When we got back from our big trip up North, it was straight into summer. The first few weeks were quiet actually, as if we were all winding down from the holidays. With the election going on in the States and the ongoing predictions of a travel bubble with Australia, it was like there wasn’t enough room for anything else. It was a weird and stressful time.

Finally, on the weekend of January 23rd, we kicked into gear and headed for PK Bay for Chloe’s birthday. This time, Fraser came along and it was really great to back by the ocean with him.

Fraser and Andy went down a night before we did and by the time we arrived, they had already been diving and hunting, managing to pull a bunch of paua for dinner and a stag that Fraser had shot while they were out hunting.

We had a charcuterie, the paua, popped champagne on the beach, had a campfire and even witnessed a seal attacking a surfer the next morning (he hit with his surfboard and the seal swam off). Thrilling weekend.

The next weekend, January 30, V and I headed over to Queenstown to ride bikes with our friend Billy at Rude Rock. We loaded up the truck for shuttle laps and took turns driving up and down the mountain, letting those who weren’t driving have long amazing laps down the trails. It was awesome – up until Billy went over-the-bars and broke his collarbone.

We got Billy up and was able to get the truck close enough to the trail that he didn’t have to walk out too far. After an ER visit and an x-ray, it was confirmed – broken collarbone. Billy went home for the night and Vic and I headed to the Sherwood hotel, this cute boho hotel that we had booked for the night and then got ready to go out.

And what an amazing night it was. We started off with dinner at Madam Woo’s, this really cool Malaysian restaurant. From there, we headed to Yonder for a live show. We danced in the streets with a busker band, headed to a club that was packed to the ceiling with people dancing to 2010s music, were hypegirls to a hairdresser that had just decided to start his own business, danced with new friends, got a pie to end off the night and collapsed into bed with our ears still ringing. It was perfect.

The next morning, hungover, we dragged our asses to The Boat Shed, our Queenstown choice night-after brunch location.

The weekend after that, February 6, I was back in Queenstown riding Rude Rock again, this time with a new friend Jen and a couple of her buddies. Again, we shuttled each other and did super long laps – it was glorious. After riding Rude Rock, we headed to Wynyard, on the other side of town and practiced jumping. It was a huge day of riding – one which I paid for with awful referred pain from my shoulder for two days afterwards – totally worth it.

On the Sunday, Jen invited me out to the crag for climbing with her and her friend Elias. I was still having really bad pain in my shoulder from all the riding, so I skipped climbing, but took my camera instead to have a play. It’s been forever since I’ve taken photos and I forgot how much I enjoyed it. Definitely still need some practice, but good to feel the spark again.

I headed home after climbing to a massive potluck dinner, complete with venison that Fraser had shot and popcorn crayfish that him and Andy had caught while they were gone over the weekend. I swear, this has been the summer of good eating.

February 12-14

Fraser had been asking me forever to go out with him to scout a hunting block and I finally agreed. We headed up to Timaru Creek, which was just an hour drive from Wanaka and hiked through about 500 river crossings (there was a learning curve there) and up a short climb to a perfect little camping spot on the saddle. Fraser went for a little walk around to see if he could spot any deer sign while I sat on the peak and drank beer, feeling very at peace to be so above all my problems below.

That night we snuggled into our tiny tent tucked away in the woods and tried to get some sleep. The next morning after another quick walk-around, we hiked back to Wanaka. It felt really good to be back in the mountains again.

The following weekend, Chloe, Dan, Molly and I were all thinking about going to PK Bay again. But the night before leaving, I had a total meltdown and decided that I just needed a weekend to chill. Work had been insane and the pressure of marketing for a tourist town with no tourists was really starting to get to me. It was a valuable lesson in listening to myself, instead of feeling forced to go and do something that I really wasn’t feeling. Dan, Chloe and I ended up staying home and having something of a staycation. We went to the gym, relaxed at the house, made pasta at midnight because we felt like it and tanned on the beach. It was so rejuvenating and it just felt good to let go of all the things I thought I had to do.

February 26-28

Well, the big day was almost upon us. On March 1, Fraser would turn the big 2-5. And to celebrate over the weekend, we headed to Queenstown for a big night out.

We had booked the Sherwood a few weeks before because there was a Fleetwood Mac cover band playing there that night. I had bought tickets for Fraser and I weeks in advance, but for a few of our group, they had forgotten and the show was sold out. I was pretty upset at first, but we decided to roll the dice, go anyway and see if we could get door sales.

When we got there, the venue told us that the show was completely sold out and there would be no more sales. We were all pretty bummed, but Chloe, ever the swindler actually messaged the band on Instagram, tracked down their manager at the venue and then managed to get enough tickets from him to get into the show! I swear, I don’t know how that girl works her magic the way she does.

It was SUCH a good night. We started out the night with pizza in town and then forced the Kiwis to try caesars at a cocktail bar that actually had them (they hated them). We watched buskers along the waterfront, then we headed back to the hotel for the show.

The show was unbearably hot, but we danced the night away anyway. At 11pm, just as the show was winding down, we all got a notification on our phones that NZ was going back into Level 2 at 6am the next day because there had been an outbreak in Auckland again. Well, then that meant this was our last night to party in a crowded space for the next little while!

After the show, we headed into town, got Money Shots at one of our favourite bars, laughed until we peed at Fraser, Molly and Hayden riding the bull at Cowboy’s and got teapot cocktails at World Bar. It wasn’t until Fraser and Dan had to break up a fight on the waterfront that we all decided town was getting too hectic and decided to call it a night. So we got our pies and headed back to the hotel.

March 5-7

This weekend, Hannah and Hayden had to start moving out of their old house with Fraser and into their new house. So Fraser and I spent that Saturday helping them move. At the time, it was so sad. For Hannah and Hayden to not live with Fraser anymore and to not see them every time I stayed overnight with him kind of felt like the end of an era.

On the Sunday, we got a bit of a break in the weather, so Fraser, Andy and I went 4x4ing down along the West Coast in an area that Fraser wanted to scope for hunting. We ended up finding this little hut in a beautiful field filled with blackberries and the boys went to town foraging. On the way back, we stopped at a roadside waterfall that I hadn’t seen before, even though I’ve driven that road tons of times.

March 11-13

And then Molly’s birthday rolled around. The forecast was looking amazing for the weekend and I think we were all hoping that Molly would want to go into the mountains. Instead, she picked the ocean. At first, I was a little disappointed, but it turned out to be a really nice getaway, despite the tons of sandflies. Cave exploring, ocean skinnydips, s’mores and tents on the beach; these are a few of my favourite things.

March 18-20

When Jen told me that she had never done Mueller Hut, I jumped at the chance – this one had been on my bucket list forever. We invited along Jen’s friend Fi, and the three of us headed off to Mt. Cook for the night to hike up to Mueller Hut.

Hooooly, it was everything I expected and more. The hike was a grind, but luckily it only took us about three hours to get to the top. The views were absolutely insane and the distant rumblings of glaciers falling made me feel so small. We got the most incredible sunset and drank tea under the stars obnoxiously singing Shania Twain. There were too many laughs to count on this trip and I got down off the mountain, knees screaming, calves shaking, but so satisfied to have pushed myself again.

The day Sunday after Mueller, Jen and friends invited me along to the Ripe Food and Wine Festival in Wanaka. It was a total spur-of-the-moment decision, but we managed to track down secondhand tickets, got a little dressed up and headed out for the day. It actually worked out well that all my girlfriends were away doing their own things for the weekend – it was very refreshing to hang with a new group of girls, get to know everyone and kind of escape from the same ol’ of my gang.

The last weekend of March, I helped Hannah, Hayden and Fraser do a final clean-up of their old house, moved Fraser’s things into a storage unit (he was going away hunting for a few weeks and wouldn’t have a house until he got back) and then celebrated Hannah and Hayden’s baby shower; only six weeks left!

And then that brings us to this Easter weekend. Vic and I took the Wednesday, Thursday off last week and headed into the mountains for a three-day hike through Gillespie Pass. I was suuper intimidated heading into this hike. I had never done a multiday and I wondered if I was going to fit enough to do it. Only one way to find out…

Day 1, we drove the hour out to Makarora and caught a jetboat across the river down to the trailhead. I had never been on a jetboat before and kind of thought that they were an over-rated tourist trap. I was totally wrong. What a way to wake up right before a hike.

From there, we started the 20km into the bush towards the first hut. The first day of hiking was actually pretty cruisey, with a few grunty sections of forest stairmaster. Just enough to get tired, but not enough to kill you. When we arrived at Young Hut at 3pm, we felt somewhat accomplished for the day and cracked into our mini charcuterie board.

The next day, we took our time getting up in the morning, had some oatmeal for breakfast and then packed up to head off on the next seven hours of our journey. We knew that the second day was going to be the hardest – we had read that we’d start off walking through the forest up the bushline, where we’d come out into a beautiful alpine bowl looking up at Mt. Awful (real name), before taking on a steep scramble to the top of the mountain. After that, we’d encounter a long downhill into Siberia Valley, before finishing with an hour walk through the valley to Siberia Hut.

The directions we were given were pretty bang on. The Mt. Awful bowl was gorgeous and the towering mountains around us made us feel like we were in Modor. The scramble up to the peak took us about three hours and it was big and steep. A little exposed and scary at times, but it felt like a good work-out. Then the down – I hate the downs more than the ups. It’s so hard on your body to go down that steeply for so long and just as I was getting over it, we reached the bottom and jumped in the river for a quick skinny dip to cool off.

When we got dressed again, we continued through the lush and golden Siberia Valley before finally happening across Siberia Hut – we had made it.

Our hutmates that night were awesome and in a weird way, made me a little homesick. There was a father there with his adult daughter who had done the same pass that we had and were on their way to do another adventure later that week together. Then there was a father with his two twin ten year olds – I couldn’t believe that they had been out there doing the hike as well. Seeing the smaller kids made me reminiscence about all the adventures our family did when we were younger and I wondered if we were ever the kids that the adults looked at disbelieving that we were doing what we were. I was also jealous of the adult daughter and her father – often I think about how much I wish I could share these experiences and this life with my family, and laugh to myself thinking about the parts that they would love and equally the parts that they would hate.

We bid our time reading books and playing card games, eating our dehydrated dinners and then heading off to bed early, exhausted from the big day. The next morning, it was pouring rain, but the sound of the water on the roof of the hut was so soothing. We again had a slow time getting up and tried to wait out the rain stopping. When it didn’t look promising, we donned rain jackets and put covers over our backpacks and began the two hour hike out to the mouth of the river where the jetboat would pick us up to take us back to civilization in Makarora.

We hopped back on the jetboat at 1:30pm and got an awesome 30min ride out with a few stops along the way for fact-sharing and some spins in the boat. By the time we got back to the car, I was burnt out and very ready for a nap and some fresh band-aids for my blisters. But what an adventure. In a weird way, doing a multi-day hike was almost even easier than a daytrip. There was no rush, nowhere to be and I didn’t feel like we had to move quickly. We could just enjoy being the mountains, stop and take in the views and get to the hut whenever we wanted. I really loved it and am looking forward to the next one that I get to do.

Alright, well that wraps up the last six months. I am feeling vaguely accomplished having gotten this done over the last three days. I’ll say that I’ll hopefully write again in two months, but at this point who knows. It’s anyone’s guess.

You check out my video wrap-up of the summer here. Remember to hit those arrows to see the whole thing.

• JB

Not since Whistler have I had a Christmas away from home and I’ve never been in New Zealand for the holidays – and let me just say, it is WEIRD. Christmas here is the height of summer, so no snow, no Christmas lights, no skiing. Instead, it’s barbeques, shorts and beach days.

I didn’t start to feel homesick until the day before Fraser and I were due to to leave to go up North to spend the holidays with his family in Taupo. While I was packing shorts and swimsuits, it just felt wrong – like I should instead be packing up sweaters and ski stuff to go home. But I had to buck up a bit, this wasn’t a choice I could have made, it was literally a situation that was out of my control.

That said, I was excited (mostly nervous) to meet Fraser’s family for the first time. Obviously Sonia (his sister) and I were good friends from living down here. But I had never met his mom or his other sister, Jess. I was also nervous for how another family would celebrate Christmas. I love the way that we’ve always done it; Christmas Eve at Mom’s, a big breakfast the next morning after gift opening, heading over to Dad’s in the afternoon and then a family dinner in Wentworth. I knew that Fraser’s wouldn’t be like this, because everyone is different. I just hoped that I wouldn’t miss my way of doing things too much.

But before I could worry about Christmas day, I had something else to worry about – a 24 hour drive from Wanaka to Taupo. Most Kiwis would do this trip over the course of a couple of days, but Fraser was keen to have as much time with his family as possible, so we vowed to do it straight through with both of us taking turns driving.

It actually started out perfect. Fraser and I each did three hours on, three hours off – with him giving me tips on driving standard along the way. Our first stop was three hours out of Wanaka in Fairlie for an famous Fairlie pie. It was amazing and can confirm that they’re famous for a reason.

Our next stop was five hours later in Kaikoura, a beautiful little beach town outside of Christchurch. I’ve actually always wanted to go to Kaikoura and just passing through convinced me that I would definitely be coming back here at some point.

Finally, we made it to Picton, in the north of the South Island, where we caught the ferry to the North Island. The ferry is a lot like the one we used to take back and forth to Newfoundland and although it looks huge and the strait looks small, it actually takes about four hours to chug over to Wellington from Picton.

We had booked the 9:30pm ferry because it was one of the cheaper options, which put us into Wellington at 1:30am. Our plan from there would be to drive the five hours straight through to Taupo. I don’t think either of us realized what a big undertaking this would be. By the time we got on the ferry, we were totally beat from driving all day and with no beds, most of the passengers (including us) just curled up on the floor in the aisles between seats to try to get some sleep while the ferry worked its way across the strait.

When we got into Wellington, it felt a little post-apocalyptic. Fraser started out driving while I tried to get some sleep, but was distracted by the quiet drive through downtown Wellington. As we moved out of the city, I finally nodded off. Three hours later, Fraser was waking me up asking if I could drive for a bit. It was 4am and we still had another couple of hours to go and I knew if Fraser was asking me to drive, it meant that he was seriously needing to get out from behind the wheel because he was nodding off.

We switched seats and just before I put the car into gear, Fraser looked at me and said in a very stern voice, “Jessie. If you start to fall asleep, pull over.”

It’s one of the only times he’s ever reminded me of Dad. The way he said it, I knew that he was dead serious. And to be honest, I was super tired, but I turned on some music and tried to sing along to keep myself awake. It also helped that it was foggy as hell as we weaved our way through the mountains into Taupo. That extra bit of concentration really forced me to stay awake and we pulled into Taupo just as the sun was rising.

Fraser’s mom’s house in Taupo is a holiday house; the family is spread out across the North Island now and his mom bought the house as a place for all of them to go. When we arrived, no one else was there yet. After wandering around the rooms for a bit and feeling a little uncomfortably out-of-place, we collapsed into bed and slept six hours until 1pm. We then went out to get some food and explore the town.

Taupo is absolutely beautiful. There’s a huge lake with a backdrop of mountains. The town itself is bigger than Wanaka and it was nice to have a little more going on, without going to a big city.

We spent the next few days meeting Fraser’s friends and I tried my best not to feel totally out of place. Fraser is considerably younger than me and I began to notice distinct differences in his friends of the same age. There were those that would meet me, introduce themselves and then pretty much ignore my existence for the rest of their interactions with Fraser. And then there were those who would meet me and then ask me questions about myself and make a genuine effort to include me in conversations – I appreciated those people more and I began to figure out that being 24/25 years old is a bit like that – some people have figured out social etiquette and others are still just kids. Maybe that sounds pretentious.

I was dead terrified of Fraser’s sister Jess at first. She’s my age and I kind of kept imagining what it would be like if my younger brother showed up with a girlfriend who was my age – I’d probably feel a little standoff-ish. But I think she eventually warmed up to me and I began to realize that her sense of humour is a lot like mine; a little dry, bordering on offensive and could be misconstrued as rude. I liked her.

Meeting Fraser’s mom was great as well. Pip obviously loves having Fraser home and doted on him at all times. She kind of reminded me of Mom; constantly asking if we wanted something to eat, if we had enough towels, showing us the quirks of the house and where we could store our stuff, asking if we wanted to go check out that or telling Fraser he should show me this. I’m sure Fraser will feel right at home whenever he comes with me to Halifax.

On Christmas Day, we woke up to Pip blaring Snoopy’s Christmas (akin to Dad blaring Welcome to the Jungle on race days). We all got up and came upstairs for coffee and Christmas games. Pip’s partner, Helen had bought a bunch of mini gifts and set up quizzes and yard games for us. Whoever won, got a mini-gift. It was actually a really cool way of doing Christmas morning and I might steal the idea in the future.

The one thing I missed was doing the big Christmas morning breakfast. After we finished the first round of games, Fraser went to make him and I some food and he seemed in a mood. After we finished eating, he asked if he could talk to me in our room and I followed him there. Once there, he sat down and seemed really frustrated. I asked him what was wrong and he explained to me that he was frustrated because he didn’t know that his mom didn’t have any plans to make a big breakfast and if he had known, he would’ve put together one for everyone to enjoy because he wanted to make it feel like home for me.

Even writing it down now, I kind of start to tear up. It was just one of the sweetest things that anyone has ever said to me. Of course, I had been homesick since we arrived in Taupo and it hadn’t gone unnoticed by Fraser. And the fact that he remembered that I had told him about my family’s Christmas traditions and then been annoyed that he couldn’t have done something similar for me was just so touching.

I told him that it meant a lot to me that he even thought of it, but that I was having a great Christmas, even without a breakfast. Then I cried for a bit, but mostly out of love, not sadness. Once I cleaned myself up, we went back upstairs and joined in more of the games. We then opened presents and had Christmas lunch (Christmas dinner isn’t really a thing here, Kiwis all do lunch). In the afternoon, Fraser and I took our bikes down to the lake, had a swim and threw a stick for Hooch. It was such a beautiful day and I just felt really happy to be there with him.

For Boxing Day, Fraser and I got up super early and headed to my favourite place to ride bikes in NZ: Rotorua. About an hour away from Taupo, I first rode the Redwoods way back in 2019 when I was there for Crankworx with Mons. To go back was amazing.

When we got there, we realized that the shuttles weren’t running, which meant we would have to climb everything. Big job was on. And although we didn’t get as much riding done as I wanted, it was still an awesome day getting to ride some of the best trails in the country.

The next day, December 27, we said good-bye for now to Fraser’s family and drove the five hours to Auckland Airport for our flight to Great Barrier Island. The Barrier is just off the coast of Auckland and it’s where Hayden’s parents have a holiday house. We had been invited to go there for a week with Hannah and Hayden to celebrate New Year’s. I had heard that the Barrier was absolutely gorgeous and I was so excited to go and see some familiar faces. So, we packed up Hooch, donned facemasks (for the first time ever!!!) and got on the tiniest airplane imaginable. Fraser finally learned what a psycho I am about flying during the 25min flight to the island.

The best way I can describe the island is that it’s like Barbados. Tropical, with skinny, decaying roads, old ‘island cars’, and beautiful white sand beaches. From the moment we arrived, I was in heaven. Hannah and Hayden picked us up from the airport, drove us through the ‘town’ (which consisted of a gas station, a cafe and a liquor store) and then drove us down to Medland’s Beach where Hayden’s family’s bach is. (A bach is the Kiwi word for cottage).

I’ve always wondered why Hayden’s middle name is Medland and on this trip I found out that it’s because his mom’s family are the Medlands – one of seven settler families who were given land on the island by England when they immigrated here waaay back when. Kind of cool that her family has continued to have land here ever since.

Hannah and Hayden showed us to our tent, which was in an orchard in behind the holiday house. Hannah and Hayden were staying in a caravan also parked down there and Andy and Alex (who would be joining us) also had tents set up. It was like our own little commune.

The thing that I liked most about the island was that life was just simple. All our water came from rain water wells, so to shower, we’d fill up water into a sun shower bag, let it heat up in the sun all day, then shower outside. Our food all came from the garden and what we had caught that day in the ocean. We had no reception. It just felt incredible to be back to basics.

That night, we had homemade pizzas and then got an early sleep.

The next day, we headed out for Medland’s Beach, just across the road. The boys were intent on getting some mussels for dinner and took some fins to dive off the beach. I grabbed some as well, thinking that catching mussels can’t be that hard – I was wrong.

There’s a lot of factors to manage when you’re out there. You’re pulling the mussels off sharp rocks and when the swell comes in, you have to get away from the rocks as fast as possible so you don’t get thrown against them. You also have to hold your breath for a long time, which is hard when your adrenaline is pumping. And then, getting the mussels off the rock requires way more effort than I thought. By the time we were out of the water, I had gotten only one mussel and I had Fraser asking me if I knew how to swim – yeah, that bad.

But that one mussel was my accomplishment for the day and I spent the rest of the time in the water chasing rays.

The next morning, we headed out for a hike up Mt. Hobson. It was an awesome undulating walk through the island bush with a great view of the bays at the top. We did it at the right time too – on the way down, the temperature really started to pick up and we were all dying from the heat.

That afternoon, the boys were on. We got the fishing boat out (pulled by tractor down to the ocean) and the boys geared up to go diving and get some crayfish and spear fish. Crayfish are a lot like lobster, except they don’t have the big front claws, so you can catch them by reaching into their rock cave homes and grabbing their antenna. Never thought I’d be so attracted to a man who can provide, but with Fraser all rugged up to dive, I was preeetty in love.

Plus the boys pulled in a bunch of crays for dinner! Couldn’t ask for anything better really.

The next day, December 30, we headed off in the early morning to a waterfall found down an old logging track in the mountains. It was the most beautiful oasis with verrrry cold water. The boys jumped off the waterfall and Fraser even went of the 60 foot jump. After that, we chilled by the stream up above and soaked in the sun before climbing back up the logging track to the car.

That night, the boys went out for a dive while Hannah and I walked the dogs along the beach and got the best sunset and subsequent moonrise. Once again, the boys came back with more cray and some snapper.

The next day, New Year’s Eve, the boys were back out again at 5am to go for a fish. At 9am, they got back and Hayden had managed to pull in a massive 20kg snapper – perfect for smoking for our NYE dinner that night.

That afternoon, we headed out to mermaid pools when the tide was low and hung out in these neck-deep massive tide pools until we deemed it was time to go home for dinner and to get ready for the night out.

For the big drop, we headed to an Irish bar on the other side of the island. The band was playing all the classic Nova Scotian drinking tunes and the crew thought it was hilarious that I knew all the words to the songs. At midnight, Fraser and I kissed and we all hugged and celebrated the end of 2020 before going home shortly after – of course, we had to be up for fishing the next day.

The next day, the girls finally got out for a fish. Hayden helped me cast out a giant rod and it hadn’t been in the water for 30 seconds before something hooked on. I lasted about five minutes reeling it in before I was exhausted – this was a huge fish. Fraser took over and proceeded to battle with the fish for another 30 minutes before pulling in a massive kingfish. Him and I shared credit for it, even though admittedly, he did most of the work.

The sea started to get a little rough for the very pregnant Hannah and my delicate stomach, so the boys dropped us off and went out for a few more hours, coming back with – you guessed it – a ton more fish.

On January 2, the famous Barrier rain came in hot. It poured basically all day. We killed time in the morning by playing board games in Hannah and Hayden’s caravan, snuggling in our tents and napping and then we headed to the tiny brewery down to road and tried a few paddles.

We finally got a break in the weather on January 3, the day before we were supposed to leave. Hayden, Fraser and I hiked up to the lookout above Medland’s Beach and got a wicked view of the bay.

The next day, we reluctantly packed up our tents and our bags, got back on the deathride plane and head back to Auckland and then Taupo for two more days. I was so sad to leave the island, but vowed to come back as soon as I could. And this time, heading to Taupo, I wasn’t as nervous. I knew what to expect and it felt a little more familiar.

Fraser and I spent the next few days watching sunsets from a hidden spot he showed me, biking around the local park called Craters and floating the river. Floating was actually one of my favourite things we did. Fraser spent most of the time steering our blow-up boat from the water and then swimming ahead to jump off of various cliffs.

When it was time to leave Taupo for the last time, Fraser said goodbye to his family and promised to visit again soon. We then packed up the truck and headed back for the ferry to Picton. I had mapped out our next couple of days working our way back down the South Island and the first stop was Nelson.

I had wanted to go to Nelson for a while, but since it’s nearly ten hours away from Wanaka, it didn’t really make much sense. But finally, we got to go. And I loved it. The riding was amazing, the town was super cool and it was oceanside, which meant it also had beaches. It reminded me a lot of Squamish actually and I imagined that if I didn’t live in Wanaka, I’d live in Nelson.

We did our first day riding in an area called Codgers. It had a nice steady uphill and a long downhill with a really great view over the city.

That night, we went down to the beach to watch the sunset with beers and let Hooch run around. It was just before the rain came in and the sky looked so beautiful. It was another one of those nights where I was just happy to be where I was.

The day after that, we went to Sharlands area to ride, where we did one of the hardest climbs I’ve done since I was back in BC. I was so wiped after it. And the ride down was this really unkept track – it was the worst reward ever for all our hard work. We ended up bailing out of the trail halfway down and just blasting down the dirt road instead. By that time, the rain was coming in heavy and it wasn’t supposed to let up for the next couple of days, so we decided to cut our losses, check out of the campground and start making our way back to Wanaka a day early.

We stopped to camp overnight in a free campsite halfway down the west coast where Fraser made a tailgate pasta and we tried to not get too many sandfly bites as we settled in for the last night in our little tent. I was excited to get home, but also a little sad that our adventure together was ending.

The next morning after some camp breakfast sandwiches. We packed up and hauled ass the last seven hours back to Wanaka. In hindsight, it was so good to be back a day early – it kind of let us recover a bit before we had to go back to real life the next day. Check out our entire route of the nearly month long trip.

All-in-all, our holidays were incredible. I knew that this trip was going to be a bit of a test for Fraser and I – we had never spent so much time together, confined to a small space like the car. I feel like we came back closer than ever and like we had crossed into a new level of our relationship. It felt really good.

• JB

Look, writing every six months is just becoming a thing now. You should probably just get used to it.

So we’re going back in time a bit here – back to 2020 – please don’t exit the page. I last left off waaay back in October, and being that it is now April, it’s probably due time that I wrote a bit. So we’re breaking this down into three sections yet again. October – Christmas break. Christmas break. And then the summer months. Let’s kick it off.

October 15-18

When I last left you, we had just finished our McCaulay hut mission. The week after that, it finally started to feel a little bit like warmer weather, and that only means one thing – boating season. And while it was still a little cold, we managed to rug up, get two dogs, seven people and 24 cans of beer on a boat probably only meant for five bodies and went for a ski.

While I was still a little nervous to ski because of my busted shoulder, it was my first time seeing Fraser in the water and… the boy can do everything. Wicked skier and even better wakeboarder. Eat my heart out.

That weekend, our regular antics resumed. Following a photography exhibition, Hayden, Fraser, Chloe, Molly and I decided to go out for a few bevys, which somehow turned into tabletop dancing, lightpole dancing and eating fries on the dancefloor.

After a weekend of art-related activities (because of the festival happening in town), it was nice just to have a good Sunday brunch with Fraser, who made pancakes while I nursed a hangover.

Then later that afternoon, with the bike season well and truly underway, we headed to Bike Glendhu for a spin, some nachos and some beer. The perfect Sunday, really.

October 22-25

Thursday boating sessions started to become a thing, and this time I finally did get a ski in – and it felt amazing to be on the water again. I was even feeling a little cocky showing off for Fraser – which didn’t last long, because Taylor got in the water and showed us all up with some really incredible skiing. Again, why is it that Kiwis are good at everything?!

That weekend, we headed off for PK Bay, a bay along the East Coast in the Catlins that I still hadn’t been to yet but had heard plenty about. Because it was a long weekend, it was insanely busy when we got there, but that didn’t take away from how incredible it was.

Beautiful water, a grassy camping area and a massive wall of rock facing out towards the ocean – it was dreamy. Fraser couldn’t make it this time, because he had gone up North to visit his family for the weekend, so I was on my own with the crew. But it was so amazing. We surfed a little, Andy went diving and caught paua, (a kind of shellfish that when fried with butter and garlic is AMAZING), we lit a fire and watched some fire dancers perform down on the beach – it was so perfect.

The rest of October was a bit of a blur of work, Thanksgiving garden parties and boating.

As we eased into November, Fraser and I kept up our weekendly bike rides and even got some fishing in down by the river, which made me reminiscent of the beginning of our relationship. It was nice just to slow down a bit after a few big Spring weeks, before things picked up again.

November 12

One week before my birthday, we got the best surprise. Chloe had asked Hannah and Hayden to write her a reference letter for her upcoming immigration visa application. We were all planning to hit up the lake for a beach session after work, so Hannah told Chlo that she’s bring the letter with her to give to her there. When we got there, Hannah gave Chloe a folder with the letter and Chloe opened it to read it. Weirdly, there were two pages, and when Chlo turned to the second page there was a photo of an ultrasound – Hannah was pregnant!

While we had had our suspicions, it was such an incredible surprise and writing about it now is kind of surreal – Han’s only a month away from her due date and soon we’ll have a little baby girl in the group!

November 19

The following Thursday was my 29th birthday. And for the first time since my 25th, I wasn’t completely dreading it. This was my third birthday here in NZ and I’ve always seen my birthday as a marker for where I’m at in life. And for the first time in a long time, I finally felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

This COVID thing has been kind of a weird blessing for me. Instead of constantly worrying about what my next move is – where I’ll live next, what job I should get, how much money I should be making – I’ve finally just settled for a bit and sunk into where I am now, knowing that there’s no rush to go anywhere anytime soon. It’s been strangely freeing.

That morning, I woke to Fraser singing Happy Birthday to me and joking about what a cougar I am now because I’m a 29 year old dating a 25 year old. My workmates had tea and cake for me at work. I got home to lillies (which are now my favourite flower) and a gift of Birkenstocks from Fraser, as well as roses from the girls. I had a huge dinner that night with 25 of my closest friends at my favourite restaurant and even received a few more flowers from Sonia, Fraser’s sister (who has become a very dear friend). It was such an amazing day and I couldn’t have been happier.

That weekend, we rented a really cool AirBNB and went to Twizel with a day trip down to Mt. Cook. It was so amazing just to get away with a few close friends, drink, eat good food and relax for the weekend.

Last weekend of November

Alright, let’s talk the big event of November – Burning Han.

Backstory: Due to COVID, Hannah and Hayden had to cancel their wedding, which was originally planned for the last weekend of November. And with the date coming up, we thought that it would be hilarious to do a fake wedding and have an excuse to put on a bit of a party.

It was Chloe who came up with the idea to put on the wedding with a Burning Man theme (hence, Burning Han). And we totally went with it. We hired a DJ, set up a tent in a field, killed it with the costumes, Chloe even managed to get a few metalwork sculptures to make it as close to the real thing as possible. We set up tents, blankets and pillows, cheese boards, brought in pizza and even had a ceremony – which I officiated. The “newly-wed” couple had their first dance to WAP.

It was the most amazing night with so many laughs. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be an annual thing now.

December 5-6

The weekend after Burning Han, we were right back into again with Beer Festival. I don’t have a lot of photos from this particular day because 1) it was rainy as hell and 2) I was preeeetty drunk. But it was SUCH a good day of amazing beer, laughing, dancing and the usual tomfoolery. And I tend to think that the best days are the ones where you’re having so much fun, that you forget to take photos.

Note to self: this was the first night that Fraser said it.

The next day, Fraser and I were hungover as hell and the weather was total shit. So with nothing to do, we drove three hours to Jackson Bay on the West Coast and had the best fish and chips ever from the Cray Pot – a cute little caravan in the smallest fishing village I’ve ever been to.

After that first weekend, December was a total rollercoaster of drinking too much at work Christmas parties, biking with Fraser at Rude Rock and our first night up riding Cardrona, lake evenings and cleaning the house before going away.

And then on December 22, Fraser and I left for nearly a month (!!!) away together for Christmas with his family in Taupo on the North Island and New Years with Hannah and Hayden at Hayden’s place on Great Barrier Island.

…but that’s for next time.

If you want to see the video wrap-up from Spring, click here. As per usual, remember to press the arrows to see the whole thing.

• JB