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