As the year comes to an end, I thought it would be fun to do a round-up of some of my encounters with room mates in hostels during my solo travels. In all my years of travelling alone, I’ve usually opted to stay at hostels in hopes of making my trip less lonely and diverse.…
Wellington was a very bittersweet visit for me as it started off a countdown to my last few days in New Zealand. Crossing over on the ferry from Picton to Wellington, I arrived with mixed feelings. The gloomy weather did not help my low mood when I arrived either. Yet I was determined not to…
It’s not often that I run into awkward situations on my solo travel in New Zealand. There’s usually solo travellers when I go on tours so I was not really that worried when I decided to visit the Tamaki Maori Village in Rotorua. Touted as an experience of the indigeneous Maori life, I was drawn…
Getting to Lake Tekapo was easier said than done when you are a newbie driver. It’s harder still when you run into an unexpected encounter on your drive there. Thinking back, the day started quite ominously with a grey sky and gloomy weather. Navigating the roads from Christchurch to Lake Tekapo, I followed the long…
Hiking was one of my favourite activities to do in New Zealand. For one thing, it was free. For another, there was always plenty of beautiful views that I got as a reward at the end. However, to be honest, I hiked mostly because it was free. I rarely hike when I am on holiday…
Can there ever be too much chocolate in your life? Tempted by the thought of free chocolates to eat, I eagerly signed up for the factory tour in Dunedin on impulse during one of my walks around town. I had plenty of time to spare since it was New Year Week and I can never…
I applied for my work holiday visa when I was 30, left for New Zealand when I was 31 and returned to Singapore just 2 weeks before I turned 32. I’m not trying to point out how old I am here (oops >_<) but rather to highlight that the decision to take a break from…
I’ve got to admit that I am not an extremely adventurous person. So when you put a non-adventurous person on a bus bound for adventure, it’s hard to get pumped up about the whole idea of sandboarding. Being at the most northern part of the North Island? I could deal with that. Driving down the…
The road to Milford Sound is one of the prettiest that I’ve seen in all my travels through New Zealand and I’ve been through quite a few. Even though I was on a tour bus, there was never a quiet moment literally as everyone kept taking photos as the bus meandered its way through the…
As a driving newbie, I was worried about driving in New Zealand. My license was just 3 weeks old when I went over to New Zealand and I celebrated my first drive in New Zealand instead of Singapore. I was so green that I was worried whether drivers on the road would survive my driving.…
