From NZ to UK – Donna

I am from New Zealand, but came to the UK many years ago and stayed – there you have it, that’s what happened, end of story.

No not really, there is much more to it than that, and actually that wasn’t my first independent travel.

I was 18, a receptionist and worked part time in a nightclub.  Life was good, but I either had itchy feet or ants in my pants because I wanted more, and adventure just wasn’t happening for me in my home town. 

I had a friend move over to Australia and she joined the Hare Krishna’s. We lost touch for a while but she got in contact when she left them, and had room in her house for a flatmate and even a job available at the RSL (Returned Services League) where she worked – how could I say no?!

Now at the time the drinking age in NZ was 21 but in Australia was 18.  Of course, that wasn’t a deciding factor… well ok, it helped.  NZ had a great saying ‘don’t leave home till you’ve seen the country’ – and yes, I had not seen the beautiful South Island at the time, but at 18 why would I choose beautiful scenery over the big lights of Sydney!

So, within 2 weeks I had handed in my notice, told my parents (who were on holiday themselves at the time) and moved to Australia. Having no great responsibilities at the age of 18 was definitely a bonus.  As a Kiwi, we have the advantage of not requiring a visa for Australia so I just booked a flight and was off.

And another acquaintance (although became a good friend) heard that I was off, and she fancied the idea too – so a couple months later she joined us.

Well, the adventure started and there are stories to tell, fun was had, trouble was had like falling out big time with said friend, losing the house we lived in, walking barefoot in the long grass not realising there were redback spiders there (I come from a country that has nothing like that), squatting in an old apartment, etc.

We ended up living in the heart of Sydney, saw the 200 year celebration in, overlooking the Sydney harbour bridge – it was awesome. And after a time, travelled up the coast in a beat-up car where the clutch didn’t work, towards the lights of Brisbane.

I know this sounds weird as a Kiwi, but I don’t like lager, but couldn’t afford much else. The other two liked it, so agreed to buy a bottle of Drambuie to help ‘down the drink’ – a cocktail I had learnt at the nightclub, a Depth Charger (pour Drambuie into a shot glass, drop the shot glass into lager and let sink – drink). But you guessed it, who had time for pint and shot glasses, I just poured the Drambuie into my tinny.  Ahh those were the days…

I had travelled with my family overseas a few times before to exciting places (USA, Mexico, Tahiti, Hawaii, Tonga) and couldn’t thank them enough for these experiences.  But travelling on my own gave me such independence and that was the real beginning of the travel bug.

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