The situation: getting from Golden Bay (Takaka) to Queenstown by car. The problem: the main road, Highway 1, was destroyed south of Kaikoura by an earthquake and was still being reconstructed (only to open three weeks later). The solution: a 30-hour road trip! Marlborough was one of three stops en route to Queenstown on Highway … Continue reading Marlborough, South Island, New Zealand
We took the Interislander Cook Straight Ferry from Wellington on the North Island to Picton on South Island, then drove one hour drive to Takaka in Golden Bay. We thought the North Island was beautiful, but everyone we talked to said "just wait until you get to the South Island!" They were right. Even the … Continue reading Golden Bay, South Island, New Zealand
From wine country we drove to New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, to catch the ferry to the South Island. We also got to visit the Te Papa National Museum of New Zealand, which was quite informative. We Visited Te Papa Museum of New Zealand Te Papa's "Gallipoli: the Scale of our War" was an intense … Continue reading Wellington, North Island, New Zealand
Martinborough is a tiny village situated on the southern tip of the North Island of New Zealand, in the midst of the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail. We stopped in for just one night, to partake in a wine tour with Martinborough Wine Tours. Wine Tastings with Martinborough Wine Tours We thoroughly enjoyed stopping at … Continue reading Martinborough, North Island, New Zealand
From Rotorua we took our time enjoying the scenic - and sometimes snaking - drive to Napier to explore the Hawke's Bay wine region. Read about why this area will always be a top North Island recommendation. We Got a Bird's Eye View with Bay Heliwork On a whim we decided to look into taking a … Continue reading Napier, North Island, New Zealand
With Australia in the books, we were excited to start exploring New Zealand. The change of scenery also brought a change of pace, which inspired us to embrace our inner kiwis and not book much in the way of accommodations and activities - counter intuitive for us Type A Levines. Here's a summary of our … Continue reading Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand
Guest Blogger signing in from down under! For those of you that don’t know me, I’m Robin – a childhood friend of Lindsay’s and fellow travel enthusiast! When I heard Lindsay and John were headed to Australia I knew I had to jump on board, at least for a little bit. I still regret not … Continue reading Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
From Hobart we had to drive to Launceston to catch our flight to Sydney. We decided to make a road trip out of it, taking advantage of what they call the Great Eastern Drive, a scenic drive through the east coast regions of the island. There are dozens of wineries, restaurants, cafes, bed and breakfasts … Continue reading The Great Eastern Drive, Tasmania
We were drawn to the cool climate wines and criminal history of Tasmania, the island state off the coast of mainland Australia. We're very happy that we added it to our itinerary and made the trek. In this post on Hobart and the next on the Great Eastern Drive, we'll share our high points and … Continue reading Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
The state of South Australia has a population of 1.7 million people, 1.3 million of whom live in the Greater Adelaide area. In creating our itinerary, we had to pick between Adelaide or Melbourne, and we were nervous about our decision. It only took a day in this city for us to realize we made … Continue reading Adelaide, South Australia
Livin' Levine-A-Loca 