In November 2023 I decided to take a 4-month break from working in Keswick and set off on my trip of a lifetime, to somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for a long time. A big action-packed holiday to the South Island of New Zealand, in particular Queenstown. Appropriately named ‘The Adventure Capital of the World’, it seemed fitting that I head here for some fun.

To get there by plane takes 26 hours flying time, then you have layovers to factor in and the +13-hour time zone difference. I find it hard to sleep on transport so I ended up remaining awake the entire way there, making good use of the inflight movie and snack selection.

As the cold winter nights were drawing in back home, I arrived to a warm summer in full swing in NZ. I remember my arrival day well, the scenic flight in over Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by the Southern Alps, stepping off and getting that warm air rushing across my face was certainly a good feeling. The first thing I saw were the towering Remarkables mountain range, 2000m above me. They were already on my long list of things I wished to check off. I was honestly speechless and grateful to call this place home for the next few months.

November was just incredible, so much to do and explore. 5 other lads from Keswick were also in Queenstown, we stayed in some hostels together and we’d hike up mountains, go climbing, bike the downhill tracks, jump huge canyon swings, ride jet boats, luge tracks and a personal favourite of mine, frisbee golf!

We all said it reminded us of back home in the Lakes, just 3 times as big! A truly incredible place. I also bought a car early on, a 3.0 Subaru Legacy, it was huge, perfect for fitting people and kit in for all the adventures to come and I could also sleep in it! November passed and I started to branch out from Queenstown and check out the nearby gems such as Glenorchy and Wanaka, in particularly the amazing mountains in the Aspiring National Park.

This was when the adventures had to take a back seat for the foreseeable. Unfortunately, I ended up breaking my right ankle in a mountaineering accident and needing a helicopter to evacuate me off the mountain as we were very remote. Finding out I’d shattered my fibula and snapped both the systemic and deltoid ligaments in my ankle and I’d need surgery down in Invercargill to fit a 6-inch rod and 6 screws to hold it all back together was not ideal. Just what I wanted, not even a month in to my trip!

I was absolutely gutted that the fun had come to an end, but after considering my options, post-surgery I decided to remain in Queenstown to make the best of it. With it being summer, I thought I’d be better off resting, recovering and most importantly, tanning in the sun with beautiful scenery around me than back home in the middle of a cold wet winter in the UK. The pain wasn’t too bad surprisingly and I only took pain killers for 3 days after the initial break and the surgery too, it allowed me to hop about pretty well!

With a new outlook on my trip, I was determined to make the best of it. I stayed in a hostel for December post-surgery and I did all the normal touristy things instead. Taking scenic boat trips on the TTS Earnslaw, a steamboat from 1912, riding The Kingston Flyer Steam Train, 1890, flew to Stewart Island and Milford Sound by plane and ate a hell of a lot of ice cream. I also discovered a new hobby. Bowls! I spent many an hour crutching up and down the bowling green in Queenstown, something I’d never done before but really got in to.  On Christmas day I floated down the Shotover River on a giant inflatable unicorn with my friends, definitely a memorable one for it being my first sunny Christmas and also not with my family back home. We had a BBQ instead of a roast!

I was still as active as usual and certainly put the miles in on the crutches, I continued to go to music festivals, go on jetboats, meet lots of new people and, as time went by and I no longer had a pot on but a lighter moonboot instead, I even completed some hikes. Memorable ones included crutching up to the summit of Roy’s Peak, 1578m and all the way up to the Mueller Hut at 1800m with views of Mt Cook, New Zealand’s tallest mountain. I certainly didn’t let the injury ruin my trip, and visited a fair chunk of the South Island, Fiordland, Catlins, Mt Cook getting up to Christchurch too.

I kept the climbing going with easy one footed auto belays and boulders and became pretty well recognised round Queenstown by the locals. I think I had 5 different casts in total, 2 white, a green, pink and camouflage one! I knew I’d found my place here and decided pretty early on that I will be back the next summer, fully recovered to live up the adventures I’d missed out on.

Returning back to the Lakes in March, still on crutches, I had new goals, to fully recover the ankle, and work really hard to save up for my return trip 9 months later. From the end of May, I continued to work full time as an outdoor instructor in the day but also began working as a barman at the Swinside Inn, the local pub and Bar Es, where I did table service and food running. It was pretty brutal doing consecutive 13–15-hour days but I knew it would all be worth it.  All the money earned from these jobs meant extra savings for the big trip! As November 2024 drew closer, I sold lots of my belongings, mountain bikes, paddleboards and even my VW Caddy van ready to start my new life, a one-way flight back to New Zealand, round 2!

I’d met so many people who were actually living in Queenstown, whether that be Brits on a 1 year working holiday visa, Europeans or Canadians doing the same thing or local Kiwis, especially the climbers! Through social media we stayed in touch, followed each other’s adventures and got excited to meet up again, 1 year down the line, as they would still be in NZ.

With this being my first serious injury, whilst on my own, in another country it was certainly a lot to process. I had a lot of time to myself and reflected on the experience, I could have let it ruin the trip, taking an early flight home. I remained positive and instantly knew I’d be back, and that in the grand story of life this was minor ripple in the timeline. It’s also made me think about the bigger picture.

I won’t lie, before the injury, in lots of the extreme sports I do, whether that be rock climbing, mountain biking or scrambling/soloing, thoughts of risk, fear of injury and the consequences that actions COULD have on me were not something that crossed my mind at all. I just thought it wouldn’t happen to me. Well, the reality is we are only human and not invincible so it was a humbling experience and changed my perspective on the dangers outdoors and to respect the environment I spend so much time in. Something I can say that, as I write this over 12 months post break, I consciously think about more when doing extreme stuff where error could have a big impact.

The adrenaline of this is what draws me to do what I do, I love the rush I get when I fly down a hill on a bike, when I’m climbing super high up or darting along a technical ridgeline. What I did not particularly enjoy was losing the ability to do all of that. I finally realised it was time to slow down just that little bit more, not push it as much and be in it for the long game.

Fortunately, I made a full recovery without needing any physio and soon got the green light to return to road biking, swimming and bouldering without fear of causing further damage. I did have a hugely swollen ankle for a good 8 months after surgery but it’s strong as before now, just with a gnarly scar to tell the story of my first trip to New Zealand.