18Dec 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#14 Lesson] You Only Have to Prove Things to Yourself

[#14 Lesson] You Only Have to Prove Things to Yourself

LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #14 Ski a “Real” Mountain. This was the first time I had rode my snowboard on a real mountain, the first time I hiked up a mountain, my first time on the South Island and many other firsts. But the lesson I learned happened along the adventure. You only have to prove things to yourself! I touch on this in my 5 Simple Steps to Starting a Bucket List. YOUR bucket list is for YOU. Not your friends, not your family, not Facebook. Just you! If you’re a goal-driven person, like myself, you get satisfaction from completing your goals and crossing another item off your list. It can be easy to get caught up in the feeling and want to bend the…
Read More
04Dec 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
Life Below the Rim: Whitewater Rafting the Grand Canyon

Life Below the Rim: Whitewater Rafting the Grand Canyon

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
While this is a classic bucket list item, it’s not actually from my list. It’s from my mum’s list. In 2017, my mum and I were at a Christmas party for the company I worked for at the time. We were all hanging around the pool and BBQing (yes, that is what we do around Christmas time in NZ) when I overheard my mum and another colleague, Luke, talking about the Grand Canyon. I heard her say “I’ve always wanted to whitewater raft the Grand Canyon” and then the conversation continued. Later that night, when we returned home, I asked my mum about her conversation with Luke. She brushed it off and said, “I think it would be amazing to do but it will never happen”. I said, “Why not?…
Read More
20Nov 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#14 Ski a “Real” Mountain

#14 Ski a “Real” Mountain

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 29th July 2013 at Mount Olympus, Canterbury New Zealand. This may sound like a bit of a weird one coming from a kid who grew up skiing in Canada but I’m from the East Coast, not the West Coast. The West Coast has the beloved Rockies and endless ski resorts with amazing terrain… The East Coast has hills that accumulate snow during the winter months. That’s about it. Needless to say I got bored of skiing on the East Coast by the time I was a teenager but I never managed to get out west to ski real mountains. I had always seen this as something I wanted to accomplish, so naturally it landed on the bucket list. I knew that New Zealand…
Read More
06Nov 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
Bucket List Stats

Bucket List Stats

GENERAL
It has now been two years since I started BucketLaunch and it has been a bit of a journey. At first, when I started the blog, I thought that this might be a way for me to create a passive income and subsidise my bucket list adventures. I really did try to make this happen, but it's tough to gain a following out of thin air. Some people are gifted with social media and can do this, but not me. I stressed about this for the first year or so before I realised that I had lost sight of the reason that I started my bucket list back in 2010... to get the most out of life. I have since changed tack and write the way that I enjoy, but…
Read More
23Oct 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#89 Lesson] Seek Out Odd Adventures

[#89 Lesson] Seek Out Odd Adventures

INFORMATION, LESSON, TRAVEL
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #89 Go Zorbing. Not many people know about “zorbing” outside of New Zealand. Most people have the same response when they see that item on my list. “Zorbing? What’s zorbing?” I usually say “Have you ever seen videos of people jumping inside of a giant beach ball and rolling down a hill?” They always respond with “Ohhhhh yes of course, that looks so fun!” People don’t know the term, but they know the activity. Zorbing Ever since I was a kid I have always kept an eye out for odd and crazy adventures, and zorbing is a prime example of that. The classic bucket list adventures like walking on the Great Wall of China and seeing the Pyramids of Giza are great…
Read More
09Oct 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#89 Go Zorbing

#89 Go Zorbing

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 17th June 2013 in Rotorua, New Zealand. If you have been following along with the timeline so far, I have just graduated university and transplanted myself into New Zealand on a one-way ticket. Kyle and I landed in Auckland during the first week of June and spent the first couple days getting bank accounts set up, adjusting to the time zone and searching for a used car. We killed time by checking out some museums and also getting over to Rangitoto Island for a bit of an adventure. Replica of a moa - A large flightless bird that used to roam NZ Giant waka (canoe) Kyle and his emperor penguin friend View of Rangitoto Island from Auckland The volcanic trails of Rangitoto Island…
Read More
25Sep 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
Moving to New Zealand

Moving to New Zealand

GENERAL, TRAVEL
My recent blog, #60 Eat Kangaroo Steak, was the last bucket list item that I completed while I was living in Canada. Later that year I moved to New Zealand to begin some new adventures. Here is how it all happened… In 2011, I was two years away from finishing my degree in mechanical engineering and it was time to start thinking about life after university. The option staring me straight in the face was to move to Western Canada and put my education to work in the oil & gas industry. Most engineers from the East Coast go down this path because of the promise of big money. I didn’t have any issues with the oil & gas industry and the thought of earning big money out of university…
Read More
11Sep 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#60 Lesson] You Never Know Where an Opportunity Will Present Itself

[#60 Lesson] You Never Know Where an Opportunity Will Present Itself

LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #60 Eat Kangaroo Steak. I never would have expected to find kangaroo meat in my local supermarket, half way across the world from Australia, but that is exactly what happened. When I put that item on the list, I was confident that I would do this on my first trip to Australia… which I had no clue when I would make it there. A couple years later I actually did travel to Australia and had a kangaroo burger. I think I prefer it better as just a steak. Opportunities sometimes pop up where we least expect them. As true as that statement is for this situation, it is true for life in general. Sometimes we go searching for things and have to…
Read More
28Aug 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#60 Eat Kangaroo Steak

#60 Eat Kangaroo Steak

BUCKET LIST
This bucket list item was completed on 25th January 2013 in Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. I think it is safe to say that I thought this one was going to be completed in Australia.  However, Halifax could not have been further from Australia. I had been living at my flat on Queen Street for about two years when I crossed this item off my list. The flat was in a great location, only a couple blocks away from my university and right beside a Sobeys Supermarket. I had been shopping at this same supermarket the whole time that I had been living at the flat and never paid attention to what they had in their international food bins. One day I went down to the supermarket with a couple friends,…
Read More
14Aug 2019 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#52 Lesson] Do Things That Make You Feel Alive

[#52 Lesson] Do Things That Make You Feel Alive

LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #52 Fire a Military Grade Rifle. The reason this one made it on my bucket list was because I grew up around guns and always thought it would be amazing to fire a serious military grade rifle. Even people who have never fired a gun before dream of the day they get to feel their power. Guns are exciting and most peoples’ faces light up when they get to shoot ones such as the M4 or M249 SAW. The lesson I learned was simple. Shooting those guns made me feel alive… and that felt awesome. Life is busy and stressful, and if you’re not careful, it all begins to build up. That’s why things like firing guns or other activities that make…
Read More