I'm Back Baby

It's been over a year since my last blog post. Things got busy, I was concentraing on our professional blog, www.roughleyoriginals.com and I just decided to give this one up. I did make the decision, I didn't just let it slip away. But I never did delete it, because you never know.

And here I am, back again! I miss having a place for my personal musings, my writing, somewhere I can see what I've done. I have been keeping a travel journal, but it just doesn't feel the same.  Let me catch you up on our life the past year:

We had an unbelievably busy summer in 2010, working full time, and becoming increasingly busy with our photography. It got to the point that we were working seven days a week. It was intense, hard and tiring. We had our eyes on a prize though: travel.

In December Gareth and I said good-bye to our family, friends, and our home. We rented out our place, and we took off. We headed first to the UK, where we spent a month with G's family, visiting and catching up. Gareth's mom taught me how to make some Roughley tasty treats.

We had a fun trip, which included New Year's Eve in Edinburgh for Hogmany

In the blink of an eye, it was time to say good-bye. Our next stop was Hong Kong, where we spent a week. I'm not gonna lie, it was a rough start. Jet leg and culture shock completely overwhelmed me, and all I wanted to do was go home. We made a bad decision to go out as soon as we arrived instead of sleeping, and then we visited the oldest part in Hong Kong, which literally takes you back 100 years. Markets filled the streets, selling dried fish, dried seahorses, dried lizard...it was overwhelming.

With some sleep and some deep breaths, I sorted myself out and ended up really enjoying our time there.

A Sampan ride!

Next up was Tasmania! We were back in the country we met, and it was a fantastic feeling. So was the sunshine! And so was seeing some really good friends from Tassie, whom I met when I was 18 and travelling Australia. We only get to see them every few years, and we always have the best time.

From Tassie, it was time for our final destination - New Zealand. Gareth and I were armed with work visas for 1 year, and we here to live the life.

It's now July; we've been here for about 6 months and man we have been through a lot. Buying a van that was ready for the graveyard, living in the van which is smaller than a queen sized bed, hot days, long hikes, cold nights, and some very interesting jobs. I have learned more about myself than I will ever be able to describe to anyone in this time. I have been thrown out of my lovely little comfort zone I made for myself, into a world unknown. I have realized that I loved my little bubble, and I don't do that well outside of it. I hope to learn how to change that very soon! I think we're all caught up. I'm so excited to get writing on here again.

S xx