Summary​

From 2-23 February 2024, Nick and I travelled around New Zealand. We organised all our activities, accomodation and even car hire prior to departing on Friday 2nd February. It was the most organised trip that I had ever taken! Usually, I go somewhere without planning or thinking and just asking fellow travellers for tips. When I compare the two styles of travel, the organised route definitely saved time and made the trip more relaxing.

There were a few things that I observed over this trip. First, New Zealand love their orange cones! They were on almost every road that we drove on…. Yes there was also a lot of road works! I guess because New Zealand have a population of 5 million (compared to 8.3 million people in NSW alone), it means that things are much slower. It also explains the more laid back vibes that I felt travelling around NZ.

Another observation is that NZ love their birds! I already knew this before travelling to NZLD, but they love them more than I thought. Although, I do und.erstand why … Their birds are pretty and very cute! Even their ducks are nice to look at. It also felt like the NZLD people were very connected to nature and set to protect the land. The vibes that I got from New Zealand were of very environmental and respecting the culture of the Maori people. I thought this was the most amazing thing of New Zealand - that the Maori people were well represented and respected in NZ - unlike the Aboriginal people in Australia.

The Maori population are fairly young. They migrated from Polynesia in 1300-1400’s and were aware of European voyages and discoveries of Australia and NZ. I find it remarkable that the Maori tribes came together to fight the British settlers, resulting in a treaty that protected Maoris but also allowed Settlers to create towns and cities.

During this trip, we drove from Auckland down to Queenstown. As we drove down the highways, we often passed through small towns. The small towns were unlike New South Wales, they seemed to have a lot of shops and everything you could need to survive. It made me question how do they make money?? It must be from tourism and damn it must of hurt these small towns during COVID pandemic.

Also unlike Australia, PayWave and Credit were not commonly accepted forms of payment. There was often a 2.5% surcharge on PayWave or Credit payments. New Zealand travel was expensive, but the surcharge of the PayWave made it very expensive. For example, a small coffee would cost $5 (compared to $4 in Australia). A cheap burger in NZLD would be $20-25 (while a cheaper burger would be $15-18 in Australia). Finally, even the price of fuel per litre was $1 more expensive. I assume that maybe there is a larger tax on Fuel compared to Australia. This also explains why taxis were so expensive. On arrival, it cost us over $120 NZD to be transported from Auckland airport to the city. Later on in the trip, we learned that Uber was at least half the price.

Regardless of the price, New Zealand is a beautiful country! The only thing that I would say that I missed was our coffee. While the coffee was 10000x better than the USA, the coffee that we have at home was at least 50x better. In addition, while the beers were great, there were large differences between pale ales in NZLD vs. Australia. For example, Hazy Pale ales are more tropical with less hoppy taste.

Food-wise though, it was pretty cool that everywhere we went, savoury scones were offered. In almost every cafe we entered, a common food was a cheese scone. We tried it for the first time in Rotorua and it was very nice!

I’m not sure exactly what New Zealand is like in the winter, as I have never been. This trip however, has shown that New Zealand is very heavy on tourists. I think over 50% of the population in Queenstown are tourists. This was a key theme in all the places that we visited. Would I come back? Yes for sure.

✈️ Sydney to Auckland​

Highlights​

• To be honest, there is not much to do here. The only reason we went here was to rent a car and drive to Hobbiton.
• Waheke Island: rent a bike and explore or join a wine tour! (note: when you arrive at the ferry terminal, there are many agencies and shops that allow you to join a tour or rent a bike).

1.2.24

It was a Thursday afternoon, we had finished up work and I submitted chapter 6 to my supervisors. We went next door to drop off our boy, Chip to the neighbors to mind, then we packed the car with our suitcases and set off to Nicks parents house for the night. We stayed there because it was easier to get to the airport tin the morning. We arrived at 6pm and we ate Thai and drank a glass of wine before packing my suitcase. Yes you heard it right, I didn’t have a suitcase, so I had to put my stuff in random shopping bags and pack at Nicks parents house (they lent me a suitcase for the trip).

2.2.24

At 6am the next morning, Nicks dad dropped us off at the airport. He also gave us a couple of tickets to the Qantas lounge, where we had breakfast and several coffees before departing to Wellington.

The plane left at 9.10am, and landed in New Zealand at 2.15 pm. Although it was a 3 h flight, new Zealand is 3 hours ahead. We passed through customs, which was very nerve racking due to their strict bio security – although I didn’t have anything to worry about as my hiking boots were brand new and never worn. Once we passed customs and exited the airport, we jumped in a taxi to the Viaduct area of the CBD, which costed roughly $110 AUD. We stayed at the M social hotel. It was very nice with a view of the wharf. It gave a similar vibe to circular quay in Sydney, just less busy.

After dropping off our luggage, we headed for a walk around the area to look at the bars around. We ended up stopping for a drink at Headquarters. Following, we went back to the hotel to shower and then went out for dinner. When we were searching for a place to eat, we saw a sign saying “happy hour, $10 margarita”. We decided to go to the sign but ended up in the wrong restaurant ! Instead of Mexican, we went to an Italian restaurant called Portofino, the food here was okay, but it was very overpriced. We instantly regretted sitting down but felt too bad to leave. Two dinners and $180 NZD later, we escaped and went back to the hotel where we watched James Bond – Quantum of Sollace.

3.2.24

We woke around 7am and packed our bags for the day, showered and headed out for breakfast and coffee. I can’t tell you where we went for coffee because it was mediocre at best. At 9am, we got the ferry to Waiheke island. My oh my were the tickets expensive! $55 NZD return each. The ferry was a nice ride. There was a lot of resemblance to areas of Sydney. Once we docked at Waiheke island, we joined a wine tour. There were many things that we could’ve done though. There were many places to rent a car or a bike, even kayaks. However, the weather was not great when we were there and so the wine tour seemed like a great idea. Our guide was a South African woman named Nala, who migrated to NZD with her sister and family 20 or so years ago and retired on the island. We were with a group of 10 or so people.

We visited four places:

1. Mudbrick: This was the first Vineyard that we visited. It was a good wine tasting, but seemed less personal than other places that I’ve visited.
2. Postage Stamp: This was more personal than mud brick. The red wine was my favourite here… It was chilled but as it warmed to R.T.,, the taste changed a lot.
3. Stony Ridge: The last winery that we visited before catching the ferry back to Auckland. Here, we tried many nice wines with a South American Wine Sales woman. She was very enthusiastic about the wines and told us some stories of their struggles during COVID.
4. Batch winery: This is where we ate lunch. Nick spoilt me and we ate a 3 course meal with some very tasty wine. The food was great.

On this trip, we did not buy any wine. While it was good, the tour was pretty rushed and we didn’t really have a chance to buy wines. It was probably best that we didn’t buy wines here, because the wines we drank in Hawke’s Bay were much nicer and more our style (bold reds). Around 4pm, we were dropped off at the ferry wharf and we got the ferry back to Auckland. That night, we went out for Mexican food, which we enjoyed with a cocktail each before heading back to the hotel to prepare for our travels the following day.

🚘 Auckland → Taupō 🏔️​

Highlights​

• Hobbiton tour in Hamilton
• Hukka falls
• Tongariro Alpine Crossing
• Rotorua/ geothermal park
• Jimmy Coops burger bar = best burgers in NZ by far!

4.2.24

This morning we woke at 7.30am, went downstairs for a breakfast at our hotel and then walked to the car rental shop ~ 1 km west. We picked up a Toyota Corolla Sedan through a budget rental company and drove it back to the M Social Hotel. As Nick waited in the taxi zone, I zoomed inside to grab our luggage and store in the boot of the car. By 10am, we were on the road towards Hamilton. In Hamilton, we stopped to get lunch. It was a Sunday, and most Cafes and restaurants were closed which was disappointing. We rushed inside a supermarket and found the first thing that was open, grabbed a coffee and sandwich – which was very gross and after two bites I had to throw it out. But the coffee was very soothing after the long-ish drive.

We drove another hour from Hamilton to Hobbiton, located on the Alexander farm. As we drove on the winding roads, we saw marvelous sites of the rolling hills. Apparently, when Peter Jackson flew with a helicopter over this area, he wasn't sure if this is where he wanted to create the set. However, once he landed, he was convinced that it should be there.

We arrived 20 minutes before our alotted time, in case we got lost. We checked in at the front desk, where they gave us a Hobbiton Movie Set map. It was very hard to miss though because there were tourist buses everywhere. Neighbouring houses had signs at their fences saying "no tourists please." This tells me that many people made the mistake of going to the wrong place, not sure why or how though... While we waited for the tour to start, we slapped on sunscreen and lined up in the appointed time section. At 1.20pm, we hopped on the Hobbiton set shuttle bus, which drove us through Alexanders farm to the start of the movie set.

Caption. Movie map that was given to us before the tour

The tour ended at the Green inn, where we had a complementary beer before heading back to the reception area. A small kid said to his mum on tour "Are they free?" Nick looked at me and said "not free, but included in the price of the ticket." I laughed.

In Taupo, we stayed at the Lakeside Thermal Lodge. It gave a motel-like vibe. We had a parking spot on site. Here, we stayed for the next 4 nights. At first we were a bit unimpressed, but over the days we were here, it became a really cosy place. We had a “thermal pool” in the yard of our room. I say it in quotations because it was like a small bath in the outside area. It was very relaxing though, and everyday we would come home and sit in the warm pool.

On the first night, we drank wine in the pool and ate pizza from Hells pizza. The pizza was interesting – we had a vegetarian and a Mexican one. We also watched the sunset by the lake, which was something special. Although, the wind picked up as it got darker which made it colder. The cool was very welcome at the hotel because the spa was more enjoyable to sit in. It was a great first night.

5.2.24

At 7am, we woke and prepared our bags for the day. We walked to Café Baku – which was ~1.5km from our lodge. We ate breakfast (with coffee!) and then walked to the Pack N Save, 100 m away. Here, we bought some snacks and sunscreen, then embarked on a 15km walk – to and from Huka falls.

The walk was enjoyable with wonderful views of the Waikato River. It started out very calm, with crystal clear lakes and a mostly shaded dirt track. However, a further 3 km into the Huka Falls track, the river began to roar. The area at which the water flows down the stream is very narrow, and therefore as the water passes through shallow regions of volcanic rock, the current increases and the water begins to rumble through the rapids.

When we arrived at the Huka falls bridge, I was shocked to see that it wasn’t really a waterfall, but more of a region of very high water flow. I could not make out the shape of the waterfall, regardless of the position that I stood, or how far along the rapid that we walked. It is suppose to be an 11 m drop, however, the roaring rapids disguise the drop, making the photos seem only of a river and not a waterfall. Nonetheless, it was very cool and very loud! Apprently 220,0000 L of water per second flows down the waterfall.

As I said before, Hukka Falls is beautiful, but there were also a lot of people there, which prevented us from sitting and enjoying the falls. It was so popular because you don't need to walk far - there are many access points so you can do a short or longer walk to the falls. Once we witnessed the Falls, there was an option to continue down the dirt track (another 10 km or so), or turn around and head back. By this time, I had blisters on my feet because the socks that I wore were not the best! (Why did I pack crappy socks?!) Therefore, we decided to head back the way we came. The walk back was decent and we stopped for lunch and a small dip in the calm region of the lake.

7km later, my heals were very sore but we were back at the lodge where we could rest for a while. In the early afternoon, we got a few groceries to make sandwiches and snacks for tomorrow. In the early evening, we went to Jimmy Coops Burger bar. I ordered a Herbivore burger, which was very nice and one of the best I’ve ever had! (even better than Fergburger!) Ever! They also brew their own beer but unfortunately we did not try as we wanted to have an alcohol-free day. Therefore, we ordered a virgin cocktail each and then went home and soaked in the tub.

6.2.24

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing
It was an early start this morning, 5.15am! We were up and out the door by 5.30am to grab coffee from a cafeteria on the highway (as nothing else was open - and I suffer caffeine withdrawals without it). We drove for one hour to 21 Carol St, National Park where we had organised a Shuttle to the start of the Tongariro crossing track. The shuttle was required because the walk was 20 km long and we did not have enough time to do a return walk. The shuttle was $55 pp., but totally worth it.

We were dropped off at the start of the walk, 1100 m elevation, at the bottom of Mt Tongariro. It was a relatively hot day, with temperatures reaching 25-27 °C at tree level. The first 5 km of the walk was a steady ascent. It was very easy. We then reached a sign saying (the "lady") “It will get much harder now”…. Which is what I was expecting. The next 5 km was steep incline up the mountain side. It was hard but it was do-able and the views upon ascent were stunning! I was shocked that some people were doing this hike in vans!!! I would have died.

When we reached the highest point in the hike (1800 m), there were beautiful views of blue sulfur lakes, the red crater and rocky formations of the volcano. We stopped for a picture and then began a 200 m descent to a larger blue lake. The descent involved sliding down the steep mountain side. It was very gravelly/sand like which made the sliding pretty fun. When we were at the bottom of this 200 m decline, we admired the sulfur lakes and then hiked 1 km further to the large blue lake where we ate lunch. On one side was a very blue lake with mountains in the background and on the other were three mountains lined up: with views of the red crater, Mt Tongariro and a glacier on the far left side. This was one of my favourite views of the whole walk! By now, it was ~12 km and 2.5 hours into the walk.

The rest of the walk from here was mostly decline. It was painful on the knees, but even so, the views were so amazing. At some points, we had spectacular views of Lake Taupo. The coolest thing about this hike was that every 5 km, there was a change of scenery. We passed through deserted areas of just rock and mud, past lakes that smelt really bad of rotten egg (the smell of hydrogen sulfide), through areas of greenery and forest.

The last 2 km were a killer! We were done and ready to go home. The feet were aching and the knees in pain. It was such a relief when we reached the end. We took a selfie with the end sign. We waited only 10 mins and then took the shuttle bus back to 21 Carol St. At the time we got on the shuttle, it was 1.30 pm. Therefore, the total walk took us ~5 hours.

Here is a fun video of the crossing. Note that the times in the video are in Aus time and not the local time of NZ - I was too lazy to change it:

7.2.24

We had a little sleep in this morning. The legs and body were aching from the hike yesterday. At 7.30am, we went back to Cafe Baku for breakfast and coffee. We made sure to park close to avoid walking long distances.

After breakfast, we headed to Wai-O-Taki Geothermal Wonderland in Rotorua. It was a 40 minute drive. We arrived at 9.35 am and lined up to get tickets. It was $42 entry pp. We were happy to pay this as it seemed to partly go to the tribes of the region. At 10.15 am, there was a demonstration of the hot springs called Lady Geyser. In this demonstration, they poured a soap into the rocky formation, which caused an eruption of hot water (See in video below). It was very cool.

Next, we went back to the park and walked the track. It was a 3 km loop around the park. We marvelled at the large thermal baths and hot springs. Some of the hot springs ("Champagne Pools) were steaming so much that you could barely see! It was amazing. I found the yellow/neon coloured lake particularly stunning - called 'the Devil's bath. It combines my chemistry knowledge with nature. The yellow is caused by the formation of hydrated iron salts and hydrogen sulfide gas. This pool is of a pH of 2, indicating that it has a high acidity - likely due to the solubilised hydrogen sulfide. On our way out of the geothermal park, we went to the mud pools which were basically pools of mud that were reacting with the atmosphere, causing vigorous bubbling at the surface. It was very cool!

In total, we were at the park for 3 hours. Next, we headed 15 minutes to Rotorua City to have lunch and look around. We walked through a free city park that contained similar thermal pools to the geothermal park. I think that I would advise people on a budget or lacking time to just visit these free parks, as they were also really cool. In addition, the geothermal activity with the city in the background made this park even cooler!

🚘Taupo → Hawke’s bay 🍷​

Highlights​

• wine! They have the best Syrah in NZ
• Renting bike in Haverlock North and cycling to different wineries.
• the Urban Winery is a cool bar: Try Fat and Sassy Chardonay
• Swimming in the beach, if its your thing

8.2.24

We checked out at 7.30 am and went for breakfast in the industrial area of Taupo. It was the best coffee so far. After drinking coffee and eating breakfast, we ordered one more coffee to go and drank in the car on the drive to Hawke’s Bay.

We drove straight to Haverlock North, which took about 2.5 hours. This destination was selected as we saw on the map that there was a small town with many vineyards closeby. We parked in an unlimited parking area in a resisdential street and rented bikes.

After sun screening, we cycled from the bike store to Craggy Range vineyard. It was a very nice place but very expensive, costing $35 for a tasting each and it was only waived if you purchase 3 bottles. The best wines were priced at $170. While Nick was tempted, it seemed very expensive in total. Therefore, we passed on the wines and it was probably the best decision that we made on this day because other, smaller vineyards had wines that were very similar and much cheaper.

From Craggy Range, we cycled to Askerne winery. It was ~7 km cycle on the road. When we arrived, we were seated and we tried about 8 wines between the two of us. They had a great soft sparking rose called Fleur.Along with many delicious red wines. The wine tasting was only $5 pp, which was waived upon purchase of a bottle. We bought two bottles, one CSM and one Carbernet franc.

As we made the trip back to the bike shop, Nick cycled with the wines in his backpack. We made a stop at Te Mata Estate wineries. The wines here were also fabulous. The lady who was serving us, gave us so much wine to drink that by the end of the tasting, we had drank ~3 glasses of wine each! I felt drunk. Note: We opened the 2022 Syrah that we purchased from here on 7 July 2024. It was delicious!

After cycling back to the bike shop, returning the bikes, we drove to Napier to checkin to our hotel. We stayed at the Swiss-BelBotique. We relaxed for a while and then went out to explore and eat. I felt a bit hung over?? From drinking all day. We ate at Matisse, a wine bar in the city. The food was only okay. After eating and (drinking) we wandered around town (see pic below) and then back to our hotel, where we watched half of James Bond and slept soundly.

9.2.24

This morning it was raining. We went to a small cafe for breakfast called Rafael st café but they didn’t accept international travel cards. Because it was pouring we quickly went to get cash out and come back. We got coffee and eggs on toast but it was just okay. Supprisingly, many places throughout NZ do not accept payWave or credit cards.

After breakfast, we went back to hotel and got ready, then headed out to our first winery for the day: Brookfields, a small vineyard that is family owned.. When we arrived, a pug greeted us. He was so friendly and cute. We immediately began a tasting and It was so nice! We bought another Cab Merlot from here for $65.

Next: we tried to go to Elephant Hill. However, it was closed sue to “Staff sickness.” Therefore, we turned around and headed towards Te Ama estate. While it was a wonderful location, it gave a less personal feel compared to the Brookfields estate. Here, we bought 1 bottle of Syrah. But the tasting fee wasn’t waived. It was $10 pp, which was not too bad.

From google searches and reading online reviews, we decided to go to Abbey estate for lunch, but it was also closed. Therefore, we decided to call it a day and headed to Hastings for lunch. We had pizza from Spookys pizza and coffee from a French bakery. It looked amazing but it was still just average. At 2 pm, we returned to the hotel and watched the rest of James Bond.

At 4.30 pm, we got ready and walked 2.7km uphill to Urban winery, located in an industrial area of Napier. It was the the best bar we’ve been to in Napier. It was so cool, filled with locals and happy vibes. Our first drink choice was the fat and sassy Chardonnay by Tony Bish. It was great! We then had a glass of the Fleur rose that was from Askerne (we really enjoyed this rose and later on, I was kicking myself that we didn't buy it), followed by a Syrah. We wanted to eat here but they didn’t have an extensive menu for vegetarian food. Therefore, we left to find a place to eat. We decided to skip the hills and walked 5km back to Napier centre along the flat beach side.

We made It back to the centre at 8.15 pm or so and were hungry. We ended up eating from a fodtruck that was serving at the Napier food festival in the park. At this point, I realised that I had lost my Visa card - typical me right!!!! I deactivated it after ordering food and once we returned home, I canceled it and got a new one in my Apple Wallet, making only PayWave accessible for me for the rest of the trip. In bed, we began watching a documentary about Alexander the Great. We continued this documentary for the next few days and finished it in Chistchurch.

A final note about Napier: It was lovely, but 2 days was enough for us.

🚘 Napier → Wellington​

Highlights​

• we were not in Wellington for long. I would suggest about 2 days to see highlights of the city.
• Follow Your Fortune was a very cool burger bar with a large selection of beers and burgers. They also have live music on the weekend.

10.2.24

We had 7 bottles of wine at this point. We packed them into our socks and carefully organised them in our bags. We ate at an average cafe on Market St and Checked out of the hotel. Followin, we drove 2.5 h to Pukaha wildlife centre. It $24 pp entry. We planned to do a walk in the bush area but ended up exploring the wildlife. We saw a kiwi! It was so cute. The wildlife centre was small, but the entrance fee was justified as it helps to rehabilitate animals in the wild.

We were at the Wildlife centre for 1.5 hours before setting off to Wellington. The drive here-on was scary but amazing. It was a windy road alongside a mountain.

When we arrived In Wellington, we dropped off the car at an Apex car rental office and walked 100 m to the Sojourn Apartments on Ghuznee street. Our hotel was nice with views of the city. After dropping off our stuff, we went walking around the city, having a drink at The Little Beer bar (consisting of some cool decorations such as the periodic table of beers, see below left image), Joes Flammingos and then a burger place called Follow your fortune (image below on right). It had some great burgers and beers.

✈️Wellington → Christchurch​

Highlights​

• Arthur's Pass National Park

11.2.24

In the morning, we went immediately for coffee and then jumped in a taxi to the domestic airport. Surprisingly there was very little airport security and we checked our bags and went straight to the gate. Strange that we didn’t need to pass an airport security. It took less than 20 minutes. We therefore sat and waited for 2 hours. In the meantime I read my book, while Nick played games on his phone. At 10.15, we boarded the plane. It was a small one, with propellers and 68 seats. Everything was very efficient from Wellington to Christchurch, and upon landing, we were off and with our bags by 11.45pm.

The Avis car rental company met us at the airport to take us to the car rental place. Here, we picked up a Hyundai (i30?) and drove into town. Christchurch gave a very « clean » feel? I’m not sure how to describe it but it felt very clean and proper. Once we were at Southwark appartments, we parked and went for lunch at a pizza restaurant called Winnie Bagoes. We had two pizzas and a beer each.

By 2pm, we checked in to our hotel. It was very small, with not a lot of room to put our stuff, so most of the time the floor space was occupied with our suitcases. We then set off for a walk around the city centre. We ventured over the bridge and towards the old university that was partially destroyed by the earthquakes. We went into an exhibition of Ernest Rutherford, a nuclear physicist who discovered the structure of an atom.

We were walking around for a while, through the botanical gardens and surrounds. At 5pm, we headed back to our hotel and got ready to go out for dinner. We ate at a Mexican restuarant Muy Muy,, located 300 m from our hotel. This restaurant was just okay. The ensemble of the nachos was weird and difficult to eat. Our margaritas however, were pretty nice. We ate and drank and then headed 400 m down the road to a CountDown to get bread and snacks for tomorrows hike of Arthurs Pass.

12.2.24

The Avalanche Peak trail was recommended to me prior to coming to NZ and this was our goal for today. We were up at 6 am and drove to Arthur’s Pass National park. The drive took almost 2 hours, but it was a very nice drive through large and vast mountain ranges. It was so stunning, which made me think “How much better can the walk really be if we are seeing this by car?” We arrived at the Arthurs pass cafe and parking at 8.40 am, where we prepared ourselves for a walk: went to the toilet and studied the map thoroughly. What we did not do however, was visit the visitors centre. If we had done this then they would’ve told us to take the Avalanche Peak trail up to the Avalanche peak and then Scotts trail back to the car.

We started on Scotts trail and climbed 1100 m up to the Avalanche peak. The whole track was inclined and mostly scrambling over or around rocks. It took us 2.5 hours to climb to the peak, which was ~6.5 km from the car. That is a pace of 2-3 km per hour, and very slow! The views were stunning! We had magnificent views of the glacier and rocky surrounds, as well as a 360 degrees view of the National Park.

At the summit, we ate lunch and spoke with some fellow hikers from the UK. It was pretty cold on the peak, <10 degrees. Lucky for us, we had a great day, so the visibility across the landscape was very good. We took a few photos and then headed back down Scotts trail for the descent. We wanted to do the Avalanche track on the way down to make a round trip, however, other hikers said that it was very steep in comparison to Scotts track.

The descent from the Avalanche peak was so painful! I hated most of it. My feet and knees were aching so much. It took about 2 hours to descend back down. Every km or so of the 5 km descent, we took a break to rest our knees. We were so tired when we finally reached the road and thirsty for a beer. Surprisingly, we could not find a pub that sold alcohol/beer.

Following the 3 hour return back to Christchurch, we showered and ate the left over pizza from the following day to quench our hunger. We then walked into the city centre (750 m away) to the Farmers market that had a bar called the Kaiser Brews. We drank two beers and ate some more fried food. Note that the walk to and from the bar was very painful.

🚘 Christchurch → Lake Tekapo​

Highlights​

• The blue lake and church
• Mt John Walk
• Mt Cook: Heli tour and Hooker Valley Track
• best place to eat and coffee: The Greedy Cow

13.2.24

We had a good sleep in this morning. My legs were aching. I had pain in my knees and quads. As I wanted to get the 7 am standing hour (on the apple watch), I got up at 7.55 am. Afterward, I just lay in bed doing the NYT wordle and playing on my phone. At 8.30 am, we went to Tom’s sandwich shop for coffee and breakfast sandwiches, located across the road from us. It was a good sandwich and coffee.

We packed up the car and then drove 3 hours to Lake Tekapo. The drive used similar roads to the trip to Arthurs Pass yesterday and so I was thinking it would’ve been better if we stayed in Arthurs Pass for one night before heading to Lake Tekapo, which could have been achieved by camping (ideas for travellers and future trips). When we arrived in Lake Tekapo, it took my breath away. It was so pretty! The lake is a glacial lake, turquoise in colour, which is attributed to the suspended silt (small particles) that have formed overtime from the movement of tectonic plates.

Caption. Lake Tekapo. Pic 3 is the Church overlooking the lake

At 12.20 pm, we parked at the village and got lunch and coffee from The Greedy Cow. The vegan wrap that I had was pretty nice and the small coffee was probably the best I’ve had because it was strong (Love strong coffees). After eating, we sunscreen-ed up and walked along the lake for 2 hours, visiting the Church of the Good Shepherd and surrounds. While we waited for 3 pm (checkin time), we drank a Monteith's dark beer from Mackenzies Bar and Restaurant.

We headed to Scott’s Street apartments at 3 pm. The place was very cosy, and self contained. Nick put the wine in the freezer, while I put our laundry in the washing machine. For a few hours, we sat on the lounge and drank wine, hung our clothes out and relaxed in the air conditioning. Although it was a cool day outside, the sun was hot and we could not really deal with being under full sun.

At 6pm, we walked down to the village. It is about a 5 minute walk, using the Cowan walkway that leads straight down to the main road. We went to Reflections cafe and Restaurant located next door to The Greedy Cow. They were fully booked but we were able to be seated at the bar. We ordered a soft drink each ($5 per glass, probably the equivalent of half a can), garlic bread and a burger each ($28 each). The food was not great and my stomach was a upset for the rest of the night.

14.2.24

On valentines day, we had a 55 min helitour booked, departing from Mt Cook airport, with a land on the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. Therefore, early in the morning, before 6 am, we set off on a 1 hour 10 min drive to Mt Cook airport, only to learn when we arrived that the Heli tour was cancelled due to the wind. We decided that we still wanted to do a heli tour but we settled for the 25 min one, landing on top of the snow-capped mountain.

The heli tour was awesome. We got to see some great views of the glacier and snow capped mountains, with the pilot telling us about a land slide that happened on Mt cook in 1995, resulting in a large portion of the top collapsing.

In the valleys, there were large lakes that were caused by the melting of ice caps. Over thousands of years, the lakes have been growing larger, while the mountains have been decreasing in size. Still, the national park houses 19 peaks that are over 3000 m.

From Mt cook airport, we headed to the village to have coffee and breakfast- how I survived the morning this far without coffee shocked me as well!!! In this village, there seems to be a large amount of places to stay but only 2 coffee shops and not much to do other that go hiking. Before booking at Lake Tekapo, we tried to find a place at Mt Cook, but everything was sold out apart from the hostel. Nonetheless, Lake Tekapo was a nice place to stay.

Once we finished our breakfast, we headed to the hooker valley track. It is a 10km return walk to the hooker lake. This trail was so busy, and I understand why! It was a very easy track but also with amazing views. The trail was an out and back type, heading one way to the hooker valley and taking the return trail back to the car park. The lake was stunning. There was a view of mount cook, with large ice caps in the lake. The water was also freezing!

It took us 2 hours to complete the entirety of the walk, with only 300 m elevation gain. It was nice to take a break from the challenging hikes and do an easy one. On return to the car, we were planning to do the Red Tarn track (4km return trip), however it was very steep and our knees were very sore from Arthur’s pass. Therefore we decided to drive back to Lake Tekapo.

The drive to and from Mt cook national park is very stunning! In particular Lake Pukaki. The blue complexion with snow capped Mt Cook in the background makes it a busy place for people to stop on the side of the road and take photos. While we didn’t do this, I do admit that it is the most beautiful landscape that I’ve seen. Furthermore, the whole drive was literally jaw dropping beautiful!

On return, we put on our swim suits and went to Tekapo Springs - probably the only attraction in Lake Tekapo (aside from the lake). It was $37 pp for entry and it was literally to sit in a heated pool. We stayed for 2 hours and left thinking « I just wasted $37 for this? » I guess it would be good on a cold day when you have nothing to do, but it was really not worth the money.

That evening, we went for dinner at the Blue Lake bar and eatery. We sat in the bar area of the restaurant and drank beers. They did not offer a lot on their menu. We started with fries, then an hour later, I ordered a Zucchini tempura ($26) and Nick ordered the salmon. This was literally the only thing on the menu that was Vegetarian. It was a good meal but I wouldn’t go back there.

At this restaurant, they sell Burkes Brewing on tap. There was a selection of a pilsner, porter, Hazy Pale Ale or Lager. I drank 3 x Hazy Pale ales which were very tasty. Thats probably the only reason for going to this place!

15.2.24

We had a good sleep in, until 7.30 am. The wind was loud and wailing, dissuading us to get out of bed. Yet, we were longing for a good coffee. By 8 am, we were out and walking to The Greedy Cow cafe in the village. On the way down, small water droplets fell down which made me worry that it would rain. Not to worry though, because it was only spitting droplets and no rain ensued. For breakfast, we each ordered poached eggs on toast - mine with mushrooms and Nick’s with bacon - as well as a coffee.

Both breakfast and coffee were great. We ordered an additional coffee to go and drank it as we headed back to Scott St Appartments. Nick spent half an hour or so completing a job for work, while I researched somethings to do today. I found a popular, easy walk on Mt John that we decided to do.

We parked at a carpark next to Tekapo springs and started for the Mt John Walkway track in the clockwise direction. We decided to do it in this direction, as many people recommended it on AllTrails. We also realised that doing the walk in the anti-clockwise direction would result in worse views, with the mountains always behind you. When we did it, many people were walking in the anti-clockwise direction, perhaps because the 4 km climb to the summit is less intense than the 2 km steeper climb in the clockwise direction that we did.

The first 2 km were uphill, which took us ~30 minutes to complete. The summit of Mt John was pretty nice, with 180 degree views of the lake and mountains, with greenery and more mountains behind, as you rotated 360 degrees. It was very very windy. I was worried that the wind would blow off my hat, so I took it off as we descended the mountain.

From the summit, the remainder of the track was downhill, with a few short climbs. There was a lot of rocky terrain as the track began to flatten out, with few entrances to the lake. I suppose on a sunny day, it would be a nice spot to take a swim. There were also lots of horse faeces on the track, owing to the Alpine Horse Riding following this same route around the mountain. The total walk was 8.3 km, which took just under 2 hours to complete.

Caption: 8 km loop of Mt John, Lake Tekapo

From our parking spot, we drove to the small 4-Squares supermarket, where we bought food for lunch and dinner, as well as snacks. Considering that the food at the restaurants around the area were pretty bad and very expensive, we figured that it was probably worth making our own sandwiches and cheese platter. The sandwiches we made were the best thing I’ve eaten since Christchurch.

Thoughts of Lake Tekapo: There are many things that I like about Lake Tekapo. For one thing, it is beautiful. Another is that there is a lot of hiking to do around. But I do not like how many tourists there are. I also do not like the quality of the food. If I were to do this trip again, I wouldn’t stay in Lake Tekapo accomodation as it is very expensive. I would just camp here and prepare my own food. Another alternative would be to rent a Campervan and stay for 1-2 days, then spend a few days around Mt Cook National Park. *

🚘 Lake Tekapo → Queenstown​

Highlights​

• Roy's Peak in Wanaka
• Food at Kamana Lakehouse
• Queenstown IceBar
• Little Mex tequila bar
• Walking along the river
• Shotover Jet and Canyon swing
• ArrowTown, best coffee at The Coffee Roasters
• Best Winery: Kinross

16.2.24

We were up at 4.30am to clean up the apartment, dispose of our rubbish and load the car. At 5.15 am, we were on the road to Wanaka. Perhaps due to the lack of coffee, or the darkness of early morning, I fell asleep as Nick drove us there, and later that day Nick told me that he was so jealous of me while I napped. I felt bad for falling asleep, although I did admit that I was trying so hard to stay awake…

We arrived at 7.30am to a coffee roasters cafe in Wanaka. We enjoyed a cup of coffee before setting off to Roy’s peak track in the Stack Conservation Area. When we arrived at the car park, we were shocked with how busy it was! But turns out there is an overflow car park that did not fill up throughout the day - I guess because as people finished the walk (in particular the sunrise hikers and joggers), others would replace their spot.

At 8am, we set off on the track. It was an 8 km Ascent up the mountain. While I was charging ahead, Nick was walking at his own pace. It took us 2 hours to walk to the initial “instagram-worthy” view point, and a further half an hour to walk to the Peak, Roy’s peak.

The view point has spectacular views with clouds dispersed between the mountains. I think if we had come a bit later in the day, we would’ve seen more mountain views and less clouds. Nonetheless, it was beautiful! Another hiker offered to take our picture. We got a few shots but they were not very good shots. I was so excited to see these pictures (they were taken on Nicks phone and he didn’t look at them to make sure that they were okay.). She didn’t capture the whole scene!!! I was outraged when we looked at the photos later that day, and very disappointed that we didn’t get a good shot.

As we reached Roy’s peak, after a total of 1300 m climb, the 360 view of the lake and surrounding mountains was so beautiful. Definitely one of the best views of my life and worth the 2.5 hour hike. We had lunch on Roy’s peak - just some peanut butter sandwiches that we packed and then we started the descent back down the mountain. The decent was very quick compared to the ascent. It took 1.5 hours to descend, with a pace of 10-12 min/km.

Caption. Hiking Roy's Peak, Wanaka

We arrived back at the car at 12.50pm and then drove 1 hour into Queenstown. As per all the other places in NZ, the drive was spectacular! Winding roads along side the mountain ranges. Only the mountains in Queenstown were on steroids! Literally the coolest views and nicest drive that I have ever taken. On the way to Queenstown, we drove through this very cute village called Cardrona Valley. They had tiny houses that looked very old school but also modern. There was also a beautiful distillery with the mountain backdrop. It was later suggested to us by staff at the Kamana Lakehouse (where we stayed in Queenstown) to visit this distillery, but we didn’t have time.

As we drove through Queenstown, it was very busy. It took 15 minutes to drive 3 km…. Yes, there was a lot of traffic, but also there was a lot of roadwork. As we got passed the traffic of central Queenstown, we turned left, and drove up a very steep hill, 2 km in length. We were both complaining to each other “Omg we will have to walk down this hill to get to the centre of Queenstown.” (Note: we did do this the following day and it wasn’t too bad).

We arrived at our hotel, Kamana Lakehouse, at 2 pm. We checked in and showered. I put on my hotel robe and lay on the bed for a while, watching a few Game shows. It was so relaxing to be in the robe and I was having a lot of fun in it.

At 4.30 pm we went to the hotel bar and ordered ourselves a couple of cocktails. The hotel bar is called Nest Bar and Restaurant. It consists of a bar area, which is a more casual dining, and a restaurant area that is more classy. Both areas are visible to one another and are only divided by three steps. At the edge of the restaurant, there are large glass windows which look out to Lake Wakatipu. It was such a beautiful view.

The cocktails that we ordered were enshrouded in smoke and as the cover was removed, the smoke dispersed into the air and revealed two beautiful drinks that were carefully made. The cocktail that I drank consisted of Scotch, Mezcal and Malbec. It was very nice, and not too sweet (just how I like it). I sipped on this for about an hour. We also ordered a cheese platter that consisted of four cheeses: A camembert, havarti, cheddar and blue with different crackers, dates and apricots. It was delicious to say the least (but for $37, it should be great right?)

Following the cocktails, Nick ordered a Gin and I a Riesling, then we finished off with a glass of red. For dinner, I ordered the potatoes and Nick the Sliders. Unfortunately there was not a lot for vegetarians on the menu which limited what I could eat. The potatoes were also amazing and I finished the small plate with a satisfied belly.

17.2.23

It seemed almost natural to be awake at 5.30 am. I forced myself to sleep until 7 am. The sleep was fantastic! The bed was so comfortable and I did not wake up at all through the night. When we rolled out of bed at 7.30 am, we got ready for our day and drove to Arrow Town, a small, historic town 25 mins from Queenstown. The town was founded around 1880’s during the Gold Rush, when many Chinese flocked to NZ to mine gold. We initially had a wonderful coffee The Coffee Roasters. We went there because it was highly rated and I understand why! It was amazing coffee. We got a takeaway coffee each and walked around the historic town, while we drank the coffee.

Next, we ate breakfast at Arrowtown Bakery and Cafe. It also had good coffee and a decent egg role, which I had for breakfast. Once we finished our breakfast, I was so full! But it was only 9.30 am, so we wandered around the Chinese Settlement restorations for half an hour. We saw many old huts that were built by the miners in this area during 1889. A Inside the little houses, it felt like a whole different breed of human. They didn’t have the comfort that we have now. It was very cool to imagine this small village back then.

At 10 am we headed to Mora wines (3km from Chinese historic village but it was fully booked. We then decided to go to Amisfield wineries. We did a tasting with 5 wines each. Between Nick and I, we tried most of their wines (apart from the sparkling and the dessert wines). We highly rated the Sauv Blanc and Rose as well as the pricey Pinot Noirs. The 2021 reserve Pinot gave a smell of Sulfur and smoky taste. This was my favourite, but it was $90 per bottle. For me, I’ve had way too many nice wines on this trip to justify that price. We bought a bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc and Rose and then departed for Kin Ross.

We had an 11.30 am booking at Kinross, a winery and restaurant located in the Gibston region of Central Otago. The winery is located at the bottom of Mount Rock (a rocky mountain). It is a large vineyard with n amazing outside seating area. Once seated, we ordered a baked Camembert, with the paired wine, Growers Series Matapauri vineyard fume Sauvignon Blanc 2023. This wine alone was amazing! If we didn’t buy wine at the last place, I definitely would’ve bought two bottles of this! It was dry but also not too tangy (like a typical Sauvignon blanc). Also, it went really well with the cheese.

At 12.15 pm, we ordered a Funghi pizza with the paired wine, Kinross The Pioneer Central Otago Pinot Noir 2022. This pairing was also very nice. The pizza, OMG. One of the best that I have ever had. I’ll admit though, it was very expensive ($35). Therefore, we only had one pizza between the two of us. This seemed to be enough though, and satisfied my tummy for five hours following.

The waiter was also very knowledgable with the wines. He bought out 4 additional glasses with a splash of different pinot noirs (just a small tasting) to compare and broadcast all the pinot noirs of the area. Note: Otago has a much colder climate compared to Hawke’s Bay and therefore they specialise in the pinot noirs and white wines. After finishing the pizza, he wanted to know what wines we were going to buy, and it broke my heart to tell him that we didn’t have the capacity to buy anymore wine. The bill was $115. A very expensive lunch.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel, dropped our stuff and then walked to Queenstown. It was a nice walk through bush (to avoid the heavy descent and then along the lake side. We walked around the central area for about half an hour before heading back. The hills were not as bad as we had anticipated, although I felt it a lot in my calves due to soreness from yesterday.

At 7.30 pm, we had a booking at Kamana Lakehouse restaurant called Nest Bar & Restaurant. As previously described, we were seated in the restaurant area. Unfortunately we did not get the window seat, but we still had a spectacular view of Lake Wakatipu. Our dinner was The Degustation menu which was $129 pp and consisted of seven courses: Amuse Bouche, appetiser, starter, palate cleanser, entree, main course and dessert. The first three courses were very small, with a scoop of apricot gelato as a palate cleanser.

Following on from the first three courses, we were served an entree and main meal. The dishes served to me consisted of cauliflower and cabbage, while Nick was served some interesting fish and meat dishes. By this point my stomach was very full! For dessert, I ordered the apple pie and Nick, the dark chocolate and chilli parfait. I have to say that the meal we ate here was one of the best that I have ever had.

We left the restaurant at 10 pm with full bellies. I was in so much pain that I could not sleep on my stomach all night.

18.2.24

We left Kamana Lakehouse at 8.30 am and headed towards Shot Over Canyon. There was literally nowhere open to serve us coffee, so we just waited until 9 am for a small cafe to open.The coffee was okay. We met a Shot Over tour guide at the ShotOver Jet location, who drove us to the top of the canyon for a Canyon Swing. Nick and I had organised to do a tandem swing. Here, you sit over a canyon, and the swing drops with a 60 m freefall followed by a 200 m swing. The cool thing is that you get to choose how you want to drop. There were many ways that you could do it, but we chose the lucky dip. This is when you pull the lever and the swing drops but it depends on which lever you pull.

As we were hanging over the edge of the Canyon, I was feeling very afraid. I feel that the hanging and anticipation before the fall is the scariest part of it. We decided to each pull a lever until we got the right one. However, Nick got it on the first try and we instantly fell. I screamed so loud! I was terrified. As we reached the bottom and hung over the canyon, the views were stunning. The rope that was holding us then pulled us up to the top. By this point, my feet were trembling and my underarms were sweating a lot. But it was over and we got a really funny video from it, which I watched over and over for the rest of the trip.

After everyone in the group had their turn, we were driven back to Shot Over Jet, where we went on a jet boat around the Canyon, travelling up to 100 km/h around the narrow and rocky river. It was thrilling but in no way as terrifying as the Canyon. Actually, it was not terrifying at all. All the activities were finished by 1 pm.

Our next appointment for the day was at Onsen hot pools and spa, located 2 minutes away from Shotover. Since our appointment was at 3.15 pm and we did not want to travel back to Kamana Lakehouse (as the traffic and road works through Queenstown was very bad), we drove 10 minutes to ArrowTown. As it was the middle of the day, it was very busy, but we managed to park our car and wander the streets. We stumbled upon a Sunday Markets, where we got two servings of dumplings from a Napalese food truck. The dumplings were very tasty.

We then proceeded to walk back to the car, with a final stop at the Coffee Roasters (the yummy coffee from the previous day), where we enjoyed a coffee and a chocolate filled donut. Not wanting to do anything else, we drove to Onsen Hot Pools and spa, and waited for about half an hour. Before our appointed spa time, we were asked to choice an alcoholic beverage and snack. As we do, Nick and I both went for the Hazy pale ale and the dark chocolate ice cream, which was later served to us in the hot pool.

The atmosphere in Onsen was incredible. It was so soothing that while we waited, I almost fell asleep on Nick’s shoulder. Right on 3.15 am, we were escorted to our private spa, where we were served our selected beer and snack. The hot pool soak was special. It overlooked the mountains and river where we did the jet boating. Everything about the soak was perfect. We were given 45 minutes in the spa, afterwards, an alarm would sound, to say that we had 10 minutes to get out, shower and put on the robes.

Two masseuses met us at the spa, and escorted us upstairs to a room where we had a hot rocks massage. It was definitely a relaxing experience. Later that day Nick told me that everytime I giggled (because I was ticklish), he smiled. It’s true though, a lot of the massage was uncomfortable because I was so ticklish, that I had to keep telling the masseuse that I wanted more pressure. I think she got out a lot of the knots that were on my back and quads because those spots really hurt!

Time flew and when the massage finished, I stepped outside feeling very drowsy (or maybe it is relaxation?). We were then given a final juice and small slice of cheese cake.

By the time that we were in the car, it was 5 pm. We headed straight back to Kamana Lakehouse and got ready for the next event of the day: Queenstown Ice Bar, which was booked for 7 pm. It was a rush to leave the hotel and eat dinner and arrive 15 minutes prior. At 5.45 pm, we headed next door, to Lokal Kitchen and Bar where we had a beer each and we ordered two pizzas. We told the barman that we were in a bit of a rush and they were respective of that and prepared our pizzas within 15 minutes.

At 6.30pm, we got an Uber to the ice bar (as walking would’ve taken much longer). Before booking the ice bar, we had preordered two premium cocktails each. When we arrived, we were given two drink tokens each and a jacket and pair of gloves. When we walked into the bar, it was very cold: -5 degrees. It was so cold that we only stuck around to drink two drinks. After we exhausted our tokens, we immediately left. The ice bar was a cool concept, but it was definitely not worth the $55 pp that we paid and I will not go back to an ice bar again.

At 8 pm, we entered Little Mez, a tequila bar in the central of Queenstown where we enjoyed two more cocktails. It was a really cool little bar that Nick and I both loved. On our last evening in Queenstown, we would return here because we loved it so much. Two cocktails down, and I was a little drunk. We decided to walk back to Kamana Lakehouse, which was very fast and took about half an hour.

A video of our time in Queenstown can be seen in the video below.

🚘 Queenstown → Te Anau​

19.2.24

On Monday, we left Queenstown and drove 2.5 hours to Te Anau. I often get the pronounciation of this place wrong, so I wrote down the phonetics: Tea-AreNo-u. All of the words flow like one word, with a soft u at the end. The traffic heading out of Queenstown was terrible. It added an extra half an hour or so to our total trip.

While we drove, it was drizzling with rain. As we weaved in and our of the roadside among the mountains, you could see a rainbow over Lake Wakatipu. It was very beautiful and not surprising that many people were pulling over in stopping bays to take photos.

When we arrived in Te Anau, we went to a pie shop called Miles Better Pies. I ordered the vegetarian and Nick ordered the Steak and Cheese and we both ordered a milkshake. The pies here were very nice and I highly rate this shop. Considering how good the pies were, it was not overly busy either. Many cafes and food shops were highly overrated on Google reviews except this one. I believe this one was underrated!

From lunch, we went to our hotel to checkin. We stayed at the Fiordland Lakeview appartments. The first thing that we did was wash our clothes. It was free to use the washing machine, but we paid $2 for the dryer. Once the washing was complete, we headed to the 4 Square Supermarket where we bought a few groceries and drank a beer at The Moose Bar.

Caption: Wine and cheese in Te Anou

We did not do a lot for the rest of the afternoon. We only finished off our white wine that we bought from Amisfield and ate same of the left over Havarti cheese that we had. For dinner, we wandered to the centre of town with plans to eat at La Toscana. When we showed up to the restaurant, it looked very busy. Without thought, we went next door to Mexican Tastz, which was the biggest mistake and disappointment of this trip.

As we walked into Mexican Tastz, “it looks like the restaurant was set-up by a 16-year old” - said Nick. All the tables were numbered where we sat. However, it appeared like we needed to order at the counter, yet as we stood up, the cashier came over to take our order. I ate a vegetarian burrito and Nick a chicken quesadilla. It was okay food, not great. However, I was really upset with this place. The burrito did not resemble any Mexican dish. It was a basic vegetarian wrap. I rated this place very poorly on Google Reviews. Despite my 3 star rating, the total rating was 4.7. OUTRAGED! Now, how can we trust google reviews?

20.2.24

We were picked up at 5.45am from our hotel and joined the Day Safari with Rosco’s Milford Kayaks. The bus driver and our tour guide was Ollie who was very knowledgeable about the area, and the geology of Fiordlands national park.

Milford sound is a special place within the Fiordland National Park. When the British settled in NZ, they named it a « sound » which is mountains overlooking a river. Milford sound is actually a fiord meaning mountains and cliffs overlooking a narrow patch of sea, with a submerged glacial valley. it was later corrected to be apart of Fiordland National Park, but too late to change the name.

The drive to Milford sound was just over an hour. Italian was dark initially as we drove through the park, with some light coming through as we reached the Homer Tunnels. This is a pretty cool tunnel that took 20 years or so to construct (complete in 1954). It is a 1km tunnel that passes through a mountain. Early in the morning, there is not a lot of traffic so the tunnel is readily passable. However later in the day, there is more traffic and longer waiting as it is one way tunnel with traffic lights either side.

Unfortunately for me, there was no place to go for coffee before kayaking.

It was a cold drive, and the whole way my feet were frozen. I wore thermals under my hiking pants, a t-shirt, a down jacket and a final rain jacket over the top. I wore thick socks with running shoes and packed my bag with thongs, food, sunscreen, aero guard, a hat and sunnies and water.

When we arrived at Deep Water Basin, we were handed « sea kayaking » outfits consisting of top and bottom thermals, a fleece jumper and a water resistant jacket, as well as a life jacket and the cover for the kayak. I only wore the top thermal and fleece and kept my thermals and hiking pants on. I also wore my thongs in the kayak. It was only my feet and some of my arms that got wet throughout the whole kayak.

The kayaking trip was lovely. We were given a double kayak and surprisingly Nick and I paddled well together (the training really paid off). We paddled 13km around Milford sound, doing a loop. The water was very calm and flat and over the course of 3 hours, the sun heated up and I got pretty hot.

I ended up removing all the top layers except for the water resistant jacket and life jacket. Occasionally, I would dip my hand in the water to cool down. The water was freezing and my hand instantly went numb.

The mountains with glaciers were the most impressive, as well as the waterfall, Bowan Falls (168m high). This waterfall runs year round, as it is powered by the glacier. I suppose that overtime, the waterfall will run dry. I hope not for a very long time because it was remarkable! See highlights of the kayaking below:

After the kayaks, we were dropped at the cafe 2 minutes away from Deep Water Basin, where we ordered coffees and ate out packed lunch (sandwiches with cheese and tomato). We ate outside as the cafe staff told us that we could not eat our own food inside. When we were outside, swarms of flies clouded us. We instantly put on sunscreen as these small flies bite! (Sand files).

We then wandered back to the cafe and sat inside because the flies were very annoying. Then at 1 pm, we began our journey back to Te Anau. On the way home, we made stops at The Chasm (another waterfall), and Mirror Lakes. Mirror Lakes were very clear and beautiful … and cold.

We were dropped back to our accomodation at 4 pm. Here, we showered and then headed out to The Ranch for a couple of beers. This pub had more selection of beers compared to The Moose Bar and was recommended by Ollie when we asked of good places to eat. At 6 pm, we headed to Ditto, an Asian-fusion restaurant that Ollie also recommended. It was located only a few doors down from Mexican Tastz and we were devastated that we didn’t come here instead. The food here was very good (I gave them a 5-star google rating). We started with a Rose and loaded gravy fries, then a Merlot with Bao buns and a vegetarian sushi bowl. The Rose was great, but I didn’t love the red wine. Nonetheless, the food and meal was fulfilling and I left with a big smile and a full belly.

21.2.24

We had a sleep in, to 7.50 am. After getting up, we packed our suitcases and fitted them into the car before checking out. We parked the car alongside Lake Te Anau, and then went in search of a cafe.

We walked around for a while and every cafe we went into, the line was as long as a line that you wait in to get off a plane! Very long! As it was closer to 9 am, I suppose that many of the people waiting to go for a Discovery Cruise was also wanting to get breakfast.We ended up settling for Sandfly Cafe, ~800 m west of the lake. It was still very busy, but less so than the others. Within 30 minutes, we had ordered and received coffees. The food and coffee was okay, not great. Thats probably expected in areas like this, where there are only 3 cafes available…. There is not much competition, so they can pretty much serve whatever they like.

At 9.50 am, we headed to a WildBikes shop, where we hired two mountain bikes for 4 hours. We then proceeded to cycle 56 km return Lake2Lake track. It was a lovely cycle, a few hills up and down, which allowed my heart rate to rise and big hills to feel like we are being a little adventurous. Nick was a lot slower than me, so I had to keep stopping to wait for him. I’m pretty sure I could’ve averaged 20 km/h, but the stopping resulted in a pace of 17 km/h in the end.

After the 30 km cycle to the end of the track, we stopped at a small, rural cafe where we ordered some coffee: Nick a flat white and me a cappuccino. It was terrible. First, they put chocolate powder only on Nicks plate! And none on the top of my coffee. Seems like they have no idea.

By this point, it was 12.30 pm and we needed to return the bikes by 2 pm. Therefore, we decided to take the road most of the way back to the bike store. It was only 26 km on the way back, but much faster because it was a straight, flat road. We arrived at 2.05 pm to return the bikes. We were both a little bit sunburnt (Damn, forgot to apply sunscreen), and I had a few sandfly bites on my arms.

Cycling Te Anou

We both ate a pie and milkshake from Miles Better Pies. This time, I had the Apple and Berry pie which was so amazing. This shop was not busy at all and we ordered and received our meal all within 2 minutes. We sat in the sun for 5 minutes to eat and drink, and then walked back to the car to drive to Queenstown.

The drive back to Queenstown was much nicer than the drive out of Queenstown. It was a sunny day and we drove on the same mountainous roads that we saw on the way out. It was incredible. We drove all the way to Apex car rentals at the airport, said goodbye to our car and then got an Uber back to the city.

On this night, we were staying at the Novotel. For $450 per night, it was not impressive. It was a basic room, no nicer than a stay in motel. We showered and then headed out for some drinks. First, we went to the Smiths Craft Beer House and drank two beers. This place was very cute and hidden from the hustle and bustle of Queenstown. From here, we lined up for a FergBurger.

Waiting in line for Fergburger was pretty cool. The vibe was pretty nice and the staff were offering out menus and sunscreen (too late, we were already sunburnt). We got through the line within 15 minutes. We ordered a Tofu burger and the Ferg Deluxe, fries and a salted caramel shake. I have to say that the shake was the nicest I have ever had. As for the burger though, it was overrated and definitely not worth the hype. I have to admit, it was a nice burger, and the bun was very soft and delicious (they make the buns in house at Ferg Bakery) but I think I preferred the one that I had at Jimmy Coops in Taupo. As for the chips, they were very basic fries with nothing special to them, but perfectly tasty.

After eating this burger, my stomach was very full and ready to absorb more alcohol. We first went to the Little Mez, where we had a margarita each. Next, we headed to a Whiskey bar called Bardeaux, a dark bar with jazz, 1950s vibes. We enjoyed a classic cocktail consisting of whiskey. Finally, we went to Upstairs at the Bunker. Here, we drank a red wine. This is the only place that Ive seen in NZ that offers wine from the Barossa Valley. I wanted to order the Shiraz but I decided to order a local wine instead, which I was wildly disappointed with. Not sure if it is because it was Pinot Noir, or the wine was old? After this, we headed back to the hotel and finished our final night in Queenstown.

✈️ Queenstown → Sydney​

22.2.24

Breakfast this morning was at The Odd Saint, only 100 m away from our hotel. It was a bit pricey but the food was amazing. I ordered the last Eggs benny brekky for the trip, along with a flat white and Nick ordered the same.

The rest of the morning was spent relaxing and we even went to the hotel Jacuzzi at 10.40 am. On the previous night, we booked to use it at 10 am, but the hotel gave our spot away. To say sorry, they gave us a later checkout, which worked out so perfectly.

The rest of our day involved 1. Eating a burger at Yonder. The burger here was great! 2. Eating Gelato from Patagonia Chocolates and Icecream. We sat by the lake while we ate these delicious ice cream cones. Finally, at 1 pm, we got an Uber to the airport where we waited for our flight back to Sydney.

Recommendations in Queenstown/surrounds:

• Bars: Little Mex.
• Breakfast: The Odd Saint.
• Restaurants: Kin ross, Nest Bar and restaurant
• Coffee: Coffee Roasters in ArrowTown.
• Activities: Swing, visit wineries, visit Wanaka.

This page is about my 2023 Trip to the USA. Contents below include:

1. A brief summary
2. Highlights & tips for each place that I visited
3. A prologue of the trip
4. A blog of my trip

Some summary notes of the conference are also included in Fpi15 conference

1. Summary​

The purpose of this trip was to attend a conference in North Carolina (NC). I took the opportunity to travel beforehand, to see some places that I've always wanted to see but never had the chance.

On 6 June 2023, I flew to New York, where I spend 4 days enjoying the city and the highlights. New York is amazing and one of my favourite cities! On 11 June, I caught a bus from New York to Washington D.C. I spent only 2 days in DC which was enough for me. The main attractions are the monuments and museums.

From DC, I took a bus to Richmond, Virginia (VA). Here, I spent 2 nights/1 full day looking around the area. There wasn't much to see or do, so I spent the day walking through trails in the James River Park. It was relaxing to be out of the hustle and bustle of the city.

On Thursday 15 June at noon, I caught a Greyhound Bus to Raleigh, North Carolina (NC). I was in Raleigh for the Fpi15 conference which finished at lunchtime on Wednesday 21 June. Initially I thought Raleigh was a cool place, however, the transport system really bothered me. The heat was almost unbearable, so a 2.5 km walk to and from the Airbnb was not viable. Despite struggling to get around and spending a lot of money on Uber, I enjoyed my time at the conference. Raleigh also had a really cool night-life with some amazing beers on tap.

On the way home, I experienced a 14 hour plane delay from Raleigh to San Francisco, ultimately missing my connecting flight home to Sydney. It turned out to be a blessing because I got to spend 10 hours in San Francisco (after rebooking my flights). San Francisco was amazing! My time in this city changed my sour mood into a more optimistic and positive outlook on the trip.

Watch the highlights here:

2. Highlights & tips​

New York​

Recommended time to stay: 4-5 days

Where to stay. I stayed out of the centre - on the Upper Westside, ~6 km north of Time Square. I think the more downtown you are, the closer you are to everything. It doesn't matter where you stay though, because New York is a city that never sleeps. You can get whatever you want where-ever you are, whenever you want. That's one of the beauties of New York. Also, the Subway works really well to take you where-ever you want to go! You only wait a few minutes for a subway train (unless it's very early in the morning). I would advise to find a place that is in line with your budget - Unless it is in the Bronx. Stay away from the Bronx.

🚇When you arrive in New York, I recommend to purchase a weekly metro card - I think you can also tap on and off with your credit card. Do not buy single tickets as the money you spend on the subway adds up. In 4 days I used the subway over 20 times! If I bought single use tickets, this would have costed me 20 x $3. Instead, I paid $33 USD for a weekly pass.

Uptown vs. Downtown. The Subway platforms are arranged based on uptown/downtown. Going from 33 St to 125 St is uptown, while going from 33 St. to 14 St. is downtown. The platform is usually labelled with Uptown or Downtown. Be sure to get on the right platform!

Museums in NYC? I didn't go to any museums in NYC. The main reason was that I wanted to be in the city and experience the general vibe, not stuck in a museum. Museums in New York are also pretty expensive. Nick recommended the Museum of Natural History, but that was at least $40 USD to enter. Plus, I knew that I was going to DC where the main attractions are museums (and they are free!).

Some things that I loved in NYC:

• Window shopping. Special note: The Nike store is HUGE (3 stories). BUT the clothes are more expensive than in Australia.
• Take a return trip on the Staten island ferry. Sit at the back to enjoy views of the NYC sky line & the Statue of Liberty.
• Walk the Brooklyn bridge
• Eat bagels at Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee company.
• Eat as many bagels as you can. My favourite is the blueberry bagel with cream cheese.
• Walk around Time Square - during the day and at night. At night it is so cool! Everything lights up and it feels like it is still day-time.
• See a Broadway show (You can get cheap tickets by lining up at the TKTS queue in Time Square - I didn't do this)
• Visit the World Trade Centre & site of the 9/11 attacks
• Explore central park. I enjoyed running through Central park. It was a big highlight.
• Visit the Highline in Chelsea, and the Chelsea markets.
• Walk from one side of Manhattan to the other to truly see the changing neighbourhoods.
• Try some of the local beers: they are so good.

Washington D.C​

Recommended time to stay: 2 days

Note: All museums are free!

Where to stay. I stayed on U Street. It is a cool area near all pubs and clubs. For D.C. though, it doesn't really matter where you stay as the subways are also really good (although less frequent than in NYC).

Metro/Subway: The best thing to do is download the SmarTrip app before you arrive (saves you money on the fee for the card). Then you can use the Subway from your phone. I got the 3 day pass for $28 USD but I think it would have been cheaper to pay per trip.

Highlights of DC:

• Holocaust Museum: Note you need to prebook tickets.
• National art gallery: is one of my favourite museums.
• Eat at the Founding Farmers & Distillers: and order a bourbon cocktail
• Walk around the city. View the monuments around the National Mall.
• Visit the National African-American Museum & American History Museum.

Richmond, VA​

Recommended time to stay. 1 day Notes: all museums and public transport are free Things to do:

• hiking trails in James River Park
• Go to belle island to see the Hollywood Rapids.
• Visit breweries

Raleigh, NC​

Recommended time to stay. 1-2 days (but I stayed longer due to the conference) Note: all museums and public transport are free, but the public transport is terrible. Things to do:

• Sip and stroll (the city allows outdoor alcohol consumption around a boundary in the city).
• Lots of cool bars & pubs - cheaper than New York & DC
• Visit Breweries
• NC bbq - I didn't do this as I do not eat meat, but I heard it was really good.

San Francisco, CA​

Recommended time to stay. 4 days (I was here only for 1 day, but I think I would like a similar amount of time as New York) Note: Public transport is great around the city Things to do:

• Explore the city
• Walk along the numerous trails leading to the Golden Gate bridge
• Explore fisherman's wharf

3. About this trip​

4.6.23 The side-effects of COVID-19 were not only health focused. It had detrimental effects on the Research space in Australia. Universities lost billions of dollars from international students. This devastated the University ecosystem, and it meant that a lot of people would lose their jobs. This continues to impact research as the less money available, means that PhD students and early career academics have less opportunities to travel and network, ultimately leading to failed academic careers, and most people leaving the University for work in industry.

This also means that for purposes of international travel, the University became more strict and stingy. For big international trips that are fully funded by the university/grand money, you need to show that you are presenting - either through an acceptance letter or inclusion in a conference program.

Back in January 2023, I submitted an abstract to attend the pi-electrons conference in Rayleigh in the middle of June. A few months ago, it was accepted for an oral presentation. That gave us some time to organise funds and travel dates. Img caption. My presentation is highlighted. This program is just the third sessions of each day. For the full program, click here

While we had submitted forms well in advance, it was not until last week that I heard anything about my travels. The university made us jump through many metaphorical hoops in order for my trip to be fully funded (there was no way that I could afford going without funding, as the flights alone were $2986 AUD).

The itinerary is as follows: Now, I know what you are thinking: 2.5 weeks is a long time for a conference. Well, I am going earlier for my own travels. I am planning to spend 4 days in New York, followed by a few days in Washington, before heading to North Carolina.

This is the first time that I will be leaving the country since I travelled to Europe back in June 2019! I am feeling really nervous but also very excited.

4. Blog

✈️ Sydney to New York​

06-06-2023 As usual, I felt Chip jump up on the bed for cuddles around 3 am. Instead of telling him to go back to his bed, I let him stay. I wanted to enjoy the cuddles before heading off for 2.5 weeks.

When the alarm sounded at 5.30am, I rolled over to Nick who motivated me to get out of bed and get ready. He prepared us a few coffees and then he drove me to the airport. We left home at 6.15 am and arrived at Sydney airport at 7.27 am.

Unfortunately it was raining when he pulled over, so we didn't have much time to say goodbye. A quick kiss and cuddle and then he was off and I was on my way to check-in. I headed to Check-in counter J to collect my boarding pass and check in my luggage (Nick's suitcase that he leant me, as I sold my 70 L backpack after my trip to Europe in 2019).

Img caption. Morning of the flight! Waking up with Chippy next to me and my flight tickets.

I walked around for a bit - bought myself a bamboo travel pillow and a U.S. power adaptor and then took a seat in the food court. I ordered myself a coffee and croissant and then worked on my presentation for the conference. The coffee was not as good as Nick's was this morning, and the croissant was still cold, despite it being toasted for at least 5 mins.

Time flew by as I worked on my presentation. Before I knew it, it was time to board my first flight to San Francisco. After waiting in a line for a while, I boarded the aircraft, only to be sitting for another 18 hours. I watched a few movies, did some writing and by 11 pm (Syd time), I was asleep. About 2 hours later, I was woken for breakfast because we were 1.5 hours from landing. After this point, I could not go back to sleep.

Img caption. Excited for my USA adventure.

We landed on time: 7 am. But it took me a while to get off the aircraft, and then I was standing in the customs line for 1.5 hours! They were so slow. I ended up missing the connecting flight. After waiting in a few more lines, they finally booked me on a new flight to Newark - departing at 1 pm.

At 1 pm, the pilot announced that the flight would be delayed as there were large storms. We sat idle for a while, I thought it was 2 hours. I slept during this time and when I woke up it was 3 am. "WHY HAVEN'T WE LEFT YET?'' I was getting frustrated, when suddenly the plane started shaking like there was turbulance. I looked at the map and we were 1/4 of the way to New York! I had slept through take off. What is even more disappointing is that I missed the meal because I was sleeping.

We landed in Newark at 9.45 pm. It look us a while to get off the plane and then my bags weren't at the carousel. I was about to freak out because I put my medication in my checked luggage. Not to worry though because it was in storage. Somehow it was sent to Newark before we arrived.

Next followed a series of wrong steps that ultimately costed me 2 hours. Nick suggested that I get a taxi from the airport. He even told me that he would pay for it. I told him I would initially but the line for the taxi was so long. I saw a sign for an airport bus, so I walked over. There, I asked a local (in an orange vest) if he could tell me how to get to New York. He advised me to get on the bus to Pen station, then catch a train. He then gave me $2 for the bus. "It's finally working out for me" I thought. "Saving $70 on a taxi and going all the way to New York for $2!".

Well, this was a mistake because it took me to a really seedy station in Newark, where I was very uncomfortable. An older guy, who claimed to be apart of a cult, was following me around the station, so I went to speak with the police (asking them how to get to New York) and the guy stopped harassing me.

Next, I got on a train to Penn station (a different Penn station) in New York. From here, it was 6km to the hostel that I was staying, so I needed to get the subway to W 103 street. The subway is located underground and there is a station on almost every street. It smelt of burned rubber.

After trying to figure out the subway, I got on the wrong train that took me to 125 street. I got on the wrong train because the lines 1,2,3 are red-train lines: Train 1 stops at W 103 St., while 2 and 3 do not. At least I got on a train that went uptown. At W 125 St., I swapped trains that took me downtown.

After 3 stops, I hopped off at W 103 street (across from central park). After carrying my suitcase up a set of stairs, I walked 800 m to the Hostel located on Amsterdam St. The streets were really scary to be honest. As I walked, I noticed that the paths were covered in fences and there were several cop cars around. It was labelled "New York City housing." I later realised that this is their public housing. The streets smelled of marijuana and throughout my stay in New York, this smell never really went away.

The place I am staying is a renovated, 19th century building: HI New York City. When I walked in, it gave off a pretty cool vibe, but as soon as I spoke to the staff, they were not that welcoming. Come to think of it, no-one was open to chatting. This was very different to what I am used to. It must be the New York vibe rubbing off on everyone.

Img caption. The lobby of HI New York Hostel.

My room was located on the 3rd floor, and I was assigned to the 6th bed. The room itself was clean but it smelt pretty bad due to poor ventilation. I put my stuff down and went to have a shower. Surprisingly, despite my lack of sleep, I was barely tired as I was full of adrenaline and stress from the travel. I walked to a deli across the street and bought an egg and cheese sandwich, that I took back to the hostel. While eating this sandwich in a common space at the hostel, I was glad to speak with Nick over the phone. He always has a way of calming me down and making me feel better and safer. I was not keen at all for the next few weeks ahead.

Once I finished eating and talking, I went to bed. During the night, it was very cold. As part of the hostel policy, they keep the air conditioning and air purifier on at all times. I'm feeling glad that I had packed a pair of tracksuit pants and a jumper - as it was a last minute decision to include them. I slept soundly 'til the morning.

📍New York, 7-11 June​

7.6.23 It was a new day. I slept for as long as possible and rolled out of bed at 8.30 am. I went down to the café (the hostel has a café built into it) and ordered a tomato and cheese croissant and a cappuccino. Both were of pretty poor quality and I was very disappointed.

After researching things to do for the week, I got ready and headed out for a run around central park. Central park was amazing! It is huge and full of green. There were trails, paths, rocks and road to run on! There were bubblers throughout. I even saw a waterfall! All of that with the city skyline visible in some places. I thought "man, New York is so cool."

Img caption. The North side of Central Park, observed during a run.

After 10 minutes of stretching, I headed back to the hostel to have a shower, my second coffee and then I was off to explore the city. I walked from the Upper West Side to Times square. While I was walking, it was pretty foggy. I didn't think anything of it.

By 1pm, I was hungry and so I went into a pub called Yard House. They had over 100 beer taps! It was so cool. I sat at the bar and ordered an IPA from Coney island and an avocado/feta on sourdough. It was a really cool place. The service was great, and the bartender was so friendly. I even had a chat to the person next to me, who seemed to be a local. While I was eating my lunch, I stumbled upon an article about the wild fires in Canada and warnings to the public in New York to "stay inside".

Img caption. Hundreds of beer taps in the Yard House.

I was thinking to myself "it's really not that bad and I've had worse (note the Australian bushfires in 2019). After I paid the bill, I walked outside to see that the sky was a tint of red. It also smelt of smoke. That ended my tour of New York City as I did not want to expose myself anymore to that horrible weather.

I was back at the hostel at 4 pm (I did a bit of shopping on my way back). I sat on my laptop for a while to organise the rest of my trip and then went to the supermarket to get something to eat for dinner. I figured that I had spent way to much money today, and eaten a lot of oily foods over the week that I should just eat something not to heavy. I went for a spinach and feta pasta salad. I sat and ate it while I spoke to Nick on the phone. He was really busy, so we didn't speak for too long.

I was in bed by 10 pm and listening to a podcast about the history of Russian & Ukraine relationships, which put me to sleep. I slept sound all night.

8.6.23 The light woke me at 5.30 am this morning. After lazing in bed for half an hour, I woke up and went downstairs to get a coffee. The cafe that is at the hostel was not open yet, so I walked 400 m to Broadway Bagels on the upper westside. I ordered a cinnamon bagel with cream cheese and a coffee. I took these back with me to the hostel, where I sat and ate my breakfast.

At 8 am, I was out of the hostel to explore the city. The air quality was still pretty bad, so I grabbed a mask from the reception of the Hostel. I walked for a little bit, to 96 St station. My feet were pretty sore from the day before that I decided to jump on the subway. At the ticket booth, I purchased a weekly pass for $33 USD. This was one of the best things that I did today as it meant that I would stress less about how much money I was spending on the tickets and that I could use the subway as much as I want.

The first stop was the 9/11 memorial at the World Trade Centre but the site was closed off because of the air quality. This was the theme of the day - most things were closed because of the air quality. From the world trade centre, I walked around battery park and went to the view point of the Statue of Liberty. It was pretty hazy, so the view was not the best.

Img caption. The hazy view of Lady Liberty & a snap of Wall St.

My second coffee of the day was from Gregories coffee shop in the Financial district. I read good reviews. While it was better than any other coffee that I've had in New York, it was still not great. I drank this coffee while admiring the view of the Brooklyn bridge.

Img caption. Admiring the Brooklyn bridge. The air quality is improving since the morning, but still not the best.

As the air quality still wasn't great, I decided to leave the bridge walking to another day. Instead, I jumped on a subway and went to Coney Island. It was a 40 minute trip, and when I arrived, it was a ghost town! No-one was around. There was a lot of construction happening and when I walked along the prominade to the brewery, I was shocked to see that even they were closed! "What a waste of time." I wasted no-more time and I jumped on the subway back to SoHo (south of Houston St). I walked around for a while: through China town & Little Italy. I walked around for about an hour before deciding that I was tired and wanted to go back to the hostel.

Img caption. A pic of Coney Island's Luna park on the left, and Little Italy on the right.

I got on the 1 train from time-square to the hostel and got off at 103 station. It was close to 3 pm and I hadn't eaten since 7 am, so I was starving. Opposite the Subway entrance, there is a pizza shop. I bought 1x slice of mushroom pizza. The price on the display said $3, but that's how they trick you. $3 is not too bad right? Well they don't include the tax or the tip in the price - so $3 actually turned out to be closer to $5. The pizza was satisfying though. I ate it as I walked back to the hostel.

On return to the hostel, I was pretty tired so I went to my room and had a nap. Three hours later, I woke up. I felt very tired still but I forced myself to get out of bed to go to a social event that the hostel was hosting. They gave out 2 free drinks per person, and we played a "social bingo." In this game, you had to go around and find people who had certain traits or skills or knowledge listed on a bingo card. It was a fun hour.

During this hour, I met a lot of interesting people from different parts of the world. One girl was from France and travelling for a Bio conference in Boston. I had a good chat to her about my PhD. Another girl that I met was from Wollongong! How funny, that I met her in New York! A group of us then went into Time Square to continue the fun. We went to Gallaghars pub. I stayed only for 20 minutes before deciding that the group was too big. Also, the singer started acknowledging that there were many Australians in the pub. I felt pretty embarrassed: I hate when people do the "Ozzy, ozzy, ozzy, oi, oi, oi." I find it really offensive.

After leaving the pub, I wandered around time-square. It was so amazing at night! The vibe was incredible and I think I had way more fun on my own in the night, than with the group from the hostel. I watched some street performers and as I was heading to the subway, I noticed the 99c pizza shop. This was recommended to me before I came to New York, so I went and bought 2 slices of vegetarian pizza. I took them on the 1 train with me, back to 103 St. and enjoyed the pizza at the hostel. At this point, it was 11.45 pm. I had a quick chat with Nick while eating the pizza and then went to sleep. Tonight, I slept immediately.

Img caption. Time square at 11 pm.

9.6.23 I woke up slightly later this morning: 6.30 am. As I needed to drink coffee to take away my headache (the addiction is real), I ordered one from the hostel café, and then I was out to explore the city. Luckily the air quality had improved, and the sky was clear.

As I was exhausted from all the walking yesterday, I decided that I needed to arrange my day so that I could get the least tiring things out of the way. I went to the 103 St. station and caught the subway to the South Ferry Wharf to catch the Staten Island Ferry. This is a free service that gives amazing views of Lady liberty and the city. I got on the 8.30 am ferry that took me across to Staten island, then I exited and joined the queue to go back to Manhattan. In total, it was a 1 hour round trip. This was such as amazing thing that I did and I would recommend it to anyone heading to NYC.

Img caption. Lady liberty (on the left) and the Manhattan Sky line (on the right). Note: the building with the tall squire is the new world trade centre building to replace the twin towers.

At 9.30am, I was back in Manhattan. I was feeling pretty hungry, so I got back on the Subway and went to Broadway bagel & coffee company which was recommended to me by a friend. I ordered a blueberry bagel with cream cheese and a coffee. The bagel was very delicious as expected but the coffee was also pretty good! It tasted like a Sydney quality coffee which I was so happy about. This is another place that I would 100% recommend and I will go back tomorrow morning.

Img caption. Enjoying a bagel from the Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company in SoHo.

No time wasted, as next I got on the subway immediately after finishing my bagel and headed to Brooklyn to walk the Brooklyn bridge into Manhattan. I decided to start on the Brooklyn side so I would get the amazing views of Manhattan as I walked. It was incredible! To be honest, I have no idea why people would waste their money coming to Sydney to admire our bridge & opera house when New York is like 10000 times better! The walk was about 2 km long and the bridge ended in the Financial district of New York. I continued walking into the district and returned to the 9/11 memorial site at the World Trade Centre. Img caption. Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge.

The one World Trade Centre was one composed of 7 buildings. In the 9/11 attacks, most of these buildings were destroyed, including a small Greek orthodox church in the Liberty park that was built in the early 1700s. With the destruction of the buildings, there left a massive dent in the area where the Oculus (Westfields) is now located. The story behind the architecture of the new buildings is very interesting and well explained in a Youtube Documentary here.

Today, the 9/11 site was open and it was spectacular! The place where the twin towers originally sat, were replaced with two pools with waterfalls around. The pools represent the foundations of the building: as the original towers required a concrete base to prevent destruction from the Hudson river. All around the edges of the pools are the names of every person that died in that terror attack: Including people on the plane.

Img caption. The New "twin-towers" next to the old twin-towers, in the form of a North and South pool. The right photos are some other pictures in the area, including the white oculus building.

The new buildings are so nice and really add something amazing to the NYC sky line. I think that the architects and government did a great job in using that space and preserving the memory of those who died.

I think I wandered around this area and Westfields for a couple of hours, then went back to the hostel when I started to feel tired, so I could rest. At 4.30 pm, I was out of bed and getting ready to head back to time square for a Broadway show at the Lyric Theatre. I watched Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and it was amazing! The actors and production were very good - even the dementors flew out into the crowd. They told the story very well and their effects were mind blowing. The show went for 3.5 hours - and finished at 10.30 pm. I decided to head back to the hostel.

Img caption. Shots before the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child show started in the Lyric theatre.

Walking out of the Lyric theatre and into Time square caused another huge shock to my system. It surprises me every time I see Time Square! It's so awesome.

10.6.23 Today was my last official day in New York. I woke up at 6 am, as usual and had a coffee from the hostel and a Chobani flip yogurt. I then set off to 59 St (Columbus St) which is the southern end of Central Park, where I ran for 9 km. I saw some terrific views of the city from some rock platforms. There were regions of central park that were very busy and some regions where there was no-one. It just amazed me that every section I ran through was different! I also ran past many statues, the U.S seem to like their statues a lot. My run finished on 103 street.

Img caption. Some snaps in central park.

After 10 minutes of stretching, I headed back to the hostel to have a shower and get ready for the day. At 9.30 am, I jumped on the 1 train to 22 St in Chelsea to get a bagel and coffee from Brooklyn's Bagel and coffee shop. I ordered a cinnamon bagel with cream cheese and a small late, like yesterday. The shop was really busy (that's no surprise, because it's soooo good) but I still found a seat to enjoy my second breakfast.

Img caption. Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee company

From the bagel shop, I headed west towards the Chelsea High Line. The High Line is a park that is elevated off the ground. It is ~1.5 km walk way filled with flowers and trees. The High Line path ended at the Chelsea market, where I spent an hour. It was a typical market with lots of food stalls and clothing discounts. I settled at a German food stall and had a beer and a sandwich. It was not that good and perhaps it was a mistake to have a beer so early in the day, because afterwards, I was so tired!

Img caption. The Chelsea High Line Park.

I walked around a bit more, exploring Chelsea and then hopped back on the subway to the hostel. It was 2 pm when I arrived back, and when I put my head down on my pillow, I immediately fell asleep. I slept until 5.50 pm! I wanted to keep sleeping but I needed to close my rings on my Apple watch, so I got up and had a shower. I was not sure if I should go out somewhere, seeing as it was my last night in New York.

I couldn't talk myself into going out, so instead, I walked to the supermarket, bought some Pasta from the Deli and oranges. I thought that if I was so tired because of my Iron levels, perhaps vitamin C will help me better absorb iron from the supplements that I brought here with me. I took the pasta and oranges back to the hostel, where I ate and then went back to my room to rest. I fell asleep while on the phone to Nick - it was around 9.45 pm. I slept peacefully and for at least 8 hours.

New York is amazing. I would love to spend more time in New York, but I also think that 4 days is enough and it is time to move on to the next place. Someone once told me that it's best to leave a place when you have done everything you wanted to but still want to stay. This means that you will have good memories of that place and want to return.

The next stop is Washington D.C.

📍Washington D.C, 11-13 June​

11.6.23 This morning, I woke up naturally at 5.30 am. After completing the wordle, I climbed off the top bunk and packed my suitcase with the remaining items that were left out. As all the other girls in my room were sleeping, I tried to be as silent as possible. Throughout my stay, it's been such a struggle on the top bunk, as my shoulder always aches hopping off the top bunk. Today, I noticed that it was starting to hurt less. Hopefully when I return home, it will be healed and I can surf again.

I checked out of the hostel and headed to the subway station located next to central park. This subway station has the a and c train, while the W 103 St station located on Broadway had the 1 and D train. I waited 20 minutes for the a train that took me to 22 St. in Chelsea. I exited the station at 6.45 am, right in front of Broadway Bagel & Coffee Company (my favourite). The owner let me in early to sit and wait for them to open. At 6.55 am, they let me order a bagel and coffee. Today I treated myself to an everything bagel with egg and cheese. I also ordered a Large coffee.

Img caption. Everything Bagel with egg & cheese.

When I was ordering at the counter, the worker remembered me from yesterday. It was so surprising because yesterday was really busy! I tipped her 20% and within 5 minutes, I received my bagel and coffee. I sat at the shop and ate/drank for half an hour before walking 5 minutes uptown to W 31 St. and 8th avenue. On the corner, directly opposite Madison Square Gardens is the Flix Bus stop. Here, I hopped on a bus (that I had previously booked for $70) that was heading to Washington D.C.

The bus was a 5 hour trip with 2 stops. The first was in Philadelphia. We stopped here only to drop off and pick up passengers. The bus then drove to Washington with a second pit stop at a rest bay, just off the highway. At 1 pm, we arrived in Washington D.C. Union Station. I exited the bus and then purchased a metro ticket for $30 USD for unlimited travel for 3 days. Hopefully this is worth it, I will let you know.

Side note: For the past 2 days, I have been very tired and exhausted. Now, I feel ready for more adventures. From the minute that I hopped on the Metro, I suddenly felt refreshed. Seems that New York really took a toll on me and as much as I love it, it's not a place that I could spend my life. I am glad that I left when I did.

The first impression that I got of DC was that it was so clean compared to NYC! It barely smelled of anything! The metro was also more modern, but the system worked the same as NYC. I caught the metro to U Street. Around the corner was the hostel that I had booked: U Street Capsule hostel. This was a pretty cool hostel. The door key was sent to my phone which unlocks the hostel and my room. In the rooms, there are 6 beds. The beds are literal capsules with doors to close the bed. It is so cool and a big change from the dingy hostel that I stayed in in NYC.

Img caption. The bed 'capsules' in the U Street Hostel.

After drinking a coffee and booking the rest of my trip, I headed out onto U street and walked around for half an hour. U street was previously the African American region of DC. It is filled with nightclubs, diners and theatres. As I walked along the street, I heard a lot of music and people out celebrating. They were dressed in Pride colours. I asked a security guard what was happening and it turns out that it is Pride Month. I asked why I didn't see this in New York and he said that most people come to DC to celebrate.

As I walked around, I immediately started to sweat. DC is so hot compared to New York. The temperature was 30 °C and really humid. I walked straight back to the hostel to grab my water bottle and sun glasses. Following, I jumped on the Green line metro and headed back into the centre to look at the cute buildings.

Img captions. Cute buildings in DC.

It didn't last long because the first cool building that I saw was the National Art Gallery. I walked in side and spent 2 hours here and it was totally free! It was a really cool art gallery as well - a mix between history and art. There were different sections designated to different time periods in American History - i.e. the revolution, the civil war, times of innovation and discovery.

Img caption. The National Art Gallery.

There was also an area dedicated to the Presidents of the USA. In this area, there was an emphasis on the importance of democracy. I think it was very powerful: That their constant change in presidency is what drives change in the USA, ahead of the rest of the world.

This museum/art gallery also cemented the idea that the U.S. love going to war with the rest of the world to assert their power. It makes sense: as this was a motif in their early history, such as during the revolution.

Another thing that I noticed about the gallery was that it was mostly about males! There was barely any history to do with females. As I walked through, I was thinking "oh yeah, another white male." Towards the end of the gallery, there was a section dedicated to women.

Img caption. Artworks that I really enjoyed in the National Art Gallery.

As I forgot my glasses, my eyes and neck were really starting to hurt (my neck from tilting my head to see properly). I tried to take in as much as possible, but by 6.30 pm, I couldn't read anything else. I left the museum and headed straight to a restaurant that was recommended to me: The Founding Farmers Distillery. It was a very cute restaurant that sold Bourdon/vodka that was made there. I ordered a bourbon cocktail and a vegetarian burger. Both were so delicious. The buns were also made by the Founding Farmers. You could tell that the quality was above most other burgers as they were so soft, and melted in my mouth.

Img caption. Burger and cocktail from the Founding Farmers Distillery.

When I finished my dinner and drink, I walked towards the National Capital building. The music was getting louder and louder. There, at the capital building was a stage with musicians for the Pride Festival. It was pretty cool but not my scene. I jumped back on the metro and headed to the hostel, where I spent the rest of the evening watching documentaries of the civil war and the revolution.

12.6.23 This morning, I woke up at 7 am. I grabbed my phone and immediately went online to secure tickets for the Holocaust Museum. The tickets are $1 USD (only a booking fee) but I assume they only have limited tickets that are sold on the day because of how small/delicate the museum is. I booked my session for 11.30 am (the first one available) and then headed downstairs to the Café Brew on U, located in my hostel. I ate an almost croissant and a coffee for breakfast. Both were pretty good (yes, the coffee wasn't bad).

An hour past and I ordered another coffee and had a chat to a lady who was also staying at the hostel. She was a retiree from Germany and travelling in D.C for 1 week before heading home. She seems to have a cool life of travel. By this time, it was 10 am - so I had been sitting around for hours. I decided to get dressed and head off on the subway to the National Mall.

I took the green subway to the Smithsonian station and exited in the centre of the Mall. The look of the buildings was amazing from this angle. At this point, the capital building, the white house, Arlington cemetery and the Capital monument line up. On the outside, are all the museums: The American History, the African American, the Space Exploration etc etc.

Img caption. Pics of a few buildings in DC: Showing (1) the paris vibe of DC and (2) the National Monument of DC located at the National Mall.

I walked around the corner to the Holocaust Museum. In the Museum there were several exhibitions. You get the elevator up to the forth floor, where the permanent exhibitions are. Then you walk around and make your way down each floor. The theme of the museum is "Could the U.S have prevented the Holocaust? Why weren't they involved sooner?" The museum was very depressing, but quite amazing in how they displayed some of the information. I spent about 3 hours at this museum in total.

Img caption. Inside the holocaust museum.

When I exited the museum, I was feeling hungry, so I got on the subway to the city centre. Close to Chinatown, there was a street that was filled with Mexican restaurants, where I had a burrito for lunch. After eating, I hopped back on the subway and went to the Pentagon. When I exited the subway, I realised that there was not much to see. There were a lot of Army reservists. I got back on the Subway to Arlington Cemetery. When I exited the subway and walked towards the cemetery, I realised how tired I was and then thought to myself "I don't really care about seeing graves." I walked back to the Subway and then went to the hostel.

At this time, it was close to 4 pm. I had a rest and watched a movie on my laptop. Then I got up, showered and then went for dinner at a bar near to my hostel. I ordered myself a margarita and mushroom pizza, followed by an aperol spritz. It was a great dinner and a relaxing afternoon. I walked back to the hostel and lay in bed watching more movies.

13.6.23 I woke up at 7 am again. I headed downstairs for my usual morning routine of lazing around until 9 am. The café was not yet open, so I walked to subway and bought a foot-long egg and cheese sub. When I returned to the hostel, I ordered a Cappuccino. The barista today could actually do some late art, which I haven't yet seen in the USA.

Today at the cafe, a few locals came in and sat down to enjoy their morning coffee. I struck up a conversation with one, named Harrison who lives in DC but is originally from Texas. He was so friendly and we chatted for about 15 mins before I went upstairs to clean out my room. I took the sheets off the bed and into the cleaning basket as per the hostels request. I then packed my bag and checked out of the hostel. They allowed me to leave my luggage at the hostel for the day while I went out to explore for a little bit longer.

Img caption. 270° view of the National Mall.

Once again, I headed downtown to the federal triangle/Smithsonian/the National Mall. I walked around for a short while, looking at the really awesome buildings and then found myself at the American History Museum. Inside the building, there were 3 floors with different themes. Some highlights were the entertainment section, the revolution section, the section dedicated to the inventions with some really cool displays.

The American History Museum had a similar format to the National Art gallery. I felt like it was mostly about privileged white men and racism, which is the overarching theme of the USA. I feel so bad for the immigrants and people of colour. I also got the vibe that people of the U.S think that they are better than the rest of the world. This is not the people's fault though. This patriotism begins in school and is instilled in the minds of the youth.

Overall, the museum was good but I would have preferred to go to the National African-American museum that was located next door. As I ran out of time, I did not go there. I heard really good things about it from people in the History museum and therefore, would recommend the African-American museum over the History one.

I spent about 3 hours in the museum before my stomach started rumbling for food. I walked outside and found a strip of street filled with food trucks. I ordered a Falafel Pita for $12 (I thought it was really expensive, but there was nothing else around). After eating my lunch, I walked around the Federal triangle for about half an hour before heading back to the Hostel.

An observation about DC, particularly in the centre, is that the buildings located around the Federal Triangle have a strong resemblance to Paris. There are no high rises and the buildings are all so cool. The flag of the USA is displayed on many of the buildings and the buildings are mostly white/lighter shades. They seem very organised and carefully placed in particular positions around the city. There are also many military personnel and police that walk around the streets. Perhaps DC was inspired from Paris?

Img caption. Examples of the white buildings in DC to give a "Paris Vibe."

At the hostel, I refilled my bottle, freshened up and then caught the Subway to Bethesda. My bus was scheduled for 3.05 pm at a random curb-side bus stop. I arrived 1 hour early and decided to wait in a café close-by, Tatte.

Tatte café and bakery was a French inspired bakery that served a range of sweet and savouries. While I was in the queue, the guy in front struck up a conversation, asking me where I am heading. He was tall guy, who looked German (blue eyes, blond hair) but had an American accent. He invited me to sit with him after I ordered.

Img caption. A delicious Strawberry & Rhubarb pie from Tatte.

I ended up ordering a strawberry and rhubarb pie - as I saw the guy in front of me order it and it looked delicious. I also ordered my third coffee for the day. I went and sat with the blue-eyed guy from the queue (I failed to get his name). We spoke for about half an hour while we ate our pies and I drank my coffee. He is from Iowa but lives in Papai New Guinea in the American Embassy. He travels a lot and told me that he was starting to get sick of it. At 2.45 pm, I had to end our conversation because I needed to go to the bus-stop. It was a cool conversation and he was so friendly!

When I arrived back at the bus-stop (about 5 min walk), the bus was pulling up to the curb. I put my suitcase in the luggage storage at the bottom of the bus and took my seat...

📍Richmond VA, 13-15 June​

... At 3.05 pm, the bus left DC for Richmond. Yesterday, I booked an Airbnb for two nights, located in the South West of Richmond. The owner of the Airbnb also lives at the property and gave me very clear instructions on how to get there.

The bus arrived at 6 pm. I walked a few blocks, towards the main street. I spent a long time trying to figure out where the bus stops were and waited a while for the bus to come: close to half an hour. I took the bus to Hue/33rd street. The cool thing about it was that it was free! Most of the buses in the city are free!

When I exited the bus, the area looked very run-down and kind of sketchy. However, as soon as I walked along 33rd street, I got a totally different vibe.

The area was exactly how you would imagine a Southern State would be: Cute houses made of fibreglass with the American flag hanging off the front porch. Most of the front porches also had rocking chairs.

When I arrived at Nancy's house, I went around the back because she was painting her porch. I settled in and then she lent me a bicycle so I could go and get food for dinner. Nancy recommended me a Deli, called Stella. I bought a mushroom pasta and a Hazy Pale ale from a brewery in Charlottesville. I packed them into the bags on the back of the bike and rode back to the Airbnb, where I ate and drank. Both were very good.

I decided that what I want out of Richmond is not to tour the city. Instead, I want to have a relaxing day around the outskirts of Richmond and enjoy the nature of the parks surrounding.

14.6.23 This morning, I woke up at 6.30 am. I completed the daily wordle and did a lesson on Duolingo, before calling Nick. We chatted for 10 mins and he went to bed, while I got out of bed and started to prepare for the day.

Nancy was already awake, and she made me a coffee. She told me about her life: She is a cellist and lived in Istanbul and India throughout her life. She has two children who she brought up in India but now live in the U.S. During the pandemic, she was living in Turkey but her daughter convinced her to move back to the U.S. As she could not afford a property elsewhere, she bought a run down house in Richmond.

When she first bought it, it stunk so bad from the mould growing under the house. As this house is pretty old, the buildings were not well designed. The house was built directly on top of the soil, which meant that it is constantly exposed to moisture = MOLD. She went on to tell me about all the misadventures that she had in renovating the house and bringing it up to living standards. Now, it looks amazing! She did a really good job.

In terms of work though, she doesn't have a steady income stream. She teaches cello, but it is not popular in the area. Therefore, Nancy relies on Airbnb to survive. She has 2 rooms that she rents out and she told me that she loves running Airbnb.

After I finished off my coffee, I got ready for the day. I walked to a café, WPA bakery located off Forest Hill avenue. I ordered a coffee and a muffin which costed about $6 in total - much cheaper than previously. As I ate my muffin and drank my coffee, a local man struck up a conversation. It was so nice. As I left the café, I noticed that he had left his phone on the counter. I chased after him and he was very thankful. I'm sure that he probably thought "I'm glad I spoke with her beforehand."

Img caption. My breakfast in Richmond.

For the remainder of the morning and early afternoon, I walked/hiked through the James River park. There were so many trails that were available. I walked along a trail until I crossed a bridge to Belle Isle. This island is a key historic region for Richmond - as it was the site where the south held prisoners of war during the civil war. As you walk around the island, there are remnants of buildings that existed during this time. It was really cool.

Img caption. Remnants of old buildings in the James River Park.

On the eastern side of the island, there was a River Rapid that was very loud. It was also really beautiful to see. Several people were there to sun-bake on the rocks or bathe in pools that were not apart of the rapid. I had packed my swimmers but I was not too keen to go in.

Img caption. The Rapids in image (1), the footbridge in (2) and the view of Richmond from the footbridge in (3).

The track around the island was about a 2 km loop. After I completed the loop, I walked over a foot-bridge that headed into the city. After this, there was not much else to talk about. I walked back to the airbnb via a different route that met up with the trails that I started on.

The round trip turned out to be close to 13 km. My feet were aching by the end of this walk. When I returned to Forest Hill park, I sat at a café called Crossroads. I ordered a Mediterranean wrap that came with a choice of fries, an orange or a banana. I chose the banana. I feel like before this trip, I took supermarkets such as Woolworths for granted. I am yet to find a supermarket close by that sells bananas.

Img caption. Today's walking route around Richmond.

Once I had finished eating, I walked back to Nancy's place. I showered and relaxed for a while and then found myself sleeping until 4 pm. I had to force myself to get up and do something.

I took the bike and rode to the Veil brewery located 3 km away from the airbnb. I sat and drank two different Hazy IPAs. Both were really nice! So far I have only experienced good craft beer in America. It is amazing!

I arrived back to the Airbnb by 6 pm - not too late, where I relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow, I am heading to Raleigh. My bus leaves at 12 pm and arrives at 3 pm.

15.6.23 It was another standard morning of lazing in bed until 7 am. Once I completed the wordle and called Nick, I headed to the WMP bakery that I went to yesterday. I ordered a Coconut & blueberry muffin with a coffee. I sat and ate it at the café before heading back to Nancy's. I relaxed on the front porch for a while and downloaded a movie to watch on the bus to Raleigh.

I ended up leaving Nancy's Airbnb at 10 am to get the city bus to the Greyhound bus stop. It took me about an hour to get to the bus-stop. I spent the remaining time waiting for the bus. While I was at the Greyhound bus stop, a few guys were handing out free-food and water. They explained that a lot of people that come through this bus-stop are often under a lot of stress - travelling for funerals or sickness in the family.

I stopped and thought about it for a second. I realised that throughout my travels, I never encountered another traveller. Everyone was from the U.S. and travelling somewhere on the east coast. It had never occurred to me that people might me struggling around me.

Then they asked if they could say a prayer for me. I told them that they didn't need to pray for me because I live a privileged life. They insisted to wish me safe travels. While I am not a believer in god, I went along with them and appreciated the sentiment.

Soon after, the bus had arrived. I made myself comfortable and spread my stuff across two seats. On the trip, I watched Captain Marvel. After it finished, we were really close to the Greyhound Bus centre in Raleigh. However, a massive traffic jam caused a slight delay and instead of arriving at 2.50, we arrived at 3.25 pm.

📍Raleigh NC, 15-21 June​

| Img caption. Welcome to Raleigh

As soon as I got off the bus, I got a massive hit of hot air. It was so humid, probably 30 °C. Luckily it was a very easy transition from the Greyhound Bus stop to the city bus stop. All I had to do was cross the street to the bus stop. To get to my Airbnb, I needed to go Downtown and change buses for 19. On the drive through, the city looked so cute - the houses were small brick buildings with chimneys, all giving the 19th century vibe.

On arrival at the bus centre in Downtown Raleigh, I went to the ticket booth to get a "Go" card for the public transport. I read a sign that said "Transport is free until July 2024."

The transfer was very simple and by 4.30 pm I was at the Airbnb. Due to a malfunction with the air-conditioning, I needed to swap locations for 2 days. The current Airbnb is located 2 km South East of Downtown Raleigh, in a quiet street. It is a Granny Flat at the back of the main house. When I walked inside the small renovated flat, I felt at ease. It felt comforting to finally have my own space. After a thorough inspection of the place, the owners didn't leave much for me to eat - not that I expected anything, but usually they leave something, right? Although, there were several coffee pods located next to the coffee machine, but no milk.

As the Airbnb was located out in the suburbs, I wasn't close to any grocery stores. Once I unpacked my suitcase and settled in, I headed back to Downtown Raleigh.

I walked around for a little bit and then walked inside a Mexican Restaurant, El Rodeo. From the outside, it didn't look really appealing but on the inside, it had an Authentic Mexican look. The waitress brought over a bowl of nacho chips and salsa to start.

Img caption. Mexican dinner in Raleigh.

I ordered a margarita and a vegetarian combo with a burrito, taco and cheese quesadilla. Both the meal and the margarita were massive and I only paid $20 - that's USD though, so technically it is not that cheap. However, it is significantly cheaper than any of the other places that I have been. For example, a meal in DC with 2x cocktails was $58 USD.

After I paid the bill (with 22% tip), I headed across the road to buy some cereal and milk for my breakfast in the morning, then back on the bus to the Airbnb. I spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching movies.

16.6.23 Rolled out of bed at 7 am, called Nick while I sipped on my coffee and ate some Raisin Bran (it feels nice not having to leave the flat to get coffee). During this time, I also fixed up some of my presentation for the conference and spent some time looking through the conference guide to pick talks that I wanted to attend.

I had this anxious feeling running through my body - I can't even describe it. It's like I needed to move around and being inside was starting to drive me crazy. In that moment, I knew that I needed to do an intense activity to drive up my heartrate. I put on my training clothes and went for a 9 km run around Raleigh.

It was so hot! I took it very very slow. My feet were burning and I was sweating a lot. I did see a lot of cool things in the city. The highlight was the historic region in Oakwood (east of the city).

Img caption. The cute, old buildings in Raleigh.

Once I returned to the flat, I spent 15 minutes stretching in the yard that is behind the flat. It was so relaxing and peaceful. Following, I had a shower and got dressed, washed some of my clothes (in the shower, before realising that they have a washing machine) and then put them in the dryer.

I headed back Downtown to have a second breakfast. Once I arrived downtown, I went into the coffee shop, 42 & Lawrence, I ordered a latte and a pecan croissant. Both were pretty good - especially the croissant; it was amazing! I spent half an hour eating and drinking and then went walking around town.

Img caption. Raleigh is a standard city - just without a good public transport system.

I passed a cool food mall, Morgan street food hall but it looked pretty expensive. As I continued walking, I found a shop called State of Beer. The shop was a liquor store and a restaurant/bar with only wine and beer for sale.

I took a local pale ale and a sandwich for lunch. I sat for about an hour and a half and spoke with the bartenders/waitresses. There were no men working which was also another perk (female power)! I got lots of tips and recommendations from the bartenders.

Following lunch, I headed back to the flat, where I sat and practiced and tweaked my presentation. Suddenly, I started to feel overwhelmed. "Oh my gosh," I thought "I have 6 months left of my PhD, and I haven't finished lab work yet." I went into a panic mode. What is my strategy to calm myself? Usually its the beach, but I don't have that here.

I got up and walked around the flat. Then I proceeded to iron my dress and get ready for the welcome reception. This calmed my nerves (for now).

I headed back Downtown at 5.20 pm to register for the conference and then walked to the welcome reception, located at Agora Taverna (a Greek restaurant located ~900 m from the convention centre). The restaurant seemed to be an authentic Greek restaurant with some cool cocktails on the bar menu. As I arrived early, I just sat and waited at the bar downstairs and spent sometime going through the program for the conference. Not long after, two people came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. I did not know who they were, but I soon learned that they were with the conference and one of them was an organiser.

They were very nice and I felt happy that I had arrived early, because I spent about half an hour sitting with them upstairs. I had finished 3x aperol spritz before anyone else arrived (it was an open bar). At 6.30 pm, I ate some of the food that was served and even though it was just basic finger food, it tasted amazing. I ate the most amazing spinach & cheese triangles and seaweed/rice rolls.

Four-hours flew by. I met so many people in the pi-electronics field and a lot of amazing synthetic polymer chemists. Over the night, I had quite a bit to drink: 3 aperol spritz, 1 Bourbon cocktail and then 2 beers. All drinks were very nice and free (I live for the free food).

At 11 pm, I called myself an uber back to the airbnb. I called Nick and made myself a cup of tea before going to bed. My sleep was pretty disturbed from the drinks...

17.6.23 I still managed to wake up at 6.30 am this morning. I made myself some cereal and coffee before showering and packing up my suitcase (I needed to change accommodation today). At 8 am, I got an uber to the next airbnb (which was about 2 km north west of where I was staying).

The new location is a renovated garage. I struggled a bit to get in but I ended up figuring it out. I dropped my stuff and then headed to the Convention centre for the first official day of Fpi15 conference.

The day was good, but I honestly felt like I didn't absorb much information. Most of the talks were not really related to the things that I want to do - i.e. polymer synthesis.

During the breaks, I spoke with a lot of people. I met a publisher at the Royal Chemical Society and asked how he landed the job. I think that would be the perfect job for me: a science editor. During several other talks throughout the afternoon, I went online and looked up science writing jobs. It looks so tough, and I am not sure how I will land such a job straight out of PhD. I signed myself up to The Conversation in hopes that I can write articles and improve.

By 5 pm, I was feeling really tired and so I decided to head straight back to the Airbnb, where I relaxed and watched the Originals for the rest of the evening.

18.6.23 I woke up extra tired this morning and missing home. I made myself coffee at 6.50 am and lay in bed until 8 am, practicing my presentation. I am really not looking forward to it and I am starting to feel quite deflated and uneasy. I think it will be better when my presentation is over tomorrow.

I chatted to Nick for a short while and then got ready and walked to the bus-stop. There were no buses for like half an hour! I ended up calling an uber, but I waited at least 20 minutes to get a ride. I left the flat at 8.20 am and I didn't arrive at the convention centre until 9.05 am. It was terrible! Walking would've been quicker, but I did not want to sweat through my good conference shirt (a white blouse).

When I arrived, I ate a muffin and had a coffee, but I was not ready to go into the presentation hall. Instead, I sat out in the foyer and just spent half an hour writing in this blog.

Throughout the day, I watched some really good talks. The lunch that the conference provided was pretty good (I even ate some Salmon). By 4.30 pm, I was really tired and decided to head back to the Airbnb and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

19.6.23 – 20.6.23 Throughout the rest of the conference, I did not have a lot of time or energy to update this blog. There were a lot of good talks and a lot of things that happened throughout the conference. I have summarised most of the events in the Fpi15 conference post.

21.6.23 Today was the last day of the conference. I woke up at 7 am and packed up the Airbnb. For the past few days it has been raining and I have been very frustrated with the public transport - the bus drivers are never on time and sometimes do not show at all. It is very annoying and does not work at all! This is a key reason why I didn't enjoy this city as much as I would have thought.

As getting around is difficult, I have been very limited in the things that I could do. I did not run since the first day I arrived because it has been way too hot or raining. I have been using Uber. Before this trip, I have used it only once in my life - shows you how desperate I was.

The Uber arrived at 8.30 am this morning. I left my bags at the reception of the Raleigh Convention Centre and attended all the sessions. The conference ended at 12.30 pm. Afterwards, I walked across the street to a vegan restaurant and sat with a few people from the conference. I enjoyed an impossible burger and fries. Once I paid the check, I headed to a brewery, Crankshaft, close by to buy some take-away beers for Nick (as a gift for our anniversary. Yes we've been together for 1 year as of 17 June). Of course, I had a tasting paddle to choose which beer that I wanted.

Img caption. Crankshaft Brewery

At 2.30 pm, I called an Uber for the airport and arrived really early for my flight. I was very nervous as I was convinced that I would miss the connecting flight - since there was only a 1 hour layover. My worries were correct, because at 6.30 pm, just 45 minutes before boarding, they announced that the flight will be delayed by 3 hours.

I lined up to try and rebook another connecting flight. Turns out there was not another one until Thursday (tomorrow night). Well, there was nothing I could do, so I agreed. The plan was now to take the 11pm flight from Raleigh to SFO and arrive at 1.15 am. Then take the 10.55 pm flight from SFO to Sydney. as the time approached 10 pm, they announced that the flight was further delayed until 9 am due to crew shortages. I was so upset and cried a lot over the phone to Nick. They should have known that there was no staff earlier. Why leave it so late to let us know?

Luckily, they sent me a voucher for a night stay in the airport hotel (2 star hotel, not very good, but good enough for sleep). I was so stressed and upset and I was really hating being in the USA. I showered and then fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

📍San Francisco, 22-23 June​

22.6.23 I had a good sleep and caught the shuttle bus back to the airport at 7 am. From this point onwards, the flight went well. As all the people originally on the flight changed their bookings, it was very empty. This meant that I got a whole row of seats to myself, where I lay down, relax and sleep throughout the flight.

The minute that I saw the views of the mountains in San Francisco, I was so excited for the day. It was the coolest landing that I have ever experienced - we were so close to the water and then we quickly touched the land. Exiting the airport was very simple, and as I was heading to the AirTrain, I ran into an old couple with their dog. I asked if I could pat her and then we talked for about 5 minutes. They gave me some tips for the city.

Img caption. First impressions of San Francisco: I love it!

I jumped on the train for $10 USD - the guard on the platform let me connect to his hotspot (because for some reason I had no reception) to add the transport card, Clipper, to my apple wallet. 30 minutes later, I was in the city. I got off the train at Powell St. I walked around for a little bit and then hopped on a bus to the Fisherman's wharf. I enjoyed an egg sandwich on the beach, before walking to the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Golden Gate Bridge was amazing! The views of the water, mountain and bridge made me feel so happy. My first thoughts were "I wish I could run up that mountain." I enjoyed walking around until my toes started to blister (I wore the wrong shoes today). At 4.30 pm, I hopped on the bus back to Powell Street, where I ate a mac and cheese at a diner.

Img caption. The Golden Gate Bridge!!

I got the 6 pm bus to the airport - which saved me money as it only cost $2. I arrived 4 hours early for my flight. I sat and watched Netflix, content with my day. Despite how stressful yesterday was, I am happy that I got to see some of San Francisco. It definitely turned an almost sour mood into a more positive outlook on travelling in the U.S.

✈️ San Francisco to Sydney​

On the flight home, I had a whole row to myself. For the most of the 14 hour flight, I slept, laying out across the four empty seats. I woke only to eat (we were served dinner, a snack and then breakfast) and then watched some pre-downloaded shows to put myself back to sleep afterward. United airlines certainly made up for all the stress that they put me through.

24.6.23 The plane landed in Sydney at 7.15 am. It took about half an hour to get through customs and head to the public pickup where Nick was waiting for me. We headed straight to mum's to prepare for Zayne's first birthday & Baptism.

It is nice to be back at home. While it was nice to see some parts of the USA, I think it may be a while before I return again. Afterall, there is no place like home. I was inspired by all the awesome scientists at the Fpi15 conference to do something great once I finish my PhD.