Chiang Mai (Nov 20 - Dec 6)

After a couple of flights with a short stop in Sydney, we arrived in Bangkok, and were immediately greeted a hosted of new sights and smells. After making it through customs, getting some local currency (~34 Thai Bhat to 1 USD), we took a taxi to Khao San road, which is known as a backpacker's haven in Bangkok and is loaded with hostels. The small amount of sleep we got over the previous couple of days left us drained, so we didn't get to exploring much until the next morning when we scoped out the area looking for breakfast. The meal we were treated to confirmed for our happy stomachs that we were indeed in Thailand (Yummy green curry and mango with sticky rice).

We opted to head straight for Chiang Mai, so we made our way to the train station but some how ended up a travel agent across the street who tried to sell us on a bunch of different tours. In the end, we only got our train tickets and arranged for our first night's stay in Chaing Mai. Since the train wasn't leaving until later that evening we found ourselves with time, and explored the near by area finding a variety of wats and interesting shops before the road pollution drove us back into the train station. We eventually hopped on the train and had a restless night's sleep as we were able to get sleeper seats as they were sold out (peak tourist season). The smell emanating from a nearby backpacker didn't help either.

We arrived in Chiang Mai early in the morning, and after dropping our bags in our bleak little room, we spent most of that day, and the following one as well, exploring the city and figuring out which classes we wanted to sign up for. In the end, Tracy opted to take a ten day Thai massage class at Sunshine Massage School, while I took a five day Thai cooking class at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School. Classes started on the following Monday, so we used the weekend to start exploring the various markets, wats and food stalls.

Once our classes started, we fell into a little bit of a routine. We would get up and head to yoga class from 7 to 8 am at Tracy's massage school, enjoy a coffee together usually with some tasty fried bananas, and then separate for the day. I would head back to the hotel or b&b we were staying in and catch up on a few things until my ride arrived. My daily class routine consisted of morning instruction on things like vegetable carving or Thai ingredients followed by the cooking and eating of six different Thai dishes each day. I, of course, brought Tracy doggy bags to test my food. I even made it to the gym after class, most days. The second week when Tracy was still in class my days were a little slower for the most part. After my morning yoga, I wondered around town trying new foods and occasionally hit the nearby gym to work off the gallons of coconut milk and cream I was consuming. I added a little adventure one day by signing up for a mountain biking trip from the top of the near by mountain back down to town. It was actually a thrilling day and more challenging than I ever imagined (I and my fellow rider both took a spill or two).

Tracy's School Experience by Tracy

Where was I? I was having fun at the Sunshine School of Thai Massage; that's where I was. Lost listening to all the natural sounds of trees in the breeze and dogs barking in the foreground with the constant hum of traffic from the not so far main road. My favourite sound was the the mocking bird which had been taught to sound like a crying cat. This came though our breezy class room where we were being bent into shape and returning the favour. Would you believe my classmates where French or America? Obviously I've not got enough of of them back in LA...joking.

There was a class of 9: Mint being the Thai playdough model; the Americans -Randy (a conscious Nero-muscular massage therapist), Tyra (a fun Mormon masseur), Jen (a pretty girl who was a well balanced soul searcher), Rio and Ashley (Bindi newly weds moving to NZ); And the french speaking Swede Nicolas (new love affair with Mint), French Pyrus and happy travelling David la de vou la saxophonist, a very good one too.

I had a wonderful time learning the different postures given in a basic and clothed Thai massage from a Handsome Thai call Suriyan (no happy endings here Jem! lol). Yan kept us all in check but Fridays and Mondays where sometimes lost. Yan wants to further his career as a healer so he creates clothing with his own drawings and sells them to pay for his school in Bangkok. Yan had a secret liking for Ty which came out over Korean BBQ...so sweet hehe. I loved learning so much, that I sign up for a herbal class too where Randy and I learned about plants... interesting 5 finger leafs to single blades called betel or pandanus. A fun day of potions indeed, with thee most sweet lady called Dot Po whom lived up to her name. Sunshine little Herbal Goddess aka witch ha - I wanted to package here up and bring here back! She shared knowledge about here surroundings with Randy and I, in her sweet lullaby accent.

Om (too perfect of a name), our friend who kindly shared her yoga experience with us every morning, glowed with happiness. A fellow Sunshine teacher of Thai massage, she gave advice on several things including a massage from a blind healer. Tyler and I managed to find the place even though it looked more like a pharmacy/doctor's office than a massage place. Upstairs we went shoeless to our blind healers who gave us a very memorable, if not a little painful, Thai massage. If only they could combine Thai massage with chiropractic, it would be the perfect combo. Days flew past at a shocking speed and now I am wishing for the brakes! Not back yet :-) soon though.

When we weren't in classes, we either found ourselves perusing the night markets or checking out a new restaurant. Our favorite place to eat turned out to be the Anusarn market because it had a bunch of incredible Thai seafood restaurants. The Khantoke dinner (a traditional northern Thai dinner accompanied with a variety of traditional Thai dancing performances) was also very good. We also found time for a few Thai massages and spa treatments that were all very good, but the best was probably the massages we received from the couple blind men Tracy mentioned.

During this time, we kept conversing with various travellers who were stuck in Thailand due to the airport demonstration. Everyone was trying to get the latest news on the situation. By far the worst story we heard was about an Aussie who was on his way to London for a week vacation, but got caught in the airport during his two our layover. Bye, bye vacation!

Our last night in Chiang Mai, we were invited by her instructor along with all of Tracy's classmates to a Korean barbeque. When we arrived, we found ourselves under a large open air structure with about 1000 Thais boring through buffet lines. We spent the night enjoying a bunch of new foods and chatting with Tracy's classmates. After stuffing our bellies, we said our goodbyes and made our way back to our hotel (not before checking out one more market) to pack our bags.

Chiang Mai was a blast, but Ko Tao was calling so we headed to the airport for a short flight to the south...

Waitomo Caves and Auckland (Nov 14 - 19)

For our next adventure, we decided on exploring the Waitomo Caves. We showed up early for our tour, and shortly thereafter found ourselves putting on very stinky wetsuits, pants and helmets. After a little introduction to the basics of abseiling, I was the first of our group to descend into the cave. It was almost a 100 foot drop, but a very beautiful place to enter with a small stream running through it. Tracy fearless of heights by this time also enjoyed her descent.

Once the entire group made it to the bottom, we walked with our guide upstream in the cave and shut off lights to see awesome glow worm display. These little guys make small glowing blue dots on the cave ceiling. Actually, they are maggots, and it is their excrement that glows, but "Hey! Come check out the amazing glowing maggot poo!" just doesn't bring in the tourists. We then tubed back down through cave with lights off and bumping off walls (lots of fun). Once we had gone as far as we could on the tubes, we hiked a little further in the cave and squeezed and out of narrow passages while our guide, a young Scot, took pictures. Finally, we each in turn climbed back up out of the 100 foot cave while roped in for safety. All in all it was very fun experience!

We made our way to Auckland later in day, and while eating lunch at stop on the side of the road made friends with this rooster that was hanging around begging for food. We had a very interesting conversation with this man about roosters and how to eat them. A little weirded out, we continued to Auckland where we checked into a holiday park for the last time and gave all remaining goods away. I cooked soup for the last time, and while it was very good, we found ourselves looking forward to Thai cuisine.

The next morning we said goodbye to our camper and checked into our hotel. Much to our delight, the hotel had very nice fitness and spa facilities, which we took full advantage of over the next few days. Over the next few days, we explored Auckland as we also prepared to head to Thailand. Auckland is a beautiful city with many nice restaurants. We would write more about the tourist attractions, but ended up spending most of our time outside of our hotel either shopping or having slow meals in the restaurants and coffee houses around the city. Oh well, Thailand here we come!

Wine, Naked men and flies ...The North Island. (Nov 10 - 13)

We totally lucked out on the ferry ride over to Wellington and were able to jump on an earlier one even though we paid for the cheap night fare. After picking up pies from the local bakery, we queued up to board the ferry. There were several queues based on vehicle size, and a kind eyed gentleman came around questioning us on where we had been and where we were going to see if we might be transporting a nasty, invasive alga, DIDYMO (also known as "rock snot"), that lives in the water ways. Since we had played in some estuaries and bays, we gave up our shoes for a cleansing as we did not want to be responsible for spreading the little bug...even though we didn't know what he was going on about. Tyler's need to be on time and my somewhat slower nature resulted in a funny moment waiting for the kettle to boil. I just managed to make tea just before we had to close the gas tank and set off to board the ship for our three hour journey to Wellington, and a much needed cuppa it was.

Once on the ship, we had to leave our camper and walk up several flights of stairs to the passenger decks filled with multitudes of cafes and bars. We sat down and enjoyed our tea with a carrot cake. Yum! Free is our favourite word at the moment, and we are trying to bring this word into everything we do! To that end, we enjoyed looking out at Marlborough Sounds (usually only available by tour boat) on the deck of the ship while listening to our iPods.

Upon arriving in Wellington (Capital of New Zealand) late the afternoon, we managed to swing by the Museum Te Papa Tongarewa, which was also free of charge. We stayed until it closed and enjoyed several interactive exhibits along with 'Blood, Earth and Fire', which told of the story about how 80% of the land has been deforested (burned or chopped down) in less that 100 years to make way for livestock. Pretty ugly stuff. A majority of the birds also became extinct (Ever heard of a Moa?) and with each new arriving group, new things were introduced to remind the settlers of home (i.e, plants, bugs, and mammals). New Zealand is inundated with so many foreign invaders that every Kiwi we met seemed to have concern for native species on the tips of their tongues. My personsal opinion after seeing this exhibit is that land loss is the main problem and that the 60 million sheep and half as many cows that now call New Zealand home are just as much to blame as the invasive species. I digress. We headed north at sunset for Napier, which sits in a well known Hawkes Bay wine region.

After a few frustrating hours searching for what seemed like a non existant shop to rent bikes from, we found a tin home where at the very back a lady runs a business renting bikes and helmets out to unsuspecting tourist. She handed us a map, patted us on the back and said, "it is pretty much all flat expect for this one road which has a little incline".

Off we went, water bottles in hand and safety helmets on as we peddled to our first winery, Brooksfield, a lovely family owned business which is apparently rare as most of the vineyards have been bought by large corporations. A lovely conversation with a equally lovely lady named Sharon warmed our hearts and our taste buds. We promised to come back, and then we set off for a second and larger winery. We even enjoyed a chocolate factory and some wooden sculptures cut from tree stumps. We headed along a very, very long road, pretty tired at this point to find our next destination was closed. Without further ado, we set off up the small incline... she lied. We/I died, my legs burned and my heart nearly popped out my chest from beating so hard. We made it and the descent down was a very long one. Happy that we did not go up that way we eventually made our way back to our car as everything had shut for the day.

On our way to Rotarua, we stopped at a place known to the locals as "Secret Cove" or "Hot and Cold". We had a lovely time soaking in this natural hot spring where a cool stream met a warm stream at the entrance of the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. What was especially nice was the fact that it was free. Free of charge and free spirited as Tyler and I found enjoyable conversation with the locals and other tourist, one or two of whom were completely nude! We were a little on edge due to the really large sign stating "Danger! Do not put head in water - amoebic meningitis is fatal and caused by water entering the nasal passages". Not knowing what the hell the sign was going on about, we looked at the people already enjoying the waters and gingerly stepped in wondering what amoebic meningitis was or indeed how would one know if you had contracted it. Panic over took me as I watched the older naked man splash water all over his face and continue to do so. Well I just couldn't keep my mouth shut, so I asked why he wasn't concerned about what the sign said. Everyone in the pool went quiet and discreetly listened, without actually looking at the naked man. He replied"nar nobody's got it, been coming ere since '74, just remember to blow out your nose if you do. The sign's only ter cause of OSHA." Sighs of relief were heard all around over the rushing water, but I'm made a mental note to look up what hell amoebic meningitis was...just in case.

We made it to Rotaru later that day, and went for a run along the lake front as suggested by the host at our holiday park. We quickly realized that woman had no business giving advice out on where to run as we found ourselves sprinting through massive swarms of sandflies over and over again. After a good night's sleep, it was time to move on with our journey, but not before stopping to check out the local redwood forest. That's right actual redwoods imported from northern california.

A side note on these wonderful characters we've met: The French Canadian man Lucas seem very adapted to a life on foot with a very organised and large backpack. Whereas the lady from Alaska had nothing but the smallest of backpacks (almost a daypack really) and seemed most a home WWOOFing. Richard, a fellow traveling Brit, on the other hand, carried the largest of bags filled with just a few clothes and a bunch rock climbing gear! It was the size of a kiddies car! He also carrying his treasured mandolin separately, which he even broke out and played a few tunes for me with. Very Good! Richard's passion was for folk music, which is something I have not explored myself personally, but it seems very familiar to me...even the young Alaskan lady had a hing for folk and bluegrass music. All under 25! Certainly a change.

More of the Southern Island (Nov 2 - 10)

After our thrilling morning plunging 12,000 feet through the air, we chilled out in Queenstown and enjoyed lunch with some of the people we met skydiving. An American girl from Texas and two Brits from Essex. There seem to be a trend as we were still not meeting the locals. I suppose they keep away from tourist traps though. Once the pictures of our jump were ready though, we set off for Wanaka, a small lake side town an hour from Queens town, but as it was already dark when we arrived, we headed straight to the holiday park. The nights are light until around 9pm with lovely sunsets starting about a half hour or so before. With these light nights, we seem to fit an abundance of travel and stuff all in one day though still, not enough for our liking.

Up early the next morning, we started the long drive up the west coast. Once we made it to the coastline, we were treated to some fantastic views as the road wound along the cliffs high above beaches where fur seals lay basking in the sun. We stopped along the way and enjoyed a picnic lunch whilst watching sea diving birds looking awkward sunning themselves on the shoreline. Shortly thereafter, rain set in for the day, and we heard over the radio that the area we had just left was getting a lot of snowfall. Feeling fortunate that we left when we did we continued on.

Our next stop was Fox Glacier. This is a massive glacier, and the ice that isn't covered in dirt is a beautiful blue color. This also could be seen in the rushing river, which was as you can guess...ice cold. Even though we weren't allowed too close to the glacier face because of recent rock slides, we spent quite a bit of time there enjoying the sights the fresh crisp air and searching for Tracy's lost glove :-( . The glove, like Tracy, was so in tune with nature that it blended in so well that we never did find it. We continued on stopping in the small town of Franz Joseph for fish n' chips...mmm yummy. Finally, we pulled into Greymouth, which seemed aptly named because of the heavy cloud cover and constant drizzle.

The following morning, we started the day with a little exercise by jogging along the beach next to our holiday park. While we almost always enjoy running by the ocean, this was no sand beach, and the small stones we trod over made for sore ankles the following day. Back on the road, we headed for Abel Tasman National Park. Tracy even spent a little time behind the wheel steering our camper along the winding mountain roads. After a few stops, including a small picnic spot where two rivers (one black, one blue) merge, we eventually arrived in Pohara Beach which we would use as a base for exploring Abel Tasman the next few days.

Our adventures in Abel Tasman included a great, but very, very windy hike out to Separation Point. (Red - it was about 10 miles roundtrip and you would have truly enjoyed it). Along the way, we stopped an overnight hut on the track and talked to some fellow hikers. As we approached Separation Point itself, we had to make our way down a steep rock face as massive winds blew all around us. At the very edge of the rocky point, where we could see all the way across both Golden Bay and Tasman Bay, we had to brace ourselves so we weren't swept into the cold sea by the strong winds. At that point, a very large fur seal also decided to say hello. Actually, he barely moved as he was enjoying a nap in the sun.

A couple of days later, we drove out to Awaroa Bay. The hosts at our holiday park had told us it wouldn't be a problem getting out there in our camper, but we found the road a little daunting as we twice had to drive across small streams that caused water to splash up on the windshield. Once we made it to the bay though, we had a great time exploring. Awaroa Bay is a very large sand bottom bay that drains and fills with the tides. As it can only be crossed within a few hours of low tide and it is part of the coastal hiking track, we say many backpackers making their way across the inlet while we took our time playing in the sand. We made a large loop through the bay checking out the little crabs and crossing through shallow streams of water. The last stretch of our little hike was the most muddy though and we slogged our way through mud up to our ankles. Fortunately, we were wearing our Tevas and we quickly rinsed off in a stream as the rains set in again.

During our time in Abel Tasman, we also popped in and out of the town of Takaka for supplies as there wasn't a grocer in Pohara Beach. We quickly grew to like this little town, which seem very relaxed and a little hippie in nature. We also spent an afternoon at a local salmon farm where we caught our very own salmon and had them smoked with a variety of spices. It made for a fantastic dinner, but witnessing me finish off the salmon so to speak, left Tracy feeling a little scared. Her mood brighten a bit as we ate the tasty salmon, and even more so, as we watched a herd of various farm animals, including a furry Scotish highland cow parade by as we were preparing to leave.

After Abel Tasman, we decided to head out to Farewell Spit, a long sandspit on the northern end of the island that is home to a nature reserve as it is a wetland of internal importance. On the way out, we stopped at a place called the Mussel Inn, which was recommended to us by a local in Pohara Beach. The Mussel Inn was probably the coolest little tavern we visited in New Zealand so far. All of the beers and ciders are made on site, everyone of them excellent, and the homey little place is populated by lively assortment of locals. We decided to explore the spit itself by going for a short jog the next morning. We intended to only be out for an hour or so, but it turned out that the person who suggested our route thought we would be driving, not running, so we ended up being out for over three hours. That said, it was an incredible three hours. We started out by running west up this gravel road next to a field of cattle, which damn near started a stampede as we went by. Next, we spent a good amount of time climbing up to the top of the hills overlooking the ocean until we made it to the "hilltop track". There we ran back east all the while enjoying the magnificent views of the ocean below and Golden Bay far below and in the distance. Eventually, we made it to hilly sheep fields, which we made our through carefully watching were we stepped. Finally, we made it out to the northern side of the spit, where we ran along the ocean then crossed back to the south side before heading back to our camper. The woman at the holiday park was a little shocked when returned and told her that we enjoyed the run.

Finally, it was time to head over to Picton where we would catch our ferry to the North island the next day. As we made our way to Picton though, we took time to stop off at a few wineries in the Renwich and Blenheim area.

The next day we would board our ferry and say goodbye to the south island.

Queenstown Craziness (Oct 30 - Nov 2)

Queenstown is a beautiful town known for craziness, and we could write a ton about everything there is to do. But heck life is too short, so in this instance, we've decided to let the photos speak for themselves. We had a fun, highly charged and very emotional experience that we shall always remember - peace, love and happiness all the way baby!

Te Anau and the Fiordlands (Oct 25 - 29)

After hours of driving, we made it to our destination, Te Anau, on the west side of the south island. This small town is a jumping off point to Fiordland National Park, the largest park in New Zealand. We spent a day here figuring out our plan for the rest of our time in New Zealand, and outside of that, there wasn't much memorable besides a really bad meal at a local cafe. We did however arranged for an overnight trip to Doubtful Sound.

To get to Doubtful Sound, we first had to drive a half hour or so to Manapouri where we caught an hour long ferry ride across Lake Manapouri. Next we were transferred to a bus that took us on an hour ride over a pass where we finally boarded the Fiordland Navigator. After a short safety briefing in the galley, we were assigned to our quarters which thankfully were solely ours even though they slept four. As the boat set underway, a young girl provided information on the sound over the intercom system. One of the first things we learned was Doubtful Sound was not a sound at all, but rather a fiord (a fiord is glacially carved where sounds are carved by flowing water). Upon deck this seemed quiet evident based on the steep slopes.

As we made it further into the sound, we stopped for activities. We chose the more active option, kayaking, which neither of us had done in awhile. After donning our life jackets, grabbing paddles and jumping in the kayaks, we started to move off with the rest of the group...well sort of. Tracy's kayak just refused to obey her, and she was convinced it was defective our somehow different that everyone else's. Screaming from frustration and spinning in circles, she realized she was stronger in one arm than the other and eventually she started making progress. After a half hour or so, she was even able to look up and realize she was sitting in the middle of an incredibly beautiful and remote place that few get to see. We paddled along the shoreline for the next half hour just absorbing the grandeur.

Back on the boat, Tracy decided she still hadn't had enough of the water, and along with a few other lunatics, jumped into the freezing water. She even convinced a fellow expat, Rodrick (see pic with Tracy above) to join her. While she was shouting with glee and adrenaline upon surfacing, her enthusiasm quickly faded and her teeth began to chatter, which I will never forget seeing as I have a wonderful series of photos to commemorate the whole experience (check out the slideshow for a few of them).

After a not so hot shower and piling on layers of clothes, Tracy began to warm up and joined me up on deck as we neared the Tasman Sea. Upon reaching the small islands and rocks and the entrance to the Doubtful, we were able to see some fur seals, and better yet, yellow crested penguins on the rocks (woohoo we bagged our third type of penguin in their natural environment!). The sun began to set and it made for some beautiful moments.

At the end of what seemed like a very full day, we headed to the galley for dinner. Much to our surprise, Rodrick, asked if he could join us and brought a nice bottle of wine with him. We spent the next few hours sharing stories with Rodrick's much appreciated and very good company. After our second bottle of wine, we had learned that Rodrick was a retired police officer with three daughters, living in Spain and currently travelling for a number of months. More than that, Rodrick was a very good storyteller, which made the hours pass too quickly.

Finishing up our last glasses of wine and telling Rodrick good night, we headed out on deck in the expectation of seeing some amazing stars since we were so far away from urban light pollution. Instead however, we found and amazingly eerie scene. Dark clouds above and a complete lack of lights on the shore or water, combined to make seem as if the boat was floating in a pitch black abyss! We could see absolutely nothing, not even the water a few feet below. It was like being deep in a cave with the lights out...really cool!

The next morning we arose and grabbed breakfast in the galley while we enjoyed the ride back. It was raining all morning, so the waterfalls in the sound were flowing nicely. Mist seemed to descend on the mountains, which made for a eerie yet beautiful setting. We made our way back taking the reverse route as before and spent most of the morning chatting more with Rodrick. We eventually made it back to Te Anau where we acquired caravan site for the night.

The following day we drove up to Milford Sound. Our first real stop was at Mirror Lakes, so named for the reflections of the mountains you can see in the water. It was windy, but we still got some great pics. Continuing the road, the scenery became more dramatic and we found ourselves on small mountain roads winding our way through forest along side streams of blue water. Soon we reached the Homer Tunnel, which is 1.2 km long, but while waiting for the light to change so we could enter we got our first glimpses of Keas., an alpine parrot species only found in the South Island of New Zealand. These birds are curious and have been known tear up the window seals on cars with their peaks. The ones we saw were definitely us to being fed and immediately made their way to the line of cars and parked themselves just outside the front doors of most of the vehicles. Occasionally, they would even land on the roofs and look over the sides into the front windows.

Upon emerging from the tunnel, we found ourselves in an entirely new world. Snow was coming down everywhere, and the steep walls on all sides of us were filled with hundreds of rushing waterfalls. It was truly majestic. Arriving at Milford Sound, we checked out the visitor center, but opted to pass on the boat ride as we had already seen Doubtful up close and wanted to save the money for more fun things in Queenstown. We had lunch in the camper and slowly made our way back to Te Anau and onto Queenstown.

Christchurch to Dunedin (Oct 19 - 25)

The first thing we realized upon landing in Christchurch, after a short flight from Melbourne, was that it was much, much colder in New Zealand than Australia. Looking back on our decision not to start our trip with New Zealand, we realized we made the right call. Luck also seemed to be working in our favor as we were upgraded from a Hippie Camper to an Apollo Hitop Camper. In retrospect, the Hippie would have been a bad choice in NZ as you have to stand outside to cook and it has been cold and frequently wet since we arrived.

The next few days we spent stocking up the camper, catching up on our email and exploring Christchurch, which is a very beautiful and serene little city. Everywhere you go, there seems to be a quaint river inhabited by a variety of ducks and lined with beautiful foliage with picturesque bridges. One afternoon we enjoyed a long, slow jog through the extraordinary botanical gardens. The stocking of the camper nearly took as a day, but we were able to find everything we desired. Tracy even found an intersection populated with tea shops, herbal medicine stores and whole food markets...everything her little hippie heart needed!

After a few days in Christchurch, we headed for Akaroa. This town was the site of the only French settlement in New Zealand. Of course, the English arrived first, so the settlement eventually fell under their rule, but not before the French left their mark. The town is situated out on the Banks Peninsula and nestled in the heart of an ancient volcano overlooking a small harbour. The hills are also topped with what we thought were beautiful yellow flowers. We only found out later that this flowering plant was named Gas Weed and is actually an invasive species wreaking havoc on NZ's environment.

Upon checking into the local Top 10 holiday ark, we were greeted by a horde of ducks. Based on experiences so far, we have deduced that it is NZ law that every every holiday park keep at least three families of ducks on site and train them to beg for food from the tourists while simultaneously postings signs everywhere not to feed the ducks. One particular duck couple adopted us while in Akaroa and camped outside our door nearly the entire time. When we weren't playing with the ducks, we once again enjoyed exploring the town by running through it. One day we ran out to the historic lighthouse and then randomly weaved our way back through forest trails. On another occasion, we ran up to the tree farm, which proved extremely challenging as the hills are very steep here. We faced down a few sheep on the trail, as often happens here, and even one loudly barking down. The highlight of Akaroa for us though was our trip to see the Pohatu Penguins at Flea Bay. We were picked up along with seven other tourists by a local lady, Shireen Helps, whose family owns most of the land around Flea Bay. What they don't own has been entrusted to the NZ Department of Conservation to look after. We also learned that Shireen and her husband have been looking after the penguins for more than two decades often without government support or funding. They protect the penguins by setting traps for introduced possums and stoats and try to help increase their numbers by providing small wooden boxes the penguins can use for nests so they don't fight each other for the prime spots. Their efforts have not been in vain either as the numbers of mating pairs in their colony has been increasing as of late. Needless to say, Shireen is Tracy's new hero.

Before actually setting off to look for the penguins, I helped feed some lambs along with a few others from our tour group as they wouldn't let Shireen leave otherwise. We then set off on a hike to through the penguin colony. We were not disappointed as we saw many penguins in their nests guarding eggs and even some males emerging from the sea and marching up their penguin trails to their nests where they would take over watching the eggs from the females so they could go eat.

The next stop on our journey was Oamaru, home to rare and endangered, yellow-eyed penguins (YEPs). After getting directions from the local info center, we went immediately to the cliffs overlooking the small colony of YEPs. We soon started chatting with a very funny and nice man named Colin, a Glaswegian, who volunteered for a group known as the Friends of the YEPs. He told us his nice love story. As a simple petrol station worker, he came travelling with his girlfriend from London. Afterwards, they both decidied to leave their history behind and make a fresh start by following his passion of bird protection in NZ. He was nice enough to point out the YEP we thought we had spotted was actually a dummy placed on the cliffs to trick the local predators. It wasn't long before we spotted our first real YEP though, and others soon followed. Tracy even made a cuppa which nicely warmed our frozen hands. Before heading out the following morning, we again went for a run, this time along the town's Skyline Track where we pushed our ways through herds of sheep closely watching where we stepped.

Next we headed for the town of Dunedin. This town like many in the area appears to have been heavily influenced by Scots. ( Tracy disagrees now't like Scotland) The town center is formed streets in the shaped two concentric octagons with streets heading out away from the center. The major attractions in town are Railway station, which we visited, along with a Cadbury's factory and a Speight's brewery, which we didn't visit. At the railway station, we ducked into Scotia, a scotch bar boasting the largest selection in NZ and enjoyed a dram of Laphroaig...tasty. While enjoying our scotch, we struck up a conversation with the bartender who was a Scot herself from Edinburgh. She patiently answered our questions and increased our knowledge about scotch. The next morning we hit the local farmers market at the train station where we once again ran into a Brit. This time he was English though. Tom is one of the owners and managers of the Green Man Brewery, and he moved from Adlington, England, which is very near to Tracy's hometown, about 16 years ago. Tracy took some time reminiscing on her home with Tom before we set off though with a small box of various beers in hand (Tom - If you are reading this, we've really enjoyed your beer so far, you need to get it to the states!).

We headed out to the nearby Otago peninsula in the afternoon. There were plenty of interesting sites, like NZ's only castle, we had to bypass on the way in the interest of time, but the drive was beautiful, most of it on a small two lane road the hugs the shoreline. At the end of the drive, we arrived at the tip of the peninsula, Taiaroa Head, which is home to a Royal Albatross colony. As the albatross where nesting, tours to the top of the cliff weren't running, but we still managed to see many of these magnificent and massive birds flying overhead. We also walked to another observation point on a cliff around the corner from the colony where we could see shags and fur seals. We ran into an Irish tourist we met the previous night in our holiday park and we started comparing notes on New Zealand. He gave us a lot of good information, so we chatted for awhile. It was just long enough for the rain to start setting in and on the way to the car it turned into a gusty little hail storm. Even though we were only two minutes from the parking lot, we still ended up drenched and cold in our camper. That Antarctic wind blows real cold!!!

The Great Ocean Road (Oct 17 - 18)

Driving again, but this time on The Great Ocean Road... Great is an understatement!!!

But first let me explain our error... a four day error. We had managed to get all the way to the airport when we decided to review our paper work. The date on our complete itinerary is the 17th, but our flight to New Zealand was suppose to be the 21st... um oops! It was not even nine o'clock in the morning. Thankfully the attendant took pity on us and was able to move us the one on Sunday the 19th in two days time. We had already given our hippie back the previous day. Not to worry though. An English post woman we had previously met said her favourite part of Australia was the Great Ocean Road, so we hired a car and set off driving to Torquay, the beginning of the famous road (not the only English named town here...). We moved from the M1 to the A1 ( Princess Coast highway) to Surf Coast High way in time for brunch in a cute town where we burnt our photos to DVD and picked up a map. Our map being previously posted back including our Australia travel bible. After being inland, popping out in Torquay was a big bright blue surprise.

The ocean road is a weaving and winding road that went up and down, along the hills, by the side of cliffs. We drove a little and stopped, drove a little and stopped, each time being accosted by flies. The view along the cliffs where a beautiful colour palate in every direction. There were so many tantalising greens, white, blues with golden sands. Tyler's temp rose as the flies had won the hour, but we quickly learned that the flies where bugging every one, with a few swats here and a discreet slap there. So we took pleasure in fly swatting. These flies seemed to like eyeballs, very friendly flies.

After a few too many stops with no food, we arrived in Apollo Bay. Another glorious little town over looking a grass bank onto the hidden sea beyond. The flies had gone, but Tyler had a bee in his bonnet. He wanted to see the Twelve Apostles, and I wanted to eat. The sun was soon to go down though, so in true British form, I picked up a bag of fish and chips and we munched them while Tyler guided our little rental car around all the winding corners that this road had to offer. Tasty! (Fyi, this was our first true bag in the whole time.. i think??). There were a few lookouts left on the way, including driving though a forest, farm land then back to rolling cliffs. At the Gibson Steps lookout, even though these where closed, we were delighted to see our first apostle. A very big slab of sand stone in the middle of the sea. Very nice to meet you too Mr. Apostle!

We were off to the visitors center up the road, a fancy, sustainable building with a water recycling and a wetland. A short walk away from the Twelve Apostle. There seems to be a debate as to how many apostles there actually are. One sign stated you couldn't see all twelve apostles from the viewing area, while other literature we've read says that as many as five were eroded. We've also heard that there were never twelve, but the name was selected for marketing purposes. Regardless, it is a wonderous sight.

We read the sunset was the best time to visit, and we arrived with half an hour to spare. Not quite though as the paper we were using had forgot to factor daylight savings time into the sunset time, so we had an hour and half spare. Not to worry the bird life was plentiful, and the scenic heather land was beautiful. Even the monster size ants were fun to look at. The glorious sun descended into the the sea without so much as a pretty look. Bollocks but wait the horizon began to light up clouds and the colours brought the previously sleepy apostles to life. Such a glorious sight! The violet hours rules! Happy with Tyler's mistake ;-), we headed to Port Campbell to find somewhere to rest our heads. Luckily we found a near empty hostel and food within walking distance where we had our first Kangaroo meat - strange duck/game taste.

Tyler read whilst I took a early morning jog around the coastline where I came across a sunning sea lion. Nice! Back to Melbourne we had to go, but we had read about a few walks which tickled our interest. Were we in for a treat! The great road had not finished with us yet. Pictures will do better that I can explain, but to give you an idea...the waves on the coast are so powerful that water splashes against the soft cliffs creating a network of underground caves. The inlets are inviting but treacherous as death comes quickly for anyone marooned along the coast (as we read in accounts of old shipwrecks). The waves continue the erosion process and arches and holes are created, accessssable by the birds. This results in unstable ground, and eventually, when the arches collapse, a lone rock, or Apostle, is left. The trails run through heather so high that one move off the path and you are completely lost. There are also hidden rivers and wetlands leading to secluded beaches where steps aid the descendant. Crystal clear water so refreshing but bloody freezing to touch (our picture getting wet was not intentional). The weather fooled us with a 30-40 degree change from morning to evening. We got scorched as our little walked turned into hours of discovery and fun. We left in time to go back to Apollo Bay for a late lunch which at 3 o'clock is dead time. Nothing is open except the famous fish and chips, so we hung out awhile for dinner. I lazed on the grass and Tyler in a cafe. Later, over a beer, we reviewed our time in Oz. This time we really would be leaving, but what a fantastic mistake. Best one Yet!

The Road to Melbourne (Oct 14 - 17)

After some swimming, light breakfast and some time on the hotel computers, we jumped back in the Hippie and headed south. Our goal was to make it to Melbourne by the second night, but that proved out of reach.

After escaping Sydney and the surrounding suburbs, we found ourselves in a beautiful countryside of rolling hills dotted cows and sheep of all types - the colours had reversed solid black, black/white cows and white sheep possibly a few (Jersey cows and Suffolk sheep Tracy say isn't that right, Rachel?). As a very heavy thunderstorm set in, we stopped in the town on Milton for a meal in small by very hip cafe. I enjoyed a burger that had a small amount of beetroot on it, which the Aussies feel the need to include on everything from time to time. After dinner, we stopped at the local caravan park for the evening.

Before setting off the next morning, we talked with the managers a bit about the local wildlife and played with the new puppy, a twelve week old half-Rhodesian Ridgeback, half-something I forget. On the road to Melbourne, we stopped in Bega, which is the home of a famous Aussie cheese factory, where we of course sample the local goods. After that stop, the countryside, known as the Sapphire coast, continued to astound as the hills seemed to get more pronounced. We stopped hear and there for pictures including backtracking to get a picture of one living echinida (like a porcupine) and one dead wombat. The wombat road kill nearly brought Tracy to tears. We finally ended up stopping in a small tourist town named Lake Entrance where we strolled the entire main street, chatting with our neighbours from Singapore before selecting a restaurant for dinner. A popular place that was very brightly lit.

The next morning we headed for Melbourne and found a caravan park in the green belt area, but a bit far from the city center. This turned out to a good choice however as the site was surrounded by a narrow park and undeveloped land (under telephone pylons) which made it animal sanctuary of sorts. While checking in, one of the managers pointed out a koala high in a tree just outside. He educated us a little on the furry creatures. Apparently, the reason they sleep about twenty hours a day and have terrible eyesight is that they are perpetually drunk. That's right drunk! This is because the gum tree leaves they dine on ferment in their bellies. This seems like a life fit for a few of our friends. ;-) There were also ton of ducks, parakeets and other birds in the area. At the suggestion of the manager, we went on a short hike where we also spotted countless little bunny rabbits.

The next day we had to turn in the hippie. It was sad saying goodbye, but we knew our time in Australia was drawing short. After checking into a hotel near the airport for the evening, we caught a train into the city. Melbourne from all appearances was an easy to navigate, vibrant city. We also found it to be a very beautiful city, particularly where the inner city loop meets the river. It is there were we wandered for a while before finally selecting a place for dinner. We snapped a few more pictures of the city before being driven back onto the train to our hotel by the cold night air. All the time chatting to an interesting older couple from Brisbane. We both found Melbourne to be a very nice city, but because of our limited time there it is impossible to say that we enjoyed it as much as Sydney.

Blue Mountains and Sydney (Oct 10 - 13)

Before heading to Sydney, we opted to check out the Blue Mountains, and after driving into the afternoon, we made it to the town of Katoomba which offers the best scenic view in the area. The Three Sisters rock formation is a particularly well known sight (see pic above). We spent a little time in this town wandering the streets and chatting. We planned on staying there for the evening, but as the caravan park was all booked up, we headed to the next town, Blackheath, in the Hippie in the hopes of getting a spot in their caravan park. As it turned out, they did have an open spot, and we ended up checking out the local pub and fish chip shop. This town, like so many in the area, was very quaint and had a mainstreet lined with older buildings with their historical features still well preserved. Our experience turned a little sour the next morning, as the caravan park owners wouldn't allow us to stay an extra 30 minutes to finish our laundry despite the fact that we offered to move our car across the street and that the reason we were done yet was one of their drying machines not working. After a few heated words with the crotchety managers, we gladly hit the road for Sydney.

It only took a couple of hours, and we found ourselves in the heart of beautiful Sydney. Our little Hippie was quite the attention getter in downtown, particularly when we pulled up to our hotel, the Sheraton, directly across from Hyde Park. As we pulled up to the valets, I got the distinct feeling that they were more use to business men in expensive suits, but we were greeted warmly nevertheless. As soon as we were checked in, we strapped on our running shoes and went for a jog through Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens before finally arriving at the famous Opera House, a specatular structure. We hit the gym as soon as we returned, and Tracy found time for a little yoga on the balcony while enjoying the view of Sydney from the 22nd floor.

The next day we enjoyed a little breakfast at a cafe in the park before setting off again. We took a similar route as before, but this time we had cameras in hand. As it was a warm, spring day in Sydney, there were plenty of plants in bloom and many wedding parties having their pictures taken. We also passed a few hours exploring the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

After snapping a few pics of the Opera House, we headed for the area of Sydney known as the Rocks and Circular Quay. This is the oldest area of Sydney complete with old stone buildings and a few cobblestone streets. As we passed the Fortune of War, we noticed that it claimed to be the oldest pub in Sydney, so we of course stopped for a pint. Inside we found a small band led by a elderly female singer belting out old jazzy numbers and that included a gentleman playing a washboard. I'm not kidding a real washboard.

After exiting the Fortune of War, we decided we really liked this area of Sydney and would spend the rest of the afternoon there. We wondered through the streets checking out more pubs, ducking into pie shops, and trying to decide what sumptuous cake to buy at small bakery. We finished up the evening with a very nice tapas style meal.

As we wandered back to our hotel late in the evening, we played around taking some pictures in the empty streets of Sydney and wondered what we find along the coast when we headed out in the morning. We both agreed that more time in Sydney would have been welcomed and that it was our favorite Aussie city to date.