NEW ZEALAND ADVENTURES

 17 NEW SPECIES! 10/11/23 I woke up to the sound of Tui's calling by the cabin. Today was going to be a big birding day: I could feel it in my bones. Before I arrived to the island, I had signed up for the Paterson Inlet Tour. Unfortunately, I was the only one and there was a minimum of four people for the tour to run. Did I spend a good 20 minutes advertising the Paterson Inlet Tour by Rakiura Charters for free? Yes I did. Did I get to go on the tour because of it? That's showbiz baby. At 8:30 am, I began my jaunt from Deep Bay to the Halfmoon Bay Wharf and waited for the tour to start. Somehow the cruise had filled up to the maximum allowed and I was prepared for a good 3 hours of birding fun! Here is the first wildlife viewing area we arrived at! Rakiura Charters brought us the cruise of a lifetime highlighting bird life, wildlife, the history of the hunting and whaling industry, Maori relationships with early European settlers, and the salmon and mussel farms off the coast

 17 NEW SPECIES! 08/11/23 I was going to cancel this trip. When I had checked the weather the week prior, Rakiura was supposed to be muddy, rainy and cold. I didn't think I would get to see any birds and the trip was too expensive to not  see any birds. Nonetheless, my air bnb host encouraged me that the weather forecast is rarely accurate and I should make the trip down anyway. I was hesitant about this decision, but since the flight was nonrefundable anyway, I full sent it down to the southernmost cities of the New Zealand South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura. I've noticed that the first photo I put on here is the cover, so here is the epic photo of me at Sterling Point in Bluff, NZ. The southernmost part of the South Island! Also, this will be a picture-heavy blog post so prepare yourself! I arrived at the Invercargill airport at around 8:30 pm only to find that Uber didn't exist. Thankfully, I had been chatting with a kind mom on the plane who offered to take me to m

 02/11/23      Did you know that Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris were grape varieties and not just wine??? Hey everyone!  Here is the long awaited review of my wine-tasting tour up to Picton and Blenheim. Long story short, the Marlborough region has a bunch of beautiful vineyards, we saw more Kaikoura seals and I learned a little bit about wineries. In synopsis, I don't really like Sauvignon Blanc and my travel curse DOES in fact transfer to trains (but not buses).   Here is the long story long!  Moyu and I left Christchurch around 9 am to head to Picton. The drive was about four and a half hours up through the coastal SH1. Traveling through Amberley, Kaikoura and Waipapa we saw seals scattered around the rocks and snow on the mountain tops. I have had the privilege to drive through Kaikoura quite a few times now, but the view has yet to grow old. Moyu and I stopped in Kaikoura for a quick break and got some beautiful photos of the seal colony and the ocean views.  Once we made it t