Hello everyone!
2023 has been such a great year for us.
We have learnt so much about travelling, each other, New Zealand, and so much more.
Most of our time has been spent in New Zealand as we have working holiday visas, so we are living and working here.
The notion of slow travel is absolutely in play: we have been spending a few months in a new place with a new job, and then moving on.
From Marlborough to Christchurch to Fox Glacier on the West Coast, we have seen so much!
As 2023 is the birth year of Jess & Ben Travel, we’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has liked, clicked, or viewed any of our content this year!
We can’t wait to see what 2024 brings for us all.
Jess & Ben
After celebrating our first New Year in the Southern Hemisphere, we took a short trip to a beautiful place called Akaroa.
Here, we camped, drank wine, explored the little French inspired town and ate the world famous Blue Cod fish and chips.
Once back from Akaroa, it’s time for our first big travellers’ job in the Marlborough Sounds: Furneaux Lodge.
We spent three and a half months here, and it was incredible. We worked hard whilst here, 50-hour weeks making sure the guests had the best holiday at an iconic location in New Zealand!
We spent our days off paddle boarding/ kayaking, swimming, and hiking the famous Queen Charlotte Track, and by night we sat under the stars or hung out with the other travellers working there.
Such a simple life.
Thank you all to those who were a part of this experience!
This has probably shaped how we want to travel going forwards, particularly if we have Working Holiday Visas. Living and working in remote places like this gives you a fantastic opportunity to save money and get creative with how you spend your time off.
We only left the lodge once in our time there, and that was to go to Wellington for Jess’s birthday. Here we spent a few days eating, drinking, exploring, and having a well-earned couple of days away.
To read more about our time here, click on our article below:
April - May
These months were full of travel.
We left Furneaux Lodge with some cash saved and a hunger to see some more of New Zealand.
We went on two road trips in this time; one all the way to the bottom of the country (to a place called Invercargill) making multiple stops in cool places along the way, such as Dunedin and the Catlins.
Our second road trip was with Jess’s parents who came out to visit us which was awesome! We organised a 10-day road trip around the South Island, where we saw so many iconic New Zealand Views.
Collectively, one of the best experiences we had on this trip was hiking Roy’s Peak Track in Wanaka. It was a tough but extremely rewarding hike that took the best part of 6 hours, at the top we got to play in the snow and enjoy the most incredible views of The Southern Alps and Lake Wanaka.
At The Top of Roys Peak Track
June
Once our road trips were done, Jess’s family had left and our money was starting the run out, we faced the challenge of securing work during winter in a country that is famous for its seasonal workers.
We had a contact at Madison Recruitment in Christchurch who managed to secure us temporary work at various places around the city. Some of these include:
- Te Pae – A world class convention centre that hosted globally attended corporate events
- Venues Ōtautahi – The rugby stadium in town here we worked all of the Crusaders games
- Christchurch City Town Hall – A town hall which hosted smaller, more local events
But this was so inconsistent, due to the time of year, that it was hard to plan further than a week in advance.
Some weeks we would have 40 hours, others we would have 0.
It’s the nature of the game, but we wanted something more consistent.
Until…
July-November
At the end of July, we get a call from a venue manager who is putting a team together to help open a new bar in Christchurch called The Church.
Excited by this prospect, we head down for an interview.
Upon being offered the jobs, we gladly accepted.
And what an amazing few months this was!!
We met some awesome people here, had many fun nights out, and enjoyed the work thoroughly.
Travelling during this period slowed, but we still managed a few cool trips away:
Dunedin, August 2023: We bought tickets to watch a test match between the All Blacks and the Wallabies. What an experience to see the mighty All Blacks play in real life and to watch them perform a Haka.
Oamaru, August 2023: On our way back from Dunedin we stopped and explored the funky place called Oamaru. Aptly named the ‘Steampunk Capital of the World’, we thoroughly enjoyed our time – see what we got up to here!
Methven, September 2023: For Ben’s birthday, we were given a few days off so we took it with both hands. We spent two nights away here, where we indulged at the Ōpuke Hot Pools, walked the Methven Walkway for surreal views of the Southern Alps, had a delicious meal at the ski lodge that we stayed in, and enjoyed some quality time together.
The great thing about being based in Christchurch is that you have so many exceptional places within 1-2 hours’ drive away.
To find out more about these places click here.
At the end of November, we quit our jobs at The Church. We wanted to travel more and see more of this stunning country.
Before we tell you about that though…
One of the many amazing people we met at The Church was our friend and fellow Duty Manager, Tim. A few weeks after leaving The Church, we got the sad news that Tim had passed. We were extremely upset to hear this news. We have so many fun memories of Tim having a pint after work, his little orange coffee cup and generally having a laugh.
Some people are taken from this world far too soon and he was one of them. Rest easy, we love you, you beautiful, bearded man.
November
Once we left The Church in November we travelled three quarters of the way across the world to visit Abu Dhabi to catch the final Formula One race of the season- awesome! We had the best time in Abu Dhabi.
We visited the places we didn’t get a chance to last time and got to see Dave Grohl live in action at the post-race concert.
We posted a daily Reel on Instagram with everything that we did, so go check those out at @jessandbentravel
An overview of our 10 days in Abu Dhabi:
Day 1- Mild jet-lag. We went to Yas Mall and had lunch and a mooch around the shops.
Day 2- Explored the local area and had lunch at Art House Cafe. Pool in the afternoon.
Day 3- We got a taxi to downtown Abu Dhabi and visited the Presidential Palace.
Day 4- First day at the F1 Track! We did a pit lane walk in the day, and the evening entertainment later which was Tiesto and Ava Max.
Day 5- Free Practice 1 & 2.
Day 6- F1 Qualifying. We found a great sunset lounge to watch FP3 from too.
Day 7- Race Day. Followed by the Foo Fighters!
Day 8- We visited The Louvre which was incredible and beautiful.
Day 9- We did a desert safari with Emirates Tours. We got to stroke camels, go dune bashing and had an evening of Arabic entertainment under the stars.
Day 10- Sunbathing on Hudariyat beach, followed by checking out Emirates Palace (a really fancy 7 star hotel).
December
We flew back to New Zealand on the 2nd December to end 2023 in a very similar way in which we started it- at a live-in job at a remote location.
We moved to a small township on the West Coast that is home to the world-famous Fox Glacier.
The West Coast is not somewhere we have spent much time, so what better way to explore it than to come and live here.
Here, we have jobs at one of the local pubs and are exploring the area on our days off.
Lessons & Growth
Travelling this year has been full of growth and learning who we are.
We always say how much we’ve both changed in the last year or so. Having had so many new experiences, discovered things about ourselves and having met loads of new people.
As a couple, we have come such a long way compared to this time last year.
Considering we only knew each other for 6 months when we booked flights and left the UK in 2022, we’ve learnt so much about each other and how to live, work and be with each other 24/7.
Lessons Learnt
Travellers Guilt
No one tells you that you’ll feel guilty travelling. Missing friends and family back home, questioning whether you should be away for this long even though you’re having the time of your life. It’s tough.
We did not expect to feel guilty- travelling looks so glamorous and easy!
Expect the Unexpected
What you think may happen, probably won’t happen. We planned to be back in the UK by April 2023 after a few months in New Zealand. But our time in the country kept getting extended as we realised we just weren’t done with it here yet.
Ask Questions for Jobs
For live in jobs, ask about the basic things like WiFi, living conditions etc.
The interview is a two way conversation: they want to make sure you’re a good fit for the job, but you also need to make sure the job is a good fit for you.
Looking Ahead to 2024
At the time of writing this, 2024 is wildly unknown! Nothing much is set in stone.
We do plan to go back to the UK to visit friends and family as it’s been well over a year since we left. And we would like to be there for Christmas 2024.
Some ideas that we have floated are backpacking Southeast Asia or looking for jobs in Europe for a few months.
Follow @jessandbentravel to find out what we do get up to next year! (We’ll let you know when we know)
Where do you think we should travel to in 2024?
Let us know in the comments!
Thank you
For a blog that is only ten months old and operating in a competitive niche, we’d like to thank each and every one of our followers who read, like, and support us on this journey!
For both of us, travelling has given us two things: purpose and fulfilment. Having our blog as an outlet to channel our energy fuels both of those aspects.
We both have a few people that we would like to thank for their support this past year:
- Forrest Townsend, a very close friend of Ben’s who has answered endless questions about SEO, website design, and keyword research. It’s always fun jumping on a call with you mate!
- Phil, Emma, and Cassie for being our people in New Zealand whenever we have encountered a problem.
- Sarah & Pedro, for always listening to our problems that we’ve encountered along the way and for supporting us around the world.
- Furneaux Lodge: for being our first of many travellers’ jobs, we made lifelong memories and created the website in our room here!
- The Church / Inkster Company, for giving us an amazing network of people in New Zealand who we love and cherish.
- To our grandparents who have been so supportive of us being away.
Closing Thoughts
Thank you for reading our December 2023 newsletter!
We can’t wait to see what we achieve next year.
We’re sure that we’ll pick up many new skills, meet more amazing people, grow more as individuals and as a couple, the website will have more readers and followers and so much more!
We’re glad to have you with us as we grow together and build a life that we want!
Love to you all, safe travels
Jess and Ben
Amazing Ben and Jess what wonderful experiences, sights, food ,wine and people.. I’m so happy you have taken the opportunity to travel and gain a wealth of knowledge to share .
Maybe consider America or Canada next !! Love all the photos you post carry on travelling safely in 2024 may you have lots more memories in the making ..
Ahhh thank you so much. We’re so happy creating this to share all the things we have learnt on our travels!
We definitely are considering Canada, just have to figure out their visa systems! They’ll be plenty more of NZ goodies this year first though! 🙂