Long Weekend in Tauranga
15 May 2024I turned thirty about a month after moving to New Zealand, which is a bit of a milestone birthday. It landed on a Monday too, so I requested a couple of days off work. There were a few options I contemplated, but I decided my 30th birthday needed to be a special trip. And the top two things on my New Zealand bucket list for years were Hobbiton and the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. Which meant I would be spending my birthday long weekend in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty! It was a bit too far to drive from Wellington,…
Highlights of Wellington
It’s already been 3 months since I moved to Wellington and in that time I’ve explored quite a lot of the city! I’ve been trying to pace myself, so I don’t run out of things all year, but between taking…
I’m Moving to New Zealand
New year, new country! Is anyone surprised at this point? Yes, after finishing up my working holiday in Canada, as well as previously living in Hong Kong and South Korea, I’m trying out living somewhere else again. This time I’m…
Hawaii Short Break
I feel like I’ve seen images of Hawaii for as long as I can remember, thanks to the number of movies that feature it. Honestly, it wasn’t super high on my bucket list, as I associated it with over-tourism and…
A Year in Canada
Well, technically 16 months in Canada. Except about 3.5 of them were spent in the USA. Anyways, back in mid-October 2022 I moved to Canada on an IEC working holiday visa. At the end of January 2024, I departed again…
Antarctica Expedition Part 2 | Western Peninsula
For anyone who missed part 1, I was lucky enough to join a 2-week Antarctica expedition voyage through my work over New Year. I know, it’s still crazy that I got to do this! Go read the first post for…
Antarctica Expedition Part 1 | Weddell Sea
It’s still so crazy that I can say I’ve been to Antarctica! Yes, you are reading this correctly. Wild, right? It wasn’t even really on my bucket list because it’s not somewhere I ever thought I’d get the chance (and…
Weekend Trip to Lake Tahoe | USA
After a crazy summer travelling all the way across Canada and then back again across the USA, my trip was almost complete. Having already visited much of the California coast earlier this year, there was one more place in the…
4 Days in Yosemite National Park | USA
Towering mountains of stone, tumbling waterfalls dancing with rainbows, endless crystal lakes and giant, ancient sequoia trees. Yosemite might just be a little slice of paradise! One of the earliest National Parks in the USA, thanks in part to Scotsman…
Utah’s National Parks | Arches & Bryce Canyon
So, if you haven’t read Part 1 of my ‘Utah’s National Parks’ posts yet, featuring Zion and Monument Valley, I recommend doing so for the context of the small group tour I was on. It was a crazy week, though,…
Utah’s National Parks | Zion & Monument Valley
After a couple of months of solo travel, the next phase of my cross-country USA trip was actually group travel. I’d signed up to join a small group camping trip with Intrepid, covering Utah and Yosemite mainly. We started from…
