ABOUT ME

HEY, I’M PETRINA

I’m a freelance travel writer with a passion for New Zealand’s wildest places.

Think of me as your New Zealand travel guide

Born and raised in the Coromandel Peninsula, I’m a New Zealand local with a passion for van life, hiking, surfing, and generally living life outdoors. I’m also a professional travel writer and full-time nomad.

I want to share my favourite places in New Zealand with you.

Favourite hike

Cascade Saddle

Top campsite

Woolley’s Bay

Favourite region

West Coast

Favourite beach

Maitai Bay

MY STORY

Growing up in rural New Zealand gave me a great love for the outdoors.

My childhood was spent running around barefoot, riding horses through the bush, and swimming in the river and calling it a shower.

Now that I’m grown up, not much has changed.

I love to be outside. Now, my playground has just expanded to include the whole country, instead of just my parents’ farm.

HOW I BECAME A TRAVEL WRITER

Becoming a professional travel writer was never part of my plan.

I went to university to study linguistics and languages. For a while, I thought I would become an academic, and study endangered language or sociolinguistics.

But as soon as I graduated, I got on a one-way flight to Chile and post-graduate study faded into my rearview.

At the age of 21, I solo travelled all the way from the south of Chile to the Yucatan in Mexico.

I spent years trying to extend what was supposed to just be a six month trip. I taught English in France and Colombia, worked in hostels in Albania and Ireland, cleaned rooms at a meditation retreat in the mountains of Italy and looked after rescue donkeys in Turkey.

I took a job in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, doing marketing for an NGO, and travelled through Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

Doing it all on a shoestring, I took buses for days at a time, slept on airport floors to catch dirt cheap morning flights, and slept in bed-bug ridden hostels for a few dollars a night.

Why should you listen to a stranger on the internet?

That’s a great question.

Travel advice can be very subjective — people like different things. One person’s tourist trap is another’s bucket list item.

So, maybe it helps to know a little more about the things I like, and why I recommend what I do.

First of all, I write all of the content on this website — I don’t use AI, so you can be confident you’re reading the thoughts and recommendations of a real person.

I’m a thirty-something with a fondness for good coffee and outdoor bathtubs in nice Airbnbs, along with hiking and van life adventures.

So, you can expect me to share recommendations on good places to eat and drink, as well as the best places to go camping in New Zealand.

I do splurge on the occasional big ticket item, like walking on a glacier. So again, you can expect me to recommend a range of things, from free to a bit more expensive but very worthwhile.

I also try to focus on independent, Maori- or women-owned businesses wherever possible.

Because if you’re anything like me, you want to support people pursuing their passions.

You’re happy to put money into experiences that also benefit local communities and environments, and travel for you is as much about connecting with people as it is indulging all of your passions.