8. A Sad Farewell

Period: March 2011

And so, after singing along to the TV Commercial for weeks, I departed my favourite capital city in the world, cruising on the Interislander, sailing to the other side. I will forever regret leaving Wellington so soon, however, as much as I refused to acknowledge it at the time, my concerns over my health motivated me to get moving. On an unconscious level, I wanted to see and do as much as possible just in case I fell really ill and had to go back to England prematurely. When I'd arrived in Wellington back in December, I was on a massive high because I had recovered from surgery and I was feeling better than I had in months. Since that time, my symptoms had slowly worsened, in such small increments that it I had been able to pretend it wasn't happening.

As we disembarked the ferry in Picton on a dreary afternoon, I was more nervous than excited. As previously noted I am extremely adept at self-denial and I tried to be optimistic, but in the back of my mind it was impossible to ignore the permanent worry that festered there. With the symptoms slowly worsening I began to finally recognise that it was not normal, but if anything this just made me try even harder to ignore it! Thinking about it now, I am both embarrassed and impressed by my capacity for self-denial =)

We decided to spend a couple of weeks sightseeing, after which we would decide where to base ourselves for a few months. During our walking and camping trip to the beautiful and blissfully remote Abel Tasman, my tender relationship with a long-drop really started to blossom. I will say one thing for NZ, they do try to make the outdoors as comfortable and accessible as possible while maintaining it's remote charm - very Crohn's friendly! It makes me so sad to think how I would struggle to complete those same walks these days. I could definitely do it, I just wouldn't enjoy it as much because I would be so exhausted!