Last weekend I was looking for a day trip I could take and decided on driving into the interior of New Zealand’s South Island to see some scenery in the Mackenzie region. The walk to Mt John summit and observatory at Lake Tekapo was a good choice as it’s a couple of hours round trip including spending time at the summit once up there. I only had one day off but this was a good opportunity to explore a new part of this area of New Zealand.
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On the ordinary aspects of travel
A few weeks ago I took a short trip from Christchurch to Twizel. It was a last minute necessity to travel and I had the idea to book a ticket on the Intercity bus so could chill out and get into a ‘travel mode’ mindset amongst the European backpackers taking this route.
Fast forward two days to the morning of my trip, I was not in the mood. Christchurch was enduring a miserable winter morning and the thought of 4.5 hours on a bus was not appealing to me. However, subsequent events were going to make me fall in love again with the more ordinary aspects of travel.
Continue ReadingAdventures at the Mae Sai bus station
After returning from Myanmar there wasn’t much reason to hang around Mae Sai any longer, I had seen as much as I could in Myanmar without a pre-arranged visa. I checked out of the Monkey Island guesthouse and hit the road.
Continue ReadingCrossing the Myanmar border
This was to be my first time in what could truly be described as a non-Western country and would cement my love of traveling off the well worn path. I felt interest and excitement, this was the experience I’d been looking for. Yes, Thailand is different than the West for sure but the place is set up to receive and entertain tourists; it’s a gentle introduction to South East Asia. I was looking for something else, an adventure, which I found across the Mae Sai Border in Tachileik, Myanmar.
Continue ReadingStewart Island: Isolation
I’d come to Stewart Island to get away from civilization for a few days, that was the plan. But after 4 hours spent walking around Oban, checking out the South Sea hotel for some seafood chowder, and a couple of hours chilling in my room I was getting bored.
Continue ReadingStewart Island
After a couple of days visiting friends in Invercargill and wondering what to do next I pondered my next move. I could have headed back to Christchurch, that didn’t appeal much. So after seeing an advert and asking around about standby fares on Stewart Island air I decided I could take a quick trip to Stewart Island, New Zealand’s third largest Island located off the Southern Coast.
Continue ReadingMae Sai
Sitting on the balcony of my guesthouse in the morning heat of Mae Sai I took a drink of water. Less than I had needed to drink two weeks ago, in Bangkok’s humid heat, but the dry heat of the North is still enough. The Sai river separating Thailand and Myanmar flows directly beside my guesthouse balcony, although thick foliage obscures the view into the isolated Country.
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