TRAVERSE Issue 09 - December 2018 | Page 89

STILL HAPPY ... Colby Ellis continues his ride around New Zealand, asking; "What Makes You Happy?" I had heard two very different opinions from friends and fam- ily about traveling the South Island; I was either going to fall in love and want to stay or I was going to find it too similar to home (Vancouver, BC) and not consider it a real vacation. Count me in the former because despite parts of the scenery reminding me of the Pacific Northwest, I couldn’t get enough of it. I’m not sure if a four leaf clover ended up stuck to the underside of the skid plate, or if a horseshoe fell into one of my bags, but there was some- thing about my whole time spent ex- ploring the area that even when some- thing went a little sideways, or there was a chance I could miss something, it always worked out. I arrived on the late afternoon fer- ry from Wellington to Picton which meant as I rode off with the hope of TRAVERSE 89