Tag Archives: Ocean

Travel Guide

Travel Guide: Halifax

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I’m a bad Canadian. I hold a Canadian passport, speak with enough of a Canadian accent that Americans have asked where I’m from, and spent many a childhood weekend in Canada visiting grandparents and other relatives. But I’m a bad Canadian. Until last week, I had only visited two provinces (visited = seeing family) and, with the exception of a ski trip as a child, had never gone to Canada on holiday. For this reason and more, it was a pleasure to finally take a trip to Halifax and neighbouring Dartmouth to visit my closest friend from Singapore, who grew up there and has since moved back.

We began the tour of Halifax and its environs with a trip to Peggy’s Cove, a fishing community with a famous lighthouse. It looked like everything that comes to mind upon hearing the word “Maritimes” and, as you can imagine, smelled of the sea.

The air tasted like salt and the wind picked up as we walked further along the boulders, heeding the warnings to stay off the black rocks.

The community of Dartmouth is located across the harbour from Halifax. One can cross the bridge by car or take the ferry, which is conveniently free on the weekends (and, on the weekend of my visit, decorated for Halifax Pride). The best part of Dartmouth is the view of Halifax, I was told, though I beg to differ. Dartmouth has a vibe and charm all on its own.

The next day we walked along the boardwalk and through downtown Halifax, admiring ships-turned-museums, murals, and funky buildings.

The license plate of Nova Scotia states, “Canada’s Ocean Playground,” so it was only fitting that the last full day of my visit include a tour of the nearby beaches. The water was cold and for the first time in my life, I saw people wearing sweatshirts at the beach. I dipped my toes into the North Atlantic and that was more than enough.

On the final morning of my visit, we went to Fisherman’s Cove to go for a walk and browse the gift shops.

Just like everywhere else we’d been, you could taste the sea on the air. My favourite part of Dartmouth/Halifax was the integration of the ocean with regular life. It was everywhere and the communities had been built in it, around it, and with due regard for how the sea behaves. There are lakes everywhere, too, and life by the water is simply a normal part of life. I felt lucky to finally be there, a visit that was in the planning stage even before the pandemic, and grateful for the locals who took me around. My visit concluded with, “And next time we’ll go to. . . .” I am already looking forward to it.

Travel Guide

Travel Guide: New Zealand Road Trip – North Island

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After a weekend in and around Auckland (which was sweet as!) my friend Sharon and I picked up our North Island road trip vehicle, a white Toyota Yaris that I promptly named Sylvia. I can’t help it; cars speak to me.

We headed first for Rotorua where we spent two nights. This was also the part of our trip where it began to rain. It rained quite a bit during our travels but we didn’t let it stop us from seeing what we wanted to see. Our drive took us through farms and rolling hills and mountains that faded in and out of blues and greens. We drove with the windows down, enjoying air that was fresh, clean, and cool. We saw more cows, sheep, and horses than anything else, which was a theme throughout the trip. Even more than the animals, though, I noticed the trees. Part tropical palms, part enormous ferns, and part overgrown forest, the juxtaposition with cleared farmland was striking.

The climate of New Zealand reminded us of California and it wasn’t long before we realized how similar they actually are. Our first stop in Rotorua was the redwood forest that shares trees with California. Our walk through the woods was beautiful in and of itself . . .

. . . and the redwoods took my breath away. I sat for a time and meditated, listening to the wind.

When it got dark, which happens quite late in New Zealand in the summer and only later as you travel further south, we climbed the trees. The Rortorua Treewalk consists of 28 suspension bridges linking to 27 trees. I haven’t spent much time 20 meters up looking down to the forest floor and it was so cool. Oh, and there are giant wooden lanterns lighting the way. It was beautiful and felt like being in a fairytale.

The next day we went to Kuirau Park to check out the bubbling mud pools and hot springs. I expected a dinosaur to wander by at any moment. While sitting in the rain with our feet in the pools we chatted to travellers from Germany, South Africa, Belgium, the US, and elsewhere in New Zealand.

I love how much of New Zealand is just conservation land and public parks. There’s a unique feel to it, a sense that it is both important and expected that people spend time together as well as in nature. That afternoon we took a walk through Rotorua Park, which smelled more strongly of sulfur than Kuirau. It didn’t take us long to figure out why.

For Christmas Eve we’d planned a visit to Mitai Maori Village. I haven’t celebrated very many Christmas Eves but this was a darn good one! In addition to dinner, we were treated to a cultural performance which included entry by water . . .

. . . a walk through the village . . .

. . . and a cultural performance of songs, dances, and, of course, the haka.

Once it got dark, we went on a short walk to see the glowworms, which are famous in Rotorua, and to Rainbow Springs Nature Park to see the kiwi birds! Kiwis, we learned, are very rarely seen in the wild and they’re nocturnal, which doesn’t help make them easy to spot. Our very helpful guides had no trouble, however.

The next day we were back on the road heading to Napier for Christmas Day. On the way we stopped at Wai-O-Tapu, which call itself a thermal wonderland. That was pretty spot on. We were just in time to see the daily eruption of Lady Knox Geyser . . .

. . . and then followed the walking trails. The sun came out as we explored and it was a unique place indeed! While I took pictures, Sharon read aloud from the map about each of the natural wonders that we passed.

We’d heard that Lake Taupo was pretty (note: everything in New Zealand is pretty) so we stopped there for lunch and a walk. I thought we might walk around the lake but that was before I learned that Lake Taupo is New Zealand’s largest lake; we walked along it instead.

When we arrived in Napier, the town was quiet and empty. Napier is designed in an Art Deco style that makes it feel like going back in time. It wasn’t until the next morning that we saw many people at all, and the emptiness and shuttered stores gave it the feel of an old film set.

The point of visiting Napier was to spend the evening on the black stone beach, which is exactly what we did. We watched the sun set and the stars appear; we listened to the wind and smelled the sea.

We shared a bottle of wine and had a beautiful evening.

After a night in Napier, we headed for Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city. Post coming soon!

Travel Guide

Travel Guide: NSW to Victoria Road Trip

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This post details the second part of the week my girlfriends and I spent in Australia over October break. We started in Sydney and, after three nights there, were ready to exchange urban life for something a little more remote. We picked up a car and followed signs to Wollongong, which our trip planner (and also DJ!) promised would take us along the coast for small towns and pretty views. When we saw signs for the Grand Pacific Drive, we turned off the A1 to follow them and I’m so glad we did!

I was driving so I couldn’t take pictures, but I absolutely loved the winding, twisting, narrow, tree-lined roads of Royal National Park. The trees were thick and green on one side of the road and there were signs of fire on the other. There were so many different types of trees, too, many that I didn’t recognize. At times, we couldn’t see more than one twist in the road in front of us, which was challenging because bikers also enjoy the park – and with good reason. We rolled the windows down and felt the fresh air all around us, drinking in the blue skies and sunshine. I haven’t been on a road like that, one with no place to stop and only places to go, in a long time. It felt like flying.

When there was finally a place to pull over, we did. I was glad to take the time to actually look at my surroundings instead of darting glances out the passenger window with half an eye on the road.

We stopped in the town of Bulli for lunch and ate outside in the cool breeze off the ocean, which was so beautiful and relaxing. Perfect weather for a hot coffee, too! Australia has a very hip coffee culture but I have to admit, I prefer American-style filter coffee to the long black that is Australia’s next best thing. But it was fun to be on the other side of the Pacific Ocean with a coffee in hand!

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A short while later, we also stopped in Kiama to see Cathedral Rocks. We went around in circle in a neighborhood a few times before we realized that there’s no official “get out of the car here” spot. After agreeing on that and making sure we weren’t doing anything illegal (after all, ours wasn’t the only car), we pulled over and looked down.

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I climbed down, too, which truly made me feel like I was in a different world. I walked along a sandy patch that is definitely under water in high tide, surrounded by cliffs and rocks that have been weathered over so many years. The sound of the ocean and smell of salt in the air completely drew me in. I could have stayed down there a long time.

The final stage of the first day of driving led us past fields, farms, and pastures with cows, horses, and rolling hills. It was beautiful and green, but a very different landscape than the forests we’d been through earlier in the day. It was sunny and warm and we rolled the windows down to feel the air. (It’s amazing how much weather impacts attitudes and enjoyment. I found myself energized and able to breathe more easily just being in air that floated rather than hanging thick and heavy as it often does on the equator.) It was such a joy to drive and just laugh, sing, and listen to Australian political news on the radio.

When we arrived in Batemans Bay to spend the night, the weather had cooled and the sun was in that stunning position between late afternoon and evening.

Without meaning to, we left for dinner at just the right time to capture the most beautiful evening of the whole trip. This time, we pulled over into an empty parking lot and watched a family fishing on the beach.

The following morning, we left Batemans Bay to continue our drive south through New South Wales into Victoria. Before really getting on the road, we stopped for breakfast and coffee at a café that I think I would frequent often if I were a resident of a small coastal town in southern Australia. They had a sign that largely echoed my view of the world and it made me very happy. I took the picture on my phone, so that’s what you’re seeing.

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Over the course of our second day in the car heading towards Lakes Entrance, we watched the landscape change from hills and mountains in the distance to expansive farms with cows, sheep, and horses. We passed dairy farms advertising their cheese and wineries advertising their wine. We also saw a fair number of signs indicating the level of fire threat for the day; all indicated that the threat was low. Every so often, the two-lane highway would slow down and we’d enter a tiny town with little more than a local school, church, and traffic circle. Several of them had used bookstores, too!

About halfway through the drive, we stopped in Eden because it’s supposed to be the place to see whales. We had no interest in taking a boat cruise so instead we stopped at the harbor just to see the boats . . .

. . . and then headed to the highest point we could find to look down at the ocean. We weren’t the only people scouting for whales from up there, either. The water was suspiciously disturbed in certain areas and while we didn’t see anything that we could identify as a whale, I’m sure they were there!

However, we did manage to see live kangaroos! We’d been passing signs telling us to be careful of kangaroos and wombats the entire time we were on road but had only seen them as roadkill until the last half hour of our drive. We saw three or four in quick succession, each standing alone at the side of the road. It was very exciting.

Our Australian colleagues had warned us that Australia is expensive and they weren’t wrong. Lakes Entrance, however, was not. We stayed a cabin I found on Airbnb, walked to the grocery store (which we also did in Sydney thanks to another Airbnb), and made ourselves dinner. And by “made”, I mean opened crackers, sliced cheese, heated up soup, broke chocolate into pieces, and uncorked two bottles of wine. It was delightful.

It was raining the next morning, which sort of added to the appeal of the cozy cabin but was also a nuisance; I forgot how tiring it can be to drive through heavy rain! But the sky ultimately cleared and the sun was out by the time we made it to our final location – Melbourne! Stay tuned!