South Island highlights: my 5 favorite experiences

Helicopter flight glacier New Zealand

If you ask me, the South Island of New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It’s absolutely stunning and I have yet to come across another area or country that can match its vast, diverse, natural beauty. I consider myself so lucky for having seen most of this beautiful place […]

Swimming with wild dolphins in Kaikoura

Dolphins Kaikoura

After having seen most of New Zealand’s South Island, Frank and I still really wanted to do one thing: swimming with wild dolphins in the open ocean in Kaikoura. Kaikoura is located on the east coast of the island. The town is well-known as a great place to spot both dolphins and whales. We had […]

Spotting yellow-eyed penguins in the Catlins

Curio Bay penguins

Before coming to New Zealand, I always associated penguins with extremely cold places, like Antarctica for example. For some reason – maybe because of nature films or something – I had these mental images of penguins as tiny little black & white figures, standing on big chunks of ice in the middle of the ocean, […]