Los Angeles: a little underrated as a tourist destination in my opinion, that I can say now. I had a great time there. Celebrating my birthday there and having some true Californian friends to show me around and take me places certainly helped though! Los Angeles is a huge city, and it doesn't have a lot of romantic charm like Paris, that much is true. But it's a collection of cities and each city has it's own places of interest. LA is modern, a city with lots of beaches and outdoor life, and of course, the famous movie and music industries. Because it's so big, you need a car to navigate around. It's a must, public transport is horrible and the city is just made to drive in: lots of highways and broad boulevards that cross ... read more

Going around the world, means you will have to cross the Pacific Ocean at some point. You can fly all the way to the US in one flight, but why not make a stopover on one of the many amazing islands that are dotted around in the pacific? Certainly a good idea! One of those island groups is The Cook Islands. Named after captain James Cook, it's a group of 15 small islands with a population of about 20.000. The main island is Rarotonga and it has an international airport with flights from New Zealand and a weekly direct flight to Los Angeles. So "the Cooks" was a perfect stop on the way to the Americas for me! I visited two islands, Rarotonga (the main island) and Aitutaki, a one hour flight away. Everything slows down ... read more

Not far from Mount Cook, lies Lake Tekapo, a beautifully blue/green coloured lake between mountains and hills. The village itself is very small, mainly geared towards tourism. On the shore of the lake stands a small church. A church with a view, I must say. The lake gets its green and blue colour from the sediments of all the rock grinding that is done over the many years by the glaciers, nearby and up in the mountains. The river takes this sediment with it and finally ends up in the lake. As the sediment then sinks down to the bottom, the lake gets it beautiful color by the reflection of light on the bottom of the lake. Next to the lake is a hill that houses the Mount John Observatory, New Zealand's biggest. When the skies ... read more

I came to Dunedin, mainly to see sea lions and penguins. Near Dunedin, the Otago peninsula is sticking out into the sea, and I took a very nice afternoon and evening tour around that area. First, we went to see some albatrosses. Although I had seen those from up close in Kaikoura, this was a different way to see them and quite nice, with the scenery as an added bonus. We also saw some small babies, which is quite rare. After that, the tour took us to a piece of private land and a beach where sea lions and yellow-eyed penguins are regularly seen. These don't come in great numbers, especially not the yellow-eyed penguins, because they are the rarest kind of penguins in the world with only 5-6000 of them, all in New Zealand. I ... read more

*** above panorama: Queenstown lakeview and amazing mountain backdrop *** If an adrenaline rush is what you're after, Queenstown is the place. Highest bungy jump in the world, canyon slingshots, skydiving, you name it. I'm not that much of a hero when it comes to jumping down into an abyss, but luckily, Queenstown has more to offer. It's actually one of the prettiest towns in New Zealand I've been to so far. It sits on the edge of a beautiful lake and is surrounded by high mountains on all sides. It is also the jump-off point to one of New Zealand's most famous sights, the fiordlands of Milford Sound. I spent two nights in Queenstown, exploring the town a little bit and having a nice stroll in the gardens along the lake. I also drove to ... read more