I’m going to be completely honest, I hadn’t forgotten to write a post every month, I just haven’t been in a good place. But telling anybody that just seemed ridiculous – all I could think was hell, I’m in New Zealand, what was there possibly to be unhappy about?! Anyway, I’m not writing this for attention or sympathy, but for anyone else that’s feeling down, it’s OK. You’re not weird, you don’t have to justify it, and you don’t have to apologise for it either.

For some reason, we think its a bit of a taboo subject – as we can never justify enough why we feel this way and therefore don’t want to discuss it with anyone in fear of judgement. That’s really not the case though. The best thing you can do is speak to someone about it – friend/family/colleague, you’d be surprised how good it feels to get it off your chest.

So Christmas has been and gone – what the actual..?! I swear it was June.. so what’s happened since I last posted? Well, my most favourite news… I BOUGHT A PADDLEBOARD!! Literally excitement through the roof. Been wanting one for so long, (like years) and finally bit the bullet and went for the Aztron Lunar Inflatable SUP. I was toying between a solid one or an inflatable one, and decided the inflatable would be far more practical for me – I can just chuck the bag in the back of my car and I’m ready to go. Plus pumping it up by hand is surprisingly quick and easy.

We also got a ute which Connor was very happy about (it’s an unspoken rule, you’re not a kiwi unless you have a ute) and it has of course already been caked in its fair share of mud. What they don’t tell you is it’s super handy as a picnic table – quite a selling point I reckon.

We finally managed to get our own place!! It’s been a long time coming, we’ve longed for our own space and independence for as long as I can remember, so the luxury of leaving the dishes to dry off till the morning and chilling on the sofa after a hard day of work hasn’t quite worn off yet. Funny how you don’t feel like an official adult until you move into your own place?

I photographed my first kiwi wedding a few months ago (my third wedding in total). It was a real gamble with the unpredictable September weather, but it turned out perfectly and went really well.

I caught up with Cara (also from England) who now lives 10 minutes away from us, and we went to the World of Wearable Arts. Thankfully we caught the 2018 work before it was updated to the latest collection – I love going there for inspiration so it gives me an excuse to go again 😉

We managed to do a couple of weekends away, one of which was a trip to Blenheim for the weekend. At 8 pm that night we decided we would head there – it was pretty last minute but we needed a change of scenery. We managed to find a place that had one room left with a hefty discount so we figured we would go for it and hope it was ok.. turned out it was a 5-star hotel, room service and all – which of course we made the most of! We were also lucky to spend a night at our friend’s bach which was beautifully placed on the hillside of a private bay. It was only an hour or so out of Nelson but felt like the middle of nowhere, in its own little bay. That’s the best thing about spending time with locals – they take you off the beaten track and show you places the tourists have no idea exist.

After getting in touch with a local modelling agency, I photographed with Bianca on Rabbit Island (a nearby beach reserve). I was super chuffed with the results so I’m planning to do lots more photoshoots in the near future. (So if you’re from Nelson area & up for doing some modelling or know someone who is, drop me a message!). I’ve uploaded the photos to my website so you can see them on my portfolio.

Christmas day was.. strange. I’m not sure if I will ever get used to a warm Christmas, but waking up in our own place was awesome, and it was nice to spend it with Connor’s family this year, followed up with a joint video call from mum & dad in Scotland and the rest of the fam in England, so in a way, it felt like we were with all our family.

Weirdly there isn’t any tradition with boxing day over here.. normally back in the UK its the day you eat the cold meats from Christmas, and watch a heap of films and play games with the family, but over here everyone does their own thing which was probably the weirdest bit. But I made the most of it and headed out on the paddleboard enjoying the morning sun.

I have only a few more days left until I return to work, and I’m torn between relaxing or trying to get as much done so I’m organised for the new year. 2019 was a tough year, but I’ve realised this year’s new year resolution isn’t to lose weight or exercise, but to focus on doing things that make me happy. Being creative is my true passion, and spending time on the water is my version of meditation, so I’m going to make sure I never let these get put on the back burner.

I really want to push my creativity and photography to the limits this year, so stay tuned and I will hopefully be pumping out some epic content very soon 📸