I stare out over the wingtip of the giant plane. We are floating above a long expanse of thick white clouds.
They look so dense beneath us that you wonder if possibly… just maybe, they would catch you if you happened to fall. It’s a hilly landscape made of ‘cotton candy’!
Colors come and go, and occasionally stay for awhile as we race the sun around the world.
We are heading all the way from Auckland, New Zealand to Chicago USA.
It’s an exhausting drag… a flight from Auckland to Honolulu, a long layover, off to Los Angeles, and finally to Chicago.
We technically fly through two “nights”, but it’s only been one calendar day since we’ve left.
Reflections on 3 life changing months in remote places
As I look over the wingtip, I ponder these thoughts… who will I be when I get home?
I mean… of course I’ve always been Jess, I’ll ALWAYS be Jess!
But what does the Jess now, 3 months older- a huge expedition in my wake – adventuring with my best friend turned husband… what has changed in me and how have these experiences impacted me?
I ponder as the sun sets outside the window. The sky turns to all shades of brilliant pink, purple, and orange.
The impact of these past months is far reaching. No matter how much I ponder- I won’t understand all the ways I’ve been impacted until the new me stands in the same place as the old me was.
Maybe as I stand in places familiar, I will begin to unpack the fullness of these experiences.
The stillness, the mountain, the friends, hearing God speaking to us and seeing him in our circumstances as we walk- it is too much to even think about in one sitting.
TE ARAROA TRAIL STATS 🥾
In the end, Jeremy and I were on trail for 53 days.
We didn’t go all the way to Bluff… but we covered around 500 MILES OF RAW NEW ZEALAND WIDLERNESS!
After looking at the stats, I am exceptionally proud of us!!!
The trail was rough, rocky, and entirely breathtaking!
Our life after trail…
We took a week van roadtrip around the South Island coast! What an insane experience!
Make sure you read about it in the last blog post An Unexpected Detour: Campervaning the Coast of NZ 🚐😊
After the roadie we headed for the North back to where we started. Picton!
I got the opportunity to white water kayak a section of river we had hiked past that I had been drooling over! A huge shout out to our epic friend, Hannah, for putting that together!
From there we hoped on a ferry back to Wellington. It just so happened that we were on the same ferry back as some friends we started with!
From Wellington we went to Bay of Plenty to see a few friends and hang out until Easter! Of course- we had to stop by the luge and race down the mountain on go carts!
Easter camp was spent with Christian Surfers in Taranaki!
Jeremy got out on a board and caught his first wave!
After Easter camp we headed to Whakatane to work on an avocado orchard for a week. 🥑
The final leg of our time in New Zealand was spent with our New Zealand parents in Tauranga- sharing our experiences over many cups of tea!!!
We even got caught in a cyclone during our visit with Walter and Tracey- so we stayed indoors while the winds blew and played monopoly.
It was peaceful and full of love- everything our hearts needed at the end of our journey!!!
And now… we are on a plane, back to the mid-west.
I don’t know much about the future… but what I do know is this…
THE ADVENTURE IS ONLY BEGINNING!!!
Thanks for following along on our honeymoon adventures in New Zealand!
We have more adventures up our sleeves coming soon! Stay tuned 😉
Thank you for following the adventure!!!
For those of you who have been following along… please comment what your favorite part of the journey was to read about! Thanks for your incredible encouragement and support 🤙🏻
A LIFE UPDATE (MAY 27, 2026)
We are so unbelievably blessed. Since I wrote this post coming home from New Zealand, we have packed up all our belongings and moved to OH, scored big time on a perfectly located apartment, and started our new (and old) jobs!
After a month in our new apartment, we have put up some of the final decorations and it feels nice to stretch out from our previous ‘home’ (a.k.a. our tent!) ⛺️
Every day is an adventure and we are finding new places to explore right here in our back yard!
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