Hong Kong is famous for many things: diverse food, bustling markets, fascinating history, tiny hotel rooms… However, there’s a whole other side to the special administrative region just next to Shenzhen, and that’s what I fell in love with on my third trip to the Pearl of the Orient. Outside the main city are a number …
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The Peace of the Wild Things
I stepped out of the cab and was immediately assailed by a blast of hot, sticky Hong Kong air. The Sai Wan pavilion is nestled in a bend in the road and marks the starting point for several treks through Sai Kung East Country Park; I was there on a friend’s recommendation to escape the bustling madness of …
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 …
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 …
Driving the Southern Scenic Route
I woke to the car shaking from the wind, to the clatter of rain on the roof. It had been a blustery night, parked by the seashore at Moray Terrace, but I’d caught a few hours of sleep and had made the snug confines of Te Namu as comfortable as possible. The day would start …
He’s Got a Dead Cat…
I see it just before it charges, a gaunt, grey beast crouching by the roadside with ears pressed back and shoulders hunched in anticipation. I swerve to the far side of the lane and accelerate, snarling at the dog as it leaps to give chase. Melissa tenses on the seat behind me as we pass …
Swimming with Eagles in Savai’i
My body floats on the surface, buoyant and still. Flippers stir the sea behind me, and I glide over the haphazard world below. It’s my first time snorkeling in Samoa. The coral here still shows the after-effects from the cyclone which roared through 2 weeks prior. Closer to shore, everything is dead or dying, the …
Savai’i Road Trip
I open the throttle and the engine roars — all 110cc of it. Melissa and I perch on the seat of the little Suzuki scooter — bags strapped to our backs and chests, respectively — as it works its way up to cruising speed. The sky is a flawless blue overhead, and brilliantly hued plants …