New Zealand Weekly Update #42

Last updated on August 20, 2023

07th of August until 13th of August 2023

Approximate reading time: 5 minutes

Lets get it started

Puh. I am back in Wanaka. Back in New Zealand. Tired. Empty. Full of emotions. Full of adventures. What a journey through Germany. More than 3000km on the road. 11 destinations. Lots, lots of people. talks and adventures. And now it feels like I took a lot of credit from my mind and body to do all that. To push this „holiday“ and meet all those lovely people back in Germany. And I am so grateful so see all of them. To speak to every single on of them. And I am grateful to be in the need of planning this whole trip so intense and to be in the need of travelling those distances. Since this mean there are a lot of great, amazing and lovely people all around the country who are worth it to visit them and who appreciate me as well. There is nothing else I could say than thank you. You guys made it really, really hard for me to leave Germany, even if it is for being back in New Zealand.

Since I took a lot of credit mentally and physically, it is now time for me to be patient with myself and rethink everything. Reflect. And refill my empty batteries step by step again.

Wedding time

Well, the main reason (or the first reason) why I came to Germany was because I was invited to the wedding of my best friend. And because of that I planned an even longer trip to see friends and family. All aorund the country. Monday, it was time to travel to Poland, since the wedding was planned to be there. And it was a great area, like a little castle with a small lake in front of it. So we met there, almost everybody arrived the day before the wedding and we had some nice dinner together, some drinks and some talks, almost 50 people came from all around the country (and all around the world hehe).

Tuesday, it was time for some wedding. And I was pretty nervous since I planned to hold a little speech as well since I was the best man. So I met my best friend and we got changed, everything recorded by a photographer. And I am really excited about those pictures (which will be ready in a couple of weeks). As the weather was about to get worser, the couple decided to have the wedding in a big indoor hall of the little castle. With a lot of flowers and some music while the bride was walking in. And while the ceremony, a lot of people were crying. Honestly, I was part of the eye sweating people as well. And this was the first time after more than 14 years of friendship where I was watching my best friend crying as well (even though he might not agree to that). No need to go into detail for the wedding itself, it was just a fantastic, eas going day with some dancing, some great food, good talks and just a nice being togehter and celebtrating the day. While my speech after dinner, I was pretty nervous and just until the end, I was able to hold back the tears. But at the total end of my speech, it catched me and some tears ran down while I said the final words to my best friend and his wife. And my hand was shaking the whole time holding my speech since I was really nervous 🙂
Long story short, lots of hugs, some more tears, drinks and dancing until late night. Breakfast together, cleaning up, feeling a little hangover and of course again some tears while saying goodbye for a long time again. And being aware of how important some people can be in my life. But even though they are far, far away again, real friendship is not about being inserperable. But about being able to be separate without anything changing.

Back to Kiwiland

With a pretty numb feeling and being really tired, being happy and sad at the same time, being full of memories and adventures in my head, it was time for me to make my way back to New Zealand on Friday. All the way from Leipzig to Frankfurt with the train, catching my first flight to Seoul with Korean Airlines. 11,5 hours. Some sleep, some food, no troubles at all. And a free shower at the airport – love this service. Prepare yourself always and have a towel and some fresh underwear ready – feels amazing while being on a long journey 🙂

Next flight Seoul to Aucjland , same airline, same time of flying. Last flight from Auckland to Queenstown. Finally, I arrived at 3pm sunday and got picked up by Lisa, which was great since I did not had to book any extra bus or an extra night in Queenstown 🙂
And I got some nice food and we just sat by a little fire and I had the chance to relax a little bit after a 45 hour journey back to Kiwiland 🙂

What else to say?

Relax. Rethink. Reflect. This will be my tasks for the next couple of days. Since at the moment everything feels a little numb. A little too much. A little too fast. Like as I rushed through the last month without taking enough time for myself. But time will be the key. Patience. And some nature.
I will keep you updated again and give you some more insights of New Zealand and its beauty.
Speak later.

Your DingyInternational
Felix