Coromandel Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand – 11th November 2009
I had planned out with military precision my arrival into New Zealand. I knew exactly what I wanted and how I was going to do it.
The three months prior I had been in Australia, two months of which I had lived alone in a campervan. Travelling from Darwin in the north to Albany in the south west corner. I had loved it.
It was a winning formula, me + portable home + living day to day = simple life. Throw in a mixture of time, remoteness, wilderness, natural beauty, wildlife and great weather. Perfect.
It was a very easy decision to replicate that formula in New Zealand, a country renowned for most of the above, apart from the great weather! My other variation was time, I ‘only’ had a month due to prior plans to be in South America. Not a problem, I just need to be more organised and have a plan….not such a simple life now.
I had booked a campervan that I would pick up at Auckland airport and head south so avoiding the traffic. I was heading for the Coromandel Peninsula on the east coast.
It was late in the day when I arrived and it took a while to complete the paperwork for the van, so I rushed off as soon as I could. It was about half an hour down the road when I realised I hadn’t picked up the contract for the van and would have to go back to get it.
Cue hissy fit and beating myself up about what an idiot, my best laid plans and all.
It wasn’t until the next day when I arrived at the bench above that the stress finally washed off me. I had fallen straight into the trap of getting organised and having a plan, which when it went wrong I immediately got wound up about it.
Stressing over time which didn’t matter, a reminder to kick back and let it all wash over, feeling the relief as it goes.
[…] That is the simple life. […]