Hola mis mejores amigos! I am happy to say I have safely landed on the South American continent! Phew! It was a long haul to get here,first a 12 hour flight across the Pacific, then I had an 8 hour layover in Santiago and finally a very very bumpy, yet scenic, flight over the Andes to Argentina! Along with the extreme turbulence, it was an exciting ride because the kid next to me decided to throw up all over the seat and his dad! Awesome! I got into Buenos Aires quite late and went right to my very cool boutique hotel (that i had reserved from the airport a few hours earlier!) They didnt have my reservation, but luckily had one room left that i could take! It took me a few days to get adjusted ... read more

Today marked the beginning of our National Park Adventure tours-hikes of the South Island! We started up at Abel Tasman, which is on the coastline and dotted with many private beaches accessible only by hikers and boaters! We did a 3 hour hike to a remote beach and the rewards were plenty! i wish I had a picture to share, but unfortunately I forgot the memory card in the other camera that day! Soooo, we have many amazing mental pictures of islands, coastlines, and jungle fever! You will have to forgive my storytelling here, as this was over a month ago and I didnt bring my notes! :) AFter a cheese and sausage snack, we hit the road to our first informal campsite, at an amazing lake in the middle of the south island. On the ... read more

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 on the outskirts of town, and settled in next to some more permanent resident neighbors! We had fajitas for dinner, and decorated our Tron for new years with confetti, silly string, and of course the ... read more

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 for the boys, and shopping for any last minute decorations to try and spruce up the place! All at the grocery store! I pulled it all together and we had a very festive backdrop for ... read more

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 imagine! My first day in the city I was so impressed with the downtown area, it reminded me of Milwaukee with a little more spunk! It is only home to about 1.5 million people (there ... read more