🌄 Day 27 – Little Trains, Hidden Waterfalls, and a Black-Sand Evening
This was one of those classic New Zealand days where everything feels stitched together by nature itself. We…
Oceania
New Zealand
Every story, mishap and hard-won tip from our time in New Zealand — the wins, the wobblies and what we’d do differently. Written the way it actually happened.
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🌋 Day 28 – Mud Pools, Missed Beaches, and Rotorua Rising
We set out with a simple plan: hit Hot Water Beach, dig a pool, and call ourselves geniuses.…
DAY 29 — 🌋 Let’s Visit the Place Where the Ground Is Trying to Kill Us
Today we headed to the Thermal lava pools and so we rolled into Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, just driving…
Day 30 – Springs, Giants, Lost Villages and a Night of Neon Steam.
Day 30 in New Zealand felt like three days stitched together. One of those days where we walked…
🌊 Day 31 – The Colour-Changing River and the Power of Aratiatia
Today was one of those lighter travel days that still somehow managed to feel massive. We started the…
Day 32 – A Birthday Spent Battling Rapids, Saving Swimmers and Screaming Through Jet Boats
If you’d told me last year that I’d spend my birthday surfing white-water rapids, hauling strangers back into…
Day 33 — Ruakuri Cave & Waitomo Glowworms: A Full-On Underground Adventure
Today we went deep underground… twice. And honestly, if we’d only done the boat cave we’d have felt…
Day 34 – A Walk Through Middle-earth: Our Hobbiton Adventure
Today was one of those days that felt like stepping straight through the screen and into the world…
Day 36 – Waterfalls, Wild Beaches and Writing 2025 Into the Sand
New Zealand really turned it on today. We packed a waterfall, a lake, a west-coast beach and a…