Why summit mountains? This was the question at the forefront of my thoughts as we put one foot in front of the other on our journey towards the Ben Lomond summit. We began our hike around 5am when darkness surrounded the world and stillness clung to the air, like a t-shirt to your skin in the great humidity. The ability to fall in love with the early hours of the morning when no one else is around and life feels full of endless possibilities is something very few can deny - and even less experience on a regular basis. The first hour of our ascent saw us meandering through thick forest that da ..read more

We never really know where the journey of our lives is going to take us. Even when we think we have a plan, we all know the chances of that plan actually becoming our reality, without any hiccups or setbacks or challenges, really isn't very likely. We all know from experience that our lives hardly ever pan out the way our plan wants them to, and more often than not it takes much longer than expected (or hoped) for everything to actually work out. That's definitely the space Sam and I find ourselves in currently. We left Wellington back in October with the plan to travel for a few months before ..read more

I haven't honoured myself in a long time.. I wonder if I'm the only one? Whilst I have been living a 'perfect' life, a life many might envy or admire, I have in tandem felt a growing uneasiness and unhappiness settling within me. For what reason, at times I can't possibly understand, but understanding, you see, is a privilege you only become privy to when you take the time your soul is begging you to take to look within and admit to your shortcomings from a loving space. I find it incredible that our lives can equate to perfection from an outside perspective, but when you're fully immersed in ..read more

It's been almost a month since I shared my last post about the best and worst parts of campervan life, and I suppose the reason for that really has stemmed from a desire to remove any external pressures from myself during this time. I had this picture in my mind when we left Wellington that everything that plagued me and lowered my vibration would begin to lessen for the simple reason that I was about to be living in a way that I'd always wanted to and with my own little family by my side. But in reality, as is obviously the case, the work I've needed to do to get back to my best self doesn't ..read more

It's Saturday morning on the 31st October here in New Zealand. I'm sat beside the van, a gentle breeze coming through from the hills on my right, Piha Beach and the famous Lion Rock to my left. The sun's out despite the rainy forecast so we're feeling grateful for the ability to live more outdoors and enjoy the fresh air. The reality of van life, as with everything, is not what it looks like from the perfectly posed pictures you see on Instagram or Pinterest. Whilst there are definitely a huge volume of perfect snapshot moments and an amazing general lifestyle (depending on who you are and how ..read more

Big changes are a natural part of life; sometimes they're planned and expected, sometimes they hit you out of nowhere. Regardless of how they come about, change always brings with it a wealth of newness that is rooted in a range of possibility and hope. That's the magical part about change; it's entirely unknown. But with the unknown, as human beings, we can find ourselves struggling with that uncertainty. When our future or a situation is unknown it can become overwhelming because we're not quite sure how we're going to navigate through it. More often than not, for many of us, big changes als ..read more

Mount Cook is the heart of the South Island. Bragging the highest peaks in New Zealand, Mount Cook National Park attracts a wealth of visitors from all over the world, from alpine explorers to wonderstruck tourists, its rugged peaks are not something to be missed and are the very reason why it was #1 on our bucketlist. Unfortunately, we were limited on time during our trip, so hiking Mount Cook (which takes about 5-days) wasn’t possible. Luckily the Mueller Hut Track provided us with the same adrenaline, excitement and challenge we desired and actually ended up being the highlight of our entir ..read more

After three weeks of keeping our secret - and for once in my life, doing so, well - I am so excited to share our news that Sam and I will be leaving Wellington to pursue a more nomadic and inspired life! Tonight we met with our closest friends to break the news to them. As always the plans didn't quite unfold as we had hoped, but those closest to us were there giving us the chance to celebrate with them. That was the final thing we wanted to tick off the list before we started talking openly about it all. So I'm fucking glad it's all done and everyone who needs to know, knows, and now I can b ..read more

I was speaking to a close friend yesterday about mental health issues and an experience she was having with someone who isn't very experienced at managing her own. Our conversation moved onto talking about how her (my friend) & I both have a very good awareness of our own mental states due to years of.. practice I guess we can call it. It got me thinking because I realised how bang on the money she was. For a good few years now my emotional state of being has been a point of focus, and I've developed a key awareness to when I'm on the edge of a breakdown or maybe less extremely, just not d ..read more

Removing power from social media... I think this is a really fucking important topic. So many people in this world give so much weight to social media. We think that if we get a certain number of likes or comments or people telling us we're hot that we're suddenly worth something. People use instagram to try and feel the self-worth they lack in real life, and it's fucking toxic as shit. We need to remind ourselves as often as possible that social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook are false. There is no real worth or validation within them. It's simply some pixels on a screen. And ye ..read more