Note: I'm woefully behind on my travel blog entries, but I will catch them up over the next few months (I still haven't written about the rest of the NZ trip, Thailand, Cambodia, or Japan). What an awesome weekend! Though, it was another weekend in a plane... except for the big difference that instead of in a plane in the air I was in one *submerged*! :) A few weeks ago I took the plunge and signed up for the NAUI Advanced Diver Course at Sub-Aquatic Sports & Services located in Battle Creek, MI. For the course, last week we had [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Te Anau, driving from Queenstown, the evening before. Te Anau is quiet and small... even with it being the height of tourist season and everything booked up, it was still calm. I guess they only have a very limited capacity of hotel rooms. Te Anau is at the edge of Fiordland National Park (the largest national park in NZ and one of the largest in the world) and next to Lake Te Anau. It is a favorite spot to stay before heading into Fiordland. In the morning, we were picke [View Full Entry]

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Day 7: We started out the day in Wanaka with breakfast at a cafe with a good view of the Laka Wanaka and the surrounding mountains. It was sunny with a light breeze. After breakfast we walked around a bit and along the shore. Wanaka is similar to Queenstown in that it is by a lake and has great views of mountains. And Wanaka and Queenstown are about an hour drive apart. We then started our drive to Queenstown. Along the way, Vanessa decided to take her first turn driving; in NZ driving is on the left-hand side of the road, [View Full Entry]

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Another early rise... we packed up at the hostel and were on our way to Fox Glacier. It was raining for most of the drive, which made it more difficult to see the scenery. We were concerned that our hike up the glacier might be cancelled. Nevertheless, the drive was scenic, though, the road was (as in much of NZ) very curvy and hilly. This was one of the day's that Robert planned and he planned it well. We arrived early enough to grab some food and get checked in for our scheduled hike. The hike was still a go despite [View Full Entry]

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Christmas! The idea was that the coastal towns of Greymouth and (the nearby) Punakaiki would be the perfect place to relax while we celebrated Christmas. And stay, relatively, in one place. After getting ready, we headed up the coast about an hour to Punakaiki. Punakaiki is mostly known for its pancake rocks and blowholes. Its coast, in general, is beautiful, as well. To get to the pancake rocks (see photos to see where they get their name), we had a wonderful hike through some low-lying vegetation to get to Dolomite Point (location [View Full Entry]

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Our fourth day fell on Christmas Eve and was one of relative rest; the first three days were a whirlwind of activity. When we were planning the trip, we knew that by the end of the third day we would be spent, so for the fourth day taking a scenic train through the mountains from coast to coast seemed to fit well. The TranzAlpine travels from Christchurch on the east coast to Greymouth on the west coast. In between are some plains, lots of mountains, and some rivers. We got up early, went to the train station, checked in, waited, and [View Full Entry]

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A little background. For me, this was a dream come true. Two years ago, a yearned to go to NZ. Everyone... EVERYONE I talked to that had visited or lived in NZ had nothing but great things to say. However, with costs, time, etc. I just kind of left it hang in the back of my mind as something to do down the road. Sometime. Someday. Then I was assigned a project in Sydney and noticed two beautiful holiday weeks open for the taking with NZ just a short plane ride away. And from there the trip was born. The next [View Full Entry]

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We left Waitomo around 8 AM and headed to Huka Falls on the north side of Lake Taupo. On this drive it began to get mountainous and has been that way for most of our trip so far (eight days in). Huka Falls is where the aqua-colored Waikato River flows over a narrow 11 meter ledge. The gap it flows through before falling is relatively narrow, so the water is turbulent and forceful passing through it and over the ledge. We walked on a bridge across the river and down a trail to get a good view of the falls. We [View Full Entry]

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Robert and Vanessa arrived at the Auckland airport at around 5 AM. I picked them up from the airport and we drove (on the left hand side of the road) to the Hilton Hotel on Prince's Wha. They got refreshed and had breakfast overlooking the harbour. We then walked to the Sky Tower and got a panoramic view of the city. Auckland is built on an active field of volcanoes and we could see many of them from this vantage point. We could also had a close view of Waitemala Harbour. Next, we drove across the Auckland Harbour Bridge to see [View Full Entry]

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It was snowing when I flew out of Kalamazoo. Total time in transit, with three flights and the layovers, took about 24 hours. I travelled with a co-worker. The transpacific flight was on an A380... which on Qantas seats 450 passengers (it is a double-decker superjumbo jet). We arrived in Sydney to a temperature in the mid-80s (~25 Celsius) with mostly sunlight. We took a taxi to the hotel, had the windows down, and could smell the Eucalyptus trees in the fresh summer air. I was relieved to be back in Sydney and in the sunlight. After relaxing in the hotel [View Full Entry]

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