Tauranga and Mount Maunganui We only stayed one night in Tauranga before moving onto Rotorua, but we really enjoyed it. They have some great little restaurants, and a lot of things to do. Turkish food seems to be fairly popular, likely due to the wide availability of lamb meat (great for Gyros and kebabs). On […]
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Hobbitses in Matamata
After staying in Auckland, it was nice to get out of the city for a change of scenery in Matamata. The Airbnb we stayed at was a little cottage on someone’s farm land. Two cows walked by our window while we were eating dinner! It rained a little, but the cottage had fantastic views. The family […]
All About Auckland
Our first stop on our New Zealand adventure was Auckland. New Zealand is very serious about their biosecurity, and about declaring any sort of food you bring, hiking you’ve done, etc. They posted a lot of signs in the airport that when (not if) they find something you haven’t declared, you’re getting an instant fine. […]
Townsville & Magnetic Island Trip
It was HOT in Townsville! Upper 80s / lower 90s during the week. We did find a new Shave Ice and Bubble Tea place, so that helped beat the heat a bit! Townsville was a smaller town, but there is a nice beach area called The Strand that’s very popular. It’s stinger season in the Townsville […]
Billabong Sanctuary Photo Gallery
Billabong Sanctuary Hands down, Billabong Sanctuary was our favorite part of Townsville. We got there just before 10:00 a.m. (just in time to feed a Cassowary some grapes!), and ended up spending about 7 hours there! They have shows about every half hour, and many of the shows are interactive. There are plenty opportunities to feed or […]
Christmas in Brisbane
Our first night in Brisbane was a bit stressful and confusing, and based on night one we thought we were going to hate it here. Our plan was to go salsa dancing in the city, so we plugged the address (ETA of about 10 minutes) into our GPS and we were off. An hour later…we ended […]
Tasmania: Pyengana & Launceston
We woke up early and packed up to drive to Launceston, our last stop in Tasmania. After talking to our AirBNB host, Bruce, he suggested we stop at St. Columba Falls if we could. He also mentioned there was a dairy farm and cheese factory up that way that had self-milking cows. Our planned stops […]
Tasmania: Richmond, & Bicheno
Richmond, Tasmania After Hobart, and spending a few hours at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, we drove up the East Coast of Tasmania to get to Bicheno. Someone we met in Melbourne suggested stopping in Richmond while we were in Tasmania. Although we hadn’t planned on it, we went there to re-fuel our car and we’re happy we […]
Tasmania: Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary
On our way out of Hobart, we stopped for breakfast at Ginger Brown Cafe in town. Delicious food, and reasonably priced. They know how to do bacon in Tasmania! Our kayaking tour guides mentioned that “people in Tassie are a bit food obsessed.” Based on our experience, this seems to be true, in the best possible […]
Tasmania: Hobart and Bruny Island
Interestingly enough, Bruny Island Cheese Company is the reason Tasmania found its way on our itinerary. Sam saw a photo of theirs on Instagram, thought their food looked good, and decided to do some more research into Tasmania. Turns out, Tasmania is amazing! We decided to do a bit of a road trip up the east coast, spending […]