The Great Walks were not the only multi-day hikes I’ve done during my time in New Zealand. The scope of my adventures was bound to expand to include lesser known, but just as spectacular hikes. I ended up including 5 other big trails into my plans, and I rank them here.

When I originally began looking into spending time in New Zealand, I knew I wanted to focus on exploring all the natural beauty the country was known for, especially in terms of trails. At the time, I had only heard of the Milford Track, but as I began to do research, I discovered that it was just one of 11 Great Walks New Zealand had to offer. Naturally, I expanded my goal to accomplish all of them.

In the short time since my last blog regarding the birds of New Zealand, I have managed to come across several more fascinating species I'd like to share. Many of these, I thankfully got to share with my parents, who both came to visit me for a couple weeks this past month.

As a way to share some of the other things I’ve done during the last few months in New Zealand, I decided to post some of my favorite day hikes. I tend to favor tougher, longer hikes, as they are usually a little quieter and a little more rewarding, but, as you shall see, all of these were photo-worthy.

New Zealand, being such a remote place, only has two species of land mammal, both being kinds of bats. This led to incredible biodiversity and proliferation of birds in the country, up to the point of human settlement in the 13th century. New Zealanders (or kiwis, as they are often called) nowadays show a great love and fascination for their avian compatriots.

I went bungee jumping for the first time in my life. I had been skydiving once before, as I’ve mentioned previously, but that was something I had always wanted to do. I cannot say the same about bungee jumping.

There are some people who know exactly where they belong. For better or worse, I am not one of those people.

I have been asked by a number of people what I’m doing in New Zealand. In many ways, the same questions that are posed to me about my travel can also be applied to my writing.

The Auckland Art Gallery I am an avid museum-goer. Next to travel and hands-on experience, it’s one of the best ways to learn. They are more interactive than reading a simple textbook. But there is another level that I hadn’t considered until recently, and that is the role of storytelling in museums. It’s easy to allow a cliché term to lose its value, such as “a picture is worth a thousand words.” I tend to appreciate paintings and photos in museums more, however, when there

I consider myself to be very lucky, in the grand scheme of things.

I just returned from a 2-week stint in Iceland. Typically, I do not vacation for rest and relaxation. While I can appreciate the need for...

It has been too long since I’ve written here. To get you up to speed on my activities, I decided to write a blog post about it. Most of my time in 2021 was spent planning and executing a 67-day road trip across the USA. This expedition was initially slated for the spring of 2020, but we all know why that had to be scrapped. However, anyone who knows me can tell you that I cannot stay in one place too long. Even when it comes to small things: when I talk on the phone, I pace;

It seems that with every book I read, my writing style shifts, sometimes in a minor and temporary way, and sometimes in big and long-lasting ways. Here are some books that played a big role in how I went about writing Specks of Dust . The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: I read this book while I was in Uganda. The way Plath walks the reader through the the difficulty of mental health and the pressure of finding an acceptable place in society were important models for my main protag