Mission Beach, Australia

Our next stop was a small town up the coast called Mission Beach. We stopped here to do a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef for a full day of snorkeling. It was seriously awesome! I snorkeled once in Thailand on a sailing trip, but the reef here is on another level. We…

Whitsunday Islands, Australia

Hello from Australia! I’ve been here for about two weeks now and I just finished my 12-day tour from Cairns to Port Douglas with Intrepid Travel. It was an awesome trip and I’m looking forward to sharing the pictures here. One of the first places we visited was Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island, which I…

New Zealand South Island Recap

This is a long one! I have so many pictures from the last month it was hard to decide which ones to include in this post for each destination. I loved my time on the South Island of New Zealand. It has so much to offer in terms of the diversity of landscapes, wildlife, and…

Stewart Island, New Zealand

My last day in New Zealand was spent on Stewart Island, population 408! This island off the southern coast is only accessible by ferry or plane. It took about an hour and a half by ferry to get there from the town of Bluff, and the sea was so rough the day we crossed that…

Milford Sound, New Zealand

I can’t believe today is my last day in New Zealand! This marks the halfway point to this leg of my trip and I’ll be heading to Australia tomorrow for the next 5 weeks. I have so many photos to share about my time on the South Island of New Zealand, but I thought Milford…

New Zealand North Island Recap

Hello! I just finished my week-long tour of the north island of New Zealand and I wanted to put together a little recap post of all the places we visited. I spent a little over one week on the north island. A few days in Auckland on my own and then my organized tour started…

Rotorua, New Zealand

Hello from Rotorua! This was my favorite place that we visited on the north island. I pre-booked two activities ahead since there were a few things I didn’t want to miss out on, zip-lining in the morning and a kayaking/hot springs/glow worm cave excursion in the evening. It was an activity-packed day, but it turned…

Hobbiton, New Zealand

Next up, Hobbiton! If you’re a fan of The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit books/movies this is a must-do while in New Zealand. They left the set of The Shire as a permanent tourist attraction after filming was complete in 2014. The village they constructed is like something straight out of a fairy…

Wanaka, New Zealand

I stayed in Auckland for two days and then decided to make Wanaka my home base while I was on the south island. It’s about an hour’s drive from the Queenstown airport and it’s the best place to be if you want to hike Roys Peak since it’s only a 10-15 minute drive from town….

Roys Peak, New Zealand

Hello from New Zealand! I’ve been here about two weeks now and I’m just starting to catch up on my blog posts. It was a bumpy start, but I’m starting to get into a routine now. When I landed in New Zealand two weeks I opened my email to a message saying that the 17-day…