If you missed part one about sailing in the Bay of Islands, check it out here. Monday morning, the start of Christmas week, dawned bright and early with us moving anchorages to the other side of Mimiwhangata Bay, to a spot later populated by several fishing boats. The night before, during our solstice-party planning party,…
Category: adventures
a brush with spontaneity: sailing to the bay of islands, part one
*also known as the adventures of Kiwi Rob and Papito* Many of you know that I recently spent some time in the Bay of Islands, but what you don’t know is that it tested every ounce of my spontaneous yearnings and made me realise that I may not be as spontaneous as I’d imagined myself…
a brush with spontaneity: scuba diving in the great barrier reef
Many of you commented on my Facebook photo from a few weeks ago where I shared my tired and sunburnt, yet very happy, face post scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Let’s talk about how that happened and why I thought it was a good idea to submerge myself six metres underwater. Let me…
a brush with spontaneity: flying over the great barrier reef
As you maaayyyyy have seen on my Snapchat and Facebook several weeks ago, I took an amazing small plane ride out over the Whitsunday Islands and Great Barrier Reef during my time in Airlie Beach. I’d been working hard on this website, dealing with panic attacks and frustration over the messy way it went live….
travel essay: the great ocean road
A winding road that stretches from Geelong to Warrnambool, that hugs the unstable cliffs over sapphire seas: Australia’s famous coastline of the Great Ocean Road seems to rise effortlessly from the water. As my bus passes through Lorne, the coastline is rocky, the continental shelf visible as the tide recedes. By the time I am at…
a brush with spontaneity: baby wallaby adventures
Those of you following my Instagram feed or Snapchat story likely saw the quick snaps of me holding a baby wallaby a few weeks ago. Well, I wanted to share a little bit more about how that happened and what I learned. On my second day in Bermagui, on the Sapphire Coast – I went…
best of … 2016
Wow – it’s already 2017, and I can’t believe how fast 2016 went! What a year for The Girl With the Map Tattoo. I spent the entire year exploring New Zealand from literally top to bottom. I gained hundreds of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter followers, grew my blog readership, and even made the jump from…
new zealand: a hiker’s paradise, part five
Welcome to part five in New Zealand: A Hiker’s Paradise, where I write all about hiking in New Zealand. This week, I want to talk about hiking in New Zealand’s South Island southern half, particularly hikes in Otago (near Dunedin), the Catlins, Southland, Fiordland, and Stewart Island. In part one, I talked about the differences…
big road trip: week five
A month ago, I packed up my life in Dunedin and headed out on one last big road trip across New Zealand. Here is week five! ** dates of travel: 4-12 Dec 2016 As I write this (Thursday), the last few days have been horribly rainy. I’m on the West Coast – which is notorious…
first impressions of australia
Hi from Australia! I can’t make this very long (for one, my computer is dying and for two, I have a LOT of stuff on my to do list) but I wanted to share just a couple of photos and first impressions from the last few days.