Leaving on a Jet Plane…

…I don’t know when I’ll be back again (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLBKOcUbHR0)……while I’m writing these lines I’m on my way home and feeling really weird. Being half exicted seeing my family and friends again after such a long time but on the other side knowing that I need to leave this awesome, uncomplicated life behind me and many good friends is hard. After being one year in a wonderful country it’s time to go home to tell all my tales and share my awesome experiences.

Diese Diashow benötigt JavaScript.

The last half year just flew by especially the last three months in Whakapapa. I didn’t feel like a traveler I felt like being home in New Zealand. I met so many great people which were becoming very good friends and what we experienced each week either at work or just while we were hanging out was unique that I can just say THANK YOU for making my time in New Zealand so special!
During my last weeks working on the mountain the weather was terrible and the mountain was closed for nearly 10 days in a row…that many people decided to finish earlier than they were supposed to and so did I. While the mountain was closed we did some baking, we spend some time in Taupo playing golf and I went for a few days to Auckland with a friend. The day I got back was payday and I won an award from the mountain for greeting every customer with my biggest smile given by the HR Team. Later on everybody came to our little flat and we had a very good party there that we got a complaint of being to noisy 🙂 Soon we left to rock ‚the Ho‘ and we danced and we drunk and had once more an awesome, unforgettable night together.
The next three days we shut down our Happy Valley Bistro because the snow was gone and therefore no reason to leave the restaurant open. We cleaned, cleaned and cleaned and finally on Sunday everything was shiny again and it was my last day of work as well.
Mondays we decided (12 people) that we will do some bungy jumping close to Taihape. It’s New Zealands highest bridge bungy and the second highest with 80m. When we got there the view down the valley was super scary already and I just thought why am I doing this? Never mind…Shirley, Julia and me went first. Standing on the ramp was horrible and my legs were very shaky…while I was getting ready the woman told me ’now wave to the camera’…what a great idea yeah

…then she counted 3,2,1,bungy and I jumped…

On Tuesday the weather finally changed and it was super sunny and I had two very good last days of snowboarding. Shirley and me decided that we will head to Raglan on Thursday so we had a little goodbye party at Julia’s house and on Wednesday a barbie where we lived which was very nice. While we were packing we figured out that we had quite a lot of stuff and our idea of hitch hiking with everything would have definitely been an adventure but we were very lucky and got a lift.

We spend our last hours in National Park with Julia drinking our last beer together and cooking. In the late afternoon Katie picked us up and we were off to Raglan. It was awesome seeing all my friends in the backpacker again and being back in summer. No longer we were in need to wear heaps of layers and I was able wearing my loved shorts again.
On Saturday Stepan, Lukas, Clemens, Nicole, Dennis, Ann, Juan and Jani arrived and we went surfing the next day which was so much fun. I enjoyed my last days with all of you guys and a very big THANK YOU that I was so lucky to got to know you! Also a very big THANK YOU to you Shirley I couldn’t imagine how my time on the mountain would have been without you – glad I found my twin 🙂

Love my twin 🙂

Today it was time to say goodbye…to so many people and a lovely country…and I always need time to realize what’s happening…so I said goodbye to everybody in Raglan and headed to Auckland early in the morning. My last hours I spend with a really good friend and they were the best last hours I could imagine having before I was in need to leave – Thank you!

Love Leni