Judy – Clarke’s Beach
“So what I would say to my 11 year old self is that life has a lot to throw to you, and learn from it, and expect the unexpectedness.
I never thought I would end up in New Zealand, but I’m here now. I’m originally from South Africa, then I went over to the Caribbean. That’s where I met my husband now, who is from New Zealand, and we worked on the super-yachts for seven, eight years, mainly based in Spain in the Mediterranean and we’ve only recently moved back to New Zealand. So I arrived on Thursday night. That’s how I find myself here.
The people are really friendly and it’s just a nice feeling being here. Being in Spain and all around the Mediterranean; they all have their own cultures and ways of dealing with foreigners, and I think the kiwis are the most relaxed and the most welcoming. I guess there’s a high amount of, sort of freedom too – you’re not worried about security or any of that kind of thing but isolation – I wouldn’t really say that I felt it in South Africa, not regarding race, although it is an issue that some other people have felt, but I’ve been lucky with where I went to school and university.
The super-yachts; that was very interesting – I guess a very nice to live, but long hours, hard work and challenging to live in a confined space with so many people, but you learn to get on with it and enjoy where you are, and seeing different places and meeting different people, and working for very entertaining people.
(My husband and I) met at a doc party in the Caribbean… I think having a healthy relationship is just being able to be at ease with each other and, having an open communication, being able to talk to each other without, necessarily ending up in an argument, or just being able to trust each other and just being happy and making sure that person makes you happy, and you them happy.
After travelling and having an unsettled life, it’s really nice to be able to know that what I’m unpacking now is able to stay out, and to be able to just have simple things like, a frame with a picture of it in your house, and it’s really comforting to know that, this is more sort of stable and permanent than constantly packing and living out of your bag.”
