Fun with Pano

I was looking over some old trip photos and remembered I had not even stitched a photo together from Australia. So I decided to stitch it and now I want to post some of my panos. No, they are not great. Send your tips and thoughts.

Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), Ayers Rock, Australia

Stitched from 7 photos

Mt. Britton Tower, El Yunque, Puerto Rico

Stitched from 20 photos

Yokahu Tower, El Yunque, Puerto Rico

Stitched from 8 photos

Prospect Mountain, Lake George, Adirondacks
Lookout #2

Stitched from 4 photos

Lookout #3

Stitched from 5 photos

Prospect Mountain Summit

Stitched from 4 photos

Buck Mountain, Lake George, Adirondacks
South View from the Summit

Stitched from 6 photos

North View from the Summit

Stitched from 3 photos

West View from the Summit

Stitched from 6 photos

Australia and New Zealand Trip Summary

I am just writing a few more thoughts about our trip. Maybe they will be helpful to other travelers and maybe it will help me remember some day how great of a trip we had.

4600 Pictures - This is how many we took with two cameras in three weeks. Many were redundant, some didn't come out (but you have to try), and some were continuous mode shots (so they add up quick). I categorized almost every night on the laptop, broken down by day in separate folders, and I created a notepad for each day with a rough outline of what the pictures were from (this helps significantly). Also, it is important to keep the two cameras time synced with local time; this makes sorting after the fact much easier.

Flights - Traveling from the US to Australia and New Zealand actually is not that difficult. Going there we basically had two dinners, and then a nighttime for sleep. We arrived in Sydney in the morning and the day was actually useful and productive. Coming home, we flew from Auckland (around lunch) eight hours to Hawaii (around dinner time). We ate dinner, and flew 7 .5 hours to Denver (sleeping). We arrived in Denver in the morning of the day we had just lived. So by time we reached Indy, it was the afternoon and we were close to a regular schedule. Planning flights for this trip is not too hard, and it is worth your time spent.

Transportation - We rented a car for one day in Melbourne so that we could travel the Great Ocean Road, and one day in Cairns to see the rainforest. Other than that, the public transportation is great (of course Ayers Rock doesn't count, you have to rent a car there) and if you stay in the right part of town, you can walk almost everywhere. In New Zealand, buses and trains are much harder to come by. You will need a vehicle of your own (or camper!) and most car rental places have a transfer option to get between the islands (it is frequently done).

Cities Visited and Durations - We arrived in Melbourne on a Monday morning and left Thursday morning. I recommend less time in Melbourne. If planned appropriately, two full days and a half day would be more than adequate. I would skip this zoo especially if you are traveling to Sydney which has a much nicer zoo.

From here we flew to Ayers Rock on Thursday. We arrived around lunch which gave us a half day. We stayed until Saturday afternoon. This is too much time for Ayers Rock. Had we planned on arriving in the afternoon, a full day to visit the area is more than enough. Keep in mind this will be a very full day if you want to catch the sunrise and the sunset. If you can only pick one, pick the sunset.

From here we flew to Cairns. We arrived late at night, so we had two full days and then left after lunch the third day. I recommend a partial day and a full day, then leave in the morning. This would be time to use the full day to go snorkeling, and the partial day (upon arrival) to take the car to the rainforest.

Next we flew to Sydney. We arrived late at night and then had two full days, leaving early in the morning on the third day. Getting in earlier would have allowed for at least one more fun activity in the city, which we had a couple we would have liked to attempt. One other comment on Cairns, renting a taxi to get to town from the airport is cheaper for two than using their bus option, and its much faster.

We started in the south island of New Zealand from there. With the additional days we would have saved from the above changes, we would have an extra day on the south island and an extra day on the north island, and possibly even one more day to split between the two, depending on your preference. We could really have used another day on the north island to visit Rotorua and the geological sights of the area. On the south island, another day would have allowed us to visit Fiordland National Park.

Sights - List of things we saw that I really liked
Melbourne-Great Ocean Road, Royal Botanical Gardens, Queen Victoria Market
Ayers Rock-Uluru, interesting planned town concept
Cairns-Snorkeling!
Sydney-Taronga Zoo, walking around the Opera House
South Island, New Zealand-Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, Pancake Rocks and Blowholes, Christchurch square
North Island, New Zealand-Glowworms, Tongariro National Park, and of course learning we were pregnant is Taupo was pretty cool and unforgettable

A list of things I really would have liked to see
Melbourne-Penguins. This is a very touristy stop off of Philip Island so we avoided it, but we probably should have tried to fight the crowds with a tour to see this sight.
Ayers Rock-Star gazing. We had arranged this, but it was too cloudy so we didn't get to go to the observatory.
Cairns-We were good here
Sydney-Going up the Sydney Tower and viewing the OzTrek Ride.
South Island, New Zealand-Fiordland National Park
North Island, New Zealand-Rotorua and north of Auckland
Tazmania!-I really wanted to work in a day trip here, but just could not make the days and flights work out. Maybe another time... :)

Food - Food in general in Australia is nothing fancy. Although we tried to eat at non-touristy, local restaurants, we had only a few good meals. Never bad that I can recall, but don't expect great things. It was an opportunity to try some new foods (kangaroo, crocodile, emu).

Laptop - Taking the laptop was a good move. It helped out with extra movies on the trans-Pacific flights, and allowed for picture backups and sorting each night. My mind was at rest knowing I had backups each day of what we had experienced. Also, most laptop's power supplies operate on dual voltage and frequency, which means you only need a simple adapter, not a converter (BTW, I try to only buy devices that are 110-220VAC 50-60Hz, it makes traveling a breeze). The weight was not really noticeable. Additionally, we could search for available free wifi every once in a while.

Google Maps! - I pre-printed Google Maps of the hotel area in each city at different zoom levels (to see big and small views). This was somewhat helpful and didn't take much effort. I have been doing this for a few trips now (Italy was helpful). Along the way Google Maps were helpful in finding business info along the way.

Prepping for New Zealand - Not too hard, and you will probably come across this in your own preparation, but have your e-reservations printed out and with you. You will need proof of exit when trying to enter. Also, if you visit Australia first, be careful what you purchase and try to take to New Zealand. They really limit what you can take in, but all the information you should need is available online.

New Zealand, Playing It By Ear - We decided to plan our last night only in New Zealand (in Auckland, before flying out). Every night, we would figure out where to go and what to do the next day, and search online where we would be able to stay. Sometimes, we would just get to a town and hope to find something between a few favorites based on guide book reviews. This possibly worked because we were not there during peak tourist times (winter or summer). Also, we had a rough idea of travel from Christchurch to Auckland so we knew we would make it in time to catch our flights home, but we didn't even figure that out until we spent a few nights in Australia looking it over.

So Basically...
It was a great trip! It was great visiting a place on the other side of the world, experiencing new cultures, seeing historic sites, not working for three weeks (which really allows you to get lost in visiting another country), eating new food, it was all wonderful. If any reader ever has questions about our trip, feel free to hit me up in the comments.

Sydney, Australia

Wednesday November 21st, 2007

We had a 4pm flight to SYD, which was late and with storms, we did not get off the plane until about 9pm. The Airport Link train was a fast route to Wynyard station, but cost about $13 each. We checked in at the Grace Hotel Sydney, and went to bed.

Thursday November 22nd, 2007

Today we headed to the harbor. We gazed at the Opera House and Harbour Bridge for a few minutes, and then bought tickets to take the ferry to the Taronga Zoo. We spent about four hours at the zoo, got some pictures with some Koalas, and headed back to the harbor. We did something called an Animal Encounter. We spent 10-15 minutes with Koalas in their environment where we got up close with them and took pictures up close with them (Australian law prohibits visitors from touching the Koalas). The Taronga Zoo is much better than the Melbourne Zoo and we really enjoyed our time here. We then walked around the outside of the Opera House for a while. Up close, it seems smaller than what you see in pictures and TV. We headed back to the hotel to figure out dinner and ended up going down the street to La Bora Italian restaurant. The food was decent, but nothing special. We looked for desserts but could not find anything near by.

Pictures from Thursday can be found here.

Friday November 23rd, 2007

We got up, got some food at the Espresso Bar next door to the hotel (good), and took the train to the Blue Mountains. We got to the train stations right around 10, and we had just missed the train to Katoomba that leaves every one hour. So we found some take away sandwiches for the train and boarded the Blue Mountains Line train around 11. The two hour train ride was nice as we needed a little time to sit, listen to music, and play some sudoku. We read that the few shuttle services/tour trolleys leave every hour and are lined up with the train arrivals, so we picked the cheaper one (Blue Mountains Trolley Tours) and quickly got our tickets once we arrived. We really only needed the shuttle to get us down to the Gordon Falls so we could start a hike along the rim. Due to the late start, we decided to not try to get all the way to Three Sisters, so we hopped on the bus for the last kilometer or so. We made it from Gordon Falls, through Leura Cascades, to Honeymoon Lookout. It was a nice hike and fairly rugged. The views were wonderful and made for a quite relaxing time. Kacey grabbed a cupcake to eat and we caught the 5:24pm train for Sydney Central. We switched trains at Central to get us up to Wynyard to stop off at the hotel before dinner. We walked a few blocks south to Captain Torres for some pretty good Spanish food. That night we stayed up late packing as we had to leave the hotel around 6am for the train station.

Pictures from Friday can be found here.

Cairns, Australia

Sunday November 18th, 2007

We arrived in CNS, got a taxi (about the same cost as the bus), checked in at the Rydges, and went to P.J. O’Brien's Irish Pub for dinner. It wasn't anything special, but at least it was a little lively.

Monday November 19th, 2007

Today was our boat trip for snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. We went with the Silver Swift company and they were very good. It was about $140 each, but we went out on a high speed boat and had time to hit three different dive sites. There were tons of fish! We first hit Milln Reef where we stopped at Whale and Fishtown. Whale is a spot that got that name because the reef comes up to the surface and causes a vortex, which looks like a whale spouting water. Fishtown got its name in an obvious fashion; it has lots of fish. Last we went to Flynn Reef for a stop at Tennis Courts. I am not quite sure how this got its name. Each spot we were given around an hour to dive, which is quite a long time. The last spot had very strong currents which made it extremely tiring, especially at the end of the day. We were quite tired by the end of it all. They served some muffins, coffee, and tea for breakfast during the one hour ride out. Although highly encouraged to take the free motion sickness medicine, nearly every one got sick off the back of the boat (and some didn’t make it to the back in time). Kacey was close, but just sat and relaxed to get through it. Coming back was the exact same thing; you really think people would have learned their lesson! It was a great day though. We didn’t get to see any sharks, which I really wanted to, but we did see some giant clams.

Pictures from Monday can be found here.

Tuesday November 20th, 2007

Today we rented a car and went north to the rainforest. We first stopped in Barron Gorge National Park at Lake Placid. We watched the ducks and ate a little food. We then drove up to the Hydro Station. There were some nice views of the Gorge along the way. After this we headed to Kuranda. This was a mountainside road that was very curvy with a steep elevation change. We stopped at a lookout about half way up for some views of the ocean and towns below. Once in Kuranda, it was obvious this was a little tourist stop. We stopped only for some information and moved on to the Barron Falls Lookout. Barron Falls feeds in to an enormous gorge. There was a nice hike through the rainforest to get down to the lookout. Next we drove over to Wrights Lookout.

From here we decided to drive inland (west) to Mareeba and drive south down highway 1 to Atherton, and then head back east to Gordonvale. We stopped in Atherton and looked for some information and Kacey ate some Greek food. Next we headed to the Curtain Fig Tree. This was a pretty large display of a Curtain Fig Tree. We also snapped many pictures of an Australian Brush Turkey, but only a couple came out any good. Our next stop was at Lake Eacham which is park of Crater Lakes National Park. Here we saw a few more Brush Turkeys and got a look at some turtles in the lake. We then stopped at Lake Barrine, just down the road, and got a view of several pelicans feeding. As it started to rain (as it was on and off all day), we ran to the car and headed over the Great Divide toward Gordonvale. Near Gordonvale, we snapped a few pictures of the natural Pyramid, a hill naturally shaped like a pyramid. There was not that much to see of it, so we headed north back to Cairns. We stopped at Adelfia for some good Greek food and called it a night (after buying a half liter of gelato for dessert).

Pictures from Tuesday can be found here.

Wednesday November 21st, 2007

We bummed around this morning. Ate lunch at La Pizza (nothing special here) and walked the boardwalk.

Pictures from Wednesday can be found here.

Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia

Friday November 16th, 2007

We arrived in AYQ near Ayers Rock (aka Uluru) and headed for Yulara (aka the Ayers Rock Resort). It was kind of surreal seeing the large monolith sticking up out of the ground while flying in. We checked in at the Lost Camel Resort and went to the grocer to purchase food for lunch and some random snacks. The rooms are interesting here. No TVs, just a radio and fridge. The hotels are very well made so they keep the heat out fairly well. Drove to Uluru, stopped at Cultural Center and spent a little time reading there. Went for two hikes (driving counter-clockwise around Uluru); the Kuniya Walk and the Mala Walk. Came back to the hotel for a quick break. Drove back to Uluru for the sunset view. Ate dinner at the Pioneer BBQ and Bar, which is a cook your own food place with live entertainment (locals playing covers).

Pictures from Friday can be found here.

Saturday November 17th, 2007

Today we slept in, relaxed some, got a coffee (cheaper than Starbucks, in the middle of the desert), and went to grocer for juice and muffins. Finished grocer food for lunch. We drove to Kata Tjuta (aka the Olgas), talked to Ranger Sam about park rangers here in the desert (~43 rangers). We ate dinner at the Pioneer Kitchen. Not too bad; pizza and vege wrap. We tried to do a Night Sky Show at the Observatory, but it was too cloudy.

There is not much to Kata Tjuta National Park. There are only a couple trails at Uluru and a couple viewing points along the way. The climb is usually closed unless you are here in their winter. The Olgas only have a couple trails as well and only a couple viewing areas as well. The Valley of the Winds trail is also usually closed.

Pictures from Saturday can be found here.

Sunday November 18th, 2007

We got up at 5am for the sunrise at Uluru. There were not really any good viewing places as it is a roadside stop and not elevated above the trees. Drove by to see if the climb was open and it was already closed due to winds. We bummed around by the pool until check-out. We ate at the Gecko's Café nearby and were disappointed. They gave our pizza to someone else, but we were the ones that noticed the mistake. When we brought it up, they did not apologize or anything and said that they were now putting another pizza on. Not until after I started to pay did I mention that this was disappointing and as soon as I mentioned a review of the place, she said sorry and no payment was necessary. The damage had been done and I threw a $20 at her and said it is too late.

Yulara is a resort that was planned and built in the mid 80’s. They did a fairly good job of hiding the resort in the hills and with trees. Crowd controls are pretty good too. This may be due to expenses here and several bus options for people to come in from Alice Springs. The bad part of the buses is when two or three show up to do a hike. They are loud and make shots difficult. The town is a little expensive, but deals can be found – like eating food from the grocer for breakfast and lunch. Dinner can be done for $30-60. The food actually is not too bad considering you are in the middle of the desert; we didn’t really have anything bad. I think the Aussies know how to plan and get food (and other things) to these remote towns fairly well. I thought a lot about how the village works (I can’t help it). I believe they satellite in TV, internet, phones, and a few radio stations. They then re-broadcast the radio here with transmitters as there are a few stations (some just may be accessible from Alice Springs. I doubt that any fiber has been run here. They make their own electricity and water. Internet is expensive too. There are wireless options around, but they were not available from our room. The rate was $25 for 24 hours (cumulative over two days) which is not too bad for out here. I am guessing it would not be that quick, though, as the internet terminals are not that fast either (about half your time at them is spent waiting for the pages to load). And, since the terminals are some proprietary crap software, we could not log into our bank to move funds.

Pictures from Sunday can be found here.

Melbourne, Australia

Monday November 12, 2007

After about 24 hours flying and waiting in airports (ORD, LAX, and SYD), we arrived in MEL. Customs and baggage took almost an hour due to a random search or visa hiccup (not sure which). We got through, tried to exchange $$US for $$AUD, but they wanted to charge about 8%. So we instead pulled some cash off the ATM (about 1-1.5% for us). We picked up some brochures for the city, bought two bus tickets, and headed for Melbourne CBD (central business district). We snapped a few pictures on the way in on the bus; typical looking city on the ride in. A fair amount of tall buildings were on the horizon. We arrived at the bus station where we received a free transfer to our hotel. We were dropped off at the front door of the Adelphi and in we went. We checked in, got to our room, and proceeded to immediately shower. We felt and probably looked nasty. After a quick rinse, we sat around for a few minutes, checking out the Australian TV shows while we rested for a bit. Around 2:30, we proceeded to talk a walk down the Yarra River. There were many little restaurants and some upscale shopping. We walked to nearly the end of Southbank and stopped for a sandwich and a pastry. This was our first realization that prices are high for goods and food in Melbourne. Part of this is the fact that there is no tipping at any time. Also, all taxes are included in your price. Once you understand that, it becomes a little easier to shell out the money. We proceeded to start walking back to the hotel. Along the way we stopped at a grocery and picked up some water, two peaches, and a mango. We also stopped for 15 minutes at the internet café to email the family and a couple friends.

After another quick rest in the hotel room watching some Netball, we headed down to meet Justin in the lobby. Once he arrived, we headed down for a walk west along the Yarra through the Alexandra Gardens. It was good to catch up and hear about his stay here, as he was leaving the next day for home. We proceeded back toward the Southbank and discussed the Eureka Skydeck. It is the tallest residential structure in the southern hemisphere. We decided to pay and head up to the observation deck. It was a pretty good view; the afternoon sun was throwing some serious glare our way, but we made due. The observation deck has a glass shelf that you can pay to ride on; it proceeds to extend out 10 feet over nothingness with a glass bottom. I recorded a video of it coming out, we will see if it came out.

After coming down, we started looking for a place to eat. Most of the places on the river are unnecessarily marked up, so we headed toward the center of town. Justin let us know that (similar to Europe) the best places are in the alleys. There was one stretch of street where all the restaurants were competing for business pretty loudly. After listening to the spiels and trying to get a little extra, we picked Vons. Both Justin and I got the Kangaroo and it was very good! Kacey got the Gorgonzola Gnocchi, but it tasted more like Romano. Our waiter didn’t speak English very well (sounded French) and was obviously not an experienced waiter. We asked a few times for drinks, but no tipping, so no worries. As it was getting late, Justin headed back and we quickly fell asleep.

Pictures from Monday can be found here.

Tuesday November 13, 2007

Today we slept in until about 8 or 9. We decided to walk to the Queen Victoria Market to see what all it had; we read that you can find anything and everything. Well, they were almost correct-there were no cars for sale. On our way, we stopped by the alley way off of Flinders Lane one block west of Swanson Street. This alley way had numerous little coffee shops and we ended up eating breakfast here every morning. Once at the Market, we started walking through the clothes and souvenirs area first and it was mostly stuff we didn’t really need. We walked for about an hour before we got to the food. It was wonderful; just to put in perspective each row was about 150 yards long, and there were about 8 rows before we got to the food and then there were about 4 rows of food. There were lots of local Australian fruits and vegetables, so we picked up some snacks. I ate a $1 mango, and Kacey got some strawberries and cherries. We also got some nanshi (sp?), which look like white apples and taste like them too. Then we crossed the street to another row of food, and some indoor shops with cheeses, meats, olives, wines, and pastries. We ended up buying some bread, white cheese, salami, and olives along with the fruit. We also bought a fig stuffed with mascarpone. Ah, so good.

We came back to the hotel room to eat and after a little rest we walked to the Royal Botanical Gardens south of the city. The guides said it would be about 1 mile, but it was probably 3 or 4 to get there. Once there, we let the cameras start snapping. We walked most of the gardens over a 2.5 hour period. There were plants and trees from all over the world here. We almost trammed back, but were not sure how the short ride ticket worked, or how much it was. By the way, the tram system here can get you where you need to go, but it is a little expensive (unless you have a day pass and use it all day). Also, you have to kind of know how it works; it is not a simple ticket purchase and ride till your stop like subways are. There are different ticket options and different zones and you can buy certain tickets at certain places.

For dinner we headed to Grossi Florentino. They have 3 eating areas; an upstairs fancy place, and two downstairs places. We ate at the one that is a small café/pasta bar that was supposed to be one of the better places. Well, the menu was limited and although Kacey’s pumpkin tortellini was good, my lasagna was so-so. Not much flavor or cheese. We then looked for a place to eat dessert, but as it was just past 9pm, everywhere closed up quickly.

Pictures from Tuesday can be found here.

Wednesday November 14, 2007

Today we got up early to rent a car and head for the Great Ocean Road. The process was fairly painless as driving out of the city during the day is not too hard. We reached Geelong within an hour and kept on moving to Torquay. Just after Torquay is where the road started to get fun. This road reminded me just a little of the Road to Hana. A few straight a ways and a lot of hairpin turns thrown in there to make it load of fun to drive. On our way to the Split Point Lighthouse, we stopped at quick overlook. This was our first taste of the rest of the day. Once we reached the Split Point, we stopped to take a look, and ended up walking down to the beach. I was tempting the tide and walked out on some rocks just in time for a tidal wave to come in (about 6-9 inches out of nowhere). After attempting to dry my socks out, we hiked back to the car and I put my sandals on in hopes my shoes and socks would dry out.

We stopped in Lorne to pick up some information packets on Otway National Park. We read about a few water falls in the area, so we drove back to one, the Erskine Falls and hiked down for a view. While heading back down to the Ocean Road, we also stopped at Teddy’s Lookout for a nice view of the valley and ocean. Our next stop was Apollo Bay for a quick bite and a view of the ocean. We ate at the Apollo Bay hotel; the fish and chips were not spectacular, but we ate it up and moved on to Maits Rest. This was a nice loop walk through a Rain Forest. We were going to stop and hike to the Hopetoun Falls, but the road was closed.

As the forest turned to rolling pastures, we stopped at Castle Cove look out for a quick view of the ocean and some cliffs. Coming up next was the Melba Gully State Park. This was another nice Rain Forest hike that we had all to ourselves. This hike included what is believed to be the oldest tree in Australia (an Otway Messmate). Amongst this beast are the Mrytle Beech trees. These trees, which provide the canopy for the rain forests here, grow fast and tall. These trees are having difficulty with disease in the area, so much work is being done to protect them, and in effect protect the rain forests.

Next on our route was to be the 12 Apostles in the Port Cambell National Park. Unfortunately, we missed the turn as the carpark was on the inside of the Ocean Road (everything else was on the ocean side). So, next we turned in for a stop at Loch Ard Gorge (this is when we realized we had passed the 12 Apostles). After some gawking at the cliffs here, we headed back a few kilometers to the 12 Apostles. A short walk out to the cliffs, we were again amazed at the formations in the rock off the coast. The pictures probably won’t do justice to the size and height of these formations. Next on our trip we stopped at a scenic view of a natural arch made in the rock. (We forgot to take a picture of the name of the place (PB140093 – 97)). Just down the road from here was London Bridge (which some people now call London Arch). We had heard about this stop along the Ocean Road. This is another rock formation that used to form a double arch (hence the London Bridge name), but in 1990, the arch connecting the rock to land fell into the ocean. Two hikers were stranded on the formation and were rescued by helicopter. After a quick 2.5 hour drive on a long, fairly flat, lonely road, we were back in Melbourne. This is where the fun started. We were very hungry and just wanted to eat. Since we had a car, we headed to Carlton which is known for its Italian restaurants. Parking was sparse and navigating these streets at night was no picnic. We headed to one that was supposed to be open until 10, but it was not. We went to the first place that looked ok and open; the Key on the Wall Ristorante can be skipped if you are in the area. We headed back to Brunetti for coffee and dessert. After finding a place to stash the car overnight, we finally got to bed around midnight.

Pictures from Wednesday can be found here.

Thursday November 15, 2007

We bought a day pass for the MetLink system. We went to the Melbourne Zoo. Then we headed down to St. Kilda Beach. Ate some gelato and walked around a bit. We saw the Luna Park, but it was closed. Trammed to the store Books for Cooks. We got the idea for Tapas there and ate dinner at Movida. We bought the chef's new cookbook and had him sign it too!

Pictures from Thursday can be found here.

Australia & New Zealand Pictures are Up!

http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/

You will find a link for Australia & New Zealand on our site. Feel free to browse through our pictures, or try the Favorites link if you have a slow internet connection or less time. Sorry for the delay in posting, but I had web hosting problems. So, please let me know if you find any problems. Also, I am not sure when the guest book will be working, but I am trying. Feel free to leave picture comments on this post.

I hope to pull out the journal we kept on the trip and write a post about each city we stayed in; not just for you the reader, but for us to reminisce our wonderful trip. Maybe I will have time this weekend for that.

Enjoy!

Home, Cold Home

So the reason I have not posted in a while is we were in Australia and New Zealand for three (3) weeks! It was a blast, and exhausting, and memorable. I believe we took around 4700 pictures, so I have a lot of sorting to do. I will post links here when they are all up. Our itinerary...

4 nights in Melbourne
2 nights in Ayers Rock
3 nights in Cairns
3 nights in Sydney
1 week driving from south to north island New Zealand

I wrote a journal through the trip, and I intend on writing a little about each city or area on here as time allows.