We're Back...

We’ve been on the road for 260 days, been to 17 countries, and taken 16,113 pictures. We’ve crossed the equator 5 times and the International Date Line once. We’ve travelled 75,000 kilometers on trains, planes, buses, boats, elephants and camels, and we’ve had an amazing nine months. All good things must come to an end though, and so it goes with our adventure, at least this chapter of it.

As some of you may have already figured out, we are back in North America. We’re in Fort Lauderdale now, but will likely be heading north soon. Our plans are a little loose at the moment, but there is a pretty good chance that you’ll be seeing us or hearing from us in the near future…

Colleen and Michael

Fort Lauderdale

Florida

The Long Trip Home: Auckland to Fort Lauderdale through Tahiti and Los Angeles

While we never had a real end date to our trip per se, Colleen was adamant that we get back to the United States in time to attend her brother’s university graduation on the first of May. Not only was it an important family event, but her brother had sat through so many of her graduations (high school, undergraduate, medical school, residency) that she felt she could not in good conscience miss his big day. As the trip progressed, we began to realize that the graduation would end up impacting our return date, so as early as February we started looking into flights home. We asked a travel agent in Philadelphia who has been helping us out throughout our trip to look into it, and she got back to us with a very reasonable flight that went from Auckland to Tahiti, Tahiti to Los Angeles, and Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale, so we told her to go ahead and get it for us. So that was it, our last leg, the long trip home…. Of course we couldn’t resist one more adventure, so we arranged a 4 day layover in Tahiti and a 12 hour layover in Los Angeles. We would end the trip with a bang not a whimper.

Champagne over the Pacific

We have flown over 20 times on this trip, and I would have to say that the flight from Auckland to Tahiti with Air Tahiti was the best of the lot. Lots of leg room, great meals, good inflight entertainment and the wine and champagne flowed like water. There is something about a champagne toast as you fly over the International Date Line that just screams out sophisticated international traveller. Speaking of the International Date Line, boy did I have a hard time wrapping my head around that. We had been changing times zones throughout the trip, loosing time as we went, and now was time to get it back. Makes sense as a concept, but I just never seemed to be able to get it straight in my head. How could you leave Auckland at 2:15 pm on the 24th of April and arrive in Tahiti at 9:10 pm on the 23rd after a 5 hour flight? It just doesn’t make sense. Colleen took a perverse pleasure in my confusion, teasing me by saying things like “remember tomorrow when we were in Auckland” or “yesterday let’s go out for a drink after dinner”. I was a very confused Costello to her deadpan Abbot.

Sunset in Paradise

Tahiti was pretty special. It was more expensive than anywhere else we’ve been (4 days in Tahiti cost us the same as 4 weeks in Laos), but there is something about being on a small island in the middle of the Pacific, that can’t be beat. Actually, Tahiti is a bit of a misnomer. Tahiti is not a country, it is just the name of the biggest island in French Polynesia, which is a chunk of the Pacific the size of Europe encompassing 130 islands. Our flight landed in Tahiti, but we only spent one night there. The morning after our arrival, we took a ferry to Tahiti’s sister island called Morea, and rented a bungalow on the water at Cook’s Bay. What a beautiful place. Although this trip is technically our honeymoon, it has certainly not been a conventional one. Not many of our adventures to date would qualify as typical honeymoon activities, and not many locations would qualify as typical honeymoon destinations. Cook’s Bay on the other hand had honeymoon written all over it. We spent three days enjoying swaying palm trees, brilliant sunsets, cool ocean breezes, a cozy cabana, great food and each other’s company.

The Honeymooners

Of course we couldn’t resist having a little fun in paradise, so we did get some diving in. Colleen and I did a shallow dive in one of the lagoons inside the island’s barrier reef and were rewarded with the clearest waters I’ve ever been in. Visibility must have been 60 metres, and although we didn’t go deep, the diving was absolutely fantastic. The second dive was definitely the highlight though, my first ever shark dive (needless to say Colleen gave that one a pass). What an experience. The water was chummed with chunks of dead fish and fish blood. We were almost immediately surrounded by hundreds of fish of all makes and sizes, and before long dozens of black tip sharks showed up. Black tips, so called because of the black tips of their fins, are only about a metre long, but they look vicious, like sleek grey torpedoes, and are quite beautiful in their own way. Add to that a massive giant trevally that kept zipping by my head and a spotted ray gracefully swimming by overhead, and the experience would easily have topped any other in my under water experience, but there was more to come. Towards the end of the dive, three lemon sharks showed up and started nosing around. Apparently lemon sharks do not attack people, but it’s hard to be rational about that kind of information when three 2.5 to 3 metre long grey monsters start circling you 25 metres underwater.



Heart attack on a bun

Our flight out of Tahiti was relatively uneventful (we did cross the equator again – 5th time I think), and we arrived in Los Angeles at 11 am on the 27th. We cleared customs before noon, and our redeye flight to Fort Lauderdale left at 11:45 pm. This left us with half a day to kill, so we asked around and found a bus that would take us to a train that would take us into the city. We choose to visit Hollywood. Actually, we choose to visit Pinks, which happens to be in Hollywood. Pinks is LA’s famous hot dog stand, and we figured what says “welcome to the USA” better than a cardiac arrest inducing chili cheese dog and fries. As if that weren’t enough, we found an In and Out (home of the absolute best hamburger in the world) and indulged in a couple of cheese burgers. Stuffed with processed cheese and cholesterol, we made our way back to the airport for our flight to Florida.

So here we are in Fort Lauderdale. We did make it to Colleen’s brother’s graduation, which was nice, but the highlight was the shock on his face when he saw us. We actually never told him we were coming, so we managed to pull off the surprise of the decade. The look on his face as the realization slowly dawned that it was his sister looking back at him over a folded newspaper from across the bar was worth the trip across the pacific and then some.

As for us, I would like to say we’re home, but frankly we don’t have a home, so the adventure continues. We’re leaving for Philadelphia this weekend, then to New Hampshire for a wedding, then to New York. After that who knows, we’re still trying to figure things out, we’ll let you know what we come up with.


Michael
Fort Lauderdale
Florida

New Zealand: We Finally Found It

Colleen has a way of putting things that gets right to the heart of the matter. We had been in New Zealand for three or four days, just long enough to realize how much we enjoyed it, when one night after a gorgeous lamb dinner, we were sipping some wine and Colleen said “you know, it’s kind of like we’ve travelled around the world just to find New Zealand”. She was right, with 8 months on the road, and 17 countries under our belt, I can honestly say New Zealand was by far our favourite place. Why? Well…

Scenic drives

Driving: We rented a car for the three weeks we were in New Zealand, a 12 year old Nissan Pulsar wagon that served us well (the battery died once, but other than that no complaints). After being herded around on public transportation for the past 8 months, it was nice to be in control again. In our usual race to pack everything in, we ended up driving something like 3500 km in our three week visit. Sounds like a lot, but it’s hard to complain when each ride is more beautiful than the next. On any given day our drive would take us past snowcapped mountains, deep blue lakes, barren alpine mountain passes, vineyards, rugged coastline and lush green fields full of sheep (sheep outnumber people 40 to 1 in New Zealand so there was never a shortage). Add to that the fact that our visit coincided with the peak of the autumn foliage colours, and you can see why driving a few hundred kilometers a day was a highlight, not a chore. New Zealand was by far the most beautiful country we’ve been to in all our travels.

Cooking in

Hostels: There is a wide range of accommodation catering to independent travellers in New Zealand. We ended up choosing to stay at hostels because they tended to be reasonably priced, centrally located, and usually had some unique and interesting features (one was a converted jail, another was a converted monastery, and one was right on the ocean with amazing views of the bay). The rooms were simple and clean, and there was always a common room for eating, hanging out, and meeting other travellers. Best of all though, every hostel we stayed at had a fully equipped kitchen. After 8 months of eating whatever was available from dodgy restaurants and road side stalls, it is hard to describe just how happy we were to be able to have control over what we ate again. Fresh vegetables, tuna sandwiches and even something as simple as toast were like long lost delicacies. We also indulged in New Zealand specialties like lamb and mussels. It was great, in the three weeks we were in New Zealand, we only ate in a restaurant twice.

People: Kiwis are friendly people. Not over the top loud and boisterous, just pleasant, polite and helpful. After months on the road in developing countries where language and culture were often a barrier to communication, it was nice to be able to ask for directions or just to have a pleasant chat with someone on the street.

McKinnon pass

Milford Track: The Milford Track is a four day hike through New Zealand’s southern Fiordland. It is touted as one of the world’s greatest walks, and has been on my travel wish list for years. The walk (or tramp as the kiwis call it) starts off in incredibly green, moss covered rainforest laced with crystal clear streams and lakes, climbs above treeline to the awesome panorama of barren snowcapped peaks at McKinnon Pass, then back down again to end up in the fiords of Milford sound. The hiking was strenuous, the lodges we stayed at were cold and uncomfortable, and we had to carry and cook our own food for four days, which was a bit of a nuisance, but it was all worth it. Colleen and I love hiking, and this was a truly great one. The “world’s greatest walk” moniker was actually appropriate and not just a marketing superlative.

Climbing the ice wall

Fox Glacier: Colleen has always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride, so when we saw one offered over the beautiful lakes and mountains around Queenstown, we decided it would be a nice treat after the Milford Track. What does this have to do with a glacier? Wind. Apparently hot air balloons have a very low threshold for wind, and the morning of our ride it was so windy that the balloon ride was cancelled. Disappointment or hidden opportunity – hidden opportunity of course. Colleen lost no time organizing our next adventure, and within half an hour of finding out our hot air balloon ride was cancelled we were in the car headed north for an ice climbing adventure on Fox Glacier. Just walking on a glacier was amazing, but climbing a 40 metre ice cliff with crampons, ropes, harnesses and ice axes was absolutely incredible. We even got a chance to explore, then climb out of an ice cave.

Dolphins at the boat

Dolphin Encounter: Imaging sliding off the back of a boat into the freezing cold waters of the pacific with nothing but a wetsuit, a mask and a snorkel. Now imagine being surrounded by 200 curious dolphins darting out of the murky waters to check you out. It was just as awesome as it sounds. Some would have a look and move on, but others would stay longer. Hard to say if they were curious, playful, or had some other motive, but they were definitely interested and would swim circles around you while looking you over. Making eye contact with a dolphin in the wild is a pretty special experience. Actually, Colleen had the closest encounter of the day when a dolphin followed her for several minutes as she swam back to the boat, Again, hard to say what the dolphin’s motive was, but it’s fun to think it was some combination of curiosity and playfulness. We’ve had some incredible wildlife encounters on our trip, and this one ranks up there with the best. 



Autumn vines

Marlborough: Marlborough is New Zealand’s premier wine producing region and is famous the world over for producing fine Sauvignon Blanc wines. Colleen and I love visiting wine regions (we love wine too). We’ve been to wine regions in California (Napa and Sonoma), Italy (Tuscany), and New York (Finger Lakes), we even incorporated Quebec’s modest wine region in our wedding. There is something about the beauty of neat rows of vines spreading out over rolling hills bounded by forests or farmland that can’t help but draw you in. Marlborough of course was no exception and we spent a couple of wonderful days visiting vineyards and sampling wines. We even managed to fine the winery that produced the wine we served at our wedding (Hunters).

Christchurch: The events in Japan overshadowed the earthquake in Christchurch, but the city is in no way finished dealing with that disaster. While the suburbs seemed to suffer relatively minor damage, the downtown district was still cordoned off, and from what we could see looked like it had been hit by a bomb with whole city streets reduced to rubble.

Rough seas

Cook Straight: New Zealand is essentially two big islands, and the only way to get from one to the other is via a ferry service across Cook Straight. We had to take this ferry midway through our trip in order to get from the South Island to the North Island, and we had no reason to think this would be anything other than routine. The first sign of trouble was the crew checking all the life boats, then came the announcement to make sure not to flush the seasickness bags down the toilets followed by the captain’s warning to brace ourselves for 10 metre swells and 40 knot winds. I wasn’t brought up in a nautical tradition so swells and wind speeds meant nothing to me (I’m not even sure what a knot is), plus our journey started in the calm sunny waters of Queen Charlotte sound, so there was no hint of the rough seas to come. Come they did though. First the wind picked up, then the boat started swaying with the ever bigger waves until you couldn’t walk the deck in a straight line, and 4 out of 5 passengers were turning different shades of green and puking their guts out. I’ve never been in seas that rough, so it was a pretty incredible experience in its own right, but, just before they closed the outdoor observation decks, Colleen and spotted a group of four dolphins diving out of the face of the towering waves, and watched a massive albatross glide effortlessly over their frothing peaks. The quiet grace of these animals stood in stark contrast to the raging seas around us and is a sight I will never forget.



Mount Doom

Tongariro Alpine Crossing: This was a day hike we did in the North Island. What made it special was that the hike’s path was over an active volcano. The hike itself was beautiful with some stunning views of the surrounding countryside, but the volcano stole the show. Walking through a volcanic crater is a pretty special experience with a surreal and very unique landscape (the volcano was used as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings Movie). You could actually see wisps of gas coming up from the rock in certain areas and even smell whiffs of sulfur as you walked. To add to the beauty, it had snowed recently, so the views were even more spectacular.

Sandflies: Unfortunately paradise does not exist on this earth, and our utopia was bound to have its flaw – the sandfly. Sandflies infest parts of the island, and while their bites seem innocuous at first, they last for days and are so itchy, there are times when an amputation seemed preferable to the continued suffering

We loved New Zealand. Beautiful landscape, friendly people, lots of things to do and easy travelling, what’s not to like. There is no question in my mind that we will go back for another visit, and I can’t wait for that day.


Michael

Starbucks in Target
Coral Ridge Mall
Fort Lauderdale
Florida

Australian Outback: Destination and Journey

After three weeks of whirlwind tourism with my family in Australia, we suddenly found ourselves on our own. My mother and sister were on their way back to Canada and Matthew and Haylee had to get back to their jobs and their daily lives. We had a week or so left before we were off to New Zealand, so we had time for at least one more adventure. What to do? We had seen so much in three weeks, but Australia is such a big country that we really only scratched the surface. We looked into it a bit and narrowed our choices down to Sydney and Uluru. Sydney had its famous opera house and bridge along with all of the trappings of a modern city. A short flight, followed by a few relaxed days spent exploring a new city, an easy wind down to our Australia trip. Uluru, on the other hand was in the middle of the Australian outback, Miles from anywhere, difficult to get to, few modern conveniences, etc., etc. Of course we choose Uluru. 



Sunset at Uluru

Uluru (sometimes called Ayer’s Rock) is perhaps Australia’s most iconic image. The massive red orange rock / mountain in the middle of a red desert stands along with the kangaroo and the boomerang as being synonymous with the land down under. There are other beautiful natural rock formations in the area like Kings Canyon and Kaya Tjuta, and we did some day hikes to explore them, but Uluru is definitely the star.

Walking around teh rock

I’ve never seen anything quite like Uluru. It isn’t that tall, but the surrounding desert is flat for miles, so its rounded surface really dominates the landscape, and it is that very unique surface that makes Uluru so special. Unlike other maountains or hills, it has no sharp edges, corners or fractured rock, rather its surface gently curves from one shape to the next in sort of a smooth wavelike flow. The shapes in the rock are unique as well. Strange vertical furrows, wavy stratification and curvy gullies lend it an air of the supernatural. The effect is even more beautiful close up where minor undulations give it even more character. We did the 10 km walk around its base, and while the mid-day heat almost killed us, it was worth it to see the rock close up. We were also able to get a feel for the surrounding desert, see and learn about Aboriginal holy sites at Uluru (the entire mountain is sacred to the Aboriginal people, but certain areas have special significance), and see centuries old rock art painted on the rock under small overhangs. It isn’t just the shape of the rock that makes Uluru so special though, the colour has a lot to do with it too. Put it this way: if the shape of the rock at Uluru is the cake, the colour is the icing. Its fantastic red orange colour changes throughout the day as the sun’s position changes, and the 30 minutes at sunrise and sunset put on a show that people line up for. I have seen countless photos of Uluru, but as with places like the Taj Mahal or the Serengeti, seeing it in person was very different. Like so many places we’ve seen on this trip, it would fall in the category of living up to, if not exceeding expectations.



Freedom at last

Uluru itself was great, but If we’ve learned anything on this trip, it is that the destination is only one part of the equation, the journey can be just as important if not more so. This was certainly the case with Uluru. I used the term “in the same area” above. That may have been a little misleading. Distances are vast in the Australian outback. For example from Alice Springs (where our flight landed) to Kings Canyon was 475 km, and from Kings Canyon to Uluru was 310 km. It’s a good thing we like road trips. Actually, it was great. We rented a car, bought our groceries, and had a tent we borrowed from my brother. After 6 months of being herded around in buses trains and planes, it was nice to be in control for a change. An open highway (there is no traffic in the outback), beautiful scenery, camping, and cooking for ourselves, was as much fun as seeing Uluru. The scenery couldn’t be beat. The area has had an unusual amount of rainfall this year, so parts of the surrounding desert were actually green and relatively lush with vegetation, apparently a very rare event. We also saw wild kangaroos and camels (who knew there were wild camels in Australia?), and had a close encounter with a 2 metre long snake at a lizard shelter in Alice Springs. We even enjoyed the camping. Sure it was ungodly hot, infested with flies, and we almost killed each other the first time we tried to set up the tent, but sleeping under the stars in the outback was an incredible experience. Cooking for ourselves was another treat. After all the restaurant food we’ve had in the past few months, it was nice to have something home cooked, even if it was pretty simple stuff. I even got Colleen to try grilled spam. She won’t admit it, but I’m pretty sure she liked it. 



The open road

Sydney vs. Uluru – I would say we made the right choice. I’m sure Sydney is a great place to visit, and it will definitely fit into our travel philosophy of “you always have to leave something to come back to”. However Uluru and the Australian outback, journey and destination, embody so many of the things we love about travel: freedom, new experiences, the outdoors, and getting off the beaten path, that we couldn’t pass it up.

After our trip to the outback, we came back to Melbourne for a few pleasant, but relatively uneventful days in Melbourne with Matthew and Haylee before leaving for New Zealand. I have to say thanks to Matthew for letting us stay with him and being such a good host, and thanks to Haylee for putting g up with us for a month and introducing us to ANZAC cookies, veggiemite and Tim Tams. We had a great time in Australia, and I can’t wait to come back for a second visit.

Michael

Starbucks in Target
Coral Ridge Maill
Fort Lauderdale
Florida

Australia: Family Reunion Down Under

Southeast Asia check, next stop Australia. We would have gone to Australia anyway, but my brother lives in Melbourne, so there was no question that it was going to be a major stop on our trip. In fact, we ended up spending five great weeks there. Of course Australia was very different from the other countries we had visited on our trip. It was the first English speaking country on the trip, and in terms of culture and development, it was the closest to what we were used to in North America. It was also significantly more expensive than other countries we had been to, and getting over the sticker shock took a bit of doing. The biggest difference though, had less to do with Australia itself, and more to do with our particular circumstances, namely the fact that we would not be alone. Not only would we be visiting my brother and his girlfriend, but, when they heard we would be there, my mother and sister decided to spend their holiday in Australia and join us in what turned out to be half travel adventure, half family reunion.



Matt and the girls

I have to say that my brother did a great job as host. We were there for a month, and it seemed like he had something for us to do every day. Looking back on it, it’s hard to think of how we fit it all in. Snags on rags (barbecue hot dogs) on the banks of the Yarra river, swimming at the beach in St. Kilda, Australian rules football game at the Melbourne cricket grounds (it was the season opener, so attendance was 80,000), lawn bowling in Kensington (a surprise highlight for everyone), live music at local pubs, the botanical gardens, museums, great restaurants at night, and flat whites (coffee) in the side street cafes in the afternoon were just some of the Melbourne highlights. It was also great having everyone together. Colleen and I ended up staying with Matthew at his apartment, and my mother and sister found a hotel a block away, so it was easy for us all to spend time together. 

The gang on the Waltzing Matilda

We also managed to make a few trips out of Melbourne. We rented a car and spent a day wine tasting in the Yarra valley, with a side trip to the Healesville Sanctuary for some close encounters with koalas, kangaroos, dingoes, wambats and a platypus. Another day, we rented a car to drive the Great Ocean Road, an incredibly scenic drive winding along the coast west of Melbourne ending up at a stunning rock formation just off the coast called the twelve apostles. We even took a flight to Airlie Beach in Western Australia, and took a three day cruise of the Whitsunday Islands (with a stop at Whitehaven beach) on a small sailing yacht called the Waltzing Matilda.



Deep conversation in St. Kilda

Exploring a new city, season opener at a massive sports venue, natural beauty on a scenic drive, a sailing cruise, and spending quality time with family, ordinarily, any of these would vie for the title of highlight of the trip. However, they all paled in comparison to our experience at the Great Barrier Reef. We visited the Great Barrier Reef from Airlie Beach with a tour group. The plan was for a boat to ferry us to a large platform moored close to the reef, my sister, brother, Colleen and I would scuba dive, my mom would go on the glass bottom boat, we would have lunch, take the boat back and check Great Barrier Reef off our list.  

The 12 Apostles

It would have gone just that way too if it weren’t for my mother. I don’t remember who suggested it first, but someone told my mother she should give scuba a go. Of course she protested and said no, but there was something in her response that gave the impression that her “no” was not as definitive as she might want us to believe, it was like there was a chink in the armour. We all saw it and immediately started applying pressure. It took about a half hour of cajoling, but to everyone’s surprise, she suddenly said something like “well I suppose…”. That was all we needed, we rushed to the cashier to sign her up before she could change her mind. Before I continue, let me explain something about my mother. For whatever reason, she does not like getting her head wet. Sounds like a strange phobia, but in my life I’ve never seen her head underwater, I’ve never seen more than the very tips of her hair wet. Scuba can be intimidating to anyone, but to go from not putting your head underwater to spending a half an hour underwater is a hell of a leap. Anyway, for whatever reason, my mother had agreed to go diving, and as shocked as we all were, we weren’t going to let her change her mind, so we kept our incredulity under wraps and kept talking to her to take her mind off it. 



SCUBA Mom



She didn’t need our encouragement though. Once she made the decision, she was calm and serene. It was surreal. Right up until the moment she walked off to the dive platform with her skinsuit, mask and other gear I thought she would back out. Even while she was away diving, I couldn’t help but think the jig would be up as soon as she hit the water. I even had a moment of guilt. What had we done? Forced my poor mother in to doing something she hated? Maybe she had just said yes to make us happy, maybe she would be traumatized. I couldn’t have been more wrong. When next we saw her, just after her dive, she was excited as a school girl. She had spent her half hour under water and loved every minute of it. She saw things most people only see on TV and had the experience of floating weightless under the sea. The only people more thrilled than her were us.



Australia was an amazing country, and I have some great memories from there. I have to say though, as great as any of them may be, Australia will forever be associated in my mind with that strange day when reality was suspended and my mom went scuba diving.

Michael

Fort Lauderdale

Florida