Volunteering at a Roadside Hotel To save cash in price gouging New Zealand we had to have a similar approach as we did for Australia…which involved a fair amount of last minute planning so we could be as flexible as possible for pop-up vehicle relocations and housesits. And in the meantime, we were able to fill in a five-night gap…
Two cats, Some Rest, and a Helluva View During our time volunteering in Beaumont, a six-day pop-up catsit in Wanaka delightfully showed itself on Trusted Housesitters…and we got it!! Wanaka is a stunning lakeside town one hour north of Queenstown, folded delicately in the Southern Alps. It’s popular with tourists for its activities and dynamic views. And the house we were…
Day One: Wanaka to Queenstown to Milford Sound From Wanaka, we took a substantially priced bus ($20/each) for a one-hour ride back to the airport in Queenstown, where we were to pick up a four-night car rental, which we had scheduled a couple weeks before for the bargain price of $25/day through Omega Rental Cars. Unfortunately, we committed a grave…
Day One: Arrowtown to Lindis Pass Hotel (1.5 hours driving) The Best Preserved Town in NZ: Arrowtown New Zealand is not exactly known for its picturesque villages that exude charm like other destinations around the world. However, there is one gold mining town, founded in the 1860s during the Otago Gold Rush, that has managed to captivate the heart of…
Doing the Hooker Valley Track gave us our first glimpse of the majestic Mt. Cook/Aoraki, but to truly soak in the beauty of New Zealand’s Southern Alps and the entire Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, you have to climb a mountain. Perched 1,800 meters (5,900 ft) up nearby Mt. Ollivier lies one of the most incredible alpine huts in the entire…
Before we would depart on our third and final road trip in NZ, we had three nights to sleep in a real bed and relax a bit in Christchurch. By this time, however, we were already growing quite fatigued of the fast travel we’d been under for the previous two months. While in Christchurch, we stayed in a budget-thrashing shared…
Upon landing a bit spontaneously in Northern Victoria and graciously being provided a loaner Ute by Farmer Joel's father, we were able to see a resplendent, and quite abundantly gifted part of the country. It was a part that felt incredibly familiar to us…a mix of Eastern Oregon and Northern California, exuding some of the same “Old West” and gold rush…
From South to North: Into the Tropics After five days of fervently fanning flies and letting the fragrance of farmland soak into our sniffers, we bid adieu to Farmer Joel at the train station in “The Wang.” It was time to commence our next Ozcapade…to the far north…where we would join forces with Avis relocating a rental car from Cairns to…
