Our first morning in Luang Prabang, we got up at 5 so we could participate in Tak Bat, or Morning Alms. It’s a daily tradition with Buddhist monks from the local monasteries that dates back to the 14th century. The monks leave their monasteries early in the morning and proceed through the streets, walking single file, with the oldest … More Tak Bat: Morning Alms in Luang Prabang
Queenstown is known as the Adventure Capital of the World. After staying here for a few days, I can see how that honor has been well earned. Want to get your adrenaline pumping? The options are pretty much limitless for the number of ways you can do it! There’s bungy jumping, sky diving, hang gliding, … More Queenstown – Adventure Capital of the World!
After taking the interisland ferry from Wellington to the south island of New Zealand, our first stop was Picton. We made it in on the ferry around 8pm in the evening and got a campsite at a local holiday park. We got into Picton on December 14th. In case you haven’t picked up on it … More Picton, NZ (a.k.a The place Jack got to see the highly anticipated Rogue One!)
As we headed further down the north island of New Zealand, we stopped in a town called Rotorua – also known to some as Rotovegas. Apparently, it’s a town you either love or hate with no one really being lukewarm to the place. It’s major industry is tourism and it’s known for it’s geothermal activity, featuring … More The Day We Created an Adrenaline Junkie
After our time in Russell, we started our trek south. Our only deadline was that we needed to be in Nelson, on the south island, on Dec 16th to pick up our nephew who was flying in to visit for 3 weeks, woohoo! Heading south, we stopped in Waitomo to see the Waitomo caves that are … More Glow Worms in Waitomo
While in Auckland, we stayed in an Airbnb in the Ponsonby neighborhood. We did a little research on the different areas to stay in and Ponsonby seemed like a hip little neighborhood that was close enough to walk to downtown Auckland, but far enough away so we weren’t smack dab in the middle of the … More Auckland
Kuranda is a scenic little town in the mountains, known as the Village in the Rainforest, just northwest of Cairns. A lot of artisans were attracted to the area for its natural beauty with waterfalls, mountains and rainforests and decided to settle there. We read that the town had a vibrant arts and crafts culture … More Kuranda (I think it’s Aboriginal for “maybe we shouldn’t have come here”…)
The Australian National Maritime Museum was a real sleeper hit with our family. I didn’t think Jack would find it all that interesting, but it ended up being one of his favorite things we did in Sydney. It’s located in Darling Harbour and they have around fifteen different ships docked that you can go onboard … More National Maritime Museum
While in Sydney, we decided to go to the Opera House. Because you can’t exactly come to Sydney and NOT go to the Opera House, right? I certainly couldn’t seem to pass by on foot or ferry without taking at least ten pictures, so we wanted to check it out up close and personally. They … More Sydney Opera House
As luck (or last minute poor planning!) would have it, we managed to perfectly miss several major sporting events in Melbourne during our time there. We arrived in Melbourne just after the Grand Final, which is the championship game for AFL (think Super Bowl for Australian rules football), and we left the day before the … More Melbourne Cup
The Detour Diary 