#shotguntrip

Dunedin is said to be the second largest city in the world by land mass. In fact, I would hardly call Dunedin a city. It is a place with many pockets - a college town, a marina, an enormous pasteur, a quiet beach hub. The Dunedin airport is surprisingly small and quaint. There’s not much to the building except for the 5 gates, a cafe, and the 3 minute walk from the gate to the baggage claim to the exit. Stepping out of the airport was a breath of fresh air, literally. I thought Auckland was clean and crisp, but Dunedin was quiet, green, and not what you’d expect from a city.  

Ian picked me up from the airport and took me out to breakfast by the sea at Starfish Cafe. One of the first things I learned from him is to always know what coffee you’d like. In New Zealand, there is no “I’d like a cup of coffee”. If you order a coffee, the servers will ask you “what kind?”.  Lucky for me, I recently discovered the stronger, better-than-latte flat white.  From then on, it was flat whites everyday. After breakfast, we took a long drive towards Sandfly Bay, a beautiful sandy bay away from the city center.  Sandfly Bay is quite a remarkable landmark. Of all the beaches I’ve been to around the world, I’ve never been to one quite like this.  Contrary to common belief, Sandfly Bay gets its name, not from the insects that bear the same name, but from the sand that flies from the dunes that surround the bay. Walking down to the shoreline, you have to tread a big sand dune to reach the beach [what goes down, must come up - yes it was a steep mound of sand].  If I wasn’t still recovering from knee surgery, I would’ve totally run/roll/hop down the hill. Sandfly Bay is protected by the Department of Conservation. There, you can supposedly spot various wildlife, including exotic birds, sea lions, and penguins. Unfortunately, we missed the birds and penguins on our gloomy day visit, but managed to spot quite a few sea lions that were basking in the wind(?). After snapping a few photos with our new sea lion friends, we dipped our feet into the frigid water and realised it was too cold to stay out by the sea. Dipping feet in New Zealand water, check!

My good friend Ian moved back to New Zealand earlier this year. He had been living in Hong Kong for 8 years and I had the pleasure of meeting this funny, quirky, technology genius the last few years. Ian had been urging me to visit New Zealand since his departure, telling me how much I would love the nature, the food, and mostly his sister, Kate, who is a fantastic pastry chef in Dunedin. Over the past few months, I’ve been telling him that I would visit New Zealand, but had so far failed to plan to do so. I suppose my excuses were as lame as it gets to not getting myself around to doing it since 1) I knew Ian would return to Hong Kong at some point and 2) New Zealand seemed too accessible (English speaking, 1st world, developed) and I’ve been on a blind adventure high. 

My friend Cindy had asked me weeks ago if I was interested in going to Bali for a weekend. I was hesitant at first seeing that I knew I was going to be traveling in June and I had just come off surgery and didn’t know how well I could sit through a flight. Plus, flying to Bali from Hong Kong is not cheap and with the resort fees, it felt a little overwhelming for a weekend.  

A few weeks go by and Cindy, again, asks, hey, I have a voucher to stay at the Mulia Resort in Bali, it expires at the end of June, want to go? I’d hate to see it go to waste. At that point, my leg condition had magically improved and I was feeling good. Cindy is one of my favourite travel buddies so when she extended the invitation again, I was like, okay, let me check flights since accommodation was covered.  Eek. Flights leaving a week later (the only week I could go before my June trip) was going to cost over $500usd a person. For two days???? Heck no!! That’s just crazy. 

Feeling a little discouraged and not wanting to disappoint my friend, I decided to research other cost efficient ways of getting there. Turns out, a flight to Bali may cost a lot of money, but because it’s relatively close to HK, it only required 30k miles to get there. Since Cindy graciously extended her invite to honeymoon at this fancy new beach resort, I redeemed two tickets for us on my miles. 

While hanging out in Paraguay, one of the travel companions mentioned that it was his dream to visit Macchu Picchu. For most, climbing Macchu Picchu is a bucket list item. Granted, it is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and who wouldn't want to be wowed by a wonder?! Every person we know who have been to the world famous Inca ruin brag about its beauty via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  So, when in South America, climb Macchu Picchu, right?