Hello everyone,

I’m currently having myself a little town morning, so I thought why not do a little writing too! I just strolled through a lovely bookstore in which I lightly knocked a few people with my backpack and am now sitting at a café (obviously). Summer is officially here in Wānaka, and although I’m a bit worried about the heat and sunburn potential, it feels nice for the town to fill in with people! I just got back a few days ago after completing my bike trip, spending two precious nights in an airbnb aka heaven (thanks mom!!), and driving for many hours. According to my prior plans, I was to begin work today and move into a house. Unfortunately, my job got delayed (the strawberries aren’t ready for me yet) so I chose to delay my housing as well. At first, I felt bummed out about this change — I was excited to settle in and start creating some routine! But, in what has became a classic here: time to pivot. I would give you the updated plan but I’m still working on that! Possibilities include more adventuring or finding a different job that starts sooner. For the most part, I’m excited about both options, so I’m sure it will all work out. (Update: in the 10 hours since I first wrote this, new job and house both secured. Wowie)

I would like to ask what’s up with you since I last wrote but since I can’t do that, I guess I’ll share what’s up with me. As I said, I finished up my bike trip by heading from Queenstown and ending up at Bluff, which is on the southernmost edge of the island. To be honest, the last few days were actually the worst riding of the whole trip. The wind was absolutely wicked, a nagging flat continued to get me at unfortunate times, and the scenery consisted of lots of flat farmland. Of course, the promise of completing a goal and the refuge from the wind inspired me to keep on pedaling! When I rolled up to the end point, I smiled, said yahoo, and then asked a few people to take what ended up being some horrible photos. Something about understanding what to include and exclude in the frame just doesn’t quite work out sometimes. Unfortunately, I realized earlier in the day that my Airbnb was 20 miles back in the other direction from the finish. There was no way in heck I was going to bike that, so I sat for a while and waited for a friendly looking old couple to arrive. If I’ve learned one thing from my time here, it’s that chatting up an old couple will always lead to a good outcome. The classic 75 year old duo with cargo shorts and big smiles did not arrive to rescue me, but I did manage to find a pair of women from the area and plead my case. I then popped my bike and my tired self into their car as they very kindly gave me door to door service. Thank you!! This is all to say that it’s pretty funny to have a life event in a place where not many people know you… but I like how it makes you purposefully celebrate yourself.

While biking, especially towards the end of the trip, I spent a lot of time thinking about the value of a challenge. I remember this past summer, while sitting huddled under a cooking tent during quesadilla night at a campsite in Iceland, I discussed this topic with one of my co-leaders, Phoebe. As both of us led for Overland in previous summers, we talked about reasons why it felt like our current groups just weren’t clicking or, frankly, growing in the way that we expected from the typically transformative outdoor experience. We were amidst day 8(?) in a row of rain and wind, which made for some tough hiking days no matter your age or experience. With the help of Phoebe’s sage wisdom, I came to think that maybe these kids needed some sort of basic comfort level met in order to gain value from the challenging experience. I am almost always of the belief that a challenge necessarily breeds growth regardless of how difficult the experience is in the present. But, this Overland summer and discussion with Phoebe made me question that. Maybe, these kids couldn’t discuss deeper emotional topics with their fellow group members or show greater responsibility to us leaders because they were fully consumed by meeting their basic needs of staying dry and putting one foot in front of the other.

I’m not quite sure where I landed on this topic by the end of the summer. In time, the students ultimately displayed enormous growth and gratitude towards us and their friends in small moments that I can’t and likely shouldn’t describe here. But, I still ended the summer with a sense that it a differed from my prior times on the Cape or in the backcountry of the Tetons. The summer challenged us—both leaders and students—in a way that made the time maybe a bit less of an outright blast but maybe a bit more of a practice in resilience and unwavering confidence.

I thought back on these conversations while I rode from Lake Paringa to Haast (my great return to Haast for those that have been reading for many weeks). The first few days of biking of the trip were so difficult that, like my students in that rainy session in Iceland, I focused simply on meeting my basic needs of eating, sleeping, and putting one pedal in front of the other. As the trip increased in both fun and ease, I contemplated the value of those first few grueling days. Is a challenge ultimately a positive experience no matter how difficult? Or, is there a limit to the amount of challenge that breeds productivity?

From hours of biking, I came to think that challenges—and outdoor experiential challenges in particular—are powerful in large part because even after you agree to them initially, you don’t quite know what you’re signing up for. When envisioning biking across New Zealand, I didn’t exactly know of the full day of rain I would bike through or the meal of mashed potatoes, curry paste, peanut butter, and cheese I would consume. But I think the beauty of an outdoor adventure/challenge is that once you decide to begin, you must finish it out in some way. Even if that way is choosing to quit, you must continue to choose actions if and when you think you can’t. This necessarily breeds responsibility and maturity, I think. Essentially, you must keep going (even if the way forward is to stop).

I’ve faced a series of more mundane and humorous challenges off the road. My sleeping pad somehow reached a width of approximately 8 inches and not in a tempurpedic comfort way. I finally attended the local run club which was awesome, but they don’t mess around! I was flanked exclusively by ultra-runners and mountain biking legends. My calves are actually immobile bricks the day after. I chose from a long list of cocktails during a night of drinks with a few friends on my birthday! Final decision: Pineapple Daiquiri. Verdict: yum. I FINALLY finished Obama’s 29 hour audiobook and promptly dropped my single earphone in a pile of gravel amidst too eager of a celebration. Turns out my earbud perfectly resembles a piece of gravel, so I spent a good ten minutes pacing on the side of the road with a focused look on my face. Don’t worry, I found it. I wonder what challenges you all are facing in your lives from trivial to existential. Feel free to run em by me. I can try to give you my two cents!

As always, thank you for reading and bearing with me through this rambling. Perhaps, it gives you something to think about next time you find yourself alone for hours on end. Now, I’m going to go look at a house to rent! Fingers crossed for my NZ credit check — not sure how that one will work out. Have a great day!!

Cheers,

Jaquelin