North, South, East & West

On Saturday, I visited Cape Reinga. Though not technically the most northern point of New Zealand, it draws significance from the Maori belief that souls depart from here to return to their homeland. The lighthouse, combined with the meeting of two seas encouraged me to visit this potentially atmospheric and spectacular spot.

Although I wanted Cape Reinga to be atmospheric and spectacular, I was typically disappointed by the amount of people there. I find the 'points' of New Zealand rather arbitrary, with the atmosphere spoiled by the number of people (often the more populous areas of New Zealand in my experience). Being one of the first in the world to witness the sun rise at New Zealand's most eastern point was rather spectacular, but on the whole, these points don't rival beauty you can find in other parts of New Zealand.

Despite my protestations that Cape Reinga was underwhelming (by New Zealand nature standards), I couldn't shake off the strange feeling it gave me to be standing at this northern point. After 8 months here, I have covered the four corners of New Zealand, I have travelled the length and width of the country. I guess you could say I've 'done' New Zealand. Apart from Golden Bay, Kaikoura, and the islands, there aren't many parts of New Zealand that I haven't travelled through. I try not to be a traveller who ticks off nations and bags peaks. But knowing that I'm not planning on living in New Zealand permanently, probably only until Christmas 2018, I couldn't help but question why I was staying any longer. I've only been in New Zealand 8 months, and I've seen so much, do I really want to stay another 20 months? I could move somewhere else, I could travel somewhere else - I should right?

Standing at that most northern point made me question what it is I want to achieve in my time left in New Zealand. The truth is, I've far from 'done' New Zealand. There are places I want to return to, and still some places I've yet to explore and people I'd like to get to know more. But most importantly, there are so many things I'm proud of from the last 8 months, that I'd like to build on. What I don't want to happen is to plateau, to become complacent and take things for granted. I don't want to stop living in the present, and start saving and planning for what's after New Zealand. It's definitely autumnal now too, and with winter on its way, I don't want to become lazy and glum, waiting for time to pass.

So I am going to focus on making the most of New Zealand, throughout the winter, right through to next year. I have lots of things I'd like to focus on this year and I'll do a follow up post on them soon. Although New Zealand won't be my permanent home, it will be for another year and a half and I want to be proud of them.