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Adventures
The drive from Sydney to Brisbane is 900 km of highway filled with so much to do, just about anything is possible. After picking up Roojin in Sydney, we headed straight up the A1 Pacific Highway.
As with most of Australia, however, you have to get off the highway to see something of interest. Most of the time. Aside from a giant banana, we veered off-route to see someof Australia’s best beaches, hike over sand dunes to get to a shipwreck, and even spot dolphins traveling up the coast.
When my friend Cyndi asked me if I’d rather see the Great Ocean Road or see the Little Penguins, the decision was an easy one to make. After only getting to see one penguin in New Zealand, I was ready to see more. And on Phillip Island, I was guaranteed to see many.
If that weren’t enough, Phillip Island is also home to the Koala Conservation Centre where I met even more of Australia’s wildlife. After penguins, I saw koalas, wallabies, and tons of exotic birds some of which laughed us right out of the park!
I spent the last month in Australia and now I’m in New Zealand again. Say what?! That’s right. I had a great time in Australia. I did a ton of adventuring, visited friends, and saw so much wildlife and marine life. I can’t wait to share it all through many posts in the coming months.
Ultimately, my Aussie adventure was destined to be a jam-packed one, but a short one. I set out with an agenda: deviate to illuminate. As intended, some revelations helped me realize the most important things to me so I could return to New Zealand to pursue them.
One cold, wintery day on The Queen’s Birthday weekend, Jono and I drove 5 hours up North to the Coromandel Peninsula.
There, we met his sister and her family where they were staying in Whitianga. Whitianga is situated near two iconic Coromandel must-dos: Hot water beach and Cathedral Cove.
I had already visited hot water beach on a previous occasion but Cathedral Cove was not accessible at the time. Now I was finally able to visit this gorgeous beach and natural archway. Perhaps you’ll recognize it from a famous movie, music video, or both!
Like most Westernized countries, New Zealand has many domesticated horses. On any given drive across the country you’re bound to see them fenced in on grassy hillsides, being ridden by tourists across a country road, or jumped by locals for prizes at field day events.
Wild horses, on the other hand, are a rare sight to see. I was lucky enough to track some down and witness their majestic beauty as they freely trotted through the Te Aupouri Forest and galloped across the dunes behind the 90 Mile Beach.
The Ninety Mile Beach is one of the most unusual highways I’ve ever driven. At low tide it becomes a legitimate highway. It’s an alternative to state highway 1 and often a scenic route for tour buses.
But the 90 mile beach can be as dangerous as it is beautiful.
The tide can catch tourists off their guard resulting in their vehicles stuck in the sand and an unexpected overnight stay in the dunes behind the beach. Luckily, my kiwi friend, Jono, and I had deliberately worked an overnight stay into our Ninety Mile Beach plans. With plenty of fish to catch from the beach and another food source under our feet in the sand, we had all we needed to survive several days on one of New Zealand’s most beautiful and remote beaches.
I finally went sandboarding!
Sandboarding has been on my bucket list for a long time. I was stoked when I found out I’d have the chance to finally tick it off my list in New Zealand!
Surprisingly, it took me nearly 3 months of traveling New Zealand to make it to the best sandboarding location—the Te Paki Recreation Reserve.
The Northern point of New Zealand’s North Island has great significance among the native Maori people. The land there is predominantly Maori owned and untouched with plenty of native vegetation growing wild.
Once we passed through the last town of Kaitaia and began the 100km drive up the Aupouri Peninsula, I could already see and feel its sacredness.
I dove a ship wreck!—and became an advanced open water diver.
While visiting the Bay of Islands, Jono and I booked a two-dive day trip in which I would experience diving down deep to explore an underwater ship wreck. It would be my first ever! I had been itching to dive again since I received my open water diver certification in Koh Toa, Thailand. Paihia Dive offered a package in which I would learn to dive to 100 feet.
The ship wreck was eerie, beautiful, and hilarious. This plus an awesome underwater kelp forest dive and surprise visit to the famous Hole in the Rock made my Bay of Islands diving trip an unforgettable experience.
I’m all about finding my own fun while traveling—and at low cost. Part of deviating is looking for ways to explore a new place without paying for a tour guide to show you around. Sometimes self-guided tours take you to unique places that turn out to be just as good as the tours or better!
This was the case the day Jono and I arrived in Paihia in Northland New Zealand. We had a whole day free to fill with whatever we chose. So we went snorkeling in the Bay of Islands on our own for just $20 each. Here’s how.
I had no idea what was in store for the next few days. In order to escape constant rainy weather in the Otago region, Carolina and I decided to drive south until we hit ocean. Unfortunately, we ended up right in the middle of the storm anyway!
All was not lost. We got to witness amazing windswept coastal scenery and a show of rainbows against the storm as we set up camp. The weather broke when we headed up the east coast and camped near the Moeraki boulders. From there, I executed a mission to see wild penguins for the first time.
Did I succeed in my mission?
Milford Sound is possibly the most famous natural tourist attraction in all of New Zealand. It’s located in gorgeous Fjordland National Park on the South Island where cruises and flights go up and down the sound all day every day. Even though it's so popular, I decided it must be famous for good reason. And wow, was I glad I went!
As someone who is deviating the norm, I am always looking for places to go that are a bit unique or "off the beaten path." But visiting a tourist attraction doesn’t mean there will be no opportunities for doing things a bit different. Deviation can happen anywhere, anytime, especially in the midst of typical circumstances!
As it turned out, I was the only one on the cruise to opt into letting a waterfall rain down on me from above. This experience and other opportunities for deviation made my Milford Sound experience special despite it's popularity.
The world around me and the people who live in it. These are the two things I find myself constantly appreciating more and more as a travel. And the Central Otago region of New Zealand has the perfect example of both.
Carolina and I explored this gorgeous region from our campsite on Lake Dunstan.
Eventually, we got an offer from a connection I had made on the North Island to stay with a local for a couple of nights.
A bit of miscommunication about our arrival time led us to seeing even more stunning scenery en route to a new campsite and meeting some unexpected, hobbit-sized locals!
While I visited many Lord of the Rings film locations during my multiple road trips all over the North Island, people kept telling me “the South Island is the real Middle Earth.” With its untouched, mountainous geography and less than ¼ of the New Zealand population living there, the South Island is the perfect setting for filming an epic like the Lord of the Rings. It’s no wonder I couldn’t help myself while road tripping around the region. Everywhere I looked I could envision orc battles, hobbits having second breakfast, and elves and men riding their horses across vast landscapes.
I sought out many of the South Island film locations with my equally nerdtastic travel companion, Carolina. Some were easier to find than others and some were less accessible than others. But in the end, we visited most of the locations completely independent from any paid tours—and we had great adventures of our own finding them!
We almost never met. She was at a gas station back down the road, but Carolina and I were heading inland. If it weren’t for the fact the tank was near empty and places to fill up were few and far between in this part of New Zealand, I would not have turned around.
After hitch-hiking New Zealand on my own and picking up hitch-hikers before, I gave no thought to taking in a stranded traveler. She was looking for a ride to Queenstown—we could get her as far as Wanaka. What I didn’t know was how fruitful this meeting would be. She ended up showering us with gifts and giving us great suggestions for sights to see on the ride to her drop-off point.
Planning ahead has worked very little on my trip. Going with the flow, allowing each moment to take me in new directions has always proved to lead to the best experiences. So when Carolina told me she was going to have to fly into Christchurch instead of Queenstown, I simply shrugged my shoulders and said, “See you there!”
This change in plans took me and Birgit on another route deviation. We were at the perfect junction to turn inland from the West Coast and cross the center of the South Island back over to Christchurch. We ended up traveling along New Zealand’s Great Alpine Highway. This area of the Canterbury region was so spectacular and filled with adventures, it was worth retracing the route with Carolina a week later. From pie-eating and caving to camping and hiking, these are the highlights from my Great Alpine Highway drive.
“Oh, just wait until you get to the West Coast of the South Island.”
“Why, what’s there?”
“You’ll see. It’s stunning.”
I had been hearing about the West Coast of the South Island for weeks. The stretch of shoreline between Westport and Greymouth was argued to be one of the most gorgeous drives in all of New Zealand.
I first arrived there with Birgit after we had trekked the Abel Tasman. Black sand beaches, dinosaur egg-looking boulders, sunbathing seals, unbelievable rock formations, and spectacular sunsets are just some of the highlights we had the chance to witness. But the beauty of this place was deceiving. A flesh-eating evil was lurking right outside our car windows, ready to lunge at us from all directions for a taste of our warm, sweet blood.
The tent was packed and our bellies were full with a carb- and protein- packed breakfast by the time dawn broke. The 2-hour drive ahead would take us on the scenic Takaka Valley Highway to the car park for the Abel Tasman hike—one of 9 New Zealand “Great Walks.” Birgit and I decided to walk in part of the way from the end of the track to spend the night at one of its pristine beaches on Anapai Bay.
The two days we chose to do the hike were sunny and hot. Despite the sweaty conditions, the hike was enjoyable due to native bush shading the trail and sandy beaches with cool ocean water toeing at our boots. The paradise-like features of Anapai beach and the comfortable camping conditions made Anapai Bay the best beach I have been to in all of New Zealand.
Birgit and I were heading West. We were traveling in Frogger, our little green hatchback rental, along the Northern shore of New Zealand’s South Island. Four days into our journey, we would be passing through the town of Nelson before heading out to a beachside camp to rest up for our Abel Tasman hike.
It was a bright and sunny summer day. Our schedule was wide open—we were free to do whatever we so desired. Before long, we were gazing at sea creatures floating high above in the sky, hiking to the geographical center of New Zealand, and listening to the sound of waves dragging across a stone beach.
A ferry ride, hitch-hiking, housesitting and couchsurfing had brought me not only to the South Island but to a point where I was ready for another road trip adventure! Many camping road trips around the North Island had made me an expert at this point. I had all the gear necessary. I even lined up my mode of transportation for the next month—a funny green car begging for a pet name. The only thing I had left to do was find a travel partner!
Once I found one, the first road trip of New Zealand’s South Island began. We jumped in the waves at a beachside campsite, drove on the scenic route overlooking the Northern fjords, and wild camped beside a cool, clean river behind farmland. This was the beginning of my adventures with Frogger the car.
