Warning: Picture-heavy post ahead! When you think of the whole United States, most people don’t realize just how far north Alaska is. Go take a look at a geographically correct map. Cue collective “WHOA” There are only so many ways you can drive to Alaska and most journeys take days (even the ferry). And while…
When I was researching writing retreats for my book on Te Araroa, I was completely overwhelmed by the quantity and variety of retreats offered. Some lasted just a weekend. Some lasted longer. Some were local. Some were international. Some included food. Some didn’t. Some included lodging. Some didn’t. Eventually I weeded through the mountain of…
I have something a little different on the blog today … it is an interview with someone about their first-time trip to the good ol’ ’Merica. Can you imagine coming to America for the first time? What would be your first impressions? Our Kiwi friends Max & Lyn took a 6-week road trip around the…
Sadly, I am bidding farewell to New Zealand today. I am extremely pleased with my book-writing accomplishments and plan to write a full post about the retreat, etc, but for the time being, I have a report on one more NZ excursion: Milford Sound! Even though J & I had been to Milford Sound last…
Greetings from New Zealand! I am doing well … busy writing, practicing yoga, writing, writing, biking, hiking, writing, practicing yoga, writing … you get the picture. And if you don’t, this is what it looks like. In between the retreat, my fellow writers and I are enjoying grand adventures around Wanaka. I thought I’d give…
Hello from New Zealand! I didn’t want to make any promises about posting, but I thought I’d chronicle my time so far. My retreat starts Monday in Wanaka, but I planned my first 2 days to stay in Queenstown. Queenstown is a little crazy and I don’t get involved with the real hoopla, but I…
If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, or if you are my “real-life” friend, you would know I am a writer. I have a degree in English and spent the better part of my traditional career as a medical writer. I do a lot of freelance writing, too, for magazines, blogs, and…
After tucking 2015 into bed, J & I realized we’ve had quite a year. If you are a long-time reader, you know I love me some stats. I’m also quite wordy. For your benefit, I chose numbers over words for this post. 111 = Days we spent out of the US (mainly New Zealand,…
Te Araroa is trending. While the Te Araroa Trust estimates there were 200 hikers on the trail last season when we were out there, those numbers are surely doubling this season. And because I’ve written about Te Araroa every which way—for Backpacker Magazine, the Appalachian Trials blog, Gregory’s blog, the Therm-a-rest blog, Superfeet’s blog and…
We stayed in 25+ different hostels/holiday parks along Te Araroa and most of them were great, but they do vary. We thought a review post might be helpful for anyone planning to hike the trail, or just visiting New Zealand. A general observation is that hostels are more crowded on the South Island than on…
We made the most of our 5 days in Sydney, taking all modes of transportation to get around (including walking of course!) and seeing a variety of sights and tourist attractions. We rented an AirBnB in Darlinghurst, which was walking distance from the downtown. It was a tiny studio apartment, but much, much better than…
Well, our 5-month New Zealand grand adventure has come to an end. We flew out on Friday morning and are now are in Sydney, Australia. This was after a brief “oh crap moment when the airline said, “do you have a visa?” And we said, “no, we are only in Australia for 5 days.” And…
Dunedin was never a planned destination for our post-Te Araroa travels. Dunedin was the Plan B when Mother Nature decided New Zealand should have the shortest fall ever and go straight into winter, thus axing our the last of our backpacking plans. We went from the snowy West Coast mountains to the rainy East Coast…
We spent the weekend in Te Anau, gateway to Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound. We stayed right on the lake, which is gorgeous in itself. Te Anau Lake is the second largest lake in NZ and the largest freshwater body of water in the Southern Hemisphere. Our main activity in Te Anau was to…
We scheduled in a little R&R during our post Te Araroa weeks in New Zealand and decided the perfect place to recharge our batteries would be at our favorite hostel, Adventure Queenstown. We booked 3 nights at the hostel in Queenstown. Queenstown is the adventure capital of the world, with opportunities to mountain bike, skydive,…
I plan to write more about our overall impressions and feelings about the Te Araroa, as well as some tips for people considering it, but for now, it’s just the facts. Anyone who knows me knows I keep track of as many trail statistics as I can! So here you go, the Te Araroa in…
A second priority in our post-TA exploring was Mt. Cook National Park and we ended up spending 2 days/3 nights there over the Easter weekend. More than one third of the park has permanent snow & glacial ice and is surrounded by 22 mountains over 9,000 feet, including Mt. Cook, the tallest peak in NZ…
Stewart Island (Rakiura) is New Zealand’s “third” largest island. Most of the island is protected as Rakiura National Park. It boasts unspoiled wilderness, as well as cranked up birdsong … But the biggest reason people come to the island is for kiwi spotting. Stewart Island is NZ’s last major, stable population of wild kiwi. Kiwis,…
Before we leave for Stewart Island, I wanted to give you a few statistics. I will do a grand summary of the entire trail shortly, but here’s the South Island summary! 1308 kilometers / 812 miles ***this is what the map says, but our GPS shows that we did 1407 kilometers!! 56 days 3 zero days…
It is done. We have walked the entire length of New Zealand from Cape Reigna to Bluff. (If you would like to start from the beginning, click here.) Thank you to EVERYONE who supported us, whether in the form of encouraging words or housing/feeding us … and of course our awesome gear sponsors! We could…