The Tongariro Alpine Crossing

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is one of those classic New Zealand walks that everyone talks about, everyone knows about, and a whole lot of Kiwis have never gotten around to doing.

So, when my friend Ross and I found ourselves with an unexpectedly free weekend we jumped in the car and headed north for an adventure.

The *Freaking Mind Blowingly* Grand Canyon

Hands up if you first heard about the Grand Canyon in the USA back when you were still in primary school?

I certainly did, and I’ve wanted to see it ever since.

It’s kind of a big deal (pun intended), and everyone knows that the Grand Canyon is massive. What they don’t necessarily tell you is how awe-inspiringly, jaw-droppingly, breathtakingly beautiful the whole of Grand Canyon National Park is.

No photo will ever do this place justice (trust me, I took hundreds, and looked at a lot of average postcards).

It is simply impossible to capture the essence of the place.

It’s not flashy, it’s not lush, it’s hard and rough and raw in the most powerful way.

Here, let me try (and fail) to give you some idea of what it’s like…

Oh, Canada!

Canada has long been on my list of countries to visit, mostly because it is so widely known for its beautiful yet accessible wild spaces. If you have read many of my blog posts you’ll have picked up on my love of the environment and outdoors. I adore getting out into the hills and seeing the glorious expanses this world has to offer us. Every time I step into the wilderness I am reminded of what I am defending when I try to minimise my negative impact on this incredible planet we call home. Canada drove that home yet again.

We landed in Edmonton at an ungodly hour of the night and were overwhelmed by the kindness of a new friend we had made in Iceland a few weeks before when she drove out to the airport from a party at her house just to fetch us. She then proceeded to offer us a bed for the night, followed by a guided tour of the river by canoe the next morning.

Of course we jumped at the chance to see the city from a different angle, and early the next morning we slathered on the sunscreen and headed to the river.

 

3 Months, 10 Countries, 1 Carry-on Bag

You may have heard (if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram) that I recently travelled around the world for 3 months on an amazing adventure. Before leaving I pondered ways of saving money, time, stress, and slightly reducing my carbon footprint.

One of the biggest decisions I made that helped on all four counts was setting myself the challenge of doing the whole trip with next to no gear – just a single carry on sized backpack.

That plan went out the window really fast when I realised I would be in climates between -5°C and +45°C, and had to fit a sleeping bag and sleeping mat in there as well, and one bag became one carry on sized backpack and one definitely-pushing-it personal item back pack, which basically every airline will allow. It was definitely overweight when fully packed, but when challenged at one airport I successfully got the big bag down to 8kg (maximum carry on for that airline) by putting on about 5 layers of clothing and shoving my book in my pocket. Success.

I swear Kathmandu did not sponsor this blog post…