2015 in Review

December 29, 2015

I love this tradition of looking back on the year to see where we went, to remember amazing memories or to reflect on what didn’t work so well. We traveled a lot this year, both due to work circumstances and opportunities personally that offered some amazing experiences. We also traveled out of the US 5 times this year which was a lot more than usual and stepped foot in nine countries (England, Spain, Portugal, Iceland, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia) and visited 18+ cities along the way. It was a big year for us, and one that made many memories around the globe.

We traveled to places where Nick’s ancestors were from (Southern Spain), we explored places close to home like Bandon and Bend, and we returned to old favorites like Iceland and Amsterdam. We added a new continent to our travel list with a visit to Australia and New Zealand and saw some incredible landscapes along the way. All in all, it was a travel year to remember and each place left a really unique mark on our hearts. Here’s to 2016 and more adventures to come!

If you’re curious, here’s my 2014 in Review post from last year!

Exploring Wanaka + THAT Tree

December 28, 2015

Originally on our road trip through New Zealand‘s South Island, we weren’t planning on stopping in Wanaka. But after we finished fairly early at Lake Pukaki, we decided to add it to the schedule. It actually ended up being one of our favorite stops and in the future, I’d love to explore this area more. Wanaka is a town set in one of the most gorgeous locations I’ve ever seen. Modern and bright, the town itself looks like a resort with cafes and restaurants spilling out on the sidewalks. And it’s literally set on a gorgeous, huge lake surrounded by snow capped mountains. And if that wasn’t enough, one of the things the town is the most famous for is their very well known Wanaka Tree. Or as the Instagram location called it, “THAT Wanaka Tree.” Basically it’s a tree that is growing directly out of the lake, seemingly just there with no problem at all.

It really was one of the most stunning spots on our drive, but also one of the windiest, with intense wind you could barely stand to be in for very long. But all in all, THAT tree really is a sight to see, but so is the area of Wanaka… make sure you spend some time exploring Wanaka on New Zealand’s South Island!

Traveling to New Zealand?

See all of my posts on the country here!

Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2015

I just want to wish every one of you a very Merry Christmas around the world! Since I can’t send my Christmas card to all off you lovely readers, here is my own digital version to wish you all a wonderful holiday season and new year ahead!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Teal Water + Wild Flowers : Lake Tekapo + Lake Pukaki

December 24, 2015

If I had to pick my ultimate favorite spot while in New Zealand, it would definitely be these two incredible lakes. Lake Tekapo was our first true stop after leaving Christchurch, and to be honest, we were a little disappointed with the first few hours of our drive as it looked a lot like farmland we have here in Oregon. About two minutes before we arrived at Lake Tekapo I was getting anxious and tired of driving, and I said to Nick (who was navigating while I drove), “Where is it??? We have to be getting close by now!” It was literally in that second before he could respond, we came upon a crest that overlooked the tealest water I have ever seen in my life. And when I say teal, I’m not talking like a light blue or a murky green, the water at Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki is literally bright teal. Coming up on the lake really looked like someone was photoshopping the scene in front of us and it was a really incredible moment from the trip.

Now both of these lakes are famous landmarks in New Zealand so be ready for lots of tourists. We opted to stop at Lake Tekapo at a small, out of the way pull off to take some photos where no one was around until a tourist couple started pestering Nick to take photos of them. After a lovely quiet fifteen minutes at this spot, which we were surrounded by wild lupins in pinks, purples and yellows against the teal water, we moved over to the famous Church of the Good Shepard. Here we waited a while for Nick to try and get a shot of the church without a million people in the frame, and when a huge tour bus arrived and flooded the area we decided to leave. If I went back, I would stay in this area for the night and go early morning or evening when no one else is there because it was really that beautiful.

Next, up the road about 20-30 minutes is Lake Pukaki, which again is a surreal teal color but way more massive. This lake seemed to stretch on for miles and with the picturesque Mt. Cook in the background (which was somewhat hidden in the clouds for us), Lake Pukaki is also an incredible scenic spot on the South Island.

Both Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki are a couple of those places on this Earth when you really wonder, am I still on Earth? It’s places like that that I love to explore because it really gives you a sense of how beautiful our world is and how many places there are to see that are so different than we’re used to. So if you’re on the South Island of New Zealand, do not miss these two incredibly scenic lakes!

Traveling to New Zealand?

See all of my posts on the country here!

Driving New Zealand’s South Island

December 23, 2015

After leaving Christchurch early in the morning on our second day in New Zealand, we were really excited to kick off our day long drive from Christchurch to Queenstown with multiple stops along the way. When we booked this trip to New Zealand, we knew we wanted to see more than just the cities and enjoy more of the scenic areas that the country is so famous for. We opted to rent a car and drive it ourselves and I’m so glad we did. Being able to stop anywhere along the side of the road was a really great adventure. Though I will say, the driving wasn’t always easy and we were exhausted upon arriving in Queenstown that night, but it’s a memory we’ll always have and we saw a lot of the South Island in the process.

We stopped at Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki, Wanaka and a few other spots along the way, which I have posts coming on in the coming days, but honestly, a lot of the beauty of New Zealand is in the random stops along an empty highway, or the views out over an insane valley in between huge mountains or a roaring river in the middle of nowhere. So if you’re looking at driving New Zealand’s South Island, just know that it’s full of incredible sights, amazing adventures and some really curvy roads!

Tips for Driving New Zealand’s South Island

-Be prepared for all sorts of driving conditions including rain and wind like you’ve never experienced. And I say that as a Pacific NW’er and we get a lot of rain and wind. The wind here was insane, I was literally steering into it just to stay straight on the road in many areas.

-Prepare yourself to drive on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car (if you’re American). Not only are the driving conditions intense in New Zealand, they also follow the UK style of cars and roads, so get used to staying left!

-Map out a route before you leave so you know about how far everything is and then add extra time to that. Our drive ended up taking way longer than we expected because we stopped so much at beautiful spots and because the roads were curvy and narrow which made us go slower.

Traveling to New Zealand?

See all of my posts on New Zealand!

An Evening in Christchurch

December 22, 2015

I’m not sure why, but I was anticipating all of the towns and cities in New Zealand to be full of cottages and somewhat small-town-esque. For some reason, I was picturing more like small villages in Ireland for what New Zealand would look like and I couldn’t have been more wrong. From Christchurch to Wanaka to Queenstown, the towns and cities in New Zealand are modern and large. I think that’s why we were kind of thrown our first night in the country in Christchurch, a place that was ravaged by a horrible earthquake not that long ago and the affects are still staggering. Literally half of the city it seems is under construction, and I mean major construction, which made it difficult to really see what the city is about or what it looks like as half of it is half built or in process. So for our very quick stop in Christchurch, I guess all I can say is I would like to see it when it’s completed because I think the whole feel of the city will be different when it’s finally all built!

Traveling to New Zealand?

See all of my posts on the country here!

Raw and Beautiful New Zealand

December 10, 2015

After our one day in Sydney, we were on to New Zealand. To be honest with you, I’m not sure what to say about New Zealand. Prior to the trip, we had high hopes for this country and we really thought it would be our favorite stop of the trip. In retrospect, I think we had too high of expectations for a place we didn’t know enough about and in that, we were let down a bit. That’s not to say we didn’t like New Zealand, we did. We just weren’t blown out of the water like we thought we would be.

I’ve heard a lot of people over the years compare New Zealand’s natural beauty to that of Iceland, a country that we love dearly and have visited many times. And while I guess I can understand the comparisons in a very general sense, we had built up New Zealand in terms of what we love about Iceland, a country full of incredible landscapes every step of the journey. Iceland is raw and stark and beautiful in almost every inch of the country (from what we’ve seen on our trips there), New Zealand is raw and beautiful in many places in the country but in an entirely different way and in a way more of what we’re used to at home in the Pacific NW of the US. And before you take from this that I didn’t think New Zealand was beautiful, think again. I did. From the incredible teal water at Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki, to the stunning water and mountains in Wanaka to the gorgeous cavernous Queenstown, we saw a lot of wonderful and beautiful spots in New Zealand as we drove through the South Island. Looking back though, it felt very similar to us of many places we’ve seen or places that we live near here in the US.

I liked New Zealand a lot. I didn’t love it though. I didn’t leave being completely blown away and I really wanted to. The thing is, everything was actually lovely, it just didn’t strike a chord with me like other places have. There is no reason I shouldn’t have loved it, I just didn’t and that’s a personal thing. We also had a number of things go wrong while there (like getting sick and the worst turbulence of our lives), which also contributed to our thoughts on our time there. Looking back though, I can see why people love New Zealand. I can see why it’s becoming more and more of a tourist destination and why its scenery is used in movies all the time. And yes, it has some incredibly stunning spots, but there are also a lot of areas where it feels like you could be in Southern Oregon or a lot of other places in the US which aren’t so pretty, which surprised me. I didn’t find that the scenery as a whole had such a sense of place. There were many spots we drove through that could be anywhere in the world. It didn’t scream “you’re in New Zealand.”

Overall, I liked New Zealand. We enjoyed our time there and there were many places that were incredibly stunning and unreal. But would I go back? I’m not sure and that perhaps would take some time for me to decide. And there is nothing wrong with that either. Some people love New Zealand and that’s wonderful, some people don’t and that’s ok too, to each their own. So I’ll move forward remembering the spots in New Zealand that I did genuinely love and moments like coming up onto Lake Tekapo and literally screaming how unreal the water color was. And until I can fully wrap my head around how I felt about this lovely country, I’ll let our photos of our experiences do the talking for me in the posts to come.

Traveling to New Zealand?

See all of my posts on New Zealand!

Exploring the Sydney Opera House at Dawn

December 9, 2015

Since we headed to bed around 4pm the day we were in Sydney from jet lag, we didn’t have much of a chance to explore the area right around the Opera House. We had seen it from afar from The Rocks and from the Manly Ferry, but when we were up early the next morning before dawn and didn’t have to be at the airport for a few hours, we knew it was the perfect chance to explore this famous landmark. Exploring the Sydney Opera House at Dawn turned out to be an excellent idea as there was literally no one but us there!

I’ve seen hundreds of photos of this famous building over the years but seeing it in person was pretty surreal. It was different than I expected up close, with a different sheen and pattern on the “shells,” than I had anticipated. And wandering the area around the Sydney Opera House at dawn with stormy clouds on the horizon and no one else around was one of my favorite moments of our trip!

Traveling to Australia?

See all of my posts on Australia!

Boats, Tourists and Scenic Views : Taking Sydney’s Manly Ferry

December 8, 2015

Our one and only day in Sydney happened to be over 100 degrees in a strange late Spring heatwave. Knowing that would be way too hot to wander the city, we opted for a boat ride instead to see more of the area. Originally we had looked at making the trek to Bondi, but after seeing it’s actually a decent ways outside the city we opted for Manly instead. I had seen online that the ferry from Sydney to Manly is actually a great way to see the famous scenic views of the Harbor Bridge and Opera House from the water, so mid-day, we headed over to the Ferry Terminal which was only about a block from our hotel and ended up taking Sydney’s Manly Ferry.

We bought tickets for the local government-operated ferry instead of the multitude of tourist ones and made our way onto the ferry. We opted to grab a seat on Sydney’s Manly Ferry outside on the way to really take in the views and then sat inside on the way back. Half way through the 30-40 minute journey to Manly, we got hit with a major wave of jet lag tiredness and opted to not get off and explore Manly, so we enjoyed the ferry itself and the gorgeous views there and back, then headed back to our hotel early to get some rest and out of the heat.

I would highly recommend this ferry though, so get a chance to see more of the area and some of the lovely scenic views of the coastlines near Sydney, as well as the famous Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge from the water!

Traveling to Australia?

See all of my posts on Australia!

Sydney’s The Rocks Neighborhood : Landmarks and Harbors

December 7, 2015

When we decided on Australia and New Zealand as our destination for this past trip, there was so much ground to cover (because how often are we down in that part of the world) that with flights and such, we could only spare 1 day in Sydney. And since we had such a short amount of time in this famous Australia city, I knew we’d want to stay really close to the major landmarks including the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. That meant The Rocks area of the city was the place to be. I booked us in the Four Seasons in that area and it was the perfect location to explore this famous neighborhood.

With close proximity to a bunch of restaurants, shops and of course the famous Opera House, as well as the ferry terminal, The Rocks is a great spot to start exploring Sydney from. We spent our first morning in the city wandering the neighborhood, having lunch at an amazing German restaurant near our hotel and thoroughly enjoying taking in all the scenic views, landmarks and harbors. We also wandered through a street market that had amazing homemade items like ceramic coasters (which we picked up for ourselves and gifts for family), cool stationary and just about everything crafty. This area is full of eclectic buildings from old brick structures to modern skyscrapers in the distance, bordered by the harbor and open water, it shimmers on a beautiful day!

The day we were in this area is was 100+ degrees and so the nice tree cover throughout the area was defiantly a plus. We quickly found out that Sydney’s The Rocks neighborhood is a lovely area full of greenery, cute shops and restaurants and the perfect area to wander for your first dose of this famous Australian city!