Home Again!!!

Salutations and Greetings from the San Francisco Bay Area!

While we have finally reached the end of our world tour, in many ways we feel like a new adventure is just beginning. Traveling around the world has been a terrific challenge and blessing to us both, but it wouldn't have been half as exciting if we hadn't had such wonderful family and friends to look forward to being reunited with upon our return home. At present, we are most looking forward to catching up with many of you as we begin to anticipate what this next stage of life will have in store for us!

Carol and Joe on Robert Ridge above Lake Rotoroa

Before signing off though, we thought it would be best to wrap up our our account of New Zealand for the record. After saying goodbye to Sean and Stephanie, we decided that a few days of contemplative prayer and reflection on the events of the past nine months would be appropriate before heading home. On our way north, we camped out at Gore Bay where we fell asleep to the sounds of waves crashing on the shore and enjoyed a morning cup of coffee on the beach while watching a local surf competition. Thinking that the North Island would be a good place to slow down for a few days, we kept heading toward Picton (stopping to say hi to the seals in Kaikoura) until Carol noticed Nelson Lakes National Park on the map and suggested that we turn west in the vineyard strewn region around Blenheim to spend a few days camping around the lakes.

Her hunch was brilliant, and after learning from the DOC site at Lake Rotoiti about some amazing campsites in the mountains, we decided to rapidly throw our backpacking gear together and hit the trails. It was already two in the afternoon, but we managed to organize ourselves for an eight hour trek and three days on a mountain top quite successfully in an hour, and pushed relatively hard on the steep switchbacks up Robert Ridge to get to Lake Angelus just before the sun set. The trail was almost nonexistent in some places where scree had covered or carried it away down the mountain, but we enjoyed picking our way across the rocks and marveling at late afternoon views of yet another inspiring mountainous landscape.

Sunrise over Lake Angelus

Angelus Hut sits next to a small mountain tarn nestled in a nearly conical depression in the mountain range between Lakes Rotoiti and Rotoroa. We spent one night in the hut, and two more in our tent, simply participating in the almost frightening stillness and solitude that can only be found in such places. To keep our blood moving just a bit, we also enjoyed day hikes up to nearby peaks Mt. Angelus and Mt. Cedric.

Time was running short by the time we finally caught a ferry boat back over to Wellington late one night, and the next day found us almost entirely in the car with one brief stop at Kerosene Creek to refresh ourselves in the thermal pools. We still had a day before flying from Auckland, but before leaving we hoped to participate in a trail run not far from the airport that we had found online.

Riverhead Rampage Finish

After miraculously finding the elementary school where the race was to be run the next day without a map or directions we camped out that night in Helensville and the next day found ourselves participating in the first annual Riverhead Rampage. Carol and I took on the 5k and 21k races respectively, and regardless of who we may or may not have been racing against, Carol took 3rd place overall (2nd place female), and I came in 5th! Most important of all, we both really enjoyed the trails, managed to not injure ourselves in the process, and got a free drink from the local brew pub Hallertau after the race.

The rest is history... or at least boring enough not to force anyone to read it: returning the Emina, finding new owners for all the camping equipment that we had acquired, listening to the insane gentleman at the campground talk about fake moon landings and mass government mind control, saying goodbye to Basil Plant, throwing away clothes that had nearly disintegrated on our travels, and so forth.

And now, we have once again reached the shores we have called home for so many years. Because we were on the road continuously for many months, backpack carrying capacities limited the number of souvenirs we could acquire along the way. But, the souvenirs we bring home with us are far more valuable and are all the intangible gifts given to us by the people we met around the globe through their examples of sacrifice, faith, joy, service, selflessness, hospitality and encouragement.

We like to say thank you again to some very dear and wonderful people who made this trip so special. Some are old friends and some are new but all are what made this trip so incredible! We have experienced some of the most amazing generosity these past nine months and hope we can replicate what we've seen back here in the US! Thank you!

Ulrich

Si
Hannah & Tristan

Aiden & Juliet (+ Juliet's family)

Jenny & Brian

Emily

Lydia

Andrey & Irin

Tom & Ali

Don and Amy (+ the whole ELI family)

Regula & Andrew

Paul & Kerryn

Jeremy & Jenell

Ross & Margaret

Renee, Peter and everyone at Ebenezer

Leonie & Louis

Tanya
Mel

Hein & Lydia

Todd & Anna

Kerri-Ann

Mark & Heidi

Farzeen, Ashraful, Inma

Julie & Isaac
Paul & Robyn

Brett, Maddy, Marisol, Andreas, Dara

Jason

Mr. S, Mr. R, Brenda & family

James & Paul

Ed & Lisa

Steve

Sean & Stephanie

And of course, a humungous thanks to all our family members and friends who were willing to support us through prayer and encouragement as well.

Finally, we have to thank God for everything! Specifically, His incredible grace this trip! We cannot believe the consistency with which we were recipients of miraculously good health, safety, provision, guidance, and timing. It is our desire to always remember, in every stage of life, how He leads us perfectly from place to place while providing for all our needs.

In His Love,

Joe & Carol

Lion, Elephant, Owl, and Yak Holiday in New Zealand

Aloha!

Today's update comes to you from the tropical Pacific island of Oahu, which is significant for a number of reasons:

1) We are back in the Northern Hemisphere,
2) We have finally crossed over the International Date Line,
3) The cars are driving on the right hand side of the road, and
4) Our credit card doesn't charge us enormous fees for each use.

All this adds up to the fact that we are indeed back in the US of A, and to be quite honest it is joy to know we are on the homeward trail even after exploring so many amazing places on this crazy planet of ours.

Basil Plant, Steph, Sean, Carol and Joe in Glenorchy

Our arrival in Hawaii was preceded by three terrific weeks of gallivanting around New Zealand with Sean, Steph, a basil plant, and an imaginary penguin which I will describe shortly (I will describe the three weeks, not the penguin), but I would first like to point out that our arrival in Hawaii has historical significance since the legendary Captain Cook also found his way to the Hawaiian Islands in 1778 after exploring New Zealand. We'll end the clever historical significance stuff now however, since Cook was also killed in Hawaii by the locals after a slight break-down in communication. Nevertheless, here we are after a simple 27 hours of travel from Auckland to Brisbane to Cairns to Guam to Honolulu, having left Auckland on the afternoon of the 26th, Guam on the morning of the 27th, and subsequently arriving in Honolulu on the evening of the 26th. Great stuff, and neither Carol or I needed to cry during the entire ordeal.

Anyway, the real purpose of this entry is to catch you up on the balance of our time in New Zealand, so let's begin:

Camping out in Glenorchy

Against all odds, the rain that had finally caught up with us in Queenstown (we had experienced uncannily good weather since we arrived in NZ) actually stopped the next day, and after loading up the car with groceries from the local supermarket and meat pies from the local petrol station, we hit the main road that runs along the massive length of Lake Wakatipu (the longest lake in NZ) towards Glenorchy, a town with a name which auto-spellcheck wants to change to "selenography" which is a word that I didn't know existed until today (Selenography is the study of the surface and physical features of the Moon). Before entering Glenorchy, we passed a road-sign declaring impressively that Glenorchy was "The Gateway to Paradise". It certainly was a beautiful place, but we all agreed that it was rather un-kiwi-like to be so unabashedly prideful about one's town until we realized that Paradise was the next town on the road and the only way to get there was to go through Glenorchy.

At the summit of Mt. Alfred with Lake Wakatipu in the background

Not certain what to do in Glenorchy, but knowing that all four of us were all itching to climb up into the stunning mountain ranges that surrounded us on three sides, we asked a local shop owner who mentioned an unmarked trail-head, something about needing 8 hours, and then pointed to a picture of a small conical peak between the bigger ranges called Mt. Alfred. Since we still had a good chunk of day left, we decided to go for it, so we filled our water bottles from the Rees River (milky blue/white color from the glacial flour), found a small gravel car park off the main road which we deemed most likely to be the trail-head, and launched ourselves into the forested roots of Mt. Alfred.

It was not your average day-hike, but turned out to one of the most rewarding views we have seen in the past nine months. After pushing up some pretty steep trail through the densely wooded hillside we suddenly broke through the treeline and found ourselves in a field of alpine grass that raced steeply uphill to meet somewhat rocky cliff faces which were a little tricky to navigate but eventually brought us up to a ridge where we felt like we were on top of the world! An entire 360 degree view of the valley from Lake Wakatipu to the glaciers of Mt. Earnslaw was visible that day, and under the influence of the breathtaking scenery of golden grasses rippling in the wind and snow caped peaks it wouldn't have been at all surprising to see riders of Rohan appear on the horizon (yes, I am still a geek).

Joe atop Mt. Alfred

After an amazing lunch of cup-o-soup, baked beans, tuna, and more oddly assorted foods on top of the peak we picked our way back down to the minivan and headed back to Glenorchy for a celebratory meal of real food. At least, that was the plan. We ended up eating an assortment of fried bar snacks in Glenorchy at a pub which was the only place still serving food by the time we actually arrived in town. We would have pulled up a tad earlier if it hadn't been for the fact that we left Mt. Alfred with our trusty basil plant still sitting on the roof of the minivan, and had to backtrack a few miles in order to find him again. We felt a little like bad parents having treated our plant with such carelessness, but at least we didn't do the same thing to the imaginary penguin. The pub dinner was just perfect though, and hit the spot as good as anything before we climbed into our tents and fell asleep wondering whether breakfast for the fifty second grade kids on field trip that were camped out just yards away from our tents would be quite as chaotic and loud as their dinner the night before.

Moments before embarking on our Great Walk

Oatmeal with just a hint of soap detectable by sensitive palates was what powered us up the next morning, and we were in especially high spirits since we were now all wearing ridiculous animal hats which Carol and I had purchased in Pokhara, Nepal for this occasion. Don't ask us why, it just seemed like the right thing to do. So, with a song in our hearts and our underwear hanging up to dry throughout the entire car we headed off to Fiordland (New Zealand for Fjordland) and Te Anau where our Milford Track Great Walk adventure would begin.


First stop in Te Anau was the Department of Conservation where we picked up the transportation and track hut tickets that we had booked back in October, a decision of Carol's which was brilliant since the DOC limits the number of walkers to about 7,000 each year and the limited spots fill up months ahead of time. The rest of our day was spent organizing food for the track, watching Ata Whenua (a pretty neat film presentation of the Fiordland scenery), and thinking about how soaked we would be getting on our hike since it was once more starting to rain.

Just starting out on the Milford Track

Handing the keyboard over to Carol:

The Milford Track covers 53.5k in four days and travels from Glade Wharf on Lake Te Anau to Sandfly Point on the Milford Sound and was famously quoted as being "the finest walk in the world" by poet Blanche Baughan in 1908. Milford Sound is a popular New Zealand tourist destination and known for being very wet with an average rainfall of up to eight meters per year! (which incidentally is seven times the average rainfall in Olympia, Washington). So much water can make hiking challenging but also quite spectacular with waterfalls being charged up and rivers full. With this much average rainfall, we were geared up and ready for a very wet four days but as it turned out, we ended up having four days of perfect sunshine! We loved the warm sun and being able to enjoy all the views throughout the track that are often covered in cloud and fog.

Enjoying the powerfully green lichen on the trail

This backpacking trip was quite unique for various reasons. For one, it is such a popular destination that the whole track is extremely well organized with well kept trails, three "huts" to stay in along the way with gas stoves and bunk beds (tent camping is not allowed), hut wardens to look after the hikers, can only be walked in one direction, and is shared with 36 other hikers who also pre-booked months in advance.  Joe and I were not used to such organization in the wilderness, but appreciated how easy it made the trip and gave us new friends to chat with in the huts over shared freeze dried backpacking meals for dinner.

The Herd atop MacKinnon

From the dock, the Milford Track meanders up the Clinton River for the first couple days to its source and then shoots up to 1154m at MacKinnon Pass which gives some spectacular mountain and glacier views before dropping down past several more rivers and waterfalls, including the impressive 298m tall Sutherland Falls (tallest in NZ) which we bravely ventured into. The fierce torrents of water and mist directed sideways at us from the base of the falls, and crushing water coming down on us directly below and behind the falls made for a very fun, cold and wet experience!). We also crossed numerous swing bridges over the clearest waters I've ever seen (and that you can safely drink from).

Crossing over MacKinnon Pass on our way to Milford Sound

Most of the track is surrounded by bright green mosses, ferns and lichens as well as Beech and Rimu trees. Along the way are creatures like the rare Blue Duck, Weka birds (flightless birds that look a bit like less cute Kiwi Birds), friendly entertaining birds like the Fantail and up at the higher altitudes, the endangered Kea mountain parrots that will try to steal and eat all your possessions if you're not careful. Joe actually thought a Kea had made off with his clothes one morning only to discover another tramper had kindly placed them inside to dry. The rivers are also full of life including rainbow trout and freshwater eel, and because the waters are so clear you can sit on the banks and watch every detail of their colorful bodies as they swim around.  We attempted to go for a dip in the river after our first day of hiking. It was a very chilly and refreshing experience (we spent about 10 seconds in the water total) with the biggest challenge actually being avoiding the tiny, pesky, biting sand flies which left us with lots of itchy bites. Clinton Hut sported some massive hula hoops made from PVC pipe which kept us entertained while we waited for the sun to go down after a pretty leisurely 1.5 hour walk the first day, and to build up a bit more appetite Sean and Joe dusted off their running shoes to scout out a bit of the next day's trail.

Hula Hoops at Clinton Hut

Hut wardens also kept us smiling along the way with their mandatory but comical talks each night, and a bit of camaraderie formed within our group as we learned more about who we were traveling alongside. We four quickly became the 'people with the animal hats',  there was 'the guy who eats tons of meat', 'Connor the fisherman', 'the man with the bad ankle', the 'nice family from Washington', and of course 'the Australians', 'the Germans', and 'the token Kiwis'. Jen, our warden at Mintaro Hut informed us that the largest number of hikers each year come from the US, followed closely by those from Colorado in the US. The hike was wonderful from start to finish and when we reached Sandfly Point, we boarded a small boat which took us a short distance to the town of Milford Sound.

Handing the keyboard to Joe:

Joe and Sean checking out Sutherland Falls

That night we feasted at the best and only restaurant in Milford Sound, got dominated by Sean and Steph in foosball, and made it back to the tents (which we were excited to be using for the first time after carrying them for the entire hike) in time for the first rain drops that we had seen since we had started our hike. Since the Milford Track doesn't actually give walkers any views of Milford Sound (weird), we thought it would be appropriate to hop on one of the many boats that push people around the waters of the Sound itself. However, it must be admitted that the exact level of appropriateness that we set for this excursion was somewhat in error due to the fact that we had completely lucked out with regards to the weather for the past four days. If we had already experienced even a few hours of the average precipitation for Fiordland, we might have thanked our lucky stars, called it good, and hit the road. We human beings hardly ever know what is truly good for ourselves; the rain that did soak us to the bone on our boat and hid the mountains also did a wondrous thing that we hadn't anticipated; it charged up all the waterfalls that had been reduced to trickles over the past week of low rainfall. We got to see Milford Sound in all its glory that day, with waterfalls and rivers cascading down every mountainside like bolts of lightening. Individual falls were difficult to identify there were so many, and all standing out against vertical black walls of rock whose tops were obscured by the clouds. A yellow crested penguin sighting, hauling in the crayfish (huge lobster-like creatures) catch, eating our complimentary BLT sandwiches, and pulling right up to the base of Stirling Falls were also highlights of the cruise. We loved it, and with the aid of the strongly aromatic but affective "drying room" back at Milford Lodge, we were able to the better part of our clothes, packs, shoes, socks, etc. dry before catching the bus back to Te Anau that afternoon. On the way, our crew was unexpectedly joined by a wayward hippopotamus who is still looking for its original owner. Dinner was a progressive affair that night consisting of a round of meat pies (venison, steak + mushroom + bacon, lamb and mint sauce!) at Miles Better Pies followed by mounds of spaghetti, garlic bread, and butternut squash that we cooked up in the holiday park kitchen. It was glorious.

One of many amazing NZ birds we saw and heard

Even while on vacation admin is occasionally required, and we used some time the next morning at the local library to take care of a few minor logistical details like: where we were going to drive that day. Being instantly recognizable because we were wearing an elephant, yak, lion, and owl on our heads, we were stopped in town by a few other people we had met earlier on the track, and even our bus driver from the day before as we were leaving the library. Good times.

From Te Anau our trip was a whirlwind of hopping in and out of the van and eating ANZAC biscuits and more meat pies as we cruised to Slope Point, the very southernmost point of the island, discovered the Curio Bay petrified forest, Cathedral Caves (where we avoided getting stuck inside the caves by the incoming tide by at least five minutes), Steampunked HQ, Teapotland, more than a few sheep farms, and an unexpectedly muddy road shoulder that would have brought our trip to a messy end if Sean hadn't hopped out and pushed us to freedom.

Meat pies hit the spot in Te Anau

Later, in Dunedin we explored the Otago Peninsula where we ended up spending a few hours building sandcastles, cartwheeling, long jumping, and generally messing about on a deserted beach before finding the world's steepest street after getting lost on what could possibly have been the world's second and third most steepest streets in Dunedin. A classic Kiwi breakfast at the Penguin Cafe also gave us time to organize one final hurrah before we would have to part ways with Sean and Steph...

Whitewater Rafting!

Joe and Sean get drenched in the front row!

Based on an unscientific survey of tourism leaflets from the twenty-two countries visited on this trip, the five Most Awesome Activities of the modern globetrotter would have to be Bungee Jumping, Zip Line Tours, Sky Diving, Parasailing, and Whitewater Rafting (it appears that Zorbing and Fly Boarding are both making attempts to infiltrate this select list, but only time will tell). Anyway, the point is that with Sean and Steph we were able to finally take on at least one of these activities before heading home. Our rafting was on the Rangitata River which flows through land used in the filming of LOTR, and contains a couple of grade five rapids which we were pretty excited about. The entire day out was a blast, and started out with us sunning ourselves on the porch of the rafting lodge looking out on gorgeous countryside while sipping on coffee and tea. The rafting itself was excellent, made all the more fun by our guide Maddy who informed us that she had inadvertently flipped more rafts that season than any other guide, and a couple of tense moments during which we narrowly avoided adding to her grand total.

We're not sure what this was all about, but it seemed cool

We finished off our time with Sean and Steph in Christchurch which is still recovering from the 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck in 2011. Downtown is pretty quiet with loads of empty storefronts and damaged buildings, but does have the iconic "re:start" retail and business area; a few streets with trendy shops creatively designed solely out of shipping containers.  For our last night with Sean and Steph we upgraded ourselves from tents and holiday parks to the lovely No. 10 Bed and Breakfast (Sean's first night in a B&B ever), ate snacks and desserts at the lovely Dux Dine pub and then said farewell to our dear friends (thanks again for the parting gift of L&P Sour!). We so enjoyed their company, energy, flexibility, creativity, and of course being able to share many South Island New Zealand adventures with them in our goofy animal hats!

Given the length of this update we will draw our NZ time to a close in yet another installment. Thanks once again for catching up with us!!!

- Joe & Carol

There And Not Quite Back Again

Welcome back dear readers!

An overlook in the Arataki Rainforest

It is with such joy to get to write this blog post from the South Island of New Zealand! Joe and I have been dreaming about visiting this country ever since we first met, and our excitement and anticipation has grown as we've traveled Eastward around the globe these past eight months. After 22 countries, we have finally arrived in the land of snow capped mountains, pristine coastlines, glaciers, endless hiking trails (or "tracks"), crystal clear lakes, rivers, elves, hobbits and wizards. Despite the fact that we have only been here two weeks, it has already been even more wonderful and spectacular than we anticipated. Plus, we've been able to share our time here thus far with our good friend Steve from Washington which has made our travels even more special and memorable.

Carol shows off our new home

New Zealand is about the size of Colorado and some of its best attractions are tucked away in rather remote locations so we chose to get around by car (a novelty we haven't experienced since the UK) for this portion of our adventure. This has altered our modus operandi of public transport, but has also opened up some amazing opportunities. For the record, there are lots of companies that rent out RVs, cars, vans and hippie campers (or "combies") kitted out for luxury travel with hideaway beds, showers, kitchenettes, etc. for roughly $100 per day. Therefore, for budgetary reasons we picked up a seven passenger 1997 Toyota Emina minivan from New Zealand Discount Car Rental for about 32 NZD per day. The agency was about five kilometers (walking distance) from the airport, which we did "backpack" upon arrival in Auckland, not realizing that the agency actually provides a shuttle service from the airport (oops!). Anyway, our new home was a wonderful chance to spread out a bit (not having to repack a backpack each day), large enough to transport us, a few friends, and our luggage, but not equipped to sleep, clean, or cook in. Despite the intended purpose, we are proud to say we've managed to do all three in our Emina on several occasions for a third of the cost of the "Jucy", "Wicked", "Happy Camper" and "Spaceships" we've seen along the way.

A romantic dinner out on the back porch

Our first night at the "Manukau Top 10 Holiday Park" near the Aukland airport  turned out to be the perfect place from which to launch ourselves into New Zealand. Not just because it had a free campsite available at the last minute, but also because we quickly discovered it was the exit point for many car camping holiday goers who were looking to unload the equipment they had used for four or five weeks, and couldn't take with them on the plane back home. Naturally, we freely acquired an amazing amount of stuff that people were very happy to hand off to us: tupperware, canned foods, pastas, spices, dishes, utensils, pots/pans, a power inverter, sleeping mats and pillows and a very useful New Zealand Lonely Planet Guidebook (never mind the fact that it appeared to have been badly photocopied someplace in SE Asia and proudly says "New Zealan" on the cover). We suspect many of the items we picked up had likely been around the islands multiple times, being swapped between various campervans, before joining us in our Emina. After I organized ourselves a proper kitchen in the back of the van, and a vastly improved bedding situation for our tent with newly acquired items, we were extremely excited to start out on our journey.

Picturesque view from the Arataki visitor center

Before meeting up with Steve, Joe and I had a couple days to ourselves to explore the northern part of the North Island. It didn't take long to see what all the NZ "fuss" is about. We immediately found a plethora of campsites, picturesque roads, mountains, hiking trails/tracks, beaches, and nature walks all extremely well established and maintained by the NZ Department of Conservation. The only challenge was simply choosing which area to explore.

We ended up spending one afternoon at the Wenderholm Regional Park and enjoyed our first NZ hike (or "tramp") with ferns, birds, cicadas (deafeningly loud at times), and grassy knolls ideal for frolicking on. That evening, we scarfed down a massive order of take away fish and chips while overlooking Hatfields Beach, and took advantage of some "freedom camping" accommodation at that same location in our minivan on a leaky inflatable mattress we found the day before which Joe blew up using only lung power and shoved in the back of the van. We can't say it was the best night's sleep ever but we were so excited to be in NZ that the lack of sleep wasn't even noticed.

Carol frolicking in Wenderholm Regional Park

The next day started with a morning jog on the sands of Orewa Beach before getting a bit lost on our way to the visitor center of the Arataki Rainforest where we were directed to the beautiful and secluded riverside Karamatura Campground which we had entirely to ourselves! The setting was idyllic. Our grassy field was nestled between rainforest ferns, Kauri trees, a bubbling creek, and cute little ducks that appeared to be guarding our tent for most of the day. Our gourmet pasta meal was delicious despite running out of fuel halfway through cooking and needing to let our noodles soak for a half hour while they got soft enough to eat, and that night we fell asleep staring at the southern hemisphere stars and listening to a trickling river a stones throw from our tent. The next morning included a short hike through the dense and bright green forest to a waterfall and a very chilly swim below the falls before heading off to the town of Titirangi where we ate Kebabs (very good, but nothing like the tasty Shwarmas in Israel!) and took advantage of some free wifi before heading back to Aukland and...

Joe, Steve, and Wellington from Victoria Lookout

Steve! For the first time in our travels, we had a companion from back home in the US, and it was a joy! Not only did we get to hear a bit about life back home, but our travel group was given a fresh injection of new excitement and life as we headed South into the land of the kiwis. Before leaving Aukland we climbed up One Tree Hill (which U2 named a song after) for a fantastic view of the city and its surroundings. There was no tree on top, but it but did have an very tall obelisk honoring the Maori people. Not being in a hurry, we headed southward to Matamata, a small town known for rearing race horses which also has the distinction of being the location of the Hobbiton film set from both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Just dropping by for second breakfast

Arriving in Middle Ea... I mean New Zealand, I must admit that we were hopeful of spotting some round doors, but we hadn't strategically organized any truly geeky LOTR moments ahead of time and wondered whether we should have planned ahead for finding tour locations, specific tour times, availability of tickets, etc. We worried needlessly. The timing of our arrival was perfect, and spotting the Hobbiton information building in Matamata couldn't have been easier (it looked exactly like it had been transported directly from one of the movies). We walked into the thatched building, immediately purchased movie set tour tickets, had just enough time to grab a quick coffee at a cafe across the street, and were immediately put on a bus to Hobbiton!

We weren't admitted

Hobbiton was truly was everything any LOTR fan could hope for (minus the fact that you are not allowed to permanently live there) with cute hobbit homes, green grassy knolls, vegetable gardens, butterflies, and flowers everywhere. We took endless photos in front of Bag End, Rosie and Sam's house, by the big Party Tree and then savored a free pint of ale/ginger beer at the Green Dragon after our tour (it comes in pints?!).

Carol and a perfect sunset in Tauranga

Our evening concluded with the three of us watching the sun go down behind Pilot's Bay in Tauranga at the base of Mt. Managanui while working on another massive pile of fish and chips (plus sausage and chicken nuggets this time) per Steve's recommendation. The weather couldn't have been better, and we all agreed it had been a pretty grand introduction to our road trip. Other than the fact that we had no idea where we would sleep, it was ideal. Back in the van we made our way to Lake Okareka near the geothermal area of Rotorua and found a DOC campsite on the edge of a small lake where we set up our tents during the only twenty minutes of rain since we had arrive in NZ. The adorable hedgehog sightings and funny little animals which we suspect were potoroos (miniature kangaroo-like creatures) made up for the weather conditions though, and we fell asleep to the faint smell of sulfur in our noses and excitement to see some geothermal wonders in our brains.

While breakfasting in Rotorua the next morning we overheard the couple in the next booth talking about some unmarked hot-springs. They were kind enough to divulge the location, and we took a long soak in the fabulous Kerosene Creek, hidden amongst the trees and exactly like a giant natural hot tub pool replenished by a decent size waterfall which topped off the scenery.

Kerosene Creek was an unexpected highligh

Passing by the clear blue waters of Lake Taupo we made our way to Tongariro National Park which boasts the Tongoriro Alpine Crossing, billed as the top day hike in NZ, and most famous to geeks around the world for winding its way past Mount Ngauruhoe (the film location for Mount Doom)! Tongariro National Park is a very volcanically active region with trio of large volcanoes and innumerable geysers, hot-springs, geothermal vents, old lava flows. Driving through the region it wasn't uncommon to see clouds of steam rising up from random roadside locations. The hike was spectacular, and we ended up making it almost to the halfway point before diving into the dense and rich rum raisin Christmas Cake we carried with us (another of the free items from the Holiday Park back near Aukland) and heading back to the car before night fell.

Day hiking in Tongariro National Park

After another campout pasta dinner, more bright stars and gorgeous morning views of the Tongariro volcanoes, we headed off for Wellington where we had a slight race against time in order to see the Weta Cave before it closed for the day. The Weta Cave facilitates public tours and information regarding Weta Workshop and Weta Digital, both of which were made known worldwide by their work on the LOTR films. Putting our pride aside, we got pretty enthusiastic about being so close to the heart of so much movie magic, and took our photos with the life-size trolls in front of the workshops. Another highlight from our short stopover in Wellington was Mount Victoria, which has a fantastic 360 degree view lookout at the top, and (just in case the reader is a LOTR fan) is also famous for being the location of the "get out of the road!" scene. From this point onward, "get out of the road!" was used quite a lot by our group. A triple dorm at Wellington Youth Hostel suited us great that night, and Joe and I realized it was the first beds we had slept in in over two weeks.

Hanging out with the trolls near the Weta Workshop in Wellington

Picking up the pace of the narrative at this point, our ferry-boat crossed to the South Island on a relatively peaceful day (considering the fact that Wellington is known for high winds), and we hit the incredibly scenic but insanely windy roads towards Golden Bay and Able Tasman where we camped next to a nearly deserted crescent shaped beach right out of a picture book. The beach also happened to mark one end of the Able Tasman Great Track which we hiked partway to Awaroa; sometimes looking out over the water while walking along densely wooded cliffs, and at other times hiking along the beaches themselves. We even crossed one wide estuary barefoot and up to our knees in water at low tide to continue the hike.

View from the Bealey Spur Track just East of Arthur's Pass

Although our time felt somewhat limited (we needed to make it to Queenstown by the 17th), we made many many stops along the way, choosing the West coast route primarily, with one deviation up into the mountains to spend the night at Arthur's Pass where Steve did epic battle with the revered Kea birds all night while trying to defend our tents and car (long story, but basically the Kea birds will try and eat anything that appears remotely edible which includes cars, tents, and road signs, which makes it dangerous to leave anything unattended, and darn difficult to sleep at night while something is chewing on your tent tarp right next to your ear). The Bealey Spur Track gave us some of the most remarkable panoramic views the next morning, and we continued to be blessed with clear skies despite the odds building up against us as summer was giving way to fall in the Southern Hemisphere. Addition and memorable stops along the way South also included the Buller Gorge Swingbridge, Punakaiki Pancake Rocks, hikes up to both Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers, and a potato raffle in honor of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day which involved writing our names on potatoes and chucking them in the river.

Joe, Steve, and a Weka (not a kiwi) at Able Tasman

Speaking of St. Patrick's Day, after ten nights of sleeping in tents, 2500 kilometers of driving, loads more visually spectacular sights, delicious foods, and innumerable times yelling "get out of the road!" at birds, cars, and other things in our immediate path, we finally arrived in Queenstown.

Queenstown meant Good News and Bad News. First, the bad news: we had to say goodbye to Steve. It felt like months since Steve and I had first taken our picture together in front of a gigantic statue of a dwarf upon his arrival at the Aukland airport, but time had also gone by rapidly in spite of sharing so many wonderful experiences together, and Carol and I both wished that we could have spent more time with him. Second, the good news: we had new traveling companions to fill the void in our lives! Sean and Steph were waiting for us in Queenstown, geared up and ready to brave the renowned Milford Sound Track with us!!! That evening, as a band of five (an incredible honor for Carol and I to turn our team of two into five for one day), we climbed up above Queenstown into the cloud layer via the Skyline Trail to the top of the gondola lift in the pouring rain, and that night celebrated St. Patrick at a local pub together.

The rest will have to wait, as I am currently being ushered into dinner which Carol and Steph have graciously prepared (The attentive reader will note that at some point the author switched) on the eve of our Milford Sound Adventure. Until next, time...

- Carol and Joe and Friends

Melbourne: Old Friends in New Places

Welcome Back!

Before leaving the continent, we had one last hurrah in store for us: seeing good friends Lisa and Ed who hail from the very distinguished days of Wolfson College, B42 Solidarity, South Sandwich Fracture Zone, and of course the unsinkable Empress of Blandings. Given the fact that only two or three people in the world know what I am talking about now, I will move on to more comprehensible matters: platypuses. Four days should be enough to find a platypus, but despite our meanest efforts, we fell a bit short of the mark. We did learn how to pick them up by their tails on Youtube though. Anyway, our spirits were not damped in the least, and considering the number of other wonderful moments a platypus-less trip can hardly be bemoaned.

Our wonderful hosts in Melbourne, Victoria, had enlisted the assistance of Felix (their trusty neighborhood Flexicar) to drive us to some truly astounding locations. Our first drive took us South down to the Great Ocean Road (which was great, and there was an ocean too) where we picnicked on the beach and then trekked through the gum trees above the clear blue waters of the Tasman Sea. On our way back down the trail, Lisa spotted a wild Koala (which is not actually a bear) who actually summoned enough energy to wake up and look at us, which we greatly appreciated after learning that Koala are known to sleep up to 22 hours a day.

The next day we headed to the lesser-known Werribee Gorge State Park which turned out to be a very rewarding choice. The trail was challenging and dropped us steeply into the gorge where we skirted a very picturesque Werribee River and then climbed back onto the opposite side of the valley from which we could see all the way back to downtown Melbourne. It was a glorious hike, and we only got ourselves lost once or twice which gave us the impression of really being 'in the bush'. Dinner that night was a very unique dining experience at Lentil as Anything, a not-for-profit drop-in restaurant run by volunteers at a local convent that provides gourmet meals in a cafeteria-style environment. Diners are asked only to donate "what they feel their meal and experience is worth" and "according to their own financial ability". The food was exceptional, and we ate until stuffed (a stipulation of the management also enforced by the signage on the walls).

A little exploration also took Carol and I into the Melbourne city and Central Business District (CBD) where we became familiar with travel on the tram lines and certain aspects of local creativity like Yarnbombing. One morning we joined Lisa on a running tour from her residence to her place of work (nearly at the top of one of the taller skyscrapers in Melbourne) where we got to enjoy a panoramic view of the entire city and surrounding countryside. The rest of the day was spent wandering down to the seaside and eating cake on Acland Street.

Most important of all, we got to spend time with our friends, and catch up on a lot of time spent living on opposite sides of the world. After several years of closely knit friendships and shared not-to-be-believed experiences in Cambridge (a world apart), we have all discovered the challenges of establishing new lives and 'growing up' in a world that can often take life too seriously, and at other times fall short of offering the deep sense of fulfillment that we crave. Conversations about space-time and quantum mechanics, singing and clapping along to the Happy song in the car, and confronting together the deep challenges of relationship in this present life were all ways of reestablishing a bond of friendship across continents. If we hadn't left so early in the morning, there would have been tears in our eyes as we said goodbye and hopped in a cab for the airport and our final destination...

In all Seriousness,

Joe

Woolloomooloo, Wallabys, and Wombats

G'day Family, Friends, and Search Engine Bots

Today's installment finds us making our way down along the eastern coastline of Australia by plane, train, automobile, bus, bike, and foot. Thanks to some amazing friends The Journey was proven once again to be The Reward, we stayed far from the beaten tourist path, and our hearts were kept light.
Our first stop was in Sydney (which incidentally is a looooong way from Cairns which meant that we skipped over a massive amount of coastline including Brisbane, the Gold Coast, etc.) where we spent one splendid afternoon smelling the roses in the Botanic Gardens, paying homage to the iconic opera house, walking across Sydney Harbor Bridge, and making fun of place names like Woolloomooloo (where we were staying). We also managed to catch a bus out to Watson's Bay for a spectacular fish and chips dinner on the beach with Sydney's skyline silhouetted by the sunset (how's that for alliteration?). Sydney was short and sweet; fun times, but just a minor stop on the way to a much bigger attraction: Ross and Margaret! Acquaintances from our epic Tazara train ride back in Tanzania, and now welcoming us to Australia like old friends to their home in Bulli.

Meeting them at the station after a scenic train ride along the South Coast was a bit like coming home, and they rolled out the red carpet for us with a massive homemade lamb roast feast that couldn't have tasted better. Bulli was just the beginning of our time with Ross and Margaret. After racing up hundreds of steps through rainforest undergrowth to the top of the local lookout Sublime Point, going surfing off their point, visiting the local Aboriginal tent embassy, and spending quality time with the local veterinarian looking at canine chest x-rays (their adorable dog Bailey of 12 years was not doing well), it was time to hit the road.

The next few days were a crash-course in best of New South Wales costal culture, flora, fauna, Aboriginal history and art, holiday parks, vocabulary, and seafood diet. Our first day found us joined by Jane (a daughter who has inherited Ross' healthy fearlessness) and scaling Pigeon House Mountain where we picnicked atop the rocky crown of the mountain that inspired the name derived by Captain Cook on his voyage in 1770. There, we ate leftover lamb amidst a glorious 360 degree view of solid white marine-layer haze. It was an unfortunate weather condition for such a singular peak, but the hike through the gum tree forest (technical definition of forests aside) alone was well worth the trip. That evening we camped out on the banks of a creek in the Yadboro State Forest where we swam, cooked dinner over the campfire, and and enjoyed digging into Margaret's massive homemade fruitcake which would accompany us for the entire road trip.

A notable but unplanned event was actually triggered by a very sad phone call Ross received as we were just wrapping up getting lost on some trails around Guerrilla Bay. Jane had called to say that Bailey was not doing well at all and needed to be put to sleep, so while cooling off in the waters of Guerrilla Bay, the decision was made to leave Carol and I at a friend's cabin up in the foothills above Moruya for the night while our friends could go home to be together as a family. Needless to say, we had a great time hanging out together in the woods where we found wild kangaroo, pulled yabbies from their traps in the small reservoir, ran/cycled down to Moruya in the morning for breakfast, and caught up on the Winter Olympics.

Once reunited with our friends the next day, we followed the tourist route along the coast while keeping our eyeballs peeled for any wombats or wallaby (we didn't end up spotting any wombats, but we did see several wallaby that were "taking naps" along the side of the road, and also a few live ones as well).

Each day brought new beaches in which to swim and body-surf and small towns to explore as we moved southward, each with its own slightly unique feel. We took turns riding the two bikes along some of the shorter sections between stops, and Ross and I just narrowly missed being caught in an outright downpour while cycling into Mallacoota. Aside from this particular confrontation with Mother Nature, the weather held to an ideal blue sky with scattered clouds for our entire expedition.

On two occasions Ross cooked up feasts of freshly caught local fish for us, and we spent one morning collecting dozens and dozens of the renowned local oysters from a small estuary as the tide receded. Neither Carol or I had any previous experience with raw oysters, and even though we ate less than our fair share we enjoyed the process of collecting and removing them from their shells. An infinitesimally less adventuresome food were the "Kanga Bangas" that we grilled one evening, which were rather enjoyable despite the fresh memory of all the adorable wild kangaroos that we seen hopping about the forests.

In the midst of so much rest and relaxation, we did attempt to cultivate our minds once by studying the informative artwork outside the Killer Whale Museum in Eden. According to legend, local killer whales would regularly help corral other whales into the bay to be slaughtered by fishermen until the last of them ("Old Tom") died away in 1930. Apparently Old Tom's teeth were almost worn away from dragging other whales to their deaths by the harpoon cables once they had been speared. This beautiful story was captured in a series of colorful mosaics that made us wonder other things about Eden.

After one more unforgettable day at the beach, a life-guard nightmare's swim across the fastest tidal current that I've ever seen, Carol's first Op-Shop experience, and a celebratory meal at the local dumpling restaurant Lucy's, we parted ways with Ross and Margaret and boarded a bus back to Genoa (a fantastically tiny town whose population must fluctuate enormously with the number of motorhomes parked in the campground across the river, and home to the endearingly quaint "Hotel Motel"), where we caught another bus to Bairnsdale and a train which took us the remaining distance to Melbourne where we were greeted at Southern Cross Station by none other than Ed and Lisa!!!

This post concludes with a massive "Thank You!" to Ross and Margaret for showing us such a fantastic time in their corner of the world. As Ross rightly put it, after having been on our own for so many days, we were "ready to have someone else make decisions for a change", and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Many Blessings,

Joe

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Carol looks for a place to sleep in Guam

Greetings Friends and Family!

Hello from somewhere in the air between Cairns and Sydney on our Virgin Australia flight! I'll pick up from where Joe left off and briefly describe leaving the Philippines and heading to Cairns, Australia with a brief one-night stopover in the territory of Guam!

Timing worked out just perfectly when we returned to Davao City from Cateel on the 10th of February. Our plan up to this point was to fly from Manila to Australia (via Guam) using Mom's United Airlines buddy passes on the 16th. We weren't sure what we would do from the 10th to the 16th and began thinking maybe we would head to Australia a bit earlier to have more time exploring Cairns (pronounced 'cans') and the nearby Great Barrier Reef. We contacted Mom to see if we would be able to leave Manila a few days sooner and she informed us that all flights were full EXCEPT departing Manila the 12th. So, we quickly changed plans, caught an early morning flight to Manila and boarded our United flight towards Guam (after paying a sum total of about $30 in surprise "terminal fees" which are charged to every passenger at various locations as they enter different parts of the terminal)!

Welcome to Australia!

Guam is a territory of the US and about 1,500 miles East of the Philippines. Being there felt a bit like going home to the USA for a night as we were surrounded by American accents, stores like the Home Depot and a breakfast at Denny's. It also reminded us a bit of Hawaii with white sand beaches, warm sea water, grand resort hotels lining the coastline and lots of tourists (mainly Chinese and Japanese). We hadn't booked a place to stay in advance thinking that finding a hotel room would be easy upon arrival, but it turned out that Guam was totally packed full due to many Asian tourists coming over to celebrate the Chinese New Year. After walking about six miles from the airport down to the beachfront, watching yet another fantastic sunset, and eventually calling 15 hotels, we got the last room at the Ypao Breeze Inn where we thoroughly enjoyed the running water, hot showers, and winter Olympics on TV (Sorry to Sean White for not getting a medal this year). We also savored an early morning jog followed by a glorious swim in the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean, and an afternoon coffee by the beach resorts with fast wifi (also something that made us feel like being back in the US again!).

Twenty-four hours after arriving in Guam, we were back at the airport and boarding the next leg of our United journey to Australia! By this time, I was feeling a bit of a stomach ache from some salad I had eaten in the most modern restaurant of our entire visit to the Philippines (clearly I was becoming a bit too relaxed about stomach bugs!), but randomly the flight attendant offered me a can of Ginger Ale before take-off saying he knew I wasn't feeling too well. Joe and I still can't figure out how he knew my stomach hurt! But, the Ginger Ale was just perfect.

Joe at the community pool in Cairns

After a slightly turbulent five hour flight back across the equator, we arrived at our Caravella Backpackers Hostel on The Esplanade in Cairns about midnight. The next two days were all about recovery, exploring town, and making plans to visit the famous Great Barrier Reef just 30 miles off the coast. Considering the fact that we hadn't ever intended to see this part of Australia, we surprised even ourselves and booked a 3 day 2 night trip with "Reef Encounter" (recommended by a particularly helpful woman at one of the numerous adventure booking agencies in town) and after enjoying two days of pub dinners, clouds of massive fruit bats, swimming in the waterfront public pool, and jogging along The Esplanade, we boarded a boat headed out to sea!

Joe had signed up for a full scuba certification course and I signed up for just a few dives, not being sure how much I would like it. I told Joe several times on the trip that I would "never" scuba dive, as the idea of being submerged underwater for a prolonged period of time with a tiny breathing apparatus sounded petrifying. But, seeing as I have a very adventuresome and encouraging husband and seeing as this trip is all about trying new things (does this sound familiar?), I decided to give it whirl! And it was fantastic!

Joe and Carol on the Reef Encounter for 3 days

Joe completed eight dives and lots of theory work and a test to achieve his SSI scuba certification over the three days, and I went on four dives with a couple of kind, very calm and reassuring instructors that made the experience really fun.

The Great Barrier Reef is the worlds largest coral reef spanning over 2,600 km and truly is as stunning as people say it is with colorful corals, giant clams, sea anemone, gorgeous fish, reef sharks, turtles and endless other creatures and plants to see underwater. The Reef Encounter took us to three different reefs in the same general region of the GBR, but each one had its own highlights and attractions. Saxon Reef had the most turtle and shark activity, Norman Reef seemed to be the best place for snorkeling as well as diving, and Hastings Reef was our all around favorite for the variety of brilliantly colored fish, underwater tunnels to swim through, and massive clams at least four feet across. Basically, it was like wandering around through the movie Finding Nemo, complete with Clown Fish that looked nearly animated with CGI.

"I Scuba Doved!!!"

We are continuing to love this unique season in our lives of travel and exploration and have especially enjoyed the new friends we have met and old friends we have connected with along the way.  More from Australia soon!

With love and joy,

Carol