30Dec 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#66 Hug a Koala Bear

#66 Hug a Koala Bear

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 28th April 2015 at Australia Zoo, Beerwah, Australia. This blog post picks up where #12 Scuba Dive the Great Barrier Reef left off. After doing the Reef, we did a 3-day tour on Fraser Island, which meant we had very little time to get all the way down to Sydney. Another bucket list item that I had planned for this trip was to hug a koala bear. Australia Zoo was started by Steve Irwin and his wife Terri 50 years ago and is praised for being one of the best zoos in the world. I did my homework before leaving on this trip and knew that this would be a good place to do a koala encounter. Australia Zoo is conveniently located an…
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16Dec 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#12 Lesson] Balance Between Planned and Unplanned Adventures

[#12 Lesson] Balance Between Planned and Unplanned Adventures

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #12 Scuba Dive the Great Barrier Reef. For the last 10 years, my bucket list has dictated my travel plans. I often tell people that it is my roadmap that I use for planning holidays each year, which means I often travel with a purpose. Many of my bucket list items require specific planning as some events can only be done one day of the year. Others may be completed any day throughout the year but will involve more logistics. The bucket list has forced me to be a diligent planner to ensure that my dreams come true. Looking back on it, that is exactly why I started the bucket list, to ensure I got the most out of life. However, sometimes…
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02Dec 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#12 Scuba Dive the Great Barrier Reef

#12 Scuba Dive the Great Barrier Reef

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 20th April 2015 from Cairns, Australia. I had been living in New Zealand for almost two years when I planned this adventure. Everybody always asked me whether I had been to Australia yet, but the answer was always no. I decided it was time to stop neglecting this massive country floating off to the west of New Zealand. A 4-hour flight can land you anywhere on the east coast of Australia, so the options are endless. One weekend I pulled up a map, got out my bucket list and began planning. The first stop would be Cairns to tackle the Great Barrier Reef. I had looked into liveaboard cruises that take you out over the reef and you live on the boat for…
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18Nov 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
2014 Roundup

2014 Roundup

GENERAL
I had another big year in 2014! I managed to complete six items from my bucket list. Two of these were completed, with my brother, when he came for a holiday in September. I also achieved the most difficult one so far: #84 Fly an Airplane. In case you have missed any of the stories or lessons from my bucket list adventures in 2014, here is a roundup. #10 Buy My Own Car Completed on 10th February in New Plymouth, New Zealand [#10 Lesson] Strive for Freedom #21 Ride in a Helicopter Completed on 14th March in New Plymouth, New Zealand [#21 Lesson] Ask for Help #93 Take an IQ Test Completed on 6th August in New Plymouth, New Zealand [#93 Lesson] Room for Improvement #65 Go Whitewater Rafting Completed…
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04Nov 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
Why I Changed #16 Ride an Elephant

Why I Changed #16 Ride an Elephant

GENERAL
At the time of publishing my bucket list, in 2010, riding an elephant in Thailand was sure to be found in every bucket list article on the internet. This is how I found it. I will admit that I was ignorant. I did not know what was happening behind the scenes at these elephant parks in Thailand. I think that can be said for most of the world as well. In the early 2010’s this topic started popping up more and more. While a handful of travelers had known before this time, it was starting to reach critical mass. People were talking about it, sharing the sad truth on social media and lobbying to have this type of behavior stopped. In 2014, Intrepid Travel announced that they were no longer…
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21Oct 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#62 Lesson] Share Your Dreams With Others

[#62 Lesson] Share Your Dreams With Others

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #62 Fly in a Hot Air Balloon. When I told Tegan that the coolest gift she could get me would be to help me cross something off my bucket list, she got to work. She studied my list and found an activity that we could do together and was close to New Plymouth. It was definitely the best present she could have given me, and I was so happy that she did that for me. This taught me the importance of sharing your dreams with others. Since starting my bucket list, I have noticed the natural tendency of people to want to help out. Whenever I share my bucket list with people, it is very common for them to scan the list…
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07Oct 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#62 Fly in a Hot Air Balloon

#62 Fly in a Hot Air Balloon

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 7th February 2015 in Hamilton, New Zealand. It all started with, “What do you want for Christmas?”. I began dating Tegan at the start of 2014 and when Christmas time rolled around, she was nervous about what to get me. I’m not really that fussy with gifts and generally any type of adventure paraphernalia will make me happy. She persisted, but I am not that good at choosing my own gifts, on the spot. I ended up telling her that the coolest gift she could get me would be to help me cross something off my bucket list. She never asked me again, and I never really thought about it until we started exchanging gifts. Her present was simple, it was an envelope.…
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23Sep 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#84 Lesson] Sacrifices are Required to Achieve Dreams

[#84 Lesson] Sacrifices are Required to Achieve Dreams

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog post #84 Fly an Airplane. Anything truly worth doing in life, is worth sacrificing something else to make it happen. This is the most important lesson I have learned from my bucket list journeys. That 14-month period was one of the most challenging times in my life. There was simply not enough time in the day or energy in my body to complete all the things that I desired. As a result, something had to give. Sacrifices had to be made. I realised this within the first few months, around the time of my first solo. I had to look at my life and ask, what can wait? What don’t I need right now? As much as I loved to go out…
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09Sep 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
#84 Fly an Airplane

#84 Fly an Airplane

BUCKET LIST
This bucket list item was completed on 9th November 2014 in Hawera, New Zealand. In July 2014, I had a lazy weekend with not much planned, so I called my Irish friend, John, to see if he had found any waves. He told me that he wasn’t out hunting for waves because he was actually doing some flying lessons. I was amazed! I interrogated him, “What? Are you serious? Where can you do that?” He happily gave me all the details. There is a small town called Hawera, located about one hour south of New Plymouth. Hawera has a very active aeroclub. The aerodrome land is leased out to a local farmer to grow crops, which subsidises the flying rates, making them very cheap. When John told me the details,…
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26Aug 2020 by Dave Macleod No Comments
[#41 Lesson] Sometimes You Need Help

[#41 Lesson] Sometimes You Need Help

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog post #41 Go on a Blob. There are some similarities with this lesson and [#21 Lesson] Ask for Help. In that blog I talked about never being too proud to admit when you could use some help. The key is to realise this and act on it by asking others for help. Your friends and family will always be there to help, as long as you ask. This adventure taught me that sometimes you NEED help. This is not just a matter of getting over your independence and asking for a helping hand. Sometimes there will be physical limitations keeping you from doing something by yourself. In my case it was going on a blob. In the middle summer, the adventure park…
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