New Zealand Reloaded

The clock was ticking past one in the morning of a Saturday night when the plain touched the ground but my body and mind were still unwilling to slow down as the adrenaline that rushed through my veins for seventeen days was still going strong. The next day, however, as I woke up, I wonder if I had actually slept on my bed or been a part of a hit and run. I could feel every muscle I own punching me and every cell of my brain screaming at me. That was Australia: an extremely intoxicating experience from which I was (finally) facing a massive hangover. Simply putting it, I was having a heavy redraw from a powerful drug.

Beyond the physical pain, I was also coping with a very strange mental adjustment. On the one hand, the feeling of utterly wanting to go back to  Australia and on the other hand, that strange sensation of going from perceiving New Zealand as a far away and exotic destination I would not visit in a near (or far away) future to calling it home. It always seemed a bit surreal whenever I said the words “I'm only in Australia for a short vacation, I'll return soon to New Zealand where I live”. But it really is the place where I live as I have a house, work, friends and routines to vouch for that (sometimes I need to say this to myself). Hence, I was trap between the unbelievably amazing two weeks I had in Australia and the unbelievable reality of calling New Zealand home. 

And perhaps out of jealously for my passionate affairs with Australia, New Zealand decided to make me a love declaration and reload our relationship – a Thursday afternoon off work to go to the beach, a Saturday day trip through mounts and valleys culminating in an amazingly beautiful beach, a lazy Sunday by the pool with a city skyline as background and catching up with friends over home cooked meals.

Australia is head over heels passion, New Zealand is steady love.