February 17

February 17 —I used to hate this day—the day our lives flipped upside down. The day my back first blew out. Coincidentally, it happened on vacation in 2016. I had just turned 30 and was training for my first Spartan Race and Tough Mudder. I was in the best shape of my life—physically and mentally. Then, everything changed. I bent down to lift a suitcase from the floor to the bed, and —my life path was altered. It took everything...

Our Guide to Traveling NZ

Travelling to New Zealand (our thoughts): 1. Cost — New Zealand is expensive. Even with our strong CAD dollar factored in, it chews up money. At times we paid over $3.00/L for gas, $17 for a container of strawberries (all produce is pricey), and the cheapest pint I found was $14. Add in the average house price in NZ at a whopping $900k+, I am not sure how Kiwi’s make it. We definitely didn’t expect the cost of living to...

L5: New Zealand

Liked— Kinnon: people are so nice here! Almost nicer than Canadians. Kadyn: the beautiful views: the greens and the teale waters. Brittany: how diverse their landscape is. Every 20 minutes it changes. Mark: a love how everything is built around the environment: Loathed— Kinnon: the time difference — when you try and call your friends, its like 19 hrs difference and it sucks. Kadyn: I didn’t like how they are not pedestrian friendly — like they almost run over me...

Otago Region (Queenstown), NZ: Dolphins

Queenstown was a great place to end our last leg in New Zealand. We didn’t stay in Queenstown but about 45 minutes out in Cromwell. It was pretty close to everything. I liked the place we stayed at: it was pretty cozy and spacious. I felt very safe (in some places we stayed at, I didn’t feel very safe). The first few days, I was pretty sick. I felt like I had been run over by a bus. I woke...