where did i go, where have i been?
June 2001 left Austin to live in Yellowstone National Park for the summer and got sent back home in September...
Beginning of 2002 i got a job and they sent me to Arlington, VA/Washington D.C. I lived with Patricia for a few months- that was awesome! then she left for grad school and took all of the fun with her. while on the East Coast i did get to visit New York City and Philadelphia several times and had a few climbing trips out to Seneca Rocks. I stuck around DC until summer 2003 when i transferred to Berkeley, CA.
The Bay Area was great! Everything i wanted! i worked with great people, got to do wonderful things: rock climbing in Yosemite, cruising in the harbor in a yacht, hiking in Marin, fun nights out in San Francisco, taking in the amazing view everyday, eating weird food, frequent weekend trips for snowboarding in Heavenly, day trips down HWY 1, great days on a cold cold beach, taking care of other peoples dogs... the fun never ends!
then the big move July 2004- NEW ZEALAND! i flew into Auckland and immediately headed North for the Bay of Islands then partied my way down to
Whakapap/Mt.
Ruapehue for a season of snowboarding on a volcano! i cant even describe the beauty- constantly gasping at the view and my reality. the season ended and it was time for the beach. To the South Island and settled in Nelson very quickly. great friends that became family. I did my time on the Nelson beaches and mountains- then off again to hitch hike down the wild West Coast. Beyond spectacular! the pictures barely represent the experience. Then i landed flat broke in
Queenstown- not too bad of a place. I got to clean hotel rooms to get enough money to move onto Christchurch to find a "real job". super quick i found a job managing an outdoor adventure store and they sponsored me for a visa!
isn't life great? and landed in the coolest flat with the coolest folks. i will never forget Tim and Vanessa- even James
wasn't all that bad. Christchurch is a super little metropolis (pop. 300,000), i did enjoy my 9 months there.
Then a great stroke of luck. The company i worked for went bankrupt and liquidated in a matter of hours. Amazing how fast that can happen. As soon as i knew, i applied for a job with the Department of Conservation- they manage the National Parks. within a week i was selling everything and moving to
Aoraki/ Mt. Cook. by far one of the 20 best thing to happen to me while in NZ!
it was short summer season on the glacier covered mountain range, but i met my best friends there. i was constantly reminded that i live a charmed life, i am impossibly lucky. my job was mostly in the regional office assisting tourist- but there were the occasional helicopter flights up the glacier for "work" (well, some one was working). it was a tiny village filled with rugged mountain adventure enthusiasts- never a dull moment. I did get in a bit of rock climbing and was introduced to more adventurous snow activities, like creating a 5 mile track in waist deep snow.
It was all over too fast. The season was over, I was out of a job and my visa was soon to expire. Time to move on.
June/July 2006 i spent on the Australian East Coast. Lots of sunshine, beaches and a bit of adventure. And the experience of being an illegal day laborer! I got a great gig rebuilding and
finishing a huge deck with an amazing view. and then
i moved on to
Magnetic Island and was grounds keeper for a camp ground/ koala park.
August I spent in Thailand. Island hoped and got Scuba certified, got chased by monkeys, watched the rain, and lots of rock climbing in
Krabi.
September was a quick stop in Texas to refuel for the Caribbean.
Topped the adventure off with 3 weeks on a yacht in
Bonaire and St.
Maarten. It was work, but much more fun.
Landed back in Austin October 30, 2006. just in time for my niece McKenzie's first Halloween.
Cant wait to get going again.
