wow! Hi Astrid and everyone!
I just spent waaaay too much time reading your blog. You have packed more adventure into these, what, 9 months, than most experience in a lifetime! I am so impressed with all your doings. The ups and the downs are reported diligently, I almost feel like I am there with you.
Hope the kids are doing better at school now. It sounds like they had a rough time with it for a while.
I will definitely be checking in again.
Heidi (Bjerkan) from Norway
PS: Maybe we'll see in you Scandinavia this spring?
Pictures Janice: There will be plenty of pictures ... you many want to avoid dinner invitations for the first few months after our return or risk the "slide show of our vacation".
Mt Haast Not enough that Tony Fortune can run up the "mountain" that I was so proud of climbing, he quite correctly points out that I put the wrong picture.
Missing house bits Can you explain how you know, with such detail, which items had been looted from the house? Somewhat ironic that you are currently having your own home fully reno'd...
YouTube For those interested, the following jumps can be seen on YouTube:
Avery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4s6ysebVYw
Marie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIUxwb4E_5w
Paul:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYF23I-jbSw
BUNGEE JUMPING!!!! Astrid can't have very much control over you to let you do this!!! Paul, it is a long way home and it would be nice to have you back in one piece!
Dream Livin the dream! I think it's cool that when you say 'I'm heading north' in NZ, you are actually going to a warmer place. It's the opposite here, if you recall.
penguins You ask if you could ever have enough penguins? I wonder if the answer would be the same if you asked Batman? You speak of the Gooneybird. I love the C-47! I have always wanted to built flying machines. One of which is a fractional Gooneybird! Very interesting about the DC-3. It was just today (at work) that I explored some internet entries about the famous 'bird'. Turbo-props make it a viable mode of transport around the world. Who's Roland?, cause I have a friend by that name. I wonder if he(I'm assuming he's a he) is the same person?!
temperature When you make the refernce to '20 degrees and sunny', are we talking the F scale or the C scale? Makes a diffence to those of us unfamiliar with kiwi weather. Always learning, ya know, (or is that doncha know?)?
also wanted to mention Not only do we have a 'Sticky fingers' here in Barrie, but in the convenience store, right beside the sticky fingers, you can get a chocolate bar called 'Sweet Marie'! I wonder if there is any connection there!?
sticky fingers Hey, we have a sticky fingers here in Barrie, ON, Canada! I wonder if there is an affiliation. Actually I wonder about alot of things. Like, do I know this Marie? Apparently the Travel-thingy-ma-jiggy crash has erased all you pix. Oh well, I will have to rely on my imagination... now, what would a Marie look like?...
Ruth
non-member comment
Driving back...
Perhaps you should have let the 14 year old drive back....