Big Island The Big Island, or the island of Hawai’i, wasn’t on our radar initially, but the more research we did the more appealing it became. This ended up being one of our favorite islands! The landscape is incredibly diverse – we went from beaches, to deserts, to volcanoes, to lush greenery all in the same […]
Author: Sam
Oahu & the USS Arizona Memorial
Back in the U.S.A. Our flight landed in Honolulu at 6:30 a.m. on January 30th. It felt good to be back in the U.S. again, and our main goals were to visit the Pearl Harbor memorial while in Oahu and adjust to the time change. Jet lag hit us hard, and we felt like zombies once we got […]
Sydney: One Last Visit to Australia
In Sydney we stayed at an AirBNB in an area called Surry Hills. It’s home to trendy shops, and great restaurants. While in Queenstown, NZ, we met a young woman who used to live in Sydney. She gave us some suggestions on things to do, places to go, and what to eat in the area. […]
Queenstown, Fergburger, & the Runaway Sunset
Queenstown was one of our favorite cities in New Zealand! We could definitely see ourselves spending more time here. It has tons of great food options, nearby hiking options, and beautiful lakes. There are also opportunities for hang gliding or bungee jumping for more adventurous types (not us!). Lake Wakatipu lies in the heart of […]
Invercargill: Penguins, Waterfalls, & Really Old Trees
Invercargill isn’t a very touristy city, but it was a great place to rest a little. Their accents are the thickest we’ve encountered so far in New Zealand! Tough for us to understand sometimes, but everyone was very patient with us about repeating themselves! Our favorite breakfast place there was Zookeeper Cafe. They had great […]
Te Anau & The 8th Wonder of the World
After Fox Glacier, Te Anau was our next major stop (we spent 1 night in Queenstown to break up the drive). The Wifi in many areas of New Zealand, including Te Anau, is rather slow. Hence the lack of timely blog posts for good chunks of the trip! We didn’t mind though, because there were […]
That Time We Went to a Glacier
Fox Glacier The Driving We road tripped it over to Fox Glacier. Trying to fit everything in, we ended up doing two back to back days with 5 hour drives (from Christchurch to Fox Glacier, and from Fox Glacier to our next destination). We made it work and made sure to get enough sleep; however, […]
South Island: Maruia, Christchurch, & Akaroa
Maruia The South Island adventure began with us, and our trusty Mazda 2 rental car, taking a ferry from Wellington to our stop in Picton. It’s a vehicle ferry, and it was enormous! It transported tons of people, their cars, and even a few larger semi trucks. Once everyone parked, we got out of our car and made our […]
Wellington: Wind, Wildlife, & Weta Cave
Wellington, New Zealand’s “Windy City” has a lot to offer. We visited a few of the filming locations of the Lord of the Rings movies, walked through their botanic gardens, interacted with some neat animals, and had an all around great time! One of the first things we did was drive to the top of […]
Taupo: Lakes, Waterfalls, & Tui
Taupo Taupo is a really neat town in the North Island of New Zealand. It boasts a beautiful lake, and we really enjoyed exploring the surrounding area, including Huka falls and Waipahihi botanical reserve. The weather was perfect, and we had fun taking some pictures of ducks near the lake. Where to eat in Taupo Our […]