We’ve had a chance to experience the Italian driver on our road trip. Drivers here go way too fast, they text while driving (which you’ll know because they go about half their normal speed when composing a message), they don’t stay in their lanes, they forget to switch off turn signals, they tailgate… I could go on. So after braving the overly narrow roads of the Amalfi Coast (and witnessing a pretty bad accident in our rear view mirror), we…
After our time in Roma, we picked up our sporty little rental car and headed down to Sorrento. Sorrento is known for limoncello, but also being in proximity to Naples, has very good pizza. We spent two nights there and enjoyed the food and the sights. The pizza was fantastic (we recommend Franco), the pasta was tasty, and we were introduced to the second best pastry in the world (next to cannoli, of course): sfogliatelle (“svoy-a-tella”), which has layers and…
After two awesome weeks exploring New Zealand with Morgan in the campervan, we said our goodbyes to Sister Bear and Amanda and I continued our journey back to Auckland. We had arranged a relocation rental with Jucy, which meant that in exchange for bringing one of their cars from Christchurch to Auckland, our wheels for the journey were free, including a tank of gas and ferry crossing. The one thing we really wanted to do in NZ was the Tongariro…
After our night at Abel Tasman, we said goodbye to the seemingly unreal blue water and headed down the west coast. Our goal was to make it to just before Franz Josef Glacier that evening. Along the way, we stopped at the Pancake Rocks, which was interesting rock formations that “look like stacks of pancakes”, but really they just look sorta cool. The most entertaining part of this little adventure was watching this one lady dart around as a photo ninja…
After an overnight at what turned out to be our favorite holiday park, Flat Hills Cafe and Tourist Park, we headed south to Wellington where we would catch the Interislander ferry the next morning. With a day to explore the city, we were all in agreement that Wellington has some good vibes: great street art all around, funky architecture, yummy local beer, and solid restaurants. On the recommendation of Morgan’s friend, we stopped in at Garage Project‘s Cellar Door for…
After a wild night at Hobbiton, we headed over to Waitomo to see the glowworm caves. We booked a tour that was a bit less touristy and went to some different, supposedly more unique caves. We were not disappointed. The first cave had tons of glowworms! Shawn and I have seen them before, but never on this level. We first walked through the cave in total darkness, then we got on a raft and our guide paddled us very quietly…
After our time at Lake St. Clair, we headed south towards Mt. Field National Park. Our first afternoon, we drove out to this bizarre area in Western Tasmania to a town called Strathgordon. We hadn’t had much wifi and hadn’t done much research, so we thought it would just be beautiful and cool. Turns out, there isn’t really much out there. Back in the 60s, a dam was built, which turned the once-small Lake Pedder into a giant lake. The…
After 3 weeks of housesitting in our beautiful Melbourne home, we said goodbye to the kitties, extra space, functional kitchen, laundry (you get the idea), and hopped on a quick flight to Tasmania. Before I go any further… Seriously! Come to Tasmania. It is awesome. When we arrived, we picked up a rental car in Launceston and headed west to Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park. It took mere minutes once we got up the mountain before spotting some amazing wildlife…
Sorry for the delay, people. There has been a serious lack of sufficient wifi to post, and I actually wrote this post on dodgy wifi nearly two weeks ago and wasn’t able to post until now. My birthday was in early January and Shawn decided we were going to Yarra Valley to celebrate. Yarra Valley is wine country just outside of Melbourne. I have to be honest here – the place looks just like California. But it was so beautiful and felt…
Sorry for the lack of posts, friends. We’ve had a crazy few weeks being on the go after we left Taiwan. We’ve been in Vietnam two weeks now. We arrived in Hanoi late on a Sunday, and had three full days exploring the city and eating delicious food. Our hotel was in the old quarter, which is bustling with restaurants and cafes, and packed with tons of motorbikes and people. We spent our first day exploring the old quarter and…