As an island girl who was raised on a farm and rarely visited anywhere larger than Aberdeen as a child, I’m not much of a city person. Things have clearly changed, given that I’ve lived in two cities in the past year, but still – give me a mountain or island any day, or even …
I’ve been reminiscing a lot recently. I’ve also been looking forward to the next few months, and the realisation that I’ll be 30 at the beginning of next year made me think of my gradually-forgotten goal of visiting 30 countries, which I assumed would be long reached by now. The truth is, I stopped country-counting …
Well, 2016. I believe you’ve been quite the shitter for a rather large proportion of people on the planet. Between political disasters and some seriously shocking celebrity deaths (think Alan Rickman was the worst one for me, although he’s probably sitting on a beach somewhere earning his 20%), it’s not been one of the best …
Happy Friday, and a very merry Christmas Eve eve! Before we delve into my best of 2016 post, I’ve been meaning to do this one for a while – a huge photo essay of our 18 month trip around the world! Throughout 2015 and 2016, we spent three months exploring South East Asia followed by …
Queenstown, Queenstown, Queenstown. What can I say about you that hasn’t already been said a million times? I was always looking forward to this energetic and extreme-loving city, and it was the first place to go onto my itinerary, but I was also concerned that it would be a letdown – touristy, expensive and overhyped. …
Wanaka doesn’t make it onto everyone’s itineraries for New Zealand – but it was one of the first to go onto mine. Blanketed by mountains and set on a scenic clear lake, and with the feel of a small town but heart of something so much more, there’s nothing not to love about this place. …
Mount Sunday has been on my New Zealand list for a while, and for one reason: it’s the site of Edoras, the town of the Rohan people in Lord Of The Rings. So when a couple of German backpackers posted in the New Zealand backpacker Facebook group asking if anyone had any suggestions for going …
After an incredible journey from Wellington, the ferry to Picton taking us through some stunning scenery and the bus traipsing steadily between the mountains and the wild coast, I have to be honest in that we didn’t expect a lot from Christchurch. After all, this is a city still rebuilding itself from tragic earthquakes, and …
I can’t say I’d ever heard much about the ferry journey from Wellington on the north island to Picton on the south island of New Zealand. As far as I was concerned, it was a nice way to get between the two islands, and judging by the map of fjords and forks, perhaps there would …
Wellington would be our final stop on the north island on our New Zealand trip, and we had three main things planned: Of course, there’s a lot more that you could do in Wellington, including more LOTR sightseeing, but these are probably the highlights (for us, anyway!). Here’s everything we got up to in three …
