Strange Reminiscence

Its been 10 years since I made the decision to travel with "the Frenchman". Its a little over 10 years as I left in June. Its weird to think it was that long ago. I quit my job, left my sister to sort out our rented house (I think she may have forgiven me), left my sanity... and gained a gorgeous boy.

It was a weird scenario. I didn't know Vincent at all. We met and parted on the same day and I fell head over heels in love. Made all these plans with him without the ability to actually talk to him. Then went to NZ for three months. Was treated like a piece of *&$% by a farm manager who didn't like us.

Hitch-hiked various places, bought an OLD car, actually it was the same age as me, but for a car that is old. It was a manual stationwagon. I had never driven a manual car before and had to get the guy selling it to me to teach me how to drive it. Poor people on the road with me that night!! Couldn't figure out how to turn off the high beams, though the headlights were broken. Every time I see people with their high beams on I remember Vincent washing the headlights when we filled up with petrol saying "more power". Oh there was no fuel guage on the car either so we had to estimate when the petrol was low.

Sleeping in the back of the car that only had bare metal and getting major buises on my hips.. then deciding that youth hostels were a better option.

The hot baths at Manganui and Rotarua.

The old nurses home that was a newly formed Youth Hostel and we were its first guests.

Bungee Jumping not once but twice in Queenstown.

Crashing my car (ok that one wasn't good)

Travelling by light plane to Stewart Island.

Anyway this is a bizarre way of saying that it wasn't all bad. We did some fun things, I blocked my family out and for that I'm sorry, but it was a stepping stone in what is my life. I was shaped by that experience.

Things I missed ten years ago was the Threadbo disaster, the memorial for that was last week, I just don't have the same feelings the rest of Australia has about Stuart Diver.

The day we left NZ was the day Princess Diana was killed. The cab driver (how did we afford a cab???) told us and we did not believe him. When we got back to Australia was when we actually believed that she had been killed.

So that was 10 years ago!