A palm tree framing the crystal-clear turquoise waters of Aitutaki’s lagoon under a bright blue sky.

Exploring the Best of Aitutaki and Rarotonga

How to spend a perfect week in the Cook Islands In late October, I found myself staring at a massively selfish problem: I was 200 credits short of retaining my platinum status on Qantas. With our 25th wedding anniversary just weeks away, it hit me—why not turn this milestone celebration into a status run? Two […]

Read More

A Weekend in Penang

After the Cameron Highlands, the plan was to spend two days in Penang, exploring Georgetown, Penang’s historic capital city which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and sampling street food from this renowned foodie paradise. The drive from Cameron Highlands to Penang took about four hours. As we descended from the highlands, we passed […]

Read More

Lady Elliot Island

In August of 2022, we decided to take a very last minute holiday. We were able to get four nights on Lady Elliot, and tacked on a few days before to visit K’gari – Fraser Island. Getting There Lady Elliot Island is a coral cay at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. Access […]

Read More

K’gari – Fraser Island

In August of 2022, we decided to take a very last minute holiday to Lady Elliot Island. As we had four nights on Lady Elliot, we decided to add a few extra days and visit Fraser Island. None of our Aussie mates have been there. One even asked, “Isn’t that just a big sand island”? […]

Read More

The No Dive Dive Trip to Fiji

We were a little lax plannning where to go for Christmas in 2016. To be honest, we were both a little depressed after the amazing trip to swim with the whales in Tonga 🙁 Yes, I realise how horribly spoiled that sounds. We were looking for somewhere warm, relatively close to home (by Australian standards), […]

Read More

Non Glamping Camping in Wilson’s Prom

The state had declared a new public holiday. The weather forecast looked good. The campground had availability. Wait. What? Yep. You read that right. We went camping. And not glamping either. Wilson’s Prom actually has fancy tents, but they book out a year in advance. Wilson’s Promontory is located three hours southeast of Melbourne. Unpowered […]

Read More

Tasmania – Much More than Devils

(Location: Tasmania, Australia) Each night, the ferry to Tasmania leaves from the pier near our house. It isn’t the most efficient way to get to Tassie, and it is probably cheaper to fly, but it’s a ferry to Tasmania that is walking distance. It had to be done. We booked the nicest cabin available for […]

Read More

The Great Ocean Road – this time with an ND filter

(Location: Victoria, Australia) I’d visited last year when my mom came to visit, but Andy was overseas at the time so he missed it. Since then, we’d been waiting for a nice and sunny Saturday, and it finally happened in November. Our plan was to take the Great Ocean Road out to The Apostles, stay […]

Read More

Lord Howe – Completely Amazeballs

(Location: Lord Howe Island, Australia) For our 15th anniversary, we splurged on a weekend in Lord Howe Island. Located an hour and a half flight east of Sydney, it is just 10km long, 2-3km wide, and completely unspoiled. There are a few roads, and a few cars, but most of the “traffic” is on foot […]

Read More

28 Hours in Rio

(Location: Rio, Brazil) “You probably want to go away for a few days.” That is what our realtor recommended. We were selling our house, and the market was hot, so she expected back to back showings for a few days straight. Logical people would go to Galveston. We decided to go to Brazil. Our destination […]

Read More