Digital Nomad Life: Month 130

Month 130 was spent between Australia, New Zealand, and California and was all about beaches, catching up with friends and family, and eating really good food.

I started the month with a hot morning in Auckland, which I spent at the rooftop pool and jacuzzi at my brother’s apartment building, followed by an evening flight to Sydney.

I spent four nights in Sydney staying between Coogee and Homebush, visiting some of my favorite places and spending time with a friend.

From Sydney, I met up with more friends and we did a roadtrip up to Byron Bay via a night in Port Macquarie, where I saw an old friend from school.

We spent five great nights in Byron and I got to catch up with another old friend from school who came up from Lennox Head for the day to hang out. It was my first time in Byron and I really enjoyed it, I can see why so many people love it.

On the way back to Sydney, we spent a night staying with a friend of a friend in Yamba, then I had another five nights in Sydney staying in Mona Vale before flying back to Auckland. 

I only had a quick two nights in Auckland before driving to Papamoa with my brother to visit my Mum and Step Dad for three nights, just in time for a cyclone to hit although it didn’t end up being as bad as predicted (luckily).

I returned to Auckland and did a five-night housesit in Mount Roskill, a suburb of Auckland, and it rained most of the time I was there. One of my besties came and spent a night and day with me, I watched a lot of TV, and did some work. I also spent an afternoon walking around Cornwall Park, and visited Alberton, a historic home.

After three nights back at my Dad’s place and a few last lunches and dinners with various friends and family, I flew to LA. I spent the last two nights staying in Manhattan Beach, enjoying seafood and sunshine at the South Bay beaches.

Now onto the stats!

Countries Visited: New Zealand, Australia, USA

Places Visited:

• New Zealand: Auckland, Papamoa
• Australia: Sydney, Lawson, Wentworth Falls, Port Macquarie, Byron Bay, Brunswick Heads, Bangalow, Yamba
• California: Los Angeles

National and State Parks, Monuments, and UNESCO Sites: Walgun Cape Byron State Conservation Area in Byron Bay, Sydney Harbour National Park in Sydney.

Islands Visited: North Island of New Zealand, Rocky Point Island in Sydney.

Days on the Road: 19 days.

Best Meals: Mango and strawberry frozen yogurt from Yo-Chi in Sydney; Tom Yum prawn dumplings and Vietnamese chicken salad from Botanic House in Sydney; Roast chicken breast with cauliflower cheese, cheesy potatoes, corn, roast pumpkin, and roast carrots from Clem’s Chicken Shop in Sydney; Prawn and ginger dumplings and crispy eggplant from HuTong Harry’s in Byron Bay; Coconut sago with mango and pandan syrup from Bang Bang in Byron Bay; Garlic butter and breadcrumb scallops and chicken parmigiana from the Pacific Hotel in Yamba; Halloumi souvlaki pita wrap from Kazzi Beach Greek in Sydney; Lentil dhal with roti from Uncle Man’s in Auckland; Smoked fish pie from Blue Rose Cafe in Auckland; Pani puri and Dabelis from Krishna Foods in Auckland; Feijoa souffle with creme fraiche ice cream and pommes dauphine from Apero in Auckland.

Hikes/Walks:

• Coogee to Bondi walk in Sydney, Australia 3.7 miles
• Port Macquarie coastal walking track in Port Macquarie, Australia 2 miles
• Cape Byron loop trail in Byron Bay, Australia 4.35 miles
• Mona Vale Beach to Turimetta Headland walk in Sydney, Australia 3 miles
• Cremorne Point to Balmoral Beach on coastal trails in Sydney, Australia 6.5 miles
• Wairakei Reserve loop trail in Papamoa Beach, NZ 3.5 miles 
• Cornwall Park loop in Auckland, NZ 2.5 miles
• Mount Eden walk in Auckland, NZ 5 miles
• Manhattan Beach to Bruce’s Beach in Los Angeles, California 2 miles
• Manhattan Beach to Torrance Beach in Los Angeles, California 7 miles

Watching: Lots of great content this month including The Rise of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Our Brother, Hillel; DTF St Louis; Something Very Bad is Going to Happen; The Morning Show Season 4; Is This Thing On?; Talk to Me; Heated Rivalry; I’m Still Here; Prime Minister; Rental Family; Pike River.

Reading: Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica; Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall; What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown.

New Posts: I wrote about how we chose and booked our budget Tanzania safari this month.

Highlights

Hanging Out in Coogee and the Eastern Beaches

Coogee will always be a special place for me because it is the place we stayed on my first visit to Sydney when I was 17, and it made me fall in love with the city I would call home twice.

Every time I visit Sydney these days I make sure to base myself in Coogee for a couple of nights, and to walk the incredible Coogee to Bondi coastal walk, swimming at different beaches along the way.

I stayed at a different hotel this time, Little Coogee Hotel, and loved it, and I was blessed with beautiful sunny weather, perfect for beach swims and walks.

A Day Exploring Sydney

Another day in Sydney I spent walking through some of my favorite innercity suburbs and into the city center, visiting Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Hyde Park and the ANZAC Memorial, Macquarie Street and Hyde Park Barracks, the Opera House, the botanical gardens, and the Rocks. 

I then spent the afternoon in Newtown, my former home suburb, for some shopping, dinner, and craft beer. It was a perfect non-beach day in Sydney.

Catching Up With Old Friends in Australia

My main objective for my two-week Australia trip was to visit friends, and I managed to catch up and stay with two friends in Sydney, and have meet-ups with another two friends in Byron Bay and Port Macquarie. It was so fun to see them and spend some time together.

Finally Visiting Byron Bay

Byron Bay has been a big Australia oversight for me, and I finally made it there for five days this month. I think visiting at the end of March/beginning of April was a great idea because the weather was perfect – summer would be too hot for me – and it wasn’t crazy busy like it can get in summer.

I enjoyed the beaches, restaurants, relaxed pace, and independent stores. We also stayed in an excellent two-bedroom apartment right beside town and across from the beach that had a beautiful pool.

Cape Byron Headland Hike

My main Byron highlight was the morning I spent hiking the trails of Cape Byron Headland up to Cape Byron Lighthouse, the most easterly point in Australia, and gorgeous Wategos Beach, where I stopped for a swim. I saw two pods of dolphins from the trail and the coastal views as I got up to the lighthouse and hiking down to the most easterly point were spectacular.

Morning in Bangalow

We visited a couple of small towns around Byron Bay but my favorite was definitely Bangalow which has a bustling main street, lots of eclectic shops, a handful of restaurants and cafes, and a boho vibe. I enjoyed spending the morning there walking around and checking out the shops.

A Day Hiking in Sydney Harbour National Park

One of the things I most enjoyed when I lived in Sydney was all the incredible coastal hikes, so on my last day in Sydney I spent the whole day hiking around the coast from Neutral Bay to Balmoral Beach, following some of the most spectacular Sydney Harbor coastline and through pockets of lush Sydney Harbour National Park.

I stopped to swim at Chowder Bay then finished the hike with a delicious halloumi pita and another swim at Balmoral Beach. It was the perfect last day in Sydney.

An Impromptu Night at Eagle Bar

After a delicious dinner on my last night in New Zealand at Apero with my Dad, brother, and bestie, we decided to go to Eagle Bar for one drink. While we were there a group of friends showed up so after my brother and Dad left, I ended up staying and had a fun few hours singing and dancing to 90s R&B and enjoying a few drinks. It was a great New Zealand send off.

A Stopover in the South Bay of LA

I love the South Bay so I decided to break up my long journey between Auckland and Denver by using some points and staying in Manhattan Beach for a couple of nights. On the first day, I walked around the town center, the pier, and along the promenade to Bruce’s Beach, and then on my full day there I walked from Manhattan Beach to Torrance Beach via Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach.

It was a great short break in a place I love.

Amazing Food This Month

I had so many outstanding meals this month including everything I ate at Botanic House in Sydney, which offers incredible modern Vietnamese, the best frozen yogurt I have ever had at Yo-Chi in Sydney, and two 10/10 desserts – the coconut sago pudding with mango from Bang Bang in Byron Bay and the feijoa soufflé with creme fraiche ice cream from Apero in Auckland.

Lowlights

Hurting my Leg

Very weirdly, I literally just took a normal step when we were walking around Byron and I hurt my leg. It felt very similar to when I hurt my leg while doing the O Trek a few months ago, definitely something to do with the muscle, although this time it wasn’t as bad. We had a rainy day the next day so I mostly rested it and after a couple of days I was completely back to normal.

Not Sleeping Well

This was not a great month for sleeping, from nights when I had insomnia for no reason, to the nights I was housesitting and the dog woke me up multiple times each night. I’m hoping next month will be better.

Disappointing Men 

What a disappointing month regarding men – Civil Rights Activist Cesar Chavez being exposed as a pedophile and sexual abuser, finding out there is an online Rape Academy that had 62 million views in one month, and watching the Manosphere documentary which made me really angry (but also they were just so laughably ridiculous).

I also watched the Jimmy Savile documentary and it made me feel sick that he was able to sexually abuse hundreds of people, including children, for over 60 years and never had to pay for his crimes, which were covered up when he was alive.

Not all men, sure, I know a lot of really good men, but wow is there a lot of bad men who enjoy hurting women and children, I guess I didn’t know how prevalent these bad men are but the veil has definitely been lifted now.

Bad Weather in New Zealand

We had more bad weather in New Zealand this month as autumn settled in, including a cyclone. While the cyclone didn’t turn out to be as bad as feared, we did have a lot of rain and some crazy wind. The rain then lingered for another week on and off and that put a dampener – literally – on my last week in New Zealand. 

Bumpy Flight

My 11.5 hour flight from Auckland to LA wasn’t the worst I’ve had, it was with Air NZ so most things like the seats, entertainment and food were really good, unfortunately we had a fair bit of turbulence.

It was nothing really bad, apart from a couple of short very bumpy bouts, but it was just too much and my nerves were frazzled by the time we arrived. I also hadn’t slept a wink so I was beyond exhausted on my first day in LA.

Spending

I don’t include international flights in my recaps. Some of my costs are shared with Toby or other travel partners.

Total: USD$2822

Not too bad this month considering I was on vacation in expensive Australia for half the month. 

Accommodation $636

My 7 nights of paid accommodation for the month consisted of two nights at a hotel in Sydney, and five nights in an apartment rental in Byron Bay

My 25 nights of unpaid accommodation for the month consisted of seven nights staying with friends in Sydney, one night at an apartment rental in Port Macquarie (my friends paid), one night with a friend in Yamba, five nights staying with my Dad in Auckland, three nights staying with my Mum and Step Dad in Papamoa, five nights housesitting, one night on an overnight flight, and two nights at a motel in LA (on points).

Food and Drink $1121

Pretty pricey month but I did have some incredible food and a number of cocktails, so it was worth it.

Clothing/Shoes $138.50

• Long dress $40.50
• Summer dress $41
• Casual dress $27
• Sweater $30

Transport $323

• Airport shuttle from Auckland City to Auckland Airport $12
• Uber from Sydney Airport to hotel $34
• Train/bus in Sydney $46
• Ubers in Auckland $55
• Gas $121
• Uber from LAX to hotel $35
• Lyft from Torrance to hotel $20

Activities $6

• Alberton Historic House entry $6

Other $455

• U.S. Phone plan $35
• New Zealand phone plan $23
• OneDrive monthly storage $2
• Garmin monthly subscription $14
• Netflix $9.50
• Toiletries $79.50
• Charity $158
• Colombian hand-woven bag $83
• Souvenirs $15
• Gifts $13
• Phone/computer charger $23

Website Costs $12

• Keysearch One Month Subscription $12

Vehicle Costs $130.50

• RV and van insurance $71.50
• New car battery $59

What’s in Store For Next Month

The first day of the month I will be flying from LA to Denver, where I have a three-day housesit looking after some cute kitties and will be catching up with a couple of friends.

From Denver, I have five nights roadtripping to the Gorge with stops in Idaho Springs, Glenwood Springs, Moab, Ogden, and Boise. This is a route I have done many times before and I am planning to fit in a couple of hikes and some exploring along the way.

I will then be spending nearly two weeks at the Gorge, prepping for the season and working the first show, Martin Garrix, which is a small and quick 3-day gig. Hopefully, I can sneak away to Leavenworth for a day too.

I’ll be spending around a week in Vancouver after that, three days of it is a housesit, and I am really looking forward to returning to my favorite city and spending time with friends there too.

Then I will be heading back to the Gorge for a couple of nights to get ready for our first big show of the season, Griztronics. Our friend Griff is going to be onsite with the events company he works with, so we’re looking forward to seeing him. The last couple of days of the month we will be working the show.

To read additional Monthly Recaps, you can find them here