17.02.2020 Back Home

It's been two weeks since we landed in Hamburg.

But already back home again?

Yes, as we always like to say, everything happens as it should.

The main goal of our second big trip to Australia was, of course, to visit New Zealand. Back then, we returned to Australia for family reasons and couldn't visit New Zealand anymore. It was the right decision at the time and we don't regret it.

Then, after 2.5 years back home, we simply hadn't finished yet. New Zealand is so far away and using our precious annual vacation of maybe 24-30 days all at once for that wasn't an option for us. Well, that's how we ended up daring to do it again.

Saying goodbye to everyone again, quitting our jobs and apartment, and selling the car. We don't regret that either. New Zealand is simply a beautiful, unique, and breathtaking country. We are very grateful for the time we could enjoy so freely and for the people we met on the journey.

As a 'little' review:

We hiked hundreds of kilometers, saw mountains covered with yellow flowers, turquoise lakes surrounded by lupines, were lucky enough to walk the 'Hooker Valley Track' in the snow, drove the snow-covered road to Mt. Cook, made lifelong friends in Twizel, and caught 5 kilos of salmon.

We visited one of the rainiest places in the world, Milford Sound, hiked some of the Great Walks.

We spent 4 months only in our van, which we converted ourselves. We got to see the probably yellowest beach for us in Abel Tasman National Park and went to the North Island by ferry with our car.

We had a wonderful Christmas in Wellington, cooked a roast on our camping stove, and did a lot of fishing. We watched the fireworks into the new year at Lake Taupo, hiked through the volcanic landscape of the Tongariro Crossing, enjoyed an evening banquet in Hobbiton, and saw sea lions, hot springs, and geysers.

In short, New Zealand is worth every trip! Of course, no country is perfect, we sometimes had not so pleasant experiences with the locals. Unfortunately, we often got the impression that they don't really like tourists as much as they pretend. The camping situation was also not always the easiest, and the food and drinks are unbelievably expensive.

When we had seen everything we wanted to see, it was mid-January.

We looked for work to work until the end of our visa (end of July). But you know what? It's simple, we had seen everything and had no reason to stay longer except for work.

So, within 1.5 weeks, we sold our beloved bus and on the same day of the sale, booked our flight back home and even flew on the same day.

It was incredibly spontaneous. But you should always do what makes you happy, not what might be the right thing to do.

We were incredibly happy with the decision to fly home.

Now that we have arrived home, we can tell you, it's nice to be back, to see family and friends again, and to simply enjoy the time here.

So what's next? You had more plans, right?

Yes, we wanted to go to Canada for a work and travel, but since the lottery decides that, we didn't want to take the risk of only one of us getting the visa. Besides, you would also need a police certificate from every country you worked in, for example, and this certificate is only valid for a certain time. For us, it would mean requesting a certificate from Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, and how long each country takes for that.. no idea.

Now you even need current biometrics, i.e. fingerprints, which we would also have to have taken at the embassy. All in all, it was honestly too much effort for us, considering that it wasn't even certain if we would both get the visa.

We wanted to visit the USA, but for us, the focus was more on the west coast and that can also be done in 3.5 weeks. So it's possible from home again. It simply didn't make sense to us to work a few more months in New Zealand just to travel a few weeks in the USA. I'll put it short and painless.. the USA is incredibly expensive, and we prefer to fulfill this dream from home and take more money home for a better start.

We also wanted to go to China, but that was then taken care of by the coronavirus..

Then we wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain, but February is simply not the time for that..

So what's next? Arriving, that's the goal.

First, we will visit family and friends in peace and quiet, then we will calmly look for a car and then for work again. No stress in any way.

Since we read a few days ago that there are Camino de Santiago routes that you can already walk from March for 2-3 weeks, that might also be an option. We will use this initial time to figure out what the next goals are for us personally.

In any case, we are happy to be back and look forward to the future, whatever may come. And as we have already said, everything always happens as it should. And if you don't like something? You are the only person who can change it, just do it!