From the Vancouver Rowing Club with CBD skyscrapers the backdrop. Exactly five years ago I boarded a 14-hour Auckland-Vancouver flight as part of my year and a half long OE (Kiwi-speak for “overseas experience”). There’s been plenty of travel before and since the 2010-2011 OE, but that period was the only time I’ve had completely…
Tag: Travel
NZ Herald South India Articles – Part 1 Of 3 – The Beaches, Backwaters & Hidden Charms Of Kerala
An old rice-boat converted into a floating boutique hotel. Here’s the link to the first in my trio of New Zealand Herald articles about my Intrepid Travel / Flight Centre adventure to the south of India late last year. I’ve told friends and family, as well as my Newstalk ZB listeners, a lot about the…
My Herald On Sunday Kauri Cliffs Feature – One Of The Premier Golf Resorts In The World
The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs. The Herald On Sunday published my two-page spread on Kauri Cliffs today and if you click here you can link to the Herald’s Travel section to read it. Kauri Cliffs is a 5-star, luxury resort in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands with a golf course so stunning it has been ranked…
Historic 5-Star Boutique Northland Lodge For Sale – The Beautiful Waipoua Lodge
Hokianga Harbour, just north of the Waipoua Forest. Late last month I returned to a place that feels as much like visiting old friends as it does like staying in a 5-star, boutique lodge. The Waipoua Lodge sits on the edge of arguably New Zealand’s finest subtropical tract of bush, the Waipoua Forest. A part…
Kauri Cliffs Top 50 Photos – Why It’s About So Much More Than Golf
In an upcoming two-page spread in the Herald On Sunday I’m writing about why Kauri Cliffs in Matauri Bay, Northland, New Zealand is about so much more than golf. Rated by Golf Digest as the 39th best course in the world, Kauri Cliffs is also one of the most exclusive retreats in the country. Somehow…
Cruising The Backwaters Of Kerala In A Rice Boat – My Latest Let’s Travel Magazine Article, South India
The new issue of New Zealand’s premier travel magazine Let’s Travel includes an article of mine about an Intrepid Travel tour I did featuring India’s famous Kerala backwaters. Click here to link to Let’s Travel’s website, or find them on Facebook at Facebook.com/letstravelmag. The article is pay-walled so do subscribe or download the digital version….
Why Fiji’s Mango Bay Resort Was Just What I Wanted
A beachfront bure at Mango Bay Resort. Going to Fiji on a Monday and coming back on a Friday seemed like one of those half-baked, I-haven’t-had-enough-sleep ideas I was surely going to talk myself out of. And yet it progressively seemed less and less silly. There were soon-to-expire air-points to get me there, the cheap…
A Monk, A Motorbike Crash & A Mad Mission To Deliver School Books – Adventures In Laos 2010
Phosit’s school and its soccer pitch, near Vang Vieng. The following is based on an email I sent to family and friends nearly five years ago in June of 2010. It details how a motorbike crash in Laos became a defining moment in several months of backpacking throughout South East Asia. And beware of fake…
Java Top 50 – My Favourite Photos From The Most Populated Island On The Planet
It’s exactly five years since I set foot on the most populated island in the world, Java in Indonesia. For a slither of land that’s comparable in size to New Zealand’s South Island, Java is somehow home to 143 million people as opposed to the South Island’s one million*. And yet Java remains one on…
The 80s “Executive Opulence” Of The Cove In Taupo
My bedroom at The Cove with the door opened to the spa pool. Taupo’s always been a place I’ve thought of fondly, mainly for historic reasons: first time table-top dancing, first time playing pool on a round pool table, first time waking up in a room choked with second-hand smoke, and the first time landing…
My South India Intrepid Adventure – Top 50 Images
Hampi, Karnataka. A few days after returning from India, here’s a little sample of what’s to come with my three New Zealand Herald travel articles and Flight Centre video blogs about my Intrepid adventure in India’s south. India was mayhem. At no point boring, we had incidents involving jumping out of moving trains, rushing friends…
3 Weeks In The South Of India – My Latest Intrepid Adventure
Kerala backwaters. On Wednesday I fly out to India for the very first time, with one night in Singapore on the way. I will have three weeks exploring the south of the country thanks to Intrepid Travel, Flight Centre and the New Zealand Herald. Look out for a trio of articles about the trip in…
