Reclaiming the Adventure

It has begun to sink in that the end of my time here in New Zealand is approaching faster than I ever expected.  I have a little more than a month left before my family arrives and we set off in a campervan on a tour over the south and north islands.  Although this gives me more time to soak up all that I can of New Zealand, my time with the friends I have made and people I have met is ever-approaching the end.  

Over the past month or so, I’ve successfully gotten down my routine, my schedule of day-to-day living.  Sure, there have been plenty of spontaneous day and weekend trips mixed in but mostly it’s been back to the mundane routine of classes and studying.  Sinking into this routine, I’ve found myself not seeking out the opportunities that are all around me.

 I’ve begun to get a bit too comfortable in the routine and I feel as though I have not been taking full advantage of all that New Zealand has to offer recently.  At the beginning of my journey, I was all about ‘seizing the day’ and exploring this new and exciting place.  As time has gone on, this feeling of adventure has diminished a bit and a huge part of me is dying to have this feeling of spontaneity and freedom back. 

I feel like there are two parts of myself, dueling with each other right now: the home-body, the part that is more than happy staying close to home, near the comforts and secureness of the routine and the other part that got me to New Zealand in the first place, the adventurous, spontaneous side of me.  The two have been in conflict with each other lately, especially this past week as I have been considering going wwoofing in two weeks.

 Now, let me first explain what wwoofing is.  It stands for “Willing Workers On Organic Farms” and is a world-wide operation.  Specifically in New Zealand, Kiwi families allow “wwoofers” to stay in their home and eat meals with them in exchange for labor (farming, weeding, cleaning, building, doing chores around the house, etc.).   It is a great way to get the real Kiwi experience as well as the experience of living and working on a farm.

Now, I have little to no experience working on a farm but still, this opportunity sounds like an overall great, learning experience.  It entices me not only for this reason but for the adventure it brings.  I feel like I need to do something like this, something pretty far out of my comfort zone, in order to bring back the sense of adventure I felt at the beginning of this journey.  Sure, I am nervous about what exactly this experience would entail but I keep getting this gut, intuitive feeling that this is something I need to do while I am here.  It would be all too easy to let this opportunity pass me by, but I know that if I don’t do this, I will regret it. 

I have been seeking out families to wwoof for these past couple of days and so far I have had no luck…the busy season is starting up and things are booking up quickly.  But I plan to keep pursuing it and keep trying.  I can’t even imagine the experience I would have doing something like this and I know I would come out so much more knowledgeable, experienced, and confident in my abilities to travel on my own.   I have been struggling to maintain a confidence in my abilities recently, but I know that the experience and adventure that awaits is well worth the risk.  It is time that I reclaim this sense of adventure and push past the fear and insecurity for I know that what awaits on the other side is yet another experience of a lifetime.