After a year of world travel we have been coping with rejoining normal life, seeing the same scenery day after day and despairing the fact that in America 2 weeks holiday is a priviledge and not a right. But finally after 3 long months of working without a day off we at last are experiencing our first American paid holiday, Labor Day. Borrowed from our neighbors to the North, Labor Day is a celebration of the worker. So revelling in the fact that we now qualify to celebrate this special day we packed our bags and travelled a few hours south [View Full Entry]

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Having accomplished 12,500km overland in Africa, 3,000km on Greyhound buses in OZ, nearly 9,000 kms in our NZ rental car, journeys on 57 buses, 47 ferries, 40 flights, 3 trains, countless taxis and tuk tuks, 1 elephant ride and a great big adventure we are finished our travels. Being back we have found what we miss immediately are those quiet places of the world where we spent so much time. The birdsong in the trees, the sound of the wind, countless days immersed in a good book, hours wandering on a great walk and enjoying the solace of a deserted beach. [View Full Entry]

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When telling people we were next headed to the Cook Islands we were met with comments like "it must be paradise" or "sounds amazing". Little did they know we were headed for a typhoon. We arrived at midnight the day before we left Auckland and were shuttled to our less than lovely hostel for our first weeks' stay on Rarotonga. Needless to say we spent our first week bonding with the other travellers in the hostel (which became a bit like a Big Brother house in short order) due to the torrential rain. We passed each day with a walk to [View Full Entry]

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We arrived to Fiji and decided to take a step out of the tourist trap that is Nadi to stay at a local homestay. Apart from being hundreds of dollars cheaper we had a fantastic time. We arrived at Dee's and were a bit afraid that we had just rocked up to some random house with no one expecting us. We were soon greeted by Dee and her extended family who quickly cooked us up some traditional Fijian grub for dinner- swamp leaves and seaweed in coconut milk accompained by some white sweet potatos called kumara. It was a very "interesting" [View Full Entry]

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When we first arrived in Auckland back in December we caught a glimpse of an advertisement for a Maori festival. So here we are. The Kapa Haka is a celebration of the Maori language, music and dance. It is also a big competition! The 4 day festival was absolutely amazing. The photos and videos can not capture the atmosphere we felt in that stadium. The teams were all dresses in different traditional costumes as they sung choral pieces that ranged from traditional to modern. Each team performed 5 or 6 pieces over 30 minutes. The crowd returned performances by honoring their [View Full Entry]

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Leaving the far north (via the most photographed toliets in NZ and the longest footbridge in the Southern hemisphere) we wound our way around the rainy coasts just north of Auckland. Struggling to find a car camp for the night we headed out to Shakespear Park in hopes of a free stay. All we found there were lovely views and probably Auckland's biggest houses. We finally were recommended to stay at the ferry port where we met a couple who had been sleeping in the parking lot for 6 weeks. Now that is what i call commitment to saving money! Into [View Full Entry]

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After crossing the Cook Strait, in our very own cabin, we hit the road bound for Taupo. We drove and drove as the sun sunk below the hills covered in energy making windmills and eventually ended up on the banks of Lake Taupo. Our car camp for the evening although in an idyllic spot left us sleeping in a car filled with tiny midgies, mozzies and sandflies (oh joy!). So we proceeded to drive around at speed to rid our car of these horrible house guests. In the end we gave up and I'm sure inhaled a few bugs as we [View Full Entry]

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Tramping through many forests in the South Island is truly a sensory experience. The moment you enter the forest envelopes you in coolness. A constant dampness makes the forest floor spring with your every step. Surrounded by trees, ferns and mosses that have the feel of the age of the dinosaurs. The call of the bellbird make you feel as if you have heard the most beautiful and haunting birdsong in all the world. For these reasons we headed from the West Coast to Abel Tasman National Park. Our journey took us through Buller Gorge and into the town of Motueka. [View Full Entry]

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Back in the car "Sunny" we set out over the Haast pass. This pass "discovered" by European Haast in the 19th century is reknowned to be a beautiful drive through the Southern Alps of New Zealand. The road wound past Lake Hawea and Wanaka into the mountains. We quickly realized our drive would introduce us to an evil we have heard much about on our journey around the South Island - sandflies. These tiny black insects bite indiscriminately and are intellegent enough to scale car windows closed but for a small crack and invade in search of blood. We have found [View Full Entry]

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We set out up the lake on the road to Milford, one of the world's top drives. This 120km road is the only way into and out of Milford Sound. Got going only to be quickly stopped by the local traffic, an entire herd of sheep crossing the road, well that's a new one! Carried on to the Mirror Lakes (where we got a perfect reflection of the surrounding mountains on the surface), across Knob's Flat (a plain in between the mountains), through Homer Tunnel (where we watched out for the naughty Keas, the only alpine parrot in the world, who [View Full Entry]

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