We arrived on yet another spectacularly sunny day. After hearing about how terrible the weather was in New Zealand for months before getting here, I was refusing to believe it ever rained here — we’d had incredible clear skies and not a drop of rain during the two weeks we’d been here.

Not wanting to waste the weather, we decided to spend our first day hiking to the top of Mount Maunganui, the extinct volcano that dominates the landscape in this area. I was loving all the walking I’d been doing in New Zealand and wasn’t going to complain about another opportunity to exercise my legs.

My big hike, the Tongariro Crossing, was looming. In under a week, I’d be attempting the hardest physical challenge I’d ever put my body through. I would be walking 25 km and, prior to arriving in New Zealand, I’d never walked more than 6.

My thoughts were consumed by the challenge that lay ahead and then –

I don’t know what happened.

One second I was fine, bounding happily next to Dave, talking about how I was enjoying my new love of walking and then the next second my ankle had given way and I was sprawled across the road, gasping in agony.

I still had a weak ankle from my fall in Cambodia three months before this. I’d badly sprained my ankle falling off a kerb in Sihanoukville and had been unable to walk on it for over a month. It still hadn’t completely healed and was tender in certain positions but the pain had mostly gone.

If I had just damaged my ankle again in the exact same way then I’d be right back to square one.

Most devastatingly of all, I would not be hiking the Tongariro Crossing in 5 days time.

As I clutched at my ankle, refusing to cry yet struggling not to scream, Dave ran over and dragged me to the side of the road before pulling me to my feet. He’d seen this happen before and knew that if he didn’t do anything I’d be lying in the road all day. I tried to put weight on my ankle, groaning in agony as soon as I moved it.

This didn’t look good.

I didn’t want to ruin Dave and Dustin’s walk to the top so I insisted that was fine, that I’d just head back to the car and wait for them there, that my ankle was getting so much better already.

It wasn’t. 

I waited until they were out of sight before shuffling behind a sign and bursting into tears. I was in so much pain. My ankle was throbbing. I couldn’t put any weight on it. We’d only managed to walk for five minutes from where we’d parked the car but it took me over half an hour to hobble back.

I felt my dream of hiking the Tongariro Crossing slipping from my grasp.

This was everything I’d spent the past six months working towards, it was the reason for my hiking evolution over my last few posts. My entire focus had been on improving my fitness and turning myself into a hiker. I’d spent hundreds of pounds on specialist hiking gear, I’d spent hours comparing North Face hiking boots on the Blacks website. I’d finally felt like I would be able to rock all the hikes we had planned in New Zealand and now this had happened.

I was completely and utterly devastated.

Easing myself into the car, I spent the next couple of hours looking up how to treat a sprained ankle on my phone and utilising my photographic memory by memorising every word of entire first chapter of the New Zealand Lonely Planet. Dave was sure to be astounded at my historical and cultural knowledge of the, ahem, land of the long white cloud.

Just wait until he saw my haka.

Memorising Maori phrases and learning facts about the All Blacks rugby team helped to keep my mind off the excruciating pain shooting through my ankle but I still couldn’t stop myself from wallowing in self-pity. I could think only of all our hikes we had planned — it wasn’t just the Tongariro Crossing, it was the Queen Charlotte Track, it was the Lake Waikaremoana hike, it was walking on a glacier for the very first time.

Was I destined to spend the next two months in New Zealand lying in bed, unable to take part in all the amazing activities I had arranged?

Quickly wiping away my tears when I spotted Dave and Dustin strolling back to the car, I gingerly placed my foot back on the floor of the car and arranged my face into what I hoped was a bright smile rather than an sorrow-filled grimace.

“Hi, guys! How was the walk? Yeah, my foot’s actually a lot better now! It’s nowhere near as bad as before, I’m pretty certain it’ll be fine in a few days”

Positive mental attitude and all that.

Sadly, the rest of my time in Mount Maunganui was spent recovering in bed. It was tough to keep up the pretence that my ankle was improving when it felt like it was getting worse but I knew that if Dave and Dustin knew how bad it was they’d refuse to let me anywhere near the Tongariro Crossing. I wasn’t going to say anything to them until the day before the walk — and hopefully by that point my ankle would have healed enough for me to walk on it without pain.

I can be incredibly stubborn when I set my mind on something and I knew that I was going to attempt the Crossing, injured ankle or not.

I wasn’t ready to give up on my dreams yet.

I’m upset I didn’t get to explore more of Mount Maunganui. Judging by the boys’ photos, it looks like somewhere I’d love and an amazing place to spend a summer. There’s gorgeous white sand beaches, the views from the top of Mount Maunganui look stunning, there are paragliders and surfers everywhere and plenty of pubs and cafes to chill out and relax in.

And as for my ankle?

The next five days were going to be crucial.

Where to stay in Mount Maunganui

Our Partnership with HostelBookers brought us to Pacific Coast Backpackers, a cute and cosy hostel located just 500 metres from the beach. The staff were friendly and helpful and I loved that the hostel offered free surfboards and bicycles to hire, even though I didn’t get a chance to use them…

Given that I spent most of my time in Mount Maunganui in bed with my foot on a pile of pillows, I got to know the bedroom pretty well. Our room was bright, airy and clean. It was also surprisingly quiet, given that the hostel has 96 beds and was full when we stayed there. The shared bathroom was clean and modern and the upstairs common room was the perfect place to relax and get some work done, with comfy sofas and a TV.

Though I’ve mostly given up bitching about how painfully slow and expensive New Zealand internet is, I have to mention that Pacific Coast Backpackers charged an absolutely ridiculous rate of $18 for six hours — the most expensive rate of all the hostels I stayed in over my two months in New Zealand. Needless to say, I resorted to tethering my laptop to my phone and worked over the 3G connection for my time in Mount Maunganui.

The post Climbing, Collapsing and Crying in Mount Maunganui appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

When I agreed to join Dave and Dustin on a half-hour jetboat ride, I genuinely had no idea what this would entail.

I mean, I had never even heard of a jetboat.

… And after being told it was just a reasonably fast boat that casually whizzes past pretty scenery on a calm river it sounded like something I’d probably enjoy. I mean, sure, my ridiculous motion sickness means I vomit every time I move but a boat ride on a river?

How bad could it possibly be?

We arrived at the Huka Falls Jet office and as we walked through the door, my jaw dropped. I was greeted with an enormous screen showing a jetboat racing down a terrifyingly narrow channel at 80km/h. The passengers were being thrown from side to side, the boat was avoiding rocks by mere centimetres.

What on earth had I gotten myself into?

With barely any time to comprehend what the next 30 minutes had in store for me, I soon found myself sitting nervously in the boat, wondering how soon it would be before I threw up over myself.

Our driver went through the safety briefing: “don’t stand up, don’t fall out, hold on tight. When I hold my finger in the air and draw a circle, we’re about to go into a 360 degree turn.”

Wait, what?

A THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY DEGREE TURN?!

I think my awkward smile and vice-like grip on Dave’s hand in the photo below says everything about how I was feeling at that moment.

I instantly knew this was not going to be enjoyable.

I’ve never met anyone with motion sickness as bad as mine. I can’t spend more than 5 minutes in the ocean without feeling nauseous, swimming pools make me feel awful and even baths have made me feel terrible in the past.

My petrifying run-in with severe vertigo in Turkey last year left me even more paranoid about my body undergoing unnatural movements. The vertigo was caused by dislodged crystals in my inner ear — and once you have this happen once it’s extremely likely you’ll get it over and over again. I’ve been fortunate not to have had a single reoccurrence over the past 8 months, but I couldn’t help but worry that all of these high-speed turns were going to make my body very unhappy.

And then we started moving.

We accelerated sharply and began bouncing violently across the water, the engine roaring. I nervously glanced up at Dave, silently cursing his courage and lack of nausea upon seeing him grinning widely. I cringed as we raced towards the riverbank, screaming as we suddenly skidded to a stop before accelerating rapidly towards an island in the centre of the river.

I watched as our driver raised his finger in the air and began to slowly move it in a circle. I tightly gripped the bar in front of me, fighting the urge to leap forwards and bite his finger off. Anything not to have to go through this.

Silence.

Before I could even prepare myself for what was coming, I found myself spinning sharply at a paralysingly fast speed.

As we came out of the turn, the entire jetboat was laughing, cheering and looking like they were having the time of their lives.

I wanted to jump off the side of the boat and swim back to the office.

With Dustin positioned in the row in front of us, he had a perfect view of my overly expressive face and diligently made sure to record every single second of my terror over the next 30 minutes.

It wasn’t pretty.

And then I cried.

I think it’s safe to say that I probably won’t be getting on a jetboat ever again.

I would just like to mention that Dave, Dustin, everyone on the jetboat and what seems like everyone who has ever spoke of Huka Falls Jet online absolutely loved their jetboat experience. If you like fun then you’ll likely love jetboating. If you get travelsick you’ll probably enjoy it too as I wasn’t able to find a single report online of anyone ever feeling sick on a jetboat.

I guess I’m just pathetic special.

The post In Which I Go On A Jetboat And Immediately Want To Die appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

“Ughhh… seriously, Lauren? You really want to go there?” 

Dave groaned loudly from the bed below mine, sounding like it was the last thing he wanted to do.

“You know it’s really, really smelly, right?” Dustin chimed in from across the room.

“Yes! I do!” I insisted. “It just… it looks so pretty and colourful and awesome and… just, yes!”

I could tell the boys didn’t really share my enthusiasm for spending a few days in Rotorua. The notoriously smelly city in the North Island of New Zealand is built on top of a geothermal hotspot and it is this hotspot that has led to Rotorua acquiring the nickname of Sulphur City. While this means you’ll likely spend your entire time in the city having your nostrils assaulted by the pungent smell of rotten eggs, it also means that Rotorua has some pretty incredible sights.

It was this geothermal activity, visible in pockets scattered all over the city, that had me rather desperate to visit. In and around Rotorua, you can find bubbling mud pools, a near-constant stream of steam erupting from geysers, thermal lakes, massive craters, hissing steam from the vents at the side of the road and some of the craziest colours I’ve ever seen.

Dave and Dustin had both been to Rotorua before, they’d experienced the smells, seen the bizarre scenery and weren’t too keen to return. I’m sure their trip to Yellowstone last year had them even less enthusiastic about visiting.

Seeing that I was being forced into all kinds of hiking activities during my time in New Zealand, I wouldn’t allow them to say no to a visit to Rotorua.

And that was how I ended up at Waimangu Volcanic Valley, my half-broken camera in hand, fingers gripped firmly over my nose. 

The volcanic rift at Waimangu was formed back in 1886 when Mount Terawera erupted, destroying villages within a 6 kilometre radius and spewing ash as far south as Christchurch! This was New Zealand’s largest ever volcanic eruption with over 2 cubic kilometres of rock and ash thrown into the air — more than when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980.

The awesome-sounding pink and white terraces were destroyed, a 17 kilometre rift was created, nearby Lake Rotomahana grew to twenty times its original size and the crazy-ass Waimangu Geyser was formed — a geyser that shot out rocks and steam to heights of 1,500 feet! Waimangu geyser only lasted four years, which is a shame because it sounds badass.

Seeing that I was the one that was dragging Dave and Dustin through Smellyville, I decided to try and make the experience as fun as possible for them. Mostly by reading out facts from the brochure we were given in an upper-class British accent.

I’m sure they loved it.

We began our walk at Frying Pan Lake, the largest hot spring in the world, which vaguely resembled an enormous frying pan. This was one of the highlights from my time at Waimangu, the steam drifting eerily over the surface of the lake giving the impression of boiling water.

The steam isn’t created from the boiling itself but from a combination of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, giving a wild, other-worldly look. And a very dodgy smell.

We continued on past the lake, strolling alongside vibrant yellow, red and orange surfaces, steaming pools and bubbling geysers. This really was an alien-looking landscape and had me feeling like I was on another planet.

We soon reached another one of my highlights, the insanely blue Inferno Crater. Isn’t this colour ridiculous?

After a bit of a hike over Mount Hazard, which thankfully did not live up to its name, we arrived at the marble terraces. The terraces are made of silica and have a constant flow of near-boiling water streaming over them in shallow waves.

With our walk around the park now finished, we jumped on a 45 minute boat cruise to see some of the geysers not usually accessible on foot. The cruise was relaxing and peaceful and we got to see the massive crater in Mount Terawera.

The main attraction on the boat cruise was Fumarole Bay, where we spent most of our time slowly drifting past erupting geysers.

I loved spending half a day exploring Waimangu Volcanic Valley.

It was one of the most bizarre landscapes I’ve ever seen, showcasing what felt like every colour of the visible light spectrum. Despite joking about the smells, I found them to be barely noticeable when compared to the stench we experienced when staying in downtown Rotorua.

The walk itself wasn’t particularly challenging — there was a short climb up Mount Hazard half-way through the trail, which I didn’t have a problem with. We finished the walk in around 90 minutes and the boat cruise took a further 45 minutes.

If you’re heading to Rotorua then be sure to add Waimangu Volcanic Valley to your list of things to do!

Where we stayed in Rotorua

Our Partnership with HostelBookers brought us to YHA Rotorua, a large hostel located right in the middle of town.

I usually try to steer clear of official YHAs as they often offer the exact opposite of what I look for in a hostel. I prefer to stay in small, cosy family-run hostels, especially if they something unique to offer. Unfortunately, YHA Rotorua didn’t offer any of this.

It’s not that the hostel itself was terrible — our rooms and the bathrooms were clean, the kitchen was large and well-equipped, the staff were friendly and helpful. It just felt impersonal. It was sterile and soulless and that’s not what I want from a hostel, especially when I essentially live in them as a full-time traveller.

It’s all down to personal preference. If you’ve stayed in official YHAs before and liked them, then you’ll know exactly what you’ll be getting at YHA Rotorua and you won’t be disappointed. If you prefer to stay somewhere quirky with a lot of character then you’d probably be best looking elsewhere.

The post Gorgeous Geysers, Smelly Sulphur and Crazy Colours at Rotorua appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

Before coming to New Zealand, the one thing that was right at the top of my list was seeing the glowworms in Waitomo. I had seen hundreds of incredible photos online showing people surrounded by magical-looking, glowing lights and instantly known that this was something I had to experience.

We had two nights in Waitomo, arranged through our partnership with HostelBookers. We were staying at Juno Hall YHA, a hostel located in the heart of the gorgeous New Zealand countryside, a five minute drive from Waitomo village. I usually find YHA hostels to be lacking in personality but at Juno Hall, we had a badass outside area, complete with trampoline, tennis court and swimming pool.

Dave and Dustin had signed up for a crazy 100 metre abseil adventure in the days before arriving in Waitomo and had spent hours trying to convince me to join them, insisting that I’d find it “fun”. With visions of ropes breaking and Laurens falling, I obviously declined to go with them and instead spent my day working at Juno Hall. The wifi was provided by Global Gossip (free for YHA members) and was surprisingly fast for New Zealand internet. I spent my day writing in the cosy common room and watching movies with my fellow backpackers.

Not taking into account the 70 year old German man who seemed to enjoy wandering around the dorm room naked and snored so incredibly loudly that none of us got any sleep, I liked Juno Hall and would stay there again.

Dave and Dustin arrived back at the hostel later that day, exhilarated, covered in mud and with plenty of ridiculous photos to show me.  After hearing all about their adventurous day, I decided I needed to do something equally as adventurous to prove to them both that I was actually a very courageous person. We decided to head out that night to find us some glowworms.

…Because walking around a paved nature trail in the dark is just as adventurous as a 100 metre abseil into a cave…

We were booked on a couple of glowworm cave tours the following morning but Dustin had previously visited Waitomo and knew of a good spot outside the caves where we could go glowworm hunting alone.

We waited for night to fall before driving down to the entrance of Aranui caves. I shivered as I warily eyed up the lone campervan in the carpark glistening under the full moon. Flashbacks of every horror movie I’d ever watched replayed before my eyes, the screeching of bats flying overhead doing nothing to calm my nerves.

I can do this…

The thirty minute trail to the cave entrance was unlit so we resorted to using the flashlights on our phones, Dave and Dustin shining it at their feet, me carelessly shining it backwards into Dave’s eyes.

With only the thud of our footsteps to keep us company, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being followed, hunted even. I imagined the newspaper headlines chiding the careless backpackers who went wandering down unlit trails in the middle of the night. Our irresponsible parents would be judged, our stupidity mocked and there’d be yet another Reddit thread saying I deserved to die.

I bit down on my lip, forcing myself to keep my whimpering under control and refusing to admit to my gripping anxiety.

A few minutes later, I really started to feel uncomfortable as I watched both Dave and Dustin shuffle through a small tunnel and disappear into an envelope of darkness.

This was it.

I forced myself through the gap and when I saw what was on the other side I instantly forgot all about my fears.

Fluorescent glowworms were dotted over the cave walls, illuminating the track and tricking my mind into thinking that I was gazing up the night sky. We turned off our lights and as the darkness deepened, the glowworms became more and more noticeable, trees and bushes looking as if they were littered with fairy lights.

It was truly an incredible, magical experience. Several times I had to remind myself that the lights were real, that the glowing lights were insects.

And, yes, it was near-impossible to get a good photo of them.

The following morning I awoke excited. I was looking forward to spending the entire day actually entering the glowworm caves and seeing even more than I had last night.

We arrived and were immediately placed into groups of around thirty people. We lined up at the entrance and watched as the groups began entering the caves at 10 minute intervals. There were screaming children, obnoxious adults and I was already feeling disappointed by the experience before we’d even entered the cave.

There’s no denying that the cave itself was impressive, a huge cavern filled with enormous stalagmites and stalactites. We were ushered through the cave, pausing whenever we caught up with the tour group ahead of us, barely able to hear the tour guide due to the noise from both the surrounding groups and ours.

I was feeling pretty underwhelmed — in my opinion, there is a huge difference between seeing them alone surrounded in silence to seeing them with 100 other people who were chattering excitedly and noisily.

The tour through the cave was brief and we were soon lining up for the boat ride, a five minute ride through a “Glowworm Grotto”. We queued for twenty minutes before finally reaching the front of the queue.

As we slowly drifted away from the bright lights of the queueing area, our guide motioned several times for us to remain silent.

“WOAAAAAH! LOOK AT THAT, MUMMY!”, the child behind us bellowed before dissolving into laughter. With his Mother doing nothing to silence him, he began loudly pointing out every single glowworm.

And then his sister started loudly talking too.

Despite the guide repeatedly gesturing for them to be quiet, the children shouted and spoke for the entire boat journey.

Which kind of spoiled the moment for me.

I spent my time in the caves feeling irritated rather than awed, frustrated rather than excited. I ended up feeling pretty disappointed with the whole experience. The shuttling of tour groups through the caves every few minutes and the badly-behaved tourists had made the experience underwhelming and unpleasant.

And yet, our day wasn’t over — we were now heading over for a guided tour of Ruakuri Cave.

While the tour of Ruakuri Cave was slightly better, I’m afraid to stay it was still disappointing.

Our tour group was about half the size of our previous one, which made everything a little more manageable. The Ruakuri tour was longer, more detailed (though the tour guide was unenthusiastic and appeared to be bored most of the time) and you got to see a lot more of the caves and glowworms.

The most enjoyable part was when the tour guide switched off every single light and we had to make our way through the tunnels in absolute darkness. With no children on this tour, it meant that there was complete silence for the walk, which added to the magical atmosphere of the cave.

The funniest part was when Dave and I left Dustin to take cave photos and the tour guide didn’t realise anybody was left behind and accidentally locked him inside the previous cave with the lights off…

As a (mostly) independent traveller, I often try to avoid these tour group situations if at all possible, preferring to find a way to see attractions without five million people screaming in my ear. Given that the glowworm boat tour costs $48 and the Ruakuri Cave tour $67 ($83 for a combined ticket to see both), I couldn’t help but feel like they’re overpriced and poor value for money.

If you’re going to Waitomo and want to see the glowworms, you don’t need to take a tour. Drive to Aranui Caves at night and go see them yourself. It’s a far, far better experience — you can stay for as long as you want, you’ll likely be the only people there and it’s completely free to experience. 

The post Glowworms in Waitomo: Best Seen Independently appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

And yet, having said that, the start of the month included one of my most stressful travel moments…

You know, that time when I realised I’d forgotten to apply for an Australian visa 12 hours before I was due to fly to Melbourne?

Yep.

An Australian visa is valid for six months so I’d assumed I’d be fine — I’d spent a month in Australia before coming to New Zealand and my New Zealand trip was for two months, there would be plenty of time left on my Australian visa..

But I’d also had to get a new passport in New Zealand and hadn’t realised that the visa doesn’t carry over to your new passport.

And so, my final 12 hours in New Zealand were spent anxiously checking my email every 5 seconds, refusing to go to sleep, freaking out when the Australian immigration website underwent 6 hours of scheduled maintenance and weeping when the cheapest replacement flight I could find that bypassed Australia was $1,500.

Our taxi to the airport picked us up at 6am and I still had not received confirmation of my visa. 

And yet, somehow, it all worked out in the end. There were no questions on either the New Zealand or Australia side and I really don’t know what happened. I don’t know whether my visa was approved and I didn’t receive notification because the site was down, I don’t know if my previous visa somehow carried over to my new visa when I re-applied.

Either way, I was so incredibly relieved, so ridiculously grateful and, needless to say, I will not be forgetting to apply for a visa ever again!

After three days of catching up with Dave’s family in Melbourne, it was time for us to return to Southeast Asia, where I’d be visiting Malaysia for the very first time.

I was excited to finally be in Malaysia and yet, I just didn’t fall for it as hard as I expected to. I couldn’t work out why it didn’t grab me as much as other countries in Southeast Asia. I loved the food (when I stuck to butter chicken…), I thought the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur were stunning and every single building in Penang had me reaching for my camera.

I just didn’t feel an overwhelming urge to stay for months on end.

When Dave and I began researching the Perhentian Islands and couldn’t find a decent guesthouse with somewhat reliable internet that was under $50 a night, we gave up and began looking at other options.

And that was how we ended up back in Thailand.

Though there were other beach options in Malaysia, they all involved long bus journeys, seemed to be quite expensive and would be lacking in wifi. After all the crazy travel and little internet I’d had recently in New Zealand, that was the last thing I needed right now.

So, two days after I published my travel plans for the next six months, announcing how I was going to be spending a month in Malaysia, I changed my mind and headed for the Thai island of Koh Lipe.

Though I feel like I should have given Malaysia more of a chance, I just wasn’t enjoying my time there as much as I expected.

Heading to Thailand was absolutely the right decision.

I loved Koh Lipe. I spent 10 days sunbathing, writing, napping and swimming in the sea, which was exactly what I needed.

Seeing as I was now in Thailand, how could I possibly resist heading back to my favourite island in the world? In Koh Yao Noi, I spent another 10 days doing exactly the same as I had in Koh Lipe.

And then, I shockingly decided to head up to Chiang Mai…

… Onto the statistics for the month!

Distance travelled: 11,950km

Countries visited: 4

New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand.

Cities visited: 9

Ashburton, Christchurch, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Koh Lipe, Krabi, Koh Yao Noi, Chiang Mai.

Money spent:

New Zealand: $35.21 over 1 day = £19.48 per day.

Australia: £50.62 over 3 days = £16.87 per day.

Malaysia: £272.86 over 9 days = £30.32 per day.

Thailand: £474.91 over 18 days = £26.38 per day.

My accommodation for 3 days in Malaysia was covered by AsiaRooms and I stayed with friends for my 3 days in Australia so had no accommodation costs there either.

The next month:

Given that my recent travel plans post is now invalid, here’s my new plan for the next 30 days.

I’ll be staying in Chiang Mai for a month and you’ll be surprised to hear that I made the decision to extend my original plan of two weeks within 6 hours of arriving! I’m planning for a relaxing few days in Chiang Dao without my laptop at some point, but other than that, I’ll be eating, writing, catching up with friends and not moving. Once my time in Chiang Mai’s up, I’ll be heading to Saigon to live there for a month.

After the hectic few months of travel I’ve had, it feels so unbelievably good to have finally stopped moving!

The post Month 21: Travel Summary and Statistics appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

After thoroughly exhausting myself with my hike in Paihia, I needed somewhere to recuperate and this was the perfect place to do so.

Raglan is a chilled-out surf town on the west coast of the North Island and is one of those places where, within seconds of arriving, I felt the most relaxed I have in weeks — and promptly began talking about living here for a few months.

Unfortunately, we had only planned to spend one night in Raglan. One of the downsides to planning out an epic two month road trip across New Zealand was, well, exactly that. Planning. Before arriving, we had no idea which places we’d love, where we’d hate, if the weather would co-operate… we managed to get it right most of the time, but I sorely wish we’d had longer in Raglan.

Wanting to make the most of our time here, Dave and I decided this would be best done at the beach.

Raglan’s beaches surprised me. I hadn’t expected the ocean to be so vibrantly turquoise or the sand to be so black. I’d only visited one other beach in New Zealand prior to arriving in Raglan and 90 Mile Beach, at the very top of the North Island, featured huge yellow sand dunes that stretched for, erm, 55 miles.

I’d visited black sand beaches before, in Hawaii and Tenerife, but I’d forgotten just how ridiculously hot the sand can get — until I took my shoes off and felt the soles of my feet begin to melt.

Squealing, I immediately dropped my towel onto the sand and leaped on it, beginning my awkward towel-shuffle down towards the sea.

And there we remained for the rest of the afternoon. 

It was wonderful to take a break from moving, from working, even if it was for one day. I laid out and sunbathed, read a book on my Kindle. I worked up the courage to paddle in the sea, the icy cold temperatures in stark contrast to the ones I’d bathed in in Cambodia a few months beforehand.

And then, all too soon, it was time for us to leave.

Packing up our towels and Kindles we hobbled, sprinted and screamed our way back up the beach, cursing the scorching hot sand and wondering why we hadn’t thought to put our flip-flops on first.

Fortunately, leaving the beach wasn’t too bad, as we were heading back up the hill to a pretty amazing hostel…

My favourite hostel in New Zealand

It only makes sense that my favourite place in New Zealand would have my favourite hostel too!

This time, our partnership with HostelBookers brought us to Solscape Eco Retreat, which I’d definitely place in my top 5 hostels in the world.

Firstly, we had this incredible view. 

Solescape was located at the top of a hill just outside of Raglan. Being outside of town meant that the hostel was super peaceful and relaxing — something that Solscape takes full advantage of by offering massages, yoga classes and even surf lessons!

Dave and I were in a private room, which was actually a converted train carriage. It was amazing! Solscape takes lots of power-saving measures so we didn’t have a power socket in our room, but as the wifi connection (offered through Global Gossip) didn’t reach our room, we did most of our work and charging in the kitchen anyway.

Even though we weren’t located towards the front of the property, we still had a pretty amazing view from our room too.

The accommodation options at Solscape aren’t just limited to train carriages either — you can even stay in earth domes and tipis!

The only downside to Solscape was that, without power or any way of cooling the room down, our room would get quite hot and stuffy during the day, but it was fine at night.

All in all, this is a fantastic hostel, one of my favourites in the world, and you should definitely stay here if you’re planning on spending some time in Raglan.

The post I’ve Fallen in Love with Raglan appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

Back in July, Dave and I were strolling through the streets of Prague when, ten minutes into our walk, I had to stop. I was out of breath, I had a stitch and I felt like I was about to vomit. I couldn’t bring myself to walk any further. Dave was understandably extremely frustrated at my complete lack of fitness and as we argued, mostly about how I was going to cope with hiking in New Zealand, I realised that things had to change.

I spent the next six months forcing myself to sort out my fitness levels. I walked when I didn’t feel like it, attempted to climb hills and mountains and bought myself a whole assortment of hiking gear. 

I was determined to prove Dave wrong and show him that, when the time comes, I would be able to keep up with him on all of those crazy New Zealand hikes.

Now was that time.

Our first stop in New Zealand was Paihia, in the Bay of Islands. While Dave spent his time doing all sorts of diving and dolphin watching activities, I had only one thing on my agenda.

Hiking.

We were travelling with Dustin for our two months in New Zealand and, well, let’s just say that he has a little more hiking experience than I do, as you can see from his About Me page…

I could tell that Dustin didn’t think I was particularly capable of taking part in pretty much any of the hikes we had planned in New Zealand, which was understandable as I was barely able to carry my backpack more than 100 metres when we left Auckland, three days into our trip.

And despite knowing that he was absolutely correct in his assessment, I refused to admit it out loud. 

I was determined to prove everybody wrong and transform into a hiker over the next two months.

I would begin in Paihia.

When we checked into our hostel, we were shown a map of some of the most popular hikes in Paihia. I was eagerly eyeing up the 90 minute bush walk, thinking about how I’d impress Dustin with my hiking abilities. I’d probably even try to race him.

…And then Dustin started tracing out the “Full Circle Day Walk”, an 18 kilometre hike around the Bay of Islands. 18 kilometres? The furthest I had ever walked in my life was about 6.

Could I really triple my personal best?

I masked my whimper as a giggle and pumped my fists against my chest as an indication that I was ready to tackle the walk.

Pulling on my special hiking attire of jeans and a strap top, I grabbed my camera, ignored Dustin’s pleas for me to take water and snacks, and began to hike like I’d never hiked before.

Because, well, I’d never hiked before.

The first part of the walk is around 6 kilometres and leads you from Paihia to Opua, passing mainly along the beach. I’d managed 6 kilometres when I was the Blue Mountains a month prior to this — but that was the furthest I’d ever walked.

We strode purposefully across the sand. I chose to walk in front to give me the confidence that I was the fitter one of our group and by breathing silently through my nose, I am sure I also gave that impression to Dustin.

Before arriving in New Zealand, I’d been warned practically every single day for months that the weather in New Zealand was similar to that of England. It would rain every single day.

Well, with some kind of miracle, this supposedly frequent rain was nowhere to be seen. It was a gorgeous day, but the sun beating down on me did nothing but remind me that I should have listened to Dustin and brought some water. Using my common sense for once, I decided buy a bottle from a nearby shop.

After all, I wouldn’t want to die on my first real hike or anything. 

We took a car ferry from Opua to Okiato and from here, we began the 10 kilometre walk to Russell. By this point, I was close to giving up. 6 kilometres was a huge distance to me and I was already proud of my achievement. When I began to think about how I was only a third of the way through the hike, I knew there was no way I had the fitness level to take on something like this.

However, I wasn’t going to give up yet.

I remained silent, refusing to voice my feelings to Dustin, knowing that I needed to convince him that I was just as capable as him, that I could easily walk 18 kilometres without even breaking a sweat. This was a test. It was a test to see if I would be able to manage the Tongariro Crossing, the Queen Charlotte Track — the walks that Dave had told me in Prague I’d never be able complete.

How could I let myself fail?

Our ferry ride was over far too soon and I soon found myself slowly trudging uphill, attempting to keep my panting to a minimum and muffling my screams whenever a fern brushed against my face.

For the next four hours, my mind was focused solely on the skin that was currently being rubbed off the soles of my feet and the dull ache in my thighs. I was soaked in sweat, dehydrated and exhausted. There were no benches around for me to rest on, nowhere for me to take a break. I was impressed with Dustin’s stamina, astonished at how he seemed to find this easy.

And then, a rustle.

I looked up in alarm, gasping as I set eyes on a large, round, black… thing. A beast, stumbling across the path in front of us.

…Could it be…?

I moved slightly closer, my eyes widening when I noticed its long, thin beak.

I realised that, yes, in my first week in New Zealand, I had managed to spot an elusive kiwi.

My day had been made.

With a renewed vigor and a newfound energy, I tackled the path in front of us. I stamped up hills and skidded down the other side, enjoying the undulating terrain. My overwhelming happiness had now numbed the pain in my weary body as I raced through the forest.

And then, somehow, we had reached the final part of our walk.

There would be no more hills to climb from this point onwards. I estimated it would be around 2 kilometres until we reached Russell — something which seemed like a tiny distance compared to what I’d just put my body through.

I was wrong, of course.

The sign a few metres ahead was there to let me know that it was actually 5 kilometres to Russell.

I considered hitchhiking or camping on the boardwalk overnight. I thought about leaping onto Dustin’s back and refusing to get off until he walked me to Russell. I considered collapsing to the ground and crying hysterically.

But in the end, I gritted my teeth, ignored the searing pain in my feet and forced my body to continue onwards.

Because, after all, that’s what we hikers do.

Where to stay in Paihia

Our partnership with Hostelbookers brought us to BASE Bay of Islands, a place I wasn’t particularly looking forward to staying in. BASE hostels in New Zealand have a bit of a reputation for being impersonal, noisy party hostels… something I mostly try to avoid while travelling.

Fortunately, I needn’t have worried as this hostel turned out be the least BASE-like hostel I’ve experienced! 

The staff were friendly and helpful. The hostel was sociable without being obnoxious, with nightly BBQs for $12 (definitely overpriced for what you get), a large, well-equipped kitchen, several outside eating areas and a cosy common room with sofas. There’s also a swimming pool and hot tub but I didn’t see anyone ever using them — the beach is just 50 metres away!

Our 8 bed dorm was split into two, making it feel more like we were in a 4 bed room. We had a small kitchen between the 8 of us and a surprisingly large shared bathroom. The beds were comfortable but squeaked every single time we moved, which meant we didn’t get much sleep.

The wifi was via Global Gossip (not free) and was pretty fast in the common rooms but didn’t work well in our room, which was furthest away from reception.

All in all, the hostel wasn’t amazing but wasn’t terrible either – I’d stay here again.

The post Attempting to Prove my Hiking Credentials in Paihia appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

I didn’t realise the camera was broken until I got to New Zealand.

New Zealand does not have an Apple Store.

A week into my two months in New Zealand, I dropped my camera:

And that was how I found myself in one of the most beautiful countries in the world with very limited options for taking photos of it.

I did manage to find ways around it. Fortunately, I had broken my cheapest, crappiest camera lens so that wasn’t too big of a deal — but the fact that my only other alternatives were a 50mm lens and a zoom lens meant that I wasn’t particularly well set up for taking photos of landscapes.

With my camera unable to take wide-angle shots and my iPhone unable to focus on half of its screen, I turned to the panorama function of my phone to solve my photography woes. By taking panoramas, I was able to record the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand while minimising the out-of-focus area that my phone was creating.

And so, before I begin writing about New Zealand, I first wanted to share my favourite panoramas from my two months in the country. Given the amount of camera dilemmas I had, I think they came out pretty well.

One of the highlights of Waimangu Volcanic Valley in Rotorua was Frying Pan Lake. The largest hot spring in the world, this acidic water ranges from 55 degrees Celsius to over 200. 110 litres of underground boiling water flows into the lake every second. 

This photo of the marble terraces at Waimangu perfectly sums up my time in Rotorua. Lots of crazy, vibrant colours, steam shooting out of the ground and drifting over the hills and lakes. All mixed with plenty of odd smells.

Taupo doesn’t hold too many great memories for me — it was where I had the jetboating “incident” (photo here!) which left me feeling nauseous for the next 24 hours. Despite that, wandering around Lake Taupo with Dave in the sunshine was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Walking the 18 kilometres of the Tongariro Crossing was one of my proudest achievements to date. Known as one of New Zealand’s best one day hikes, it had some of the most spectacular landscapes I’ve seen.  

More Tongariro Crossing goodness.

Dave at the mid-way point of our Tongariro Crossing hike. I would post a photo of me but I had crazy hair, was bright-red and almost drowning in a pool of sweat.

Red Crater at the half-way point of the Tongariro Crossing. Can you spot the part that made me giggle like a five year old because it looks like a vagina?

Many of my favourite memories of New Zealand are not from the main tourist sites that everybody visits. I much more enjoyed following the small signs directing us to a waterfall or a lake, where we were almost guaranteed to find something beautiful.

I felt invincible after surviving the Tongariro Crossing. So much so that I found myself eagerly agreeing to a three day, 51 kilometre hike along the Queen Charlotte Track. This photo was from our second day, when I was still feeling overconfident and unbreakable. 

And then I broke. This photo is from our final day on the Queen Charlotte Track. The scenery was incredible but I was in so much agony that I’m afraid I didn’t spend all that long admiring it. 

At the mid-way point on the Queen Charlotte Track. I think this photo shows the incredibly diverse scenery you can find in New Zealand. I loved the bright red trees!

I staggered, limped and moaned my way past this beautiful scene as we finished up our hike. The vibrant colours of the rainforests and water made me feel as if I was hiking in the tropics!

Just outside of Christchurch, we stumbled across these wind-ravaged fields of tussocks extending for miles towards the horizon.  

Akaroa, on Banks Peninsula, reminded me a lot of the English countryside with rolling grass hills dotted with trees, cottages and sheep. The aqua blue lake, however, added something a little different to the scenery. 

The scenery on the drive from Tekapo to Mount Cook was some of the most spectacular I witnessed in New Zealand. The turquoise lake, backed by towering snow-capped mountains had me hanging out of the window every few seconds to take a photo.

The Catlins was full of beautiful and deserted beaches. Though this one was free of both people and animals, I managed to spot wild sea lions and penguins on a couple of others, which was ridiculously exciting.

When I first arrived in New Zealand and realised that both of my photo-taking devices were damaged, I was pretty upset. Having now looked through all my panoramas from the country, I’ve realised that it really wasn’t as bad as I originally imagined.

I actually found that panoramas are perhaps one of the best ways to showcase New Zealand’s stunning scenery.

What do you think? Do you like me panorama-ing it up? Would you like to see more panorama style posts in the future?

The post Panoramas of New Zealand appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

That feeling I get when I arrive in a brand new place and instantly feel at home.

I don’t know what causes it and it doesn’t seem to follow any logic. It’s happened with Ljubljana, Marrakech, Boracay, Koh Yao Noi, Kampot and Saigon… six of my favourite places that actually have very little in common with each other.

There’s definitely not a pattern (that I can see!) that I can use to work out what exactly a place needs to have for me to love it.

Sandstone buildings at Salamanca Place.

It was the same with Hobart. I fell in love instantly and for no real reason.

The city is beautiful. The sandstone buildings surrounding the waterfront are gorgeous, Salamanca Place especially. The streets were lined with art galleries, coffee shops and restaurants. The relaxed vibe had us wandering around the nearby marina for half a day, lingering in coffee shops and watching the world go by.

And yes, we had our now well-worn conversation about how this would be a great place to live for a couple of months someday. 

Coffee at Hobart’s marina.

We spent an afternoon exploring MONA, The Museum of Old and New Art, which is not somewhere I would have usually visited had I been travelling alone — I tend to choose science over art. Nevertheless, I’d heard amazing things about it so happily accompanied Dave on his visit.

I was glad I did. MONA was unlike any other museum I’d visited before, the exhibits unique and thought-provoking. The common themes of violent sex, nudity, death and castration were at times overwhelming and I could definitely see this being a place that you either love or hate.

I loved it. 

I was feeling good about Hobart. So much so, that not even a drive to the icy cold top of Mount Wellington could dampen my spirits.

On the ground we were in the grip of one of the hottest summers ever recorded in Tasmania, with temperatures were soaring well above 30 degrees Celsius. Given that I couldn’t see much of Mount Wellington due to the thick clouds surrounding it and the subtle warnings from Dave, I concluded that the cool temperatures at the top would be a welcome relief from the heat. I didn’t really need to bother with taking a jacket or changing out of my shorts.

The cool breeze would be enjoyable.

Our car slowly wound around the mountain roads, the air con doing a remarkable job at cooling me down. With one eye on the rapidly dropping temperature gauge on the dashboard and the other on the ridiculously beautiful views, I began to wonder if perhaps I should have taken a jacket… but I decided to keep quiet.

After all, I wouldn’t want Dave to think that he was actually right about something.

We pulled into the car park at the top Mount Wellington and before I even opened the door I could hear the wind howling noisily around us. The temperature gauge was now reading 1 degree. Cautiously, I swung the door open only to have the wind forcefully slam it closed within half a second.

Hmmm… that was unexpected.

Refusing to meet Dave’s eyes I struggled to force my door open eventually managing to get outside and then –

Oh. My. God.

It was SO cold.

The wind engulfed me, forcing me down towards the viewpoint. My hair whipped my face from all directions, the gale stinging every centimetre of exposed skin. As I struggled to adjust my camera settings with trembling fingers, Dave sauntered over to join me.

“How’s the cold?” he smiled knowingly, eliciting nothing more than a whimper in response.

My entire body was shaking violently now, my lips aching from the icy cold temperature, my camera barely able to stay in focus.

This was too much.

“I give up!” I shrieked loudly before turning around and racing uphill to the relative warmth of the nearby Visitor Centre. From there, I watched as people nervously clambered out of their cars, reacted to the temperature change, sprinted down to the viewpoint to take a couple of photos and then charged back to their cars.

I’d have found it amusing if my legs weren’t about to fall off.

The Visitor Centre was a balmy 5 degrees and wasn’t doing all that much to warm me up so once Dave had finished taking photos I was off again, this time heading back to our car. The next few minutes were spent with me alternating between wailing and laughing hysterically…

And then I took a deep breath.

“I…” I mumbled in Dave’s direction. “I think I should have worn warmer clothes.”

Where to stay in Hobart

Our partnership with Hostelbookers brought us to Tassie Backpackers — located just a five minute walk from the centre of Hobart. Dave and I stayed in a cosy private room, which was clean and spacious with a large bathroom. The staff were friendly and helpful, happy to offer lots of advice for things to do in Hobart.

There was a large outside courtyard/common room for socialising, which closes at 11pm. It got quite noisy in our room if we had the window open but was fine when we closed it — and there was barely any noise at all after 11.

Tassie Backpackers offers free wifi, which was wonderful for Australia… although it was pretty dire for most of the time we were there so I often resorted to using 3G on my phone instead.

All in all, Tassie Backpackers is a fabulous hostel, I stayed there again a week later before leaving Tasmania and will definitely be choosing to stay here if I come back in the future.

The post Hobart: My Favourite Australian City appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

I fell for it harder than I have anywhere else. More than I did Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines or Slovenia. It is just so ridiculously gorgeous. 

Before I write about my time in Tasmania in detail, I’d first like to share a few of my favourite photos from my week spent on the island. Hopefully they’ll convince you to visit one day, it truly is a wonderful part of the world.

We began in Hobart, state capital of Tasmania and all-round wonderful city that provided a welcome relief from the major cities in Australia. I hadn’t warmed to either Sydney or Melbourne but fell in love with Hobart in seconds. There were no towering glass skyscrapers here. Instead the streets were lined with old Georgian buildings; former warehouses and port buildings converted into small restaurants, cafes and craft shops. The weather was fantastic, which, as I was told repeatedly, is a bit of a rarity for the city.

While the temperatures on the ground were soaring, breaking records and starting bushfires, at the top of Mount Wellington, 1200 metres high and overlooking Hobart, it couldn’t have been more different. Struggling to open the car door against the gale-force winds, I noticed the temperature gauge in the car reading 1 degree Celsius before taking a deep breath and running out to the viewpoint in shorts and a t-shirt. I managed to take just five photos before surrendering to the icy air, staggering back to the car in defeat.

The following morning, we left Hobart for Bicheno and found ourselves taking double the estimated two hour drive to arrive. The reason? The scenery was just so incredible. Every turn-off featured another deserted beach and I wanted to stop at all of them.

This was our first discovery.

Following a sign marked “beach” on the side of the road, we weren’t expecting much from our detour but ended up astounded with our find. This was one of the best beaches I’d ever seen and I couldn’t believe that Dave and I were the only two people on it.

We arrived in Bicheno and, after finding ourselves with not all that much to do, decided to check out Bicheno Blowhole. This was going to be my first blowhole experience…

Looking back, having now experienced several “blowholes” since Bicheno, I can now say that this one was by far the best I’ve been to. Human sized rocks surrounding the hole meant that I could spend a couple of hours sunbathing while watching occasional columns of water erupting over unsuspecting tourists. Fun.

The bush fires I mentioned previously had been ravaging through Tasmania for a week prior to our arrival and had almost convinced us to cancel our trip to the island. Parts of the island were closed off, including Freycinet National Park, the place I was most excited about visiting.

Amazingly, the weather decided to co-operate with our plans and cooled down significantly after we arrived. We couldn’t believe our luck when Freycinet National Park re-opened the day we arrived in Bicheno.

I was ridiculously excited to explore the National Park. It’s where the gorgeous Wineglass Bay is located, somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for years. Not even the fact that it would involve a two hour hike to get to the viewpoint could dampen my spirits. I was an experienced hiker now, two hours was nothing to me.

Shockingly, the walk ended up being more of a struggle than I’d anticipated but the views were more than worth it. Wineglass Bay was so, so beautiful.

After finishing up in Freycinet, it was time to head up the coast to St. Helens. Our drive took us past even more ridiculously gorgeous beaches, with us choosing to eat our breakfast of Vegemite sandwiches at this beach…

And our lunch here!

The spectacular scenery of Tasmania isn’t limited to the coastline. Driving inland on the way up to St Helens had us passing through rugged mountains, great expanses of green and yellow fields laced with tall forests and sparkling highland lakes– I was absolutely taken in by its beauty.

Even with us stopping and taking photos every 4 seconds, we arrived in St. Helens several hours too early for check-in. Knowing that Tasmania has never let us down with its beaches so far, we got back in the car and drove along the coast.

A few minutes later, we stumbled upon Binalong Bay.

And it had some of the whitest, cleanest sand I’ve ever seen…

I spent a week in Tasmania and I could have spent so much longer. In the future, I plan on returning and spending months there. I didn’t expect to fall so deeply in love. Tasmania was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited with incredible landscapes and yet most visitors to Australia choose to ignore it.

If you’re planning a trip to Australia don’t be one of them.

Go to Tasmania.

The post Tasmania Is Incredible And You Should Go There Now appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

1. Buy myself an iPhone.

2. To visit as many famous landmarks as possible in 48 hours.

Getting the iPhone was easy.

Sydney’s Apple Store was close to where we were staying so five minutes after we arrived I found myself reconnected to the online world. By this point I had been travelling for 18 months without a phone and whilst I’d found it extremely liberating to be able to leave my online life behind whenever I left my room, I was struggling with Australia’s terrible internet. When a lot of the hostels didn’t have wifi, and most of the ones that did charged extortionate rates, I was struggling just to keep on top of my emails.

After spending a week enviously watching Dave using his phone as a hotspot when we didn’t have wifi, using it to help us find a hostel and checking his emails on the go, I decided the only way I’d be able to survive Australia is if I also had a phone.

With my bank account $900 lighter and my Apple Fan Club membership duly restored, it was time to get in the car and get our tourist on.

Our first stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park, located just outside of Sydney. I’m not a huge fan of zoos and try to stay clear of them on my travels but Featherdale had great reviews online and I was desperate to see koalas and kangaroos in real life.

The koala was sleeping and the baby kangaroo greedy and aggressive but nothing could rid me of my childlike excitement as I skipped around the zoo tingling with excitement.

I hadn’t seen any of these animals before! An Australian Bush Turkey! A Pig-Nosed Turtle! Wallabies! Dingoes! Wombats! Echidnas!

…And the world’s most poisonous snake, which didn’t scare me at all…

Wombat!

Crazy-looking chicken thing!

We finished up at Featherdale after a couple of hours, pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable our time there had been — I hadn’t expected much but it was a lot better than most zoos I’ve been to.

I could barely contain my excitement as we got back into the car. It was now time for us to go search of the two things I wanted to see the most while in Sydney — the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House!

After squealing with joy at both sights and forcing Dave to take 500 photos of me posing with them, we boarded a ferry to Manly Beach where I became even more annoying as I laughed hysterically at every. Single. Sign.

Manly Ocean Foods!

Manly Pharmacy! 

Yeah. I was that person.

So aside from taking photos of every single shop in Manly, I also paid a visit to Manly Beach which was pretty, busy and full of surfers — just how I’d imagined all Australian beaches to be. I liked it a lot.

On our final day, Dave took me to explore some of the beaches close to the centre of Sydney. 

We began in Coogee. As we rolled into the parking spot, pulling up to face the beach, little did we know that we had just violated one of Australia’s Most Sensible Road Rules and that there would be a $99 parking ticket in our future. We should have parked rear to kerb. Oh, Australia.

Blissfully unaware of our despicable recklessness, we made our way down to Coogee Beach.

After having impressed Dave a couple of days ago with my agility when hiking in the Blue Mountains, I was excited to wander along the Coogee to Bondi Coastal Walk while forcing myself to keep quiet whenever I needed a rest. The path wound around rocky coves full of rowing boats, past playgrounds and parks, through cliff-side cemeteries and onto beautiful, tiny beaches.

Two hours later, we reached Bondi Beach and, well, to be honest, I just didn’t see what all the fuss was about. I fear that Southeast Asian beaches may have spoiled me forever…

And that just about concluded my tour of Sydney!

As you know, I’m not really a big city person — they often feel soulless and make me claustrophobic. I much prefer tiny, chilled out beach towns.

Unfortunately, for me, Sydney felt like most big cities around the world. I was mostly underwhelmed, enjoying some of the beaches but despising the inner-city chaos. I had lots of fun visiting the famous landmarks… but I didn’t love it enough to want to return any time soon. Now I’ve ticked off all the touristy stuff, I just don’t know what there is to return to…

Have you ever been disappointed by somewhere that everybody else seems to love? 

Where to stay in Sydney.

Our partnership with Hostelbookers brought us to Backpackers HQ — one of my favourite hostels from my time in Australia.

The hostel was clean, modern and in a central location. We stayed in a four bed dorm, which had surprisingly comfortable, non-squeaky bunkbeds. The room itself was well-insulated from any noise and so both Dave and I were able to get a good night’s sleep.

The hostel offers a free breakfast, which consisted of unlimited bread, spreads and cereal, served in the beautiful outside courtyard.

There was free wifi too, that was actually pretty fast for Australia.

All in all, Backpackers HQ is a fantastic hostel and I’d definitely recommend staying there if you’re heading to Sydney anytime soon.

The post Getting My Tourist On In Sydney appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

My time in Southeast Asia was wonderful, as always, with the highlights being chilled out Otres Beach in Cambodia, finally getting to witness the Yi Peng festival in Thailand, a crazy scooter road trip around the Mekong Delta…

And then Australia and New Zealand happened.

I absolutely adored my time spent in both countries and wouldn’t have done it any other way — but I am in desperate need of a break. For the past three months I’ve been packing my bags and changing location every 2 or 3 days.

That’s not how I like to travel.

In fact for over a year now I haven’t spent longer than two weeks in a single place. I’m constantly struggling to balance my desire to stop moving and work for a few months with my craving to see EVERYTHING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD RIGHT NOW!!!

For the last year, I’ve been giving into the latter.

But that’s about to change.

I’m exhausted, I have work I need to do, I’m craving a stationary life… and so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. For the rest of the year I will be moving as slowly as possible and not spending any less than a month in a country.

Here, then, are my plans for the next six months!

Malaysia

Sunset on a Malaysian beach. Image via: randytan

With all the time I’ve spent in Southeast Asia over the past couple of years, I can’t believe I’ve never spent any time in Malaysia — I’ve flown into Kuala Lumpur half a dozen times but never actually left the airport!

That’s all about to change though, as I’m currently typing this up on my flight to KL… and this time I’ll actually be venturing into the city.

I’m planning on spending a month in total in Malaysia. I’ll be spending half my time exploring KL, Malacca and Penang and the other half will be spent beaching it up in the Perhentian Islands. I’ve been wanting to visit the Perhentians for over a year now, so I’m really excited about this!

Vietnam

 Hoi An lit up at night. Image via: sacharules

I fell absolutely head over heels in love with Vietnam when I visited for the first time last year and I’ve been desperate to return ever since. Fortunately, I won’t have to wait long as I’ll be jetting over to Saigon after I finish up in Malaysia and this time I’ll be living there for six weeks.

The thing I’m most looking forward to in Vietnam is the incredible food! Vietnam is the first country in Southeast Asia where I’ve been able to eat anything and everything, which is extremely unusual for me. I can’t wait to bathe in pho every morning!

Dave’s visited Vietnam quite a few times whereas I’ve never been north of Saigon. I’ll be making up for this by taking weekend trips to all the places I’ve been wanting to visit for years: Hanoi, Hoi An, Hue, Nha Trang and Mui Ne!

Burma

 Goats and balloons at sunrise in Bagan. Image via: the-nomad-within

My original plan was to head to Burma straight after New Zealand but after several months of moving every couple of days and struggling with bad internet, the last thing I want to do is go to Burma, where the travel will be tougher and the internet even worse.

So, for the sake of my sanity, I’ve put Burma off until the end of my time in Southeast Asia. I’m keeping my plans open at the moment, so I haven’t decided where I’d like to go and how long I’d like to stay for but I’m curious to see what I’ll make of the country. I have a feeling I’ll fall in love with it…

Japan

Tokyo at night. Photo via: cadsonline

As we finish up in Asia in late June, Dave will flying back to Melbourne to get his motorbike license (we’ll finally be insured on our scooter trips!) for a week and so I’ll have a spare week to do whatever I want.

After playing around with a few flight options I was surprised to see just how cheap the flights are to Tokyo and so the plan is to spend a week there while Dave is in Melbourne, before reuniting in the…

United States 

Times Square at night. Photo via: Thomas Hawk

That’s a bit of a surprise, right?!

The US has never been particularly high on my travel list as Western countries don’t excite me all that much but I’m still looking forward to spending a summer there.

I’ll be kicking off my US adventures in July with a month in Portland. Dave and I have found an amazing apartment on AirBnb in a fantastic neighbourhood — and even more exciting, my parents will be flying out to visit for the last week I’ll be there. I can’t wait to see them!

As for after Portland? We’re currently trying to decide between two options. The first of these would be renting an apartment in New York for a month and using it as a base to explore the east coast. The second is renting a car and spending a month road tripping through California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

Mexico

Amazing ocean colours in Tulum, Mexico. Photo via: esparta.

Regardless of where we end up in the US, in September we’ll be heading to Mexico for the very first time!

As soon as Dave and I arrive in Mexico, we’re forcing ourselves to stop planning. We could stay for 3 weeks or 3 months and I’m excited not to know either way.

I can’t wait to eat Mexican food every day, to relax on some gorgeous beaches, to explore ancient Mayan temples and to brush up on my Spanish.

And then?

From Mexico, the plan is pretty much… south. We’ll be travelling through every country in Central America (with a few stops in the Caribbean too) and that’s our only plan. I don’t know whether it will take 6 months or 6 years, whether we’ll continue on through South America so that I can finally reach Antarctica or whether we’ll head back to Southeast Asia like we always seem to do…

At this point we’re keeping our options open.

And that just about sums up my next six months of travel! What do you think of my travel plans? Do you have any suggestions or tips for anywhere I’m going? Will you be in any of the same places at the same time? Drop me a message and let me know! 

The post My Travel Plans for the Next Six Months appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

At the end of last month I’d just finished up in the North Island and was exhausted, tired of travelling and wondering how I would cope with continuing on at the same pace for a month in the South Island.

Here’s how it went!

I began this month with a drive from Christchurch to Tekapo, which we used as a base to explore gorgeous Mount Cook — somewhere I really would like to spend a lot more time in the future. We spent our only evening in Tekapo hanging out in the hot springs, which were wonderful. If I ever decide to own a house, I will have hot springs in my garden.

After Tekapo, it was time for a drive down to Dunedin via Oamaru. The main reason for us visiting Oamaru was so that we could check out the Steampunk Museum, which I personally found rather dull and unlike anything I would usually associate with Steampunk. Dave and Dustin seemed to love it though, probably because they are boys and like looking at lumps of metal.

Continuing on with our theme of moving far too quickly, we decided to spend just one night in Dunedin, with our main reason for stopping being so that I could attempt to run up the steepest street in the world.

Unsurprisingly, I managed about 20 metres.

Before leaving Dunedin, we had time to cram in a visit to Cadbury World where I embarrassed myself by pushing in front of my fellow tour members to take three shots of melted chocolate the instant they were offered to us. I also discovered that most of the chocolate you can find only in New Zealand is horrible because it always seems to be chocolate covered marshmallow.

Next up, was the Catlins, where we spent three days offline exploring the southernmost area of the South island. The highlight for me was seeing wild sea lions and penguins casually hanging out on a beach. So adorable!

You may remember that my plan for my two months in New Zealand was for Dave, Dustin and I to travel from the northernmost point of the North Island to the southernmost point of the South Island. In the Catlins we were able to visit Slope Point to check off our southernmost point! There wasn’t anything exciting there — a derelict lighthouse, a lot of wind and this sign.

We then began driving up the west coast of the South Island. One of the main highlights of this part of the trip for me was the overnight cruise we took in Doubtful Sound. There, I was able to try fishing for the first time in my entire life and to my surprise, found that I absolutely loved it!

After spending 24 hours exploring incredible Doubtful Sound, we decided to take a cruise on the more touristy Milford Sound to compare the two — and I ended up completely underwhelmed. If you’re ever trying to decide between the two then choose Doubtful Sound, it is a thousand times more impressive!

Next up, Queenstown! We managed to find an incredible hostel with super-fast, free wifi and, well, after having spent the past six weeks with horrible, slow, expensive internet, I’m ashamed to say that I spent the majority of my time in Queenstown on my laptop. I did, however, manage to squeeze in some time to pay a visit to Fergburger, where I attempted, and failed, to eat a burger the size of my head. I also spent an hour in a bird park and saw only three birds. Success!

In Wanaka, I was forced to visit Puzzling World. Because I am of a somewhat nervous disposition, Puzzling World was not something I found all that enjoyable. There were disorientating rooms with odd slopes and angles that made me feel like I was going to vomit or collapse. An interesting way to spend an afternoon…

One of the things I was most excited about for my time in New Zealand was finally getting to see a glacier for the first time! I managed to fulfil that dream with a half-day hike on Fox Glacier. It was full of incidents as I learnt how to use crampons and waved my hiking poles in the air as I struggled to stay upright, but it was still another magical first for me!

With brief stops along the west coast, we ended up in Nelson, a city that I instantly fell in love with. While we were there, we happened to come across a sign pointing to the centre of New Zealand. Having visited the top of the North Island and the bottom of the South Island, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to visit the centre of New Zealand to complete our collection!

Next up, was a trip to Abel Tasman National Park to try yet another brand new activity — stand-up paddleboarding! As you can probably guess from my similar posts about my first time trying surfing, hot air ballooning, cycling and kayaking… I was terrified and convinced I was going to die.

And, well, you can probably guess how it turned out too… I loved it! As with surfing, I found that my balance on water is so much better than on land; while Dave flailed around in the ocean, I barely fell in, standing proud and upright for the entire lesson. I love paddleboarding!

From Abel Tasman, we travelled to Collingwood so that we could explore Farewell Spit — the longest sandspit in New Zealand, stretching 26 kilometres into the sea!

The tour we had booked was cancelled at the last minute, but Dave and I had an amazing day nonetheless, spent wandering over the amazing sand dunes and playing on the beach.

And then I took a deep breath and relaxed for the first time in months.

We were finished.

We had one week left in New Zealand and all that we had planned for this time was relaxation and work. I am currently writing this post from Ashburton — Dave’s hometown! I’ve been dying to visit Ashburton for over a year and so I’m pretty excited to finally be here. I am going to spend the next few days forcing Dave to show me around so that I can get an insight into Childhood Dave’s life. It’s going to be so much fun (for me!)

… Onto the statistics for the month!

Distance travelled: 3079km

Countries visited: 1

New Zealand

Cities visited: 14

Tekapo, Oamaru, Dunedin, the Catlins, Manapouri, Queenstown, Wanaka, Franz Josef, Punakaiki, Nelson, Collingwood, Hanmer Springs, Christchurch, Ashburton.

Money spent:

£1086.74 over 28 days = £38.81 ($58.61) per day.

My accommodation for the first two weeks of this month was covered by HostelBookers and the majority of my activities were covered by the respective operators. Most of my costs this month were due to petrol, food and internet!

The next month:

I leave New Zealand in a couple of days and while I’ll be sad to leave, I’m incredibly excited to get back “home” to Asia. I can’t wait to have decent internet again so I can finally catch up on my travels over the past few months — I have so many crazy adventures I can’t wait to share with you all.

As for where I’m going in Asia? All will be revealed in my next post. All I’ll say is that it’s a brand new country and somewhere I’m VERY excited about!

The post Month 20: Travel Summary & Statistics appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

Dave was busy planning out the route for our month in Australia and I had done no research. Racking my brain for a few minutes, I desperately tried to remember friends’ Australia photo albums on Facebook I had once enviously pored over.

“Ooh! Yes! That, erm… the, um… you know? Those rocks sticking up! Out of some trees? Rocks poking out of a forest on a mountain? Yes, that’s it! I want to go there!” I paused. “Can we go there? … I mean, well, do you know where I’m talking about?”

After managing to eliminate the Twelve Apostles and Ayers Rock, it was time for me to turn to Google Images and find the magic combination of “Australia”, “rocks”, “trees”, “mountains” and “famous” to bring up the place I was looking for. Amazingly it was the first image that appeared.

“Found it!”, I cried out, jabbing excitedly at my laptop screen.

“It’s called the Three Sisters. In the Blue Mountains. Oooh! And look at this map! It’s between Brisbane and Sydney. We can go!”

The Blue Mountains! No idea why they call them that… 

The Blue Mountains ended up being our second stop after a night spent exploring beaches in Port Macquarie. As we packed our bags and loaded them into the car, Dave shot me a knowing look.

“Lauren, it’s time for you to learn just how big Australia is.”

I mean, of course I knew it was large. I’d looked at a map before we arrived and calculated the distances and times between each spot; I knew that it was roughly the same size as the US. And yet, when we climbed into the car and had the GPS estimate that it would take ten hours to get to the Blue Mountains, I was horrified. It looked so close on the map! 

The journey was mostly uneventful. A kangaroo bounced in front of our car as we were driving along a motorway, causing me to squeal and clap my hands with childlike excitement. I was confused when I spotted my first coin-operated barbecue in a park. I was even more confused by the 42,710 road signs warning you of imminent death if you’re feeling even slightly tired while driving.

Australia certainly has a lot of rules…

We arrived in Katoomba, the largest town in the Blue Mountains, as the sun was beginning to set. Not wanting to waste what looked like a beautiful sunset, we wandered down to nearby Echo Point.

It ended up being one of my favourite sunsets and Dave and I spent over an hour taking photos of the incredible views.

 Sunset in the Blue Mountains

 Getting to see the Three Sisters for the first time!

We were both exhausted from the drive over to Katoomba and after spending close to an hour walking up and down the main street searching, and mostly failing, to find a pub, we knew we had to stop moving so quickly. Our plans to head to Sydney the following morning were quickly shelved in favour of one more day in the Blue Mountains.

Though the temptation that following morning was to stay in bed sleeping, I knew I’d regret not seeing more of the Blue Mountains after insisting Dave and I visit. Plus, with New Zealand coming up, I knew I’d be needing some major hiking skills for all of the walking we had planned. I needed a lot of practice.

After leafing through a few vouchers in our guesthouse, we decided to spend our morning walking the National Pass Trail, a six kilometre hike carved into the cliff face that is said to be one of Australia’s best walks.

It was time for me to prove to Dave that I am capable of walking more than 500 metres at once; that I would be absolutely fine in New Zealand and that, yes, I could do all of the above in flip flops (the only shoes I owned at this point!).

It started off easily enough. The path was well paved, mostly downhill and full of spectacular views to distract me from my aching calves. Despite my flip flops sliding around under my feet, I was feeling confident about the walk ahead of us. Though I don’t think I’ve ever walked as far as six kilometres before in my life, I was desperate to impress Dave and prove I wasn’t as unfit as he believed.

Ten minutes into the walk and the track was no longer downhill. I was beginning to sweat, my legs were aching, my back was sore and I was struggling to breathe silently. Allowing Dave to go ahead of me, I spent the first portion of our walk trying to appear like I was finding it easy and pausing every two minutes for a “photo stop”.

And then we came across this.

 No railings? No safety net? Just a vertical drop down to my death?

I watched in disbelief as Dave courageously made his way across the narrow Ledge of Doom, not even taking a second to assess the dangers that lay before him. I let out an audible sigh of relief as he reached the end of the walkway, causing him to turn around and stare bemusedly at me, wondering why I was stood frozen at the start, unable to take a step forward.

With gentle coaxing from Dave and a lot of whimpering from me, I was somehow able to make it across without incident.

We reached the half-way point in under an hour and as we paused to catch our breath, we reflected on my progress so far.

I’d coped surprisingly well. Though I’d been out of breath for the entire walk, I’d learnt to breathe through my nose so that Dave couldn’t tell. My $1 flip flops from Cambodia had held out against the uneven surfaces and hadn’t caused me to trip or fall. I wasn’t even as tired as I’d expected to be.

Most shockingly of all, I was really, really enjoying this walk.

…But then there was the final ascent. 

I knew the last part of our walk was going to consist of at least twenty minutes of struggling up steep, uneven steps and I knew that it was going to be tough.

Knowing how far I’d come on this walk and how much I’d impressed Dave with my fitness, I knew I couldn’t lose his respect on the final stretch. I was going to have to put all of my anguish and pain to the back of my mind and walk like I’d never walked before.

With a renewed energy I raced towards the steps, grabbed the cool rail with one hand and began to climb rapidly. Using my hand to pull myself upwards I attacked the steps with a vigour that surprised everyone, including me. My lungs were burning, sweat was rolling down my back, I had a stitch in my side and my legs were shuddering… yet still I continued upwards.

Against the odds and against everyone’s expectations, I made it without a single pause. I had defeated the Blue Mountains and I had shown Dave that I was capable of walking.

I had never been so proud.

I was on my way to becoming A Hiker. 

I didn’t know what to expect from the Blue Mountains, with my only knowledge being from a Google Image search, but by the end of my hike I would say it was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.

The post Stunning Scenery in the Blue Mountains appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

I left England back in 2011 with a Working Holiday Visa for Australia and a plan to fly to Sydney within the first six months of my travels. I’d spend a year working and exploring, building up my travel fund and enjoying being an expat with a stable life and fixed routine.

That, as you know, did not happen.

I instead decided to head to ridiculously cheap Chiang Mai, fell in love with a fellow travel blogger and decided to pursue a life of perpetual movement by his side. We made Thailand our home for the next six months, working 80 hour weeks, building businesses and planning for a future of, well, not having to plan.

Somewhere during that time, I realised that my Working Holiday in Australia was hanging over my head like a dark storm cloud. I didn’t want to go back to working for someone else, I didn’t want to remain stationary, I didn’t want to have to wake up at 7am and know how every single day was going to turn out. I was happy. I thrived on the spontaneity that long-term travel had brought to my life, I loved not knowing what each day was going to bring and the freedom of being able to wake up and buy a ticket to Cambodia on a whim, just because I felt like going.

It was a decision I wrestled with for a few months before finally booking a flight to Indonesia when I should have been heading to Australia.

Australia would have to wait.

A stunning beach in Port Macquarie.

One year later, I finally booked that flight.

A few weeks before we were due to arrive, I was seriously surprised at how excited I was about visiting. Australia was going to be my fifth continent and I was craving somewhere new to explore. My time would be limited to a month, the first week of which would be spent driving down the east coast from Brisbane to Melbourne. Though I knew there were several aspects of Australia I’d struggle with — the prices and the internet being the main ones — I was looking forward to checking out the beaches, the kangaroos, the funny accents and spending Christmas in a Western country.

…But then I fell in love with Saigon.

Vietnam was the first country in Southeast Asia where I adored the food — I wanted to eat everything. I could eat everything! (In Thailand, for example, a dislike of spicy food, coconut and peanuts means that the majority of my meals consist of a plate of fried rice). I loved the chaos, the markets and the people. In the short time I spent in Vietnam, it grew to feel like home and suddenly the thought of leaving to go to Australia filled me with dread.

It was going to take 24 hours to get to the Gold Coast, with stops in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. I was expecting it to be a tough travel day but I certainly didn’t expect us to miss our connecting flight in KL. With no other flights for at least 12 hours we were going to have to spend the night. Flights from Asia to Australia are notoriously painful — and we couldn’t find any with great connection times that were under $1000. If you’re looking to take this same route then visit this site, which is the one we used and ended up finding a flight for $350!

This had to be a sign.

Despite my insistence that Dave and I immediately forego our flights to Australia and fly straight back to Saigon, there was no convincing him. AirAsia was surprisingly helpful though, putting us up in a hotel for the night, paying for dinner and for our transport there and back.

And then, finally, 12 hours later than expected, we were off to Australia. 

More Port Macquarie beachy goodness.

 Our first stop was Port Macquarie, somewhere I’d actually never heard of. Dave had chosen to stay there as it was conveniently located mid-way between Brisbane and Sydney. With just one day to explore, I decided to cross off the first item on my Australia checklist and head to the beach!

Port Macquarie has eight beaches to choose from, each one unspoilt and surprisingly empty. We spent the majority of our time in Shelly Beach for no other reason than the fact there was nobody else there. Spotting the iguana lazing at the top of the steps leading towards the beach was an exciting moment for me and was a pleasant introduction to Australia’s wildlife. I wasn’t quite ready for snakes, spiders and sharks at this point!

Though we only had time to spend a couple of hours at the beach, that was all I needed to feel comfortable with my decision to come to Australia. I mean sure, we were paying $18 for a bland bowl of pho that cost just $1 in Saigon, and free internet was strangely rare, but I could handle it for a month. I wasn’t about to run out of money and if the rest of my time in Australia would be filled with scenery as stunning as this, it was definitely worth it.

I think it’s safe to say that Port Macquarie was the perfect introduction to Australia.

Where to stay in Port Macquarie

Our partnership with Hostelbookers brought us to Ozzie Pozzie Backpackers, which felt more like a resort for backpackers than a hostel! It was in a good location, just a ten minute walk to the central of town and 15 minutes from the main beach.

It had a friendly, relaxing atmosphere and I loved that there were dozens of hammocks to lie around in. There was a swimming pool, a games room, a chilled-out lounging area and an enormous kitchen, so there was plenty to keep you entertained.

Despite the sociable aspect of the hostel, our private room with ensuite was surprisingly quiet. Our bathroom was clean and the beds comfortable.

This was also my first experience of internet in Australian hostels and this was Ozzie Pozzie’s only downside.  Wifi was charged at a ridiculous $10 for 24 hours use, the most expensive rate out of all the hostels I stayed in in Australia — and it didn’t work in our room.

If the expensive internet is not a deal breaker for you then I can definitely recommend Ozzie Pozzie Backpackers.

The post And Then She Went to Australia appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

Our time in the Delta was filled with rice paddies, river ferries, bad roads and, well, people carrying strange things on the back of their bikes.

It began just outside of Saigon. As I was happily snapping photos of the changing scenery from the back of Dave’s bike, we found ourselves riding behind a guy carrying a door on the back of a scooter. Yes, an actual door. I’d heard of and seen photos online of the ridiculously enormous things that are carried around on bikes in Southeast Asia but up until Vietnam I hadn’t actually witnessed it for myself.

Over the next ten days, I set myself the challenge of trying to get a photo of every overloaded bike we passed and had a lot of fun sorting through them for this post. These are some of my favourites:

The photo that started it all: carrying a door on the back of a scooter.

Ten minutes later, we passed something equally as large and even more surprising, I assume this is some kind of ladder and I especially love the fact that the driver is also driving while holding something and has his leg up in the air!

And then we passed this guy, with a scooter piled high with vegetables. I have no idea how he managed to keep everything balanced while riding!

This was one of my favourites! I can’t imagine this was particularly comfortable to hold on the pot-holed roads…

Leaving Mỹ Tho the following morning, I was delighted to see that the crazy carrying madness continuing on from the previous day. I loved seeing this guy carrying huge balls of hay on either side of a stick.

And then a whole assortment of items precariously balanced on this bike!

We arrived in Bến Tre and were greeted by another one of my favourites: Santa Claus outfits for children being sold on the back of a bicycle!

On the drive to Trà Vinh, I couldn’t stop laughing at the ridiculous amount of bananas being carried on the back of this bike.

And the crazy number of vegetables crammed onto this lady’s scooter.

I have no idea what’s in this sack, spotted on our drive to Sóc Trăng, but I can’t help but feel it’s a little off-balance…

Of course, the items carried on scooters aren’t just limited to objects. On the ride to Bạc Liêu we spotted a sleeping baby being carried on the back!

We left Cà Mau for Rạch Giá and soon came across this guy. I love the vibrant pink feather dusters and really long broomsticks along the side!

As we neared Rạch Giá, I managed to snap a quick photo of this guy who was carrying a selection of precariously-balanced skateboards for kids.

After being told it would take around four hours to get from Cần Thơ to Saigon, we weren’t expecting our final day to take almost 12 hours! There were still plenty of things to keep me amused though, including this smelly scooter stacked high with durian!

Also seen on the drive was this scooter, carrying hundreds of broomsticks.

We arrived safely back in Saigon after 10 days of Mekong Madness. I was glad to see there was still plenty of crazy items carried on scooters in Saigon, though here it was common to see people riding bikes stacked high with electronics.

And finally, showing that the bizarre items carried are not limited to just bikes, I present this: a water buffalo being transported along a river, spotted on our ride from Rạch Giá to Cần Thơ.

As we were very slowly bumping our way down yet another terrible road, it was often the crazy things on scooters that kept me amused and helped me to forget the pain shooting up and down my spine. I’m excited to announce that I’ll be returning to Saigon in a couple of months and though I won’t be embarking on any road trips, I can’t wait to spend my days attempting not to get run over by ridiculous items gliding past on two wheels.

Which photo is your favourite?

The post Crazy Things on Bikes in Vietnam appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

It was because of this that we decided to spend a few days taking a vacation from our vacation!

Koh Rong, located a couple of hours from Sihanoukville by ferry sounded like the perfect place to do so. The island has very few accommodation options — less than ten over 80 square kilometres, it has electricity for only four hours a day and it was doubtful that it would have wifi.

It was just what we needed.

We chose to stay at Paradise Bungalows purely because it seemed to be more relaxing and less party-party than neighbouring backpacker haunt Monkey Island. For $20 a night we had a bungalow located slightly up on a hill with a balcony overlooking the beach. We had an incredible bathroom, partly outdoors with pretty pink pebbles inlaid into the floor.

We also had a pretty amazing view…

Koh Rong is the stereotypical deserted island paradise. 

The sand is ridiculously white, pristine and so soft it feels like powder; the sea is calm, as warm as a bath and a clear, vibrant turquoise colour. Koh Rong is quiet and peaceful, a twenty minute walk away from the few guesthouses next to Paradise Guesthouse will find you on a completely deserted beach with not a single person in sight.

And that is exactly what we did on our very first day.

There are no roads on the island, so much of our walk was spending paddling through the sea with our bags held over our heads, climbing over rocks and trampling through the jungle. Fortunately, I was not aware at that point that the jungle of Koh Rong is home to a lot of poisonous snakes. An untreated bite from a King Cobra (one of the inhabitants of the island), for instance will leave you with just five hours to live!

Though there were no snakes lurking in wait for us, our string of bad luck on Koh Rong began on this walk.

We came to what looked like a shallow stream separating us from the island we wanted to get to. Dave attempted to cross it first, carrying our bags above his head. Let’s just say the water wasn’t quite as shallow as we initially thought and he ended up underwater with just a pair of hands and a bag poking up in the air. My concerns that he was drowning and that we’d lose our stuff wasn’t enough to stop me giggling at the ridiculous sight… something I felt extremely guilty about when he finally emerged with the bottom of his feet cut up from the jagged rocks on the seabed.

Despite Dave’s bloody foot, we still managed to have a pretty amazing day. We spent our afternoon on the beach pictured below and didn’t see another person for the entire time we were there.

Koh Rong was absolutely the definition of paradise and I’d never been on a beach so perfect.

As we packed up our stuff and trekked back to our guesthouse, I had no idea how bad my day was about to become…

It happened after dinner.

We’d just finished up an amazing plate of bangers and mash (very Cambodian!), when I felt a strange burning, itching sensation creeping over my body. I tried to ignore it, assuming that too much sun was the cause.

By the time Dave and I headed to bed, I was tearing at my skin, scratching and rubbing all over. Nothing could help the itchiness and I was still in denial that something was wrong. I took an antihistamine and tried to get some sleep.

At 3am, after no sleep, I could take it no more.

I turned over and shook Dave awake, asking him to turn on the lights, forgetting that we no longer had electricity. As he shone his phone’s flashlight over me, I knew it wasn’t good when he gasped “holy shit!” upon seeing my back. My entire back was covered in sandfly bites. I looked like I had acne and I can’t even begin to describe how insanely itchy they were.

The sleepless night continued, with Dave rubbing Tiger Balm over my entire body while I covered up and tried not to scratch.

Little did I know, it was about to get a lot worse…

I then had an allergic reaction to the bites.

By the time morning rolled around, the small red bites from a few hours earlier had swelled up into huge pus-filled blisters. Over the next 12 hours they grew in size until I looked like a sheet of bubble wrap.

I have never felt so hideous.

My entire body was covered and it was taking everything I had not to rip my skin to shreds.

My paradise island had been tainted, I felt terrible and I couldn’t wait to get back to the mainland.

My remaining time on Koh Rong was spent with every square inch of my body covered in Tiger Balm, afraid to leave the room incase further sandflies attacked. The one time I did venture onto the beach, I noticed the sandflies swarming around my legs within seconds. I left after ten minutes and that night, my legs were almost as bad as my back.

After much research, we learnt that the reason some people have such a bad reaction to sandfly bites is because after they bite you, they like to pee on your skin to celebrate. Apparently people from Australia and New Zealand usually have a natural immunity, which explains why Dave was barely affected.

After three days on Koh Rong it was time to leave. Dave could barely walk with his messed up feet and I needed to get away from the sandflies so I could begin to heal…

Koh Rong is an incredible, beautiful island and had it not been for the sand flies and my terrible allergic reaction, it would have been my highlight from my time in Cambodia.

If you’re looking for a tropical island paradise with gorgeous scenery, little development and hardly any people then Koh Rong is the place for you. Just be sure to bathe in DEET every few minutes while you’re there!

The post Koh Rong: A Paradise Island Riddled with Sandflies appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

It has, however, been another fantastic month, with tons of exploring, hiking and beautiful scenery!

I began this month with a drive to the northernmost part of the North Island, Cape Reinga, where we got a cheesy shot of Dave, Dustin and I looking really excited about the month ahead of us.

The premise of our New Zealand trip is for us to spend two months travelling from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island. Having now reached Cape Reinga, it was time for us to start heading south.

We stopped off in Raglan, a stunning beach town on the west coast and my favourite place in the North Island! It had a relaxed, laid back vibe, the black sand beach was secluded and beautiful and we had an amazing afternoon sunbathing and paddling in the sea. When I next come to New Zealand, I’ll probably end up living in Raglan for months…

Next up was Waitomo, famous for its glowworm caves. I had never seen glowworms before so this was another exciting first for me. Despite the cave tours being full of loud, obnoxious people who insisted on yelling for the entire tour despite being repeatedly told to keep quiet, it was incredible to see the glowworms. Next time I’ll do it without the tour group.

Funnily enough, for me, the actual highlight from Waitomo was something we stumbled across on the drive down there. A nondescript sign directed us towards a waterfall and we spontaneously decided to go check it out. Bridal Veil Falls was one of the most stunning waterfalls I’ve ever seen and I’m so happy we decided to stop there!

We continued on to Mount Maunganui, where I fell over and hurt my ankle again so unfortunately my time there was limited to lying in bed and drinking cider. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time too, with a major hike coming up in a few days.

Next up, was Taupo where we had just one thing planned for our time there: Huka Falls jet boat.

You probably know by now that I get incredibly travel sick, with seasickness being the worst of all (I get nauseous in swimming pools and baths!). I am ridiculously sensitive to any kind of motion, so racing along a river at speeds exceeding 80 km/h, with only 360 degree spins to slow us down, well, let’s just say the result wasn’t all that pretty.

I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be getting back on a jet boat anytime soon…

After recovering from the jet boat journey from hell, we moved on to Rotorua, a place that was a pleasant surprise! Both Dave and Dustin had visited previously and didn’t have many positive things to say about it, if any. I was expecting to find a smelly town with not much going for it.

We spent our time exploring Waimangu Volcanic Valley and Wai-O-Tapu thermal park. Both of these were stunning and so much fun to explore, with vibrant, colourful lakes, crazy geysers and yes, lots of bizarre smells.

And then it was time for the one thing I had been dreading the most throughout my time in New Zealand.

Back in July, Dave and I were strolling through the streets of Prague when ten minutes into our walk I had to stop. I was out of breath, I had a stitch and I wanted to sit down. I couldn’t bring myself to walk any further. Dave was understandably extremely frustrated at my complete lack of fitness and as we argued, mostly about how I was going to cope with hiking in New Zealand, I realised that things had to change.

I spent the next six months forcing myself to sort out my fitness levels. I walked when I didn’t feel like it, attempted to climb hills and mountains and bought myself a whole assortment of hiking gear.

I was determined to prove Dave wrong and show him that I could keep up with him on all of these crazy New Zealand hikes.

And so, at 6am, after a sleepless night full of visions of legs breaking, bodies falling and Laurens dying, I packed up my bag, pulled on my hiking clothes and made my way to the Tongariro Crossing.

With a combination of an 18 km track, a height of 2000 metres and active volcanoes, this was going to be the longest and hardest walk of my life.

I am so glad I decided to become A Hiker because I had so much fun! The Tongariro Crossing was amazing and so, so beautiful!

After brief stops in Lake Waikaremoana, Napier and Wellington, it was time to head to the South Island, where I planned on impressing Dave even further with a 50 kilometre walk over 3 days in the Marlborough Sounds.

The first couple of days were… okay. I managed to get through the 12 and 14 kilometre walks reasonably easily and I was feeling confident about my abilities for the final 25 kilometre day.

To put this into perspective, before I arrived in New Zealand, the furthest distance I had ever walked in my life was probably under 10 km!

It was probably the hardest physical challenge I have ever undertaken. Around 5 kilometres from the end point, my legs completely seized up and began spasming, I was dehydrated and soaked in sweat, I had so many blisters on my feet that I was walking on raw skin. I felt like I was dying.

…And yet, I still completed it! I’ve never felt so proud! 

Despite feeling so incredibly broken by the end of the walk, I was happy I stuck it out and forced myself to walk the whole distance. My calves now look like cobras, I feel the fittest I ever have in my life and I got to explore one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been.

I don’t know who I am anymore.

… Onto the statistics for the month!

Distance travelled: 3196km

Countries visited: 1

New Zealand

Cities visited: 16

Auckland, Paihia, Cape Reinga, Hamilton, Raglan, Waitomo, Mount Maunganui, Taupo, Rotorua, National Park, Lake Waikaremoana, Napier, Wellington, Picton, Christchurch, Akaroa.

Money spent:

£1118.76 over 31 days = £36.09 per day.

My accommodation for this month was covered by HostelBookers and the majority of my activities were covered by the respective operators. Pretty much all of the £1118 I spent this month went on food, petrol and internet. New Zealand is expensive!

The next month:

The next month will be more of the same as I continue on with my New Zealand adventure in the South Island.

I’ll be heading to Tekapo to relax in some hot springs and go tubing, in Dunedin I’ll be eating chocolate until I vomit at Cadbury World and walking up the world’s steepest street. I’ll be heading to the southernmost point of the South Island for some more hiking goodness and then checking out both Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound. After stops in Queenstown and Wanaka, it’ll be off to walk on Fox Glacier and ice climb all over Franz Josef Glacier — I’ve never seen a glacier before so I’m most excited about this! It’ll then be back up to the top of the South Island to check out Nelson and Abel Tasman National Park and then, the highlight. Dave and I will be heading to Ashburton — Dave’s hometown! I can’t wait!

At the end of the month, I’ll have no doubt spent an insane amount of money so it’ll be back to Southeast Asia for my bank balance to recover… and I’ll be heading to two completely new countries for me during this time… I can’t wait! 

The post Month 19: Travel Summary and Statistics appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

I spent all of my time exploring the temples of Angkor and didn’t venture outside of Siem Reap. Despite having seen only a tiny, tiny part of the country over such a short time period, I instantly fell in love with Cambodia and left wishing I had more time, desperate to see more.

So when Dave and I began plotting our return to Southeast Asia, I was immediately pushing for a month in Cambodia — and was thrilled when Dave agreed! This time around I wanted to spend all of that time exploring the coast and was planning on visiting Sihanoukville, Koh Rong, Kampot and Kep. In my mind, I had a vision of holing up in a cute, cheap bungalow on the beach and spending a few weeks writing.

A vision of something a little like this…

Papa Pippo Bungalows on Otres Beach.

Otres Beach in Sihanoukville was my first stop in Cambodia and I actually ended up spending three weeks here in total.

I’d heard mixed opinions on Sihanoukville and from my initial research I’d come to the conclusion that Serendipity Beach was a backpacker-ridden dump and that quiet Otres Beach would be much more my style. A brief stop in the area around Serendipity when I arrived confirmed my expectations — shirtless, glassy-eyed backpackers wandering around with whisky buckets at 10am, tuk tuk drivers instantly swarming around us, touts trying to convince us to get a massage, kid vendors trying to sell us bracelets.

I mean, sure, if you’re looking to party then this area of Sihanoukville would be perfect and whilst that’s something I enjoy very occasionally (after all, I list Boracay as one of my favourite places!), this time around it was the complete opposite of what I needed. This time I was travelling with Dave and was craving somewhere relaxing and couple-y with no hassle, somewhere I could get some work done.

I arrived on Otres Beach and was delighted and thankful to find somewhere in total contrast to Serendipity. The stretch of guesthouses lining the beach totalled around 30 or 40, taking up a small section of the beach. It felt much more peaceful, there were hardly any vendors and those that were there would mostly leave you alone and not hassle you. And the kid vendors that Sihanoukville is so famous for? After chatting for a while with one of them, they gave me a bracelet for free! For “friendship”! My mind was blown.

A lot of the laid-back vibe comes from the fact that the guesthouse owners on Otres Beach seem to have an agreement with each other to turn off the music at around 10pm, which makes for a quiet and relaxing night every night.

I was staying at Papa Pippo Bungalows and for a bungalow on the beach with an ensuite bathroom and excellent wifi Dave and I were paying just $15 total.

Here’s a sample of a typical day on Otres Beach:

Every morning would begin with this view.

When we finally managed to drag ourselves out of bed, we’d step out of our bungalow onto warm, golden sand, race each other into the sea and spend the next hour swimming (Dave) and loudly freaking out whenever seaweed attacked (Me).

After drying off in the sun, we’d head off for a stroll along the beach to find somewhere to have breakfast — and would usually end up eating at Mushroom Point with their awesomely comfortable sun loungers and bungalows shaped like mushrooms!

As an aside, on Otres Beach I actually developed an obsession with Vegemite (of all things!) and would actively seek it out for breakfast every single morning. It’s now reached the point where I carry an enormous jar of it around with me!

Breakfast at Mushroom Point

Of course, I wasn’t just staying on Otres so I could sunbathe, nap and eat vegemite — I was here to get lots of writing done. Papa Pippo had surprisingly good internet for a beach bungalow in Cambodia and so much of my morning and early afternoon was spent working on one of the cushions here.

Not a bad place to work, right?

After a hard, long and terrible day of working, it was then time to shut down our laptops and go enjoy the beach. Apart from the one time that I swam in the sea during a thunderstorm and found myself surrounded by bright blue jellyfish that looked like salt and pepper grinders, this was one of the highlights.

The sea was so ridiculously warm that it was like having a bath! The water was deep enough that you could swim and was so incredibly calm that I didn’t get seasick. With sun loungers and hammocks on the beach, there would be plenty of reading and napping taking place too.

And every night on Otres Beach would finish as chilled out as it started — with dinner and cocktails on the beach followed by an incredible sunset.

Otres Beach had some of the best sunsets I’ve ever witnessed in Southeast Asia.

Otres Beach is one of those places where I feel like I can say “go now, before it changes! It won’t be like this forever!” without feeling like a dick. Otres Beach is under threat from commercial development, with many bungalows and restaurants bulldozed a few years ago in preparation for a resort. Though it has yet to materialise, the 1.5km stretch of empty beach with bulldozers and workmen lazing around means it’s only a matter of time…

We left Otres Beach after two weeks. I knew that if we didn’t leave then, we’d never leave. And though I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in Koh Rong, Kampot and Kep, after a week of exploring I was craving to return to Otres.

And so we did just that. 

By the end of our time in Cambodia, Otres Beach felt like home, and if we didn’t have plans to head to Thailand for Yi Peng then I have a feeling Dave and I would have spent another two weeks there… Or, you know, two years.

The post Otres Beach: My Cambodian Beach Paradise appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.

Ayutthaya and Sukhothai, two ancient cities were the first places that sprung to mind and after a quick look at a map, Dave and I decided on Sukhothai for no other reason than the fact it was roughly mid-way between Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

Sukhothai Historical Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the capital of the Sukhothai Kingdom from 1238 to 1438. It has almost 200 ruins spread out over 70 square kilometres. Think of it as a mini-Angkor Wat in Thailand.

We put aside half a day to explore the ruins and as you could take a scooter into the park, we were able to zip around most of the main sites over this time. While I’d say it’s definitely possible to see a fair chunk of the area in a day, I found myself wishing I had a week in Sukhothai so that I could explore EVERYTHING.

As coming to Sukhothai was a bit of a last minute decision for us both, Dave and I arrived knowing absolutely nothing about the ruins and having no expectations. Sometimes that’s the best way as Sukhothai absolutely blew me away.

These ruins were amazing.

The park is divided into five areas — the central, north, east, south and west zones, with each of these having a separate entrance fee (roughly $3.50). Of these, the central zone is the largest and has the most impressive ruins. Of course, this also meant more tourists, but at Sukhothai it was far from overwhelming. A tour group of 10 people, a few couples on bicycles, it was still easy to find peace and quiet here.

I found myself wondering why Sukhothai isn’t more popular. These ruins were seriously impressive and yet it rarely makes it onto travellers’ itineraries. For Dave and I, this was a good thing. No crowds make us very happy.

What little crowds there were in the central zone dissipated once we ventured outside. For a blissful hour we wandered mostly undisturbed around the ruins of the north zone.

The north zone felt much less “restored” in comparison to the central zone, with piles of rubble and bricks stretching over the sites and various statues missing body parts. I enjoyed this section a lot more, partly because it felt more original and partly because we had the ruins to ourselves.

During my Sukhothai visit I managed to develop an obsession of Buddha statues and spent the majority of my time clambering over rocks, trying to discover hidden Buddhas. These were some of my favourites, found in the central zone.

It was fortunate that we had a scooter to explore Sukhothai with as we managed to visit all of the ruins in the central and north zone in around four hours. Our visit was far too rushed for my liking but it gave me a good introduction to Sukhothai and was unlike anywhere else I’d been to in Thailand.

I have no idea why more people don’t visit Sukhothai. Aside from the occasional tour group or an elderly couple on bicycles we had much of the ruins to ourself — and the ruins were stunning.

Seriously, Sukhothai is amazing.

If you’re planning on visiting Thailand you should definitely try to work it into your itinerary. You won’t be disappointed.

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