February 2nd 2009 We awoke to the delightful sound of the children fighting over the kitten. Fists full of pamphlets for recommendations to campers down the road, and squeaky clean (what a joy) we set off for another long day in Mission Control. There was a long stop in Invercargill to stock up on supplies, because strangely they can’t sell wine in supermarkets (I bet whatever politician passed that law in this tiny, isolated town isn’t much liked). Today the direction was towards Milford Sound, in the Fiordlands. We also took the scenic route for completion, and follo [View Full Entry]

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Wild on Waiheke Even though everyone had been telling us to get our butts up to the Bay of Islands, it didn’t make enough sense as a day trip, and travelling around up there seemed pretty costly. Some of the worlds best wreck diving will have to wait for us to explore them in search of treasure! Instead, we chose to venture over to the island of Waiheke, which Lonely Planet accurately describes as a smorgasbord of billionaires and arty hippies. We decided to celebrate our anniversary in style, and indulged in a Tasting Tour of Waiheke, offered by the [View Full Entry]

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January 25th 2009 We awoke early and jammed this day with as much Auckland as possible. In fact, we were so exhausted by the end of it that when we settled down to watch a movie at ten, I went to the ladies in my nightdress only to come back to find no answer to my knocks. Was it the wrong room? No, George had fallen into the deepest of sleeps and I had to hoof it down to the busy reception wearing next to nothing. No worries though, apparently it happens just as often as people missing appointments by [View Full Entry]

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January 21st Daniel, Katherine and I woke at 5am because today was the day we wanted to make a push to visit the island of Moorea. We left the lodge at 6 and were on a bus 15 minutes later once we had realised that we needed to flag the buses down. It is one of those lessons one forgets at this hour, fun though. The bus ride was a new experience for us; there were people with no shoes but who had a mobile phone and an ipod. Katherine had noted earlier that the economic disparity here is small, [View Full Entry]

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January 16th 2009 We’re on a cruise through Beverly Hills and Bel Air, and this is where the Beckhams used to live. Can you spot Jay Leno’s home from behind that massive wall of hedges? No? It’s O.K. because he ain’t there… He’s at the NBC studio practicing his lines, not that it made any difference to his comedy. He speaks with his chin, and boy is it funny. Hugh Laurie slinked on stage looking sheepish until the roar died down and George yelled DARLING (Hugh’s character’s name on Black Adder). Dr. House looked right up at us, then cracke [View Full Entry]

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January 18th 2009 Having dutifully retrieved our baggage, George set about trying to find our host, who had promised to pick us up at the arranged time. Half an hour later, a random man who was standing next to me as I began to look more and more frustrated, asked me “Are you looking for someone?” Yes, I said, Taaroa Lodge. “Lucky you! You’ve found me!” Ok, buddy, where the heck is your sign? Apparently, he left it in the van. “It don’t matter! Welcome to the island, man!” he said. Half an hour of manic driving later, I stepped out [View Full Entry]

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So, after yet another relaxed wake up, Jeremy kindly dropped Katherine and I at Fullerton Amtrak railway station we arrived in Union Station and hopped on the tube along the Red Line to Hollywood Vine. Along the way the spray paint artwork became ever more noticeable. It ended with a crescendo near downtown LA where visible brickwork was a rare sight. The tube station at vine was covered in film reels all over the roof and the excitement grew with every step we took up and out to the street. We stepped out onto Hollywood Boulevard and were greeted with palm [View Full Entry]

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Day three in Irvine and Jeremy reports that we're experiencing: record-breaking temperatures. Sigh. It's "just another shitty day in paradise." The sky could not be bluer, the people could not be more glamorous, and even 'I miss the snow' Georgie has started saying things like, "you know, I'm starting to understand why people live here." Yeah, life can resemble a TV series (filmed on location) but if there's one good reason to watch crappy shows like The Hills its gotta be for the scenery. Ignore the freeways - everything else seems unspeakably beautiful. We went for a hik [View Full Entry]

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And so the traveling starts... we are not certain on our futures just as of now as we gallop off into the night Oh, well, we're not exactly "roughing it." A uniformed limo driver (faaancy!) came to collect us well before dawn as the rentals were celebrating a friend's birthday in Collingwood. Alas, the GPS is still sitting in the driveway, but thankfully that seems to be the only thing we forgot. The flight felt like half an hour, I slept comfortably as George watched movies (Air Canada has really spruced themselves up!) and soon we were peering curiou [View Full Entry]

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Toronto Rocks My Socks We'll miss this postcard perfect land of snow and holiday joy. Big love sent to Marg & Rob aka Mom and Dad for putting up with us this fall. [View Full Entry]

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