Santiago, Chile

Jake's horrible experience in the La Boca barrio of Buenos Aires accelerated our readiness to move on to a new place.  Luckily we had a flight to Santiago booked for less than 48 hours later.  Our wonderful welcoming to the capital city of Chile was just what we needed.  It started with a flight over the Andes which shouldn't have been a surprise but when I saw the summits peaking through the clouds it was breathtaking.  The view was magical:  blue skies, whiter than white clouds and then these beautiful snowcapped peaks.  I was happy to have a window seat and was alerted to take advantage of it when the crew stated that it was time to cross the mountain range and therefore everyone had to stay seated.  That was an odd announcement that I had never heard before.  The mountain range was incredibly wide and it felt like we were crossing it for twenty minutes.  As that part of our flight came to an end, the crew had another unusual announcement:  because we had crossed the border into Chile, due to Chilean regulations they had to sanitize the plane.  Then the crew walked around spraying the overhead bins with disinfectant.  Does this really accomplish anything?  Weird.

View of the Andes as we flew from Argentina into Chile

Our Air B&B host had arranged for our transport from the airport to the apartment in the Provindencia barrio of Santiago.  She was a petite older woman named Edith who spoke incredible English.  We had a nice chat with her during the short ride to the apartment.  It's always nice when the anxiety of transportation in a new place is removed.  The trifecta of wonderfulness of our arrival experience was the Air B&B apartment we had booked.  Its owner, Josee greeted us upon arrival which we've found isn't all that common with Air B&B.  The apartment was better than the photos on its listing, had been recently renovated, and was stocked.  In the fridge she had a basket of fruit for us, a loaf of bread, milk, butter and water.  There was also coffee, pasta and rice, dish soap, toilet paper, laundry detergent etc.  These things may seem silly to get excited about but it's wonderful when you arrive in a new place and don't have to buy things like dish soap and toilet paper!  On top of that she had a subway card for us and a list of recommended restaurants in the area.  Her recommended spot for empanadas did not disappoint and we went there twice in four days.  Our favorite was champinon queso ricotta which was a baked empanada stuffed with mushrooms and ricotta cheese.  Yum.

We enjoyed a free walking tour in Santiago which has become our go-to activity everywhere we go.  This one was a little longer than usual at four hours, but it was a good way to learn about the history of Santiago as well as Chile.  After the tour we found Fuente Alemana (means German Fountain in Spanish) which was a place Anthony Bourdain visited when he filmed an episode of No Reservations.  Apparently over 30,000 Germans migrated to Chile in the second half of the 19th century and their influence can be seen in some aspects of the beer and culinary scene.  At 2pmon a Saturday, Fuente Alemana was packed and it didn't feel like it was with tourists.  Us and the locals again.  We love that.  We each ordered a lomito, mine "con palta y tomate y queso" (with avocado, tomato and cheese) and Jake's "completo" (chunky homemade tomato sauce, homemade mayonnaise, and sauerkraut).  I've never seen so much mayonnaise on sandwiches before.  The incredibly delicious sandwiches were served on fresh round rolls and were much better than I expected them to be.  They were ginormous and I still can't believe that we finished them.  It's impossible to pick them up and bite into them so we (and everyone else) ate them with a fork and knife.  After the pork is cooked, it is sliced thinly and stored in the broth it was cooked in until serving.  It wasn't salty or fatty, it was just perfect.  We washed them down with "dos chopps" (two draft beers) and I'm pretty sure we didn't eat dinner that night.

The other thing we did in Santiago was plan.  Plan and plan and plan and plan.  We have a lot more exploring of Northern Chile to do including lakes, geysers, the wine region of Colchagua and the coastal town of Valparaiso before we take a bus into Bolivia to visit the largest salt flats in the world.  In the past eleven months we've visited 21 countries and getting a visa to visit Bolivia required the most work and the most money.  While visa's to many countries aren't required for stays under 90 days (New Zealand, Italy, etc.) others require a visa but it can be obtained online or at the airport upon arrival (Turkey, Laos etc.).  For our Bolivia visas, first we had to apply online and then we had to visit a Bolivian consulate in person.  Luckily I realized this the week before we were going to be in a major city with a Bolivian consulate.  In addition to proof of our already booked Bolivian accommodations and the obvious valid passports, we also had to demonstrate proof of our "economic solvency" and yellow fever vaccinations.  We had the vaccinations before we left the U.S. and we carry around little yellow booklets that have the required evidence.  We were able to demonstrate proof of our economic solvency by providing a credit card statement which showed we had a low balance and high limit.  Luck would have it that we were walking distance from the Bolivian consulate in Santiago and when we showed up we were second in line.  The Bolivian man we met with spoke perfect English was easy to work with.  He said that he was impressed by how prepared we were with the necessary documentation.  We also had the cash to pay for the visas but they don't handle money at the consulate.  We had to go get American dollars at money exchange counter and then go to a bank and deposit $320 USD into the Bolivian government's account.  We went to the consulate on a Friday morning and he wanted us to come back Monday afternoon to pick up our visas.  When we shared that our plan was to leave Santiago on Mondaymorning, he told us we could come back that same day and pick the visas up.  Bolivia better be great!

Back to the planning I mentioned...we signed up for another week of Spanish classes in Sucre, Bolivia and booked two separate three day tours into the Amazon.  We are very excited about those activities but there is more major news to share.  We've unexpectedly booked a flight to Cusco, Peru from which we hope to take a day trip to see Machu Picchu.  Jake has been to Cusco and Machu Picchu before so it was not part of our original plan, but the cheapest flight we could get to the Galapagos Islands was through Cusco so why not spend a few days there?  Machu Picchu is going to be incredible but Galapagos is going to be spectacular.  As we mentioned in a previous post, we didn't think we could pull it off budget wise, but we are making it happen and I am so excited!  Galapagos is made up of 18 main islands approximately 600 miles off the coast of mainland Ecuador.  The convergence of three major oceanic currents brings an incredible mix of marine life to Galapagos and we are hoping to experience that both on land and in the sea.  There are species there that are not found anywhere else in the world.  In 1835 Charles Darwin spent five weeks in the Galapagos islands and those observations helped him to build his theory of natural selection.  It is very unlike us to book flights but not make other plans (book tours, dive trips etc.)  However, with Galapagos, booking ahead of time means paying full price and full price is out of the budget.  We were inspired to make this very un-us decision of booking only flights because we found several blog posts from other travelers who had success getting deals on last minute dive/boat trips once they arrived.  We are going to stay for twelve nights and are hoping to find a last minute deal.  If not, we will enjoy the free sights on the islands and do a few day dive trips.  We just couldn't leave this part of the world without going.  There are so many incredible birds and sea creatures waiting to see us.  The combination of my diving bug and Jake's photography bug is calling us there.

Chile is very beautiful and we know that we’ll be back someday to explore the Southern region of Patagonia.  It’s too cold there now for hiking and fishing so it’s a future trip we look forward to.  Hopefully our Spanish will be a bit better for that trip!

~ Jesslyn

Buenos Aires, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Oh Buenos Aires, the memories I will never forget.  Some good, some not so good, and some downright terrible.  Let’s start with the good.  We took Spanish lessons for a week at the Ecela School.  Our teachers, the staff, and the fellow students were great.  However, a week isn’t much time, and I still feel like I know next to nothing.  The school organized a few activities for us as well.  We saw a very cool drum show called “La Bomba de Tiempo” at a hip venue.  We walked through the Reserva Ecologica.  I am not sure what that means in English, but it is a place that was once a dumping ground for construction waste that was slowly overtaken by nature and is now a public nature reserve.  We went to an “asado” at one staff member’s house where we got our first taste of the delicious meats and wine that Argentina is famous for.  On our own we toured the Museo Evita (that means Evita Museum) and the botanic garden.  

That first week in Buenos Aires while we were attending classes, we did a home stay in which the school arranged for us to stay with a local family to both practice speaking Spanish and for safe, inexpensive lodging.  Our “family” was Christina, a very nice older lady.  This was a much better experience than we had in Florence, Italy.  She talked with us, wanted to know about our day and us in general.  Christina is retired, but still seems to work a lot as a psychologist, seeing patients at her home.  We tried our best to speak with her in Spanish, but she couldn’t understand what we were saying, despite using the correct words.  She must be hard of hearing.  Breakfast and dinner were included as part of the home stay package.  The food was…  OK.  Nothing terribly different from typical United Statesian* food, except for the coffee.  The coffee was made in a typical Mr. Coffee style drip make, but was very strong, and very good.  In general, the food in Argentina has a strong Italian influence.  Pizza is common as well as something close to chicken parmesan.  Empanadas are also very popular, and we would pick some up from the local bakery as a quick snack or meal.  We had some really good gelato and some pastries from the bakeries.  Most of the pastries had dulce de leche, a creamy type of caramel.  Jesslyn couldn’t get enough of it.  

We were not too impressed with the neighborhoods in which the home stay or the school were.  They are fine, but kind of generic.  There are a lot of nondescript buildings filled with chain restaurants and stores.  They are kind of dirty, and the sidewalks are minefields of dog poop.  After completing our week of Spanish classes, we moved to an Air B&B apartment in a different neighborhood called San Telmo.  Right away, we could tell that we liked San Telmo much better.  It was still a little dirty, but it worked.  This is an area that was once wealthy, then rundown, now coming back up (sounds just like so many other places we like including our former ‘hood in Brooklyn, Park Slope).  San Telmo is full of colonial style buildings from the mid-1800s and the cobblestone streets are lined with interesting cafes, bars, antique stores, bakeries, butchers, and fruit vendors.  One of the squares is host to a large market on the weekends where people dancing tango can be found any day of the week.  

This second week we did a lot of planning for our upcoming trips to Chile and Bolivia.  We also did a few more group activities:  a tango show, a bike tour, and a very unique show called Fuerza Bruta.  The tango show included dinner in a very intimate setting in a cafe at the rear of a bookstore.  One thing I know less about than speaking Spanish is dancing, but I was very impressed with the fancy footwork and the sexy señorita wasn’t so bad either.  At one point, Jesslyn leaned over and whispered to me, “I just want to touch her”.  I kept my mouth shut.  The bike tour was of the barrios of San Telmo and neighboring La Boca.  La Boca is home to the very popular futball club, Boca Juniors.  It is also famous for a small area called Caminito, where the poor dock workers once lived.  They constructed their homes from scrap material and painted them in a variety of bright colors with paint scavenged from the docks.  Today, it is a bit of a tourist trap, however on the bicycle ride back to San Telmo, I was taken by the physical aspects of the area away from the tourists of La Boca’s stadium and Caminito.  There were mid-1800s colonial buildings similar to those in San Telmo, but lacking the restoration.  These buildings were intermingled with ones made up of scavenged material like corrugated metal.  This neighborhood felt authentic.  There were some vendors set up haphazardly on the sidewalk selling fruit.  There were no cute cafes, no antique stores.  Just real people living real lives.  This was pure gold for a photographer.  I had to come back here with my camera.  More on that in a bit.  Fuerza Bruta was awesome.  We went on a recommendation by some fellow travelers, and purposely didn’t research it to see what it was all about.  I am glad we didn’t.  The show originated in Buenos Aires, but is also showing off-Broadway in NYC.  Go see it.

OK, OK, now, finally the “bad” part of BA.  Remember that neighborhood with interesting mix of buildings and people?  Well, it turns out the people aren’t so great.  Well, to be fair, at least two of them.  As I was walking down the street in the late afternoon, stopping frequently to snap some photos, two men approached me.  One of them pulled out a gun and put his finger to his lips and gave me the “be quiet” shhhh.  I was stunned.  I froze.  I started to back away slowly while the other dude grabbed the camera strap around my shoulder.  I started to yell “fuck, fuck, fuck…”, which prompted more shushing, but I continued to yell.  Dude number two was still yanking at the camera, until I had the sense to lean over so it would come off.  I continued to back away and yell until they took off.  This was at 4pm in broad daylight.  There weren’t many people around, but the streets certainly were not deserted.  Yeah.  As you might imagine, I have been experiencing the full roller coaster of questions and emotions.  Did I do the right thing?  Should I have fought back?  Was the gun even loaded?  Well, there were two guys, so they could have beaten me up and taken it any way.  What would have happened if I turned and ran?  Should I have not even been in that neighborhood by myself with my camera in the first place?  I immediately walked very briskly back to the apartment.  Jesslyn and I went to the closest police station to report the incident, but they told us we had to go to the station in La Boca.  Screw that, it was getting dark now.  So we went the next day.  The police were very professional and nice, but not a bit surprised at what happened.  They said that thefts occur all over the city, but armed robbery is rare, except in La Boca.  OK, I blame myself for not doing my due diligence before walking around alone with my camera.  When we rode our bikes through there, it seemed OK, but what do I know?  Even the two guys didn’t look sketchy.  Since then, I am more cautious, paranoid perhaps.  Always looking over my shoulder, always aware of what valuables are where, always suspecting passersby.  I can’t shake the image of the gun being flashed in front of me.  I know it will fade with time.  I suspect that we may go awhile with no incident, during which I will start to feel comfortable and safe again, probably too much so, until we we have another incident.  Anyway, I am not too bitter.  I chalk it up to a life experience.  I would rather go explore at some risk than to sit on the couch.  We have already replaced the camera and will be filling out the insurance forms soon.

All in all, BA is an interesting place.  San Telmo was fantastic, and I recommend checking out La Boca with the accompaniment of some armed security.  Buenos Aires was the only place in Argentina we went.  We really wanted to go to Patagonia, but the timing just didn’t work out for us.  It is too cold and snowy this time of year to do much hiking or fishing.  We will be back to visit the far south of the continent on a future trip.

 - Jake

*  Many South Americans take offense to the use of the term “American” to mean from the United States of America.  They claim that people from all of North, South, and Central America are Americans.  In Spanish, the United States is “Estados Unidos” and people from there are “Estadosunidense”, a term we don’t really have an equivalent for.

Sorry I don't have more pics, they were in the camera when it was stolen :(

La Bomba de Tiempo

Tango in the square

Some spectators took to the dance floor to show of their own tango moves

Working in the Rainforest

We’re back to work!  Sort of.  Well, not really.  We recently participated in a program called Workaway.  The general idea of Workaway is that one works for four to five hours a day, five days a week in exchange for room and board.  Workaway itself is nothing more than a website which connects people who have work, aka “hosts", with people who want to work, aka “workawayers”.   

Our host, Errol, owns and operates the Daintree Manor Bed and Breakfast located a couple hours north of Cairns, Australia.  The B&B has only three guest rooms, but is located on a large property which requires a lot of upkeep.  Our typical day started around 8 am when we helped set up and serve breakfast for the guests.  After eating our own breakfast, we cleaned up the dining area and kitchen.  Once the morning meal duties were finished, and I tended to the chickens, we both mowed, trimmed, weeded, and painted.  The hours flew by, and by the time we realized it, it was noon and our workday was over.  A few times we told Errol to give us more work because we felt guilty that we were receiving more than we actually earned, but he always insisted that we were doing more than enough.  In the afternoons, we had the opportunity to do much needed research, planning, and booking of the next phase of our journey in South America.  A couple of afternoons, we borrowed Errol’s car and explored other parts of the Daintree Rainforest.  On our two days off, Errol took us to his place at the beach where we worked on our tans and caught up on our books.

Errol was an incredibly kind host.  We slept in one of the very nice guest rooms.  We ate extremely well, and I think I gained a few pounds during our stay.  He could have fed us anything, but we instead ate things like roast lamb, steak, smoked salmon, and tandoori chicken.  Since I like to cook, I did much of the cooking and Errol gave us free reign of the kitchen and refrigerator.  I even made a cheesecake one day.  We didn’t have lemons, but there were limes from the lime tree on the property.  Either limes in general are more potent than lemons, or perhaps it was just the lime I used because it turned out to be extremely “limey”.  It tasted fine, but was almost a cross between cheesecake and a key lime pie.

The rainforest in the northeast corner of Australia is not what one typically thinks of when picturing the land down under.  As the name implies, it is not the dry, red rock of the outback in the middle of the county, but rather a thick, lush, green jungle.  People also often associate Australia with deadly animals, and the rainforest has a few.  We didn’t see any, but we are told there are lots of crocodiles.  As long as you don’t swim in the tidal rivers and creeks, they aren’t a problem.  We did go swimming in a creek, but because it is cold water, it was croc-free.  Jellyfish may be the most dangerous animal in this part of the country.  For much of the year, there are areas of the beach netted off where it is safe to swim in the summer and when we went scuba diving, we had to wear “stinger suits”.  There are a lot of snakes in the rainforest, but most of them are not poisonous.  There is a wild 12-foot long python that likes to hang out in the shed at the B&B.  Each morning before letting the chickens out of their pen, I had to check to make sure it, or any other snakes, weren't hanging around.  On our first night, as we were about to settle into our room, I grabbed a flashlight and told Jesslyn I was going to look for snakes.  I took two steps out the door before seeing one.  It was curled up on top of a post supporting the porch.  I couldn’t tell exactly how big it was, but I would guess about four feet.  I let Errol know, and he said that it is a local, and of no concern.  It was a brown tree snake, which is poisonous, but has fangs so far back in its mouth, it wouldn’t really be able to bite.  And what list of scary creatures would be complete without spiders?  We saw the absolutely enormous, and mostly harmless golden orbs and a huntsman.

In addition to the chickens, the B&B is also home to a number of guineafowl, both of which roam free about the property by day, and sleep in the pen at night for their own protection from the snakes.  The chickens cracked me up.  A couple of them would follow me and Jesslyn around as we worked.  Some of them would sit or stand by the glass doors and watch us when we were inside.  I wasn’t so fond of the guineafowl mostly because they were so noisy, and perhaps to a small extent because they are so ugly (sorry Errol!).

Overall, our time working at the B&B was fantastic and we were sad to go.  Workaway is a great way to make extended travel possible, and we were very lucky to have come across this opportunity at the Daintree Bed and Breakfast.

 - Jake

The birds coming to hang by the house after being let out.

The senior of the two roosters, Pop, was very photogenic.

A guineafowl, a face only a mother could love

There were some good photo ops of wild birds...

...and bugs

Our crocodile-free swimming hole

Diving the Great Barrier Reef

After getting certified to SCUBA dive in Thailand in November, I had my sights set on diving on the Great Barrier Reef while in Australia.  We arranged an overnight trip on a live aboard and I had been looking forward to it for months.  We had a great time and I can't wait to have the live aboard experience again.  However, at the same time it left me disappointed and wanting a whole lot more.

Pros:

• The reef was pristine:  incredible soft and hard corals
• We pretty much had the reef to ourselves with only one other dive boat in sight
• At all times it was very evident that the main objective of the crew was our safety and the safety of the reef
• Great visibility
• I got my first night dive under my belt
• We were provided with high quality diving gear 

Cons:

• We only explored one reef, Milne
• I had expected to see more of everything:  more turtles, more sharks, more fish.  I thought we'd see many large schools of fish.  I thought that everything we'd see would be much bigger and older than what we saw in the shores off of Thailand and Vietnam.  I thought we'd see species of wildlife that we had never seen before.
• While I don't think the crew could have been more passionate about diving on the Great Barrier Reef, which is a great environment to be in, they oversold what they expected to see over and over again.  In our pre-dive briefings, they'd talk about things like, the "resident" shark that hangs out with us on this site, we always see lots of sharks during the night dive, we'll see plenty of turtles, etc.  I'm a fan of under-promising and over-delivering.  Unfortunately, my feeling after each dive was one of disappointment.

Now, after saying all of that, let me be clear that I had a great time.  I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef!  The reef was incredible and we saw more diverse and impressive coral than we have ever seen before.  In addition to seeing cute and adorable colorful reef fish (pretty much all the same ones we saw in Thailand/Vietnam), we also saw one turtle, a gray reef shark, a white tipped reef shark, a school of a dozen large barracuda and a school of what must have been at least one hundred parrot fish.  I just thought we'd see a lot more of the above in a bigger and better fashion.

Before deciding to go to the Great Barrier Reef, we'd heard conflicting things about how good the diving actually is there.  While I think it was listed on every "Top 10 Dive Sites" list I came across, there were a lot of caveats and color commentary.  With the Great Barrier Reef spanning over 2000 kilometers and containing 3000 individual reefs I'm not surprised.  How can you generalize the topic of diving on the GBR when the actual location of the dive sight could be in such a vast area?  One thing regarding what I read was very consistent:  get as far out as you can, meaning, visit the reefs furthest away from shore.  There are plenty of reefs that can be visited on day trips from the mainland so naturally if you get further out the reef, your dive sights will have seen fewer people and be more untouched by careless humans.  So that's exactly what we did:  we booked a night aboard a live aboard that would take us to the outer reefs.  They don't guarantee which reefs you'll visit as where they can take you depends on the weather and sea conditions.  The outfit we went with had almost two dozen moorings, more than most companies so I felt comfortable that no matter what the conditions, we'd have options.  I also chose a small live aboard as I had read dozens of reviews about negative experiences on big boats, and I wanted to ensure that I was diving in small groups with people I trusted.  Despite my Advanced Certification, I still consider myself a new diver.  That combined with our bad experience in Ko Lipe with Forra Diving, I wanted to remove as much anxiety as possible and thought that being in a small group would achieve that.  It definitely did.  We went with Coral Sea Dreaming out of Cairns on a sailboat that can hold twelve divers or snorkelers and three crew members.  I was very surprised when we boarded and learned that only six of us were diving and the rest only snorkeling.  No big deal, just surprised.  The crew, who doubled as dive guides, chefs, sailors and comedians were great.  The boat was a 52 foot steel sailboat, smaller than I expected it to be but I had a great time and look forward to another trip on a live aboard.  After having this one-night/five-dive experience, I know that I would enjoy a multi-night trip with more dives.  Too bad these outings are so damn expensive.

On the first day, after four hours of sailing across rough seas we arrived at the Milne Reef and did our first of three dives for the day.  My last dive had been in January so it was good to get back in the water.  The visibility was very good and it was great to see old friends again:  parrotfish, wrasse, clownfish (Nemo!) etc.  We rented an underwater camera for the two days so Jake got to practice his underwater photography skills.  Unfortunately the camera was acting up on the dive when we saw the barracuda up close and the sharks and turtle were too far away to get a good shot of them.  

Check out the striped surgeonfish gliding along.  This is my favorite photo from the dives.

Brain coral....never had seen this before.  Looks like a planet if you ask me!

That's me with some tiny cool looking fish and pristine coral.

I'm not sure what kind of fish these are, but I think that this is a great photo.

I was petrified to do a night dive.  However, it's something I wanted to try in my lifetime so why not do it for the first time on the Great Barrier Reef?  We had a thorough briefing and with the hopes of seeing many sharks and turtles, how could I not go?  After we jumped into the water, I looked at Jake and said, "I don't think I can do this".  He offered some calming words, I took a few deep breaths and decided to proceed.  I could always terminate the dive, ascend and the boat would not be hard to get back to.  I'm glad that I went!  We saw two gray reef sharks on that dive that were probably about four feet long.  They didn't come very close to us and I wish we had seen a dozen more.  We also saw one moray eel but after seeing dozens of those during my 15 dives in Thailand, seeing it on the GBR wasn't as special.  During the entire 36 minute dive we had red bass swimming with us.  Apparently they are very lazy hunters and wanted to use our lights to find their dinner.  Having them join us for the entire dive was kind of amusing.  Most of our dives hovered around 10-15M with my max depth over the two days being 27.4 meters.  I was surprised how well I managed my air consumption as I struggled with that in Thailand and Vietnam.

From what I've read post-trip, Milne Reef really is supposed to be one of the best there is on the GBR.  The crew had such high hopes for what they expected to see and it makes me wonder if we just had bad luck.  I wish more than anything that we had the budget to try another reef.  We are already here and we have the time.  But, with a day out costing an easy $500 for the two of us, we are going to save our funds and put it towards diving in Central and/or South America where we will do research ahead of time to make sure we hit the best dive spots.  So far it looks like Honduras, Mexico, and Belize.  I was hoping to get to Galapagos but so far it looks like the only options are seven night trips that would cost the two of us about $10,000.  EEK!

You can see more of our photos from diving on the Great Barrier Reef here.

~ Jesslyn

Photography is for the birds

I thought that was a catchy title, but it is a little misleading.  It should be “I like taking pictures of birds”.  

I didn’t know anything about photography before our trip started.  However, I thought it would be a good idea to get a decent camera and learn how to use it.  I got an entry level DSLR and took a short online class.  I practiced a bit in the parks near our place in Brooklyn and rather enjoyed it.  Photography is my new hobby and while I have learned a lot over the past year, I still know very little about it.  I started writing a post for the blog about the evolution of my photography, but quickly realized that it was incredibly boring.  Instead, here is the gist of what I wanted to say in a lot fewer words.

• At first, I took pictures of everything, then realized that they were boring.  Now I am picky about what I take pictures of.  Many of the pictures I used to take were to simply document the trip, now I take pictures often for their own sake.
• It takes time to set up a good shot.  Thank you Jesslyn for your patience with me.
• I am super cool because I now shoot in RAW and use back button focusing.
• I delete half of the pictures I take.  A quarter we keep, but don’t share, and a quarter are made public on our photo page.
• The public photos on our website are a combination of ones taken by me mostly on the DSLR and by Jesslyn mostly on her iPhone.  There are ones that I choose to put on there and ones Jesslyn chooses.  The ones you don't like, are most likely chosen by Jesslyn (joking ;) ).
• I could be a better photographer if only I had the right gear.  However, the gear is incredibly expensive.
• My favorite subjects are animals.  Sometimes Jesslyn gets jealous.
• I like to zoom in as much as possible and fill the frame with an animal’s face, you’ll notice that trend.
• Most of the animals we see are birds, hence the title of this post.

Here are some collections of a few of my favorite photos from our trip.  Click the image below to go to the photo album in Dropbox.

Birds

Not Birds

Not Animals

Jesslyn

Batmania and Sydney

When it was time to leave Melbourne I wasn't ready and wished that we had a few more days to explore.  I really enjoyed the city and could easily picture living there as the streets lined with cool shops, restaurants and bars reminded me of Brooklyn.  Then we got to Sydney and I was like, "oh wait, Sydney is better!"  Of course after spending only four days in each city I don't know which one I'd actually choose to live in if posed with such a decision, I can just tell you that they were both great in their own ways.  Sydney takes the lead mostly because we found it to be much more affordable than Melbourne.  Perhaps it was just the neighborhoods we explored.  For each city we had done research on the best areas to stay in and in Melbourne we chose an area called Collingwood and in Sydney, Surry Hills.  The streets in Surry Hills were lined with great restaurants and most of them offered day-of-the-week dining deals and happy hour specials.  We didn't see any happy hours in Melbourne so the comparison would be $24 AUD ($17 USD) for two beers in Melbourne vs. $10 AUD ($7 USD) in Sydney.  Need I say more?  

Accommodation-wise in both cities we tried something new:  we didn't stay in the city center and we used the "shared apartment" option on Air B&B, which means we had our own room in someone's apartment.  We chose that option because it was cheaper than a hotel or even a hostel and the friends we made in Vietnam, Ellie and Will had just used this housing option in Australia and had good luck with it.  It was weird in Melbourne when we arrived after 2AM, let ourselves in and went to bed....while another couple we didn't know were asleep in their adjacent bedroom.  In Sydney, in addition to our own bedroom, we had our own bathroom and even a large balcony all to ourselves.  The couple renting the room had assembled a Google Document with many recommendations on the city including specific restaurants in their neighborhood and having that list definitely improved our dining experiences.  The shared apartment housing option worked out well in each location.  However, after eight nights of having to make small talk with people you don't know when what you really feel like doing is going to bed, I was ready to have a place to ourselves.  We'd use the shared option again for sure, just need a little break.  

The first thing we did in Melbourne was go to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds (MCG) for an Australian Football League game, "footie" as the locals call it.  We've been wanting to experience some foreign sporting events while abroad and besides Thai boxing this was the first opportunity we've had to do so.  As we walked into the stadium it felt like we were the only tourists and I love that feeling of living like a local.  Despite being completely unfamiliar with the rules, the game was easy to follow.  The stadium was massive and was the largest stadium Jake and I have ever been in.  The attendance that day was just over 42,000 and the Melbourne team wasn't even playing.  It was the fourth game of a 23 game season.  I was surprised to learn that the MCG is the tenth largest stadium in the world and can fit 100,024 people.  It felt like a modern stadium but that's only due to the constant renovations as it was first built way back in 1853.  I think that must make it the oldest stadium I've been in too.  Some notable events that have been hosted in the MCG are the 1956 Summer Olympics, the 1992 and 2015 Cricket World Cups and the Billy Graham evangelist crusade in 1959 which holds the record for the highest attendance at MCG with around 130,000 people.

In both cities we did the "I Am Free Walking Tour" which gave us good overviews of the history of Australia and of each city.  Australia is a young country having been first discovered by the Dutch explorers in 1606 but not settled until 1788 by Great Britain.   Of course for who knows how long before that (50,000 years?) the continent was inhabited by indigenous Australians.  One notable nugget from the Melbourne tour that sticks with me is that at one point before being officially named "Melbourne", the city was referred to as "Batmania".  No, not because of the caped crusader, but because a farmer from Tasmania, John Batman, tried to claim it and name it.  The name didn't last long as the British had authorized another man to establish a settlement.  Too bad, it would be awesome if there was a city out there called Batmania.

In Sydney, we enjoyed having the company's founder as our tour guide.  She's 31 years old and started the company seven years ago when she saw the need for a free tour (the guides make their money based on tips).  In Sydney she provided maps that contained tips for the best cheap eats and inexpensive things to do.  It supplemented the list we had from our Air B&B hosts well.  

Roof of the Sydney Opera House

From Melbourne we took a day trip to the Great Ocean Road.  It allowed us to see some of the beautiful coastal landscape as well as many Australian birds and Koalas in the wild.  It was a long day trip but it was worth it to see the scenery and wildlife.  

It was a cloudy day, but we still enjoyed the magnificent views

Another favorite picture from the Great Ocean Road near Melbourne

Sleepy Koala

A King Parrot we spotted on the Great Ocean Road

Unlike Melbourne, one of the to-do things in Sydney is to explore the local beaches.  We had fun venturing out of the city to explore a few of them starting with an afternoon at Manley Beach after the walking tour.  Another day we did a 90 minute walk along the ocean ending at Bondi beach for some lunch and rays.  The sand was light in color, the water was a bright blue and we enjoyed watching some surfers of all ages.  However, at this point we are spoiled when it comes to beautiful beaches and I'd pick Thailand, Cambodia or Los Roques, Venezuela in which to lay around all day in the sun.  

Another day trip we did was to the Blue Mountains which begin about 31 miles west of Sydney.  They are part of the Great Dividing Range and are about the same size as the Rockies, but only in length, not in height.  The Blue Mountains peak at around 3,300 feet whereas the Rockies reach almost 15,000 feet.  The Greater Blue Mountains area is a UNESCO World Heritage Area because, among other reasons, of its eucalypt vegetation.  We were told that they are called the "Blue Mountains" because they look blue, go figure.  They appear blue because the forests are made up of a variety of eucalyptus trees (gum trees), which in the hot sun discharge a fine mist of eucalyptus oil from their leaves. The mist refracts light, which makes the haze look blue at a distance. That same oil makes the Australian bush a quick burn in a forest fire*.  

Checking out the Blue Mountains near Sydney

I couldn't wait for Jake to get off of this ledge!

Instead of taking the tour bus back into Sydney, we took a cruise along the harbor as the sun was setting.  Having already visited Sydney Harbor during the day, we were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed seeing the famous Harbor Bridge and Opera House again, but this time under the city lights.

~ Jesslyn

Sources:  

http://www.sydney.visitorsbureau.com.au/regions/blue-mountains.html

Wrapping up New Zealand...

Coromandel Peninsula and the Bay of Islands

After our rafting, biking, and Zorbing adventures in Rotorua we headed north to the Coromandel Peninsula.  When we arrived we did a short hike to see Cathedral Cove and were rewarded with this:

Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula

Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula

The other sight to see on the peninsula is Hot Water Beach.  It's a wild phenomenon where during the two hours on either side of low tide you can dig a hole and it fills with hot water from natural springs.  You rent a spade and then find a spot on the beach to dig your own pseudo hot tub.  It takes some time to find the right area where it will fill with hot, not cold water, and there are some areas where the water is way too hot and you'd burn yourself if you dug a hole there.  We had some good laughs as dozens of people, us included, dug holes to lay around in.  It was fun to cool off in the ocean and then get back in our own private hot spring.

After that we cruised straight through Auckland up to Bay of Islands.  Our last few nights in the campervan were met with lots of rain and we were ready to drop it off in Auckland and sleep in proper beds.  Before heading to Auckland, we went fishing for a half day out of Paihai.  We caught several snapper, one of which was big enough to keep and Jake cooked it on the BBQ that night for us.  Jake also caught a few Kingfish (Amberjack).  They fight a lot more than the snapper and I was jealous not to land one of those myself.  One of the other guys on the boat had a Kingfish on his line but when he landed it on the boat, half of it had been eaten by a shark!  That was kind of freaky!

Jake and one of the kingfish he caught

Auckland

Auckland is a great city.  We spent our last four days in New Zealand there and could easily live there.  I was expecting to hate it because any time Auckland comes up in conversation with people who've been there, it's almost always followed up with, "get out of there as fast as possible", or "don't spend any time there".  I get those comments in the context of New Zealand overall because you shouldn't travel all that way to hang out in the city.  New Zealand is about the natural beauty of the countryside.  However, Auckland on it's own is a clean, easy to navigate city with good restaurants, bars and activities.  We found an amateur comedy night, walked around the harbor and enjoyed some good meals.  There are many more activities that we didn't take advantage of because we were enjoying the free wifi at the library and planning our Australian itinerary.  We also booked a flight to Buenos Aires where we arrive May 15th and start a week of Spanish classes the next day.  We are going to try staying with a host family again and hopefully it will work out better than it did in Italy.  

~ Jesslyn

A Few More Funny Things

It's a good idea to have more than one person look at what time your flight is departing.  That way you don't get to the airport in plenty of time for your 12:45 flight when your flight is actually at 2:45.  Oh well, maybe subconsciously I knew that I needed to catch up on blog posts and the only way I'd allocate the time to do it is if I was stuck at an airport.  At least we weren't two hours late!

In Jake's last post he talked about some funny things we've encountered over the past ten months (April 24th marks ten months since we left Boston for the UK!).  I wanted to add a few more snippets:

• After someone hears that we are American, they almost always ask us what we think of Donald Trump.  After we handle that and the conversation evolves, it amazes us how much people from other countries know about American politics. 
• We still struggle with answering "where are you from?"  Our most common response is that we are from the Northeast, near Boston and then people ask us with noticeable disappointment why we don't have a Boston accent.  Jake always says it's because we watched too much TV growing up.  If we happen to meet someone from the US we say that we grew up in NH.  It feels weird to say that we are from NH when neither of us have lived there for almost two decades.  
• No one assumes that we are married.  People always refer to us as "partners" and we find it odd but it seems as though marriage is not as common in other parts of the world.

~ Jesslyn

Also, Jake wrote up a few items about NZ in particular that we get a kick out of, see below.

Bare Feet
An odd thing about NZ is that shoes are not required in stores and restaurants, and many people opt not to wear them.  Not just dirty hippies either.  Totally normal looking, well dressed people go about their day happy to let their piggies get sunlight and fresh air.

Currency
On one of our favorite topics, currency, NZ has a strange practice.  They do not have pennies or nickels.  However, prices are still listed down to the penny.  After adding up the prices of all your items, the bill is rounded to the nearest multiple of 10 cents, if you are paying cash.  If you pay with a credit card, you pay the exact amount.  It is up to the retailer how they do the rounding, but most of them will round down if the cents end in 5 or less.  It actually turns out this practice is not strange at all.  Many countries do it, and Canada has been rounding to the nearest 5 cents for three years now.

Fluff
Most of you reading this will know what Fluff is, but for those of you that don't, it is the brand name of a marshmallow spread most often consumed by children in the form of a peanut butter and Fluff sandwich, commonly known as a "fluffernutter".  I realize how funny that name must be to many people.  If you don't know what a fluffer or a nutter are, google it, but just don't do it at work.  While in the campervan, we had been eating many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (we are sooo American), and craved something different.  So, on our next shopping trip we scoured the grocery store for the sweet, sticky goodness, Fluff.  In the States, it is next to the peanut butter, so that is where we looked first.  It wasn't there.  Maybe in the baking aisle?  Nope.  Perhaps with the Vegemite?  Uh uh.  Maybe another grocery store?  Nada.  We looked for it every time we went shopping with no luck until we gave up hope.  No Fluff in NZ.  While secretly longing for the taste of childhood, we pretended to be content with PB&J for another week or so.  Then strolling through the grocery store one day, I noticed a section for international foods.  I am always curious about the odd things that people buy and sell, so stopped to check it out.  "Hey look, they have an American food section!", I yelled to Jesslyn.  We laughed at the items there, like fake Twizzlers, and both peanut butter and jelly in the same jar.  Then we saw it...  marshmallow spread... imitation Fluff!  We never thought to look in the international food aisle (I never even thought there would be an American section).  My first fluffernutter in probably 30 years was just as good as I remembered them to be.

- Jake

A Few Funny Things

We love learning about cultural differences between the United States and places we visit.  We also enjoy helping to share a bit about our culture with the people we meet, and often get a kick out of some of the (mis)perceptions about the US.  Below are some favorites.

Guns

A Dutch man on the same walking tour as us in Rome said to me, “Can I ask you a question?”.  “Yeah, sure.”, I replied.  Lowering his voice a little, he said, “Do you own a gun?”.  After a chuckle, I explained that I don’t, but I did grow up around them.  His perception was that all Americans own guns, and he found it very odd.  The discussion evolved into general political topics.  I think I helped to change his stereotype of Americans as we tended to agree on many things.  I think I could live in the Netherlands, and I just might look into it if Trump gets elected.

Coffee

While on a small sailboat in Croatia, we were chatting with the young skipper.  He asked, “At restaurants, is it true that they just come around and refill your coffee for free and without you having to ask?”.  It’s true, I told him!  I believe the reason this was difficult to understand is that they don’t have drip or "filter" coffee as it is also called.  There isn’t a pot of hot "fresh" coffee ready to serve at any given moment.  Each cup is made individually, usually with an espresso machine.  If you want an “americano”, they just add hot water to the espresso to water it down.  This was the case all over Europe and New Zealand.  In Thailand, instant coffee is also common.  We were excited when we spotted Dunkin’ Donuts in Bangkok so we could get a real American coffee.  To our disappointment, it was only espresso and americano.

Bourbon

The Croatian sailor was obsessed with America.  He told us how he wanted to visit Mississippi and drive a pickup truck and shoot guns.  Fun things certainly, but I tried to dissuade him from Mississippi.  He went on to ask, “How do I order a bourbon?  Do I just go up to the bartender?  What do I say?  Can I just ask for a ‘bourbon’?”.  The reason for this confusion is that there didn’t seem to be many bars as we know them in Croatia or anywhere outside of the UK and her former colonies.  My definition of a bar is a place you can order directly from the bartender and it’s acceptable to just have a drink, with no intention of ordering any food.  In many places we’ve been, even when there is a piece of furniture in a restaurant that looks like a bar, people often don’t sit at them.  If they do, they still order from a waiter/waitress, and not directly from the bartender.  Also, bourbon, and whiskey in general, is pretty expensive, so it isn’t consumed as much, which may explain why he didn’t know how to order it.  In that part of Croatia, wine was very popular and inexpensive.

Shoes

Speaking with one of the Thai staff members at our meditation retreat, she asked, “Did you have any culture shock when you arrived in Thailand?”.  We couldn’t think of anything specific.  She told us how when she was in the US, she could not believe people wore their shoes inside.  Another staff member interrupted, “Oh, you have shoes that you only wear inside?”.  “No!”, she said, “they wear the same shoes inside that you wear outside!!!”.  It was incomprehensible.  “I don’t understand, aren’t your shoes dirty?  Do you not have mud in the United States?”.  I said, “I guess we just have dirty floors”.  I thought for a moment more and ventured a guess at another possibility…  “We don’t sit on the floor.  We always sit on a chair or a couch.”

Bathrooms

The other strange thing she pointed out about the United States is that the stalls in a public restroom have wide gaps around the doors.  People can see into the stall.  After thinking about it, yes, that is strange.

 - Jake

One Day in New Zealand

We have done so many of the things that NZ has to offer, such as bungee jumping, sky diving, glacier walking, hiking, caving, experiencing the wildlife, etc.  It sounds like a lot, and it is, but because it was spread out over the course of nearly two months, it doesn't feel like it.  However, on April 4th, we managed to pack three very Kiwi activities into one day.

Morning:  Whitewater Rafting the Kaituna River

We enjoyed our first rafting experience on the Shotover River near Queenstown enough that we decided to do it again on the north island (not to mention it was relatively cheap).  This one was on the Kaituna River near Rotorua, which boasts the highest commercially rafted waterfall in world at 23 feet tall.  No wetsuits were required this time because the Kaituna flows out of the very shallow Lake Rotorua which is warmed by the sun and natural thermal springs.  The rafting on this river is incredible because there are many rapids and falls packed into a short distance, which means you aren't just drifting for most of the time.  Typically, a lot of white water in a short distance is a bad thing because if you fall out of the raft (or it flips over) in a rapid, you want some calm water in order to get your affairs back in order before the next set of rapids.  The beauty of this river is that at the bottom of most of the rapids or falls is a deep pool with calm, slow moving water.  Even though there isn't a lot a distance to the next hazard, there is plenty of time.  Jesslyn and I were lucky enough to have front row seats for most of the trip, including the big drop.  Despite a few bumps and bruises inflicted by colliding with others on the raft, this was some the best rafting I have ever experienced.  This was one of the rare occasions that we purchased the pictures they sold us afterward.  Check out the short slide show of us going over the falls below and the full set of pics here.

Our journey over the 23 foot waterfall on the Kaituna River near Rotorua, New Zealand

Early afternoon:  Mountain Biking

Over the course of the twenty years I've been mountain biking, I have had to walk my bike a few times due to an obstacle or steep incline that I wasn't able to ride over, but it was a rare occurrence.  I used to think I was decent at it, but it turns out I have just been riding on easy terrain.  We rented bikes and rode through the Whakarewarewa Redwood Forest in Rotorua, where there is an awesome network of trails dedicated to biking.  Jesslyn and I decided it was best for our marriage if we split up and rode our trails at our own pace.  All the trails are well marked and mapped with the level of difficulty.  I knew from a previous ride here in NZ that I should stay off of the expert trails (and not even think about the "extreme" ones).  So I stuck to the easy, intermediate, advanced.  It is sort of like green, blue, and black in skiing.  The easy trails were a nice warm up through the scenic trees and the intermediate added some fun obstacles and hills.  On the advanced, I had to walk the bike a number of times over five foot cliffs and nearly vertical descents littered with neck breaking roots and ruts.  How on earth could someone actually ride over this stuff?  The cliffs don't land on nice, smooth, flat trail, but onto more insane steepness covered with roots.  It is impossible to jump off a cliff or descend extreme declines slowly, so it is sort of an all or nothing proposition.  What do the expert and extreme trails look like?  Oh, I forgot to mention that the front and rear brake handles are reversed in NZ.  I almost went over the handlebars a couple times when I mistakenly applied the front brake instead of the rear.  I love mountain biking, but I just don't have the balls or skill level to be more than mediocre at it.  I'm OK with that.  I will just blame it on being over 40.

Late afternoon:  Zorbing

Zorbing is one of those funny words that is technically a brand name, but has come to be used in a generic way, like "kleenex".  We actually went with a company called OGO.  Here is the premise:  climb in to a giant inflatable ball, add water, roll down a hill.    The device is actually one ball suspended inside of another, which provides you some cushion from the ground.  The inner ball is about seven feet in diameter and the outer ball about ten feet.  As the ball rolls down the hill, you slip around inside, sort of like "Slippin' Slide" meets a dryer.  Jesslyn and I rode down in the same ball together, and we felt a little silly since we were at least 20 years older than anyone else doing this.  Once we did it, we didn't care, it was a blast.  We laughed the whole way down the zigzag course carved into the hill.  If you want to see what this looks like, check it out at http://www.ogo.co.nz/gallery.html.

Note from Jesslyn:
We almost skipped this activity because it seemed so absurd and it was on the expensive side.  However, my friend Allyson had zorbed in NZ many years ago and said it was a must.  She was right, we'd highly recommend it to people of any age.  When my brother was really, really little, he watched the Teletubbies, a lot.  I couldn't get over how much the landscape where we zorbed reminds me of that ridiculously awful show.

 - Jake

Wine Tasting in Marlborough and Martinborough, New Zealand

Back home, if Jake and I are in the mood for some white wine, it's almost always a Sauvignon Blanc and we usually pick up one from New Zealand.  I didn't realize how young the wine industry is in NZ until we learned about it during our time here.  Before the 1970s, there was little to no demand for wine within the country and therefore the farmers focused on crops other than grapes.  As demand continues to increase, the orchards are being replaced by grapevines.  It turns out that the combination of the climate and soil in NZ make several areas great for grape growing.  Sauvignon Blanc (SB) was the first type of wine made in NZ that really took off and it’s not just us, many wine critics consider the best SB in the world to be made here.  The other varietal that is prevalent in NZ is Pinot Noir.  The low annual sunshine in New Zealand discouraged the planting of most red grapes but apparently Pinot Noir doesn’t mind the clouds.

One of the oldest vineyards in NZ is Villa Maria.  They are proud to be NZ owned and operated, but the founder's roots are Croatian.  He grew up learning about wine and having it be part of his culture and I think it's interesting and wonderful that he helped bring the wine industry to NZ.  He started the vineyard in 1961 and is still extremely involved with the vineyard, and the NZ wine industry today.  Villa Maria was the first stop on a wine tasting tour we did in the northeast corner of the South Island in a region called Marlborough.  In my opinion, it was also the best vineyard we visited in Marlborough because not only was the wine tasty, but the woman working in the tasting room was quite a character who had us laughing nonstop between our sips of several vintages of Pinot Noir, Malbec and Sauvignon Blanc.  Over the course of the day our small tour group of three went to about six vineyards, a chocolate manufacturer and we were able to fit in a nice lunch amongst the vines before the rain set in.  Have I mentioned that it rains a lot in New Zealand?  We've had more rainy days than sunny days, there is zero doubt about that.

Villa Maria Vineyard in the Marlborough region of New Zealand

On the North Island, in Martinborough, a region known for its Pinot Noir, instead of being driven around by a tour operator, we rented bikes and visited several vineyards at our own pace.  The vineyards are within very close proximity to each another which made it easy riding in between tastings.  I think Jake may have been looking for more of a riding adventure, but I didn't mind it.  As was the case in Marlborough, there were bright clusters of grapes on the vines as it was just about harvest season.  I love tasting the red grapes right off of the vine when it’s close to picking time, they are so sweet and delicious!  The first time I had visited a vineyard was an April trip to Napa and Sonoma.  There were barely leaves on the vine then, never mind grapes.  It makes the wine tour experience much more enjoyable when there are bring green leaves and plump grapes to ogle.

Vineyard hopping in Martinborough, New Zealand

There are a few other wine regions in NZ but if you are trying to choose between one of these two, I'd say get yourself some bikes and explore Martinborough.  

~ Jesslyn

Lock Your Doors

Sometimes smart people do stupid things, like sleep with their campervan doors open.  It never seemed like a stupid idea until the night our van was broken into, while we were sleeping in it.  Our campervan is actually a minivan in which the backseat turns into a bed.  We'd gotten into the habit of sleeping with the sliding doors open a crack when it wasn't raining out.  It can get quite stuffy in the van so we appreciate a clear night when we can let in the fresh air.  While we sleep we put most of our stuff on the front two seats of the vehicle because it cannot all fit underneath our "bed".  We also put the blinds down which includes one that creates a shield between us and the front seats.  Since the sun doesn't shine very early in NZ the purpose of these blinds is more to minimize the lights from the holiday park from keeping me awake.

The break-in occurred during our first night in Turangi, a town on the North Island just south of Lake Taupo.  I woke up around 1:30AM and laid there for a handful of seconds wondering why I was awake.  It's not uncommon for me to wake up at any time of the night as I am one of the worst known sleepers on the planet.  I realized though that this time, I was awake because I could hear something outside on Jake's side of the van.  The only possibility that crossed my mind was that it was wildlife so I leaned over Jake and popped my head outside the door to appease my curiosity.  Instead of a Kiwi bird though, what met my eyes was two petite hooded people crouching down going through the front passenger side of our van.  Instinctively, I screamed "WHAT THE F*$!" at the top of my lungs and fell out of the van as they sprinted away.  My blood curdling scream woke Jake from his dead sleep and as we scrambled to realize what was going on, they were over a fence and gone.  At this point we saw that they had already been through everything they could access from the drivers side of the van.  The contents of Jake's entire suitcase were all over the ground as were the contents of my backpack.  As I tripped over my noise canceling headphones, I was relieved to see that our Macbook and iPad were on the picnic table.  They appeared to be saving these for when they were done being greedy going through the passenger side of our car.  I didn't see their faces and wasn't even sure if the bandits were male or female.  All I knew is that they both seemed small, they didn't appear to be big, burly men.

We were really lucky, really lucky.  They got away with our camera, tripod and Jake's ancient iPhone (4 from 2010) but nothing else.  We didn't even lose a picture as we had already imported the photos to the laptop.  The camera and tripod had straps which they obviously easily put over their heads and the iPhone was there to be scooped up and put into their pocket.  We woke up the managers of the holiday park and although they were very sympathetic to us, offering us a cabin to sleep in for the rest of the night, the first thing out of their mouth was "oh, not again".  I'm sorry, what?  Apparently break-in's have been occurring regularly within the campground.  Wouldn't it have been nice if they mentioned that upon check-in and strongly encouraged us to lock our vehicles at night?!  The police station is only open from 8AM - 4PM so we didn't have much of a choice agreeing that we'd call the police in the morning.  I was asked if I got a good look at the thieves and when I said that all I could tell is that they were petite, this was consistent with what they've heard before.  The cops and the holiday park owners suspect that it is a group of 14 to 15 year old boys working together.  

Once the sun came up we met other travelers that had also been robbed that night.  Their luck was much worse.  The thieves had grabbed one of their large backpacks from the front seat and in it was a wallet, passport, GoPro, camera, cell phone, iPad, and hiking gear.  They had just arrived the day before from Connecticut for a two week trip to NZ.  Luckily as the day progressed the pack was recovered with his passport and wallet in it.  The kids had taken his cash but left his license and credit cards.  Having his passport would allow him to continue his NZ trip as planned and not make an unexpected trip back to Auckland to figure things out at the U.S. Embassy.  I cried with relief at his fortune.  I can't imagine taking precious vacation time, traveling half way around the world with excitement and have it all spoiled within 24 hours of arrival.  Clearly the thieves were amateurs as I'm sure there is a market for passports and credit cards but they didn't recognize that which is Mr. Connecticut's good luck.

As time passes it gets easier, but ever since that night I've had a very hard time relaxing enough to sleep well in the campervan.  For several days I could not get the image of two people so close to me out of my mind.  I can't believe that they were bold enough to go through our things when we were laying right there.  Lessons learned: first even if you are in the car, lock it,  and second even if you think you are somewhere "safe", act as if you are not.

Our planned activity in this area was to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing which we now had to do without a real camera.  This was a major disappointment as we hadn't seen any scenery similar to this yet, active volcanoes.  It was a clear day and thanks to the iPhone my friend Amanda gave me before we left for the trip (I smashed my iPhone screen right before left the U.S. and she came to the rescue!), we were able to capture some photos.  When we got to our next destination, Taupo, I found a camera store because I wasn't going to let us go another day reflecting on our loss and sad to have no photos.  Over the past few months, Jake has really gotten into photography and has been enjoying online photography classes and practicing his new craft daily.  The loss of the camera was now twofold, to have the tool you need to support your passion snatched away just wasn't going to work.  It wasn't going to work for me.  He had not complained once but I love seeing him happy behind the lens and of course I also appreciate the beautiful way in which he is capturing our trip.  There was a "camera shop" in Taupo and by that I mean a store that mostly prints photos, but also sells some accessories and a handful of cameras.  I think they had three camera models and one of them was the same model camera that we had had.  As we stood there looking at the steep price, which was much higher than what we had paid for it in the U.S., the gentleman came over to politely greet us.  I told him our sob story and he became the Kiwi who saved the day by offering us the camera and filter at cost while also throwing in a 16GB SD memory card.  We both cried in the store (Jake denies that he did though).  We never expected such incredible generosity.  What a guy.  I wanted to hug him but given he was behind the counter at this point that would have been awkward so I gave him a two handed hand shake instead.  I still can't believe how thoughtful and kind this man was. 

~Jesslyn

Fly Fishing in NZ

Catching Fish

Shortly before we left for our trip, I became interested in fly fishing, and Jesslyn bought me a nice rod and reel for my birthday.  I got a quick backyard lesson from Steve, Jesslyn’s dad, but only got to use the rod a couple times.  We would have liked to go fishing with him to learn more, but we didn't have the opportunity.  On one of those occasions when I was fishing on my own, I found myself standing on the shore of the pond next to another guy who was casting his fly way out onto the lake into a group of trout feeding on the surface.  He was hauling them in with great consistency.  All of my casts fell short.  Some casts ended up wrapped around my head.  I felt like an idiot.  

So here we are in Taupo, NZ, one of the world’s premier fly fishing destinations.  I knew I would need some instruction before expecting to catch a fish.  We found a guide, Andrew Christmas, through some internet research and booked a half day.  One of the first things Andrew asked was if we wanted a good chance of catching small fish or a not-so-good chance of catching big fish.  I opted for the big guys, thinking that I can catch small ones back home.

We drove about 30 minutes outside of town, put our waders and boots on, and hiked through the trees to a crystal clear stream.  The stream is about 25 yards wide in most places, and you can wade in much of it.  Some of the bottom is sandy, which combined with the clarity, and shallow depth make it possible to spot the fish.  A common way to fish here is to walk slowly along the stream, trying to spot the fish, then casting to them.  Crap.  That puts a lot of pressure on a guy who can’t cast.  

After getting down to the stream, we got two minutes of instruction on how to use the flies.  We were using nymphs which are a type of wet fly that sinks.  Jesslyn's rod had a strike indicator, and mine had a bright orange, imitation trout egg on the line which is (supposedly) visible underwater and acts as a strike indicator as well.  We didn’t see any fish initially, so we were to cast upstream into a pool that we couldn’t see into well, and let the current take the nymphs down stream.  My first cast was in the tall grass on shore.  Luckily, the stream was small, so distance was not an issue.  However, accuracy was critical.  Jesslyn and I fumbled around a bit before we moved on to another spot.

At the new location, Andrew got us set up in our spots and showed us where to cast.  I thought I got the hang of it OK, when he took the rod from me and started casting himself.  In about one minute he hooked a fish, and handed me the rod.  As I am finding out, there is so much to fly fishing that is different from other types of fishing.  You can’t fight the fish because they will break the delicate leader.  You have to keep the rod up and bent like a spring to keep tension so the fish can’t work the hook free.  If the fish swims away, let line out, if he swims toward you, pull it in, fast.  On top of all that, you have to keep them away from obstacles in the water like overhanging trees and branches.  Keep in mind, you are doing all this while standing on slippery, uneven rocks in moving water up to your knees or even waist.  

Luckily, this fish decided to head away from me.  He took quite a bit of line with him as he went around a bend, and I was walking as fast as I could toward him so that I could keep the line away from trouble on shore.  Andrew grabbed the net and ran toward the fish.  He netted him while it was still 40 yards away from me.  The fish was absolutely incredible.  This might sound funny, but it was beautiful.  I have never caught a freshwater fish nearly that big.  I know what you are thinking, and I agree with you:  I didn’t really catch that fish.  I didn’t cast or set the hook.  I didn’t even pull it in.  But we did get some great photos with an amazing and enormous brown trout.  OK, now that we have that under our belts, maybe I can do some more of the work.

Nope.  Deja vu all over again.  Almost the exact same thing happened again.  This one might have been a little bigger even, and we released him without harm.  It turns out the Andrew spotted both of those fish in areas where I was fishing.  I never saw them in the water.  Throughout the day, we did spot several large browns.  Sometimes they wouldn’t strike before being spooked away from the splashing of the fly, or sometimes they were in places impossible to get a fly to.  As it was getting near the end of our time with Andrew, we spotted a couple fishing feeding on the surface.  A fish would jump every minute or so.  Wow, sure thing, right?  Nope.  

Andrew quickly put a dry fly (floats on top of the water) on the line and began casting.  He cast a bunch of times right on top of where the fish were jumping, but no strikes.  He ran back to the car to get a different fly, and I was casting in the mean time.  My casts weren’t quite hitting the spot, and I gave the rod to Jesslyn, who was casting pretty well after a couple misfires.  When Andrew came back he resumed casting, but with no luck.  He cut the fly down so it was smaller in order to look more like the lace moths the fish were eating.  He cast some more.  No strikes.  He explained that one of the most frustrating things is to see fish feeding and not being able to get a strike.  Jesslyn and I looked at each other and shrugged.  We were getting bored watching him cast.  He finally gave up and handed the rod back to Jesslyn.  We had about five minutes left as Andrew started to get his gear together and look around for any other browns we might cast to quickly before we had to go.  He glanced over at Jesslyn and said, “nice cast”, then yelled, “STRIKE!!!”.  Jesslyn jerked the rod up like pro, setting the hook, and proceeded to work it in to her feet; a beautiful rainbow trout she caught all by herself.  Of course, we didn’t choose the fly, or the time and place, but that one counts.  I am jealous.

That night we cooked the whole big brown in aluminum foil over the campfire.  I had to keep moving it around because the fish was bigger than the fire.  Together we ate a lot of fish, but only managed to consume half.  Our neighbors at the campground were delighted to help us with the rest.  It was really good.  Many of you may be surprised to hear that Jesslyn ate trout and enjoyed it, and she was surprised as well.  

Learning to Cast

After Taupo, we stayed a little further north near Lake Rotorua, another area world famous for fly fishing.  When we checked in to the campground, we learned of a local guide who specializes in teaching people about fly fishing and how to properly cast.  I talked to Harvey, aka, “The Trout Man" on the phone and he made it clear that there are no fish around at the moment and we shouldn’t expect to catch anything.  We were about three weeks too late for the summer season, and about three weeks too early for the winter season.  That’s fine, I wanted to learn and didn’t need fish getting in the way of that.  We signed up for a half day of tuition.

We started our class on the grass with no rods, just doing the arm movements.  It felt a little silly.  Once we mastered the movement without a rod, we got a handle attached to about a foot of rod.  After mastering that, we finally got a rod with line (no hooks yet though).  Standing on the grass we were doing the forearm cast pretty well.  Then we repeated the whole process, but this time learned the overhead cast which gets your shoulder into the action for more power and longer reach.  Then we learned the figure eight retrieve, then the strip retrieve, and then Harvey played the role of a trout as we practiced setting a hook and pulling in a fish.  After about an hour and a half we went down to the lake.

Harvey is retired and does this work mostly for fun.  You know he doesn’t do it for the money since he charged only a quarter of what Andrew did.  He told us a few years back he did a little research and realized that there was a market for teaching beginners.  No one else was doing it.  All of the guides charged a lot of money which put pressure on them to catch fish.  So, if their clients can’t cast well, the guides end up casting.  Don’t we know it.  

Down at the lake with Harvey, the wind gave us a little trouble, but after moving to the other side of the mouth of the stream to account for the wind direction, Jesslyn and I were casting like pros (short for “proficiently”, not “professional”).  Harvey was impressed by how quickly we picked it up, and taught us the roll cast on the water.  Just as he warned, there were no fish to be caught that day, but we didn’t care.  We got exactly what we needed.

The beautiful brown trout.

This is the second one I "caught".  We released this one.

Jesslyn hauling in her rainbow.

This is a part of the previous photo zoomed in so you can see Jesslyn's jaw dropped wide open.

She caught this one.

A better look at her rainbow trout.

- Jake

Wellington

After taking a three and a half hour early morning ferry, we said goodbye to the South Island and arrived in Wellington.  We had spent 34 nights on the South Island and I was sad to move on because it is incredibly beautiful.  When talking to native Kiwi's or other travelers - no matter who you ask - if they've already been to both the North and South island, they comment in a dramatic fashion on how different the two islands are.  I was looking forward to what the North Island had to offer and hoping for fewer rainy days and a lot more sunshine.

Wellington is the capital of NZ and the second most populous urban area with around 400,000 residents.  We were able to find a place right downtown that had the bare minimum:  showers, toilets and a place where we could park and sleep in the van.  After a quick shower we headed over to the free National Museum, Te Papa.  I was not in a museum mood at all but it was what we had planned to do while in town and had heard from several sources that it was a great museum.  I'm very happy that we didn't skip it because it turned out to be extremely well done and a great way to spend the afternoon.  It's quite a large museum with six floors covering Maori history, more recent NZ history, NZ flora/fauna/wildlife, earthquakes/geology etc. etc. etc.  My favorite sections were walking through exhibits about the sea life found in the coastal waters off of New Zealand and a special long term exhibit on NZ's first campaign in World War I, Gallipoli.

The museum houses the only colossal squid specimen on display in the world, weighing just under 1,100 pounds.  We watched a short video that showed how it was caught by mistake in February 2007 by a vessel fishing for Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea, Antarctica.  The squid was brought aboard and frozen, then later thawed and examined by a team of scientists from all over the world.  Seeing the care in which they examined the squid was spectacular.  The video about the discovery and preservation was much more interesting to me than seeing the actually squid as it looked kind of gross sitting there preserved in its tank.  If you'd like to learn more about this topic, check out this website.

As far as the World War I exhibit, I appreciated learning about New Zealand's involvement at Gallipoli and found it extremely sad how many lives were lost.  New Zealand suffered around 8,000 killed and wounded during the campaign which started in April 1915 and ended in January 1916.  How the exhibit was showcased was beyond words.  The Te Papa museum worked with the Weta Workshop to assemble the centennial memorial exhibit.  I had never heard of the Weta Workshop but turns out that they are a NZ based special effects and prop company that has worked on movies such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mad Max, Avatar, Narnia etc.  Among other things, they are responsible for the creatures in these films, makeup effects etc.

While the several room exhibit featured a variety of formats to tell the story of Gallipoli, the eight rooms with soldiers 2.4 human size were absolutely jawdropping.  Despite the scale, these looked like real men (and women as there was one nurse featured).  Each figure was in a war like situation and every inch of them appeared real.  Completely genuine.  Absolutely incredible.  The perspiration on their foreheads, the scruff on their face, their bloody wounds, their expressions of grief and sadness.  I wanted to stand there and stare at them forever.  They were so real.  We should have taken some pictures but it didn't feel right at the moment.  Although it won't do it justice, please take a quick look at the Te Papa museum website here and see what I mean.  I've never seen anything like it before, these figures were breathtaking and left an impression on me that will last a lifetime.

We were about to leave the museum when we heard an announcement about a free dance performance.  We were literally standing in front of where it was about to happen so we stuck around to check it out.  It was an odd collection of performances which including two Maori numbers, a hip hop number and a solo singing performance of Jake's and my wedding song, At Last, originally made popular by Etta James.  The latter made me tear up as it was so random and unexpected and we had not listened to that song in quite awhile.  Hearing the lyrics again reminded me of how appropriate that song is for us.  The kapa haka performance was great because not only was it well executed, but it appeared to be actual Maori proud of their heritage vs. us paying for some authentic-like performance for tourists.  This show wasn't supposed to be in the Te Papa museum, it was supposed to be elsewhere in Wellington but had to be moved to another location at the last minute.  According to Wikipedia, "Kapa haka is an avenue for Maori people to express and showcase their heritage and cultural Polynesian identity through song and dance.....A kapa haka preformance involves choral singing, dance and movements associated in the hand-to-hand combat practiced by Maori in mainly precolonial times, presented in a synchronization of action, timing, posture, footwork and sound."

While in town, we were also looking forward to meeting up with Ellie and Will, a couple from the UK that we first met on our overnight boat trip in Halong Bay, Vietnam.  They are also on an extended trip and we had kept in touch, hoping we could meet up in New Zealand.  Turns out this lined up for our one night in Wellington!  It was great to catch up over drinks and dinner with fun people.  We swapped travel tips and parted ways as we were headed out of town in the morning.

Wellington is a great city to stopover in.  Since we picked up the campervan, we've been cooking most nights and although that has genuinely been great, I thoroughly enjoyed stepping back into my Brooklyn lifestyle of brunch, beers and burgers.

- Jesslyn

New Zealand by Foot

New Zealand has many famous hikes, or “walks” as they call them.  We have had the opportunity to do three of them.  

We hiked 28 miles of the 44 mile long Queen Charlotte Track over the course of two days.  The way you get out to the starting point of the track is by water taxi, and the great thing about it is that the boat will also deliver your pack to wherever you are spending the night.  This obviously makes it a lot easier to do overnight hikes without carrying all the added weight that it would normally entail.  In addition, there are a few accommodations and restaurants a short distance off the track, so you don’t have to sleep on the ground or eat rehydrated food.  We stayed in a private house whose owners rent out a few rooms to hikers.  When we arrived, I went for a quick dip in the ocean.  Jesslyn opted to stay dry after spotting the second jellyfish (I think they were the relatively harmless Moon Jellyfish).  After a refreshing shower we ate at a nice restaurant overlooking a small harbor.  We really enjoyed this hike, but our feet were elated when it was over.

One of many nice views from the Queen Charlotte Track.

Abel Tasman is a huge national park on the northern coast of the south island.  We camped at a no-frills campground at the northern end of the park that we shared with the flightless birds Takahe and Weka.  The Takahe was declared extinct in 1900, and it wasn’t until 1948 that a small population were found.  They are still endangered but are managing to hang on.  The Weka’s conservation status is “vulnerable”, just one step better than endangered, and we have seen these guys around in a number of places.  On a side note, there are so many incredible birds in New Zealand, and I have really enjoyed photographing them.  I will have to dedicate a post just to that.  On a further side note, I have started shooting photographs in RAW format.  So, you might notice a change in some of our pictures.  Again, I could write another whole blog just on that.

A Pakahe posing for the camera.

The Weka kind of remind me of a chicken.

The hike at Abel Tasman is along the water which allowed us to mix it up a bit.  On the first of our two hikes there, we trekked 10 miles to the south and hopped a ride back on a water taxi.  The second hike started from the south end and went north, but this time we kayaked seven miles, then hiked another seven before zipping back in another water taxi.  The kayaking was great, but the water got a little too rough for comfort.  A challenging feature of hiking in Abel Tasman is that the trail crosses estuaries in a couple places, making it possible to pass only in the couple of hours on either side of low tide.  Even then, you have to take off your shoes and wade through knee deep water.

The third long hike we did was the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.  Rumor has it that it used to be called “a walk”, but too many people underestimated it, so it is now called an alpine crossing.  This hike was through terrain that I have never seen before; volcanic rock, craters, incredibly aqua blue ponds, and steaming vents.  The overwhelming stench of sulphur was a further reminder of where we were.  We really enjoyed experiencing the volcanic surroundings, despite the relentless, strong, cold wind plus the hundreds of other people on the trail.  We were not used to fighting the crowds because the Queen Charlotte and Abel Tasman Tracks had so few other people.

This volcano is Mount Ngauruhoe, or better known as Mt. Doom from the Lord of the Rings.  I had never seen the volcanic rock like that before.

 - Jake

Christchurch

The entire country of New Zealand sits on top of a fault line where the Australian Plate and Pacific Plate meet.  This results in spectacular mountains, volcanoes, and hot springs, but it also causes devastating earthquakes.  The city of Christchurch was essentially destroyed in February 2011 by one of the world's worst quakes in an urban area killing 185 people.  Six months prior, the area was weakened by a 7.1 magnitude quake, and even though the February 2011 quake was only a 6.3, it did much more damage because it was a lot closer, just six miles away from city center.  The draw to Christchurch these days is to see the ruble, the reconstruction, and the creativity of the community while it slowly rebuilds.  On our way out to the Bank’s peninsula, we spent a day there.

Since it’s been five years since the last major earthquake, I expected the city to be back to business as usual, but that is not the case.  As you walk around, there are entire city blocks that are still filled with crumbled remnants of the former structures.  Some of the ruins have been cleaned up, leaving nothing but a parking lot in its place, and a few have active construction.  It appears as though the rebuilding is incredibly slow, and the reason was explained that the efforts first had to focus on the utilities.  The soil in the area is prone to “soil liquefaction” which, as it sounds, means that the movement from an earthquake makes it act like a liquid; not a great thing to have on a fault line.  This is a contributing factor to why the quake was so bad, and you can imagine the impact to the underground utilities like water, sewage, and electricity.  The community has come up with some clever ways to manage through the hard times.  There was a contest for the most creative portable toilet and an outdoor movie theater powered from the electricity generated by the pedaling of stationary bikes of the viewers.  There is a cathedral built from cardboard, and local businesses joined together to make a shopping area out of shipping containers.  It is a really cool area which I think will stick around long after the city has been completely rebuilt.

The container mall with retail shops set up inside of shipping containers.

Just past Christchurch is the Banks Peninsula.  It is a gorgeous stretch of land cut into by numerous bays.  As I mentioned in a previous post, this is where we were supposed to swim with dolphins, but they were not interested.  This area wasn’t a total bust however.  We had great weather, which we have learned to really appreciate.  We camped at one of my favorite spots so far, on a farm looking down on a beautiful blue bay.  What made this place special was how quiet and remote it was.  This was just a field, or actually more like a sheep pasture. We did a few short hikes right from our campsite, and explored some beaches devoid of other people.  With all of the ruined buildings, Christchurch seems like a pretty sad place, but it is worth a quick visit on the way to the beautiful Bank's Peninsula.

Sorry for repeating an image from a previous post, but this one captures our stay at the farm on Bank's Peninsula perfectly.

Farmland meets the ocean at the Bank's Peninsula.

 - Jake

Seaside Kaikora

I've always loved going to the beach.  Summers in York Beach with my family and Andrea are some of my happiest memories.  I love the ocean but I didn't realize how being by it can drastically affect my mood and happiness.  Kaikora is a small peninsula town on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island (2013 population per Wikipedia estimated 1,971).  According to Lonely Planet it's on the main migratory path for 14 different species of whales and dolphins, an underwater highway where you can see incredible wildlife year round.  When we entered Kaikora and I saw the sunshine glistening on the surprisingly aqua sea, my mood shifted and I couldn't stop beaming.  I was so excited to see the colors of the water and immediately knew that two nights in this spectacular place wasn't going to be enough. It's the first time while in New Zealand where I've had that thought and was anxious of the feeling I'd have when it was time to leave and I wasn't ready.  As Jake drove and I gazed at the water, I started to see big splashes off in the distance.  At first I thought it was whales but later learned that it was dolphins.  Within five minutes of driving along the water I must have seen at least a dozen splashes.  Later in the day the splashes were close enough that I could see the dolphin doing some serious acrobatics.  Unfortunately the sunshine didn't last.  Within two hours of our arrival the sun was gone, the clouds were in and rain was pending.  My feeling of elation was diminished.  The forecast wasn't good.  We were able to go on the "Seal Swim" that we had been looking forward to for months but were refunded half of the fare because the seals didn't cooperate with our plans.  The seal swim wasn't as bad as I made it out to be.  Yes we were refunded, but it was still an enjoyable experience.  After suiting up in the thickest wetsuit I've ever worn, which included a hood we set out on a tiny craft with two young girls from Germany, our skipper and his first mate.  While we saw some seals on rocks, we had a hard time finding any in the water.  This may have been because the typically sunny weather had turned to overcast and cool....the seals had no need to cool off.  We did find some seals in the water, but they weren't too interested in playing with us.  I think I had the best view of our group and was able to see them swim underwater, but we weren't able to get too close, hence the refund.  We did see a ginormous stingray about four feet in diameter.  It was so close I could have touched it and the sight of it was both incredible and terrifying all at the same time.  Isn't that what killed Steve Irwin?

After that, it poured all night and made getting up to go to the bathroom super fun for me.  We woke up to the same weather and our whale watching trip was canceled.  We stayed positive and got some "work" done (a.k.a. blog writing and trip planning) while waiting to see if our afternoon skin diving trip would also be canceled.  It was.  We were supposed to go skin diving for "crayfish" and paua which are the delicacies of Kaikora.  What they call crayfish are actually rock lobster, very similar to a New England lobster, but with no claws, and paua are what we would call abalone.   I was hoping to also find scallops that we would then cook at our private BBQ on the beach.  We attempted to reschedule but the water visibility continued to be subpar.  We had been looking forward to these Kaikora-only based activities for many months and my mood was very low as we drove out of town.  After being on the road for only about twenty minutes, my mood picked up slightly when we stopped to view the Point Kean Seal Colony.  It's an area off the side of the main road where literally hundreds of NZ fur seals are lazing around the rocks.  Many of them were pups who were absolutely adorable to watch as they played with one another on the rocks and in the tiny pools of water that had been left behind when the tide went out.  At least we got to see that. 

~ Jesslyn

Ice, Ice Baby

We went to Mt. Cook in order to get up close to the tallest mountains in New Zealand.  Unfortunately, the glacier kayaking trip we had booked was cancelled because of the weather (spoiler alert: that will become a trend over the next couple of weeks).  We did a short walk to one of the lakes and were treated with large blocks of ice protruding from the surface.  We joked that they were icebergs, but they appeared to be attached to the bottom which would technically make them ice anchors.  The clouds were obscuring the peak of Mt. Cook most of the time, but we were able to snap a couple photos during a brief pocket of visibility.

We drove from the campground at Mt. Cook over to Fox Glacier.  The crazy thing is that they are only about 18 miles away from each other as the crow flies, but the drive is 280 miles.  It is just impractical to put a road over or through the mountain range.

Mt. Cook looming in the backdrop of ice in Hooker Lake.

One of the must-do things in New Zealand is to hike on a glacier.  There are thousands of them in New Zealand, but Fox and the Franz Josef are the most well known and visited because they are fairly accessible.  I use the word accessible lightly because it still takes a helicopter ride to get up on them, which makes a few hours walking on some ice pretty expensive.  We figured that it was worth the cost and booked a trip onto Franz Joseph.  And since the glaciers are retreating rapidly due to global warming, who knows how long they will even exist.  We were extremely lucky to have a break in the fog and rain just long enough for our half day trip.

The helicopter ride only lasted five minutes, but it was awesome.  It was small, carrying only five passengers, plus the pilot.  I was surprised at how close we flew next to the mountains as we zoomed between the peaks.  We had a great view of the mountains and ice, as well as the ocean.  After landing, our group of nine strapped on our crampons and followed our guide over and through a labyrinth of blue ice.  The immensity of the glacier becomes apparent as you see other groups hiking in the distance.  It also puts the size of the columns of ice, called seracs, into perspective.

The seracs in the distance don't look so big...

...until you see the hikers next to them.

Our hike was easy both physically, and technically, as we didn't use harnesses, ropes, or ice axes.  I have often thought that I would love to do some hard core mountaineering and use these things to get to some more remote places.  However, I get cold easily, but more importantly, it is an extremely dangerous hobby.  At the visitor's center near Mt. Cook, we looked through the books which have a short biography of each of the 230 people who have died there in the past century.  We read about ten of the bios, all of which were of experienced mountaineers.  Typical problems in the mountains are from unpredictable weather, high winds, and ice anchors failing.  Glaciers present additional challenges because they are constantly moving, usually slowly, but at times very quickly and without warning.  Crevasses open and close, seracs fall over, and ice dams break.  At one point on our glacier hike, a huge amount of ice came crashing down not too far away from us.  I was scared shitless for three seconds while I waited for our guide's reaction.  When he said, "cooool!", I relaxed.  I think he may have needed those three seconds to decide what his reaction should be.

 - Jake

Are those Yeti?

The ice takes on some neat shapes and shades of blue.

Our ride awaits.

Going Underground

We left the Fox and Franz Josef glacier regions headed towards Christchurch in search of clear skies.  It had been so rainy, windy, and cold, we really needed some sunshine, so our plan was to drive east until we found it.  It was still raining as we went through Arthur’s Pass, which connects the west and east coasts.  If it stopped raining, our plan was to look for trail heads in an interesting area and do a hike.  Finally, the skies cleared up and we saw a trail head marker for the Cave Stream Scenic Reserve just outside of Castle Hill.  We pulled into the parking lot and read about the area on the placards.  It turns out that there is a cave nearby with openings at both ends so you can do a through hike.  The cave was formed by running water of melting glaciers, and there is still a stream running through it.  In order to navigate the cave, you have to walk upstream through cold, waist deep water.  I told Jesslyn that we MUST check it out as I grabbed my camera and dry bag.  Jesslyn wasn’t as keen on the idea as I was.  The compromise was that we would inspect the entrance and if we didn’t feel comfortable, we would turn around.  

Entrance to the cave

We got down to the the opening of the cave and I hopped in the water.  I was quickly chest deep in icy water and turned around since it was only supposed to be waist deep.  I let Jesslyn know that I was having second thoughts as she stood dry and warm on the shore.  I then let her know that I was going to press on alone just a little further just to check it out.  Just as quickly as the water got deep, it got shallow again, about knee deep, so I abruptly did an about-face and let Jesslyn know that the journey was still a go.  

This cave is absolutely amazing.  I feel that ‘amazing’ is an overused word, so I use it sparingly.  It was amazing.  The rock was wavy and smooth, worn away by thousands of years of water running through it.  It looked fake to me, like Disneyland made a ‘cave’ ride.  It was typically about 20 feet tall and wide.  We trudged our way through the cave with our inadequate mini-mag lite and weak head lamp (don’t worry it was still totally safe), taking about half an hour to complete the third of a mile long cave.

I have never really been a big fan of caves.  I have been in a few where I had to squeeze my body through incredibly tight spaces.  While I am not very claustrophobic, I don’t really care for that, as I imagine most people wouldn’t.  I have also been on several commercial tours through really large caves, which isn’t particularly exciting.  But this cave, was a great size as to not feel confined and you are free to explore it on your own.  Jesslyn later told me she was petrified the entire time, but I loved every minute of it.

The exit from the cave is just to the left of us near our feet.  You have to climb up a steel ladder.  Notice the high water mark on our chests.

 - Jake

New Zealand: The South of the South Island

After our adrenaline packed time in Queenstown we headed towards the west coast of New Zealand to explore Milford and Doubtful Sounds.  During the drive west was when we heard our first gasp from the back seat.  Jake and I in the front and Knox in the back were all startled as we tried to quickly determine if Sharon was ok?!  Oh, she was fine - it wasn't Jake's driving that made her gasp, she had just spotted the first of the many deer farms we would pass in the coming days.  The farms were just like sheep or cattle farms with large herds of deer grazing on the grass, but with much higher fences.  The further we drove west, the more rain we encountered and then it rained consistently for about four days.  We didn't let it dampen our spirits too much and enjoyed hours of laughs playing a modified version of Papelito and 500 rummy.  I bet that many of you have never heard of Papelito.  It's a great game that Jake learned in graduate school from some friends from South America.  All you need is a pen, paper and a good imagination.  Here's one set of rules on how to play.

We had prebooked two boat trips for this area of NZ, rain or shine.  One was a day trip to Milford Sound and the other, an overnight trip into Doubtful Sound.  The rain was relentless when we arrived in Milford Sound but that didn't stop us from going sea kayaking.  Luckily the company we went with, Go Orange, decked us out with more gear that you can imagine to try to keep us dry and warm.  Dry was a joke due to the incredible amount of rain pouring down, but we did stay warm.  We had hoped to see a lot of wildlife that day and we saw a fur seal almost as soon as we started kayaking.  The second half of our day trip to Milford Sound was to see more by boat.  We went out to the Tasman sea and had a pod of dolphins swimming next to us at one point.  There are always a handful of waterfalls in Milford Sound but due to the rainfall, we saw more waterfalls that day than the four of us have probably have seen in our entire lifetimes combined.  Each member of the crew mentioned more than one time how lucky we were to see the waterfalls.  Their powerfulness and beauty were undeniable, but we were ready to see the sun!

Ready to kayak in Milford Sound

Jake and I in our sea kayak with one of those thunderous waterfalls in the background

A few days later we set off for our overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound and it was still raining.  The trip was almost canceled because a road we had to cross to get to the boat was just about flooded over.  We waited twenty minutes hoping for the water level in the river to go down enough for us to pass and when it did, a large caravan of cars crossed.  I was thinking about "What happens when it's time to return?  What if the road is washed out then and we are stuck on the other side?!"...luckily that didn't happen.  Also lucky for us, the sun came out after our first few hours on the boat!  The four of us shared a small cabin under deck with four bunks.  It was the first time Sharon and Knox slept overnight on a boat and we all had a good laugh when we saw how small the room was we were sharing!  The crew were amazing working hard to provide us with warm muffins and coffee when we boarded, a huge array of delicious food for dinner and plenty of drinks as we waited for the sun to make an appearance.  Dinner on the boat was fantastic and was one of Jake and Knox's favorite meals in New Zealand.  The menu included roast lamb, beef, smoked salmon.  Once the sun arrived, that same crew took us out kayaking, served us breakfast and got the boat ready for the next group.  They did it all with a huge smile on their face and I'd highly recommend this trip.

Our overnight vessel while in Doubtful Sound

On our drive through the Catlins, I don't think any of us could believe how many sheep, cows and deer we saw.  Jake and I had seen a lot of sheep and cows in Scotland, but New Zealand is on an entirely different scale when it comes to the quantity of these animals.  I've heard more than one local (Kiwi) mention, "There are more sheep than people in NZ." and the estimated population of people is four million.  Sharon kept the four of us laughing with her gasps of excitement each time a deer farm was spotted.  I've never seen someone so excited to see deer, it was hilarious.  I'm hoping that during some part of our journey throughout NZ we see wild deer.

Enjoying a beach all to ourselves while driving through the Catilns

The thing I was looking forward to seeing most in the Catlins were the Cathedral Caves.  These caves are monitored by Department of Conservation staff and you may only enter during a short window of time around low tide, otherwise it is too dangerous due to the water levels.  The two caves are an impressive 30 meters high and the photos I'd seen make it look really spectacular.  To get to where they are on the coastline, you first have to drive down two kilometer road, then walk a half an hour.  The two days we attempted to go, the road was closed because the sea was too turbulent and they weren't allowing anyone to see the caves.  I was very disappointed but enjoyed another walk in the rainforest which we did instead.  I don't think the beauty of a rainforest will ever wear off on me.  Vibrant green moss covers everything and you feel like you are under an emerald canopy.

Another windy stop in the Catlins

Our last three nights together were spent in the seaside town of Dunedin.  It's known as the "Edinburgh of the South" because it was founded by Scottish settlers and I could feel a European vibe as we walked the streets.  We enjoyed our time in the Catlins, but I think we were all happy to be back in a place that had a bit more going on.  One day we did a tour of Cadbury World and learned about how various Cadbury chocolates are made.  Each Cadbury plant around the world focuses on making certain types of chocolates and one of the things the Dunedin plant focuses on is the marshmallow chocolates that Kiwis apparently have a thing for.  During the tour, among others, we were given samples of Cadbury Pinky, Cadbury Jaffas, and Pascall Pineapple Lumps.  I had never heard of any of them before and they were all delish.  I especially liked the Pineapple Lumps which is branded under its subsidiary, Pascall.  Unlike Cadbury which is a British company, Pascall started in New Zealand and has been making confections since 1932.  The Cadbury Jaffa is a small sphere based choco-orange candy whereas the Pinky reminded me of a Strawberry Charleston chew.  We also got to dispense our choice of warm milk chocolate, dark or white chocolate from a frozen-yogurt-type machine.  I chose milk chocolate and it was absolutely delicious.  I didn't overindulge but it was so rich I couldn't go back for seconds - and that statement is coming from someone who can't understand when someone says "XYZ is too sweet".  I typically say that there is no such thing as "too sweet".  The one disappointment of the tour is that although we learned about chocolate making, we didn't see any of the production in action.  The woman working at our hotel told us that we'd have to wear hair nets, remove our earrings etc. but when we arrived they didn't require any of that.  The tours previously showed people chocolate making operations but that ceased some time ago.  Our guide said it was because corporate wants everyone to have the same experience when they visit and eliminating that aspect of the tour allows that.  Lame.  Couldn't they at least have let us peak in through glass windows?  I would have loved to see the chocolate being made and packaged.  Of all the tours I've been on whether while on vacation or through my previous job - somehow I've never seen live production.

Later that day we visited Speight's Brewery which has been around since 1876.  Our tour guide was super enthusiastic about his job and I'm not sure if that's why he let us each have pour after pour in the tasting room.  We've done dozens of brewery tours over the years and never before did we drink so much beer during the tour.  However, it also may have been the most expensive brewery tour we've ever done ($19 per person), so maybe that's the answer to how that happened, not his enthusiasm.  Either way, the beer was tasty and we enjoyed sampling several different kinds.  We finished the day off with dinner at the Speight's Ale House and I had one of the best steaks I've had in a long time.  We also struck up conversation with a couple that offered us a room in their home during our drive through the North Island, as well as a home cooked meal.  We'll see if we end up doing that!

It was a long drive back through more cow and sheep country to drop Sharon and Knox off at the airport.  Together with them we shared wonderful memories of our first days in New Zealand.  We saw wildlife we had never seen before, beautiful beaches, rocky cliffs, fiords, mountains and more.  We had loads of laughs and enjoyed their company immensely.  Sharon and Knox are both truly unique, special individuals and I'm so thankful to call them family.  We look forward to sharing more adventures with them in years to come.

After a teary goodbye, we turned in the rental car and picked up our campervan.  We keep calling it a "campervan", but the reality is that it is a minivan that turns into a bed. The very back has a small electric cooler that is called our fridge, a small sink, one gas burner, and storage for pots, pans, dishes etc.  I was kind of horrified when we picked it up because although I knew it was going to be smaller than the campervan we had in Tasmania, I didn't have the correct expectation as to just how small it would be.  As I write this blog, we've spent six nights in the van and my expectations have been fully readjusted.  The van is absolutely fine the size it is.  Sure I'd love a bigger van, but the price was right for this one and I just needed to get a strategy down on how to live out of it.  Every night to make our bed, we push the driver and passenger seat up as much as they'll go and cram all of our luggage on top of them.  Only then can we make our bed, in which, we have to sleep diagonally to fit.  We'd both need to be a bit shorter to sleep in it normally.  Then in the morning, we fold up the bed and put our luggage into the back so that we can readjust the seats and drive.  Rain makes this entire process a bit more interesting and we have had our fair share of rain.  I never, ever, expected to encounter so much rain in New Zealand.  I really hope our luck shifts and we start to have more sunny days than rainy ones.  There is a DVD player in the back so we've been able to borrow movies at a few of the holiday parks and that's been a nice way to unwind at the end of the day.  Unfortunately it stopped working so maybe you'll start to see more activity on the cribbage tracker.  On our first few nights with the van we stayed in Wanaka which is about an hour from Queenstown and just as spectacular landscape wise.  Wanaka also has a big, bright, beautiful lake surrounded by breathtaking mountains.  We enjoyed many walks in the area before heading up to Mt. Cook, New Zealand's highest peak at 12,218 feet, or almost two Mt. Washingtons.

~ Jesslyn