Photo Journal: South to North Island, New Zealand

Aug 27, 2021 | Travel

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

Throwback Thursday: Remember MySpace surveys? 34 Q’s

Mar 27, 2020 | Journal, Lifestyle

Ok, MAJOR THROWBACK incoming!

Who remembers MySpace surveys?!

I sure do. I would stay up all night reading surveys my friends filled out, then I’d copy and paste the survey, fill it out, and post it on the bulletin. It was so exciting when your crush did your surveys, because you knew he/she read it, and I’m pretty sure that was the very subtle start of internet dating for my generation!

I saw this tweet a few days ago, and retweeted so fast because I totally understood and longed for those simple days when the Internet felt new (we had just graduated from the “ooh wahh ooh eeeeeeee di deeeeee” sound of dial up internet connection. And I’d feel like a little tech genius when I’d customize my layout with HTML code. That’s actually what inspired me do web design!

Anyhow, on to my survey below…

34 questions I got from the internet, and answers by meeee.

1. Who is your last text from? From Traci; she lives next door and I heard her sneezing 3x in a row so I texted her and she was like you can hear me?! lol yes woman

2. Where was your default picture taken? Well, my DP on instagram was taken at Toaga beach in Ofu, Man`a

3. Your current relationship status (married or not)? Soon to be married! Supposed to get married spring 2020 but instead, this pandemic got me filling out MySpace era surveys and postponing my wedding to next year 🙁

4. Does your crush like you back? I think it’s highly probable

5. What is your current mood? Better than earlier today. I feel cozy and relaxed.

6. What’s your mom’s name? Elaine

7. What color shirt are you wearing? Lavender robe

8. If you could go back in time and change something, would you? No regrets here (that I can think of)

9. Do you like drinking tea? Yes, matcha tea/latte with oat milk is flavor of choice

10. Ever had a near death experience? Yes definitely. Almost drowned in a pool when I was in 7th grade, and I jumped out of an airplane in 2014 and I felt safe but definitely gives you a near death experience.

11. Something you do a lot? These days, a lot more snapping photos and blogging, and I’m v happy about it

12. Who can you tell anything to? Ian or Gabby

13. Name someone with the same birthday as you? My first cousin! He was born the exact same day as me, just like half an hour apart, but my mom gave birth to me here at LBJ in American Samoa, and my cousin was born in the Philippines. I forget who’s older, me or him…

14. When was the last time you cried? Today. I was feeling a bit emotional.

15. How many people have you kissed? Gosh if cheeks and babies count, I have no idea. If we’re talking romantically, you don’t need to know, but it’s really not a lot

16. If you could be one super hero, who would it be? I’m kind of tired of superhero movies so I don’t know who’s who anymore, but as a kid I liked Wonder Woman, oh and any of the PowerPuff Girls!

17. What’s the first thing you notice about the opposite/same sex? Opposite – their personality and style, like how they carry themselves and the energy they exude. Same – facial features probably (wow does this mean I’m shallow)

18. What do you usually order from starbucks? I don’t really order coffees out, I prefer to make my own. But if I was in an airport and needed some caffeine, a matcha latte with oat milk.

19. What’s your biggest secret? It wouldn’t be a secret anymore now would it

20. Favorite color? The green blue of my fiancé’s eyes, they change with the lighting but each hue is my favorite.

21. Do you still watch kiddy movies or tv shows? Yep, gotta love the pixar classics

22. What are you eating or drinking at the moment? Water

23. Do you speak any other language? Very very very elementary tagalog and samoan… hmm, maybe kindergarten level actually.

24. What’s your favorite smell? Clean laundry, or patchouli, orrrr whatever delicious yummy just came out of the oven

25. Describe your life in one word. What would it be? Blessed

26. Have you ever kissed in the rain? Yes

27. What are you thinking about right now? Gabby, who just flew in tonight and texted me that she’s in a quarantine facility now for the next 14 days, poor thing! I hope it’s comfortable and clean, and she does ok there. She’s being positive, but I know I would be so upset if I had to stay in a tiny closeted cot for 2 weeks.

28. What should you be doing? Sleeping, which I’ll do right after I finish reliving my tween myspace survey days!

29. Who was the last person that made you upset/angry? I’ve been home quarantined for 14 days, so maybe Ian? But I don’t think he has actually… we’ve been thriving even in isolation. That’s probably how you know it’s meant to be.

30. Who was the last person you kissed? Ian

31. Do you like working in the yard? Not really. I like working on my balcony garden though.

32. If you could have any last name in the world, what would it be? Moffitt, because he’s the greatest, and his family is awesome

33. Do you act differently around the person you like? Nope, I’m myself with him. I act differently around everyone else.

34. What is your natural hair color? Black