haka it to me, baby...

Josh played rugby... he is SO SAD we are in New Zealand in the off season and are just missing the All Blacks play in Auckland... this is a video of the All Blacks opening Haka... an intimidation cultural, umm... chant? To me it starts out kinda Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance and then turns into a really intense steroid version of patty cake... (insert Josh's dirty look for those comments).

Without further ado...

the great trek...

One thing that we are really really excited to do while in New Zealand is the Kepler Track. It's one of the "great walks" of NZ -- it will take about 3-4 days to complete and it's about 40 miles in total. We first heard about it - or rather saw it - when we were viewing "The World's Best Outdoor Sights and Sounds" slideshow on MSNBC or some other news website. One of the pictures was the top picture above -- I then KNEW I wanted to do it... and Josh was overjoyed. When we hit up the South Island (probably in November/December) it should be perfect timing being their summer and all... any other suggestions for our South Island journey??

dripping in leafy diamonds

Treetops Luxury Lodge. Huka Lodge. Otahuna Lodge. New Zealand surprisingly has a lot of luxury lodging. It makes sense - combining the beautiful, peaceful surroundings with the comforts of luxury (and expensive) accommodations. Nature and Glam if you will. These lodges have hosted everyone from Bill Gates, the Queen, Barbra Streisand, Pink Floyd and Sir Richard Branson. It seems to be the perfect escape. And with the hefty price tag varying from $800-$2000 a night, it's pretty clear that Josh and I will be skipping over these gems. (sigh) A girl can dream, right?

lordy lordy

Lord knows I'm not a LOTR girl. But Josh -- now Josh is a LOTR guy. No, LOTR MAN. Little known fact about Josh. He would be bashfully proud to tell you (and I'm not going to lie, this is a little embarrassing yet oddly intriguing) that he saw LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring 17, yes, 17 times in the theater. In the theater! Let's put that in perspective... I'm a numbers girl - that's 109 hours or 4 and a 1/2 DAYS in the theater. Yep. You can bet your magic elven cloak that we'll be visiting Hobbiton.

diva mountain woman...

So I made my first camping woman purchase... yep. I'm a mountain woman. I needed a backpack for all our travels and came across this one on sale... but what truly sold me was its name. The Diva. Yes. Could there even be a more perfect bag for a Nordstom-loving lady married to a camping manly man?? Now, I should clarify - I'm in no way a diva, but let's just say my idea of "roughing it" is staying at a Motel 6 or Super 8.

I've yet to carry around a good 30 pounds in it while tramping through the wilderness, but I did wear it on my walk back from the store where I purchased it and let me tell you, it was mighty comfy... move over Birkin Bag, the Diva 36 is making its move!

bring on the sheep...

It's true! It's official! We're leaving on a jet plane... don't know when we'll be back again... well, sorta. We're off to New Zealand in August and won't be back until January some time. We're VERY excited and looking forward to this grande (notice the british spelling...) adventure. Brilliant!

This blog is for us to keep in touch with our fellow American/Canadian peeps so they can keep up with the journey Josh and I will embark on, but it's also to hopefully reach out to other New Zealand-bound or natives that can help us in our journey. Where to go. What to see. How to get there. We have a general itinerary, but would love imput. Obvi.

So stay tuned and check in every once in awhile to see what's going on in the minds and lives of the Dunlop Duo... well, let's just keep it at Josh and Audrey for now...