Life happens. Much like Whistler, I eased into life here in Wanaka. It became less of a vacation and more of a settlement. And I think when that happens, ordinary happenings become less significant. Which I think is why I’ve let blogging drop off.

So maybe you’re not reading anymore. And that’s okay. This is mostly for me anyway. But as I scrolled back through the last four months of photos in my phone, I did a lot of laughing and had a lot of good reflection. So I’m going to serve them up in a series of highlights here for you. If you stay through to the end, I promise, they’re great.

 

August 16th – 18th

This weekend was the Wanaka Ball. It’s like the one night of the year that people in Wanaka actually dress up. Victoria had just started dating her now-boyfriend Jossi and he picked us up for the ball and brought a bouquet for each of us. I remember being so incredibly touched that he would do that.

The night was full of down-to-the-floor dancing, live music, laughs and the start of friendships that would persist for the rest of the winter.

 

Rest of August, early September

The next weekend was when Chloe moved in. Chloe is this tall, blonde ‘way-too-cool’ surfer chick from Toronto. She was living in Wellington with her boyfriend of four years when they broke up and she decided to move to Wanaka and start all over again. I remember being so impressed by her bravery in doing that and she quickly rounded out the trio of me, her and Vic.

Like any basic white girl, we cemented the friendship with a hike up to Isthmus Peak. Not the hardest hike I’ve ever done, but she was challenging. The 360 views at the top though were un-frigging-believable.

 

Let’s not forget the rest of the winter. Even though I was still experiencing concussion symptoms, I wasn’t going to let that stop me from getting in some incredible ski days over the winter.

I’m going to be honest, it was an extremely low tide winter. I think we had one good powder day. But man, that day was amazing. We hiked to the summit of TC and skied one incredible, champagne powder lap off the top and I remember thinking that it was one of the best runs I’d ever had (which got laughed at when I said it out loud, but it was true).

Let’s not forget that basically every damn time I went up the mountain, I was floored by how beautiful the views were. Seriously, it’s so awesome.

I was also stoked to finally get back behind a camera in early September. Mons needed ‘lifestyle’ shots of their new Summer range and I was tasked with getting some dreamy shots out down by the lake one night with Vic & Chlo.

With Chlo and Victoria, I was finally starting to feel incredibly at home in Wanaka.

And just in time, because the winter season was closing out. Chlo and I did the legendary Closing Day at TC, where we dressed up and tried our best not to get taken out by the other skiers enjoying various party treats. We started the day at a pancake breakfast at a neighbour’s house and then headed up the hill to milk what was left of the slim snowpack. After the ski hill, we migrated to a garden party where we danced the night away in someone’s driveway. I don’t have many photos from this day for obvious reasons.

 

I’m not sorry about any of those images.

 

End of September, start of October

With TC done for the season, options for skiing were limited. For Victoria’s birthday weekend on October 5th, we headed into Queenstown to try out the new climbing gym there and let me just say, it blew my damn socks off. I also realized our Wanaka gym is grungy as fuck.

The next day, we headed to Cardrona for my last day of skiing of the NZ winter season. It was a beautiful day and we did a few slushy laps and then sat to watch Jossi’s brother compete in the freestyle event. It was the perfect last day and Victoria and I were stoked to end out the season together.

With skiing over, there were two things on my mind. Biking and staying in NZ. I surprised myself by wanting to go for my second visa here; for a long time I had only wanted to do a year.

But I was finally beginning to find my footing and I had made solid friendships. Plus, with Chloe joining the group, she had also brought in her friends Hannah & Hayden (New Zealand mom & dad) and the crew was beginning to form. I wanted to stay. So I got my second visa, then I turned my attention to biking.

This summer, Victoria was intent on getting her feet wet in mountain biking, so we started to do a few mellow rides to start the summer off.

 

October

Once we were officially out of the winter season, the Mons girls and I formed a bit of riding group that goes out every week. AND I got a Skyline park pass. So yeah, there’s been a lot of bike riding so far this summer.

That said, I’ve also had a ton of progress rock climbing. In the gym, I’m finally starting to tackle lead climbing (which is fucking terrifying) and I’m also getting way more comfortable climbing outside. On the first holiday weekend of the summer, we all headed out to Hospital Flats in JP’s troopy and had a day of lying in the sun, eating snacks, watching each other climb and chilling. It was one of the best days.

The other thing that happened in October – I decided to leave Mons. There was a series of events that lead up to this decision but ultimately, it came down to culture. Mons had the shittiest, most toxic workplace culture. Never have I been so miserable, frustrated, angry and sad at a job. And it was all entirely due to leadership. That being said, I don’t regret my time there. I learned something incredibly valuable; you can love your work, the product, your coworkers and the message, but if the culture is shit, then the rest of it doesn’t matter.

Luckily, I landed on my feet with a managerial role at Lake Wanaka Tourism. And the culture there is a total 180 from that of Mons. Do I miss my coworkers? Yes. But am I happier for it? Absolutely.

 

November

November was when the summer really began to get into full swing. I kicked it off with a wicked sunburn from gardening on a Saturday morning.

We also caught one of those famous NZ sunsets.

The next weekend, we ramped things up a notch on JP’s farm, where we got to teach the girls how to ride dirtbikes and drive 4x4s. It was sooo fun to be back on a dirtbike again and rip around the farm.

The next week was my final week at Mons. On the Friday, I cleared out my desk, said sad goodbyes to all of my coworkers and left for good. And though part of me wants to be resentful towards Mons and the way I was treated, I can’t deny that they got me to NZ – and without Mons, I might’ve never come here or had had the life that I have now. So for that, I am thankful.

As soon as I finished my last day at Mons, we jetted off for girl’s surf weekend in the Catlins with Chlo, Vic, Jenny, Taylor & Britt. The Catlins have always had a special place in my heart. I love being near the ocean and getting out of Wanaka. Just like Mt. Cook, it’s one of those places in New Zealand that I keep going back to.

This time, we rented an adorable renovated barn smack dab in the middle of a sheep field right next to the ocean. We all took turns surfing on our three boards during the day, went exploring around the surrounding waterfalls and then ended the day with a charcuterie board on the point watching the sunset. It was definitely one of those days where I kept asking myself how I got so lucky.

The Catlins trip was everything I needed before starting my first week at the new job. It was so relaxing and we had so many laughs.

To add on to my first week at the new job, it was also my 28th birthday on the Tuesday. A few weeks ago, I had mentioned to Victoria that I was going to invite everyone to a dinner to celebrate. To which she cryptically told me “I’ve already got something sorted.” Which is adorable and so sweet.

But the thing is, I kept mentioning my birthday to various people and no one seemed to know that anything was happening. Which made me nervous.

That morning, I went to the gym and on the way home, I remember being weirdly homesick. I was reminiscing about how Dad used to make us pancakes shaped in our names for our birthdays and it made me miss home. Lo and behold, I come back to Victoria making me breakfast before she had to run off to work. Honestly, I don’t know what I did to deserve this girl.

Then, at work, my new coworkers had gotten me donuts and we all had a morning tea together. At lunch, a bunch of old Mons coworkers came down to celebrate with me. Honestly, that could’ve been it and I would’ve been so grateful.

But there was still a surprise that night. All day, a lot of people had been messaging me to say happy birthday and asking if I was doing anything that night. So much so, that I was convinced that Victoria had set up a fancy dinner out for just me and the girls – which, of course, would’ve been lovely.

So we all get dressed up that night and Vic says she’ll meet Chlo and I at the restaurant. We get there and I walk in and literally ALL my closest friends are there – even the ones who had messaged me to ask what was going on that night – conclusion: all my friends are excellent liars.

What a difference a year makes. When I turned 27, I had just arrived in NZ and I was so lonely and worried that I would never make friends here. Turning 28, I could’ve just cried from happiness. I was so unbelievably touched by everyone getting together to surprise me and make it such a memorable day.

I kicked off 28 with some ‘famils’ for work. A ‘famil’ is a familiarization tour – basically you go on tours with all the local tour companies so you know what you’re marketing to visitors. Let me just say – holy shit, there are some rad things to do in Wanaka. So far, I’ve done a via ferrata and a farm tour – which were both equally awesome, but for very different reasons… pictured.

That weekend, we decided it was finally time to do a night out in Queenstown. Ohhh boy. We got super lucky and did a last minute AirBNB. Our new friend Molly joined us and we hit the town. Our friend Billy, gave us the grand tour and we hit too many bars to count, but man, it was well needed. There’s not much a party scene in Wanaka, which usually I don’t even miss, but when you want to dance, it kind of sucks that there’s nowhere to go. So that’s what we did.

The next week, it looked like summer might finally kick off. The week was full of lakeside BBQs, sea-dooing, hiking and boating (because Hannah and Hayden bought a boat, yay!) We also welcomed a new friend to our little girl gang – Molly from North Carolina.

 

December (so far)

Two weekends ago, we decided it was finally time to head an New Zealand alpine hut. We chose Brewster because it’s at the edge of a glacier and the views are incredible. It’s an adorable red hut with room for plenty of people. It’s also only two hours uphill, but it was definitely steep. I surprised myself and didn’t suffer as much as I thought I would.

We got the top, made our freeze-dry dinners and played some cards. Then we snuggled into bed and prepared for the early wake-up call. Unfortunately, we’d have to hightail it out of there before the rain made the river crossing too dangerous.

That Sunday night, despite being exhausted from our hike, we decided to do an early orphan Christmas dinner. We had a huge potluck at our house that consisted mostly of cheese trays (that’s what you get when you tell everyone to bring appys). Hannah and Hayden brought a few whole chickens (because turkey is expensive as hell down here) and Vic, Chlo and I were on sides. Molly was on dessert. It was so amazing. Chloe even got a makeshift Christmas tree and decorations for the house. Again, it was one of those occasions where I kept thinking – ‘how did I get so damn lucky?’

Then finally, this past week. Last week, it rained non-stop. So much so, that Wanaka started to flood. Third week on the job and I was learning crisis communication. They had to shut down all of downtown because of the water coming up. The shops were boarded up and sandbagged. And although the water did come up, it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. Mostly just the roads flooded and a few shops. And as quickly as it came in, it’s now starting to go out again.

 

 

And finally, this past weekend. On Saturday, we all braved the rain and headed to Wanaka Beerfest. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in the run of a day. After a pancake breakfast with mimosas at our house, we all piled into JP’s troopy, blasting oldies as we careened into the Beerfest grounds. Then we spent all day sampling beers, petting all the dogs we could, and dancing to the live music. Chloe was definitely the star of the day, making me laugh so hard I almost peed at one point. Afterwards, we wandered into town and got Indian food, then reluctantly called it a night.

A little hangover on Sunday couldn’t stop us from carrying out an idea I had had for a photo shoot while the flood waters were still high… I wanted to inject a bit of irony into the situation. Luckily, Chlo, Molly, Hannah and Hayden were all sports.

Alright, well if you’re still with me… wow you should probs go outside now.

Be back soon! (or, in four months, who even knows anymore).

• JB