Two Autumns

Two Autumns is a series of essays that began as my M.A. thesis at Johns Hopkins, exploring themes in travel, nature, and memory.

Amberley, New Zealand

'Room to Rent'

Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place, and Nature (2026)

'No one wanted to admit that instead of a master plan for life, the travel community preferred stifling labels for the road. Backpackers sported sixty-litre Osprey bags that they’d never take tramping and stayed at hostels with names like Nomad’s. Tourists guzzled pints of Shire-brewed cider in Hobbiton and slept in bright purple and green JUCY camper vans. Adventurers flew straight to Queenstown to bungy jump off Kawarau Bridge and then droned into everyone’s ear about the adrenaline rush later on at the Ice Bar. Working holiday visa holders were backpackers looking for a gig on an organic farm, globetrotters complained about having to fly so much to keep their Elite Status, and I didn’t know what wayfarers did.'

Read 'Room to Rent' online

This is a photo from Miyazu Japanese Garden in Nelson, New Zealand. It depicts a path of square and rectangular stones going through a shallow waterway, surrounded by green lily pads.

Kyoto, Japan

'City of Leaves'

The Common Online (2023)

'And so putting memories into words becomes another form of loss. In trying to preserve what we know, we forfeit the beloved, fragile myth.'

Read 'City of Leaves' online

Arthur's Pass, New Zealand

'Kea Call'

Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place, and Nature (2025) – originally published in Paperbark (2023)

'I would learn that kea antics went well beyond tormenting travellers like Du Faur. The mischievous parrots also took a perverse pleasure in tearing stuff up: the rubber bits around car windows, bike seats, backpacks, and — when they had a hankering for mutton fat — sheep.'

Read 'Kea Call' online

'Kea Call' received the Bronze Award in the Animal Encounter category of the 2024 Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing

This is a photo of a kea, which is an alpine parrot, spreading its wings on a green rooftop. The kea has a light brown head, soft green feathers, and shows orange feathers beneath its wings. Another kea sits on a lower-level roof, looking up at the first. The background is an olive green mountainside. The photo was taken in Arthur’s Pass, New Zealand.

This is a photo of Bilbo's home from the Hobbiton movie set in Matamata, New Zealand. It depicts a home with a beige facade and brick-lined, round windows, set in a green hillside with a round, evergreen door.

Los Angeles, California, and Auckland, New Zealand

'To Auckland'

TulipTree Review (2021)

'Anytime someone asked me why I was going to New Zealand, I delighted in telling them that I wanted to catch a rare Relicanth, which only spawns on the country's two main islands. To be clear, this was not my chief motivating factor, but it was always fun to see the blank look I got in return.'

Purchase TulipTree Review

'To Auckland' received an honorable mention in TulipTree's 2021 Wild Women writing contest

Routeburn Track, New Zealand

'Routeburn' (unpublished) – Long-listed for the 2021 Fish Publishing Short Memoir Prize

'Landscape Images' (unpublished) – Long-listed for the 2026 Anthology Personal Memoir Award

This is a photo of a narrow, dirt and rock walking trail winding alongside a grey lake on a foggy day. The trail is cut into a steep mountainside that shows grey rock and golden tussock. The location is Harris Saddle on Routeburn Track, New Zealand.

Images on this page: Miyazu Japanese Garden in Nelson, New Zealand; Daitoku-ji in Kyoto, Japan; the kea in Arthur's Pass, New Zealand; Hobbiton movie set in Matamata, New Zealand; Harris Saddle on Routeburn Track, New Zealand. All images are my own and cannot be used without my express permission.