Mayhem. I always think of “mayhem” as a positive word and if there’s one word that sums up my time in India on Intrepid Travel’s 16-day ‘South India Unplugged’ tour then it would have to be that. Mayhem to me is thrill of riding a tuk-tuk at night through the crowded, narrow alleyways of Madurai….
Category: Travel
Why ‘Bayview At 91’ Is The Place To Stay In Whitianga + My Top 40 Coromandel Photos
You’d think there’d be more of a song and dance about one of the initial landing spots for Captain Cook in New Zealand. After the first-placed Cook Landing Site Historic Reserve on Kaiti Beach Road in Gisborne, the evidently humble, picturesque spot of Simpsons Beach in the Coromandel is right up there historically for the adventures…
Tauranga’s French Country House: Why You Don’t Need To Be Beachside – Top 50 Photos Including Waterfalls, Forests & The Mount
The view towards Mount Mauganui from the French Country House, Tauranga. I wanted to stay by the beach. It was January, the middle of the Kiwi summer, and not only that, I was going to be in one of the most iconic seaside destinations in New Zealand – Tauranga / Mount Maunganui. Only problem was, everybody…
NZ Herald Intrepid Travel South India Article #3 – Historic Fort Kochi & The Jungles Of Periyar National Park – Top 50 Photos
Last week the New Zealand Herald published the third and final chapter of my southern India adventure from October 2014. Based on Intrepid Travel’s 16 day “South India Unplugged” tour, this was one of the most intense, wild, mayhemic and beautiful travel experiences of my 10-year travel writing career. The events of the article…
Let’s Travel Magazine Articles To Kuala Lumpur & Lake Tekapo
Standing outside my childhood home in Kuala Lumpur. The latest issue of NZ’s #1 travel mag Let’s Travel is out and it has two of my articles. On pages 50-53 is my tale of going back to my childhood home of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. And by home, I also mean literally in the sense…
Waitomo Road Trip In The New V6 Holden VFII – 10 Photos Including The World Famous #Casuallean
Holden’s new VFII. Just two days out from a road trip to Waitomo in the central North Island for Let’s Travel Magazine (New Zealand’s #1 travel mag – for more go to letstravelmag.com) my car broke down. My trusty, unspectacular, 1600cc 2001 VW Golf station-wagon just conked out. There was also some weird problem with…
New Zealand’s Only Tea Estate: Zealong Tea + A Luxury Waikato Farm Stay
Statues at the Zealong Tea Estate. Turns out in all of New Zealand there is only one solitary tea estate. In a country famed for agriculture, horticulture and our basic enthusiasm for growing stuff, we don’t make any of the product so many of us drink on a daily basis. That is, all except for…
Road Trippin’ Through Tauranga & Coromandel In A Brand New Holden Commodore VFII – Top 10 Photos Of The Car
The Holden Commodore VFII – the French Country House Tauranga behind. It’s the first time I’ve ever driven a car without having to put the keys in the ignition. I know this is technology that’s been around for more than just a little while, but when you normally drive a 1600cc 2001 VW, the novelty…
Why Robin Williams Loved Rotorua – Top 50 Rotorua Photos Incl. The Black Swan Boutique Hotel
Rotorua’s Black Swan Boutique Hotel. When Robin Williams died, one of the best stories to come through to my Newstalk ZB radio show was from a Kiwi couple who’d once bumped into the actor in Rotorua. They were riding their mountain bikes through the city’s famed Redwood Forest (5600ha, officially named Whakarewarewa Forest) and had taken…
Waikato’s Stunning Blue Spring – 12 Photos From 1 Of NZ’s Hidden Gems
The Blue Spring, Waikato Said smugly, I’ve been raving on about The Blue Spring in the Waikato for months now. Not like these Johny-Come-Blue-Spring-Latelys at Stuff.co.nz who’ve today asked the question: “Is it NZ’s best kept secret?” Months! Four to be exact. But still, months! Truth be told, like most Kiwis I’d never heard of…
My Top 50 Favourite Photos Of 2015 – A Travel Writer’s Year In Review Including Fiji, Australia, Malaysia & New Zealand
Monkey Bay, Tioman Island, Malaysia. 2015 had me swashbuckling / cramping up embarrassingly through Malaysian jungles, spearfish snorkeling / ripping my swim-shorts in the butt-crack region in Fiji and hiking the lush and rocky landscapes of Victoria’s Grampians National Park. While getting chased by a kangaroo. For every premature self back-pat, something unexpected or awkward…
Summer At The Chateau – My Top 50 Photos From 1 Of NZ’s Most Iconic Hotels
Summer at The Chateau. With the New Zealand Herald publishing my article on what is arguably the most famous hotel in New Zealand – The Chateau in Tongariro National Park – I thought I’d head on back. Why not! Only this time it was with the idea of doing a Summer At The Chateau photo…
