Aus + NZ: And… that’s a wrap!

So it’s been almost a month since we got back, and I’ve been busy with other stuff, but I figured, I should stop procrastinating and do my summary / best of / worst of, before I forget it all!

So, first and foremost, to put perspective on where we actually went, I did some mapping.

We started our journey New Zealand. We juggled between road tripping, and hanging out for a few days, here and there in random spots. We visited the following places in this rough order:

Auckland
Waiheke Island (twice)
Waitakere (Piha Beach + some waterfalls) & Muriwai (Gannet Colony)
The Coromandel
Puhoi, Matakana & Leigh
Pahia, Puketi Forest, Mangonui, Coca-cola lake & Doubtless Bay
Rotorua
Waitomo
Wellington
Blenheim & Renwick
Nelson
Marahau
Takaka
Wharariki Beach
Greymouth
Arthur’s Pass
Timaru
Takepo & Pukaki
Wanaka
Queenstown
Te Anau
Milford & Doubtful Sound

Next we visited Mainland Australia, although technically, the Sydney portion was our last stop. Our journey was a little less comprehensive compared to NZ. Also, Australia is massive 🙂

Brisbane
Airlie Beach & Hook Island
Proserpine & Mackay
Melbourne
Apollo Bay, Port Fairy, Tower Hill, Halls Gap & the Grampians
Sydney & Blue Mountains

Our penultimate stop (before Sydney) was Tasmania…

Hobart
Port Arthur
Maria Island
Bicheno & Freycinet National Park
Scamander & Bay of Fires
Bridestowe, Grinderwald & Launceston
Railton, Roland & Cradle Mountain
Brighton, Mount Wellington and Bruny Island

Our rough path through Tasmania over 2 week – yay, more road tripping! 🙂

So, did a lot and moved around a bunch over the 9 weeks we were gone. Cause that’s how we roll.

We adopted a high / low strategy while we were traveling. This manifested in many ways, from fancy AirBNB with fancy threads to dingy hostel bunk beds, from private photography tour to self-guided-snake-filled-3-hour-hike-to-an-abandoned-beach. So, in the

In the continued spirit of high / low, I present to you, my top 10 highs, and bottom 5 lows of our trip.

Top 10 best moments

Wharariki Beach and everything leading up to it. But specifically, the moment when the first Sea Lion walked into my photo frame as I was taking photos of the beach and all its glory.

This moment. Right here. Giant “rock” waddling into my shot. A-ma-zing.

2. That time Miranda cried.

Sheep and cows in the foreground, cliffside road on the right, watery inlet with goats and islands, mountains in the distance, perfect sky. All one could hear was a random “moo”, the silence of nature, and Miranda, crying, at the sheer beauty of it all. It was a moment.

3. The rare and unique wildlife experiences

Miranda was an expert Echidna spotter, we were lucky!

A genuine Playtpus. At first, she seemed like a bird playing with her feathers, and then she went for a swim, and a dive. Definitely not a bird! So cool!

After finding an ancient pamphlet about the area were were in, we discovered a local tip on how to find the rare albino Wallaby – hop in the car, 20 mins later, and voila!

4. Wave jumping in Doubtless Bay.

This moment really brought out our inner child. The weather was perfect, the beach was endless, and the waves were forceful. Fun was had by all.

5. Our arrival at the Pinnacle – Grampians

After a gruelling hike, we made it to The Pinnacle. There are many roads in the Grampians, and many of them lead with, with good reason!

The picture doesn’t really capture the moment, but you’ll have to trust me, it was spesh. 360 view of everything, it was breathtaking.

6. Penguin-spotting by head lamp.

7. Walking down Cuba street like a diva.

With street crossing signs like this, I DARE you to walk normal-like.

8. That time that Miranda entered an aviary!

9. Riding a raft under a “sky” of Glow Worms.

I may have shed a tear while floating along this indoor night sky – cave ceiling covered with dozens of thousands of Glow Worms. Only the sound of water echoing off the walls of the cave could be heard. Truly a moment in time.

10. Driving Takaka “hill”

On the way to Wharariki, we crossed this “hill”. We’d crossed numerous others, but this one seemed taller, and windier than the rest.

The epic view from the top of the “hill”.

Bottom 5 moments

Overall, our trip was pretty great, and I’ll admit that it was a bit of a struggle to identify the 5 bottom moments, but in retrospect there certainly were some.

1. Miranda almost dying. While I don’t have pictures of this, cause I was too busy being worried, Miranda almost died twice, book-ending our trip. Once in Auckland (beware of the large local mussels), and once in Sydney at dinner on our last night. Yes, both incidents happened while consuming food.

2. Sleeping in the car. As previously noted, we had some bad luck in Tasmania that led to us sleeping in the car. It sucked.

Ok, so this picture isn’t from when we slept in the car, cause that was hard to capture. This is from the time that Miranda was no where to be found. She was texting me from our wifi, but wasn’t in our hotel room. It was strange, and she was sending me cryptic messages. I eventually found her camping in the car with a blanket, computer and a meal. Random.

3. Our flight out of Proserpine getting cancelled. After a bunch of very wet days and flooding, we urgently wanted to leave Queensland and get our Hipster on in Melbourne. In short, our flight got cancelled, we hopped in a car with strangers, drove 1.5 hours south, only to get stranded for the night.

4. Dealing with a flat tire. I had suspected that dealing with the flat time would be a huge pain and costly. Turns out it wasn’t so bad, but the build up to solving the issue was less than ideal.

5. That time a spider haunted my nightmares. In the grand scheme of things, this wasn’t THAT big a deal, but in the moment, it was a little terrying. I still don’t know how I managed to fall asleep after discovery this guy in the room next to our bedroom.

All in all, the trip was far more “great” than “bad”, I really did struggle to think of the “worst moments”, cause even those were noteworthy in their own right.

This trip was the best vacation I’ve ever taken. No contest.

I look forward to us finding our way back there at some point soon, and hopefully retiring there 😀

Thanks for reading!

Top 10 best moments

Bottom 5 moments

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