Kaikoura is a wonderful spot in New Zealand! A local favorite for beach vacations, Rob said the landscape looked like a combination of California (rocky coastline), Hawaii (turquoise water) and the east side of the Sierras (snow-capped mountains in winter). We left Christchurch on Saturday morning after a morning of working – it was still…

Rob and I spent a week working from Christchurch, the earthquake-devastated commercial hub on the east coast of New Zealand. We spent most of our time in our Airbnb house on Clyde Road – which was gorgeous! Airbnb is extra helpful in Christchurch because many of the downtown hotels were destroyed in the earthquake 5…

Our final stretch of driving through Otago before reaching Christchurch! Rob and I left Dunedin early in the morning and set off north along the coast. We stopped along the beach to see the Moeraki Boulders. These round rock spheres are 60 million year old formations from the bottom of the ocean. Almost pearl-like, they…

Dunedin (“dunn-eden”) seems to be a big stop on the cruise ship route. A small university town, it is VERY tied to its Scottish heritage. From the “Burns Hotel” to the stone train station, you feel straight out of the highlands here. Rob and I just passed through  on our way up from the Catlins…

Fresh off the ferry from Stuart Island at 5:00, Rob and I drove into the Catlins to camp for the night. We had done basically no preparation and had few dinner supplies, but chatted with helpful locals along the way. Lots of pretty rolling sheep pastures down here. We found our way out to Curio…

Stewart Island has been my absolute favorite thing in New Zealand so far. I’m close to wanting to move to this tiny island town of Oban with a population of 300 and nothing between it and Antarctica.  A mix of the seaside town from Doc Martin and the Alaskan village on Northern Exposure – but…

Depending on who you ask, Invercargill is famous for being one of the southernmost cities on the planet…or for being called by the Rolling Stones in 1965 the “arsehole of the world.” It’s also a good place to stay if you’re headed to Stewart Island the next morning on the ferry – and thus the…

Rob’s conference ended at lunch today so we had time to be real tourists in Queenstown in the afternoon. Time to take the gondola to the top of the mountain for a exploration of Skyline! For about $20, you get a ticket for these little gondolas that are frighteningly fast and basically go straight up…

The sun here in New Zealand is HOT and I spent most of my wanderings in town yesterday hopping from one shady tree to another. The best location for this is Queenstown Gardens. Established in the 1870’s, this park includes a lovely lake walk, a frisbee golf course and a bunch of small gardens and…

I’ve been in New Zealand for just about 24 hours now with remarkably light jetlag considering the near 28 hours of travel it took to get here. The time change is such that I’m just a few hours behind California – ignoring the fact that it’s an entirely different day of the week here. We’re…