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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls let me take just one moment to tell you that I do not want this blog to be a diary of my day-to-day activities. The reason that I started this was to be able to share some of the adventures and experiences that come along with traveling and living abroad, specifically in the fairy tale location that is Queenstown, New Zealand. My hope is to bring you all along for the ride and to share with you the wonders that come along with living in such a fantastic place. I am a self-confessed day dreamer and have always loved to live vicariously through the people and characters that I’ve come across either in real life or in novels, but living here, I am no longer living through others but instead living a life of my own. Its terrifying to take that first step out of the front door and embark into a life in the unknown but it will always be worth it. Even if you don’t succeed in the way that you may have planned, the life lessons and experiences will be worth the struggle and even, what others may consider, a failure. So, every now and then step out of your comfort zone and enjoy what life has to offer. This concludes today’s unexpected inspirational moment (sorry I’m not sure where that came from); we now take you back to our regularly scheduled programming.
After weeks (two and a half weeks to be exact) of scouring (well at least looking when ever the local papers came out) the Queenstown job market, I have finally secured full-time employment with Tourism Holding Company, Ltd, New Zealand’s largest tourism company. Sounds glamorous, doesn’t it? Ah, well let me disabuse you of that romantic notion; I work for a camper van rental company at the Maui, Backpacker and Explore More desk in the airport. Not too bad, I mean it’s no corner office at the law firm but that was not exactly the reason that I came out here to begin with, though, if I’m honest, as the days dragged on and employment seemed still just out of my grasp I seriously began to consider selling myself to a local law firm as a legal clerk just to have some sort of job. But in the end it didn’t come to that. I really have no clue what this job is going to entail. What I do know is that this job is about 8 or 9km from my house so I think that I am going to have to break down and buy a bike. Could be fun though, right? It will be good exercise if nothing else unless I get lazy and start taking the bus, although I think that my cheapness will always win out over my laziness and I will end up walking rather than paying the $5 or $6 each way for the bus. What I have been told, however, is that as a front line employee (one who deals with the tourists face to face and Queenstown is, first and foremost, a tourist town) I will be able to do many of the activities here in Queenstown for free because they want me to be able to tell the tourists how fabulous the activities really are. Oh and they are not wrong; I can be bought like that. I will tell everyone who walks up to my counter that the bungy was the most amazing experience of my life if they will let me jump for free rather than pay the insane $250 or whatever it is to actually go out there and jump. So, that’s where it all stands today, a job and possible free fun. Does it get any better than that? I mean, who really wants a corner office and a six-figure paycheck and health insurance anyway? Not me, I want to throw myself off of high places and be scared out of my mind for free! Though if someone wanted to pay me a six-figure salary I would not turn it down. I’m not crazy despite what some of you may think.