a new chapter...

you thought THAT was exciting...???

2009-02-28T20:19:00.000+13:00

wait until you see THIS!

Extra! Extra!

we made it!

2009-01-31T10:12:00.002+13:00

Home sweet home... we made it! After many many delays with our silly airplane, we finally went back in time to the good ol' US of A! We are currently in LA with some dear friends of ours... Mr. Joey and Miss (soon to be MRS!) Lindsey. We've slept about 10-12 hours each night we've been home and have eaten all our long lost friends (Mexican! BJ's Pizza!). We make our way up the coast, through Santa Barbara and then up to the Bay Area... which will be our home for the foreseeable future... more on that to come. Ok - off for frozen yogurt... man... it's good to be back. :)

t minus 30 hours to departure...

2009-01-27T11:08:00.002+13:00

So we've made it to the end... we leave tomorrow afternoon for LAX. I think we're both ready to make it home but it will definitely be a crazy transition for us. Not only will we have to get used to driving on the right side of the road (and by right I mean both the directional sense of the word and that it is indeed the correct side of the road to be driving on...), but we'll have to get used to living in one place for an extended period of time instead of traveling from hostel to hostel, working (what??), setting alarm clocks, and really just getting used to the day to day activities of living and working in the states. Bring it on US of A... bring it on.

A couple neat facts about our trip...

We drove over 15,000kms in New Zealand. That is enough to drive from Auckland to New York City. Yikes!

We swam with dolphins, skydove (twice), took surfing lessons, rode in a helicopter, explored through caves, and sea kayaked our way through NZ.

We really learned A LOT about each other - even the random things. For example. Did you know that if Josh could have any super power he would choose to teleport?? Now - that is what you call KNOWING your husband.

We were able to celebrate Australia Day in Australia (Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! oi! oi!) - lots of fireworks, beer, and barbeques.

We had a true adventure. From the people we met, the tramping and camping we did, and the things we saw - it was all a grand and thrilling adventure that we both wouldn't trade for the world. We'll see you state side in just a few days!!

time to catch up...

2009-01-22T14:04:00.009+13:00

I'm going to do my best to keep you entertained and interested in what I'm about to tell you... normally Audrey is the mastermind behind writing these... well it's my turn. So here goes.

The last time that you heard from us we were riding out the biggest cyclone in Australia's history (ok maybe I'm exaggerating). In the end we were able to go diving and most importantly Audrey was able to hold her beloved Koala. At 3:30AM last Thursday Audrey and I, groggy from lack of sleep, stumbled out to the street and caught a shuttle ride out to the airport to catch our flight to Sydney which left at 5AM! It was an early morning but we made it to Sydney and were picked up by our dear friend Meg. After dropping our stuff off at her apartment, we got down to business. We went straight to downtown Sydney for a close up of the opera house, harbor bridge, and the city center. Such a cool city. From there we caught a ferry to Manly Beach where we were going to have a BBQ but the rain washed out that idea... so wet and frustrated we made our way back to the apartment and had our indoor bbq dinner there with Meg and Benn.

Our time in Sydney has been very busy, no sitting around for us. The next day I flew out to Perth which is the most isolated city in the world. It's over on the western side of Australia. I headed out there to visit an old friend of mine. Meanwhile Audrey and Meg had an adventure of their own. Meg's aunt had rented a beach house north of Sydney so they went up there for the weekend. On their way back they stopped in the Hunter Valley which is Australia's prime wine growing region.

I made it back on Monday night and then on Tuesday we made out way back down to the opera house for a proper tour. It is the coolest building that I've been to. The architectural details are amazing. The interior of the concert hall is incredible. The design of everything in there, floor, walls, roof they are all so cool.

After our tour we took a water taxi over to Darling Harbour for dinner. It's such a neat area, so many shops and restaurants - there are also alot of really cool fountains and water displays. It's one of the neatest urban parks I've ever been to.

All in all, we've had a wonderful time in Sydney with Meg... she's a gracious host and has packed our time here with the locals' ins and outs of the city. Tonight we go to a tapas cooking class on the harbor and then tomorrow onto the beach and apparently the best breakfast ever at the Greedy Goat. We head home on Wednesday -- THIS Wednesday. Believe it or not our time here is coming to an end... crazy.

cream of the crop...

2009-01-19T01:17:00.002+13:00

We've made it. And we've held koalas, crocs, and have dove in the Great Barrier Reef... much more to do and see, but we'll have to update you later when we have more time... until then, here's a few pics to tide you over...

cyclone'd out...

2009-01-13T13:46:00.003+13:00

So no Scuba Steve moments for us on this trip... there was a cyclone ripping through the Cairns area and they cancelled all the dives. Of course, today we woke up to blue skies but I promise - it was raining cats and dogs and windy as yesterday!! (PS - "windy as" is a kiwi phrase. I'm gonna bring it stateside with me...) So today we're going to go hold ourself a koala and watch crocs attack things. Then tomorrow we're going snorkeling. Cairns ain't looking so bad today... more updates (and pics!) to come...

g'day mate!

2009-01-11T15:06:00.002+13:00

So we made it to Australia!! Hooray! Currently at the airport getting ready to head to Cairns for scuba diving... BUT... heard there's a cyclone warning up in Cairns. Great. Just great. So we're going to go and assess the situation but COME ON AUSTRALIA! Throw us a frickin bone here!

Anyway - LOVED Brisbane. Only here for like 18 hours in total but went on a walk last night and this morning and just a really clean city with a beach looking swimming pool open to the public along the river, a gorgeous park in the middle of the city, a fun downtown, and a really cool atmosphere... would love to spend more time here, but alas, we have to head into cyclone land. Great... But just wanted to let you all know we made it! G'day mates!

ozzie ozzie ozzie!! oi! oi! oi!

2009-01-09T17:10:00.004+13:00

FROM...

TO...

So tomorrow's the end of our journey here in New Zealand. We will be jumping on a plane and heading west across the Tasman to Australia... We will have been in New Zealand a full 5 months, almost to the day! Like we've said a gazillion times, we've had an incredible adventure here but I think we're both ready to move on. We will be in Australia for about 3 weeks and then we will be on our way home... so much more to see and experience and cuddle (koalas that is) before we take that LONG plane ride home. First stop - Brisbane/Cairns to go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef!!

there's no place like home...

2009-01-05T16:16:00.003+13:00

So we've made it back to Auckland, sold our precious Cleo (the mighty Chariot), and have gotten all our gifts and tshirts... now we're just waiting for our precious time to tick away as we await our flight to Australia. We fly out on Saturday for Oz and then go scuba diving in the great barrier reef! From there we travel down to Sydney to meet up with our dear Meg and Benn and Josh even gets a side trip over to the West Coast (Perth) to visit an old DTS friend. So we have much to do with these next 3 weeks or so, but are actually excited to get back to the good ol' northern hemisphere. We miss our families. We miss our friends. We miss driving on the right side of the road. We miss Trader Joe's. We even miss the ins and outs of "normal" days...

In this last week here in New Zealand, we've had the chance to look back on our trip and really just sit in awe of everything we've done. We've had a once in a lifetime adventure and we've loved every minute of it... well, ALMOST every minute... and we're truly thankful that our friends and families let us go off and enjoy ourselves for 6 months or so. We've missed you all and are very excited to share memories (and hugs) with all of you... so T minus 23 days until we're home, but more short term -- T minus 5 days until the great land of OZ...

Greatest hostel video... get excited...

2009-01-03T21:40:00.001+13:00

Here's the video from Hopewell. Enjoy

from best hostel to worst new years... boo!

2009-01-02T19:41:00.000+13:00

So we decided long ago to come back to Wellington for New Years - why? Because its their capital and they are bound to have fireworks - I mean, come on. Well, if you were on the same page as us you would be wrong as well...

We ended up staying 45 minutes north of Wellington because parking down there is chaotic... so we took the train in on New Years Eve and spent our time walking around, checking out their fabulous (and free!) museum and then ended up going to a movie to kill some time... Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler... pretty cute - predictable - but a lighthearted way to end 2008. Anyway - after the movie we grabbed dinner and then went to this ice cream place we had been once before... yum! At this time it's about 10PM - T minus 2 hours and counting.

From ice cream we made our way down to the Civic Hall park for live music and what we expected and anticipated- a fireworks show. At this point it's raining and windy and cloudy and cold. We asked the security guards where the fireworks would be shot off from and he replied "Fireworks? There won't be fireworks. At least they've never done them in the past and I haven't heard anything different for this year." GRRRR. So at about 11PM we hopped on our train to go home because it was freaking freezing and raining and there were all these little 18 year olds wearing way too much make-up with way too little clothing everywhere we looked. Boo! So, we were on the train/getting off the train come midnight - Happy New Year! Silly Wellington - the CAPITAL of New Zealand - and no fireworks...

BUT - they do have the nicest Burger King we've ever seen... so I guess that makes up for it, right?

best hostel EVER!

2009-01-02T13:27:00.004+13:00

So in between Christmas and New Years we spent a few VERY relaxing days in a hostel way up on the northern part of the South Island... these were our last few days on the South Island and we ended up not even taking a picture... we were just so freaking relaxed. We spent all 3 days soaking in their many garden and shaded hammocks, eating fresh croissants, homemade pizzas and carrot cake, used their kayaks on site, had the chance for biking, golf, hot tubbing, or fishing... we collected mussels for dinner and enjoyed fresh baked bread to order. A very well thought through hostel - from the linens to the location to the bathrooms... it was just beautiful. Right on the water with sunshine sunshine sunshine.

We didn't take a picture the whole time but Josh did manage a Flip before we loaded up the car to leave... that will come later on -

truly a 'great walk'

2008-12-28T11:17:00.002+13:00

So after our Kepler bad weather adventure, we were hesitant about our final multi-day trip here in New Zealand... especially when we saw the forecast said more rain. Boo! But we were already scheduled to do the Routeburn and by golly... we were gonna do it come rain or shine.

I'll admit it. Josh picked a good one. The first day was rainy and cold, but by day 2 I was in a tanktop and shorts... just perfect clear blue skies and beautiful scenery. It was 1/2 the distance of Kepler... only 32 kilometers - chump change :)... so it was somewhat of a stroll for Josh and I (man - we are such hiking pros now...) but a breathtaking stroll at that. It was 3 days, 2 nights and the 2nd hut we stayed at had an incredible set up - hut on a lake underneath snow capped mountains - in the hot sun, sunbathing and reading - man. That's paradise. Anyway - it was a great hike and a wonderful way to end our multi-day hiking career...

day 1 = cold...

last day = wonderful!

just because...

2008-12-27T11:16:00.000+13:00

This is a traffic jam in New Zealand...

Kepler... edited...

2008-12-26T11:11:00.000+13:00

So apparently You Tube didn't like that Josh was smoking his pipe in the last Kepler video we posted... so we've taken out those "scenes" (Josh - such a smoker!) and reposted for you to view on a rainy day... enjoy!

wait... it's christmas??

2008-12-25T10:11:00.004+13:00

Merry Christmas!! I'm not going to lie, it doesn't feel like Christmas here - not necessarily the weather, but I mean the "feel" of it, you know? In the states you probably can't walk around in town without hearing the sound of carols playing in the stores, cashiers saying "Merry Christmas", or even the fake painted on snow and santa hats galore... here, there's nothing. No wreaths, no hats, no "Merry Christmas" - nothing. Weird, huh? Even when we go to a store and say "Merry Christmas" after we've paid and are on our way, the cashier replies with "Cheers"... as opposed to "same to you!" "Merry Christmas!" or even the politically correct "Happy Holidays"... nadda. But if you think about it, all the Christmas carols and all the western world images associated with Christmas don't really fit here... dashing through the snow? No. baby it's cold outside? No. snow and mistletoe? Nope... so it's definitely a different vibe here, but we're soaking it up.

We decided long ago that we would join our British friend Dominic for Christmas... he has been working in Franz Josef at a hostel for the past couple weeks and will be here through April. Franz Josef is known for its huge glacier just up the valley... so in order to have a white Christmas, we hit the ice and did a full day hike.

It was so neat being on the glacier - so white yet this glowing blue. Don't get me wrong, a good part of it was super dirty, but for the most part it was just gorgeous. We got to get our campons on - those spiky things that attach to your boot so you go anywhere on the ice -and let me tell you, those make you feel powerful when you walk! You can step on just about anything and not slide... plus you have to stomp to make them work so it makes you even more like a powerful giant overcoming this massive piece of ice...

So we had a white Christmas afterall... and we hope that wherever you are - cold or hot - that your Christmas is wonderful. Have YOURSELF a merry little christmas... xoxo

flash me back...

2008-12-21T19:23:00.001+13:00

Flashback to Akaroa... the cute French town on the South Island... oui! oui!

come rain or shine...

2008-12-19T11:02:00.003+13:00

So Josh and I did our second multi-day trip -- the Kepler Track. Now. This was the trek that I saw pictures of online BEFORE we came to New Zealand and I said, "I don't really care what other hikes we do, I just want to do the Kepler at some point..." So when we were back in Auckland a couple months ago we booked it for this past week. We had to book far in advance because these "great walks" fill up very quickly. The problem with that is that the weather here in New Zealand is totally not predictable... except that it is unpredictable. So, the morning we woke up to do the Kepler Track we saw nothing but dark grey clouds and raindrops on our windshield. The lady at our hostel told us you just have to commit and do it once you signed up for one of these hikes and assured us that it would still be just as wonderful... just a different kind of wonderful... which, in the end and looking back... it was.

We started off on our adventure and it was wet. Very very wet. But by the time we made it past the bush line it wasn't too bad and was quite pretty actually. Cool grasses/fields overlooking the fogged over lake. The hut was really nice - warm fire and great views.

The next day was the bummer day - this was the day you walk about 4 hours on the mountain ridge line - totally exposed with incredible views... all we saw were clouds clouds clouds. It was slant raining, so the left side of our bodies were soaked and it was a LONG 4 hour hike on the ridgeline followed by another 2 grueling hours of steep downhill switchbacks... so it was a long day. We were to be camping that night but once we heard there was room in the hut and an option to upgrade, I made Josh do it (thanks dad - I told him "Would my dad want his only daughter to sleep in a cold wet tent after 6 hours of hell???" I'm one for the melodramatics. :)).

The 3rd day - the last day of our hike - was blue skies. OF COURSE. Curses! It was our longest hike (about 15 miles out) so we were thankful for the sunshine but come on - one day earlier would have been nice. Needless to say, we still had a great time and we just saw a different kind of awe-inspiring beauty... mine was beauty through pain (my knees are killing me!) and Josh experienced beauty through playing survivor man... he made it through and kept me alive. Good job husband! :) Next on the list - the Routeburn Track. Like 1/2 the distance but more ups and downs... forecast = sunshine (HOPEFULLY)...

flashback - yet again!

2008-12-16T15:33:00.002+13:00

While we're out tramping it up, we thought we'd send a little video love... this is a flashback to our kayaking trip at Abel Tasman with Dominic... enjoy!

the three tramps... i mean trampers...

2008-12-14T19:19:00.003+13:00

So one of the things my dad mentioned that he wanted to do in New Zealand was go on an overnight camping trip... where we hike in, camp, and then hike out. So that we did. After our cruise we picked up some supplies, packed up the ol' backpacks and headed out near the starting point of the Doubtful Sound send off. It was a 3 hour or so hike in and then we were to stay at a hut named Hope Arm hut. It was situated on a lake and we ended up sharing it with a Dutch/Kiwi family. They had 2 sons - 18 and 16 years old - that were super into hunting and fishing.. and that they did. They went out and shot themselves a deer that night and caught a trout earlier in the trip. A little different than the 18 and 16 year olds in Santa Barbara, eh?

On the second day of the trip we took a different route home that took about 4 hours and crossed over a 3 wire bridge - meaning it was 2 wires for your hands and 1 wire to walk on... all over a raging river... well, not so raging, but definitely a river.

That wire crossing was followed by a very VERY muddy trip back to the water taxi area... it had rained during the night and mucked up the trail we ended up taking back to the start. Our boots/bottom of the pantlegs were filthy. But we made it and were tougher because of it. That dad - he's hardcore! It was back to Queenstown for some laundry, showers, and pizza. Yes Please!

don't doubt me!

2008-12-12T14:12:00.007+13:00

So after our jetboating and rafting we just couldn't get ourselves away from the water... time to cruise on down to the fiordland to get on a cruise. We made our way down to Doubtful Sound for an overnight fishing cruise - the weather was perfect! This particular region in NZ gets over 6 METERS of rain a year... and the 2 days we were there it was blue skies with a few perfectly placed clouds. Just gorgeous!

Doubtful Sound is supposed to be the most pristine of all the sounds... less touristy than most because you have to take a water taxi across the lake to a bus that will then take you to the sound... so you can't just drive there yourself. Josh puts it at the top of our NZ trip... and I'd have to agree - it's definitely up there. So great!

We got to the boat with 9 other guests - we had lunch first thing... fresh lobster caught that very morning! We carried on with the cruise seeing all the sights.. waterfalls and crazy steep mountains and dolphins and not a whole lot of other people or boats. It was awesome. That afternoon we went fishing for dinner... all of us caught fish - Josh catching both the largest and smallest fish (the hook was longer than the fish was!). Before dinner we pulled up a few more lobster traps and watched Chris (the skipper) fillet the fish and lobsters. It was a hell of a trip. Amazing. Absolutely a highlight.

Now - the video's long, but worth it -- so pretty!

the adventure continues...

2008-12-08T07:24:00.003+13:00

So today's adventure was water focused... we were signed up to do some jetboating (where they go super fast up and down the river and very VERY close to the rocks), then helicopter into the top of the rafting site, and then raft down the river... pretty James Bond, huh?

The jetboating was fun... Josh snuck on the Flip for you all to see what it was like - naughty naughty! but you'll get the general idea - super fast, cutting it close, and lots of spins and splashes.

Next onto the helicopter and then rafting... they call it heli-rafting here. The helicopter ride was SO GREAT. You get to wear fun ear covers and he dodged and ducked through the canyons to get us there. The alternative was a crazy windy and scary drive on a bus towing the rafts... no thanks!

We got to the place, did the quick safety report, and then took off... our guide's name was Orion and he was crazy... but fun. There was one point in the trip where we were going down some pretty crazy rapids and were knocked by another boat, filled with water, Orion fell out, and then we got wedged in between rocks... we then ALL (all 8 of us) had to get to the very back of the raft and nearly tip over so Orion could unwedge us - he said the trip was epic and the best he'd had in awhile... so we got our money's worth!

Overall a wonderful day... it's so fun having my daddy here... he's wanting to do all this crazy adventure stuff and taking Josh and I along for the ride... so fun! Tomorrow down to fiordland for fishing and hiking... more later...

who's your daddy?

2008-12-07T02:36:00.000+13:00

My dad's here! He made it to Queenstown... by the skin of his teeth. After his flight from Phoenix to LAX was delayed more than 2 hours he had to RUN from terminal 1 to terminal 4 to catch his flight about 7 minutes before it was going to take off... but alas. He's' here!

We've had an eventful time so far... but it's all been planned around the big event... skydiving. My dad had said that he would want to go skydiving while here BUT one of the requirements to jump out of a plane (aside from insanity) is to weight 100kgs or less... that's 220lbs. My dad, one month ago, weighed 230ish. He's a tall guy but really fit so he thought he could do it... and he did! He made it down to 102kgs and that's just about the cut off. So since he's gotten here we've eaten salads and gone on hikes and done all this healthy stuff so that we could get him in the air. FINALLY the big day comes. It's sunny and we have a reservatioin about an hour outside of Queenstown. We leave the condo and head out there. We arrive and find out it's too windy and they've cancelled all their afternoon jumps. Curses! Screw it - we're having pizza...

We call ahead to book one for the next morning. A little pizza didn't hurt anyone, right? We'll the NZSkydive company would be the one to decide that. They had an opening at 7:30AM this morning and we took it. We woke up to sunny skies and drove out to meet our destiny. We got there and they had to evaluate the over 100kg-er. They decided he was good to go and so we were off! My dad and I went in the first plane and Josh kindly took the 2nd plane so his wife and father in law could freak out together... lucky him.

What a trip... or as my dad would say "What a kick in the butt!" - my dad jumped from the plane first and as soon as I saw him go I thought to myself "Holy crap... my dad just jumped out of a plane... my mom is going to kill me." But as you can probably guess, both our shoots opened and my dad had a blast (and so did we of course...). Can you believe it?? My dad skydove -- who's your daddy now? :)

view from our condo...

dad and i at the top of the gondola after a hike to shed some kgs...

riding down the gondola...

before he took his leap of faith...

we did it!

more catlins pics...

2008-12-06T15:20:00.002+13:00

most southern lighthouse in the world...

josh and the horny... uh... i mean male sealion...

cathedral caves... oooh... spooky...

two bad ass surfers...

the bluff... we made it from the cape (top of New Zealand) to the bluff (the farthest south)... we did it!

crazy catlins.

2008-12-05T18:39:00.003+13:00

Lions and tigers and bears! Well... more like Sealions, Caves, and Surfing, oh my! Our weather wasn't the best in the Catlins, but we managed to squeeze not only a few hours of sunshine, but also a few adventures.

Day 1. We made our way from Dunedin to the Catlins. A beautiful drive with rolling green hills and jagged coastline. We found our way to the southernmost lighthouse in the world and then to a beach chop full of sealions. Well, maybe just a few males fighting over a couple females, but nonetheless, move over national geographic! We saw it first hand!

Day 2. This was a rainy rainy day, but we still had much to do - so onward we went to Cathedral Caves - some 30 meter tall caves right on the beach. We had to wade through to get in (FREEZING!), but it was pretty cool.

After the caves we arrived at our hostel -- a note on the door said "Audrey and Josh - hope this is ok, but we have some friends that wanted to take over the whole hostel so you can stay at our beach house for the same price." and then an address. We're thinking "Sweet! Beach house all to ourselves!" but when we got there it was THEIR house... so not as glamorous as we thought, but still pretty fun to live with a kiwi couple. That night - surfing lessons! We did great if I do say so myself! We both got up quite a few times and had a lot of fun trying... we were head to toe in wetsuits so we were warm... and hot if you know what I'm saying.

Overall - Catlins = good. Until next time!!

looking back... on the memories of...

2008-12-05T18:19:00.003+13:00

So we've made it to Queenstown with my pops and as we sit and look at the beautiful surroundings, we've had some time of reflection... and we decided it's time to get you up to speed. So the last we met (or posted), we talked about our time in Dunedin... sorta. Here's a more detailed account:

Made it to Dunedin. Gorgeous city with a lot of old building and much character. Josh stopped to take a picture of every old cathedral/castle and Emilee and I told him he wasn't going to know what to do with himself if he ever made it to Europe. That said, it was Josh's favorite city so far.

We made it to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory and it WASN'T like Willy Wonka... No oompa loompas or nothin... what's up with that? But it was fun because of the free samples and beard guard that Josh had to wear.

Post chocolate we made it to the Speight's Brewery Factory (at least we had our priorities straight, huh?). Very informational and pro-beer tour. I mean PRO-beer. They made us watch a 4 minute long Rocky theme-song video of someone opening and pouring a beer. You would have thought it was someone getting ready for the Olympics, but no - it was beer. What can I say - they like their beer here.

The next day we made it to the world's steepest street... move over San Fran - the true winner is in Dunedin. Go figure. We just happened to be there at the high school lunch hour and 4 boys were timing themselves to see how fast they could ride their bikes down this hill... with ONLY a helmet on. It was the MOST crazy thing I've ever seen. If only their mothers knew what they were up to! BTW - they clocked themselves at 91 kilometers per hour - that's like 55mph... on a bike... with only a helmet... down the world's steepest street. Boys.

That night we made it up to Oamaru which is know for their penguins... rare yellow eyed and the small blue. Both were really cool. We saw the yellow ones first and they come RIGHT up to you and then waddle away like old men. Super cute. The blue ones come out after the sun goes down (which here is like 9:30PM currently) and they come out in droves! They come out of the water and just walk through the city. They sleep under the buildings, in boats, in bushes, etc... so everywhere you walk you see these tiny blue penguins cruisin the streets. Unfortunately they're too hard to take pics of because their fast, you're not supposed to use a flash, and it's dark but they did have "Penguins Crossing" signs!

That was about it for Dunedin... onto the Catlins...

soon and very soon...

2008-12-03T17:27:00.002+13:00

So Josh and I made it to the Catlins and are now in Te Anau. The Catlins were fun - full of sealions, penguins, scenic driving, camping, and surfing (yes, surfing)! Pics to come. We soon to head to Queenstown to pick up my dad... pretty exciting travels he had with delayed planes and just barely making his connecting flight out of LA... yikes! Many pictures and such to come - here are a few from Dunedin to tide you over. Until we have free internet again, the posts will be short but sweet... but we hope you enjoy!

flashback!

2008-11-29T19:36:00.002+13:00

Take a look at the Punakiki Blowholes... they really blew... in a good way...

We're off to the Catlins this week and then to Queenstown... to pick up my dad!! Hooray!!

a look back...

2008-11-28T09:27:00.000+13:00

Here's some footage from Arthur's Pass... enjoy!

and we're back in the game!

2008-11-27T17:10:00.004+13:00

We got the Dell back... so hold onto your horses because it's time for updates! Well, let's see. We left you at Arthur's Pass with our Avalanche Peak hike... from there we went to the cute coastal town of Akaroa. It's the only French colony left and it's adorable! There must be something in the water because the roses bloom like nothing else and it's gorgeous. Josh and I decided to treat ourselves to a little B&B with homemade breakfast that was just too wonderful to pass up. The other nights we stayed in this little hostel cottage with beautiful roses and flowers, a fountain and hammock in the backyard, and the scent of jasmine all around. Just wonderful.

For most of the time we just relaxed. It was wonderful. We strolled into town, walked to and fro, and just took our time. Just lovely. On one of the last days we decided to go swimming with dolphins - the hector dolphins. They're the smallest (only 5 feet long) and rarest dolphins in the world so that was a fun way to end our time there...

Since then we've picked up our friend Emilee and have made our way through the city of Christchurch and are now in Dunedin. Today we made it to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory and Speights Brewery and made ourselves a Thanksgiving feast - chicken, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and stuffing. Not my dad's world famous stuffing, but it will do. We'll be back tracking with fun videos and pictures since we've missed you the past couple weeks... so keep checking in for a look back at the past couple of weeks... Happy Thanksgiving!!

much to catch up on...

2008-11-21T14:16:00.003+13:00

So we are still alive... and still computer-less, so I have much to catch you up on since our Abel Tasman kayaking trip... I will be short but sweet... here we go.

We traveled SW of AT to this town called Westport... not much there but a microbrewery and a big seal colony... we stopped by both of course. That night we stayed at a 100% eco house - meaning, it was all solar powered, had its own rain water catchment, and composting galore. It was pretty sweet... although no TV so what's up with that?? :)

The next day we traveled down to Punakiki - pancake rocks - to watch the blow holes. There are all these crazy rocks that look like stacks of pancakes with all these little caves and grooves in them - so when it's high tide and the water crashes in the water sprays up through the holes and people get soaked -- pretty cool... we ended the night in Greymouth at a rockin hostel...

Greymouth didn't have much to it aside from a pretty well known NZ brewery - Monteiths. Josh and Dominic did the factory tour (which only has 11 full time employees believe it or not) and brought back their favorites. And now I have an announcement - I have officially tasted the first beer that I've liked! Hooray! It's Monteith's Radler and it basically tastes like lemonade. Yum! Josh and Dominic finished their evening with a titillating game of chess... Josh is proud to tell you he defeated the Brit.

That brings us to today... Josh and I said goodbye to our British friend in Greymouth and have moved East through the mountains to a little town (population 60) of Arthur's Pass. We're in waiting to make it to Christchurch to pick up our friend Emilee who is coming in for a visit, so we decided to get some good camping and hiking in beforehand. Today we made the strenuous climb up to Avalanche Peak - an 8 hour round trip that takes you 1000 meters above Arthur's Pass... And let me tell you - it's freaking HARD! But we made it and were able to play in snow for a little bit... go figure. We'll bum around here for a few more days before making our way to Christchurch... until then!

abel tas-mania!

2008-11-16T20:39:00.005+13:00

So the dell is still down, but lucky for you google has pictures of just about everything so I can somewhat show you what we've been up to the past couple days...

Josh, Dominic, and I set off on a 3 day, 2 night kayaking trip along the Abel Tasman coast. The Abel Tasman has golden sand, bright turquise/blue waters, and beautiful green coastine... when it's sunny anyway. And lucky for us, it was sunny THE ENTIRE TIME. I was in my swimsuit for most of it. Hot hot hot weather and perfect calm kayaking waters. A dream. It was a great change from walking miles and miles with a backpack on... a couple highlights --

We saw an octopus! We stopped at these one arches and happened to see in the tidepools an octopus chasing after crabs - pretty neat.

Josh and Dominic were able to pick and cook their own mussels straight from the beach. We even brought about 5 or so pounds back home and cooked up a little feast for ourselves... I even had a few so you know they MUST have been good!!

Great weather, beautiful conditions, and a really great time. Couldn't beat it... not sure where we're off to next, but we'll keep you posted... dell or no dell.

down with dell!

2008-11-12T13:40:00.003+13:00

So our laptop is broken... again... and it's only 4 months old. Granted, that's like 20 years old in people years, but still... come on Dell. SO, while we're waiting for that to be fixed, I'm sorry to say there will be no flip footage (I know I know... Josh is just as devistated if not more...) or photos. But I will have you all know we are safe and sound and in Wellington. Which is far better than Auckland by the way... still a city, but smaller and more San Francisco like. I really enjoy it. We're staying in a hostel that is colored like a zebra. Yep. Black and White stripes all over it and it's 5 stories tall -- so that's a lot of zebra. I would show you, but you can blame Dell for the photoless post.
ANYWAY - we're off to the south island tomorrow via a ferry and then doing a 3 day kayaking trip around the Abel Tasman National Park area with our British friend Dominic (that we met at the Pinnacles earlier on the trip)... more to come... and thank you for your patience...

first great walk...

2008-11-10T10:28:00.000+13:00

So Josh and I just got back to civilization after a 42kilometer (25 mile-ish) hike around Lake Waikaremoana. It's one of a couple "great walks" in NZ that we'll be doing... and we found out that it's the ghetto one. Most great walks provide campsites or huts every couple miles or so for the traveler to stop and stay the night - so does this one, but this one came without the bare essentials - toilet paper and gas burners. LUCKILY we found this out before setting off for the great unknown -- otherwise we would have been at our worsts - Josh without tp and me without food. NOT a good combo. Anyway - we were prepared.

Day 1 - the big hike. This one was like 9kms and all uphill... butt workout to the max. But we made it and settled in for an early night.

Day 2 - the long day. This one was about 18kms and up and down and up and down. Definitely the longest day. We ended the day camping with a beautiful view from our tent... just gorgeous.

Day 3 - the 'get 'er done' day. This one was about 10km and quite muddy. My new boots got the job done but also gave me a ginormous blister (boo!). Day ended in the old ghetto hut with possums tap dancing on our roof all night long. Josh went to throw rocks at them around 2am...

Day 4 - the end. We did the final 4 or so kms to the boat pick up place.

Here's our LONG video... I keep telling Josh, you're going to lose fans if you don't edit, but hey - it's 4 days of documenting so you gotta give the guy credit :) Watch what you can and buzz through what you want to -- Josh would say he's darn funny so watch it all, but that's your call. Enjoy!

just passin on through...

2008-11-09T21:40:00.003+13:00

Our journey has begun from Auckland... a 7 hour drive, 2 tanks of petrol, and 1 speeding ticket later (all Josh...) we made it to Gisborne (pronounced Giz-bin) for one night of camping. All worth it just for the sunset... and the journey begins.

last day... sad day...

2008-11-04T23:14:00.002+13:00

Sam was leaving on Sunday, but luckily her flight wasn't until 10:45PM -- so we had the whole day. We made our way up to Puhoi for some cheese shopping and Devonshire Tea... yes, that may sound familiar since it was Josh and my THIRD time going to Puhoi for this damn tea. We just can't get it off our minds!! It's too good... and now we have an outside opinion to justify our cravings for those scones... Sam is officially a fan. It was the definition of a lovely morning...

From there we hit up Victoria Market (tourist shopping central) for Sam's souvenirs, then to Auckland Domain and Museum for lunchtime. We ate on our cheese and crackers while overlooking the city.

We played in the Museum for a little bit and then headed back to Mission Bay for the afternoon. We sat and soaked up the sun until the last possible moment and then headed towards the dreaded airport. Of course in true Audrey style, tears were shed, but this week will be looked back upon like the highlights reel on ESPN - all the best of the best moments lumped into one week of time.

and you thought skydiving was risky

2008-11-04T17:58:00.000+13:00

On Saturday we took off for Waihiki Island... it's a 45 minute ferry away from Auckland and has wineries and beautiful beaches. The plan was originally to rent bikes and bike from winery to winery but we got a head's up that the island was quite hilly and it would be quite the workout to bike it all... so we opted for scooters. Oh man. Let's just say that Sam came closer to death by scooter than jumping out of a plane. Now, we love Sam, but balancing isn't her forte... and that may have caused her to almost scoot into 80 km per hour traffic... but alas, we made it through. Why we thought wine and scooters would be a good idea, no one will know, but it turned out that we ended up tasting more olive oil than wine on the trip so it all worked out.

It's a beautiful island with wonderful views and vineyards - although probably the most stressful winetasting we've ever done, it was still a fun and memorable experience.

We ended the night by doing some rockin t-shirt shopping back in Auckland - cool, local, not touristy NZ t-shirts here we come!

to the doc we go

2008-11-03T15:27:00.000+13:00

Old Cleo's brakes aren't sounding so good so we took her to the mechanic... he said she'll be good as new for the beginning of our roadtrip... which, by the way... starts TOMORROW! Road trip! Wooo!!

better the second time around.

2008-11-03T14:36:00.005+13:00

As you faithful readers know, we've already been to the Coromandel but it was awful weather. Luckily, Sam wanted to see what this Coromandel thing had to offer and boy are we glad she did! We actually saw the mountains this time! We actually saw blue water instead of grey mucky water! We saw a totally different side of the Coromandel and it was so fun to experience it with Sam!

First stop after Mount Manganui - Cathedral Cove. We had some time to kill until low tide, so we made the hike down to Cathedral Cove. Definitely better the second time around. We took fun photos and played around in the hot "summer" sun for a bit before heading back out.

Then onto Hot Water Beach. HWB is a strip of beach land that has hot thermal magma flowing beneath the sand. People go out during low tide and dig their own hotpool and hang out in the sun. We hired (kiwi for rented) a shovel and dug our hole (and by "we" I mean Josh...) and hot water started bubbling up from under the sand... pretty incredible. We spent our afternoon in our own private hotpool right on the ocean. VIP.

We ended our time with a drive on the backroads down to Thames for Indian food and then back to the Auckland area for the night. A lot of driving, but who cares when you have DJ Sam mixing up the tunes and beautiful scenery the whole way?? A great day!

falling out of taupo

2008-11-03T14:29:00.003+13:00

Forgot to mention - on our way out of Taupo we stopped at the Huka Falls... they're kinda like horizontal waterfalls to be honest, but still gorgeous...

awww... :)

looking back while on the mount...

2008-11-03T13:54:00.004+13:00

After skydiving we were on Cloud 9... our step was a little faster and had a little bounce to it, our faces had a permanent smile, and we were ready to take on the world... so we couldn't just sit and relax in Taupo - we had to move on. We took off for Tauranga (gateway to the Coromandel if you will...) so we could hit up Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach the next day.

Tauranga was an experience... to say the least. We made it there and checked into our hostel. Overall, hostels in New Zealand have turned out to be really nice and can be funky little gems for the most part. This hostel, however, would definitely be considered a high risk activity. We checked into our dorm room (note to self, ALWAYS get a room that you don't have to share) and made our way down to a free wireless internet cafe... score... or not... it's a coffee shop by day and apparently a strip club by night... yep. Our internet time was cut a bit short. We went back to our sketchy hostel for a good night's sleep... only to be woken up at 3:30AM by a police officer asking for our passports because there was an armed gunman on the loose in the streets of Tauranga and they had reason to believe he broke into our hostel. Umm... yikes. Needless to say, it was an adventure, but Tauranga wasn't all bad - in the morning we headed to Mount Manganui... it's a dormant volcano with incredible views from the top. And on this sunny day, it was the perfect place to recap our death defying adventures...

cave images...

2008-11-01T20:59:00.003+13:00

Here are a couple from the caves... Sam and Audrey's pictures came on a faulty disc, so these are all we have right now, but more to come... I KNOW you want to see this hotness in a wetsuit... oh yeah...

SKYDIVE!

2008-10-31T22:44:00.004+13:00

Do it. Skydive. It's SOOO worth it. On Thursday, following our Rotorua adventures, we headed down to Taupo to jump out of a plane at 15,000 feet. Well, the plan was originally 12,000 but then we got talked into more... but absolutely 100% worth it. Here's the day:

We stalked the weather to find the perfect day - and we found it. Sunny with a few clouds. Perfect. We showed up for our jump at 12:30ish. Got the low down and all the options. Audrey got overwhelmed and teared up... ok... cried a bit... but not "ugly cry" - just cute nervous, overwhelmed cried. Right?? We decided on 15,000 feet. The highest you can jump tandem. AHH!

We got geared up. Met our tandems and basically jumped on the plane. Everything is done for you. You just do what they tell you which is "Put this on," "Smile at the camera," "Here's your tandem - have fun!" You just have to trust your tandem and off you go. Josh and Sam - calm, cool, collected, and excited. Audrey - nervous and excited and swaying side to side to avoid thinking about jumping out of a plane. Hey - it's nerve racking!

We got on the plane and then it was business time. Audrey was in the zone and good to go. We all were on a total high and crazy excited. We made it up to 15,000 feet and one by one jumped out of the plane. Simply put - the COOLEST experience ever. Like nothing you've ever done. Would TOTALLY do it again. You free fall for about 60 seconds, but it's not a stomach dropping feel the whole way - after the first 7 seconds or so you just feel like you're floating in place with an intense wind pushing against your body. It's so crazy. Then they pull the parachute and you simply float to the ground. It's silent up there and you can see EVERYTHING. It's so so so amazing and I encourage everyone to go somewhere beautiful and just do it. I may of had tears at first, but I was thrilled afterwards - so great!

Here's the after shot. We did it! 15,000 feet!!

Hangi

2008-10-31T21:12:00.002+13:00

So after the luging and a little shopping, we were set to do a traditional Maori Hangi. It's basically like a luau but for the native people group of New Zealand. You have a traditional feast that's cooked underground, see a cultural show, do a tour of their property, and basically get sucked into tourist world... but hey - you gotta experience it, right? We weren't experiencing the amount of people that were actually there, but overall it was a really fun and enlightening time. We learned some cultural dances and symbolism and ate like the natives... this is a mish mash of clips from the cultural performance...

After the whole experience, Josh took us to a hidden gem he found last time he was in New Zealand - Kerosine Creek. It's a waterfall/pool area that's heated with those darn underground thermal things and it was really fun - people leave candles all around so there's totally mood lighting provided. As you sit in near darkness, you can look up at the stars and get lost in them. No Orion or Big Dipper.... but there is the Southern Cross and other constellations that make up the southern sky. Simply breathtaking. A great way to tie up our time in Rotorua.

luge me!

2008-10-30T21:47:00.002+13:00

We took a gondola ride up to the top of Rotorua... from there you can pick your poison and luge down the tracks. We felt like kids again as we raced down the tracks... ps... Josh is a cheater! Just kidding... I'm just jealous of his luge moves... onward to the HANGI! More to come...

rotten-egg ville

2008-10-30T21:12:00.005+13:00

So Rotorua has a ton of hot thermal pools and therefore smells like sulfer... which smells like I made an egg salad sandwich last week and left it out on the counter in the hot sun with the windows closed. All the time. Everywhere. It's kinda like living in Gilroy and not knowing that it smells like an Italian restaurant ALL the time. Which... to be honest... I really like :)

Anyway - we started our day off with a walk around the city -- seeing the boiling mud pools, the lake filled with swans, and soaking up the... smell. Ick. Town = pretty. Smell = bad. Next... the luge.

glow little glowworms, glimmer glimmer...

2008-10-30T20:53:00.002+13:00

Well we picked up Sam on Tuesday and headed for Waitomo - the center for caving in New Zealand. Man - we are so hardcore, huh?? Sam and I did the Labrynth and Josh and our friend Jessica did the Abyss. The Labrynth is where you climb down into a cave, walk through the caves below, through all the water and danger that lurks below (i.e. fight off huge flesh eating eels!! Well, not so much human flesh, but still...), jump off waterfalls, and tube below the earth's surface while gazing at glowworms - one man nearly had a heart attack and had to be evacuated!! Pretty cool, huh? All Josh and Jessica did were repel down a little cavern (70 meters or so... *yawn*), rock climb along the cave walls, zipline through the caves, climb up silly waterfalls, and then do some tubing (copiers!) BORING!! Actually - they did a lot more of the "hard core" stuff... Sam and I thought it was child's play so we passed. :)

After the caves we were off to Rotorua for the night...

Pictures to come --

Sam's here!

2008-10-25T21:40:00.003+13:00

Sam made it from Pasadena and we've had a relaxing time thus far... picked her up from the airport, made it to Mission Bay for breakfast, walked around Queen Street, checked into our Piha "bach" and had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the city -- I'm still in shock Sam made it the whole way through without a nap, but hey - she's hardcore.

Yesterday we made it to Ponsonby for some shopping, cafes, pedicures, and martinis... I love when Sam's in town. :)

Today we dropped her off at her cousins for a little family time and we'll pick her up Monday for a week of glowworm cave tubing, dolphin swimming, luau-type activities, biking and vineyard touring, and maybe skydiving... (yikes!) Don't freak out (mom and dad) - we'll be fine and keep you posted as the week unfolds. What a week!

he's officially a man.

2008-10-19T14:52:00.003+13:00

So Josh killed 4 roosters yesterday. Yep. He took out the Burch's roosters because they were waking them up far too early and being mean to all the nice little egg-laying hens. So they are no more -- well, that's not true... they WILL be chicken enchiladas tonight. Yikes!

disclaimer - this footage may be too graphic for some viewers... although no killing was shown, I'm not going to lie... some of the remains (i.e. headless bodies FROM A FAR DISTANCE) have been caught by videotape. The ONLY reason I approved putting it on our blog (because we don't want to lose you as faithful readers!) is because Josh insisted that his manhood be shown via the WORLD wide web and the fact that Burch's 6 year old daughter actually watched the whole process and wasn't scarred for life... in fact, she thought it was cool and even crafted a cute little song about it... weird and kinda morbid... but true... hey - you were warned.

the seals of san fran...

2008-10-19T14:31:00.006+13:00

So we went back to Muriwai but this time not for the sunset... apparently this particular beach has an overwhelming population of gannets - yellow headed birds larger than seagulls - living on its cliff sides. Although I'm not a huge fan of birds, we had to take a look for ourselves. Umm... pretty crazy.

There are HUNDREDS of them just chilling on the tops of these flat cliffs, soaring in the coast's offshore winds, looking for a place to land where they won't be squawked off, grooming, and, of course, mating like rabbits (apparently it's that time of year...). It reminded me a bit of the seals off the pier in San Fran... but birds... and in New Zealand... kinda... :)

p.s.

2008-10-15T18:32:00.002+13:00

ps - after the hobbit adventure they let us feed baby lambs... so, yes, it was worth the $60... :)

get ready LOTR fans... get ready...

2008-10-15T18:06:00.001+13:00

...it's time for Hobbiton. We finally made it! Josh was OVERLY excited and I was so freaking pissed that we had to pay $60 for some holes in the hillside... but to be honest... it was pretty cool.

We arrived in Hobbiton and heard the story behind how it came to be in Matamata. Apparently Peter Jackson and someone from New Line Cinema flew over NZ looking for a shire-looking place... they flew over this property and saw the big tree (the "party tree") by the lake and thought it was perfect. I mean, they picked a great location because you cannot see or hear anything that would get in the way of production from this location. Not a powerline to be seen, not a freeway to be heard, just beautiful rolling hills with mountains in the backdrop - pretty perfect.

Our guide told us lots of facts about Hobbiton -- and although I wasn't as stoked as Josh was to be there, I must admit - some of these facts are so crazy that they have to be repeated --

> The oak tree above Bilbo's house that is in all three movies a total of 40 seconds was not there naturally. Peter Jackson didn't want it to be computer generated so he sent out a scout to the neighbor's property and negotiated a price for one of their trees. He then cut it into little pieces and numbered each one, brought it back to the set, reconstructed the tree by bolting it back together, and hired film students to spend their summer tying on fake leaves from Taiwan... all for 40 seconds of film time... Ridiculous!

> They had NZ's Army come in and create a road from the main entry to the farm to the set area. It had to be structurally sound enough to support all the trucks and big rigs coming in with set supplies, food, generators, hobbit feet, etc, etc... the ARMY. They also had a mandatory "no fly" zone over the farmland before, during, and after their time filming to protect from leaked images of the set...

> There's one scene in the movie where the hobbits are all drinking away -- that scene was scheduled to take over 8 hours to film but Peter Jackson wanted to use real beer in the shots. However, he didn't want a bunch of drunk hobbits rolling around set. Solution: Buy a brewery from the south island, ship all its brewery parts to the set, and brew your own beer with only 1% alcohol. What? Want to build rock looking fences around the hobbit properties? Rocks are heavy, so why not make them out of styrofoam and spray a thin layer of concrete over them to make them look real? Not a problem when you BUY a styrofoam making company and a styrofoam recycling center from Wellington and transport their whole facilities up here to produce stones for the set! That Peter Jackson -- he's got some serious cash-ola.

> I asked if they knew how much Peter Jackson/New Line offered them for using their land and such but no such luck -- the family hasn't told a sole. I'm guessing MUCHO monies...

pinnacle pick up

2008-10-14T15:05:00.000+13:00

After our camping adventure we made our way down the coast to the city of Thames... now, I use the word "city" lightly because it was basically one long strip of cafes, restaurants, banks, and stores with some surrounding houses. Pretty small "city" - but nonetheless the biggest one in the Coromandel...

We stayed in a hostel the night before the big climb. We were set to do a trail called The Pinnacles. It's a 3-4 hour hike to a hut way up some mountain-y hill and then another hour (and 813 stairs) to the top peak - the Pinnacle(s). Then you spend the night in the hut and hike back out another trail (4-5 hours) the next day... pretty sweet. On our way out the hostel door, our landlady (who was quite interesting in herself with her flesh coloured tight spandex pants and crazy cats) asked if we had room for one more in our car - not for her (thank goodness) but for some "tall English bloak" down at the other hostel. We said sure and picked up our new British friend, Dominic.

Dominic probably deserves his own post because he was SO FUN! He was really funny and laughed a lot and we had a good time with him. We actually ended up hiking the whole way up and back with him and then met him for drinks the evening following... pretty cool guy. Back to the Pinnacles...

We made our way up the STEEP climb to the hut, had lunch, and then continued up to the top... it was gorgeous!! We could see clear from the east to the west. The climb from the hut was pretty well paved and had plenty of stairs to the top. 813 we counted. There were also sets of ladders and pegs to climb up near the top. But we made it... all intact.

We spent the night in the hut - room for 80 in just two rooms. There weren't traditional bunk beds, but you basically laid side by side the person next to you... no seperation... the hut wasn't full, so we had some room to spread out, but there were a few interesting characters -- a group of 12 highschool aged girls that were facinated that we were from the States/Canada, German and Holland school teachers on spring break, an I-know-everything-about-the-States pessimistic Kiwi, and, of course, the mummy moaner. The moaner woke everyone up with a creepy "MMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA" at like 2 in the morning! It sounded like a cow was just outside the window. The next morning everyone was trying to guess who the sleep moaner was... our money was on the the 60s something short shorts man... only because we could see his TIGHT whity tighties due to the fact that his shorts were THAT short... now that's just wrong...

top of the coromandel to ya!

2008-10-13T16:01:00.001+13:00

The weather finally cleared up and we were able to do some camping... some very remote camping... We took the long gravel road to the top of the Coromandel as far as it would go and then set up our tent with nothing but the ocean in sight (and of course sheep... you can't escape them).

The drive up there was gorgeous -- bright blue ocean and rolling green hills. We did a bit of tramping around once we got to the top (there's an 8 hour round trip hike that will connect you to the road that you would eventually hit if there were more roads up near the top - but instead of roads NZ wants you to hike it... typical...) but mainly just relaxing and enjoying our view.

We literally were the only people there so it was nice to have the peace and quiet and the top of the Coromandel to ourselves for a bit... although there was a dead puffer fish on the beach which was pretty awesome -

prince caspian land

2008-10-13T11:49:00.003+13:00

Although the weather wasn't so much on our side the first couple days, we still wanted to make our way to the beautiful Cathedral Cove. You may know it as the portal from the train station to Narnia in the movie Prince Caspian - for them, going in the middle of summer, it was bright blue water and white sand... for us, in the beginning of spring, we got the same awe-inspiring feeling but without the blue and white part... more gray and tan. Eh. Whatever. Still cool.

Josh and I discussed coming back during summer when it would have that tropical feeling - and we think it would totally be worth it... so just be forewarned - you may get a repeat blog in a few weeks time, but that time with sunshine and white sands.

carve me!

2008-10-13T11:34:00.003+13:00

So the first couple days on the Coromandel were windy... I mean WINDY. There were recorded speeds of the wind at 65 meters per second -- that's fast! Needless to say it wasn't ideal hiking or site seeing weather so we opted for an indoor activity... we did some bone carving!

Our friends here told us about this place in Whitianga that you can carve your own necklaces from cow bones. This cute German couple (and their blind dog) walk you through the process step by step, but you are actually doing all the shaving, carving, sanding, and polishing -- it was really cool! And I must admit... we were pretty dang good at it. Cool thing was - we ended up with some fun homemade necklaces/souvenirs... Looks like we found our calling - cow bone grinding...

we're alive!

2008-10-12T20:26:00.000+13:00

We're alive! We're home! We'll update our blog with fun Coromandel stories soon.
But don't worry (mom) we're alive!

teen wolf and chip!!

2008-10-06T09:07:00.003+13:00

Congrats to our newly engaged friends Miss Lindsey Baker and Mr. Joey Olsen!!

We love you both dearly and wish we could have been there to witness the proposal

(you KNOW I would have hid in the bushes... crying... and then jumped out even before Linds said "yes" and screamed "Do it Linds! Do it!!").

Can't wait to come home to that rock on your finger, missy... love you!! xoxo

we survived... barely...

2008-10-04T16:39:00.004+13:00

So we just finished the kids' camp here at Carey Park... it was chaos. It was mayhem. It was out of control... but we made it. For those fellow Redwood Camp-ers, the week would be comparable to a Jr/Jr Higher Combo week, half of them Angel Tree kids, run by CILTs, with about 4 program staffers. Chaotic. For those non-Redwooders it was a bunch of 9-12 year old kids, 1/2 from social workers programs and the rest your normal, crazy 9-12 year olds (i.e. fist fights, swearing, you know, the usual pre-teen testosteronie attitude stuff...) that were in the care of 16-17 year olds hands with minimal adults on site to help out...

Josh and I were in charge of the helpers program -- it was fourteen 13-14 year olds that were basically in charge of keeping camp running... they did the dishes, served the foods, stocked the bathrooms, did the washing... it was a lot of work for the helpers, but even more work for Josh and I to break up their flirting or tracking them down to get them to actually work!! There was one point on Thursday night when I had 5 of my 8 girl helpers in tears, locked in bathroom stalls because they were so upset about what the other helper girls MAY HAVE said. It was the most drama filled week of my adult life... poor Josh had it bad with his overly flirtatious boys as well...

Needless to say, we're both ready for a break... tomorrow is road trip #3. We're heading off to the Coromandel for over a week! We'll check in from the road...

PS - LOTR fans, our trip to the Coromandel may be ending with a trip to Hobbiton... yep... get ready...

rodeo and j-bird

2008-09-26T12:18:00.002+12:00

Josh and I are scheduled to be counselors this next week... back to Rodeo and J-Bird fun. This week we've been back to rock climbing and kayaking instructors so no big news to share... just wanted to check in and show you all we're alive and kickin.

We'll post any fun updates throughout the week when we have time, but most likely our next big hoorah will be our Coromandel trip after camp -- until then...

90 kms of joy

2008-09-21T09:47:00.000+12:00

Probably one of the highlights of our 2nd little road trip – there’s a strip of beach that’s 90 kilometers long, but they call it 90 mile beach… you can drive on it during low tide and that we did! It’s incredible… the waves breaking just 20 or so meters away from your car, sand under your tires, and a seal pup to top it all off… it was a really fun part of our road trip…

ps - no, the seal did not die... he just got all tuckered out and took a little break before moving his cute self back towards the ocean... just to clarify...

sandy days

2008-09-21T08:47:00.003+12:00

Just south of the Cape are these crazy sand doons… Josh and I decided to have a little fun and we took you along for the FLIPpin ride…

from cape to bluff

2008-09-20T18:47:00.000+12:00

Josh and I have said we want to make it from the cape (the top of NZ) to the bluff (the very bottom) over the course of the next 5 or so months. Today – we made it to the cape! Hooray! Cape Reinga is where the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea meet… There’s a lighthouse there and there USED to be a street sign thing that said “Los Angeles 10,000 miles, South Pole 2,000 miles, London 20,000 miles” etc, etc but those pesky hooligans ripped off the signs so now it’s just a pole with no signs. Grr! Still a fun view and now onto the bluff!

beyond the two towers

2008-09-20T08:47:00.012+12:00

One of the cool parts of Kahoe Farms is that you get to explore their property and do some hiking and such that no one else is allowed to do – aside from the other guest at Kahoe. We took a day and set out to find the swimming pools just beyond the “two towers” lookout point. It was quite the hike – very steep to the two (telephone) towers, but then a great view. From there, through the pasture to the bush and then finally to the swimming holes. Well worth the trek and Josh REALLY seemed to enjoy himself… so much so he thought he’d go for a swim…

kahoe farms = AMAZING

2008-09-20T08:47:00.009+12:00

So the best hostel yet (granted we’ve only been to 2… but surely none can beat…) has been in between Bay of Islands and the Cape – Kahoe Farms. It’s a farm house converted into a hostel with gorgeous views and over 2000 acres to roam. Dad – you’d love it. It’s owned and operated by Stefano and Lyndsey… a lovely couple that take care of you in every regard. Beautiful linens, gorgeous wood floors, a quaint cabin, stocked kitchen and Stefano’s Italian cuisine. Stefano is originally from Italy and was a chef… um… yes please! Josh and I ordered a few pizzas our first night. BEST PIZZA IN NEW ZEALAND/in a LONG time. Our second night we got dessert – gelato topped with espresso, amaretto liqueur, and tiny biscotti type cookies. So delicious. We both said that if we could, we’d live there… so fun!

sail and (one of us) swim...

2008-09-20T08:45:00.000+12:00

Today was the day! Today was the day that we were to head off and sail the Bay and potentially swim with dolphins! I was nervous and excited all at the same time! We set out on the Carino at 9:30ish on a beautiful, sunny day. We were expecting to be 2 of 8 or 10, but it turns out a bigger group joined and there were about 18 of us all in total… but it all worked out. They went through the basics with us and before we knew it we were soaking in the sun and sailing the Bay.

We came to our morning beaching spot… there were 2 ways to get shore – the wet way and the dry way. At this point – it was getting kinda overcast and the wind was picking up, but of course Josh took the wet way. Scuba Steve put on his wetsuit, grabbed his snorkel mask and fins, and jumped right into the freezing cold water. I, along with everyone else on the boat, took the dry way… crazy Canadian. We climbed around the rocks and such and then swam back to the boat… yes, WE SWAM back to the boat. I know. I’m tough.

Lunch and then more sailing. Looking for dolphins was the plan. At this point… the sun left us and the wind picked up. It was really really cold. Being in my wet swimsuit I decided it was best to take it off and opt for warm clothes… I had given up on the dolphins because all the other dolphin boat companies had radioed into our boat saying they hadn’t seen anything all day! I get all warm and comfy and then I hear “Dolphins!” Everyone crams onto the front of the boat and takes pics and oohs and awws over the HUGE bottlenose dophins… 3 of them, each 3 meters (over 10 feet!) long and about as round as Josh and I hugging (aww… cute! But BIG).

The lead lady observes them, makes sure there are no calves or that they’re not resting or feeding (because then we can’t swim with them)… they’re not and she says “If anyone wants to swim, come to the back” – I freeze. Josh goes and grabs his suit and he’s in the back. I grab the cameras and look dumbfounded… She starts to go through all the directions on what to do, what not to do, how to get in, etc, etc while people are still running around trying to find the dolphins. I, for some reason just can’t decide… DUH. Of course I want to swim with flipper but I think the overwhelming sensations in my brain caused me to have this deer in headlights pose. Needless to say, and I absolutely regret it now, but I turned into camera woman. So you better enjoy the shots!! J Don’t worry – there will be other dolphins and warmer waters… I promise…

Also - sorry for the music in the video... we'll try to re-edit without sound so you can hear us... but until then, groove out to the tunes and enjoy the flick...

camp sight

2008-09-17T19:23:00.003+12:00

We got front row seats and a full moon on our first night camping... A bit chilly, so I was bundled up, but well worth it for the view. We were basically on the water and had the moon and sun rise right out our tent door... what a delight... AND a de-night! :)

from the beginning

2008-09-17T19:07:00.003+12:00

Our afternoon activity was the Treaty House – where the Maori/British relationship was formed. Still not clear on all the details, but Josh, the History Channel King, was really into it. There was a 35 meter canoe… 35 meters! It was made out of a single Kauri tree. Pretty rockin. It takes at least 80 men to operate and they take it out each year on their “independence day” – when they asked Britian to rule over them…?? Whatever. Still cool. (sorry - it's hard to take a brilliant pic of a 35 meter long boat thing... you get the idea...)

They also had this cool carved room with tons of Mauri faces and totem poles type things covering the walls… that was REALLY cool.

Josh can for sure tell you more about the history part – he loves that, but I think my favorite parts were the gardens and the fun carved room… and that’s your history lesson for the day… kinda…

the hell hole of the pacific

2008-09-17T16:45:00.003+12:00

Josh and I started our first full day in the Bay of Islands with a ferrytrip to the hell hole of the Pacific, New Zealand's first capital, Russell. Russell used to be the place where sailors and hookers would spend most of their time because it was the main porting/docking place in New Zealand... now, it's this cute little historical town just across the bay from Paihia.

Russell is the home of the 1st church in New Zealand AND the first hotel… of course, we had to tour both. The church is pretty, well, church-y. A lot of gravestones in front dated back to the 1800s. There was even a Dunlop family buried there… cool, but kinda freaky…

The Duke Hotel is open for all passerbys for a quick drink of their verandah. It was around 10:30 when we stopped in, so a little too early for a wine or beer, so we asked for Mimosas. We were given a blank stare. Never heard of them. What?? I then asked for a Shirley Temple. Nope. Never heard of them. Roy Rogers. Nope. We tried our luck and just passed on through.

The police station is the cutest little thing – apparently the chief lives here…

We did a short little hike up to Flagstaff Hill.

From there we took in the view and got inspired to learn more about the Maori/New Zealand beginnings. Josh gives you a little history lesson in this flip… we’re not just entertaining – we’re educational. You’re welcome.

captain bob's

2008-09-14T19:28:00.003+12:00

2nd Roadtrip! Woo! We're heading up to the Bay of Islands and then to Cape Reinga (the northern most tip of New Zealand) -- our plan is to go from Cape to Bluff -- the top to the bottom of New Zealand during our time here. This trip we're making it to the top... and then rolling down sand dunes apparently. More to come on that one.

But as for tonight - we made it up to Bay of Islands for our first hostel experience. They call them backpackers here... tonight we're staying at Captain Bob's Beachhouse.

It's actually really really cute. It used to be someone's house... probably Captain Bob's... and now it has like 5-6 double bed rooms, a couple bunk bed rooms, and then dorms... it's so cute! The above pics are of the actual backpacker and then the view from our room. We definitely scored on the room - ocean view, connected to the porch, in perfect alignment for sunrise... good morning Dunlops!

We walked around Paihia (the main city in the Bay) for awhile this afternoon, did our grocery shopping, and then made dinner in our cute little home away from home away from home... Josh couldn't help himself but flip it for all of you... that Josh... enjoy!

gardens and fins

2008-09-11T16:45:00.003+12:00

This week has been a pretty slow week... hence the no postings... Josh and I are both working at Carey Park this week to earn the big bucks. Josh is a builder and I am a rock climbing instructor. Yep. Rock climbing instructor. So we've just been around camp with nothing really new to report.

One highlight... we met up with Josh's YWAM friends over in east Auckland again last weekend but this time there was a new addition... Katri from Finland! It was fun to finally meet Josh's old Fin friend from YWAM and she spoke PERFECT English... didn't even have an accent. She studies languages in school so English is just one of her 7 or 8 languages... and she doesn't even get them confused with one another! How impressed was I??

All the YWAMers, myself and their children went to Auckland's Botanical Gardens for the day. It's a really cool facility that has tons and tons of flowers and plants and trees and such -- very cool. Because it's very early spring at this point, not much was in bloom quite yet -- but the magnolia trees were in full bloom and gorgeous! It was a wonderful weekend surrounded by old (and new) friends and the great outdoors...

epolito my heart

2008-09-11T15:56:00.002+12:00

We had New York style pizza from a pizzeria owned by a New Yorker last night for dinner. YUM. We went with the Burchs to Epolito's in east Auckland... I'm telling you - Make friends with foodies... they know where all the good places are! It was SO GOOD and tasted like a real pizza from the US!

You may ask "Now how can someone screw up pizza? Pizza is pizza!" And well, you'd be wrong. New Zealand's pizza has barbecue or some sort of chili-spice sauce instead of tomato sauce... their main meat is often times huge chunks of ham, gristle and all... their crust is literally 3 inches thick - and not in a good Chicago-style pizza sort of way. Let's face it - New Zealand's no Italy... or New York in this case. Epolito my heart... and stomach... :)

canoe snaffoo...

2008-09-06T17:11:00.000+12:00

No, nothing went wrong, but what else rhymes with canoe?? Come on... Enjoy the flip!

lamb rescue squad

2008-09-06T16:05:00.001+12:00

Tuesday we did a lot of walking. Beach walking. Mountain walking. Pasture walking. The highlight of our walking was in Tawharanui Regional Park (pronounced ta-fra-new-ee). We really had no plan nor knew where we were going when we set out for Tawharanui – but we ended up doing the ecology trail which lead us around the beach through tidepools, up the hillside, and then through grazing sheep and cows… yep… right through their eating/stomping grounds. It was nuts! See below…

When we went through the sheep part – of course I LOVED the lambs. But there was one lamb that had gotten himself into a little pickle. Somehow he got into a fenced off little area… he had no idea of his dilemma because he was chomping away at untouched grass. When we came up to the little fenced in area, he started crying for his mama and soon realized that he was trapped. So we became the rescue squad. Josh went in to catch the lamb so we could pass him over the fence and set him free… I was making sure no angry mama was going to come and ram into us… Josh got the little guy out, passed him over the fence to me, I took a moment to cuddle the little guy before putting him down... then he ran away. The nerve! We didn’t even get a thank you… ungrateful lamb… I’ll see you for dinner! Just kidding!

We then had to cross back through the cows to get home… they are big but we found out they’re more scared of us than we were of them… silly cows.

dusk till dawn... all lamb

2008-09-06T16:00:00.002+12:00

What an exciting day… it was Sheep World day!! I know, I know, it’s like the mecca of New Zealand tourism, but hey – we ARE tourists!! We made it to SW and strolled around the farm for a bit. Playing with LAMBS that were born just a few DAYS ago!! Feeding alpacas, goats, donkeys, mini horses, sheep, etc, etc… then, it was time for the dog and sheep show – they show off their dogs’ sheep gathering skills, sheer a sheep, then we get to feed/hold the baby lambs.

Dog herding… cool. Then, he needs help sorting them – so he called on the sole “American” man to do the honor – yep – my man sorted the sheep!!

After the sorting came the sheering – they really whip them around to do the sheering, but the sheep doesn’t really fuss. In fact, there’s one position you can put them in that he can allow a member of the audience to do the sheering – yep, he called up the only American woman in the audience… I SHEERED A SHEEP!! Well, did a couple little strips, but still did it! Impressed? More shocked at this point? I hear ya…

Then the lambs came out. All the little kids got to feed them because, well, they’re kids (stupid kids… just kidding!! Kinda… :)), but before they left we grabbed one to hold. I was hoping to get our Easter card shot today, but it was a bit dark in the barn… but we still got a shot or two anyway. So fun.

The afternoon consisted of a little wine tasting, lunch, organic blueberry (me) and strawberry (Josh) frozen yogurt – delicious! – and then picking up dinner for us to cook at our bach. On the menu? LAMB. Didn’t even hit me until we made it home that we were eating the very cuteness I was oooh-ing and awe-ing over that very morning. Oh well. It was mighty delicious – sorry lambs!

the shire

2008-09-05T15:54:00.005+12:00

Don't get too excited LOTR fans... this has nothing to do with your precious hobbit-filled shire... but it does involve a magical "elven bread" of sorts...

Monday we had to go pick up the key for the Omaha house we would be staying at. On the way back to Omaha we heard about this little tea house in Puhoi… the Puhoi Cottage. They have all this history about the house and the land and the town, yadda yadda yadda, but most importantly, they have these world renowned (or at least commonwealth renowned) Devonshire Teas. "Devonshire Teas" is a little deceiving - it's not just a tea, it's basically a combo of some sort of a hot tea (or coffee or hot chocolate) and this HEAVENLY scone/biscuit that is accompanied with fresh whipped cream and homemade jam served to you by this little cute man (to clarify - he's not a hobbit... he's just the owner who happens to be short). It is freaking to die for. Josh said the scones were the size of baby’s heads… it’s true, but not the best way to describe something you eat, eh?

They were so good in fact that Josh and I stopped in again on Thursday on our way back to Carey Park. Yum!

this little tourist went to the market

2008-09-04T15:52:00.004+12:00

The farmer’s market in Matakana is adorable. Fresh pastries and coffee, homemade treats like waffles with bacon and honey, freshly baked breads, macadamia nuts, chocolate, crepes served in banana leaves, home brewed beer, cheeses, fruits and veggies. It was either all locals or tourists, like me, that hate to be the typical tourist with camera in hand… but, for you (especially lb), I got out the camera and took some pics. Enjoy!

the bach

2008-09-04T15:43:00.003+12:00

Here is sunrise at the bach. Nice place… REALLY nice place… it overlooks Sandspit Beach. Sidenote – this is Phil Joel’s (long, flowing locks bandmate from Newsboys) aunt and uncle’s bach. Yep. We are now within six degrees of separation from 1990s hit contemporary Christian band Newsboys… shine… make em wonder what you got…

bird house

2008-09-04T15:41:00.002+12:00

So we knew we would be staying at the Omaha house from Monday to Thursday… but we didn’t know where we would be on Saturday or Sunday nights. We brought camping stuff and figured that would be the plan. Then it rained. So we called up one of the girls we worked with at the camp because she had offered to let us use her parents’ bach. Saturday afternoon, after the farmers market (which deserves its own post – so freaking cute) we came back to the bach and - typical NZ house, was freezing - so Josh being the outdoorsman that he is decided that he was going to make a fire.

Things started off pretty normal - he got newspaper and small pieces of wood ready, lit the fire starter, and then was sitting down in front of the fireplace tenderly and lovingly coaxing the fire to come to life and give us its glorious warmth. Then, all of a sudden from the inner bowels of the fireplace (or hell…your choice) a bat winged demon flew out and started throwing itself around the room screaming the devil’s song… ok actually it was a bluejay sized bird trying to get out of the bach while screeching and thowing itself into glass door after glass door… obviously not my favorite moment (bird phobia!).

We (and by we I mean Josh… I was cowering in the kitchen) eventually shooed it out and it was happy to leave… thank goodness. What a fire…

muri-MY-way

2008-09-01T15:34:00.003+12:00

We have some great people here helping us out… Kelly Burch and his wife Ruth created a list for Josh and I of locals-must-do activities. It’s not the typical “go to the Sky Tower,” “Go to the zoo,” etc, etc. The list was broken down into “Day activities” “2-3 day trips” “Date nights” and so on – it’s so freaking helpful it’s ridiculous. One of the date nights was to grab Dante’s pizza in Huiah and then drive down to Muriwai Beach to watch the sunset. On Thursday night Josh and I ticked that off the list.

Dante’s pizza is a woodfired, authentic Italian pizzeria. Josh didn’t believe all the hype (i.e. that their ovens are over 800 degrees so their pizzas cook in under 90 seconds…), but after he bit into that rosemary garlic bread, his doubts became nothing but a memory. We drove down to Muriwai from there, pizza in hand. We passed through farm after farm, pasture full of sheep after sheep – not really looking like beach material, but then all of a sudden dropped into the tropic brush that New Zealand is known for and then found it – sunset at the beach… Gorgeous! We’ll definitely be back – maybe when it’s not so freaking cold… brr!

road trip!

2008-08-31T13:21:00.001+12:00

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....

2008-08-29T16:42:00.004+12:00

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...

2008-08-26T16:07:00.000+12:00

Stupid birds...

Kerry Kerry Falls...

2008-08-25T12:10:00.000+12:00

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...

2008-08-24T22:27:00.001+12:00

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

new wheels...

2008-08-23T17:32:00.002+12:00

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

2008-08-22T18:49:00.002+12:00

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

2008-08-22T18:47:00.000+12:00

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...

2008-08-21T13:57:00.003+12:00

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...

2008-08-20T19:52:00.001+12:00

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...

2008-08-19T22:24:00.001+12:00

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

2008-08-19T17:52:00.004+12:00

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

2008-08-18T17:46:00.000+12:00

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!

2008-08-16T21:11:00.002+12:00

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...

2008-08-16T19:49:00.007+12:00

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

2008-08-14T15:22:00.004+12:00

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

2008-08-13T23:46:00.005+12:00

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

2008-08-13T23:22:00.005+12:00

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

2008-08-12T22:40:00.007+12:00

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!

2008-08-11T14:15:00.002+12:00

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...