As our time passes in NZ we decided to take a week long road trip to see the rest of the South Island. We crammed 2300kms into a week of travel. The first day we shot over to Wanaka, only 1 hr from Queenstown, to have a light lunch and to take a look around. Wanaka is similar to the mountain town feel as Queenstown just without all the tourists. It's also located on a beautiful lake- with lots of ducks. After a not so yummy lunch (no, not the ducks much to Josh's dismay) we proceeded north along the west [View Full Entry]

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Working as a migrant worker in Queenstown hasn't been that bad. I've managed to make a couple friends, learned to make almost perfect kiwi coffee and even got surprised with a end of season work party better then any before. We knew it was going to be something fun. The last party was a private sailing and drinking booze cruise. We closed work early on Sunday and got on buses. We were told that we were heading to the airport to board private helicopters for some time and champagne above Queenstown. The ride was awesome. I've never been in a helicopter [View Full Entry]

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Josh planned a great scenic loop of the lower South Island in a sporty little rental car. I spent about a week "researching" our options, and he pulled it together in about 30 minutes. Our first stop was Gibbston Valley Winery. We took a short tour through the vineyards and the guide gave a brief explanation of the grapes and harvesting process. The second half of the tour was in their cave- literally, a cave dug into the the side of the mountain. They use this to store hundreds of barrels of wine- the cave remains a constant temperature and saves [View Full Entry]

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The Routeburn Track is one of New Zealand's most famous walks (not a leisurely stroll through the park, but actually a fairly tough hike). It starts out near a little town of Glenarchy and passes through forests and over mountains to come out near Milford Sound. Most people cover it as a 3 day hike, but due to our time constraints, we completed it in 2 days. We thought that was a good pace, except for being pass by several runners on our last day who RUN the whole track in 3-5 hours. Josh's friend Ramsey was kind enough to drive [View Full Entry]

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There is so much to see and do in the area, but most of it comes with a price tag. After a few paychecks have rolled in we were able to go out and explore. One of the highlights of the region is Milford Sound. Technically speaking, the area is a fiordland carved out as glaciers retreated thousands of years ago. The result is lush vegetation amongst massive sheer cliffs. We booked a day trip thorugh Mitre Peak cruises and got every penny's worth. The bus driver dueled as a tour guide and pointed out lots of interesting things along the [View Full Entry]

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After a 6-hr layover and another 4-hr weather delay, we finally departed Sydney in route to Auckland. We arrived at about 4 am- fishing pole and all. I downsized my luggage by sending a suitcase home, but it is currently lost somewhere between Parnell, NZ and Ord, NE (that's quite a bit of ground to cover). This time IS NOT my fault that I've lost something, but it's still disappointing to be without my good-butt jeans or little black dress. We did a bit of sightseeing in Auckland for 2 days (that's about all we needed), then set off for Queenstown. [View Full Entry]

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Well, I guess you could say this is the end of the road for us. After roughly 8000km on the road, we’ve reached Cairns (that includes a couple "short cuts" and routes off the beaten path). I guess there's really not much to say about Cairns itself; obviously everyone comes here for the Great Barrier Reef, but we had a few days before our diving trip to play around the city and a few days after to tie up lose ends. We attended a really informative presentation by Reef Teach. A marine biologist described the different types of coral and fish [View Full Entry]

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The Great Barrier Reef is a pretty massive creation and it's easy to see why it's considered a top Wonder of the Word. We spent 5 days exploring different areas- and feel that we only caught a glimpse of what's out there. The first day we spent on the Ribbon Reefs, a series of reefs on the outer fringes. These are too far out for most day boats and therefore mostly undamaged from heavy tourist traffic. The next dive sites were located 120 nautical miles off the coast - Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. The boat traveled over night, so [View Full Entry]

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It turns out that living in a campervan isn’t really all that bad. We’ve been able to see so much of the country, can pull over and hangout whenever we feel like, and it doesn’t feel like we’re living out of a suitcase. Ok, sometimes it’s a little frustrating when everything is in the way, but the caravan is full of little cubby holes so we can store our stuff away - nice and organized ;) I don't hit my head as much as I used to- I'm usually so excited for our adventures that I ignore my surroundings and forget [View Full Entry]

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Airlie Beach is the gateway to the Whitsundays- a group of islands in the lower Great Barrier Reef Region. Advertisements of white sand and crystal blue water are selling points on their own which brings heaps and heaps of tourists to the area. There are a lot of sailing options to cruise around the reefs. Josh did some research into the most recommended boats and some hard-core bargaining with the travel agent to get us a good price on a 3 day/3 night sailing course with the option of snorkeling and scuba diving once we got out there. We booked this [View Full Entry]

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