http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/EchelonFive/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from EchelonFive en-us Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:37:56 +0000 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:37:56 +0000 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 sign http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Ohio/blog-422440.html 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. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Milford-Sound/blog-391904.html Day 7We 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-389681.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fox-Glacier/blog-374412.html 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 roc http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Punakaiki/blog-366720.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Greymouth/blog-366472.html 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 beauti http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Marlborough/Blenheim/blog-361918.html 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 aquacolored 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 throug http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Tongariro-National-Park/blog-357657.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-357531.html 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 coworker. The transpacific flight was on an A380... which on Qantas seats 450 passengers it is a doubledecker superjumbo jet.We arrived in Sydney to a temperature in the mid80s 25 Celsius with mostly sunlight. We took a taxi to the hotel had http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-354081.html Please scroll down to see videos belowSooo.... skydiving. Definitely something I've wanted to do for awhile but for various reasons haven't timing money busyness etc.. Last week I watched the birth of a niece. Why not go skydiving this weekend The two weeks before I was drivingriding in a car for about 40 hours and traversed 2300 miles... that was on the weekends. The rest was work http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/blog-307623.html Jamas arrived on Thursday night. I went to the International Airport and waited for a little over an hour. Jamas' flight was a little late and I waited in a little seated area while mosquitoes swirled around and other friends and family awaited other passengers. Eventually Jamas ambled out and we headed to the hotel. It was great to to see Jamas and great to have him in India. We only got ab http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Agra/blog-267887.html ...a stint in India will beat the restlessness out of any living creature Author's Note Life of PiIt almost beat the restlessness out of me until I went to Pench National Park. India in the words of my friend Roberto is intense. More specifically Bombay Mumbai since 1995 and Delhi are intense. By the end of my stay in Bombay I was questioning how much I wanted to travel in the f http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-267869.html LA. Historical. Overdone. Overpromoted. Maybe the most well known city in the world. I wasn't sure what to expect. At one end is the Hollywoodside perception films beauty plastic surgery fake. Another perception is of a crimeriddled riot prone danger zone. Yet one more is the laid back beach scene surfing volleyball sunning leisure.And I could see those aspects in LA. But http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/blog-270288.html Well after some persuasion I've decided to post an entry on Pikeville KY. I guess if an entry from the remote parts of the world outside the U.S. are worthy of blog entries why not note remote parts of the U.S.Pikeville KY is nestled in the Cumberland Mountains part of the larger Appalachian Mountain range it is a good two hour drive from the closest city Charleston WV and about two http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Kentucky/blog-250845.html It had been a long week at work and I was very much looking forward to a break. One of the first signs I saw at the airport was Aspen welcomes your mind body and spirit. Amen.This was my first traditional vacation.... I don't count the time off between my first two jobs. This one I actually used vacation time to go to some spellbinding locale and knock around for awhileIt took two connec http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Colorado/Aspen/blog-239826.html After the full daytrip to Tikal Luke and I weren't sure that we would be up for hiking up Pacaya to see the volcano and its lava flows. So for much of the morning on Sunday we kind of loafed around the hotel... we also walked to nearby mall also stopped by a Pizza Hut for an early lunch.Sometime in the early afternoon we began to reconsider the trip up to Pacaya... why not We were feeling we http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Guatemala-City/blog-231375.html What do all the guidebooks say about Guatemala Go straight from the airport to somewhere besides Guatemala City. So I was a little apprehensive about working in the city. However I was in zone 10 in a nice hotel with great facilities and an amazing breakfast.I arrived late on Sunday night and exited the airport looking for the hotel shuttle. Just before the exit and pouring out into the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Guatemala-City/blog-223624.html Okay... about that surf trip. Shawn and I got up early and headed to Bondi Beach to be picked up later learned they pickup at Coogee Beach as well. After breakfast at a sidewalk cafe we waited outside Bondi Backpackers a hostel. After waiting about 15 minutes a guy came running up and asked if we were going on the surf trip we then followed him a few blocks joined some other people http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Coogee-Beach/blog-228937.html I arrived last Sunday morning after 24 hours intransit from freezing temperatures to the mid70s. After checkingin at the hotel I quickly proceeded to go swimming and jogging along the coast from Coogee Beach toward Bondi. I got about halfway and jogged back. Along the way I passed a few women tanning topless. Lots of children and families around... doesn't look like a big deal here. Af http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Coogee-Beach/blog-226060.html