This post has been a long time coming but I’m so glad I made time to sit down and write about the hiking in South Island. It’s no secret that we both loved our time in New Zealand and looking over old pictures for this post has made me so keen to go back some day! Just like North Island, there are plenty of epic South Island hikes, and it’s so worth squeezing in at least a couple of them on your trip.
I have to be honest, Newcastle wasn’t one of the original stops we had in mind for our 1 month journey of Australia’s east coast. We met some awesome girls from Newcastle when we were in South America and they invited us to come and see them when we reached Australia, promising to give us a tour of the area. Turns out there’s loads to do in Newcastle, it’s a beautiful little spot in New South Wales that’s a perfect base for exploring the local region and we had an awesome time there.
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, General, Italy, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Taiwan, Top Lists
10 Of The Best Gardens In The World
Bit of a random one as no one I know could accuse me of being green fingered, but turns out we’ve spent time visiting some awesome gardens on our travels and we wanted to share them with you. When we bought our house, one of the top items on the list of ‘must haves’ was a garden.
Snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef is pretty much a bucket-list item for every traveller and unfortunately one of the most unsustainable areas of tourism on the planet. Experts believe that the Great Barrier Reef will be dead and gone within 50 years.
Advice & Tips, Australasia, Australia, Itineraries, Travel Planning
25 Free & Cheap Things to Do in Sydney
Australia’s most populous city and often mistaken as its capital, Sydney is one of the best places in the world for a city break. Whether you prefer museums and galleries, parks or architecture there’s so much to do here that a week will fly by. Best of all, there are loads of cheap things to do in Sydney that will make a stay here far more budget friendly – we stayed for new year so there was a 7 night minimum stay and we had to find plenty of ways to make our budget stretch!
Adventures, Australasia, Australia, Itineraries
How to spend 2 days in the Blue Mountains, Australia
If you’re travelling Australia and have a spare couple days around the Sydney area, visiting the Blue Mountains is an absolute must. It’s our favourite place that we visited on our month long trip down the east coast and we spent an amazing two days in the Blue Mountains exploring some of the sights.
We’ve been out of Australia for a couple of days now and I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve had a chance to sit down and write a decent blog post about our time there and what we got up to!
Bula! You’ll hear this at every turn as you travel through Fiji, as locals welcome you to the islands. It is without exception the most friendly and welcoming place I’ve ever been.
First things first, before you fly into New Zealand for your epic road trip, you’re going to need to do at least some planning. Luckily, unless you’re visiting in peak season, the benefits of exploring in a campervan are that you can stay very flexible and plan the specifics of your route as you’re travelling. To help you out, we’ve prepared a handy list of our top New Zealand road trip tips to get your started.
Christmas is one of the most important times of the year for us. It’s that time where we drive around trying to see as many family members as possible, eat as much as possible and drink as much as possible in the space of just a couple of days.
Itineraries, New Zealand, Travel Planning
South Island Driving Itinerary: Picton to Christchurch in 3 Weeks
This post is a follow up to the itinerary we posted for our two week road trip around New Zealand’s North Island. It was surprisingly popular so we thought we’d share our South Island driving itinerary with you as well in case it helps you to plan your travels.
After spending all 28 of my Christmas days to date at home in the same house in a small village in middle England, it’s kind of surreal to find myself in Brisbane on Christmas Eve eve wearing shorts and t shirt and eating ice cream. Travelling away from home at this time of year is a strange one
Milford Sounds is not really a sound at all. In geological terms, a sound is a passage that is formed from the freezing of river water, which turns into millions of tons of glacial ice. This ice tears huge chunks out of the neighbouring mountains. Over thousands of years the relentless pressures of so much ice split widen the gaps turning them into valleys. These valleys eventually fill with sea water to become what is known as a ‘Sound’.
Brunch is the perfect meal for travellers on a budget. Unlike breakfast it means you can enjoy a lie in, and if you time it right you can often survive quite comfortably on just one meal a day if that meal is a hearty brunch. Brunch is also the perfect meal to stock up on protein, often hard to come by when backpacking as carbs are typically the cheapest easiest food group to get your hands on.
Located on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island are the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers – probably the most famous of the country’s many glaciers. In this handy guide, we’ll explain all about how to spend a couple of days exploring these incredible natural landscapes – including enjoying heli-hiking on the glacier itself, and our thoughts on the popular question of whether to visit Franz Josef or Fox Glacier.
Australasia, New Zealand, Travel Planning
North Island Driving Itinerary: Auckland to Wellington in 2 Weeks
From volcanoes and simmering lakes to rugged coastlines and beautiful beaches, New Zealand’s North Island’s got it all when it comes to great scenery. I’ve already written about our favourite hikes on our two week road trip through the island, and this post is a deeper dive into our North Island driving itinerary from Auckland to Wellington.
It’s a bold claim, and one which may not stand up to scrutiny if our hiking adventures in New Zealand continue the way they’re going. But for now, I’m sticking with the belief that our Abel Tasman hike today is the best hike we’ve done in New Zealand so far.
After an extremely painful 5 day trek to Machu Picchu a couple of months ago we were still off hiking when we arrived in New Zealand. That didn’t last long however, once we realised just how stunning the country is and how many awesome hiking opportunities there are.