I slept in the shelter, and despite the clear night, I couldn’t be bothered with getting into that wet tent.

That meant I had a clear view out over the fantastic sunrise, as dramatic as you get without having any clouds to catch colour, the sea doing its silvery thing, the sky orange turning to blue above.

Pete is an early bird and gets up before dawn and we talk the meaning of life for an hour. We both are still chasing our dreams, he’s towards the beginning of his self discovery, I’m a long way down that path. We both have spirit and ambition and creativity, still thrilled by the possibilities for life, and are working at avoiding getting that crushed.

The self-reflection that solitary travel allows, mostly at a subconscious level, particularly when the distraction level is low, can be important to processing life, and deciding how to live it.

I have changed city, changed country and therefore changed my life.

I want a full life, not a stunted half-life, one rich in experience and feeling and warmth and love and humanity. I found life in the Big City concentrating on career, materialism and status, entirely impoverished.

These three months, actually 99 days since I embarked on my Stewart Island Little Adventure, I’ve had a mixture of solitude and contemplation, together with intense bursts with other philosophical types. A necessary transition to the next phase of my life, where I attempt to incorporate the various learnings in a day-to-day living that continues to create their own meaning.

My life is a clean slate, and I’m ready for anything.

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A guide to the night’s accommodation: Davies Bay campsite

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