One Day On The South Coast, NSW

To bring Wanderlustness a little up to speed, I wanted to share one amazing day I had on the South Coast, NSW. Few words are needed when you see the pictures.

My partner and I took off to Mimosa Winery one fine February day near the town of Merimbula, NSW. Merimbula is a 6 hour drive south from Sydney on the famed Princess Highway. The road curls through rolling fields, towering gum trees and deep valleys saturated in bright greens and golds. Its easy to see why this area is called the "Sapphire Coast." Enjoy.

Mimosa Winery

gnocchi with fried sage 

yes, thats kangaroo tale. seems wrong, doesn't it?

picture perfect

yes please!

you know you wanna be here

just a lovely day

the road less traveled

only in Australia

Peace.Love.Nessie

A Funny Thing Happened Down Under

It may seem to all that I have a love/hate relationship with Wanderlustness... I wish I had a good excuse, ahem, reason that Wanderlustness has fallen to wayside and has slowly been collecting moss and rubble. Like "ooo I am just having too much fun!" or "I am staying in a remote village in the Outback. There's no internet and I spend my days wombat hunting." The truth is far less exciting. I landed Down Under on NYE 2011 and excepted kangaroos to be high fiving me as I de-boarded the plane in Sydney.

Yes, I'm in Sydney!!

Well, I did not except kangaroos exactly but I nonetheless had a rocky start in Australia. Life took me for a ride, put me in the spin cycle (which yes, spins the opposite way down here!) and spit me out in Melbourne. And let me say, of all places, ending up in Melbourne unexpected is far, far from the worst. It ended up being the best. But I guess for personal reasons, life has been uninspiring and thus Wanderlustnss has been cast aside. But enough of that. Unless you happen to be my mother, you do not want to hear about some sob story. The whole reason I started this blog two years ago was to inspire others to travel. And its about time to get back to that.

Mimosa Winery. South Coast, NSW. 

Lots to come...flights to South East Asia booked and moving up to Sunshine Coast, Queensland next week! Nessie loves you. xxxx

When In Australia, Do As The Kangaroos Do

Jumping for joy.

Updates to follow soon....obviously I've been busy...

Peace.Love.Nessie

Cities To Visit Before The World Ends In 2012

Now that is one big ass hat

Goodbye world. The Mayan Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar ends on December 21st, 2012. Apparently, this means the world as we know it is O-V-E-R in a little less than a year. Think about it. That gives you less than 12 months to fulfill your dreams and blah blah. Now, I clearly do not believe doomsday is upon us, but if it was certain, 2012 would be one for the books. I'd stop working, take out a ridiculous amount of loans and credit cards and travel. (not to mention stop dieting!) And I would travel with reckless abandonment. Here are the cities I would visit and why. Where would you travel to before the world ends in 2012?

London - Olympics 2012? Yep, you bet I am going and sitting in the front row of every event from swimming to ping pong. The Queens Diamond Jubilee? Get me a big ass hat and watch me rub elbows with Will & Kate. London is the place to be in 2012. 

Stockholm - With all the hype The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has received, I think a trip to the breathtaking city of Stockholm would be in order. Plus I am half Swedish and Swedish meatballs are just too damn good not to enjoy before civilization crumbles.

Caracol, Belize

Caracol, Belize - Home to one the largest Mayan ruins in Central American, I might as well go and pay respect to whichever power may destroy us all. While I am there I can send my love to the Mayan's of long ago in southern Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. For more infomation on Mayan ruins check out  http://mayanruins.info/mayan-civilization/maya-map/

The Worlds Most Expensive Cities; Tokyo, Moscow, Paris - Since money is no object, why not visit all those cities that take a serious hit on a backpacker's budget. I'd eat kobe sushi till I passed out in Tokyo, drink vodka in Red Square till I passed out and shop at Chanel in Paris till I passed out.

Rio De Janeiro - On December 21st, I think I would like to celebrate the end of the world in one of the best party cities in the world: Rio De Janeiro. So outrageous, so sinful, so colorful, I think it would be a good way to go.

Rio De Janeiro, amazing!

Where will you be celebrating?

My Top Ten Favorite New Zealand Moments

As 2011 comes to a close and I look back on my year abroad living and working in New Zealand, I can truly say it was the best yet. Most things on my list involve good friends, good wine and an adventurous spirit. In no particular order, here are My Top Ten Favorite New Zealand Moments.

10) Learning to Snowboard - Yes, North Dakota has tons of snow, but we are missing one crucial element; mountains...or anything resembling a hill. New Zealand's South Island boast amazing ski resorts and living in Queenstown is a snowboarders paradise.

A top Cornet Peak, Queenstown

9) Wine Tasting, Waiheke Island, Auckland - One of my first days in New Zealand, my travel buddy Jess and I went wine tasting on the beautiful Waiheke Island, a short ferry ride from Auckland. 8 bottles of wine and several tasting laters, stories from this will be ones to tell the grandchildren...when they're older, much older.

Wine, sunshine,the beach. Perfect day!

8) Rugby World Cup - I was lucky enough to be in New Zealand during the 2011 Rugby World Cup. I met professional (re:hot) rugby players from around the world and cheered on the USA to their victory over Russia. The best part? New Zealand's national team, The All Blacks won, putting everyone in quite the party mood!

Cheering on the All Blacks!!

Christmas Lights From Around The World

Prague, Czech Republic. Photo: thejetpacker.com

St. Petersburg, Russia. Photo: 02varvara.wordpress.com

How I Saved Money To Move To New Zealand

All my hard work paid off!

Now that I am back home and enjoying the winter blizzard wonderland of North Dakota, I get a lot of "How could you ever afford to move to New Zealand!? I could never have the money to do that!" Let me let you in on a secret; you do not have to be a trust fund baby to travel to far off lands. I personally fall under the flat broke category. However, I worked my ass off in order to achieve my dream of living in New Zealand. Here's what I did to afford my move to the land Down Under(er).

1. I Set My Travel Goal & Make It My Top Priority - When I deiced to spend a year living in New Zealand in March 2010, nothing could stop me. Two months from college graduation, the thought of entering the "real world" scared the s**t out of me. I spent the next 10 months working towards my goal so I wouldn't have to end up living in my parents basement. I knew I had to save every penny. Having a goal in mind made me think twice about buying anything that did not fit into my New Zealand dream. I drove around in my bumperless 93' Taurus and wore my super clearance Target dresses with pride knowing it would all be worth it soon enough!

Yep, worth it!

2. I Worked...And Worked Some More - That summer before I left for New Zealand, I worked 60-70 hours a week at three different jobs...and guess what? It f***ing sucked! I was a walking zombie working 8AM to midnight everyday. And then I actually moved into my parents basement my final three months before I left to save even more money! Not only did I save enough cash money to fund my trip to New Zealand, I was able to take a trip to Europe in August 2010 for three weeks! All my hard work payed off the second I stepped off the plane in New Zealand.

3. I Did My Homework - Originally, I was going to go through the company BUNAC in order to get my New Zealand Working Holiday Visa. BUNAC charges $450 bucks for their assistance in the visa process. Well one day I decided on a whim to look up the Working Holiday visa directly on the New Zealand's government immigration website. Guess what? ITS FREE! New Zealand and the US have a visa fee waiver agreement and the application took me 15 minutes to fill out online! What a rip off!

4. I Worked In New Zealand - Within my first month in New Zealand, I had secured a job in Queenstown. While I had enough money saved up to go another month without a job, I knew how expensive living in Queenstown was. Plus since I started working right away, I was able to pay my bills and student loan payments each month out of my savings without dipping into my weekly paycheck from New Zealand. I then had more money each week for important things like beer and bungee jumping.