King of my heart

NZ & the crash

*Time skip of a week*

Arriving in New Zealand after spending a week in Australia for the first part of my photography trip, I was excited for yet another change in scenery. I loved Australia and I was so happy that I was able to explore all of the small towns to experience the local culture without being surrounded by the typical tourists. I spent quite a bit of time at the beaches topping up my tan but I didn't fancy a swim as I knew that there were sharks in the water and I wasn't trying to risk anything even if there was an incredibly low chance of me even seeing one.

New Zealand wasn't as warm as Australia, but the sun was still shining and there were also many places for me to explore and take photographs. My hotel was situated right on the edge of the coast so the beach was essentially on my door step. My balcony overlooked a magnificent view of the surrounding area, mountains, beaches, towns, boat yards, nature reserves, I could see it all from my room. I had been told that every morning, the sun slowly rose over the top of the mountains to cast a soft light over the town that I was staying in. I knew that I would have to make sure to get up very early one morning in order to capture many pictures of the view and also climb up a few of the mountains to get a lovely view of the valley below. I sent Charles a few pictures from my balcony as I knew that he would want to see where I was staying but also because I knew he would be jealous of what I got to wake up to for the next few days. I decided to order room service for my dinner since it was my first night there and I was tired from the days travelling so I didn't feel like going out. It would also allow me to get an early night to ensure I wouldn't miss the sunrise the next morning. 

***

The lady at the front desk wasn't wrong when she said the view of sunrise would be beautiful. I had made sure to be up very early and packed my rucksack full of anything I might need for my hike that day. I ate my breakfast as I made my way towards the mountains because I didn't want to waste any time when I could be getting on with my day. I could relax when I got back to the hotel later on but this was something I didn't want to miss. I saw so many creatures native to New Zealand and I also passed a few tiny villages with perhaps only 5-6 houses maximum; all within a small vicinity. I took so many pictures that I managed to completely fill up one of my memory cards but thankfully I brought along 2 spare as I half suspected that I would be taking many photos. Obviously not all of them would turn out amazing but that was the good thing about having plenty of storage and being able to delete pictures at a later date. 

When I finally stopped for lunch near a waterfall, I pulled out my phone from my rucksack to check all of my messages and instagram notifications. There wasn't a lot of service in the mountains, but it was enough for me to reply to the numerous messages that Grace had sent me asking about how I was doing and if I was enjoying my photography trip. She also asked me how Charles was doing but I didn't have much to say about that as I hadn't seen him for over a week now, although we did facetime almost everyday or at least send each other a message to say how we were doing. After I had finished my food, I took off my walking boots and socks to dangle my feet in the cool water as it was fairly humid being surrounded by so many trees and other plants. It was a very beautiful and tranquil area that I had found. The only sounds that I could hear were the birds singing in the trees and the calming sound of rushing water. 

Eventually I decided to make my way back to the hotel as it was a fair distance away and I wanted to make sure I was back before the sun set, as I probably wouldn't be able to find my way back in the dark even if it was currently mid-summer so it didn't get dark until late. I also had the F1 race to watch later this evening, which I was very excite for so I had to get back to sort out any work I had left to do so that I could focus on the race fully. Charles would be starting P5 so I knew he wouldn't be too pleased and would want to aim for a spot on the podium. He messaged me regular updates about how he was doing and about all of the training he was doing in the gym and also on the sim with the team and engineers. By the sounds of it, he was very busy and putting in lots of work in order to be the best he could be; I just hoped that all of this effort would pay off this weekend and he would be pleased with himself.