Wildlife

Okay, so how many of you were afraid to click on this one? That’s what I thought – get your minds out of the gutter. On our last morning in the Bay of Islands, we decided to do a short … Read More

After spending a day wandering around Auckland, we decided to head about 3.5 hours north to the Bay of Islands, a pristine coastal region situated on the eastern coast of the far northern region of New Zealand’s North Island. Captain … Read More

One of the more famous fixtures of New Zealand is its glowworm caves – more specifically, the Waitomo glowworm caves. While not as off-the-beaten-path as we usually like, we could not pass through the country without visiting such an interesting … Read More

In between the hiking, we went looking for areas to seek out new birds. We had identified 3 places to check out: the Manawatu Estuary, the Whanganui Estuary, and Bushy Park – the last being a site recommended by the … Read More

Set on the northwestern coast of the South Island, Abel Tasman is New Zealand’s smallest national park. When we were drafting our itinerary for the country, Abel Tasman fell into the ‘if we have time’ category. It looked like a … Read More

Welcome to a series of posts capturing the miscellaneous birds I photograph during our adventures! Other birds will be included in our regular posts and won’t be duplicated here. Also, these are not always the most stunning photographs – often … Read More

Continuing to follow the southeast coastline, we reached Shag Point, a scenic wildlife area dotted with cormorants and large New Zealand fur seals. The water was rich with masses of enormous bull kelp, some of the largest in the world. … Read More

From Aoraki/Mt. Cook, we ventured back to the coast, traveling about 150 miles southeast to the Moeraki Peninsula. Here we visited Katiki Point, where a small lighthouse and adjacent sanctuary for yellow-eyed penguins were perched atop tall cliffs, overlooking the … Read More

Located just north of Banff National Park, we spent three days exploring Jasper National Park, the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies. We entered Jasper NP via the Icefields Parkway, scenic Highway 93 that runs north from Lake Louise, … Read More

After landing in Calgary, Alberta, we headed west to the Canadian Rockies for our 8-day, hiking-focused trip! We spent five of those days exploring the incredible mountains and lakes of Banff National Park, Canada’s oldest national park, about 2 hours … Read More