I spent the better part of last week down in Queenstown, for a much needed getaway.
Queenstown is pretty much the adventure capital of New Zealand, if not the world… Every crazy thing you can think of, you can probably do it in Queenstown. Jet boating, bungy jumping, sky diving, paragliding, rafting, etc etc…
The thought of doing a bungy had never even crossed my mind until the week before I left. For some reason I felt the urge to do something extreme, and I told my pal Tara that I was heading down to Qtown, and she used to work at the Nevis Bungy, (which is the one I did), and she told me to hit it up.

Next thing you know, I was doing the Nevis Bungy + Swing a couple of hours after I got off the plane from Auckland.

It’s an experience you can’t really put into words or photos… Its one of those things you just have to do to really know what it feels like, and how fucking amazing it is. It was hands down, the best experience of my life. Sure, it was scary as shit, but the adrenalin + the sheer FUN of the whole experience outweighs the fear any day of the week. Any. Damn. Day.

They have a swing at the same site, so I figured I may as well do both. Most of us did the bungy first, and then headed over to the swing on another platform.
I think shit only got real just as I was standing on the edge, ready to jump. I really didn’t think I was going to be able do it, but then somehow, all I thought was ‘Okay, time to do this shit’. Once you get over that initial fear of jumping off the ledge, its the most awesome feeling in the world. I loved every second of it. And I’m pretty sure I’ll do it again.

They have sweet tunes playing on both platforms, which as you can imagine, adds to the awesomeness of the whole experience a shit load. I think I jumped off to some ACDC, and I some Calvin Harris was busting out when I was being lifted back up.

The swing happens to be the biggest one in the world (!!), and that was just as insane. You don’t have to force yourself off a ledge though, you just sit in your harness and then they drop you, and you fly face first towards a cliff face!
They we’re both equally as scary, but the swing was SO much fun, since you get to literally just chill in a giant ass swing for a while.

One of the many reasons the Nevis was so baller was that because its in a semi-backcountry canyon, they have to take you up there in one of their 4WD buses. It’s on private land too, so no annoying ass tourists watching, unlike the other AJ Hackett sites around NZ. (You can pay to be a spectator, but really… why would you bother…) The only people there are the staff + the jumpers. Everyone is shitting themselves, but it just adds to the radness. You’re all in the same boat.

A lot of people had said to me they’d never be able to bungy, but I think anyone who’s willing to take the risk, they’re the only ones who deserve the sheer amazingness of what’s on the other side. You can’t get that feeling through words or photos. You have to do it yourself. You have to throw yourself off the fucking ledge. If any of you peeps are considering doing a bungy, or something equally as extreme, I say do it. Don’t think about it, and just do it.

So now that I’ve got the bungy down I’m pretty damn keen to keep rolling on the ‘extreme’ sports front… Nothing beats that rush of adrenaline. Absolutely nothing.

Stay tuned for some more Queenstown goodness.

A few snaps from my weekend. Saturday the 1st was ma 23rd birthday!
I headed up to Piha for the day with my mum, which was sweet since we’d never been there before.
And Sunday involved cruising with my bro + having some much needed chill time.

I’m heading down to Queenstown for a few days tomorrow, for a little getaway + some adventuring. I’ve even managed to book myself for a bungy jump here, on Thursday morning. (Yep, I’m scared as shit, but I figure I may as well get amongst it! I’m not usually an adrenalin junkie, but for some reason I didn’t think about it too much, and I just BOOKED IT. I’m pumped.)

So needless to say I shall have some stories to tell upon my return!

So I’ve been somewhat absent from ze blogging world for the last month or so, but there’s good reason for that! I’ve been pretty chocca with some rad new projects, and just living up life in general.

I’m now living back in New Zealand too! And damn, this country is sweet. I forgot how chilled out everyone is. Its so awesome to take a step back and disconnect a little. I think the fact that internet + phone data is so expensive here probably adds to that, but hey, it’s not exactly a bad thing. Its just more incentive to get offline even more.

I’ve also relaunched my portfolio site, and of course, this blog! Big ups to ma homegirl Krissy for coding up a storm on this baby. Gotta love a good developer.

I think its super important to be constantly upping your game, and aiming to be better at what you do. So that’s what I’ve been doing lately… working like a mofo, and takin it to the next level. The only way you can truly get better at something is by doing it. All the time.

I’ll also be back on board with the Choice Kids interviews, I know there was a few peeps that totally dug my first one, so get ready for the next few!

Be sure to hit up freshbysian.com, there’s a stack of new pages + new things to check out on there, so have a good look around!

I’m stoked to get back into blogging & sharing the goodness. I’ve been posting a few photos over on my Photo Blog lately, so check those out for some NZ goodness.

Stay classy.

*Side note: Unfortunately in the transferring process I lost all of the photos from my previous blog posts, and since I feel like my photos are a HUGE part of me + my blog, (and because it would be an pretty damn big job re-finding, re-creating, and re-posting all of the photos) I opted to delete those old posts. Yep, I’m pretty devs…

You can check out some of my photos on my photo blog here.
But alas, here’s to fresh starts, huh?

This has been a hot topic on my mind lately, as I feel like I’m beginning to understand the awesomeness that is ‘the freelance life.’ I know some people still believe that there has to be a balance in life, between your work, and your chill time. I’m not one of those people, and going full time freelance has totally opened my eyes to this. Here’s a few pointers I’ve picked up on why I think the idea of balance is BS.

Balance is a myth. Danielle LaPorte says this best, but I’m totally down with her on this one. Life isn’t meant to be perfectly balanced. It’s not meant to be 50% work and 50% life, or however else you wanna weigh it up. Stop wasting your time trying to balance everything, and just aim for passion. Aim for awesomeness.

Its old school. This ‘idea’ that we have to sit in an office, or in a job, from 9-5, 5 days a week in order to be successful has gone out the window. Actually, its been well and truly chucked out the window. Smacked out the window with a baseball bat. Kicked out the window with steel cap boots. You get the idea.
We can live the lives we love, and we can create a living from doing what we love.

Don’t think of ‘work’ as ‘work’. I once saw a quote that said something along the lines of ‘treat work as play, and play as work.’
I think thats half the problem, we feel the need to split life into two parts, ‘work, and ‘play’. Who says it needs to be so precisely split up? Surely we should all just be aiming for lives of adventure and amazingness?
When you do what you love, it will not feel like work.

Nothing is ever perfect, or balanced, but it is always amazing. Wether you see it or not, life is always amazing. Learn to be present, and to live in the moment.

Even if you’re in a 9-5 job, and it feels like your life is jammed into these two separate parts, just think about it. I know every job differs with the hours, and how it works, but I think as long as you love what you do, you’ll be set.

+SIDE NOTE
The photo above is from where I was working yesterday, and I’ve been to that same place a few times in the last week. (Its actually this place here). I literally just grab my laptop & my stuff, and head out. (If you follow me on Insta, you’d have seen all the places I get to! My username is sian_richardson) Half the time I have no idea where exactly I’ll go, but when I get there, I create. I design. I photograph. I do my thing. This is how I create my best work, and I love it.
95% of the time there isn’t even internet or phone reception in these places, so that makes them about 10x more awesome in my books. True creating, without the distractions.

+ CHECK THESE
Out of interest, I googled ‘work life balance bullshit’, and whoa momma, turns out that a whole stack of other peeps have written about it too. Heres a couple to check out.
- Still Breathing
- The Monster In Your Head