10,000-kilometres from home (10,851 to be exact) and there I was, playing cricket by the sea with a bunch of locals and in that moment, life couldn’t have been much better. In a Sri Lankan holiday that included everything from seeing elephants in the wild to cycling through tea plantations to exploring ancient cave temples,…
Tag: Eco-Travel
In Search Of Giants – Wild Adventures In The Jungles Of The Solomon Islands
Legends and myths thrive in the Solomon Islands, but perhaps none so captivating as the stories of giants who live deep within the jungles of Guadalcanal. So the rumours tell, a race of giants as tall as 10-15ft inhabit the mountainous forests of the island’s interior, only occasionally leaving their homes by the cover of…
The 5 Unmissable Must-Do’s Of South Taranaki – My Latest NZ Herald Feature
Last Sunday the New Zealand Herald published an article of mine about the awesomeness of Taranaki, specifically the sights of South Taranaki. While I may not have used the word “awesomeness” in the feature, I hopefully gave a sense of why this province – and in particular its less-visited southern district – is so rewarding….
Piha’s Jaw-Dropping Mercer Bay Loop Track With Riley Roxy In The Backpack
How is it you can be pushing 40, consider yourself outdoorsy, have lived in the same city roughly three-quarters of your life, and still find jaw-dropping walks you haven’t even heard of, let alone done? Well firstly, I’m grateful that’s the case given seemingly all I want to do these days is discover new walks…
Luxury With A Conscience: Fiji’s Refurbished Shangri-La – My NZ Herald Review
Last week the NZ Herald published my ‘Room Check’ article about one of the oldest and largest luxury resorts in the South Pacific, Shangri-la’s Fijian Resort & Spa on the Coral Coast. Fresh from a US $50m refurb, the property – as located on its own causeway-linked private island – has everything from stunning white…
A 5-Star Eco-Resort In Untouched Malaysian Jungle – Japamala On Tioman Island
I’ve lost count, but I’m pretty certain it’s rained all but three or four days in the past six weeks in Auckland. As the final month of an admittedly mild, but oh-so-wet winter limped to its depressing, soggy end, my mind’s been drifting back to the tropics and my favourite island in the world. Malaysia’s Tioman Island lies…
The Triumph Of Rotorua Canopy Tours – Where Conservation & Adventure Tourism Meet
To be consistently ranked the number one outdoor activity in a city famous for exactly that is no mean feat. It’s even more impressive when you consider this is one of the most-touristed areas of one of the most bucket-list worthy destinations on the planet. So yes, it’s a big congratulations to Rotorua Canopy Tours…
See Inside The Top Suite At The Chateau Tongariro, + The Stunning Walks Surrounding The Hotel
There aren’t too many countries where you could quite safely and without too much debate name the absolute most famous hotel. Which is not to say there wouldn’t be some serious contenders. Perhaps the Ritz in London, maybe something like the Chateau Marmont in LA and certainly the Raffles in Singapore. But for every Ritz and Chateau Marmont…
Why Whanganui Is New Zealand’s Most Misjudged City – My Top 50 Photos
There are underrated towns and cities in New Zealand and then there’s Whanganui. Part of the entire reason for the existence of the Roxborogh Report is to highlight the overlooked and the underrated, but I’m not sure I’ve ever written about a destination quite as misjudged as this city of 45,000 in the western lower…
Why The Andaman In Langkawi Is One Of Asia’s Best Beach Resorts – Let’s Travel Mag
It’s a travel writing cliche to say that a hotel or a resort was so wonderful that you didn’t want to leave to see anything else. “I just didn’t want to leave!” I’ve written it myself, though I suspect half the time this is travel writer hyperbole and that the writer really did want to check…
Sleeping In A Smurf House! Exploring Solscape In Raglan, Waikato
I always loved the Smurfs. I was even such a Smurf-geek as a kid that I’d set my weekday alarm early enough to watch the 6:30am episodes on TV2 before getting ready for school. The pre-pubescent version of myself often thought how cool it would be to have my own human-sized Smurf house. Well, fast-forward 25…
New Zealand’s Slice Of Jurassic Park
A couple of weeks ago my wife and I took up an invitation to return to a guesthouse that sits on the edge of a forest some people say is the healthiest in all of New Zealand. Maungatautari is the name of a mountain in Waikato that most North Islanders would’ve driven past without probably…