Bucket Lists

I’ve written about my bucket list before- my foodie bucket list here, and some places on my travel wish list here. I wrote here about how I want to immerse myself in some places and the other day on the Facebook astro page I asked readers to nominate an item each from their bucket.

As my 46th birthday approaches, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’ve done- and what I still want to do. The things I’ve ticked off my bucket list, and the items still in the bucket. As scary as it was to turn 40, the last 6 years have been an amazing ride. I’ve worked flipping hard to do what I’ve done, but have been fortunate to have been able to take the opportunities that have come my way. My gratitude is boundless. Long may it continue.

Over the last six years I’ve snorkelled on a South Pacific island, swam with dolphins,

walked across the Brooklyn Bridge,

gone to the Top of the Rock,

and the Empire State Building.

I’ve watched the Moon rise from behind Mitre Peak on Milford Sound,

marvelled at the colours (and smells) of geo-thermal Rotorua, sat in a hot springs in the middle of a freezing NZ winter,

been across the face of Mount Cook in a helicopter and landed on snow on the top of New Zealand.

I’ve had a tattoo, learned astrology, had articles published in magazines and written two (as yet unpublished) fiction manuscripts and 70% of an astrology book.

I’ve travelled to Fiji, Malaysia,

Hong Kong, Macau, the South Pacific, New York,

Singapore, New Zealand and Bali.

I’ve relocated offices and supervised renovations in Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong and Brisbane. I’ve dealt with the chaos of losing an operations site to floods in Brisbane and I’ve changed careers- going from the well paid corporate role (that allowed me the luxury of doing everything I’ve done) to struggling creative.

As far as bucket lists go, last year I ticked off having Christmas somewhere other than Australia (Bali), went hot air ballooning (in the Hunter Valley)

and discarded run 10kms without stopping. That’s so not going to happen.

So, my bucket list- as it stands right here and now- is below. The fine print is that it’s subject to change without notice. The fine fine print is that I intend to make a dent in this before I’m 50. The fine fine fine print is that this doesn’t include places I want to go- just the things I want to do!

• Sign a publishing contract
• Make a living from writing
• Walk the Routeburn Track or Milford Track. I haven’t decided which…yet.
• Walk the Overland Track or Bay of Fires in Tasmania. I haven’t decided which…yet.
• Parapunt off the Gondola Hill in Queenstown. The idea of bungey does nothing for me, and I can’t even consider jumping out of a perfectly functioning plane. I’ve done paragliding off the beach in Penang, but if I’m going to jump off anything, Queenstown is where I would do it.
• While in Queenstown, I’ll add zip lining to the list. That’s where you zip down the hill through a series of flying fox type lines.
• Climb a volcano- I’m thinking Tongariro in NZ.
• Climb a mountain- I’m thinking Mt Kinabalu in Borneo.
• I’ve done the jet boat thing at Huka Falls, and on Lake Wakatipu, but really want to do it at Shotover Canyon too. Yep, Queenstown again.
• Ride a camel on the beach at Broome at sunset
• Ride an elephant in Thailand
• Ride a horse in the Victorian high country or Snowy Mountains
• see the cherry blossoms in Japan
• swim with whale sharks
• Go snorkelling in the Barrier Reef
• Spend a week at a posh health retreat- something like Gaia or Gwinganna where you do yoga at the crack of dawn and eat gourmet health food.
• See the Northern lights
• See a whale breach- you’d think this one would be easy, but sadly, despite a few efforts at whale watching I’ve yet to see one.
• Attend an AFL Grand Final at the MCG. It would be an added bonus if St Kilda were playing.

So tell me, what’s at the top of your bucket list?

Confessions is a weekly link up hosted by Kirstie at My Home Truths