Tandem Adventure

2005-06-07T02:41:00.000+10:00

Jesse and Kelly back in the States!!

2005-06-07T02:38:00.002+10:00

Jesse and I at our favorite bungalow...

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The cutest puppy ever.

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Beautiful sunset...

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My sunburn.

2005-06-07T02:37:00.000+10:00

The view from our bungalow in Ko Samui in the gulf of Thailand.

2005-06-07T02:34:00.001+10:00

Our favorite tailor in Bangkok!

2005-06-07T02:34:00.000+10:00

A gift from Marco Polo...

2005-06-07T02:33:00.001+10:00

The reclining Buda at Wat Po in Bangkok.

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Me, Jess and a couple bags headed for Thailand...

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The sunset...

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Our boat - that even I could sleep on...

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Beautiful...

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Ha Long Bay in Northern Vietnam, four hours from Hanoi.

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This lady was selling these treats in front of our hotel in Ho Chi Mihn City. Very cute, sweet woman. Treats...not so tasty.

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Not sure how this little guy stayed on his mom's back.

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Some folks liked to check out their picture on the camera.

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Flower Hmong.

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Lots of things to sell and buy in Sapa....

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Yes, we did end up buying this blanket from this woman. She was too cute.

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Amazing traditional dress.

2005-06-07T02:17:00.000+10:00

One of our favorite parts of our trip was visiting northern Vietnam where the ethnic minority people live. We visited a number of villages including the Black Hmong, the Flower Hmong and the Tao people.

2005-06-07T02:15:00.000+10:00

We thought that we had been carrying a heavy load on our bike! Check this guy out!

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Nigel after we decided to take the train and plane.

2005-06-07T02:14:00.000+10:00

Nigel before we decided to take the train and plane.

2005-06-07T02:13:00.001+10:00

The moto guys who toured Jess and I around Hue. The best approach is just hold on tight and not look.

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Heaps of incense for sell in different colors and scents.

2005-06-07T02:11:00.000+10:00

Jess, me, an elephant and a horse....at the imperial city.

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Me at the imperial city in Hue...

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Jess on the balcony of our hotel in Hue.

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One of the many pieces of US military equipment we saw in Vietnam.

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Ethnic minority children near the Laos boarder and the DMZ�some of the poorer people that we saw during our time in Vietnam.

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Tunnels near the DMZ that people used to live in to avoid the frequent bombings.

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Kelly and Jesse at the DMZ in Vietnam

We are HOME!!

2005-06-04T07:36:00.000+10:00

After two very long flights (9+ hours from Bangkok to Sydney and 13+ hours from Sydney to San Fran) we have returned to the good 'ole USA. It will be a good week before our internal time-clocks can handle the time change!! In the meantime, we are busy unpacking and getting reacclimated to living in one place for more than several days! (How I love having access to a washing machine that doesn't take coins or loses items of clothing! And a dry clean towel...was a luxury!)

Another big project will be preparing for our June 25th wedding...which in another week will put us back on the road. First we will be heading to Washington, DC for a week beginning June 7th and then a week later we will be heading to Maine for the big bash.

Thailand

2005-05-31T07:28:00.000+10:00

In order to recover from the terrible stress and hard work of traveling for 6 months, we decided that before we returned to the States it would be appropriate to take some R&R. (Just kidding about the stress and hard work part!!). Since we only had a meager ten days in which to explore Thailand (imagine that...some folks would call that a long vacation...we are so spoiled!!!) we decided to spend a few days in Bangkok and then fly down to the islands Koi Sumai and Koi Tai and spend a week there. What a wonderful time!! Great beaches, beautiful weather, and amazing diving. The only downside is that Thailand is tourist destination number 1 for just about any world traveler transiting through Asia. As a consequence, the backpacker scene had completely Westernized the country which in a way has spoiled some of the culture. Perhaps the loss might not have been so profound if we had not just spent 30 days in Vietnam but in a way it was disappointing.

Leaving Vietnam

2005-05-16T07:03:00.000+10:00

Vietnam is an amazing and culturally rich country. Over the past few weeks we have experienced some amazing adventures and will cherish our memories. Hanoi is a wonderful bustling city that provides both the twisting tight lanes congested with markets, people, and speeding mopeds and the magestic boulevards designed and built by the French. The city really is a joy to experience. While based in Hanoi we took two multiple day excursions. The first trip was a 4 night/3 day tip to Northwestern Vietnam to visit the indigenous hill tribe people. We took an overnight train and then were driven over the highest mountain pass in Vietnam. For the next several days we visited rustic villages that seldom see Westerners and took in the a few weekly markets. The pictures can do a much better job of describing the situation; it was beautiful.

We then returned to Hanoi and took another trip in the opposite direction. This time we spent a night aboard a vessel in Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The entire coastline in Northeastern Vietnam is dotted with towering rock islands or pillars that climb out of the calm blue waters. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

Not wanting to spend nearly two days on the train from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, we packed up Nigel carefully and crammed as much heavy gear into our two carry-ons and took a short Vietnam Airways flight on a very modern aircraft. Our last few days spent in Ho Chi Minh City were spent largely shopping although we did get to visit with two friends, Shannon and Charles (thanks for taking care of our bike box!!) and visiting a museum with a horrific and one-sided (but most likely honest) account of the Vietnam War.

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Kelly and Jesse at their coronation ceremony (or whatever happens when they crown us as Emperors). I fit the role well I must say. FDU will reign supreme.

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Taking food to market this morning.

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Boat Eyes.

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We are visiting the Vietnam War Memorial in Phan Rang.

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One of my favorite photos. An Ohio State Fan!

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Cute kids in Long Co Beach. They really liked to say "hello". (It was the only English they knew and we must have heard them say it 400 times...no joke!)

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Kelly on China Beach...who says she is not getting an beach time?

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Uncle Ho is never far from sight.

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Nigel in his stealthy "Ninja Outfit". You can hardly tell that he sports a bright orange paint job!

2005-05-02T20:33:00.000+10:00

Jesse overlooking the "wicked cool" harbor in Phan Rang. A chaotic parade of everything.

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We don't seem to always be roughing it!!!

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Kelly at Cham Towers...pretty darn cool and oh...a little old.

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Jesse leading a concrete entourage at the wackiest Vietnamese Beach Resort. You should see the tree stump we stayed in!

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Kelly at Marble Mountain in her new dress!

2005-05-02T20:25:00.000+10:00

An older couple fishing in Hoi An.

2005-05-02T20:22:00.000+10:00

A bombed wall frames a pagoda in Hue.

A day in two parts

2005-05-02T19:15:00.000+10:00

May 2nd

Biking Vietnam has been an adventure on many levels. Perhaps the most noticeable element is the intense heat that simply melts you into submission from 10 AM to about 4PM. We have made it our habit to awake at 5AM with the rest of this country because if you don't get on the road and take advantage of the 2-3 hours of "reasonable" heat then any effort will come to a crashing halt. The roads are a chaotic smoky swirl of honking Honda mopeds, huge speeding trucks, swerving cyclos, overloaded animal-drawn carts, pushed handwagons, and pedestrians which NEVER look to see who may be bearing down on them. It is a miracle that we have only seen one minor accident so far. Another curve ball is Vietnamese food and the constant struggle to obtain food that will not turn our stomachs into churning caldrons. Without many English speakers and few translated menus we have been mostly fortunate so far. But averting a disaster that leaves you stranding crouching over a dirty hole in the floor is a battle fought three times a day.

We are presently in Hue and leave (via tour bus) for the Laos Border. Over the next several days we will ride Nigel along the DMZ from the Western border of Vietnam back to Hue. We have heard that most of the military sites have been removed but we are looking forward to visiting such an historical rich region.

For those folks who are following this blog and are discouraged that we are not able to write volumes about our adventure (internet cafes are simply too warm and the connection too slow), we encourage you to read a great Vietnam cycling book called Catfish and Mandala. It is a book that was written about six years ago about a Vietnamese-American and his experience returning to Vietnam for a prolonged cycling visit. It is a well written book as we have encountered many of the things he discussed, albeit with more insight that we could ever provide.

Nigel's Vietnam debut!

2005-04-24T22:51:00.000+10:00

We now have two days of biking under our belts - over 100K days - it is very interesting biking to say the least. We really don't cause the scene we thought we would though - we do get called 'hello' to about 100 times a day. Most of the children speak some English and love to try it out and you. As we ride by we hear little kids squealing hello from the back of yards and little huts. I actually feel pretty safe here on the bike - there are not many cars at all - just tons of mopeds - many of which can't go very fast - and then a varying amount of trucks which are always blowing their horns - they are more likely to make me deaf then run us over. We do have a number of folks doing the goofy tandem smile and pointing and laughing 'with/at' us. We also had a bike shop owner come over and give nicely a thorough going over while we had lunch at a road side stand.
After our first day of riding we took a rest day at a little Vietnamese resort. It was a very popular resort and there was a wedding one of the night we were there (oddly there is also a wedding where we are staying tonight - it appears to be the season.) The resort was nice but a little odd - for $16 we stayed in a bungalow on the beach with air-con, a frig, tv and it was shaped as a tree stump. Along with the 150 or so tree shaped accommodations there was also huge statues of things like Snow White and seven dwarfs. Very kitsch but in a comforting way. There were very few other western and the staff didn't speak much English other than polite pleasantries. In the two restaurants we had to chose from we had difficulties know what was going to come out from the kitchen after we ordered. One dinner I ordered noodles and veggies and out come a huge plate of cold white noodles and a heaping plate of mint surrounded by very thinly cut cucumber and pineapple....at some point you wonder if they really don't understand or they are just messing with you. :)
Tomorrow we are taking a 12 hour bus ride skipping over 5 days of riding that we heard weren't very good - too many trucks, 100k+ days and accommodation in little towns with no air-con. It is pretty hot here - but I think WDC is worse in the dog days in summer. It is interesting - the locals get up around 5 am and are all on the beach but from 11 - 3pm it is pretty much a ghost town. So for riding we really try to be on the road by 5 - 5:30 because by about 7:30 it starts getting a little warm...
We have found the country to be amazingly friendly, welcoming and very interesting as we learn more about the culture. We will have many stories and photos to share!

Bartering 101

2005-04-19T10:08:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was spent walking around this amazing city. Ho Chi Minh City is a city in constant and fascinating motion. It is dizzying even it its' slower moment, and there are not many of those.

By chance we found our way to one of the larger open markets here in the city and practiced our bartering techniques. We were not very successful but with prices so cheap, even if you lose terribly you still win. At least we went to sleep happy with the knowledge that we helped support a local family. We bought some really beautiful sarongs which took us a long lime to work-out and many misunderstandings but it was a great lesson. We pick up the finished product this afternoon from the tailor.

Eating as been superb. Last night we met up with my friend from college who just moved here a day before we arrived. She took us to a fabulous local restaurant and we ate while watching three musicians play on unrecognizable stringed instruments. Shannon will be storing our bike box while traveling north. Today we assemble nicely and tomorrow we leave for Dalat.

We arrive in Ho Chi Minh City!

2005-04-18T10:15:00.001+10:00

April 18th

We have arrived all safe and sound to a very bustling and alive Ho Chi Minh City. Our flights were great and Singapore Airlines is our newest favorite airline...amazing service!!

Ho Chi Minh City is just a beehive of activity with street vendors lining all the sidewalks and cyclos (bike taxis), mopeds, and the odd car jostling for space on the tiny streets. At intersections it is a free-for-all with all vehicles weaving dangerously fast in a common game of real-life bumper cars. Each bike has about 2-3 passengers so when they crash, it must horrific.
Our hotel is great with AC and shower...all for $20 including breakfast and dinner. It is a nice haven from all the dizzying activity outside our doors. I awoke early because of the new time zone and watched from our street balcony as all the vendors arranged their items for sale. Remarkable attention to detail especially at 4:30 AM!

We will be here for several days and then head north in Nigel. Riding should be interesting!!

We arrive in Ho Chi Minh City!

2005-04-18T10:15:00.000+10:00

Off to Vietnam!!

2005-04-16T17:04:00.000+10:00

April 16th

After three wonderful months in New Zealand, we finally left this morning for Sydney. By noon we were at our nice hotel in the centre city. They are shooting a future Superman movie down the block so most of streets around the hotel were closed for the filming. They must have been shoting a street scene because there was a whole line-up of cars with two steering wheels...Apparently they want all the wheels to be on the left side of the car, unlike here where they are on the right side. It looked pretty strange.

Planning to "go-lite" in Vietnam we are eliminating all excess gear; we are not bringing our tent, sleeping bags, and most of our clothes. In all, we reduced our equipment to two little panniers that will sit securely on the back rack of the bike. I will also continue to use my handlebar bag. The idea is that we can lock the bike and take all of our gear with us should we want to walk around a village.

We are eagerly anticipating this next leg of our journey but we also expect that it will be the hardest for us. We are going to be facing many obstacles including language barriers, heavy traffic, intense heat and humidity to name a few. But we will continue on and learn from the challenges.

Tomorrow morning (early) we leave for Ho Chi Minh City via a short layover in Singapore.

Driving North

2005-04-13T08:05:00.000+10:00

Wellington is a wonderful city so we are sad to be putting it behind us. Yesterday we rented yet another little Toyota, broke down Nigel (we are getting very good at cramming all our gear into the backs of rental cars), and headed north. We went from a pleasant sunny day in Wellington to lousy weather a few hours later. Unwilling to deal with the rain, we continued driving till we reached Taupo and clear skies. We are committed to trying to eat through our leftover food supples so we had a very odd dinner overlooking Taupa Lake. Ever interested in saving money, we decided that we would tent in a free campsite down near the river. Beforehand we needed to occupy ourselves so we drove up (it is nice to be able to simply drive up the road!) to the nearby Thermal Spring Park and spent the evening lounging in the hot thermal pools. Amazing!! We also got a free sower which was equally exciting. We are working our way north...

WOOFing in New Zealand

2005-04-11T11:52:00.000+10:00

One of the unique opportunities available to the global traveler backpacking through New Zealand is the number of willing farmers that will host and feed you provided that you work for a portion on the day. This program is called Willing Workers On Organic Farms (or WOOF). Since leaving the Milford Track three weeks ago, we have been keen on living on a farm and learning what it is like to raise pigs, goats, chickens, and all the other little creatures that run around in one's barnyard. Well...after 2 1/2 days of work we are 100% confident that farming as a future career will NEVER happen for us. Without getting into all the gritty details, I'll summarize for you quickly. The farm consisted of pigs, goats, and a ton of chickens/roosters/ducks. There also was a partly functioning garden and several flowering garden beds. On our first day we fed all the birds in their numerous houses and then spent most of the day working on one of the larger flower gardens and weeding out a huge gnarled section. On day #2, we mucked around in the muddy bird pens and repaired the wire fence. Both days it rained.

The conditions were horrible. The place was a muddy mess. Absolute filthy as only a farm can be. To make matters worse, the water pump servicing the house failed several days before our arrival so there was no water. That means no showers, no water for washing dishes, and yes, no toilets. So not only did we not take showers (especially difficult after working in the mud all day alongside dirty animals) but we had to grab a shovel and head outside when we need to find a bathroom. To say the least it was a shock...and perhaps the most shocking bit was that the whole situation seemed not to phase our hosts at all. They took it all in stride which leaves us puzzled...are they abnormal or are we super uptight about hygiene and cleanliness (and we are the people that have just gotten around to washing our sleeping bags for only the second time on the trip...and I thought that was a rather unpleasant thought but I'm quite comfortable to share that fact now).

This morning we were returned to Wellington. Within a hour we had obtained a hotel room, showered, and were nearly done with a load of laundry. Ah...Civilization.

Christchurch and NZ's East Coast

2005-04-02T15:54:00.000+10:00

April 2nd

This past week has taken us up the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Since we are driving our sporty little Toyota Corolla we have been able to blast down dirt roads that we otherwise would have skipped on Nigel, our trusty tandem. By doing so we got to really explore many of the little harbors and beaches that make up this coast. As part of the tour we saw a great deal of amazing wildlife; many of the creatures are unique to NZ. In no particular order we saw Yellow-eyed Penguins, Seals, Seal Lion, Albatross, a gazzillion other birds, and today we even saw a whale breaching offshore. Pretty darn cool.

Even more cool than the wildlife (unless you are really into that stuff) are the Moeriki Boulders that we visited on the beach south of Christchurch. They are these huge boulders, some the size of small cars, that form in the surrounding sandy banks and then when the banks erode these giant creatures emerge looking as if they were dropped off from a passing UFO. Very surreal!

Last night we had a great little dinner in Christchurch. At 7:30 we hopping on a restored dining car that serves fancy dinners while rolling around city centre. While we ate a four course meal (the mains were salmon and venison) and drank a bottle of tasty chardonnay, we rolled by the historic buildings. It was very fun!!

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New Zealand traffic jam! ;) We have heard that friends and family are checking out the blog...we'd LOVE to hear from you! ~ any comments or whats going on with you!!!

2005-04-01T09:38:00.000+10:00

Jesse is sitting in one of the huge boulders sitting on the beach. The coast eroded leaving these huge boulders on the beach...very odd but really neat to check out...

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This is the steepest street in the world...tough to walk up...not sure if Nigel would have made it....

2005-04-01T09:36:00.000+10:00

One of the large rare sea lions one the beach. They say these guys can actually chase people if you make them mad...

2005-04-01T09:35:00.000+10:00

This is one of the rare yellow eyed peguins..very cute little guy. They are super shy and and hang out solo.

2005-04-01T09:34:00.000+10:00

Making dinner among the flax plants at our little campsite by the beach...

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Milford Sound on our boat ride...

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Milford Sound was beautiful...lots of little planes and helicopters...

2005-04-01T09:28:00.000+10:00

Jesse is pretty proud of this picture...so I had to share. Ok, so my feet were a little tired.

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Jesse and I in front of one of many waterfalls. I think we have seen more waterfalls on this trip than in our whole lives...

2005-04-01T09:25:00.000+10:00

This is the tallest waterfall in NZ and fifth in the world and you can kind of see Jesse on left as he starts to walk behind it. It was a very wet and chilly walk.

2005-04-01T09:19:00.000+10:00

Me at the top of the big pass on the track...a little bit fogged in and super cold...

2005-04-01T09:18:00.000+10:00

Crossing one of the many bridges on teh Mildford track...some of them could get a little bouncy...

2005-04-01T09:16:00.000+10:00

There are lots of very cute friendly little birds on the trails in NZ....

2005-03-29T14:37:00.000+10:00

The start of the Milford track...boy we look clean!

2005-03-29T14:35:00.000+10:00

Mt Cook! finally peeks out of the clouds...

2005-03-29T14:21:00.000+10:00

Fox Glacier...

2005-03-29T14:18:00.000+10:00

Jess on the glacier...

2005-03-29T14:12:00.000+10:00

This is a case full of Possum Pies ( they hate possum like no other ). The sticker on the case says 'Vegetarian is an old Indian word for Piss Poor Hunter.' - kind of funny - the theme for the whole weekend was "All gods creatures deserve a place between two pieces of bread"....

2005-03-29T14:06:00.000+10:00

This is Jess eating a huka grub - he said it was the worst thing he ate ... looked pretty bad to me.

2005-03-29T14:05:00.000+10:00

YES - this is a pig's snout on a piece of white bread! and it did taste as bad as it looks! :)

2005-03-29T14:04:00.000+10:00

Hi Folks - Catching up on some photos here. Believe or not, we have started finding that internet cafes don't like it when I download the programs to put the photos up...go figure...anywho....here is one of the stands we sampled from in Hoktika - Magpie PIE - it was as gross as it sounds!

"We knocked the bugger off"

2005-03-26T13:07:00.000+11:00

April 26th

Several days ago we finished our trek on the Milford Track, one of the "world's greatest walks" and it lived up to its' billing. The third day of the hike took us over up to MacKinnon Pass in the dense cold fog and then across a narrow ridge to the track leading down into the adjacent valley. As we preceeded down the steep track, the fog lifted and we discovered ourselves surrounded by magnificant snow-covered peaks towering all around us. It was a special and unforgettable experience to look up and see these huge snow fields where before we though was simply foggy sky. We walked down a beautiful valley that was simply majestic in size...there is no way to describe it otherwise. We even took a side trip the world's fifth largest waterfall and had the opportunity to scramble behind it. The track led to Milford Sound which is a Fjord on the west coast of NZ...absolutely beautiful in itself. The day after the hike we took a long nature cruise on the Sound and simply were awe-struck by the towering cliffs that simply rise out of the narrow bay.

Queenstown

2005-03-18T18:38:00.000+11:00

We have just spent two days in Queenstown resisting the urge to subject ourselves to the neverending thrill of adventure while simultaneously tour operators separate us tourists from our cash. Queenstown is the city on one big adrenaline buzz...every single activity is geared to going faster, higher, and for longer...oh and the price tag increases. With mountains surrounding this little thriving city, a lake to the south, and rivers all over the community has learned how to profit from throwing people off mountains, jetting them down river gorges, or sending them speeding over the lake.

Today I opted for jetting down the Shotover River on a Jetboat and I can honestly say it may have been one of the scariest rides in my life (only surpassed by a dodgy 30-minute plane ride in Costa Rica two years ago). I crammed myself into a superfast jet boat with about ten other willing souls and we careened down this narrow rocky river gorge at close to 40 mph weaving in and out of the rocks. Every so often the driver would jolt us by giving the wheel a spin causing the whole boat to perform a 360 degree turn and getting us soaked in the process. It certainly was thrilling and I was happy to be separated from my $95 for the experience. Once.

Kelly bucked the thrill-a-minute deal and opted instead for an hour long spa treatment. She came out with a facial, new nail polish, and all those other things they do to ladies to make them shine. She will be the best looking gal on the Milford Track in three days.

Tomorrow we leave for Te Anau and the Milford Track, reportedly one of the best walks in the world. Hopefully for the next four days and three nights the weather will hold. We are planning on spending a day in Milford Sound next week and taking a Nature Cruise of the area. Then we are off to biking again as my knee seems to be healing nicely and we are aching to be back with "our people."

2005-03-18T10:15:00.000+11:00

Glacier~

2005-03-18T10:11:00.000+11:00

Me and a open pot of brewing beer on a brewery tour...I guess the FDA isn't real big down here.

2005-03-18T10:08:00.000+11:00

Jesse on the West coast of the South Island enjoying the sunny weather!

2005-03-18T10:05:00.000+11:00

Jesse on the West coast of the South Island enjoying the sunny weather!

The road show continues...

2005-03-15T07:47:00.000+11:00

March 15th

It has been sometime since we last posted but that is mainly because we have been so stinking' busy doing touristy what-not. New Zealand is an amazing country for those inclined to have some outdoor fun and we certainly have not been slacking!

So what have we been doing the last few weeks? Well we rode Nigel, our bike, down from the Abel Tasman National Park through some amazing country (looked alot like Montana if you have been there) through Murchison and then down the Buller Gorge to Westport. Unfortunately on the ride to Westport I somehow injured my right knee and over the next few days it got progressively more painful to ride. So we are now living in luxury and have rented a little tiny car that has allowed us to get off the beaten track and explore some little forgotten towns down some side roads.

The West Coast is absolutely beautiful with long breaking surf and rocky shores. For the most part the weather has been fine although the nights are becoming very COLD. We have taken to the habit of sleeping in long underwear and an occasional hat so we are certainly no longer here in the warm summer months. We rented our little white car in Greymouth and decided to head inland over Arthur's Pass and then down the Canterbury Plain to Mt. Cook. It was a lovely drive but took us a long time as we tried to stop in many of the smaller towns and take some of the great little walks that have been created in nearly each region we pass through. We then drove over the southern pass (Haast Pass) and slowly made our way up the West Coast to Hokitika to the Wildfoods Festival last weekend.

The Wildfoods Festival is a huge event on the West Coast that always occurs the 2nd weekend of March and involves 19,000 people descending on the little tranquil town to eat cooked and uncooked food/animals found in nature. It is an amazing and at times disgusting event. There are 60-80 food stalls with such tasty items as possum Balls, Bull's Penis, Worm (prepared in about six styles), marinated Seagull, Pig Snout, live and wiggly Grubs (who would have known that they are actually crunchy), Magpie, and many other fine creatures. We both got in the spirit and tried most of the items above but took a pass on some of the more questionable items such as the 2-inch beetles and some very slimy animal guts. The hardest item to eat was the HuHu Grub which was harvested in front of you from a pile of rotting wood. It was about 1 1/2 inches long and was wiggling all about...for a mere $2 you were granted the priveledge of popping the whole thing in your mouth. Crunch! It really didn't taste so bad once you got past the look of the creature and the texture and the moldy wood it came from and the fact it was alive and it was moving and the... Later in the day as the wood pile became too picked over, I saw a smaller grub get bid up to $7. so that a young woman could eat it.

Later that night we attended the Barn Dance which was a good time and occupied us into late in the evening. We camping in the local high school playing fields with about 1000 noisy and boisterous teenagers enjoying themselves so unfortunately the only downside of the whole weekend was not getting alot of sleep. Oh and if anyone is interested...we have some recipes.

Yesterday we took an all-day guided trip up Fox Glacier and spent 3-4 hours on the ice tramping through huge crevices and around blue water holes that reached down into the glacier. It was an amazing experience with all the large mountains all around and several impressive waterfalls. The two glaciers here are quite rare as they are still grow and recede depending on the snowfall. It is not uncommon for the tops of the mountains here to get over 50 meters of snowfall (that is about 150 feet!!) in any given winter so after several winters the glaciers get pushed further down the valley. (It will take about 100 years for snow that fell last winter to reach the base of the valley.) In any case, the blue ice and dripping water all around was really cool.

Today we are driving back to Haast Pass where we plan on doing a day hike and then making our way to Queenstown. Next Sunday we are due on the Milford Track, a 4 day hike that is reportedly one of the best in the world. My knee is getting better so hopefully it will hold up and we will be back on the bike after the walk. We have been kicking around the idea of doing some organic farming when we get off the track. More adventures are on the way...

Abel Tasman National Park

2005-02-26T18:10:00.000+11:00

Kelly and I just returned from three amazing days kayaking up the coast of the Abel Tasman National Park...and what an amazing experience! The weather was absolutely perfect with pancake flat water, light breezes, and sunshine. Even the emerald and clear sea water was warm enough to dive into at any time.

The kayak company that rented us our double-kayak (yes we even used a tandem kayak even though I offered Kelly a single for some freedom...she declined for the record!) dropped us off on the southern edge of the national park in Marahau. We then proceeded to paddle north past a whole series of wonderful little sandy beaches, each beckoning us to lay on them. The first few miles of the coast is the most populated as that is where most day-trippers paddle. Since we were taking a three day trip we headed farther north and set-up our base camp at Mosquito Bay, a small little lagoon with an tiny island in the center. Unfortunately because of the tremendous tidal range of the coast, we had to carry our gear and kayak nearly 100 years!!!

Over the next two days we paddled alongside seals, swam in the ocean, and lounged on as many beaches as possible. I quite honestly don't believe that any kayaking team in the recent past has eaten as well as us... after three months on preparing meals on our tiny Whisperlite 1-burner stove, we have perfected our dining skills. Plus we had a firm goal to lighten our food load as we are now going to head into the mountains.

Over the next week we are heading to the West Coast of New Zealand where we will start experience the rugged and very isolated (reportedly) sections of this country. I'm looking forward to seeing our first snow peaks (hey...it is summer here after all!!)

Cheers.

2005-02-26T17:38:00.000+11:00

Tomorrow we head towards the west coast for our big ride there. We have heard that it rains there every other day so we are hoping our good luck with the weather holds! Let us know how you are doing - we love the comments on the blog and the emails from home!

2005-02-26T17:35:00.000+11:00

Jess and I are still getting along and we are not running away from eachother yet! :)

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Beautiful scenery and calm waters!

2005-02-26T17:33:00.000+11:00

There are also a number of people who explore the park by foot...you can see the swinging bridge in the background of this pic.

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Along with the seals we really enjoyed some great weather!

2005-02-26T17:30:00.000+11:00

How cute is that baby trying to get up to where his mom is?

2005-02-26T17:29:00.000+11:00

Jesse kayaking us into a tree. :)

2005-02-26T17:26:00.001+11:00

Sunset at our beachside campsite...