Mallory2

Our second week in Bay of Islands and our last week in New Zealand was super fun and relaxed! We cooked most our meals in so enjoyed cheffing up oysters, mussels, fish, steak and burgers. The barbecue was great to have and helped us keep on budget! One day we took the ferry over to the mainland and drove about 30 km north to the town of Keri Keri which is known for its oranges, kiwi fruit, vegetables and wine. Here we visited the Stone Store which is New Zealand's oldest stone building dating back to 1836. We also took the Keri Keri River Track leading to the beautiful Rainbow Falls. All in all, it was a great day! A highlight for us this week was the dolphin sighting cruise. And yes we spotted lots of ... read more

After three fun days in Auckland we started our journey south to Waitomo to visit the area and the famous caves and we weren't disappointed! The vegetation was beautiful with lush mountains and two lovely sunny days. The high altitude air was a bit cooler than in Auckland but the sun was warm. We stayed at a quaint 100 year old English country inn with great views of the surrounding area. We did a fantastic hike in the area that took three hours as we wound our way through tropical forest, farmland, streams and limestone caves. Very invigorating! Another highlight was our visit to the caves with numerous shafts dropping into under ground cave system and streams. There are 300+ mapped caves in the area with three main ones for tourists..... Ruakuri (which descends 65m), Aranui ... read more

Our last couple of weeks in The Cook Islands was very relaxed. Crazy how we can put in a full day just "chillin out"! I did go on a 4 hour bicycle tour with a local company and guide. The scenery was beautiful as we wound our way through the local villages and tropical forest. Every so often we would stop for a story about the history of the island, the local culture or some interesting information about some of the native plants and trees. We are amazed how most all of the trees around produce fruit that is either eaten or used for medicinal and antiseptic purposes some of which is exported to health food stores around the world. We tasted guava and candle nuts along the way. The Cook Islands was originally inhabited by ... read more

Hello Everyone! I apologize, my Cook Islands blogs are a bit late due to the expensive wifi here on the island. You take free wifi at your hotel for grant it until you don't have it! Hence, I am publishing my blogs from New Zealand. Our first impression of Rarotonga (the most populous of the Cook Islands) has been very positive! The population is 13,000 with an area of 67 sq. km. It takes 45 minutes to drive the 30 km around the island. A flaming orange coral reef encircles the island as well as a lovely lagoon and the coastline has lots of white sand although the beaches are quite narrow. Inland consists of rising lush fields, rural farmland and thickly forested mountains. Even though the Cook Islands is a separate country it has close ... read more

Welcome back to our blog as we continue travelling north in Laos! We had the most beautiful and interesting drive through the mountains in northern Laos. The forests and limestone mountains are magestic and quite unique. We were about 4300 ft. high as we passed through the area that has been home to the Hamon Tribal Group for centuries. It is amazing that they can survive here but they have succeeded at hillside cultivation growing sticky rice, bananas, potatoes, pineapples and yams. As well they harvest timber. There appeared to be power but whether they use electricity is questionable. Their water source is mountain water and wells. The kids' jobs are to carry jugs of water from the wells to their homes. As well they go into the forest and collect twigs for making fire. They ... read more