After successfully not getting eaten our first night we had to be up bright and early for another must-do on this adventure: Serengeti Balloon Ride...oh yeah, vowed if/when I ever got here that I would not miss doing this, so at the tender hour of 5am we woke up and with some trepidation made our way in the dark to the toilets, scanning the surroundings for beady eyes scoping us out...none to speak of fortunately...did however get to see this amazing storm way off in the distance, the flashes of lightning in the clouds were spectacular... It was just the two of us and a new amigo Michael from our group that would be doing the balloon ride, and sure enough at the appointed hour we could see the headlights of a jeep approaching to pick ... read more

So here we are, Masai Mara, another mythical place for me, and with the opportunity to meet the Maasai themselves I was pretty stoked for this leg of the tour...we arrived at our campsite mid-afternoon, and after sorting out the tents we were given the option of visiting a Maasai village before heading out for the first game drive, didn't take a whole lot of convincing for me...haha...six of us signed on for the visit, and shortly thereafter a Maasai guide came to get us and escort us to the nearby village...we were greeted by the chief's son, and after a briefing of what the visit was going to comprise (and settling the agreed upon payment to do so) we were off and running... We were welcomed into the village with some ceremonial dancing, and then ... read more

And here it is, the number one all-time trip I have wanted to take, and after much planning and research it was finally going to happen! Africa, a continent that has always held an exotic mystique for me, and specifically the two countries of Kenya and Tanzania we were set to explore: the animals, the Masai, the parks/reserves, Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, Zanzibar, and on and on...so away we go! Being a milestone birthday year for myself I floated the idea of doing some safaris in Kenya/Tanzania and ending with some beach time on Zanzibar to the Lovely K, and while safaris were not big on her list of things to do she suggested we add a Kilimanjaro climb to round out the adventure, perfect! This was to be a mostly guided tour, for some crazy reason they ... read more

Bula! When planning our trip this year and having decided on New Zealand, we figured as it was such a long way to travel to that we had better include Fiji in our plans, having wanted to see this country as well and not knowing if we would ever be back in this part of the world...plus as we always like to end on a beach it seemed the perfect combo; three weeks of on-the-move travel and finishing with butt-in-hammock relaxation....oh yeah... Made the three hour flight from Christchurch to Nadi, but as the flights and ferries are not well sync'd we had to stay on the main island for a night at both the beginning and end, no big deal really...as we arrived at our backpacker hotel around 8 pm it wasn't going to be ... read more

For continuity's sake the title of the blog should read Abel Tasman to Milford Sound, however the rip from AT to Westport was simply a nice but uneventful day of driving and not a lot to report on...this was one of a couple of what I referred to as "hump" days where all we did was drive, again necessary due to the times/distances and the things we wanted to see...even Westport itself was really just a stopping point; not much there other than a pretty cool beach where we camped (Carters Beach) and a colony of fur seals which we managed to see...it was kind of the trail head to the West Coast track, and as it was about 6 hours of driving from Abel Tasman that was more than plenty for the day... I was ... read more