I awoke early for a planned departure at 7 am. Once the group was all up and together, we called a Grab (the local ride-hailing app) to take us to the Batu Caves. Even as the car approached the temple, the limestone mountain loomed ahead of us. Upon stopping I was immediately wowed by the…

I woke up to a text from a new friend from the previous night, asking if I wanted to join her for breakfast. Excited to explore the city, and having a hard time finding excuses to stay in bed, I joined her at a small cafe nearby. Enticed by the promise of seasonal fruit, we…

I landed a little after 3 am local time and had about 6 before my next leg into Kuala Lumpur. I took some time to explore the airport, seeing a few impressive gardens, but I mostly slept and tried to charge my phone to be sure I could navigate to my hostel later that day.…

Feeling pretty sore after my big walking and running day, I got off to a little bit of a slow start. When I finally did make it out of the house, I took the bus to downtown Sydney, this time heading to the Barangaroo area and starting off with the Sydney Maritime Museum. They had…

I started another day with a quick walk to the local Northbridge Baths. The walk, after a rainy day, was beautiful, often making use of small paths between the roads. I wasn’t sure what to expect from local public baths, something I had never heard much about in California. I was impressed to find a…

My first full day in Australia began smoothly, with a traditional (but new to me) breakfast of some toast with vegemite and butter. After a little trepidation due to the strong opinions I’ve heard on vegemite/marmite, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I really enjoyed it. Salty and savory with some of the yeasty…

My travel began early on the morning of March 30th, with a ride from our hostel to the Wellington airport. After the complete airport security experience, in which I was grateful my slightly overladen bags weren’t weighed (7kg combined limit for both bags!), we boarded the flight. I tried to appreciate some of my final…

My only full day at Furneaux Lodge began with a fairly slow morning before eventually making my way over to breakfast with my grandmother. As we were finishing some pleasant, but fairly expensive food, one of the lodge employees came over to us and noted that another room had become available, and they wanted to…

Our morning in Westport began with a light breakfast, mostly leftover vegetables from the last night. After checking out of the hostel, we made a quick visit to the Tauranga Bay seal colony. It required a short walk after our arrival, but eventually, we ended up on a cliff-side viewing platform, looking down on the…

The morning after my glowworm cave excursion, we left the Te Anau holiday park fairly early, in order to take a look at a local bird refuge. The refuge was free to visit and even featured some cycling paths throughout, allowing bikers to pass through it on a route around the shore of Lake Te…