am nearing the last. Pretty soon I will be leavng, leaving on that jet plane and I just simply do not know when I will be back again.

The Last Chapter - Almost

Today is the last day for me. The last day I will be working at Seashells Resort. The last day that I will have to don a school-girl uniform and walk the block to work where I pretend to enjoy my job as a housekeeper. The last day I will have to look at a list of rooms and determine which one should be cleaned next. The last day I will have to knock on doors and yell out "Housekeeping" to warn guests of my entering their room. The last day I will have to make beds, clean kitchens, dust surfaces and scrub bathrooms. The last day I will have to lug around a hoover and mop bucket as though I can not live with out them. The last day of flipping doona covers, re-using rags and disguising stains in the towels. The last day of complaining about lack of linen and running around endless from storeroom to storeroom in a vain attempt to find any. The last day I will have to listen to customers requests on what they want cleaned during their service. Today is the last day.

And as with anything that comes to an end - there is a new beginning. Tomorrow I will be free of Seashells Resort and only have to focus my efforts at Zanders. Tomorrow I will be able to start catching up on sleep, sun, sand, surf and a whole heck of a lot of running. Tomorrow I will be able to gain back all the energy I have been deprived of the last few months from working two jobs non-stop. Tomorrow is a new beginning and I can't wait.

Inbetween all of that, life has been an emotional rollarcoaster ride for me this week. Each day has come with a new challenge to face - each day resulting in me being more exhausted than the last. There's been struggles with Immigration New Zealand of which I can't go into detail for fear of putting doubt in the minds of our supporters on the success of our trek. There's been the excitement of the possibility of new sponsors, new donators and new progress of Alex and mine's trek preparations. There's been relationship rollarcoasters - a battle of morals and values with one friend while I bonded with another over a jewellery making session. There's been going away shindigs for staff at Zanders and the excitment of bringing new staff aboard. There's been a homemade pizza night where we stuffed our faces and then ended the evening with a massage chain. There's been fire spinning at the beach and yoga classes in the morning. There's been so much going on that my brain is exhausted in attempting to process it. Hense why everyday has been a struggle to wake up and everyday I have had a nap in the afternoon.

Even still - I am thrilled at the prospect of what is to come within the next couple weeks here in Broome. Pressing ahead with preparations of New Zealand I hope to update my website, figure out what I need to take with me to NZ and what I need to send back to Canada. There's plenty of plans to have some quality time on the beach under the sun and I'm incredibly stoked to get back on the fitness wagon. Life is good. Life is tough. I love every minute of it.

Walking on Water

As time goes on, Alex and I are completely emersed in ensuring that we are as prepared as possible for our trek. From two separate countries (her in the UK, me in Australia), we send off multiple emails to each other each day, updating each other on our individual work and findings. Questions we have for each other. Concerns we have for the months to come. Where to send stuff. Who to contact. What research still has to be done. And in doing so, Alex recently came across a video on YouTube.

The two guys in the video were trekking Te Araroa this past season and the video here shows them attempted to get across a river. I do not know who they are. I do not know how long the entire trek took them. I am only assuming they completed Te Araroa as there is a video under their profile labled "The End." Even without all the unknowns, this video clearly gives a taste of some of the stuff Alex and I will have to be dealing with when we get to New Zealand. There may not be bears. There may not be cougars. We may be going together in a team of two and we may have had a variety of experience in trekking to back us up.... but there is still a vaste amount of challenges we will meet along the way. Raging rivers is just one of them.

And in watching this I wonder if we will ever be "ready." Will there ever be a point when we wake up and feel completely prepared for the journey ahead of us? How could we when we have never done such a feat? And yet, even through all the questions and possibility of self-doubt I am completely, totally and utterly excited for what is to come. What we have to do. What we will accomplish.

So soon is our journey and yet it feels just out of reach. The time will come. The time will come when we will start our journey and one day, months later, we will finish it. We will reach our finish line and touch our hands to the well known marker in Bluff.

Bring on the Non-Training

And so it begins. I knew the time was upon me and now that it is here it is hard to know if I can follow through. As August is my last month here in Broome, I have decided to make it my month dedicated towards getting myself as in shape as possible.... getting ready for the lengthy trek a couple of months from now. I don't really see it as "training," per say - how does one particularly "train" to walk across an entire country? In my mind, you just kind of do it.

And so August has become my month of non-training. Though I do not see the sense in formally training for this trek Alex and I will do - I do see the sense in being as physically fit as possible beforehand. With that in mind, it all began on Monday (August 2) of which I walked all the way to B.R.A.C. (Broome's Recreation and Aquatic Centre) to meet up with Siobhan (pronounced: Shiv-awn) to do a Zumba class. I guess if you picture a latin-flavoured dance aerobic class and that would be pretty much what we were doing. Considering Siobhan forgot her contacts, we were first timers at the back of the class, we didn't have any mirror to check and see if we were doing the right move and the instructor didn't have a microphone to project her voice to the back of the room.... well - we did pretty good. I figured the sweating was what counted. That and we must burnt a few hundred calories just in laughing at how ridiculous it was to try and keep up to the instructor.

Then today came yoga. Kirsten and I got up bright and early to meet at the Buddha Sanctuary down the road for some good ol' relaxing yoga. Only it wasn't as much relaxing as trying to twist my body in unnatural positions and then force it to stay there while I attempted to concentrate on breathing. By the time our hour was over I felt as though my limbs were made of spaghetti and that I had stretched every possible muscle in my body. It felt awesome.

Tomorrow will be running. Or so I plan. The tough part is though I have plans to end my housekeeping job here soon, I am still working two jobs. And I am still using my time outside of shifts to work on organizing things for New Zealand. And I am still super tired. All I can do is cross my fingers and hope that the fitness endorphins kick in big time for me and put me into high gear. After all, it's not as though I am officially training right?

Outside of all this excersize gibberish, all is going relatively normal. More new people have arrived at the caravan park. Work is still the same. Same story, different day. And all I can think about is beautiful New Zealand and the months that will come as Alex and I get the opportunity to cross such a amazing country on foot. If only it could be tomorrow.