Photo Journal: South to North Island, New Zealand

Aug 27, 2021Travel

Sharing another long forgotten photo journal recovered from my drafts folder.

I’m slowly clearing that out, and so please don’t mind me daydreaming about these travel throwbacks.

Oh, the wanderlust… I feel it coming.

This was from my late 2016, early 2017 trip to Aotearoa… New Zealand.

We had stayed in Auckland for the first few days, where we spent Christmas with Ian’s parents in this adorable AirBnB, and then the next few days in Queenstown to count down to the New Year with friends.

This photo journal chronicles a small part of the road trip that Ian and I took for the next week from the South Island up to the North Island.

Ian bumped us up to first class on the ferry over because he wanted to make sure I was comfortable since he knows I get seasick and it was stormy out on the water.

We had a blast driving all around the beautiful country side.

We had an epic car rental situation, which we basically got for FREE with the cost of our ferry free included too, as long as we got it up to their North Island branch within 5 days.

It was a lot of driving though, with so much to see! We mostly stopped at any lakes we could find, cute cafes, lavender fields, and even stopped at a glacial river next to a bridge.

On our way up to the surf town of Raglan, we visited Rotorua, which is a popular destination for the natural hot springs. I got in touch with a childhood friend who was living there and working at the Polynesian Spa. She was super kind to hook us up with a free visit to the hot springs! It smelled like farts because of all the sulfur in the natural springs, but it was a really cool experience!

We dropped off the rental car in Auckland and drove up the rest of the way to Raglan with Ian’s parents. I don’t think I posted those photos of Raglan either, so I’m gonna search through my photos on my drive and see if I can pull it up to share here.

Since the recent loss of my external hard drive (which contained all my photos and videos from the last few years), I’m more motivated to post what photos I do have on my blog, so I can always look back at some of my favorite memories.

xo, Nerelle

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Journal Moments

Where I Get It From (Mom and Dad)

Now that I'm moderately older—nearly 30, wow—I can see it more clearly.  The small things that add up. The parts...
Moments Sustainable Living

A low impact weekend

Photo journal of the little things that made me happy. Certainly not perfect or 100% zero waste, but a low...
Lifestyle

Sun kissed and puppy kisses

Basking in the warm sunrise at Coconut Point with my guy and our Yodi girl. It was almost completely flat...
Moments

Cheat Day

Do you really need one? Indulging in a Banana split sundae with Koko samoa brownie base, coffee and vanilla ice...
Lifestyle Photo Diaries

Quarantine Diaries: After telework hours

Photos taken on Monday, March 16, 2020. After a very productive day of working from home... warmed up leftover adobo...
Moments

Valentine’s Day Date Night

Did a really fancy dinner on valentines and ate soooo much seafood! Aren't we cute? Lol you can say no
Photo Diaries Wedding

The Morning Of the Wedding

I wish I took more photos, but I swear, getting married - or more specifically, having a wedding - is...
Moments

Landsurfing

Moments

Making more of an effort to pick up my camera

I miss seeing myself through my own lens... Going to make more of an effort to document the in between...
Lifestyle

Excerpts from a Chill Christmas Eve

An excerpt of my Christmas Eve photo diary. Breakfast, north winds, advent gifts, chores, SUP with Yodi, groceries & gift wrap,...
Culture Lifestyle Photography

Let’s Jazz Things Up

It's that time of the year again. Early November means Jazz Festival in American Samoa, and another year as the...
Moments

Ian and Scruff

LOOK AT THESE CUTIE KITTIES! Been perusing through my tumblr archives and found these pieces of gold so I had...
Lifestyle Photo Diaries

Photo diary: Gals night

We gabbed about all manner of girl talk, but it was just so lovely to spend time with a genuine...
Lifestyle Sustainable Living

25 Creative Ideas for ‘Plastic Free July’

Sharing 25 creative ideas for Plastic Free July that aren't just about plastics, but also reducing waste and living more...
Moments

Fagatogo Iseula O Le Moana III

Moments Photo Diaries

Fogama’a adventure reel

A quick little reel from our hike to Fogama’a cove yesterday for the MLK holiday with friends. It was a...
Moments

Pacific Roots Open Mic

Post open mic night pics with friends. January 2020 photos from Alafaga.
Lifestyle

20 WAYS TO LIVE MORE SUSTAINABLY

Every day is Earth Day! Which is why I wanted to share some things I’m doing as I progress towards...
Moments

9 to wine

Coming home from work and going in for dips with Yodi.
Journal Lifestyle

Journal 8/52: Influential Books

Books are sentimental objects of knowledge and nostalgia for me. And these 3 come to mind as being most influential...