I’m constantly taken aback by the simple natural beauty of New Zealand. Driving from city to city is in itself a scenic experience as you meander through mountain ranges, farmlands, and rivers. Our drive from Christchurch to Nelson, where we would spend the night before going on the Queen Charlotte, was exactly that. Ben, our awesome Kiwi friend, in the driver’s [...]

I leave something behind at every place we stop at. If I had to make a list of items I’ve forgotten to take with me when I’ve packed and left… well let’s just say it will not be a short list. I am quite absentminded at times. Most of things I’ve forgotten though are small ticket items like foodstuff or toiletries, [...]

Of my entire trip so far, this past week in Christchurch, I’ve felt most like the homeless vagrant my mother thinks I am. Shuffling between houses every couple of days, lugging suitcases, constantly the stranger in someone else’s home… We’ve stayed in friend’s houses before, but not usually so many over such a short span of time. Our Christchurch friends [...]

It’s been a year and a half since Christchurch had their first major earthquake. Since then there’ve been three other major quakes, and thousands of other tiny ones that take place almost every other day or so. We couldn’t help but do some earthquake tourism while here.   The entire city centre has been cordoned off because they were the [...]

…is when you don’t have to fly Jetstar at all. So one day before we were supposed to leave Sydney for Christchurch, Arrch gets a call from Jetstar saying that they’ve cancelled our flight to Christchurch. That in itself isn’t too surprising because Jetstar is notorious for canceling flights at the last minute. But what was awesome was that they put us [...]