We were hoping to see some land-based Arctic wildlife before boarding the ship, so we booked a half-day semi-private Svalbard photography tour with SeeAndExplore. It was also our first real test of our winter gear. I layered up with a Smartwool base layer (top and bottom), fleece pants, rain/wind pants, wool socks and snow boots, […]
Svalbard is pretty easy to reach from Oslo — but if you’re coming from Australia, you are basically travelling to the opposite end of the planet. How to Get to Svalbard I honestly had no idea how to get to Svalbard. I didn’t even know what airport to search. From Melbourne, the most direct route […]
Every ten years, an Australian phenomenon occurs: the Easter holidays line up perfectly with Anzac Day, making it the ultimate opportunity to take a long break without using up a ton of annual leave. Our plan? A 9-day Svalbard photography expedition in search of Arctic wildlife in a country we’d never visited before — Norway. […]
As we left Kaikoura, the weather shifted back to windy and rainy conditions, setting the tone for our 3-hour scenic drive to Nelson. Nelson was a strategic stop for us: We planned to drop off our rental car and leave most of our luggage at the hotel, returning to collect it after our time […]
Though disappointed by the cancellation of the astrophotography workshop in Lake Tekapo, we remained optimistic about coming back at some point given New Zealand’s proximity to Sydney. The next leg of our journey was a drive estimated at about five hours to Kaikoura, with a planned stop in Christchurch to break up the trip. Christchurch […]
Checkout was at 10am, and we needed to squeeze in some laundry before heading to Lake Tekapo. I hadn’t seen any laundromats there, and when I messaged our Airbnb host, they confirmed, there is no laundry in Lake Tekapo. The closest option? Twizel, about an hour away. So, our plan was a morning of laundry […]
Our journey from the Otago Peninsula to Aoraki/Mount Cook was a transition from misty clouds to glorious sunshine, marking a beautiful start to the New Year. With little traffic early in the morning, our drive was smooth, though it gradually filled with holiday travellers as the day progressed. Aoraki/Mount Cook is ridiculously expensive due to […]
New Zealand, a treasure trove of natural beauty basically in our backyard, often gets overlooked for more distant destinations. Our first roadtrip through New Zealand taught us the importance of pacing—we tried to cram too much into too little time so we barely scratched the surface. We thought a campervan would give us flexibility, but […]