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New Zealand – South Island
Charis: Our first stop off the ferry was at the Alpine Lodge at St Arnaud in the Nelson Lakes National Park. A comfortable night’s sleep followed by coffee in the Austrian-feeling hotel restaurant and the first of several wonderful hikes around gorgeous lakes (yes, this will be a theme for this post). There had been…
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Australia – Brisbane, Springbook and Sydney
Charis: Arriving in Australia was a return to familiarity after almost three months in non-English speaking countries. The flight itself was fairly long and tiring, but the temperatures were so much better once we hit the ground in Brisbane. We stayed in a quite nice youth hostel in the centre of town, with everything we…
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Korea – Busan
Derek: Before arriving in Japan we needed to know our exit date for the visa application and decided that Korea would be our next stop. Rather than taking yet another flight, we found the Kampu ferry from Shimonoseki to Busan. This leaves daily and sails for about 14 hours overnight, arriving at 9 AM. The…
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Bali – Amed and Kintamani
Derek: Part of Balinese culture which has been increasingly offered to visitors is the water purification ritual. Water is considered holy as it is so fundamental to life, and particularly present in the rice paddies and environment here. We learned more later about the theme of purification and cleansing which is present in Balinese life…