Two years on

It seems almost unbelievable that it is two years to the day since I boarded the plane at Heathrow bound for the other side of the world.
In many ways it seems a long, long time ago. After a year and a half of working hard and not having much holiday, the six months of living in a tent and never looking at the time (well, hardly ever) mostly feels like another lifetime. However, sometimes I look at the photos on my computer at work and moments and sensations suddenly become incredibly vivid. Sights, sounds, smells, the clear crisp air. At those times, I could almost believe that I have only just arrived back in Blighty.
So 730 days ago, big bro' dropped me off at Cambridge bus station to set me on my way for what would turn out to be a wonderful experience. I left the fast enveloping British autumn to arrive to southern spring - and let me tell you, that is a fabulous thing in itself! I was, well, not nervous. Apprehensive? I don't remember even feeling that. Excited? Yes. Eager? Yes. That was what was going on in my head.
I don't think that a single day goes by when I don't think about the places and people, about the differences between NZ and the UK. I regularly yearn to be sitting at the top of the Routeburn Pass or gazing out over Lake Wakatipu. Opening my tent to see the Southern Alps or boating trough the gloworm caves of Waitomo. Most of all, Otago and Canterbury come to my mind. Clean, open space. At those times I also remember the shock of arriving back in London. The unhelpful attitudes of airport and bus staff, the claustophobia of traffic and the people crammed in. The fact that I could actually see how polluted and grimy the air was! Now of course, I don't notice all that until a conciously choose to. But every so often I do choose to. Not as self torture, but to remind myself of what I experienced. There would have been no point in doing it if I hadn't learnt something and there's no point in learning it without remembering it.
The people at work regularly accuse me of being a "New Zealand-ophile". That's no criticism as far as I am concerned. I am still in love with the place after all! I am also still sure that one day I'll go back. When is the only question.