Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland is ‘one of the most surreal places on earth.’ TripAdvisor Visiting Wai-O-Tapu, an active geothermal park, was the first moment in New Zealand where I thought deeply about how unique this area is and how it can only be found here. It was stunning and other-worldly. I kept thinking I was on …
When I lived in the Hudson Valley, I fully embraced my passion for trail running. I’ve been using MapMyRun to map my runs and create a collection of my favorite trail runs from the area. I thought this would be a good resource for others to have and for me to look back on. Additionally, …
Certain places have a distinct and lingering smell: New York notoriously smells like garbage, Fez, Morocco smells like leather tanneries (dead animals), and Rotorua, New Zealand smells like sulfur. At first, I could barely smell the sulfuric odor, but the closer we got to the hot pools the more pungent the odor. As Nick and …
Well, today may have been our most insane adventure yet. From going caving in the middle of winter to see glow worms, to meeting a friend-of-a-friend, who owns a coffee shop in a 9,000 person town in rural New Zealand, I am not sure which part was more shocking! So, Waitomo, NZ, 2 hours south …
On Sunday afternoon, we drove out to Kariotahi Beach. It was so stunning. The sun was beginning to set and the green hills contrasted the blue ocean, which contrasted the black sand. It was remarkable (and freezing!). We drove out along the beach and ventured both north and south with our car on the sand. …
The journey from Santa Barbara, CA to New Zealand was surprisingly short and sweet. After getting 6 hours of sleep on the plane and watching a man storm down the aisle having a meltdown because his wife moved seats away from him (think Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids but less funny and more concerning), the 13-hour …