Since our last post we have moved out of Cher, bid farewell to New Zealand, and arrived safely in Melbourne to the welcoming arms of our friend, Rose.
The second week of our roadtrip was pretty laid back. After carrying Kyle's surfboard to the beach 3 times, we decided it was time to actually get out there and give it a try. Let's just say that surfing isn't as easy as it looks and leave it at that. I think we need some lessons. Another highlight was meeting a guy named Phil. He was also sleeping in his car but was a bit more prepared than us. He shared the wealth and turned our car into a B&B...we awoke to freshly brewed coffee and toasted muesli. Gotta love Kiwi hospitality!
The last couple days of living in Cher got a little frustrating, but we survived and were rescued by a lovely couple, Holly and Dave. They live in Hawke's Bay, just outside of Hastings on the North Island, amongst beautiful views, tons of wineries, and lots of cows and sheep. They saved us from each other and we gave them good practice for the arrival of their first child (2 of us were probably harder to deal with than 1 new born)! All in all we spent a refreshing couple of days at their home and left prepared to continue our travels.
On our way back to Auckland we stopped again in Rotorua ("sulfur city") to see Fergus (a friend from BU) row in a regatta on Blue Lake. After a quick reunion we made it back to the city and spent the next day walking around Auckland, prepping for our trip to Australia, and annoying Kyle and Lauren for one last time.
Since in Melbourne we have seen a bit of the city and are now out in the suburbs at Rose's house. The city is buzzing because of the Australian Open and this weekend should be pretty crazy as it is Australia Day. We plan on going to the horse races out in the country.
More soon...
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Did you see that F-R-E-E sign?
For the past week or so we have been exercising some great advice given by two beloved ladies we met on our flight to Auckland: "When travelling the world, follow the F-R-E-E sign!" In fact, when something isn't free, we find a way to make it free or really really cheap. Don't worry, we aren't "borrowing" (as I like to call it) anything of real value...only electricity, water, showers from random campsites, and other things of that nature. We have learned that peanut butter really does fill you up and it tastes great on a variety of crackers, breads, fruits and vegetables. We have also found that the current temperature in New Zealand is really conducive to sleeping in Cher (our rental car, model Nissan SUNNY). Her seats recline fully and are quite comfortable!
Anyhow, after a couple days of relaxation in Auckland to recover from our 4 day stint on the plane, we were on the move yet again. Accompanied by our tour guides, Lauren and her friend, Kyle, we took a short relaxing day trip to Waiheke Island. The island is about a 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland and really peaceful and downright cute. The following day us girls went north for the weekend to the Bay of Islands. The views on the car ride were great (but only a warm up for what was to come on the South Island). The highlight of the weekend was probably spending a day on an tiny beach in the middle of nowhere where Jess learned how to breathe underwater (courtesy of our new air force friends/chauffeurs who had scuba gear).
After a quick nights rest in Auckland, Jess and I are on our own yet again! The government probably should have sent out a warning that someone actually gave us the keys to a car. At times it is difficult to stay on the left side of the road but....hey....we are still alive and have yet to kill anyone.
The first stop on our road trip was to Rotorua, one of the larger touristy spots on the North Island. It isn't nicknamed "Sulfur City" for nothing...the place wreaks of rotten eggs. When walking around you occasionally get a whiff of the stench and cringe. Anyhow, aside from the various activities the city has to offer, our main reason for heading in that direction was to meet up with our long lost family member, Gustavo, from the Inca Trail in Peru. He was having withdrawal and who are we to deprive him of our stunning beauty and charming wit? We took a ride to Hell's Gate, where we saw naturally boiling mud and even took a mud bath. The place stank really bad but it was interesting to see and the mud was fun to play around in. And yes, in case you were wondering, we did get a family discount.
Since we had to get to catch a ferry, the next day was spent mostly driving to Wellington. We parked Cher first in line for the ferry and turned out her lights for a nights rest. People must do this all the time as the staff was very welcoming and even gave us a delightful wake up knock on the window. Since arriving on the South Island we have done quite a bit. The views on the drive are stunning and we find ourselves looking out the side window instead of at the road (don't worry mom, we are very good drivers). One day we stopped to go white water rafting in Buller Gorge (the rapids were formed by an earthquake years past), checked out Pancake Rocks and blow holes (the pictures explain), took a short walk to a rocky beach, and saw some glow worms in a cave in Haikei. The next day we completely disregarded the "extreme danger" signs (we aren't pansies) posted on the trail and walked right up to both the Franz Josef glacier and Fox Glacier. The ice was so blue it was freaky. There were signs posted along the drive to show where the ice reached years past...it was eye opening to see how much of the glacier has actually melted. Here we are right on the Fox Glacier:
The next leg of our drive was through Arthur's Pass. Thankfully the weather cleared and we got to actually see the veiws. It is hard to put into words what the landscape looked like...so I will post pictures soon. We made it safely to Christchurch, where we are soaking up the sun right now. Since we don't want to overexert ourselves, we plan on chilling out on the beaches for a couple days (attempting to surf) and then heading back north to catch the ferry. However, if a F-R-E-E sign points us in another direction, that's where we'll be.
Anyhow, after a couple days of relaxation in Auckland to recover from our 4 day stint on the plane, we were on the move yet again. Accompanied by our tour guides, Lauren and her friend, Kyle, we took a short relaxing day trip to Waiheke Island. The island is about a 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland and really peaceful and downright cute. The following day us girls went north for the weekend to the Bay of Islands. The views on the car ride were great (but only a warm up for what was to come on the South Island). The highlight of the weekend was probably spending a day on an tiny beach in the middle of nowhere where Jess learned how to breathe underwater (courtesy of our new air force friends/chauffeurs who had scuba gear).
After a quick nights rest in Auckland, Jess and I are on our own yet again! The government probably should have sent out a warning that someone actually gave us the keys to a car. At times it is difficult to stay on the left side of the road but....hey....we are still alive and have yet to kill anyone.
The first stop on our road trip was to Rotorua, one of the larger touristy spots on the North Island. It isn't nicknamed "Sulfur City" for nothing...the place wreaks of rotten eggs. When walking around you occasionally get a whiff of the stench and cringe. Anyhow, aside from the various activities the city has to offer, our main reason for heading in that direction was to meet up with our long lost family member, Gustavo, from the Inca Trail in Peru. He was having withdrawal and who are we to deprive him of our stunning beauty and charming wit? We took a ride to Hell's Gate, where we saw naturally boiling mud and even took a mud bath. The place stank really bad but it was interesting to see and the mud was fun to play around in. And yes, in case you were wondering, we did get a family discount.
Since we had to get to catch a ferry, the next day was spent mostly driving to Wellington. We parked Cher first in line for the ferry and turned out her lights for a nights rest. People must do this all the time as the staff was very welcoming and even gave us a delightful wake up knock on the window. Since arriving on the South Island we have done quite a bit. The views on the drive are stunning and we find ourselves looking out the side window instead of at the road (don't worry mom, we are very good drivers). One day we stopped to go white water rafting in Buller Gorge (the rapids were formed by an earthquake years past), checked out Pancake Rocks and blow holes (the pictures explain), took a short walk to a rocky beach, and saw some glow worms in a cave in Haikei. The next day we completely disregarded the "extreme danger" signs (we aren't pansies) posted on the trail and walked right up to both the Franz Josef glacier and Fox Glacier. The ice was so blue it was freaky. There were signs posted along the drive to show where the ice reached years past...it was eye opening to see how much of the glacier has actually melted. Here we are right on the Fox Glacier:
The next leg of our drive was through Arthur's Pass. Thankfully the weather cleared and we got to actually see the veiws. It is hard to put into words what the landscape looked like...so I will post pictures soon. We made it safely to Christchurch, where we are soaking up the sun right now. Since we don't want to overexert ourselves, we plan on chilling out on the beaches for a couple days (attempting to surf) and then heading back north to catch the ferry. However, if a F-R-E-E sign points us in another direction, that's where we'll be.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
2008...in the air.
What up New Zealand!!??? Yep, we are here... and its Jess! Finally! The only reason Brazil actually got rid of us was we were leaving from Sao Paulo, an industrial city thats not quite comparable to Rio or Florianopolis. Our journey to exit South America was long and tiring (stretching from 9am, December 30th to 6am, January 2nd), but as long as Amanda is by my side, flashing that dimple, I'm happy. Well, it was the dimple or the drink my Grammy bought me for New Years (thanks Grammy!)! Thanks to our good and soon-to-be-famous friend Nick, we were able to get out of the airport for a good 10 hours in LA! The day was perfect, consisting of an unexpected 5 hour walking tour of Venice and surrounding areas, showering (!), then chowing down on some delicious sushi. We actually experienced a bigger culture shock being in LA than we did when we first arrived in South America. When we were asked questions I continued to look to Amanda to answer in Spanish, who was also searching for her limited spanish. Soon enough I realized I could communicate with the world again so I was back to my good old self (which the kiwi's consider to be a loud, hopefully not-so-obnoxious, American) When we landed in the land of kiwis we were greeted by eyes as welcoming as a 24-hour soup kitchen... yes, that is right my friends, the dirty-blonde, blue-eyed Lauren Priest!
Jess got tired so here I am to complete this entry. Good effort for her first try on her own!
Since arriving here in New Zealand we have been pretty laid back. Yesterday we spent the day on Piha beach, about an hour from Auckland, and also checked out the view of the city from Mount Eden. Apparently the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere is here in Auckland...not to bash the Kiwis, but it ain't that tall. All is well so far and we plan on heading out to explore the country with our (soon to be named) rental car tomorrow. Hooray for summer in January!
Jess got tired so here I am to complete this entry. Good effort for her first try on her own!
Since arriving here in New Zealand we have been pretty laid back. Yesterday we spent the day on Piha beach, about an hour from Auckland, and also checked out the view of the city from Mount Eden. Apparently the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere is here in Auckland...not to bash the Kiwis, but it ain't that tall. All is well so far and we plan on heading out to explore the country with our (soon to be named) rental car tomorrow. Hooray for summer in January!
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Not being home for Christmas is really odd, but spending the happiest day of the year in the J.W. Marriott of Rio de Janiero is nothing to complain about. For the past month we have sort of ignored the fact that it is the Christmas season. This is no difficult task as we couldn't even find Christmas carols to listen to when we tried and the only decorated trees we have seen are in malls or hotels. Last night we had a great dinner (about 6 hours long) in which we consumed enormous amounts of wine and Caprioskas (Brazil's signature cocktail) and ate massive amounts of sushi and steak.
Since Jimmy Steaks is in town we have been on the move quite a bit. After a couple days lounging around in Rio we headed to Ilha Grande, an island about 4 hours south of here. It was here that we had a reunion with our favorite English non-couple from Floripa, Alasdair and Claire, and made new friends with another fun English non-couple, Sarah and Mark. It seems as though we attract the English. One of the days on the island we took a boat ride to a beach called Lopez Mendes and another we took a 2 hour hike with Sarah and Mark. It was doubtful that Mr. Hayden would survive the grueling trek, but somehow he pulled through. The hike led to virtually no where so when we got to wherever that was, we pretty much turned around and headed straight back. All was not lost as we had tons of fun with our new friends and laughed pretty much non-stop. We finished up our time on Ilha Grande to return to Rio for Christmas and celebrate in style.
We miss all of you back home and wish we were there for you to spoil us with gifts. Remember we get twice as many next year since you all got off easy this Christmas.
Merry Christmas and a special Happy Birthday to Mr. Chris Gordon!
Since Jimmy Steaks is in town we have been on the move quite a bit. After a couple days lounging around in Rio we headed to Ilha Grande, an island about 4 hours south of here. It was here that we had a reunion with our favorite English non-couple from Floripa, Alasdair and Claire, and made new friends with another fun English non-couple, Sarah and Mark. It seems as though we attract the English. One of the days on the island we took a boat ride to a beach called Lopez Mendes and another we took a 2 hour hike with Sarah and Mark. It was doubtful that Mr. Hayden would survive the grueling trek, but somehow he pulled through. The hike led to virtually no where so when we got to wherever that was, we pretty much turned around and headed straight back. All was not lost as we had tons of fun with our new friends and laughed pretty much non-stop. We finished up our time on Ilha Grande to return to Rio for Christmas and celebrate in style.
We miss all of you back home and wish we were there for you to spoil us with gifts. Remember we get twice as many next year since you all got off easy this Christmas.
Merry Christmas and a special Happy Birthday to Mr. Chris Gordon!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Why Brazilians Get Brazilians.
This past week we learned the answer to the perplexing question, why do brazilians get brazilians? To put it frankly, less is much, much more here on the beach and if your butt cheeks aren't hanging out you are the exception to the rule. After a week in Barra da Lagoa (near Florianopolis in Brazil) we have torn ourselves away from our second home at the backpackers share house in order to come to Rio de Janiero for Christmas with the one and only Jimmy Hayden.
In Barra da Lagoa the days quickly mesh together and it is easy to understand how someone can come for 3 days and stay 3 months. The beaches (and people) are gorgeous, everyone is friendly, and you feel like you have accomplished some great feat by laying on the beach all day. In attempt to save some money we (scratch that, Jess doesn't cook...she just complains) made 2 huge vats of chili surprise (SURPRISE, it's not chili!) and chicken noodle soup to feed us for 10 days. On our most active day we took a hike from our hostel to a nearby beach. We were ill-informed by an Australian named Karl and wore our flip flops and skirts to hike through a rocky trail filled with cacti. Once we arrived we were greated by naked men enjoying their day on the sand and swimming in the ocean. We nearly sprinted past that beach to get to the next and found some relief when the men there at least had speedos. Thanks Karl.
The days following we spent lounging around the hostel and spending countless hours with our new counterpart, Rose. She tried to teach us some of her many talents, including juggling and surfing (if you want to call it that). We thought we were getting better as the days went on, but I think our memory might have been skewed by our fabulous creation of tropical goodness. Although she attracted stray dogs and slowed us down because she sprained her ankle falling down 2 flights of stairs, we still love her dearly and life is not the same without her.
Although we cried the whole way, after 18 hours on the bus we are happy to be in Rio to celebrate Christmas with Mr. Hayden.
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