We left Getaway Holiday park in Te Anau on a cold and grey morning. Bella and I have gotten used to efficiently packing up all our belongings. We loaded Doris and cleaned the cabin we had been staying in for nearly a month. The park cat came by early this morning. I fed her one last sardine breakfast. She...

The silver sky is reflected off the surface of Lake Te Anau. The wind shapes the ripples that quickly end at the grey stoned shoreline. A shag pokes it's head up and looks left, right, left, right quickly and quizzically inspecting its surroundings to get its bearings before dramatically arching its head back then up to dive below the...

From the end of February 2019, Bella and I would land in Christchurch, having flown in from Danang via Singapore. We had racked up enough frequent flyer points from our hotel stays in Hoi An and essentially got two free tickets to New Zealand. Our journey began by staying at a holiday park in Christchurch and relying on a cheap...

South of Te Anau towards Riverton, about halfway is Gemstone Beach. A hidden gem, this beach would have to be the most colorful shoreline I've ever walked. It's also the most distracted I've been and it took quite a while to go such a short distance because like a child, I felt like any shiny stone grabbed my attention....