The sun is out and it’s time to hit one of the best beaches in Wellington for swimming and some sunbathing. Not every beach in Wellington is created equally, so here is my advice for the best beaches to hit in Wellington when you are looking for a swim and/or chill. Related Posts: Best Boutique Cinema in Wellington Top 5 Cocktail Bars in Wellington Top 5 Wine Bars in Wellington The 7 Best Beaches in Wellington for Swimming: Scorching Bay Scorching Bay is an absolutely stellar Wellington beach for sunbathing. There is a big grassy bank next to a strip of sand and a nice calm bay for swimming ..read more

I first moved to New Zealand in August 2016, meaning I have now been living in New Zealand as an expat for more than 6 years. This is quite mind-boggling to me, as it is such a long time, it’s the longest I have lived in any city and it’s much longer than I expected to be here. Having been an expat in New Zealand for 6 years, I feel I have got to know the place quite well, its delights, its quirks, and its somewhat frustrations. Because of this, I wanted to share 10 of the main things I have learned after 6 years in New Zealand. 1. It is far away This is really obvious I know, but I didn’t rea ..read more

I have been itching to write this post since I had a beautiful facial at Puravida Beauty back in May. But soon after I took off on a 2 month trip to Europe and gave myself this time to be away from the screen. However, it has been on my mind to share this experience on my blog as it was so wonderful and kindly gifted to me by Puravida and their partner skincare range Prologic skin care. There was no obligation for me to write anything, but it was such a gorgeous experience that I really want to share it. Puravida is a small local salon in Wellington CBD run by the lovely Sherri-Lee and the tea ..read more

I am fresh out of a stint of over 2 weeks isolation as both Lucas and I have just gone through our Covid-19 infections. Although somewhat expected, the illness wasn’t very nice and I wouldn’t recommend it. However, we did get through it and there were a couple of things and supplies we had that helped, so I thought I would share. my view for isolation days Lucas caught it first, and for the first 5 days I really thought that I had avoided it and put lots of time into taking care of my darling!….but then it hit me and I had a really sore throat and my body began to ache. My symptoms were kind o ..read more

Wellington is the craft beer capital of New Zealand, and maybe of the world…so, there is no shortage of great places to drink beer in Welly. They are all pretty great so it is really really hard to pick a top 5 (for a fuller list check out the list on Wellington NZ,) but here are my personal current picks for the Top 5 best craft beer bars in Wellington: For more Top 5 Wellington posts, check out the following: Top 5 Wine Bars in Wellington Top 5 Burgers in Wellington Parrot Dog Parrot dog or P-Dog as we call it is one of my absolute favourite places to grab beers in Welly. The bar is huge bu ..read more

Sometimes I haven’t heard the best reviews for this holiday destination but I absolutely loved visiting Rotorua for a weekend. Having been invited to Rotorua for work on a Friday, I decided to tag on a holiday. Flying solo and with no specific itinerary, I very much winged it but loved my short time visiting Rotorua! I checked out hot pools, some great little hikes and cafes and stayed in the sweetest lil Air BnB. Read on for more detail and my recommendations for visiting Rotorua for a weekend. For more of my travel posts you can check out the following: Travel Diary: Road Tripping in Northla ..read more

I love a good glass of wine and being in New Zealand means there is no shortage of beautiful wine to be enjoyed from local vineyards. However, perhaps surprisingly, Wellington seems to have grown more of an affinity with beer than with wine. But, it is still possible to find great places to drink wine in the capital, Here are my tried and tested top 5 best wine bars in Wellington: Puffin Puffin opened a little while back and has become very popular but still feels like a hidden gem. You would be forgiven for missing the entrance, just off Cuba on Ghuznee, down a dark corridor only signaled by ..read more

It occurred to me recently that I am always asking people for their Air BnB reviews, yet I hardly ever make recommendations on here for others. Born from this is the start of my new lil series reviewing the great Air BnBs that I go and stay at. I am starting with one that I mentioned in my recent blog post about the Waikaremoana Track, the Beautiful, relaxing, Hot Tub apartment, Air BnB Havelock North. I am only planning to review the best ones that I find and won’t throw any old ones up here – so perhaps I should call them recommendations rather than reviews! So, starting with a bang with th ..read more

I have really wanted to do the Lake Waikaremoana Track since I moved to New Zealand. So many people have recommended it, so two friends and I decided to book it in and get tramping over the February public holiday this year. It was so awesome, so beautiful, so fun, and challenging but not too challenging. If you are thinking of going for it – you should – it’s stunning! To help you out, here is a wee blog is about how we did the Lake Waikaremoana Track in 3 days did and a few little tips and ideas for your planning. It took some research to decide whether we should do it in two or three nights ..read more

In June 2019 I submitted my application for the Australian Partnership Visa and in February 2021 I received notification of approval! Its been a process and I am here to share the ins and outs in the hope of providing some helpful tips for anyone else applying for the Aussie Partner Visa. My boyfriend Lucas is Australian and I am British so, despite having just become a resident of New Zealand, the visa process was about to begin again for real in order to live and work in Australia together. I have shared a lot about my New Zealand visa process here on the blog and as I know it has been helpf ..read more