Though I have taken quite a break from writing over the last couple months life has continued on. I am a functioning member of the Fox Glacier Guiding team and as we enter into 2013 I've been thinking a lot about the year past. It has been an amazing year for me traveling over the southern hemisphere and living on impulse more than ever before. I loved ever second of it all starting with the turtles, sharks and seagrass. Then south to see Kangaroo and to buy my didgeridoo. Next I moved east to Tasmania spending time exploring the land with Adriana and building foundations with Ninedot construction. Then after a few days from Melbourne to Bondi Beach, Sydney, It was time to hop across the ditch to New Zealand.
My introduction to vineyard work at Antill Estate was to perfect a way to begin this leg of the journey. Hitch-hiking around opened my eyes to the overwhelming good-will of the kiwis and to a simpler way of life. Across the South Island I witnessed some of the most unique and engaging places I have ever seen an din the end could not bare to part with the land. A month in NZ and I had been hooked. After a sad farewell to Adriana following 4 months of travel together I set a course to find work and extend my Visa. It was again Antill Estate and some of the nicest kiwis you could ever meet who found me a job and home. These folks who had been no more than strangers a month ago were now like an adoptive family of sorts helping me to square away all my loose ends. It was them who suggested working on a ski mountain for the winter, and them again who told me of Mt. Cheeseman. After 3 months on vineyard labor I was ready to try something new and being the Ski Technician at little Mt. Cheeseman was the perfect chance. Over the winter up the mountain I met some amazing people and most of whom I hope to never lose contact with. Some of whom suggested that i apply for a glacier guiding job. On the last day, when the applications were due I finally got down to business and sent in the application not knowing what to expect. After a few recommendations and an interview later I had agreed to the guide job for a term of 6 months. It was a significant move from casual ski tech to full time glacier guide and it was a move that filled me with a fair amount of doubt. However, it was a relatively short time before I was a contributing member of the team and now, 3 months into it, I feel very much as though I belong.
I have felt every emotion imaginable over this last year in an array of intensity. I have missed home immensely in one moment and completely engrossed in my surroundings the next. I have made friends and met people of all backgrounds, of all dispositions. I have spent hours under the water in Australia and plummeted from the sky in New Zealand. There are so many things I have done for the first time and entirely more that I have missed out on.
You can say that I have been running away from something, You can say that I am selfish in the experience that I take, You can accuse me of leaving those I love to seek out something fresh but there is one thing that no person can say to me about this last year. You can never tell me that I did not live life to its fullest.
My sincerest goodbye to the year 2012 and all of the experiences it gave me. Now I welcome 2013 and though I worry as always about what is to come, my arms are outstretched to embrace the potential thats this new year brings.
Beautifully written, my friend. We miss you here in the states. But I am overjoyed to know how much you are loving your life right now. My brother (who is now 17! omg!) is thinking about college and his career and he wants to do what you're doing. I told him he should follow his heart and go for it as you have.
ReplyDeleteHappy new year Tyler! Safe travels!