Aaand somehow it’s fall 🙂 . Who knew? Definitely not me since I spent the month in New Zealand where it was spring and baby lambs and calves were roaming. It was a wild time 🙂 . So let’s see what I got up to in the month of October!
I Celebrated 3 Years Of Retirement!
Basically, this:
I wrote a full post to celebrate this new milestone and kick off Year 4 of my retirement, but overall I really can’t believe it’s been 3 years already. That’s a full 1/3 of my entire work career. And it’s flown by.
I Left Australia
Sadly my time in Australia came to an end, but luckily it wasn’t goodbye because I loved Australia so much that I decided to go back with my Partner so he can see it as well…and so I can see more of it 😉 . Here are some highlights by location:
Sydney, Australia
The Great Barrier Reef
We were also there during the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum vote, which was interesting. If you don’t know what that is here’s a comedy-style summary of the discussion:
I Moved To New Zealand!
And after all that fun in Australia, I did what few Australians that I met have done: Go to New Zealand! I was shocked that we met so many Aussies that hadn’t made the 3 hour flight to visit the Kiwis, which I guess it makes sense. When I live somewhere I often don’t do things tourists do.
Anyway, our first stop in New Zealand was its largest city, Auckland!
Auckland, New Zealand
To see what was happening in the city, I checked out this website and to get discounts on activities like the below, I used BookMe.
I also had an awesome time exploring the nearby Piha Beach:
In case you’re interested, I have a bunch of Stories of all these adventures organized by location in my Insta Highlights including a video of the Little Blue Penguins mentioned above!
Queenstown, New Zealand
Next we headed from the North Island of New Zealand to the South Island to explore Queenstown – and it was even more gorgeous than pictures can capture. It was like magic. All the water was clear and bright blue, mountains were in every direction and because there had been a cold snap, they were often covered in snow. Gorgeous 🙂 .
We used the base of Queenstown to also explore the famous Milford Sound:
The only negative about Queenstown was that they were going through a Cryptosporidium outbreak. I saw signs about it at the grocery store and had assumed it had to do with some Crypto scam. Unfortunately not – it’s a parasite that makes water undrinkable. Oops! Lucky for our Airbnb location, our water was no longer affected, but half the population still was while we were there. I hope they can get everyone safe drinking water soon.
I Learned Spanish
I had planned to dive back into Spanish hardcore this month since after this trip Down Under wraps up, I’m heading back to México! However, time got away from me 🙂 . Despite not getting to my plans, I did have some Spanish practice this month.
I watched Argentina, 1985 in Spanish while on the way to México. I also had a conversation online in Spanish with a chef who had cooked for us in Puerto Vallarta during my birthday in 2019. We still talk about how amazing his food is 4 years later so I messaged him in Spanish to ask how much a meal prepared at our home would cost in 2023.
I Hung Out With People
This month involved some of my usual virtual meetups, such as my Weekly Movie Nights where we watched the below. If you’re curious about my ratings of movies, I have a Letterboxd account here.
- Talk to Me
- Plan B
- No One Will Save You
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Dune
- Ratatouille
- Blade Runner 2049
- Godzilla vs. Kong
- BlackBerry
- Renfield
I also saw a friend in Sydney that I haven’t seen in person in about 15 years, which was wild. It’s fascinating when I see people after so many years and it feels like no time has passed at all.
I Read 25 Books
This month I read:
- Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
- Losing The Signal by Jacquie McNish & Sean Silcoff
- Worthy: A Pride Anthology
- Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
- Desire In His Blood by Zoey Draven
- Craving In His Blood by Zoey Draven
- Let’s Do This by Loren Leigh
- DragonRider by S. Rodman
- Him by Sarina Bowen
- Power Plays & Straight A’s by Eden Finley & Saxon James
- Face Offs & Cheap Shots by Eden Finley & Saxon James
- Goal Lines & First Times by Eden Finley & Saxon James
- Line Mates & Study Dates by Eden Finley & Saxon James
- Puck Drills & Quick Thrills by Eden Finley & Saxon James
- Up in Flames by Eden Finley & Saxon James
- Fake Out by Eden Finley
- Trick Play by Eden Finley
- Deke by Eden Finley
- Blindsided by Eden Finley
- Hat Trick by Eden Finley
- Final Play by Eden Finley
- Fake Boyfriend Breakaways by Eden Finley
- Iris by Eden Finley
- Pop Star by Eden Finley
- Spotlight by Eden Finley
As you can see, I went down a Eden Finley & Saxon James rabbit hole and then discovered that they have their own separately authored book categories. What a lovely surprise 🙂 .
As a result, I’ve been busy and once again was surprised and grateful that I have had the good fortune of finding so many Bookstagram and Goodreads reviewers that have led me to so many authors I enjoy and have never heard of before in 2023. Yay for the internet 😉 !
If you’re curious about what I’m reading and my ratings of these books, I have a Goodreads account you can check out here.
I Wrote 4 Posts
In case you missed it, this month I published the below posts:
- The Month Of Australia: September 2023 Recap
- 3 Years Of Early Retirement: Finances, What’s Changed And What’s Next?
- Review: Singapore Air First Class (JFK to FRA) – A $15,000 Flight For $27 [Part 1]
- Review: Singapore Air First Class (FRA to SIN) – A $15,000 Flight For $27 [Part 2]
Despite being almost 10,000 miles from home, I had an abundance of meet ups this month. I guess there are readers of this blog everywhere 🙂 .
Anyway, I met up with 3 readers in Sydney, Australia and 1 in Auckland, New Zealand. It was amazing to hear about these cities from their local perspectives and was so cool to put faces to usernames. I’m excited to keep up with this trend during my upcoming travels.
Outside of meet ups, an interview that I did a few months ago went live on the company’s website and Medium:
And in this month’s episode of ‘who offered me money for weird things I declined’ there were these gems:
- I was offered as much money as I made from this blog in 2022 ($4K) to promote what seems to be amazon reselling business – nope
- A company made me a VelvetRope account (a cameo type thing) even though I didn’t ask for one. So if someone is trying to get you to send money to hear from me, it is NOT me
- I was asked to be an affiliate for a housing investment course…something I know nothing about. No thx
- A perfume MLM – fuck no:
- I was asked to participate in what looks like a group of family vloggers wanting to promote brands (which I apparently am?) – Absolutely not:
Physical
Sleep
After I got over jet lag (which I did by falling asleep at weird hours 🙂 ), I surprisingly found myself following my ideal sleep schedule. I would go to sleep a few hours after watching the sunset and get up to watch the sunrise. It’s what I dreamed my ideal retirement sleep schedule would look like and I was so happy my body felt like doing that this month when I could watch the sun rise over new cities and set over clear blue oceans.
Food
This month was filled with delicious food like the below. I often ate out and tried new food, but my Mom and I also cooked a fair bit and when that happened, we made keto food so it seemed like a good balance of more healthy options and exploring new places through food.
Exercise
I brought all my running gear this month, but ended up doing other exercises for most of the month. More snorkeling and kayaking in Australia combined with lots of walking and hiking in New Zealand.
However at the end of the month, I finally got a few runs in along the Auckland waterfront, which was a lovely time. I even hit a new personal record despite taking a few weeks off my running regimen, which surprised me. I thought taking time off would make my progress go backwards as well, but that wasn’t the case.
One other new thing is that I turned on Strava’s 0.5 mile announcements for the first time. When I started running I found that information discouraging because I was quite slow and it would announce my pace as well, but now that I’m consistently trending faster I find it helpful. Look at me learning and growing 😉 .
Mental
Learning
So it’s time for my favorite segment: Fun Facts Nobody Asked For! Here’s what I learned and explored this month:
Australia
- There are 8 capital cities in Australia and each of which functions as the seat of government for the territory in which it’s located. One of these cities, Canberra, is also the national capital
- Burger King in Australia has the exact same branding, but has the name “Hungry Jack’s” because the name Burger King had been previously trademarked by a take out chain from Adelaide
- Aussies call McDonald’s “Macca’s” and that’s what’s on a lot of the official McDonald’s signs there
- Instead of the “Deer crossing” signs I see often in the US, Australia has “Kangaroo crossing” signs everywhere
- There’s a lot of Australian slang that I wasn’t aware of and hadn’t heard in British slang, such as:
Brekkie: Breakfast
Budgie smuggler: Banana hammock
Carton: 24 cans of beer
Goonie/Flagons/Casks: Wine box
Sanga: Sandwich
Popper: Juice box
New Zealand
- New Zealand has a population of 5 million and 1.65 million of those people are in Auckland
- There are 25.3 million sheep in New Zealand
- The capital city is Wellington
- Given its small population, the size of NZ caught me by surprise:
- While exploring caves in Waitomo we saw the giant leg bone of a Moa, which was an ancient bird that went extinct in 1445. The below shows 4 different Moa species. It was terrifying! Look how big this thing was:
- Unlike in Australia, New Zealand uses the written indigenous Māori-language everywhere, often without translation, which I thought was surprising and awesome. Here are some common words and phrases:
Aotearoa: New Zealand (meaning “land of the long white cloud”)
Kia Ora: Hello
Ka Kite: Goodbye
Nau Mai, Haere Mai: Welcome
- I also learned some NZ slang:
Togs: Swimwear
Lolly: Sweets or candy
Astronomy
Stargazing in Australia and New Zealand was unsurprisingly lovely. Both countries have a much lower population density than the US and we were often in remote locations here we could see an abundance of stars. In fact, this trip was only the 2nd time in my life that I’ve seen the Milky Way clearly. The first time was when I camped in the Sahara Desert almost 20 years ago. If this is an every 20 year occurrence, it’s a lovely treat that’s fine by me.
I also saw the ISS go by every night, which was cool. The first time I saw it I thought it was a regular satellite, but I looked it up and nope! The International Space Station orbits the Earth every 90 minutes and crosses our vision of the night sky in about 6 minutes. And its path at the time took it right above the Northeast coast of Australia so it was easy to spot. You can see the ISS’s position here if you’re interested.
So with those optimal conditions, I was able to see so many stars and constellations, which was very exciting since a lot of them I can’t see from the Northern Hemisphere and wasn’t familiar with. Here’s a list:
Constellations
Orion (which looks upside down compared to how it looks in the Northern Hemisphere! Freaky 🙂 ), Gemini, Lynx, Cancer, Lepus, Canis major, Columba, Puppis, Pictor, Pyxis, Dorado, Taurus, Hydra, Mensa, Vela, Carina, Auriga, Aries, Perseus, Cygnus, Libra, Scorpius, Sculptor, Grus, Tucana
Stars
Rigel, Betelgeuse, Achernar, Regulus, Vega, Deneb, Antares
Planets
Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune
Flora
There were beautiful plants all over New Zealand, but the ones that really stood out to me were:
Auckland
Bush Lily, Pōhutukawa (also called the NZ Christmas tree), Mahoe, New Zealand Cabbage Tree, Karamu, Small-Leaf Spiderwort, Manuka, Japanese Honeysuckle, Totara,
Queenstown
Lilac, Spanish Lavender, Purple Foxglove, Large-Leaved Lupine, Puawhananga, Miki
Birds
The birding in New Zealand was sensational. Here are the ones I saw by location:
The Great Barrier Reef
Yellow-breasted Sunbird (The cool nest of one is in my Cairns Insta Highlights), Torresian Imperial, Pigeon, Caspien Tern, Great Egret, Brahminy Kite, Sea Eagle, Pied Imperial-Pigeons (We saw these on the Brook Islands where 60K of them breed after flying from Papua New Guinea), Beach Stone-Curlew, Channel-Billed Cuckoo, Eastern Whipbird, Masked Lapwing
Auckland
Great Black-Backed Gull, Eurasian Blackbird, House Sparrow, Variable Oystercatchers, Australiasian Swamphen, Silvereye, Common Myna, Mallard, Shell Gull, Caspien Tern, Welcome, Swallow, Song Thrush, Grey Gregone, Pheasant, Blue Penguins
Queenstown
Australiasian Shoveler, Dunnock, Eastern Greenfinch, Eurasian Blackbird, Eurasian Coot, New Zealand Pigeon, Australian Magpie, California Quail (I have a video of several really round quails on my Queenstown Insta Highlights), European Goldfinch, South Island Oystercatchers, European Starling, Tui
Milford Sound
Weka, Fjordland crested penguin (these are super rare! A video is in my Milford Sound Highlights on Insta.)
And a Tui sounds like a cross between a bird and a robot to me. Check it out:
Fauna
Identifying all the fish and animals we saw this month was almost a full time job 😉 . Here’s what I saw by location:
Australia
Pale-lined Tropical Rock Crab, Sweetlips, Parrotfish, Butterfly Fish, Humphead, Wrasse, Damselfish, Surgeonfish (aka Dory), Triggerfish (Careful! They’ll attack and bite you if you get close during the summer months – luckily we were there in the spring), Peacock Flounder (aka Mr. Johannsen in Finding Nemo), Closed Litter Rainbow Skink. Moray Eel (we fed them – a video is in my Cairns Insta Highlights), Coral Trout, Six Banded Angelfish, Unicorn Fish, Baby Reef Shark (so cute!), Giant Clam (These were so big I could easily curl up in them! They grow to more than 4 feet long and 500 pounds), Chromis Spawning Fish (and we saw them while they were spawning…awkward…), Yellow Tailed Fusilier, Rabbit Fish, Rainbow Wrasse, Sixband Parrotfish, Steephead Parrotfish, Spotted Parrotfish, Barrel Sponge, Scissortail Sergeant, Sixbar Wrasse, Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse, Barred Spinefoot, Bridled Monocle Bream, Spiny Chromis, Redfin Butterflyfish, Lemon Damsel, Yellow tail trevally (we ate this fresh from the sea and it was delicious!) and a Giant Moray Eel (that you can see in the below!)
Another very exciting animal I saw in Australia was a Flying Fox. They’re the largest bats in the world and I first saw them when a giant shadow went overhead while I was stargazing – it was terrifying 🙂 . They just hang out all around Australia like a bat with an over 5 foot wingspan is normal. Oh Australia.
One expected creature we saw in Australia was Bioluminescent Algae! Originally I had heard that a beach near Auckland was a great place to see it on a sunset kayak tour, but when I checked the tour availability, it wasn’t happening on the nights we would be in Auckland (rude – nature please revolve around MY schedule 😉 )
But when we were near the Great Barrier Reef, we saw it! It looked like blue fireflies lighting up the water the first night and the second night it looked a little more like the neon blue waves I’ve seen in pictures and videos like the below. It was wild!
New Zealand
Portuguese Man o’ War (There’s a pic in my Auckland Insta Highlights), Calves and Lambs
Milford Sound
Fur seals
Creativity
My creativity has been interesting this month. I still struggled with carving out time to write while exploring the world much more quickly than I’m used to, but I was still hitting my every Tuesday post goals. Then something interesting happened that took the wind out of my sails a bit and I wanted to reflect on why and figure it out.
I didn’t get a comment on two of my posts in a row this month and my Mom/Editor immediately was like “Oh so you’re going to stop writing on the blog? Just do Instagram? Stop writing all together?” And I was like “DAMN! It was two posts without a comment – that seems hasty!”
She really went 0 to 600 on that one 🙂 . I wasn’t about to make any rash decisions based on one tiny metric, but upon reflection, I realized that this stuck out to me because I don’t think I’ve ever had a post without a comment before since this blog has been public.
However, I wrote this blog for 3.5 years without sharing it with the world so obviously I received no comments during that time. So why did this bother me now? I realized that it’s something I had come to expect and look forward to – hearing what y’all think about a new post.
And, in the 5 years this blog has been public, the ways that people can provide feedback on posts has changed. It’s not just comments, but also Instagram reactions to me sharing the post link or a DM. I realized that I need to adjust my expectations and see if I can go back to not needing any external validation to write this blog. I didn’t for a long time and I still write mostly for myself so I think that’s possible. I just need to get out of my head 🙂 .
Emotional
My emotions this month were surprisingly great. I say surprisingly because I had a bunch of family drama happening and I was shocked by how unaffected and level headed I was while it was going on. It was the kind of thing that a few years ago would have (and did) make me cry, but when something similar happened this year, I felt completely neutral about it and was able to assess a path forward with a clear head.
My lack of negative reaction surprised me, but I took it to show how much I’ve changed in a few years and how much I’ve grown emotionally since retiring. What a lovely, unexpected side effect of taking the time to deal with my thoughts and emotions 🙂 .
Money
I tallied up all the money I’ve spent recently in my Retirement Year 3 Recap and there are only 2 months of 2023 left. Despite having a fancy time Down Under, it looks like I’ll be right on track with my budget.
I’m curious to see what the market does for the rest of the year, but literally just out of curiosity. I feel good about my money and I’m sure I’ll feel even better when drinking $3 margaritas on the beach in México 😉 .
Conclusion
And that’s what I got up to in October! It was a lovely month filled with experiences with my Mom that I’ll never forget. I was curious if this big trip could live up to the anticipation of it since it’s grown and grown since we started planning this trip in 2018, which was compounded when it was postponed from happening in 2020 and shockingly: It lived up to the hype 🙂 .
Next up, I’m heading to NYC to see a few friends and blog readers before heading to Puerto Vallarta, México to enjoy the beach and sun until it’s time to come back to the freezing Northeast to celebrate Christmas with family 🙂 . Until next time!
If you’re interested in the other weekly and monthly retirement updates I’ve written, they’re all here:
Weekly (2020)
- Early Retirement Week 1: The Freak Out
- Early Retirement Week 2: The Vacation
- Early Retirement Week 3: The Whiplash
- Early Retirement Week 4: The Heartbeat
- Early Retirement Week 5: The Election
- Early Retirement Week 6: The Trophy
- Early Retirement Week 7: The Train
- Early Retirement Week 8: The Challenge
- Early Retirement Week 9: The Question
- Early Retirement Week 10: The Game
- Early Retirement Week 11: The Recharge
- Early Retirement Week 12: The Holiday
Monthly (2021)
- The Month Of Rest: Early Retirement Month 4 (January 2021)
- The Month Of Birds: Early Retirement Month 5 (February 2021)
- The Month of Change: Early Retirement Month 6 (March 2021)
- The Month of Atlanta: Early Retirement Month 7 (April 2021)
- The Month of Portland, Maine: Early Retirement Month 8 (May 2021)
- The Month Of New Hampshire: Early Retirement Month 9 (June 2021)
- The Month Of The Northeast: Early Retirement Month 10 (July 2021)
- The Month Of New York State: Early Retirement Month 11 (August 2021)
- The Month Of City Hopping: Early Retirement Month 12 (September 2021)
- The Month Of The Southwest USA: October 2021 Recap
- The Month Of Santa Fe: November 2021 Recap
- The Month Of Family: December 2021 Recap
Monthly (2022)
- The Month Of Freezing My Balls Off: January 2022 Recap
- The Month Of Thailand: February 2022 Recap
- The Month Of Spring(?): March 2022 Recap
- The Month Of México: April 2022 Recap
- The Month of Mérida: May 2022 Recap
- The Month of Seattle: June 2022 Recap
- The Month of Washington State: July 2022 Recap
- The Month Of New Hampshire: August 2022 Recap
- The Month Of Maine: September 2022 Recap
- The Month Of Acadia: October 2022 Recap
- The Month Of Argentina: November 2022 Recap
- The Month Of Holiday Cheer: December 2022 Recap
Monthly (2023)
- The Month Of Snow: January 2023 Recap
- The Month Of New Hampshire: February 2023 Recap
- The Month Of Sea: March 2023 Recap
- The Month Of California: April 2023 Recap
- The Month Of Seattle: May 2023 Recap
- The Month Of Chicago: June 2023 Recap
- The Month Of Montréal: July 2023 Recap
- The Month Of Troy, NY: August 2023 Recap
- The Month Of Australia: September 2023 Recap
How was your month?
I don’t comment on blogs generally (although this is my second time on here) but please know that I look forward to your blog every Tuesday. It’s always an enjoyable read! As a proud Aussie, I’m glad you enjoyed your time down under. I know it’s a fair hike across the globe to get here, but it’s a beautiful country and definitely worth the trip!
Thank you for telling me that 🙂 . I appreciate it and I really am working to not see comments as the only metric that y’all are out there reading. And yes – I had a lovely time Down Under. I can’t wait to go back!
I enjoyed this recap! Your Aussie and Kiwi adventures look spectacular, and I’m glad you enjoyed your time there. The slang is fun. The Great Barrier Reef is stunning, and I think when Pixar animators capture settings like that, they visit the location and film/draw/photograph it so that they represent it well in the movie. They did that for Finding Nemo and Up. So it’s no surprise it looks the way it’s shown in the movies 🙂
Jet lag tip: if you can handle it, time your stomach to the new time zone while flying. I do this when I travel between Europe and Australia, and it helps! I have 4 and 5am starts rather than 1 or 2am and I get into the timezone quicker 😀 look at when your flight arrives and plan backwards re eating accordingly. For example, the last time I went, I arrived early in the morning in Australia. I didn’t eat during that flight and a bit beforehand. So I ate during the 12h flight from Europe to (in this case) Singapore, then didn’t eat while in Changi airport and on the flight from there to Australia. I had breakfast when I arrived in Australia. It does help, but it’s tough when the food on the plane and in a great airport like Changi is super good ;_;
Have an amazing time in Mexico. What a jet-set life you lead! Living the dream!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! And that would make sense with Pixar – I never thought about that before 🙂 . They did a great job. Films just usually show a more idealized version of things so I didn’t expect it to be so accurate haha. I guess I should change my expectations for Pixar movies in that way.
That’s a really interesting jet lag tip that I haven’t heard before. I’ll see if I can implement it during my next non-fancy long haul flight. For the fancy ones my meal times revolve around their meals because I want the experience. Surprisingly my jet lag wasn’t bag going to Australia or coming back from New Zealand. I was up and about the next day in both cases. Sleeping more than 8 hours on each flight probably helped 😉 .
Thank you so much!
*random comment so Purple knows we’re still out here anticipating and appreciating these Tuesday posts every week, even if no one comments. Please don’t stop, keep going 🙂
*random response that I appreciate you 🙂 . I’ll keep going.
What a fun trip! Do you know Zac from travel freely, he’s a fincon guy so maybe you met before? His family moved down to AU and NZ for a year or so and enrolled his kids in school, so it’s been interesting to see his experience as a FI adjacent travel blogger.
Speaking of moving I’ve met a number of other nomads that say they lived in xyz for a week to a few months, or they moved to abc for a week or a few months.
I’ve often wondered at what point “visiting” transforms into “lived” / “moved” when the timescales are the same? It seems like a deliberate language shift in with some implied meaning but I don’t understand it. The reason I ask is noticed you used “moved”, so I’d love to know if this is something you’ve thought about and if your idea of it has changed over time?
Best wishes for MX!
Indeed it was 🙂 . I haven’t met him, but what he’s doing sounds cool.
I think it has been a mindset shift since all the things I own fit in my backpack because I am now literally “moving” to each place I go 🙂 . However, I usually only think of it that way if I’m going for about a month or more and if I’m trying to ‘live’ there by staying around locals, going to the grocery store, cooking, taking out my own trash etc. All the things that happen in “real life” instead of like a vacation when you don’t have to do any of those things. I think of that as “visiting.” Interesting question though. I hadn’t deeply examined why my language around that had changed before. And thank you!
I’m commenting so you don’t feel like no one reads and enjoys your blogs!! I like the way they are set up and how you tally and keep track of different aspects of your life, like animals and plants you see or sleep patterns… it’s so detailed!
Thank you for sharing your insights.
Happens that we are planning an adventure to Australia and New zeland ( and then possibly Africa) and one of my concerns was the HCOL in Australia- so your post was helpful there as well! Any other detail or housing recommendations are welcome! Thank you 😊
Haha – you are too kind 🙂 . And I’m glad someone enjoys the amount of detail as much as I do haha. I’m trying to not need the external validation I’ve apparently gotten used to, but your comment did make me smile so I guess I have a ways to go 😉 .
That’s such an exciting trip! I do have some tips that didn’t fit into these monthly recaps. One is that when I did research before going it said that I would need cash for small purchases in Australia and NZ, but I never found that to be true. Everyone takes credit cards. I never went to an ATM and actually don’t know what the currency in either county looks like as a result. Oops 🙂 .
Also a tip about grocery stores. Many have membership cards to get discounts, but I don’t usually get one if I’m somewhere for less than a month. However, a few times employees swiped a free card for us without me asking when we said we were just visiting, which was so kind! That saved us a bit on groceries, but if they don’t swipe for you maybe get a membership if you’ll be near the same types of stores.
And finally, if you drink: the local wine is delicious and we’ll priced, but liquor seems to mostly he imported and super expensive. I hope all that helps. Have a lovely time!
I feel you on the blog comments! Especially with multiple in a row. Also my parents’ feedback yesterday was “you don’t write about finance anymore!” Which… all of this is about our lives and our finances.
I just posted my New Zealand post yesterday and it was super interesting to see the differences in what we did. We went in Feb/march so there was no outbreak. Also the flight to Milford sound is such a great idea! We did a bus and it’s quite the round trip.
Thanks for writing as always
I follow your blog too. I enjoy following along on your journey!
That’s happened to you too?? I thought I was alone in it lol. Somehow knowing I’m not making me feel better. And oh my – finance is literally everything we do with our money, which is our entire lives so I disagree with them 😉 .
Yeah I read your post and it was interesting to see the differences. Y’all are way more hardcore than me – I wasn’t about to drive on those roads haha. I’m also not a daredevil in that way, but my Mom is. However, me saying I’ll hold her bag when she jumps out of a plane apparently didn’t cut it so we didn’t go 🙂 . She’s jumped out of plenty of planes though so I think she’s good.
And thank YOU for writing 🙂 .
Long time reader – first time commenting. Please don’t stop posting Purple – I love reading about your travels and how you fill your days. I seem to have inadvertently retired early (long painful story) and while my lif is entirely different, it’s helpful to read how you fill your days. Even if there are no comments, people are reading and enjoying
Don’t worry – I’ll keep writing. I really am going to try and not need that kind of comment validation going forward. I’m so glad you enjoy the blog and that it’s helped to provide an example of what a retiree does all day. I’m sorry your early retirement is part of a painful story and hope it’s getting better.
I’ve never commented before, but I read every single one of your posts! I’ve lived in NZ back in 2014 for a year and enjoyed reading about your experience! Planning to go back in 2025 for two months and your post gave me some inspiration! I’ve been to Milford Sound before and it takes quite some travel time plus the cost for a rental vehicle and accommodation – next time I’ll be flying there, too! Seems like a good deal and you get all those stunning views from above. Thanks for the inspiration Purple – also added the Onsen Hot Pools to my list. I saw them on your profile and now they are all over instagram for me 😄
All the best from Germany!
Oh wow! Thank you for telling me that. I really didn’t know people would be reading all my posts, but not commenting, which means I seriously need to adjust my expectations 🙂 . I’m working on it.
And that’s so exciting you’ll be going back to NZ! And yeah I can’t recommend Air Milford enough – they were lovely and the cost was definitely worth it for an all day excursion that still saved me 10 hours of drive time. And yes – I loved Onsen! That was a lovely surprise that I heard about from a friend at the last minute and I’m so glad we made the time. I’m sorry they’re targeting you so hard on Instagram though – that’s wild!
I’ve commented a few times, but please please know that you have a lot of us cheering you on and feeling inspired by your early retirement adventures – we’re living through you until our time comes! 😀
I appreciate your comments and I’m working to not need them for validation so no worries. Thank you for telling me that though 🙂 .
Even though I don’t comment often, I’ve read every post for years!
I don’t need financial advice anymore, everything is churning away in the background. So I’m here for the travel stories, nerdy stuff you’ve learned, book/movie hot takes, and gear tips from a thrifty minimalist. I even… shhhhhh…. tried a menstrual cup after your post and have been a cup purist for more than a year. Annnnnnd my conditioner bar arrived yesterday; had no idea they existed. I’m secretly hoping you launch some keto cooking recs too. 🙂
Anyway, a bunch of us out here loving the content! The Purple tribe is strong.
WOW!!! That’s amazing to hear – thank you for telling me that! And I’m glad my random topics these days work for you 🙂 . Also that’s so cool about the period cup and conditioner bar. I hope you enjoy it!
As for Keto cooking recommendations – I have Keto Story Highlights on my Insta, but I can definitely do more stuff like that! I think I have a keto idea in my blog ideas folder. Anyway, all of that is great to know – thank you 🙂 .
I read all your posts but I seldom comment! As a 62 year old woman, I cheer you on this adventure ! Travel on ! I am in awe of how you made it work! Good for you for having the courage to follow your path!
Curious question: When you travel for months with your mother, where does your partner stay?
Thank you 🙂 .
As for where my partner stays, the short answer is: Wherever he wants 😉 . While I was in Australia/NZ he rented an Airbnb for part of it, traveled for his job for part of it and visited family for the other part. Most often though my partner travels with me and my Mom. This trip just didn’t work because of the +17 hour time zones and his work schedule.
As an American who has dual citizenship and now lives in Australia (Melbourne) it was so fun to see Australia through your eyes. Totally agree with your assessment to have a return visit with your partner! I love your content and I comment sporadically. I’m not sure which posts didn’t receive comments, but if they were the ones about the first class travel flights, it may be because there are probably fewer people that strategize first class international travel frequently, so people may not have as much to contribute comment-wise? I read these posts, but since I don’t travel this way myself, I didn’t have anything to comment on.
That’s awesome! And thank you 🙂 . Those were the posts and that’s a very fair point! This is one of the reasons I’m trying not to link my perception of success to comments in general. As y’all have shown me in this comments section, comments aren’t a great indicator that people are reading and enjoying my writing.
I’ll join the chorus and say your pictures from Australia and New Zealand are breathtaking! The mountains, the ocean, the beaches, the wildlife, it’s all spectacular. You make us all jealous.
That coastal walk reminds me of the Cliff Walk in Rhode Island, which is one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. Getting more into amateur astronomy is one of my lifetime bucket-list goals, and I’d also love to stargaze from the Southern Hemisphere.
In your place, I would’ve been seriously tempted to take that $4K for the Amazon thing. With your low-budget lifestyle, that would go a long way. It must’ve been pretty bad for you to turn it down!
Thank you 🙂 . They’re beautiful countries. I haven’t heard of that Cliff Walk and have added it to my wish list. As for the reseller thing, I’m surprisingly not tempted my money anymore. I have enough – what do I need more for 🙂 ? So unless something is a “hell yes” for something that I believe in and would do for free, I don’t accept it.
Did you read Zoey Draven’s Horde King series? If you haven’t, definitely recommend it . If you have read the series, what did you think? IMO, the Kylorr books you read in October were ok but pale in comparison to the Horde King series.
Oh wow – these are on my list, but I’m going to move them closer to the top! I thought her writing in the Kylorr series was captivating so if the Horde King is even better I’m FULLY onboard! Thanks for the tip 🙂 .
Very inspiring to read about these experiences. I really like to read these blogs and hope to see more in the future!
Thank you – I’m planning to keep writing for the foreseeable future.
Very glad to see everyone chiming in with their “wait no no nooo I love this blog and read it all the time!” comments! I’ll add mine too. This is the time where a “like” button or little heart symbol thingy would be nice—every time I finish reading, I think to myself some variation of, “Yep, I agree, very interesting” and it seems lame to post that every single week. But, I’m always happy to help with a hit of dopamine in the form of a weekly comment if that’s the reward you prefer for writing these great posts. 🙂
Yeah that was surprising and wonderful to see 🙂 .
And there’s no need to comment though you’re very sweet for considering it. I’m moving away from comments being my metric of success. And I currently don’t know how to add a like button so TBD on that haha. Maybe that would just become another metric I shouldn’t be chasing though. I need to reflect a bit more and will adjust accordingly!
Just want to echo, please don’t stop posting! I too look forward to reading your posts each Tuesday. I especially appreciate that you aren’t one of these FI people who make big bucks blogging and never has to touch their portfolio. Your FIRE journey seems way more relatable!
We went to Australia and New Zealand at the end of 2018. We enjoyed New Zealand more than Australia but would definitely go back to both. If you’re looking for some Aussie shows on Netflix, I highly recommend Wellmania (sooo funny), Miriam Margolyes: Almost Australian,
Stateless and Love on the Spectrum (there’s an Aussie and America version).
Did you get an Whittaker’s Chocolate in New Zealand? It’s some of the best and sold at every grocery store!
You’re too kind and that is an interesting point. I hadn’t thought about that aspect of representation that I bring to the table. Thank you for helping me see that 🙂 .
I actually started watching Almost Australian while I was in Sydney, but will add the rest of those to my queue!
And I didn’t! Guess I have to go back soon to try that chocolate 🙂 .
What are your housing costs per year?
Even if roughly half of expenses are housing (let’s say $10k), that’s about $800/mo in housing costs. I’m lucky to find something that cheap for one week on airbnb with all the fees included. How do you reduce short-term housing costs?
About $12K. I list every dollar I spend in my annual posts every December and I post the Airbnbs I book with prices and pictures on Instagram. Feel free to check those out.