The End

So after our seven hour drive we managed to find a parking spot just out side of Queenstown. We got up early and went into town, had a look around and ran errands. It turns out Queenstown is awesome, its not too big and not too small with more than enough stuff to keep you busy. It turned out being my favorite city behind Sydney. I just wish i had a few more thousand dollars to spend. Every other store was a company specializing in bungi jumping, river rafting, zorbing, or other activity with a risk of death. We spent most of the day exploring. We got a spot at a holiday park and after dinner we walked downtown and went to a bar called minus 5. It was made entirely of ice; the walls, the chairs, the bar, and even the glasses were made of ice. There were also about a dozen ice sculptures inside. Despite the name it was negative 8 degrees C and we stayed in for 30 minutes. Luckily they lent you a parka, boots and gloves. Afterward we made our way to a wine tasting shop which was really neat because they gave you a credit card that you put in these different wine filled machines and you could choose the amount and type of wine you wanted and it would dispence it for you. NZ is filled with wineries so we had to try some their famous pinot noir. Afterward we caught the tail end of an excellent cover band performance on the wharf. The next day we took the gondola 450 meters above the town to the events center overlooking the lake and city. Its also a jump off point for paragliding and bungee. Unfortunately those both started around 150 bucks. So we decided to do the street luge. There were two different tracks you could ride down on mini street cart luge thingees. It was awesome, we got 5 rides for a good price and they even had a chair lift that took you back up to the top with your ride. On the last run, at the photo finish line, Mandy was just ahead of me (only because i gave her a head start mind you,) and as she was rubbing it in my face with her victory yell and one handed fistpump she lost control and careened offroad onto the rumble strip. Fortunately she regained control of her vehicle before anything more than damage to her ego could take place. Unfortunately it wasn't enough time for me to take the lead. The cameras got a pretty good pic of her heading for disaster and the looks on our faces were pretty hilarious. Remember kids, 10 and 2. After our shenanigans we headed back into town one last time before hitting the road. I mean we had to go back to the famous chocolate shop, Patagonia, all Mandys idea of course.
Fast forwarding to later that nite we slept in a parking lot at Milford Sound, this place was the first thing that made me want to visit NZ so bad. We woke up the next morning and literally walked outside into a cloud of bugs, like you'd see on cartoons. And these were serious bugs, they didn't just poke a little needle into your skin they actually took bites of you and left you itching for a week. We jumped back in the van to apply amounts of deet that were likely near fatal to humans. Milford sound consists of a parking lot, a bar, an info center, and the dock station for the tours. Milford sound itself is the northern most of thirteen Fjords on the east coast. We took a two hour boat tour all the way through the sound which has vertical cliffs rising directly out of the sea and up beyond sight into the clouds. Rainforest clung directly to the rock face and there were waterfalls everywhere, big and small. We pulled right under a few of the big ones and watched the water shoot off the cliffs a few hundred meters above and turn into mistly pelting rain. We spotted some penguins with those huge yellow eyebrows hopping around on the rocks as well as a sea lion colony. It was a great tour and our only regret is that we didnt get to explore more. It was like nothing we had yet done on our trip or in our life. Id say Lord of the Rings meets Water World meets foggy Stephen King Novel scene, but with less bad guys. We took our time leaving stopping every 20 miles for short hikes and sights. There was a 2 mile long mountain tunnels, suspension bridges over rivers, and fields of flowers that shamed The Sound of Music. Over the next few days we went along the South coast scenic hwy. Which was, surprisingly, the worst scenery in the country. Not sure how that works. Over the next few days we made our way along the southern coast and up the west to Christchurch. This is already way too long so ill touch on the highlights. We stopped at the southern most point of the island, went to a petrified forest on the coast, saw the most endangered penguin in the world waddle 5 feet past us(I think Mandy summoned it with her powers of marine biology), went to a beach with 60 million year old round boulders on it (cooler than it sounds), sampled cheese at a factory (a surprising highlight. When we got to Christchurch we definitely experianced a lowpoint when we decided to stay the nite in the airport. Long story short: sleepless, misery, noise, international arrival gate carpet as bed. When the blessed plane finally took us away we stopped in Sydney for two more nites staying at Dans place in Bondi Beach. It was great to end the trip with a few days on the beach and in the sun before back to the Northwest winter. It was great to see the guys one last time and they treated us to a really fun nite in downtown Sydney. We were sad to leave and i was really sad to forget my block of blue cheese in Dans fridge! Buuut we were really happy to come home to family and friends. I hope you enjoyed reading our blog as much as we enjoyed writing it and hopefully we will be starting a new adventure soon (other than work).

The Scenic South Island

So we're on the south island now, actually we flew in last nite and are in Seattle but I'm gonna retain a present tense anyway. Our ferry got in and we started driving. Our plan was to go up to the North tip of the island then down the west coast and around the bottom and up the east to finish two weeks later in Christchurch.
Right when our ferry got in Mandy started feeling sick so we drove a few hours to a nice town on the coast called Nelson. She was pretty much confined to the bed for the next 48 hours and we stayed in Nelson for 2 nites waiting for her to get better. We just took it easy and hung out for a few days, on the third day she was feeling better and we decided to shove off. We decided not to go up to Abel Tasman because the weather was bad and we had lost a day; we did after all have a whole island to drive around. We drove from the west coast to the east coast and stayed in a town called Westport. The next day was our 3 year anniversary so we decided to splurge and stayed the nite in a real parking lot! It was at a hostel in a place called Greymouth. On the drive down from Westport we stopped at a few really cool spots. One was a trail to a seal colony and we watched them playing on the rocks for a while and then we went to pancake rocks. Basically there are layered rocks coming out of the ocean that look like a stacks of pancakes, we didnt get to stay to long because it was pouring out so we jumped back in the car and dreamed of various other forms of giant breakfast foods the rest of the way to Greymouth. We took much needed showers, the water was actually heated by coal, and joined the rest of the guests for the only viable rainy day activity, Brewery Tour. It was 25 dollars for a tour, tasting, dinner and they even opened the bar for 30 min. We had a great time and made lots of friends from England.
The next day we headed farther south and spent the next two nites at Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. We went on a guided tour of Franz Joseph and hiked around on the glacier for 3 hours. This was probably thee highlight of the south island. To quickly recap the tour theres a short walk through rain forest, a medium walk along the river that comes out of a cave in the glacier and runs through a rocky valley floor surrounded on both sides by near vertical cliffs absolutely littered with waterfalls. This brought us to the base of the glacier where we strapped on our crampons (huge spikes for your boots) and went to play on the very large ice cube. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day, the sun was shining and we were hiking around in shorts and t's. There were little streams coming off the glacier and we even crawled through a few ice tunnels. To add to the already unreal environment giant green alpine parrots kept landing on the ice around us to investigate. That nite we camped at the parking lot to the other ice cube, Fox Glacier. We cooked dinner while enjoying quite a view, two parrots even supervised our cooking and took food right out of our hands when they weren't trying to steal our whole meal.
The next day we hiked around Lake Matheson, the most photographed lake in NZ. It is set in the foreground of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman and if the water is calm enough the mountains are perfectly reflected in the water. Then we went to Gillepsies beach for a few hours. It had a black sand beach, was covered in flat round stones, and even had a pair of sheep wandering around on it (those things are seriously everywhere). At around 3 we put 100 dollars in our gas tank and made the 7 hour drive to Queenstown, my favorite city! The drive was through the Otago region, and even though i know ive said it a hundred times, it was the most scenic drive yet.

More North Island Adventures

Hello from Queenstown, the adrenaline capital of the world. Were here at the bottom of the south island and this town is radical dude. Every other building is sky dive this, or bungee jump that with a half twist. But before i can tell you about our adventures here i got about a week of activities to catch u up on so ill hit the hi-lights.
After we left the north island coast we headed to central NZ. First stop was a place called Rotorua. This place had tons of the adrenaline sport as well(its everywhere here) but as usual we were a little broke to do that so instead we went a "thermal wonderland." Aside from action this town is dead center of a volcanic park, kinda like a mini yellowstone. We watched some geysers and did a walk around the park. The best part was the pools. The water, rock, and sand were different colors, bright colors. Orange, Green, Red there where lots of ponds and streams. There is something very wierd about seeing a naturally occuring bright green pond. It was the color water you'd expect the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to live in, or maybe the toxic avenger. Unforunatly the pics we took dont do the colors justice.

From here we headed east to Wiatomo. A miniscule little town. The only reason to go there was for the underground rivers and glow worm caves. We stayed two nites at a little camperground park. It was basically geriatric park because there were old people everywhere and we had lots of fun making friends and visiting with them, espesially Barbara who came by 3 times the day we left, each time bearing gifts. We scored all sorts of stuff: Sugar pots, tea cups, tp, a tin of biscuits (we talked alot about tea and coffee). Anyway we went on our adventure tour which boasted 5 adventures in one, and it was definatly that. After getting briefed we repelled 90 feet down through a hole in the ground in some remote sheep field, this part was really fun. Then we explored the tubular cave with underground river via intertubes and our own foot power. All along the way stopping to squeeze through cracks and holes, a clastrophobics nightmare. The highlight was the gloworms(which can only be seen here and in australia) clinging to the cieling by the thousand. When you turned your headlamp off it looked like a 3 dimensional nite sky, except much brighter. There were only six of us down there and the cave formations were great!If Mandy was writing this blog shed probablly say how i sat in my intertube wrong and almost flipped over for like 30 seconds. Her and everyone else thought it was hilarious and laughed the whole time with no nevermind to my feelings; its a good thing it was dark, so no one could see my tears of shame. This adventure was a definatly a highlight of the trip.

Moving on. Next stop was at the bottom of Lake Tauranga, the biggest lake on the island. Tuarngi, the little town we stopped in, is the trout fishing capital of the world. We must have come on an off day or something because we were board out of our minds. The reason for coming here was to do the Tongariri Crossing, the most popular day hike in NZ. So the next day we set off early on the 20 km hike. Notable hike moments: Hiking over Mt. Doom ( From the movie lord of the rings for those who dont know), almost getting blown off the top of the track by what felt like hurricane winds, seeing the bright blue lakes oddly out of place in the volcanic landscape,and going from rocky plains to mountains to lakes to grassy fields to hotsprings and through rainforest all in one hike. It was a good hike and we were glad we did it.Unfortunatly we dont have time to do the real world renowned 5 day longs hikes in NZ.

The next 2 nites we spent in Wellington, which sits on the southern coast of the north island. We both really like this city, after we found parking... The highlight here was a the Te papa museum. And instead of telling you all the details ill just skep to the end and say its the best museum in the world. Or at least the best we've ever been in. Other than that we did a little shopping, found a market, got lost, and some other stuff i cant remember. At the end of our stay we hopped a very expensive, fairly scenic fairy to the south island! I wish i could include all the details but there just arent enought hours in the day or enough wi-fi hotspots in the country. We have to get on the road again in our campervan which seems to be loosing its ability to stay clean. Talk to you soon!

The Coast

The past week or so has been jam packed with activities. Im gonna try and catch you up on them, I could write for hours on each but ill try and keep it brief.
On Wednesday the 18th we did my favorite thing of the whole trip and Mandys second favorite. We went on an all inclusive overnite cruise. It was 180 NZ dollars. It was on a boat called The Rock and it used to be a ferry but was rebuilt specifically for this purpose. There were 15 customers, half the capacity, and 4 crew. They were our age, sooo nice and easy to talk to. Ir really made the trip. We left at 5pm, cruised 2 hours to our mooring. There where two full bars on the bottom, a pool table, open back deck,and upstairs bedrooms and showers. We had a shooting contest on the way out which i got second in. I was pretty upset cuz the winner got a beer! When we got to dropped anchor it was in the bay of the biggest island in the area. We fished for Snapper and Mandy caught the first fish, also good for a free beer. We fished for a few hours drinking beer and watching the sunset against the islands. The best scenery of the trip so far in my opinion. I caught the second fish of my life but it was a few cm shy of being a keeper. After fishing they cooked us a steak dinner (real food is amazing!) Mink, one of the crew, volunteered me to give a predinner speech. After dinner we went nite kayaking around 10 pm. There is phosphorescence in this area so with each paddle stroke it looked like there were hundreds of blue sparks around it. We paddled around the bay in the dark and headed back to the boat, had a quick swim in the freeing water, and had a beer around the on deck campfire. The next day we got up for the sunrise and then ate breakfast. They took us on a walk on the big island we were docked at. We saw some endangered birds then set off to another island for another walk and more beach time. So far everywhere we go in NZ the scenery is great and this trip definitely had some highlights. We did some snorkeling, which didn't compare to the great barrier reef and then did some kayaking in the light of day. on the way back we had the sushi that was minutes away from being alive and uni(urchin eggs) that was only seconds, it was quite good.
We had made an American friend and she bummed a ride with us back to Auckland and we stayed with her and her friends, they were great.
Over the next two days we went to a couple beaches on the Cormandel Peninsula. One was Hot Water beach and it actually had a hot spring under the sand. So we joined about a hundred others, rented a shovel and went down to the beach to dig our own hot tub in the breaking surf. It was awesome. In some spots the water was too hot to sit in, but it felt great and we spent the day lounging in the pools. The following day we went to the very famous Cathedral cove which had a huge archway way leading through a sandstone cliff leading from one beach to the other, Great views. Sorry im so rushed right now but theres an old librarian yelling at me to get out of the library. Ill catch u up as soon as possible!

Its hard to get internet in New Zealand

Ok, so much for bite size blogs. I think were a week past our last post so heres Mandy for some recaping.
Friday the 13th-
Today was our big day for Koala's I mean we couldn't leave Australia without seeing them!! We went to the Koala Sanctuary just 30 minutes out of town. It was voted last year as one of the top ten zoos in the world! They had over 135 Koalas and chris and I got to touch a few, and I couldn't resist so I had to pay to hold one!!!!! THe zoo had a lot of birds, dingo, wombat, tasmanian devil, and KANGAROOS!! We got to pet the kangaroos they were really tame and really really lazey. One had a baby in her pouch and we took way too many pics. WE also got a slobbery kiss from one of the sheep herding dogs! After we went on the City Cat (a ferry that travels on the river), watched a free jazz band in the park, and searched for cheap food (not easy in the city) we finally found a place that had $6 steaks! Great last day in Brisbane!
Sat the 14th
Today we had some time to kill, so we went to the museum again and took picutres. Jordan and Melissa you would appreciate the ones we took of a cut out of dinos chasing each other!!! Our faces in the cut outs are so funny chris says I look constipated!!!! Chris went to a few art museums as well and we just relaxed before we had to go to the airport. Chirs got crapped on by a bird today, all over his arm hahaha it was really funny especially since he wa giving me crap about taking so long right before it happened!! Not much happened today we said goodbye to the warm weather and our tans and journedy to New Zealand!!!
Sun 15th
WE got into our hotel like at 1am sooo dam tired but we made it. OUr hotel had a giagantic kiwi on top of it (i was too tired to take a pic but it was pretty ridiculous). We woke up and almost missed our bus. In fact we had 2minutes to fun with our heaving backpacks on and somehow made it in time. WE met some great locals on the bus. We tried to tell the bus driver where the heck we wanted to go, but all the dam names of everything in NZ are so similar and nothing is pronoucned the way it is spelled (emma I am sure you experienced this!!!) we had some help from these locals on the bus though and they have us a map and directions. The friendliest people we have ever met probably. THen we jumped off the bus and literally went to the other side of the street and caught the next one (we were seconds from missing this one too) Got off and had to walk a ways to get to our campervan called the SPACESHIP!!! after a couple of hours we were on our way. A little crazy the van is bulky and everything is backwards down here. Poor chris i made him drive first had we at blinkers, wipers, and lights all going crazy at once haha it was really funny, until I had to drive!!!! It was a little hard to get use to but we are getting better. It was a little stressful bc the first place we drove through was Auckland (big city, and lots of one ways, no parking) we got stuck in a parking garage and had to pay $4 dam dollars just for entering funny now but at the time we were a little annoyed. WE went grocery shopping (figured out that no one knows what a grocery store is, it is called a super market oops my bad!!) and finally made it out of the city to Uretti where we camped. WE got a little lost on the way and a nice man showed us where to go. (everyone here is so friendly I love it!!) We made our first meal in the campervan, which was really fun. THe van is small but has everything you need stragetically packed and put togehter its pretty well! By this point we were so tired and went to bed It had been a really long day.
Mon 16th Uretti -> Ruakaka Beach-> Waterfalls->Bay of Islands
After checking out we went to our first beach, Ruakaka beach, which was right next to the campground. It was like our own private beach, there were two other people and it was so awesome. The mix of blue water, jagged mountain islands, and rain forest make for quite the sight when set behind your typical beach scene. After breakfast we headed north toward our destination, The Bay of Islands, which is the top right corner of NZ. The drive up was nice, we stopped at a scenic 30M waterfall. THe landscape here is incredible, its like if Bolivia and Ireland had a baby that grew up to be an adrenaline junky whos favorite movie is Jurrasic Park. We got to our destination, booked a sailing trip that swims with dolphins for the next day, made dinner at a park on the beach, and found a parking lot to park in for the nite.
Tuesday 17th Bay of islands
Today we decided to switch our tour from a full day of sailing to an overnite allinclusive cruise for the following day. We parked above the bay off the greens at a golf course and cooked breakfast against the million dollar view. We went on a hike afterward to a viewpoint of the bay. At this point i think its been 3 days without a shower so we were getting desperate. We found a public pool for a swim and very long communal showers. Feeling much better now we had another scenic dinner and a beer at a local fishermans bar with huge marlin everywhere. The Chomos' would have loved this barn not to mention the whole town.

Were still way behind on the posts and we have been soooo busy. Its pretty tough getting internet but we will do our best.

Brisbane

Today is our third day in Brisbane and was the busiest by far. Our first day was very low key, we pretty much kept to the hostel after flying in. Our second day, we did a little grocery shopping, took a dip in the pool and went for a really nice walk through the city. Brisbane is built around the Brisbane river in the middle of the eastern coast. There are tons of bridges, 4 we can see from our hostel. We walked through downtown, along the river and through their botanical garden. A few trends we're noticing about Australian cities: 1.Beautiful gardens full of plants, trees and birds we have never seen and cant stop staring at.2. Very clean and well kept. 3. Great beaches! Even if there aren't any natural beaches they will make amazing sand covered pools laden with palm trees and fountains (Beaches also contain all the details of trend #1).4. Awesome architecture.5. Very friendly people.6. Extremely expensive coffee, also brewed coffee is practically non-existent.
* Trend disclaimer* We have only been in 3 cities, all major, so our observations are probably extremely biased. Anyway, back to today. We walked for what felt like 20 miles over the 9 hours we where out exploring the city. First we went to St. John Cathedral; The most amazing church Ive ever seen... by far. Its the biggest Gothic cathedral in the southern hemisphere, but don't quote me on that. It is a classic French Gothic style cathedral. It took a 103 years to build and was finished last year. It was made of all stone, has a vaulted ceilings with stone ribs and was enormous. This combined with amazing windows, choir pews that took 60 years to carve, and an art exhibition from the guy who created the speedo suspended in the arches (Don't worry it was rated G). I'm glad i brought a big memory card for my camera.
After this we walked across the river to the mall. It was 3 blocks long with an outdoor courtyard to match. We walked through the farmers market then back across the river to hang out in the sun at their beach. A little more exploring took us to the museum, which was a great one, and free i might add. We only had 30 minutes there till it closed. Then we crossed the river again and watched the sun set from the bridge. Then back to the hostel where we made dinner and showered. At this moment we are , quite fittingly, listening to "i come from a land down under" and getting ready to go share a pitcher. Its 9 pm here and 3 am there, have a good morning!

Great Barrier Reef and Road trip

Because we spent all friday on the Great Barrier reef im gonna hand it over to the resident Marine Biologist on this trip.
On friday we decided that we would take a boat out to the great barrier reef!! This is the one thing that we both really wanted to do while in Australia. We took a large vessel called the Offsprey out of Cairns Marina and traveled to two outer reef sights; Saxon reef, and Hastings reef. Onboard the crew was great, and really really funny. WE met some nice people from Ireland and the Netherlands and chatted on our way out which took about an 1.5 hours. During this time we also took a mini class on how to scuba dive:) We planned to do an introductory dive at the first reef!! So exciting, we couldn't wait to be underwater with all the fish, coral, and SHARKS (didn't see any sharks sorry Anna). Chris and I put on all the gear (weights a ton I though I would sink right to the bottom!) and jumped in. We had to do two skill tests before diving and then we linked arms with two others and the insturctor and went for it! WE saw a ton of coral. I guess just a chunk can be anywhere between 50-70yrs old so amazing. THere were a ton of fish and giant oysters which closed up if you touched them. Our favorite was looking at all the colorful coral I think. Our dive was 18minutes at a depth of around 8meters. If felt like it only lasted 2minutes though. BUt after we snorkeled for a while longer and got back on the boat for a big Australian BBQ YUM!!!
THen we made our way to Hastings Reef. THis was the best stop of the day. Chris and I snorkeled for about 35min and saw so much stuff. THe coral was even more colorful here and the fish had such unique patterns. Before we got out we say WALLEY, one of the biggest wrass fish in the world that can be only found at a few places. He was really friendly and you could touch him (chris said he was really slimmey!) THen we went on a semi-submersible boat and saw the reef that way. It was cool to be in, but we wish we would have just spent the rest of the time snorkeling ,but good expeirence. On the way home the seas were really rough and the crew said that they hadn't seen such bad weather in a long time. Great timing huh?!! Half the people on the boat got seasick puking in bags. But not us we had been waiting for our free wine and cheese, and we took full advantage especially since no one else was having any!!! the boat was rocking so much that chris almost ate it in the boat with his wine (everyone laughed at him hehe; sorry chris had to tell everyone) On the boat there was suppose to be an Elvis entertainer but he had called in sick that day (how funny would have it been to have him sing "Im all shook up" with people seasick!) BUt we made it back safetly. I ended up being outside for most ot the way home and got soaked. It was such a fun day but we were so tired so we had din and went to bed. Our favorite Day in Australia so far!


The day after this was just as packed. We woked up early again, this time for a trip up to Cape Tribulation. The rain forest comes right up to the beach here and at one point you can stand on the reef and reach out and touch the rain forest. We got picked up by our bus and our got on our way. Our guide was some sort of hybrid comedian-botanist-dj-tour guide. He was great he made the day amazing. He remembered all our names (there were only 12 of us)and was constantly talking to us and making jokes. It would take me forever to go into detail so im gonna do a quick recap of the day.

After an hour of driving we did a one hour croc cruise on the Daintree river, and saw a couple crocs. Then we did a rainforest walk through the mangroves. Followed by arrival at Port Tribulation, a short time on the beach and lunch. Then on the way home we stopped at 3 lookout points on the way home then into Port Douglas, which is a resort and tourist town, for a short walk. Then we went for a swim in Mossman Gorge, where a river runs through the rainforest, and we went swimming. All in all it was a busy day and we got to see a lots of sights, all amazing. Afterward we went out for an couple beers with Tom and Alex, this was followed by a late nite Mcdonalds run where Tom had to take pictures of us dipping our frys in our milkshakes so he could show his friends. Lets just say we didnt dispell their perception of American obesity.

Sunday Nov 8 was a relaxed day. We went to the biggest themed stain glass church in the world for mass(Very pretty), went for a walk, barbequed at the beach, did our shopping,swam in the lagoon pool, and ate our first real meal in two weeks.

So now its monday and we said good bye to Cairns and jetsetted to Brisbane. Our hostel here is rad, complete with roof top pool with a view, pub, movie room, yada yada. We have free internet here so we should be able to give you more managable bite size posts.