Figuring the Figure 8 Pool

To sum up my mountain climbing journey in 2015, I reached 7 summits and did 6 treks along rivers and beaches. It was a very outdoorsy year for me and I wish to continue this hobby in 2016. To celebrate my 6^th month in Australia, my family and I decided to all go to the famous Figure 8 Pool…okay, maybe not THAT famous but someone suggested we do the trek and the photos looked stunning. It would be a wonderful day trip outside Sydney with your whole family.

Sandbar Beach Glamping

It was the last weekend of spring break; everyone had time off work for Labor Day, and the weather was up to 35 degrees all weekend. These were the perfect ingredients for a 4-day long getaway. My family and I decided to hit the road and do a 3-hour drive north of Sydney to Sandbar Caravan Park.

When my sister said “we’re going camping”, the thought that came to my mind was the camping that I’m used to  – canned goods, no shower for 4 days, getting water from a water source and filter it and freezing nights. Boy, was I in for a surprise! They definitely know how to “camp” here.  They definitely took camping to a different level. The type of camping I’m used to is comparable to a 1 star hotel accommodation where this was 5 star. There was a power source, a shower/toilet area; there was a tap to get water from, and also parking. You basically just have to pay for the area where you’ll set your camp.

A Day In Dunedin

I’m a year delayed in writing but my memory of our 2-week New Zealand Cruise is as fresh as yesterday. We were braving the Tasman Sea for 2 days straight from Sydney so this was the first site of dry land we had in 48 hours. The ship was already docked at Port Chalmers when we woke up in the morning. It was a very nice welcome for our first official stop in New Zealand. We didn’t get the excursion from the boat since we wanted to explore the city by ourselves. Dunedin was about 11 miles from Port Chalmers so we took a bus that dropped us in the middle of the city. We didn’t have that much time to sightsee as we had to be back in the ship by 4:30pm so here’s how we spent our short stay in this Scottish-inspired city.

Skydiving Video

 

CRUISE WITH ME, BABY…

It was now time to say goodbye to our  2-week on-the-go schedule in Sydney. My boyfriend, my brother and I were very excited for a very uninterrupted relaxing, comfortable and should I say “luxurious” 2-week New Zealand Cruise!! We couldn’t wait to get our hands on the buffet, Niko was excited to hit the casino, my mom was excited to see what the shops had, we were planning on making lots of friends and everyone else was just simply excited to get on the boat and see what adventures awaits us. The funny thing is though, when we were checking in, I noticed I was in a sea of white-haired people – they were either in wheelchairs, walkers or canes. This should be interesting! So, I was thinking maybe the young ones were already inside but to my dismay, after exploring the entire boat, we came to the conclusion that Niko, Carlo and me were the youngest people in the ship! — Ayayay.

We realized then that Holland America caters to that age group and here I was telling Niko there will be so many people our age. We were even asked “how long have you been working on the ship?” a couple of times thinking we were one of the crew. Nonetheless, we still had an amazing time.

We were braving the waves of the Tasman Sea for two whole days before reaching our first port of call. It was two days of exploring the OOSTERDAM and it wasn’t even enough to see everything. There are so many things to do in the ship and here i’ll share with you few of my favorite things.