We started with the biggest of intentions! After crossing over to the south island, we drove right off the ferry and toured around Queen Charlottes' Sound which was a squiggly road, even on the map! It had insane views of the green gumdrop hills and piercing blue waters of NZ! As we were weaving back and forth (and back...and forth) climbing up the side of the mountains, then back down, we knew that the south island was going to WOW us like we've never been wowed before! We stopped at a rest stop to have lunch with a view, and parked [View Full Entry]

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We had many a debate as to where to park the Tron for our new year's celebration! We had to get to Wellington on the 1st for an early morning ferry to the South Island on the 2nd, so we were left with many options all around the North Island. We finally decided to Go For IT and head to the first place IN THE WORLD where the New Year's Sun rises, Gisborne! We rolled into town in the rain, but had high hopes for a new years party since the first campsite we tried was sold out! We ended up [View Full Entry]

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YAYAYAY! I have a buddy! :) Mason FINALLY arrived after about 3 days of travel ;) Because of delays with luggage and rerouting, he arrived late on Saturday night, and of course I had a scotch on the rocks and bright smile waiting for him! At the Rendez-vous! Again, can't believe I found it, and good thing, the correct Ryan Mason arrived! :) The first thing he said as he looked out our window overlooking the city and the pool/gym was, "Awesome, look at that, do you want to go work out?" HA!~ So great to have him here! We went [View Full Entry]

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It's summertime Christmas in the land Down Under, and that means Beaches, Sun, and dinner from a microwave? :) I rented an "apartment" for the holiday week in Sydney, because I knew me and the boys were going to want to make a real meal and celebrate traditionally! Except when I checked in, the kitchen was basically a micro (that was also an oven?) and a small portable two burner deck that I could precariously balance over the sink (boiling water was dangerous!) I got into town on Chrismas Eve, so shopping was crazy, and I was grocery shopping, gift shopping [View Full Entry]

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Australia's best kept secret is the tiny island of Tasmania! As a matter of fact, it's so laid back, naturally beautiful, and full of cheese loving beer drinkers, that I felt right at home! :) All of the locals begged me to tell no one of its splendor, because the best part is that no one even lives there! 300,000 on the entire island, so there are many miles (kilometers) of amazing upspoiled wilderness - not to mention that it took me an entire day to even find a town with a carwash! (i would ask at the gas stations and [View Full Entry]

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Well, I found it! Team, after Belize, we're moving to Melbourne! I immediately fell in love with this absolutely perfect, charming, clean, organized, trendy, friendly city! I was staying in the artsy neighborhood of St. Kilda which was on the ocean and had a great beachfront of restaurants and shops, as well as a large collection of cake and bakery shops! Mmmmm! A quick jump on the tram (so much better than subways because you are above ground on the streets so you see much more!) brought me downtown to the neatest collection of tall buildings and riverfront action you can [View Full Entry]

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Well, it's official! Australia is a slacker travelers paradise! After about 5 days in Port Douglas diving and swimming in our hostel pool (not much else to do except drink with the locals!) I decided to hit Cairns with my new awesome Dutch friends, Marcella and Saskia! I met Saskia while diving my last day in Port Douglas and she said they were heading to a great hostel in Cairns called Gilligans, and had an empty 8 bed dorm to themselves! Awesome! We had 6 nights with just the 3 of us completely taking over a really clean, nice room with [View Full Entry]

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Awesome! I finally have some underwater photos to share! I got out to the GBR over a week ago and was fortunate enough to go diving 3 days - 8 dives! As you can imagine from the title, the totally awesome barrier reef was all about the reef and coral and VASTNESS and AWE of it all! I saw quite a few turtles, a handful of sharks, and some HUGE fishes! There were plenty of moral eels (love those creepy guys!) tiny nudibrachs and shrimp, and the schools of fish were overwhelming - in every direction - sometimes completely surrounding us! [View Full Entry]

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Hey kids! Sorry I have been such a blogger slacker! Geez, this was almost a month ago....I'll do my best to catch up on all the wonders that have been Australia! I spent a couple days in Perth, on the West Coast, before heading to the Outback! My first realization (after getting over the culture shock, I mean, these people have highways, and speak english, and most of all no one is staring at me! Oh, and the food on the menus is absolutely normal! Salads, burgers, and pasta?) was that there were flies everywhere! You think the wisconsin mosquitos are [View Full Entry]

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Well, I have one picture from Singapore - smile Johnny! I went into reverse culture shock, travelers apathy, and a photo protest all at once! I got to Singapore and it's amazingly clean, well-organized, and Westernized! tall buildings, clean streets, normal cars, and of course the official language is English! There's a super clean efficient Metro subway, and on my way into town from the airport I met some very nice locals who confirmed - not much to do in Singapore, but WELCOME!! They said i must do two things - go to Sentosa island and the Night Safari Zoo. My [View Full Entry]

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