"Gig City", Dunedin

Welcome to Dunedin!

Our month-long journey from France to New Zealand has drawn to a close!

From Singapore, we flew directly to Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island. One night layover and then the final leg to Dunedin.

Christchurch is full of lovely parks, but it’s extremely sprawling so we didn’t get to really sink ourselves into it. The Botanic Gardens are lovely (ducks!) and we visited a sweet pub near our rental with real ale and lots of microbreweries represented. The Twisted Hop Pub, check it out! Coffee is also a big Thing in Christchurch. We visited C4 Coffee Roasters and thought it was great. Continue reading Welcome to Dunedin!

Singapore

Singapore, October 2016

We left Athens, and left Europe, bound for New Zealand but with one more city to visit: Singapore! The ideal place to break up our long journey, a friend who lives there had recently married. We hadn’t been able to make it to the wedding, but this worked out better in the end as we were able to spend much more time together on this trip than we would have at a big celebration (so selfish!).

From the airport, the newlyweds took us directly to a hawker market to kickstart our digestion after all the Greek salads we had eaten. Noodles, soup, prata, rice, juices, we ate it all! Continue reading Singapore, October 2016

Looking up Areopagus (Mars) Hill to the Acropolis of Athens

Athens, October 2016

Our next stopover after Crete was the Greek capital, Athens. This sprawling city is a mess of traffic and pedestrians crowding the footpaths and streets. Walking was difficult, so we took taxis most places.

After our plane touched down, I organised a ride into the city using the Welcome Pickups service as I thought it would be a good way to get an introduction to the city from a local. Our driver-guide was Angie, a lovely young woman who talked a bit about the local scenes and gave some good tips on places to see while we were in Athens. Continue reading Athens, October 2016

Alpha beer in Plakias

Crete, October 2016

We left Milan with our bellies full of cheese and wine, headed to the island of Crete in Greece. Greece has been on our list of places to visit for ages, so we were glad to have the opportunity to spend a little while here.

A friend inspired me with the cooking classes she likes to take when travelling to new places. I think it’s a terrific way to meet a local or two and to learn something new. Food is so integral to culture so it’s a great point for getting into a new way of life. As a result, I booked us a cooking class at Vamos village where they held an afternoon class in an old olive oil mill. Continue reading Crete, October 2016