I got a little more work done with Terry and Emily before deciding to leave Colville. I’m not great at goodbyes and always draw them out, but finally got in the car and headed south. I left the night before my 30th birthday to reach Mt. Maunganui and slept in my campercar for the first…
Colville Heights and Whitianga Nights
After Christmas, it was time to get back to work! This time, my hosts had me cutting some weatherboards to clad an exterior cabinet that houses their hot water tank and electrical controls for it. My hosts live off of solar and wind power, and built their own systems to manage the generation and distribution…
Christmas in Coromandel
On my way out of Auckland, I stopped at a park for a trail run! Over a week of having between 1 and many beers each day had taken its toll, and I needed to get active. The park was really nice, and it was my first taste of New Zealand wilderness. It was so…
Now arriving at AKL
It was a really long night in Nadi, Fiji after saying goodbye to Alexa, as my hostel-mate and I were appalled to find several bed bugs in our beds. It was a long, sleepless night with a very early drive back to the airport. But, my excitement grew slowly over the flight, and holy cow…
Fiji Gold: A cold beer or new besties?
Long flights suck, and I slept especially poorly on this one. However, I did get to watch Blackberry (hilarious, I highly recommend it) and I learned from another passenger that I can rent all the tramping gear I need for the great walks in NZ. Landing in Fiji and getting a bus ride to my…
(W)Interlude
After one last dinner with my bestie and triple checking my bag (kidding, just barely managed to fit everything in!) and I am off! I hugged my dad at the train station and eventually climbed aboard one of VIA’s newest trains and cozied up for the ride. When the car lurched forward, that’s when I…
In Preparation
Getting ready for the biggest change you’ve ever experienced is very hard. I thought that going to university, or moving cities for work would be tough, but this has been a few of the most challenging weeks of my life, and I am so lucky that everything has worked out as well as it has.…
Indian Lookout Trail – Or, How I Learned to Love the Suck
This was one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. The wide open expanse, untouched nature, pure isolation, and sheer magnificence of this land creeps its way into your soul while circumnavigating a lonely fjord in Newfoundland’s Long Range Mountains. WARNING: This trail is not for the unprepared. It was extremely demanding, and…
GR.11 – Day 3
This may have been my most challenging day of the whole hike. It started off so pleasant as I walked a pair of Germans I had met the night before, but right off the bat we took a wrong turn. As I regaled the woes and story of my life, they kept second guessing the…
GR.11 – Day 2
If I thought Day 1 was a scorcher, I had no idea what was coming up next. I woke up at what I thought was an early time, packed my things and headed down the backside of the hill I slept on top of, listening to Coffee Break Spanish and becoming utterly lost by episode…