#1. Explore New Zealand

One more day to go, and I am in the air on my way to one of the most gorgeous countries on earth. Incredibly excited doesn't even begin to describe the way I feel! My backpack is full, my room packed up in storage, and my anticipation growing by the second. I arrive in Auckland and quickly fly to Queenstown, on the South Island. As winter is fast approaching for the Southern Hemisphere, it makes sense to start south and work my way north to avoid too much cold weather.

I wasn't able to set up a WWOOF host around Queenstown - either no space available or no work to be done. A little bummed, but the plan is to use those first few days to visit either Doubtful or Milford Sound and to move on from there. I hear they are both spectacular so picking one over the other will tough.

I am very much looking forward to two months of life - just being able to live and enjoy. I am excited for the experience of WWOOFing, and to have a greater connection to the earth that I have been able to living in the city. I am already happy about the journey that I am about to embark on.

The goal is to update this blog as often as I am able to; a first time blogger, this will be a challenge! I wish you all well while I am gone and will try to make my entries entertaining and insightful. Exhilarated beyond compare...

... and the adventure begins!

Getting It All Together

I have only two weeks to go and the packing has commenced. Off to REI today to get hiking socks and hopefully a wind/waterproof jacket for the winter weather. A few other odds and ends, and I think my backpack will be ready to be filled. I am packing up everything else for storage, so my room is full of piles and boxes. Feels a little hectic trying to take care of last minute to-do's, but in a exhilarating way. Once it is all done, I will be traveling another part of the world! Makes all the nuttiness worth it. I am making an 'itinerary' of places I definitely would like to go to while in New Zealand and am reading up on farms. I have to find my first host farm soon and am anxious to see how it works out. My goal is to start e-mailing places in the next two days. It's a bit of an adrenaline rush to not know what my first site may be! I am looking forward to meeting them already, whoever they may be.