Going Out The Door

This is a bit of catching up. Tonight, with one full day left in New Zealand, we realized that we have stayed in 18 places in less than 7 weeks That’s a lot of moving around, and we’re feeling it. So this post is about everything between Matamata (a little bit before, truth be told),..

Napier started out just being a stopping point between Wellington and Hobbiton…I mean Matamata. We talked about going up to Rotarua, famous for geothermal mud baths and a Maori village, but the more we read about it, it seemed a little too much like Queenstown in regards to crowds and craziness. So we made Napier..

It is safe to say we’ve been getting plenty of exercise with this trip. Our first full day in Stoke, in the Nelson region of the South Island, was spent with another hike, this one in Abel Tasman National Park. We’ve been told that we should have started the trip in the North Island, as..

Following Dunedin, we had two full travel days. Although we talked about making an overnight stop in Christchurch, we opted to get a little northwest of the city—we would have only been there one brief evening, and this way we were able to get a bit of jumpstart on the next day’s drive. Scenery near..

Our next stop, Te Anau, is a place we would call home in a heartbeat (and there is a charming restaurant for sale…hmmmm). A beautiful drive—although most of them are—started Wednesday morning. Leaving the Fjordlands temporarily, we went through rolling hills covered in sheep. And lambs. And more sheep. There are about six times more..

After arriving in Apollo Bay, we had a quiet evening having dinner at the local brew pub, where we ran into fellow travelers, some of them from Cleveland! A small world, indeed. Went back to our apartment and spent the rest of the evening on the deck marveling at the clear skies, looking at stars..

When we were boarding the flight out of Airlie Beach, we were wondering to ourselves: Exactly why are we leaving this really cool, beautiful Aussie paradise? Could Australia get any better? Well, Airlie is certainly awesome, but turns out so is the Great Ocean Road. We flew into Melbourne, picked up a rental car and..

To tell you about our time in Brisbane (aside from the koalas), we have to start with a really big “thank you” to our friends Robin, Doug, Gavin and Lindsay Hibbard, who are extraordinary hosts. Not only did they pick us up at the airport and share their home with us, Robin was a delightful..

A few days behind the curve and we can’t blame it on an Internet connection this time. We’ve just been having too much fun to sit down and do this. After Friday’s cooking class, we ended up at the hostel next door which was quite the scene. One of the many things I love about..

I really didn't think I'd be writing a true trip post this soon. After all, we are in Phase 1--driving to Louisiana and then Texas, which is something we do several times a year. Yet, I think this worthy. Normally, when we make this trip, we avail ourselves of the generous hospitality of our friends..