I’m back with another post about what to do with only one day in a New Zealand town. This time, its Wanaka. Wanaka lies about an hour north of Queenstown, along Lake Hawea and the road to the West Coast. Its a snow lover’s paradise in the winter and a hiker’s paradise in the summer….
Category: south island
lodge review: kinloch lodge
The road to paradise begins, quite literally, at the junction of Paradise and Glenorchy. Here, you have two options: keep going down a gravelly road toward Paradise and Rees Valley, or turn left and circle the top of Lake Wakatipu toward Kinloch.Personally, I’ll always go for Kinloch. I arrived at Kinloch Lodge late in the…
one day in glenorchy/kinloch
I feel like the luckiest person right now. I sneaked away from Dunedin again and came back up to Kinloch for the weekend – after one really fun day and night in Wanaka – and I can’t get over how stunning it is up here in the High Country. I found a station for sale…
tastebuds: kinloch lodge
Back over my birthday weekend, when I was drifting aimlessly through Central Otago with nothing concrete planned, I ended up at Kinloch Lodge, out on the edges of Lake Wakatipu, an hour and a half from Queenstown, down a gravel road near Paradise. I spent a few days here, hiking, enjoying the spa, chatting with…
in photos: the taieri gorge railway experience
Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to travel with Dunedin Railways on their Taieri Gorge Railway experience. It was a blustery day, and while the sun never made an appearance, the trip was worth every minute of my time and energy. You can read about my experience here, and enjoy this photo essay below.
travel essay: riding the rails in the taieri gorge
I stepped onto the train platform, the cool shadows of the Dunedin Railway Station behind me, its ornate interior all Art Deco meets old world architecture. In front of me, the Taieri Gorge Railway sat waiting silently to take me on an exploratory journey. Climbing aboard, I found my seat in the carriage next to…
south to dunedin, road trip part three
Missed the beginning of my road trip south? I started in Paihia at the beginning of May. Read in order one, two, three, and four for all the dirty details. 27 – 30 May Aussie Chris picked me up from lunch with Tay and after saying goodbye to her, we found our way into Christchurch…
hiking ben lomond
Two days ago, I hiked my first ever mountain. Sure, I’ve hiked some mountains, some hills. But this was a 1400m high mountain. A legit mountain. I was stoked. I started around 10:30 am, from Queenstown, and took the Tiki Trail up with a girl from the hostel. I think she might have originally been…
five cups of coffee in dunedin
Coffee. Pretty much the only thing that keeps me going during the day… luckily for me, I tend to be attracted to cities where good coffee goes hand in hand with creativity, good beer, and good wine. Cities like Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; Wellington, New Zealand; Glasgow, Scotland; Melbourne, Australia; Boston, Massachusetts. No surprise, then,…
south to dunedin, road trip part two
If you missed part one, check it out here! We arrived on the South Island in a whirlwind of ferry departures and rain, stopping in the town of Picton to pick up groceries. Taylor was using Wiki Camps to find campsites for the night, and after one full spot, we found our Eden (#1) on…