A while back, I spent a couple of weeks in New Zealand.

Best memory? Making it into the country.

I had all my tickets lined up: Canada to New Zealand, Australia to Thailand and Thailand to Canada.

Did you catch the mistake?

You couldn’t enter New Zealand without an exit ticket. I was planning on buying it in New Zealand. Why? I have no idea.

After a very stern talking to by a very, very stern immigration officer in a little, white room, my mom and I were allowed in to New Zealand but with restrictions. The only saving grace for us was having a ticket leaving Australia.

Scariest memory? Landing in Wellington.

This airport is on a list or two for scary (or thrilling?) landings.

I agree.

Trip Bits

Normally I am a very planned traveler. I think I was too excited about quitting my job, moving out of my place and being outside Canada for up to a year travelling and volunteering.

This led me to the logical conclusion that planning the trip on the plane(s) using my freshly purchased Lonely Planet Guidebook was the best possible way to travel.

We ended up seeing Christchurch’s Tourist Information Centre the first two days before moving on to Dunedin and Queenstown.

This really cool art installation included all kinds of suspended wire shapes.

This reminded me of a chalet that would be in Switzerland except I’ve never been to Switzerland.

Queenstown was so cold. I wore every single item of clothing I had, which wasn’t much, considering I’d packed for mostly Australia and Thailand.

After a week of primarily gloomy and cold weather on the South Island, Wellington proved to be the opposite.

Marineland closed in 2009. What drew me to the facility was the penguin recovery workshop and a chance to spend some time with the animals. The penguins in the program were brought in after dog attacks or other injuries and could not be returned to the wild.

For some others as well as a few from Australia, check out Forces of Nature. Happy day to you!