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…
Category: solo female travel
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…
on the road: the sapphire coast
Many of Australia’s coastlines have recognisable names. There’s the Great Ocean Road, outside of Melbourne, with it’s Twelve Apostles and London Bridge. There’s the Sunshine Coast, up near Brisbane and Noosa, with endless stretches of golden sand beaches and hot, humid weather. And then, there’s the Sapphire Coast. I got asked several times what the…
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…
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…
new zealand: a year in review
It seems like only yesterday that I landed at Wellington airport, a bright eyed traveller with dreams bigger than Stewart Island, ready for a year in New Zealand. I was picked up by my new flatmate, and his dog, and thus began a new life in a new city, a new country, over halfway around…
an open letter to new zealand
this is the hardest post I’ve ever had to write Dear New Zealand, I’m getting on a plane soon, and unlike Rachel, I can’t get off. My god, how badly I want to be able to get off that plane. How do I begin writing about you? Thank you for being spectacular. Thank you for…
32 things i’ve learned while travelling
Travel teaches you all sorts of life lessons. Fellow nomads come into your life for a hot minute to teach you something, and sometimes they stay and other times they go. I’ve learned a lot about myself while travelling but I have also learned a lot about life. Life is messy, complicated, and weird sometimes….
big road trip: week four
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 three! ** dates of travel: 29 Nov – 3 Dec Back in Queenstown, I set about getting ready to get back on the road. This involved laundry, some last-minute wifi…
my top fifteen NZ moments
As my time in New Zealand finally draws to a close (cue sad music here), I wanted to take some time to look back on the last year and share with you some of my favourite moments of the last fourteen months. This country is incredible. I think I have seen almost everything, driven on…