road trip!

Josh and I are off on our first road trip (woo!). Josh's friends from YWAM know someone that has a bach (vacation home) that's open to well, friends of friends of friends... apparently. It's up in Omaha and internet access is unlikely, but we'll check back when we return.
On the calendar -- Sheep World. Honey Farms. Tea Houses. Organic Ice Creameries. Farmers Market. Canoeing. Beach Houses. Relaxation... on our vacation from our vacation...

let the races begin....

They say in Roman times the Charioteer was as famous as he was heroic... from the pictures above you can see that I tend to agree...! Here is our awesome set of wheels. It is a Mitsubishi Chariot. We can't wait to ride around the NZ empire.

infestation...

Stupid birds...

Kerry Kerry Falls...

Another falls trek Saturday- this one to Karekare (pronounced Kerry Kerry...). Karekare is a beach just south of Piha -- lots of hiking trails, surfers, and black sand. It was a pretty strenuous hike (Josh even broke a sweat going up those hills...), but it had some pretty sweet views. The waterfall is literally 5 minutes off the road -- which is a really great way to start the hike.

fireside chats...

Mama - Josh has a challenge for you...
And yes, Josh is THIS obsessed with the Flip... :)

new wheels...

Yep. We did it. We bought a car! We bought our very own car - with our own money! We're so adult-ish! We are the brand new owner of a 1992 Mitsubishi Chariot... it's large enough to haul all our stuff around and powerful enough to get us up and down all the crazy NZ hills... yet, has fairly good gas mileage - I think it works out to around 24 miles/gallon -- but that's converting from kilometers and liters, so I could be way off...

It's cute! It's blue and is thankfully and automatic... we found it on their idea of a CraigsList and it turns out that the seller's name is James Dobson. No - not from Focus on the Family fame, but our new friend, the Brit, James Dobson. He and his traveling mate Laura have been on a year long adventure -- leaving New Zealand soon for their last stop, Fiji. They've been in China for 3 months, SE Asia for 3, Australia for 3 and now are heading back to London from whence they came. They're SO sweet and really gave us a break on the price... so lucky for us, we didn't break the bank.

Yes, the thought did cross our mind that a 1992 vehicle is freaking 16 years old (yikes!!), but it seems to be running well and they had a lot of tests/maintenance done on it so it's in tip top shape. (Side note - weird that 1992 was 16 years ago, huh? I was 8 when this vehicle came out and Josh was 10... so weird...)

Well, there she is. Our own personal Chariot... pics to come!

piha-lelujah

Like the Kitekite video, this one got delayed because of technical issues... but here it is, in all its glory... our trip to Piha (hallelujah!)...

kitty kitty video

Our flip was out of order for a bit, but we finally got it to work - here's the video from our trip to kitekite falls...

my favourite...

Piha has been my favourite place so far... it's absolutely rustic and beautiful. Black sand beaches that run into the Tasman Sea, bountiful hiking and greenery in the hills in the background, sunset over the water on Lion's Rock. It was just magical.

As we were walking up Lion's Rock (the big rock in the sand essentially) Josh pointed out a little wooden fence and asked if it looked familiar -- and it had! Josh had taken a photo from where we were standing nearly 5 years ago! It was so fun for me to soak in a little of his DTS trip and I think fun for him to experience it in a whole new way... pretty cool.

We'll definitely be going back. Carey Park (where we're working now) has a camp out there as well, so we may be staying out there for some time... hopefully. They have an adorable, locals main coffee shop that I'd love to spend a morning in, overhearing the little towns gossip and such, and plenty more hikes for us to go and explore... I'm starting to really really like this whole NZ thing... :)

here kitty kitty...

Josh and I did another little trek to some falls - this time in Piha. Piha is gorgeous - my favorite so far... more on that one later though... We made our way into the Piha wilderness to Kitekite Falls... pronounced "Kitty Kitty Falls" -- Yep, as you can imagine Josh made use of his spot-on, eery cat calls while there... oh Joshua...

It took us about 45 minutes to hike into the falls - and they were so lovely! It was 60 meters tall and had about 5 tiers too it... very similar to Fairy Falls (see below posting...). The views on the way up to the falls were amazing as well... overall a splendid hike.

technical troubles...

We're trying to get our flip videos up and running for all you loyal readers, but for some reason we're having trouble... We've heard it's because their "bandwidth" here is 10 times slower... literally... the US' is apparently around 20 and in NZ it's 2... so it's a LOT slower to upload things here and they tend to expire 1/2 way through uploading unfortunately... but we're working on it... more to come...

fairy tuff

So today we did our first real hike in New Zealand. We went to Fairy Falls – literally on the back porch of Carey Park’s grounds. It was gorgeous (fyi – I think I’m going to be typing that word A LOT here...). We started out a little late on the hike – probably around 4ish, so it was a race against the clock. The hike was muddy – uber muddy. So my new hiking boots took a beating. Don’t they look hard core?

Around 40 minutes into the hike we came upon the falls… so big! So lovely! They were really incredible… it was a 5 tiered waterfall with pools at the bottom of each… and we had to cross 3 of them. Yep –jumping from rock to rock, we made it. Again – hard core.

After the falls we thought it would all be down hill since we climbed what seemed like thousands of man mad stairs to get to the top… but no… it kept going up, up, and up. I could feel the glutes screaming by ½ way! We made it back to the car just before sunset… perfect timing.

Mind you, this whole hike we saw NO ONE. Not one car when parking, not one soul on the trail, no litter, no noise aside from nature, no nothing. It was so great. Such a different feel than many of the state trails we’ve been on. Obviously, in true Dunlop style, we forgot to bring our camera… of course… but if we don’t make it back to Fairy Falls, we’ll for sure be doing many other “wet hikes” as Josh calls them, so hopefully we’ll have more photos in the future.

Currently, we’re staying at Carey Park. After talking with Kelly Burch, we think we may call this our home base for awhile. He’s given us the opportunity to make our own schedule (3 days this week, off the next, full time the week after, etc, etc) so we can focus on traveling. Pretty amazing. Josh and I have truly been blessed on this adventure of ours with incredible people popping into our lives along the way.

garage from hell

So we had our first “Oh crap” moment… well, sorta. We were staying at the rooster house for a night which was fabulous – our own bed. Electric blanket (look soon for a post on how cold it is here… it’s all building up until one day it will explode in blog form). TV and the Olympics. It was wonderful. Then Kelly and his wife Ruth were to return from their trip… so we had to move on. One of the girls who works here (she’s 17 and the sweetest girt you’ll ever meet – so generous and always looking to made you feel comfortable) offered us a cabin/room to stay in or we could stay in her garage (which they say GAY-rage which really threw me off...) on her bunks… told us it would be more homey and such because apparently it wasn’t a garage kind of garage but more like a spare room… so we thought – well, it would be fun to stay with her and her flat mates so let’s give it a go.
We entered into the house and I was brought back to the days when we first got our kittens and let them roam the house – everything had that ammonia smell of cat pee. Looking at the carpet – yep – that’s exactly what it was. She excitedly opened the door to the garage and well, Josh and I died a little that day… it was in fact a garage – a one car garage with bunk beds (the bottom being a double size), filled with dirty clothes (which I’m sure had cat pee ALL over), old bikes, surfboards, random eaten-up couches, junk, junk, junk, with a flickering fluorescent light above… dear goodness, save us now.
Being the polite Americans we were we asked again “Are you sure we can stay here, we’re more than happy in a cabin… Really… a cabin would be fine” but in true Kiwi style – she refused and gave us really no option without totally hurting her feelings… we were to spend the night in hell…
Sleeping bags in tow, we tidied up the area (as much as you can a rubbish bin) and made it our home for the night… I just couldn’t think about it. I made myself envision us lying in a 4 star hotel that just happen to have a dump across the way. Needless to say… we made it out alive… and no visible signs of physical ailments, but the emotional scarring would be enough for one night.
What’s funny is once Kelly (and even our new friends’ flatmates for that matter) found out we had stayed there the night before, they all said “Why?!?? Oh my goodness I can’t believe you did that! It’s so disgusting in there – I’m embarrassed that she would even offer it!!” So at least it wasn’t just me blowing it out of proportion… it truly was the garage from hell…

Boss and Cargo!

We must celebrate!! Dave and Kim are getting married today!! 

Dave, Kim,

Trust us - we've already lived it - the 16th is gorgeous... 

it's going to make for a really great wedding day! 

Hope the wedding is lovely! 

We're so bummed we'll be missing it -- in all honesty, it was the hardest thing to leave behind...

Hope the bouquet toss is a wild one.. :)

a day in the life...

So the past couple days have been really fun - getting in our fair share of New Zealand sites and sounds, but still easing our way into this life we're looking to start here... We've been in Howick (east of Auckland) for the past couple days - staying with Josh's old DTS buddies - but have ventured out into different parts of the city to get a better understanding of the area. 

Let's see - I'll recap our past few days... after we got the car (and lived), we made it to Howick. Thursday was a day of errands (mainly trying to find me a coat - it is freaking freezing here!), lunch at Cafe Paris - tomato soup and paninis for us, then a walk along Mellons Bay Beach... we finished the afternoon watching the Olympics and hanging out. It was a wonderfully relaxing day. Yesterday (Friday) we ventured off to the zoo to get a thank you present for our hosts (they have the 2 kids with cute accents that would sound so cute saying "Look at the monkey mum" :)) and took a walk through the nearby park area.

New Zealand has a ton of parks - everywhere - it's wonderful. It adds a brilliant green to the city and also brings life... mainly birds. Now, many of you know that I have a little phobia of birds... and well, New Zealand doesn't necessarily have many animals running around, but they do have a TON of birds. For example... while walking through the park by the zoo, there were geese, swans, native birds, pigeons, seagulls, chickens, and roosters (I kid you not!)... all just running around free!! Tons of them! There was one point yesterday where we were walking up this hill and as soon as we could see the top of the hill we see, literally, about 20 or so geese and probably 30-40 chickens/roosters all, in unison, turn their heads toward us, assume we have bread to throw at them, and begin, I kid you not, to RUN in our direction... RUN. About 50 or so BIRDS running at us -- I used Josh as a shield and started to make my peace. It was horrific.

Well, we lived... and then made our way to Ponsonby. Which I LOVED. Cute boutiques. Adorable cafes. Old town feel, but urban vibe. It was so great. We picked up "pudding" (Kiwispeak for dessert) from this adorable cafe, Rocket Kitchen, to bring home and then made our way around the streets of Ponsonby before heading home. Adorable. I've heard the little nook of Parnell is similar, so I'll have to check that one out...

Currently, it's Saturday and we did our first visit to One Tree Hill... no, not the TV show set, but the actual OTH. It's so gorgeous and has a view of the ENTIRE Auckland region. Driving up to the summit you see tons of sheep and cows... just roaming the park... you know, with bikers and runners and people on picnics... so bizarre. We then made our way to Victoria Market which is apparently where the locals go to buy nic-nacks and souvenirs... or so our Howick friends said. Now, we're at Carey Park Christian Camp == we know someone from our Mount Hermon days that now lives/works here and he's putting us up for the night... perhaps longer... we shall see.

We're starting to realize - man, we gotta get jobs!! So we're trying to figure out whether we want to pick the location and then look for the job or try to find the job which will help pick the location... hmmm... lots to think about at this time, but not tonight - it's getting late. Night!

driving miss crazy

So yesterday was the day -- we were to try driving in another country that does things backwards... they drive on the other side of the road. Now - it's trippy to even sit in a cab and watch the madness unfold (everyone looks like their going to turn the corner and ram into each other/cars come from out of nowhere because you're not used to looking to the right for oncoming traffic... it's mahem), but it's a totally different feeling to actually be driving.

We didn't exactly think things through, but for some reason we thought it was better for us to "hire" a car (kiwi talk) to go pick up Kevin Saiki's car (that he's graciously letting us try out/use/sell) instead of taking a cab... I think our thought process was that it would cost us an arm and a leg to take a cab because, hey, on the map the place to pick up the car was forever away -- so we decided to rent. Renting (or hiring) is easy in NZ - just give them your license and pick a car -- then you're off... they didn't even seem to care that we had never driven on the left side of the road before - crazy Omega Rentals.

It seemed like a good idea to rent because we probably did save a few bucks, but what we didn't realize is that we would have to drive back to drop off our rental in caravan style... which is stressful enough on the freeways in the states when we have cell phones, know where we're going, and oh yeah, drive on the right side of the road... but here in NZ we had to follow each other, on the motorways, not knowing exactly where we were going, IN THE RAIN, on the wrong side of the road... yep. Most stressful day EVER...

It started off a little rocky with the rental car -- but we eventually found our groove after I stopped yelling and screaming about how nervous I was - for some reason that made Josh a little on edge... weird...

We made it out to the Oratia area (where Kev's car was located) and then we both got in Kev's car to allow me some driving practice. Like a pro - ... I was constantly too far to the left in my lane and shaky. (Don't worry Kev - the Legacy is doing great and we won't hurt your baby...) Regardless, we made it back to downtown Auckland to drop off the car and then were able to drive together. You can bet that as soon as we pulled up to the rental car place, I rewarded myself with a Tim Tam...

All in all we're safe and have the Legacy safely tucked in the driveway. We're staying at Josh's long lost friends' house in Howick (east of Auckland) and have been enjoying some time with a real kiwi family. The boys are 2 and 4 and have adorable accents -- we'll try to get some footage of them before we leave, but until then, this is kinda what they sound like, so this will have to do... enjoy!

viva la winnipeg

So while we were tramping through the streets of Auckland I happened to notice a little restaurant that made my southwest heart sing -- The Mexican Cafe. What a better way to end our final day in the city than with a little guac, chips and salsa, and an icy margarita...??

After our Domain adventure, we settled down for some Olympic swimming viewing in the hotel room and then off to The Mexican Cafe for dinner.

Upon arrival - all was well - fake cactus... check. Red, white, and green all over... check. Sombreros on the walls... check. Chips and salsa awaiting us on the table as we arrived... check. We sat down, ordered our Dos Equis and margarita and nachos to start. I'm gonna say it - the nachos were totally decent! The beer was cold... the marg was tequila-y... we were looking good. We were to split some fajitas for dinner... they came and they were... well, they were like stir fry in a burrito. Miss. You can't have it all, can you?

BUT - the best part about dinner wasn't the food... (gee - surprising, huh?) It was the table of local girls sitting right behind Josh. Our ears perk up when we overhear our favorite kiwi accent say "Yeah so I'm going to be taking off for Canada next week..." We look at each other and smile. THEN, we hear "I'll be staying with my family in Winnipeg. It's like right in the middle of the country" -- Josh looks at me in a state of shock and I immediately point to his shirt, which just happens to say "It's better in Manitoba" (thanks Stephanie!). We chatted up our new found kiwi friends about the irony and we toast to our common ground... Winnipeg. Viva la Winnipeg!

domain-ia

Our last full day in the heart of the City of Sails started with a nice morning walk, followed by a flat white (coffee and steamed milk) and tall black (basically an Americano)… more kiwi talk for you. You’re welcome. :) From here we set out on our trek to cross things off our to do list:
1. Find a bank
2. Get a phone
3. Get a rental car for tomorrow’s car swap (which wasn’t a good idea which I’ll get to in the post on our first experiment with driving…)
4. Get to the Auckland Domain, the Central Park of Auckland, for a looksy at the museum and some outside time in one of the prettiest inner-city parks ever.

We walked along rental car ally and scoped out our future rental site - Omega rentals - more on that later. We then proceeded onto the Domaine for some hiking on Lovers' walk...



We took Lovers walk to the Duck pond where we made some friends... well, not really friends... more just like mean goose enemies...






And then we continued up to the Museum -- it's really awesome. Lots of dinosaur bones, Mauri culture and history, and tons on NZ history (like how they were involved in WWI and WWII... who knew??). Really cool to see exhibits on all their local island animals and how NZ is made up of hundreds of volcanos that could errupt at any time... ok... so maybe that part wasn't as cool as petrifying, but overall a really enlightening experience. (yep - that's me below hugging the column... I just had such a good time!)



We took the trek home and stopped by the bank and the phone place. Not necessarily a success on this day, but I'm proud to say we do indeed, on day 3, have both of these items checked off our list... Day 2 - success.

day 1

So day 1 in Auckland was a doozy... we arrived at the airport sometime around 5:30AM and had to go through customs... things went smoothly, but they want to check every nook and cranny of your luggage to make sure you aren't bringing in anything that would tamper with their precious soil. Of course, being the mountain people we are, we had tents, hiking boots, sleeping bags, gumboots (aka - first NZ slang - meaning rainboots), and other camping stuff so our process took a bit longer.

We made it to Auckland around 8:30ish and discovered, despite our 14 hour flight and lack of sleep, we weren't all that tired... PLUS, it was a GORGEOUS day - not a cloud in the sky and we decided that it would be a crime not to enjoy the beautiful day before us...

So we headed out on foot to explore the city... we stopped by Sky Tower to see the tallest point in the southern hemisphere, took a stroll down by the water and perused the sailboats, and then we took a ferry to Devonport.



Devonport is adorable. Victorian houses everywhere, organic woodfire pizza places, local produce with fair trade treats -- it was totally my scene. Josh loved it too with its hardware store, outdoorsy flair around every corner, and amazing views from the city's once active fort - with huge canon on site to add the cherry on top. After our stroll around this cutesy little town, it hit us - jetlag in full force. What felt like 6:30 or 7 was really only 1:30 or 2 -- so we decided to go back to the hotel and nap for a bit...

We woke up and decided to have dinner old folks style -- at 5PM. We stopped into an Irish pub called the Occidental. Where the corporate world was toasting to a Monday well-worked with beer and wine, Josh and I dined on Sausages and Chips and Lamb Salad... (guess who had what... :)) Following the meal was a fun stroll down Queen Street ending at the ferry building for some gelato and kiwi watching...

We ended the great first day with bedtime at 8PM.. it was a long and tiring day, but we were so happy to not waste our first day -- we actually did a lot and got to experience our first of many days being a pseudo-kiwi... more tomorrow on Day 2... I'll give you a hint - it involves margaritas!!

we made it!

We finally made it to Auckland!!

2 plane rides totalling 16 hours,
2 sets of tears at the airports (all mine, of course... Josh is a rock...),
meeting 5 friends in LA,
maybe 4 hours of restless sleep,
and 3 movies later...

we made it to our new adventure!! More posting to come -- now it's time for a shower and nap...

it's the final countdown

Much like Europe's 1986 hit, we're building with anticipation... tomorrow's the big day. We'll be getting on that huge old plane (wearing our finest/most mature outfits in hopes of being bumped to business or first class... cross your fingers) and flying across the Pacific.
We're at the same place in that we don't know exactly what we're doing, but at the same time we're so confident about this decision to go, travel, and dive into the unknown.
So here we go... it's the final countdown...

flippin' monsoons...

Audrey's always told me about the monsoon season here in Prescott, but I hadn't experienced it until this trip. I always wanted to see it because to me it sounded so refreshing, the desert getting watered. Here's a video via the new Flip - enjoy...

More fun with the Flip...

i'm flippin...

We're getting ready to FLIP thanks to our newest bon voyage present a la mom and dad... and all you faithful readers will reap the benefits. Oprah loved it and so do the Dunlops... Thanks mom and dad!!

Let the filming begin...

night life in p-town

So being back in my hometown preparing to leave on this adventure is quite... different. To be honest, there are moments of "well - we've packed all we can and now we're just waiting to get going!" aka - boring. SO, Josh, Josh's brother Luke, and myself decided to try a Saturday night out on the town.

This small little town in Arizona surprizing does have a night life - I've just never been 21 while living here. I spent my 21st in Holland biking from bar to bar and since then have been in Santa Barbara and experiencing the 21-ness there. My mom (yes - got advise on the hot spots from my mom... she's hip...) said there was an Irish Pub with live music, Coyote Joe's, and of course, Matt's Saloon... all down on Whiskey Row.

Josh, Luke, and I set out on our adventure on fire! Ready for whatever Prescott would throw at us. We started at Matt's Saloon. Country music a-blarin' and two-stepping a plenty. We weren't the youngest, but the average age was probably umm... 52ish... SO fun to watch the old folks strut their stuff, but not exactly what we were anticipating or expecting...

Moving on down Whiskey Row. Passed on by the Bird Cage to Coyote Joe's. More country. Pass. Ended at the Irish Pub with a surprisingly good band of all under-20-somethings called Five High (don't worry - more of their totally artsy pics are on their myspace page). Because of their age, all their moms were there... supervising. Too cute. The lead singer, I must say, looked like he had just gotten his hair blown out and straightened... but in a total emo, tight t-shirt, skinny jeans kinda way. Hard core.

All in all, our adventure out was a success with a few honky tonk speed bumps along the way. Makes me interested in what New Zealand night life will hold for us... country or not, Josh and I made a promise last night to be open to whatever our future homeland provides... let's just hope there's a little "Yeah!" in the mix. Enough said, right Linds? Bring on the night life, New Zealand!

home sweet (transitional) home.

So we have made it to Arizona. All our bags and boxes are unpacked in their proper storage place and we now have exactly one week before we take off... MUCH to do before then. First on the list... packing. Second... getting Josh an international driver's license - No way I'm going to be driving a manual stick shift (which I don't even know how to do in America) on the left side of the road. Nope. Third... (but should probably be first) Find a hotel to stay in for night #1. Imagine this scenario - we arrive in Auckland at 4:45AM, go through customs, get our bags, exhausted, we walk over to the taxi line-up, get in and tell them to take us...???
I've noticed that the common response to many questions that Josh and I get is "Umm... we don't know yet..." but hey - that's part of the journey, right? ... right??

many thanks...

Many thanks to all for a fun send-off at Dargans... not only did I learn how to take candid (aka stalker-ish) photos sans the flash (thanks Adam!), but Sam, Mav, and I also met our soulmate with a free glass of champagne... Oh Delinda... in your search for "real girls" at The Tonic on your probably 49th birthday you found Mav in the bathroom line... I do believe it was my farewell-fate that brought us to your cabana and allowed you to give us glass upon glass on champagne and try to pimp us out to your very old wealthy friends... oh yes. Only at The Tonic. What a way to end the night and end an era in SB...