About me and FloatingPhil
My personal history, background, and how I got to this point in my life…
Can you relate to any of this?
I am Philip Jansen van Rensburg, born in the eighties, spending my childhood in a small, sleepy, agriculture-based town in South Africa. In the 2000’s I moved to Cape Town to complete a degree in engineering after five years at a technical, boarding high school for boys (<- the definition of “FUN” for those who do not know, look it up).
Over the next couple of years I built (what perhaps only I can call) a “career” in technical positions across various industries like broadcasting, airborne surveying, electronic telecommunications and film/television production. I even started my own company: a LED lighting design and installation services, rental and associated facilities company in the film and television sector.
All throughout this “career”, I am pleased to say that I did meet (and married) a beautiful woman, and was privileged enough to travel the world and experience a little bit of adventure. Some of the highlights were white water rafting bits of South Africa’s longest river, horse riding on the beaches of Queensland – Australia, diving in the waters of Mozambique, Zanzibar, the Maldives and Papua New Guinea as well as solo paragliding above the southern alps of France.
In 2019 it was time to relocate again, finding myself back in an electronic engineering day job, living in Christchurch and calling the beautiful New Zealand home. Little did I know that in the next couple of months my world will be turned upside-down by personal tragedy and a global pandemic.
Moving on to 2024… I decided to step away from work for a little while and focus more on adventure and making sense of the past 4 years. What better way to do that than to explore New Zealand and the beauty it has to offer, meet interesting people and be more adventurous. (without having any real plan, purpose or pressure)
FloatingPhil.com is the way I chose to share my adventure with my friends and ultimately the world, but more importantly to record my thoughts and turn them into memories.
This is my way to look back and remember…
Couple of things to note:
This site is NOT for money or advertising, so any mention of, or photographs about a place or brand is purely accidental. I am NOT sponsored, I do NOT collect your data and I have NO public links to any social media.
The people I mention in here are real, but I am obviously NOT using their real names. This is 2024 and I value my friends and what little privacy they have left.
These pages are unapologetically me… If you disagree with any of my thoughts or opinions here, it is for you to make peace with on your own or simply stop reading. This includes my bad English grammar and spelling (it is after all my second language, so give me a break)