Travel is many things to many people. It is many things to me. But perhaps the thing I cherish most about travel is its ability to imbue meaning into other things. For memories of it to link to those of people and experiences, for it to entwine itself around the roots of who we are. …
New Zealand
Eight of the Best Sights on the South Island of New Zealand
New Zealand is one of those places that take your breath away on a continual basis. Its two islands are vastly different, but both intriguing in their own ways. The North is a hive of geothermal activity: volcanoes, hot springs, and hot water beaches. The South is chock full of wilderness: epic mountains, beautiful fiords, …
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Ten Things to Do in Taupo
There’s a saying which goes, ‘time flies when you’re having fun!’, and is it ever true! The past three months have been a blur, spent working, hiking, making new friends, and experiencing the best that Taupo has to offer. I got extremely lucky with my position as a receptionist at Rainbow Lodge Backpackers and was able …
Hiking the Abel Tasman
It was a frigid dawn, and the interior of my car was frozen over when I blinked myself awake. It was time. After over half a year in New Zealand, I was finally embarking on one of the Great Walks. I was hiking the Abel Tasman. Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the …
The Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki
I woke to the sound of surf, and stretched cat-like in my double bed — enjoying the snap, crackle, pop of my spine as my vertebrae realigned themselves. One week of sleeping in my car had taken its toll, and I was enjoying the comfort of my room at the Punakaiki Beach Hostel. The previous day …
Driving the West Coast Highway
The morning was cold, and I crawled out of my cocoon in the backseat of Te Namu to the sound of distant surf and the blasted buzzing of an infernal sandfly. I killed it before I dressed, and immediately felt positive about the day ahead. I would be driving the West Coast Highway to a place …
Hiking Isthmus Peak
“Forget about Roy’s Peak. It’s great but totally overcrowded. Try hiking Isthmus Peak instead,” the receptionist advised us as we made hiking plans over coffee and muesli. The lounge of Wanaka Bakpaka was full of bleary-eyed backpackers doing the same — Wanaka is a popular place for hikers. Marketa and I had met up for a …
The Land of the Rohirrim
I remember when I first read Lord of the Rings. I was in 7th grade, and even though I’d heard about the books before then, for some reason I didn’t get to Middle Earth until I was in Middle School. Dry prose and dense narrative did nothing to dissuade me — within pages I was …
The Backroads of Canterbury
It felt like it had been an age. Melissa and I had been in Samoa only 15 days, but the separation I felt from New Zealand seemed like it stemmed from an absence of months. Perhaps the displacement was because we were in Christchurch, a far cry from the rural pace of Te Anau. Whatever the cause, once we’d …
Highlights of the Catlins
Morning walks are one of those things: I like to take them, but I won’t get up for one. The good thing about sleeping in the trunk of a car is that sleeping in isn’t a luxurious prospect, it’s a chore. So it was that at the crack of dawn I found myself out of bed and …