From a US point of view, almost everything in New Zealand is backwards. People drive on the left side of the road, walk on the left side of the sidewalk, and pass people on the left. The location of the...
And so the family departed from Queenstown and began the journey to Dunedin. As fate would have it, upon leaving the hotel lobby I heard the same song - a girl band remake of ELO's Mr. Blue Sky - that...
I spent the last day of the old year doing the Shotover Bungee Swing. I jumped from over 300 feet (with a few seconds of free fall) into a canyon. I guess I'm beginning the transformative process of becoming...
Doubtful Sound is in New Zealand's Fiordland National Park and was used as a backdrop in The Lord of the Rings (so of course we had to check it out). Fiordland is one of the rainiest places on Earth; the...
Kiwis refer to The Lord of the Rings fans as "Ringers." My family is a rabid group of Ringers and we fed our hunger for all things Tolkienian (and my hunger for all things filmic) with a safari-style tour...
Queenstown: The adrenaline capital of the world. A place that resembles Lake Chelan with more cityscape and greenery, overlooked by mountains and a great gondola. Downtown is lovely, hip, and clean with...
It's our last day in Nelson and I've made a serendipitous discovery that I will share with you…. How to get an inverse Chaco tan in 5 easy steps:
1) Put on Chacos
2) Spray sunscreen on your...
On December 24th we made our way to the South Island and to Nelson, a city on the shores of Tasman Bay and the second-oldest settled city in New Zealand. Oddly enough, it has been warmer on the South Island...
The Hobbiton movie set rests picturesquely in a hilly area of private farmland near the North Island city of Matamata. I'll let the photos speak for themselves, but I want to add: if you ever visit, try...
The eagle has landed!
Bedraggled, exhausted, cranky. And oh so relieved. The weary family of travelers steps off the plane after an overnight and harrowing ride. My mother sums up our familial relief...
The itinerary for today included a trip to the Coromandel peninsula and a stop by New Zealand's Hot Water Beach. Sitting in a Canadian airport, I've had plenty of time to look at pictures and imagine myself...
Ridiculous title, I know, but I'm victoriously celebrating the end of my bout with bronchitis (20 ish hour flights and infected bronchi mix about as well as orange juice and mint toothpaste). Also, I promise...
