Today is another travel day—Bergen to Tromso this time. Looking out of the plane’s window, much of the highlands are already quite snowy with the dark channels of the fjords cutting their way back into the interior. Since we left Oslo, we’ve taken a train (two, in fact) to Flam, a boat to Gudvangen, a..
The Norway Scooter Death Challenge
It’s all the rage here apparently, Well, not real “rage” actually, just the facts on the ground as we’ve wandered the streets of Norway. Like many urban environments, there are scooters e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. In and of itself, not really a problem. But the drivers? Yeah, that’s a problem. If they would pick a “lane” and stick..
When in Oslo
This morning we are leaving Oslo and headed to Bergen via Flam on the “Norway in a Nutshell” ticket and it seems like the perfect time to catch up here. While we were waiting for Tim and Nan to arrive on Thursday, we visited the Oslo City Hall where they present the Nobel Peace Prize...
Out the door…again.
While we have taken some awesome trips in the last 5 years, it’s been nearly that long since we’ve done something significant enough to revive this blog. And even this trip started as something completely different. We’ve always wanted to do a river cruise and started talking about with our friends Tim & Nan Borer..
Auckland and The Island of—you guessed it—Wine
After Ahipara we headed down to Auckland to spend our last few days of the trip in New Zealand’s largest city. And large it is, with nearly 1.7 million people - more than a third of the nation's entire population. The evening of our arrival started the last leg off right, with dinner at a..
Sometimes, life’s a beach
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),..
And Bilbo said…
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." Tom: Back when I was in 6th grade, I found this dog-eared paperback book at school one day while browsing the library shelves. From..
North to Napier
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..
Goodbye South Island, Hello Wellington!
Alas, it was time to say goodbye to the South Island, so we drove to Picton to catch the ferry to Wellington, NZ’s capital, located at the southern end of the North Island. It was a 2.5 hour drive to get to Picton and, as seems to be the norm here, the road, while scenic..
Getting Stoked: Abel Tasman and the Great Taste Trail
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..