When I spent a week in Esperance, in Western Australia, last year, I often felt like I had stumbled into a fairytale. With the whitest sand beaches in the world to the clearest blue seas to the hot red earth and bubblegum pink lakes, it didn’t seem real. It was too colorful, too peaceful, and […]

For years and years, I’ve harped on and on here about birds in New Zealand. I love them.  Because New Zealand evolved without mammals, many evolved to fill that ecological space, with some losing their ability to fly. It also means that they all seem to have epic and memorable personalities. There’s the cheeky kea, […]

Queenstown has long been the jewel of New Zealand’s South Island. With its sprawling views over the Remarkables mountain range to the bright blue waters of Lake Wakatipu, visitors flock to Queenstown in droves. And nowhere is more iconic than nearby Walter Peak. Living nearby in Wanaka meant that I made the classic mistake of […]