Wide Eyed Heading East: Road trips

Last August I wrote a bucket list of 'Things to do before I'm 30' - read my list here. I made sure to include some small, achievable goals (after all I only had 3 years), but I also included some more exciting adventures! My first tick off the list was number 13; a colour run with my Mum in Birmingham.

The run was fun, but more fun than run, if you know what I mean! It was a lovely day for a 5K, and we leisurely jogged our way round the course enjoying the atmosphere and making sure we got covered in a rainbow of paint. I chose this as a goal because I love running and thought the idea of a color run was really cool, but the best part of the day was actually spending quality time with my Mum.

Now onto a more exciting goal, number 2; a road trip through America's deep South. Anyone who knows me will guess that this goal was the one I wanted to do the most. I really love America and fell truly, madly, deeply during my adolescence when I spent 7 summers working in Girl Scout camps. Those summers enabled me to travel all over the states (I'd made it to 18), but I hadn't properly ventured into The South. I would take any excuse to travel back to the States, in fact I'd kill to emigrate, but why did I want to visit The South? Well Y'all, it's the one part of America that I think has a culture, identity and way of life that is unique from the rest of the country. From the history, music and food to the southern hospitality I loved the whole idea of The South and was desperate to visit.

.....And, when I'm desperate to do something, I usually do it! So I'm currently enjoying this goal in Savannah GA! I have taken 4.5 weeks off work, hired a car and enlisted my best friend to share in the adventure with me. We started in Atlanta, traveled to Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, Clarksdale, Jackson, New Orleans, Mobile, Montgomery and have made it to Savannah. There are still 2 weeks left of the trip, but I wanted to start sharing the adventure with you now, while it's still fresh. So hang in there as the next few posts will be all about our journey through the deep South.

You may wonder why I would write a blog post with reasons to visit New Zealand, 'it's a no-brainer' you might think, but I for one wasn't longing to go, I didn't know much about the country and if I'm honest I may have never 'got around' to going if I hadn't already been in that part of the world. But now I've been. Now I'm in the know. It's now my duty to persuade you to go as soon possible, not sometime in the indefinite future. New Zealand needs to be at the top of your travel bucket list, and this is why;

1. Unspoilt scenery

You've seen the films, you know that New Zealand played the role of Middle Earth beautifully in Lord of the Rings, but did you realise that you don't have to 'find' that unspoiled scenery? New Zealand has a tiny population of around 4 million people so unlike England you don't have to circumnavigate cities and motorways to visit an area of natural beauty, it's all around you, untouched and waiting to be enjoyed. I was very confused driving from Dunedin to Queenstown at how beautiful the journey was, we hadn't taken the scenic route and I hadn't read about the drive in my guide book yet I was seeing some of the most beautiful scenery I had ever seen, without even trying. The more of New Zealand I discovered, the more gorgeous lakes, snow capped mountains, glaciers, volcanoes and rugged coastline I saw, the more confused I became. Why hadn't someone told me about this before? Why hadn't this been strongly impressed upon me? Why hasn't a national announcement been made by the Prime Minister? I just couldn't believe that I had been so oblivious to something so spectacular. But I had, so now I'm telling you; if you visit New Zealand you will be blown away by it's beauty, it will make an everlasting impression on you and you will be so glad you made the effort to see it for yourself.

Exploring Fox Glacier

The drive from Dunedin to Queenstown

Nice views in the wing mirror

2. Culture and heritage

New Zealand was inhabited by the native Maori people before the arrival of Europeans in the 1700s which has created a fascinating blend of cultures today. Now, I'm a complete social history geek, so I loved visiting museums to learn about New Zealand's unique history but I think that any Brit would be interested in early British settlement, the work of missionaries and the role of the New Zealand Company to promote immigration and attract investors. I certainly understand British colonial history better since visiting New Zealand. I also think anyone would be impressed by Maori culture and would appreciate their beautiful art and traditional crafts, you might even learn to dance the Haka!

Maori culture fused with Christianity

3. Road trips

If you have ever dreamed of taking a road trip in a foreign country, you should do it in New Zealand. For a start it's so easy to hire a camper van, there are plenty of companies offering vans to suit all budgets and requirements from fancy high tech vans to the more modest variety. Then at the end of a days driving there are loads of picturesque camp sites with great facilities available, toasted marshmallow anyone? It's also pretty hard to get lost; the South island is so sparsely populated that there are not many roads to choose from and there is virtually no traffic making for stress-free driving. You can really enjoy the journey itself with jaw dropping scenery around every bend and plenty of lay-bys to stop and take photographs.

4. Clean living

I've never thought of a place (definitely not a country) as clean before I visited New Zealand, but I was immediately hit a sense of calm, clean air and room to breathe. It might be the low population density, lack of extreme weather or the fact that I had just spent 5 months in the chaos that is South East Asia, but New Zealand has a quality of living that is quite special.

5. Mother Nature

Living in England I don't have to worry about earthquakes or volcanoes and I don't have hot springs and geysers popping up in my back garden, and to be honest I'm thankful for that, but it's really cool to visit a country that does, I mean, who doesn't want to visit a town that smells of rotten eggs?
But seriously, I felt privileged to visit Christchurch and witness a city trying to recover from a natural disaster. It was so interesting to visit the museum and read personal accounts of the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, watch CCTV images and learn about how people adapt to extreme weather. It was very cool to visit the city centre, most of which was still cordoned off, because they have created a pedestrianised shopping mall out of brightly coloured shipping containers enabling retailers to trade while buildings are being demolished and re-built. I also enjoyed visiting Rotorua (the town that smells like rotten eggs, or more accurately sulphide gas) to see geothermal features. I have seen geothermal activity before in Yellowstone national park (USA) but that's a park away from civilisation, in Rotorua the town is built on a volcanic plateau so people live closely with the geothermal field. I met a lady who pipes the hot spring water that pops up in her garden into the radiators in her house, a very clever way to adapt to such a unique environment.

6. The Cities

New Zealand isn't just beautiful scenery and wide-open spaces, it also has lots of funky, bustling cities with unique personalities. During my time in New Zealand I visited Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown, Wellington and Auckland and thoroughly enjoyed them all. I will save the 'what to do's ' for another post, but take it from me these cities are worth visiting in their own right.