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It’s currently 1:30am and BJ and I are in the middle of a “lunch break” during an eight hour quarterly meeting with Vertical Media. I’m not so sure we would wake up if we took an hour nap, so we are pushing through, going for a quick swim in the rooftop pool and then going to keep the coffee and coca colas flowing until 6am. So far the night has been much easier than we anticipated. When we arrived in Thailand two days ago, my eyes were bloodshot and half closed but because we were in a new place we couldn’t let ourselves crash when we reached our hotel. Instead we immediately walked five minutes into town and to the beach. We are staying in the town of Karon on the island of Phuket in southwest Thailand. People who have heard of Phuket would most likely recognize the name Patong, which is a beach just north of us. The island is known as a popular tourist destination and from what we have seen and found so far, it is tropical, hot and humid, surrounded by beautiful bright green ocean water, has fantastically spicy food, and just a tinge of sleaze. Within the first ten minutes of being in downtown Karon, we were almost talked into winning the “grand prize” if we went on a tour of a time share. The scam artist, who happened to be an Australian, was very good at his job and he picked his subjects well . . . sleep deprived, hungry, not quite used to the heat, delirious, and new to town. We were able to avoid the situation but it’s given us a few laughs since. The few Thai people that we have met in our hotel and at restaurants in town have been really nice.  We have been so quick to say “no” or just ignore people along the streets who are trying to get us to come into their store, or use their taxi service, or rent their motor scooter, but we’ve realized a few times after waving them off that some of the locals were just saying “hi” or “good afternoon.” Our protective and defensive instinct may not be so necessary towards the local Thai business owners. I guess it’s just the scamming Ausies that we need to watch out for.

We’ve been thoroughly enjoying the food so far. We love that everything is spicy and that they don’t warn you about it with a little asterisk next to the menu item like at home. And you don’t have the option to order mild, medium or hot . . . it just comes hot. But the spiciness is somewhat of a blessing in disguise because it is soooo hot out already that the food just makes you sweat more and if the slightest breeze comes by . . . oh, it just feels so nice. Most of the menus down here display the name of the dish in Thai and in English. There is no hope in being able to understand the Thai version as it looks like a bunch of pretty drawings and figures and the English version ends up being the direct translation. So for a dish like pad thai, we can’t read the Thai alphabet and the English name for it is simply “Rice noodles with egg and chicken, tofu, or pork.” Back in the states, we recognize most names of Thai dishes by the Thai name spelled out phonetically in the Roman alphabet like pad thai, kee mow, larb gai, tom yung goong, etc. So instead of looking at the menu we’ve started to just ask for dishes that we already know that we like, which surprisingly impressed our server at lunch today. I could just keep on eating Thai food forever . . . or at least every day for the next two weeks.

Oh, and photos from the last few weeks are finally up if you want to take a look.

Or perhaps this blog should be titled “twelve hours on a wooden bench in the Kuala Lumpur Airport.” BJ actually insisted that I post two separate blogs here, even though I am posting this and the Australia post at the same time, so that I can show two locations on our travel map. After a long jump up to the northern hemisphere, we are in Malaysia and plan to spend our twelve hour layover in the C wing of the satellite international terminal. By the way, Malaysia Air may be the best airline ever . . . they served mango and raspberry ice cream bars as a snack! There are only four wings in this terminal and we have already managed to get lost as there seems to be a very similar café and internet kiosk down each wing. We aren’t actually allowed into any carpeted gates until right before boarding so we have set up camp on a few wooden benches until morning. It’s currently 12am (4am in our New Zealand adjusted brains) and we are trying to train our bodies to stay up during the night as the upcoming work day will start at 9pm for us in Thailand and China. I’m not sure we’ll be getting too much done tonight though as the “free” internet is pretty spotty. We can connect to skype on our own computers but have to jump over to the standing only internet kiosk every once in a while if we want to check email. It’s not hot in the well air conditioned airport but you can definitely feel and smell the humidity and I’m excited to arrive in Phuket, Thailand tomorrow morning. Oh yeah . . . photos . . . these blog posts are probably much more interesting to read with some of BJ’s photos, but you’ll just have to wait. We have a bunch but have had some not-so-fast connections over the last week. They’ll be up for your viewing pleasure soon.

After just a two hour nap on the airport floor in Auckland, our extended layover in Sydney, Australia was so much more enjoyable than we were initially expecting. We presumed Sydney to be just another big city and although the weather happened to bring us the only rainy day the city had seen in two weeks, we found ourselves completely entertained and inspired by the sites we found. We rented a car for the day and after easily and quickly unloading our bikes, camping gear and a few cold weather clothing items into a storage unit just 5 minutes from the airport, we drove into downtown Sydney, which according to our Lonely Planet guide book was a really bad idea. When I couldn’t figure out where we were on the map, BJ pulled over next to a large park and church so we could orient ourselves. We quickly realized that we were in a perfect location and probably in the closest parking spot to the downtown area.  Just a block from our car we found Hyde Park, a long and clean park right in the middle of town with huge trees, water fountains, flowers and very strange looking birds. Since we hadn’t eaten much and were still quite delirious from lack of sleep, we quickly ended up in a Japanese restaurant that had conveyor belts filled with sushi.  It was a bit of a dive but really busy, so we ventured in to two bar seats overlooking the continuous strip of moving sushi and took our pick of a handful of small plates . . . cheap and delicious. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the botanical gardens and the Opera House in the drizzling rain. The gardens were endless, filled with strange looking trees, plants and flowers blooming in the middle of winter, as well as beautiful parrots and noisy birds. In the “Palm Forest” we saw a sign explaining a type of bat that could sometimes be spotted in the trees. We looked up and saw hundreds of sleeping bats hanging by their feet in the trees above us. I won’t lie . . . it kinda freaked us out. We followed the gardens along the waterfront, where we of course spotted two penguins swimming in the water, until we reached the spectacular Opera House. We’ve seen photos of this structure before but it was so impressive in person. Hundreds of small steps lead up to the three halls, the middle of which holds most events like concerts, plays and musicals. We debated going to the evening show, but thought better of it since we would probably fall asleep before it started.

We had made reservations ahead of time at the Lane River Cove National Park campground, about 20 minutes north of the city and across the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The Sydney Harbor Bridge seems to find itself in every backdrop from the city. It even offers tours where you can strap in to a bungee cord and walk over the top of it.  We were pretty excited to just drive over it and watch people walking around above us. When we pulled into camp and took a look at the muddy campsites and dark clouds overhead we ignored the outdoorsy and frugal voice in our heads and quickly bucked up for a warm dry cabin with a bed and shower. We thoroughly enjoyed cooking a meal, repacking and getting to bed by 9pm while listening to the rain pour down outside. Eleven hours later, we woke to birds chirping and sunny skies, just in time to head back to the airport. This short but fun initial trip to Australia has already made us excited to return in September.

Our final week in New Zealand went by much faster than we were hoping. With bikes as our main method of transportation, we made any excuse to head into town everyday . . . whether to work from the library, go out for an afternoon coffee or run an errand. It wasn’t until we actually had to ride our bikes into the local bike shop, to get boxed up to take on the plane, that it decided to downpour all day. We waited until the last minute before putting on our rain jackets and going for it. If you’ve ever ridden in a downpour you’ll know that it rains from the ground up. Needless to say, we were soaked to the bone and excited for a warm shower.

Today was our last official day in New Zealand, as we fly out at 5am tomorrow for Australia. We will be in four different countries over the next four days. New Zealand to Australia for a day to Malaysia for a night to Thailand for two weeks.  With the amount of clothing I am currently wearing, it is hard to believe just how hot we are going to be in a couple of days.

We spend our final night in New Zealand in the Auckland airport, with a gourmet meal at the noodle house, luxurious beds on a carpeted lounge floor, and spectacular views over the tarmack. I don’t feel like we gave New Zealand a proper goodbye but we are grateful for the time we have spent here. New Zealand has definitely been good to us.

We were so excited when Ali, Steve and baby Tyler, our roommates from Queenstown, decided to come visit us during our last week in Punakaiki. I can’t believe how much Tyler has grown in just two months. At four months old he is playful, giggly and smiles all the time, getting really embarrassed and blushing every time. It’s pretty cute and we couldn’t get enough of him. It was, of course, wonderful to see Ali and Steve as well!

Just as they left Punakaiki, BJ and I began cleaning the house and packing up. We enjoyed a final walk down to the beach before we left. The wind was howling and the waves were crashing further out than we had ever seen. We came to the conclusion that the Tasman Sea was just really upset that we were leaving.

Once we returned to the house, we picked up our backpacks, two carry-ons, and two bikes to head to the bus stop and it immediately started raining. We had already given the keys to the neighbor so we took cover on the porch as it poured down. As it started to let up we quickly made our way down the road. We were a pretty funny site . . . each carrying a full backpack, BJ with his computer bag and my rolly bag and I with both bikes. It was only a few kilometers but we got lots of stares from passing cars along the way. We stopped at the half way point at the local Tavern for a final Puni Burger, the most delicious burger in New Zealand, and a beer, and then continued on to the “town center” to catch a bus to Nelson.

After what seemed to be a very short 5 hour bus ride we arrived in Nelson for a week in the “big city.” We are staying in a family’s home about a 20 minute bike ride from downtown Nelson. Since their 21-year-old son is away at university, we get his room for the week. It’s decked out with old records nailed to the ceiling, a keyboard and amp in the corner, and a small shrine that his parents put together of his photos, but totally comfortable and perfect for what we need for a week. We spent all day yesterday in town, running a few big city errands and gearing up for Thailand and China with a few essentials . . . like climbing shoes, a bikini for me and some new surf shorts for BJ. Our method of transport has been our bikes and it has been so fun to cruise around and be so mobile in the middle of winter.

It was back to work today but we are venturing out for a movie tonight and hopefully a not-too-cold-or-wet bike ride home. For those of you I haven’t shared this with, I am going to start working full time for Vertical Media next month as their Content Manager. I am super excited about this opportunity and can’t wait to officially join the team.

This was a completely random grab from a Post Shop / Bookstore on our way to Abel Tasman. I knew I was going to finish the book that I was taking in and wanted to be sure that I had another for our long and dark evenings in the huts. With about 20 seconds to scan the counter, I picked up what I thought was a fictional story about about drug smuggling in Thailand. What it turned out to be was a true account of one of the largest smugglers of marijuana into California in the late 1980’s. Although it did turn out to be “highly” entertaining, I doubt I would have even noticed it in any other circumstances. Amazon doesn’t even have it listed. Yet, it did have a great account of some of the places that we will be visiting in the month’s ahead.

I spent the latter half of last week in the Bay of Islands with Tara and Will, who were enjoying a week-long tour of the north island and probably the last international trip they’ll go on for a little while, being that Tara is five months pregnant. BJ wasn’t able to join us but I am so glad I made the effort to get up there and meet up with them. They picked me up from the airport at noon on Thursday and we immediately started driving north to the small town of Russell. Most people would recognize Pahia as the hub for the Bay of Islands, but after a little research Tara found out that Russell, located just a ten minute ferry ride from Pahia, has a lot more character. We especially enjoyed the car ferry to Russell, which started to pull away from the dock just as Will was driving on board – it gave us a little scare but seemed to be pretty normal practice. We stayed in a hotel right on the beach and despite a bit of cold and wet weather, it was a beautiful place.

Bay of Islands is in fact a huge bay of islands and the water, even in the shade, is bright green. The best way to see the islands is via some sort of boat tour and after a couple hours of reviewing the brochures for the various boat companies, Will finally took the initiative and decided he didn’t like the yellow boat just because it was yellow. So the following morning we jumped on the white boat and hugged the coastline as we made our way out to the very end of the peninsula of the bay to a place called Hole in the Rock, which is quite literally a big hole in a rock. On calmer days sometimes the boats will pass slowly through the hole, but huge waves were pounding the cavern when we got there. We were quite content with not going through the hole as it was an amazing sight to see regardless.

Once back in Russell, we spontaneously decided to check out a historic tannery just down the road from our hotel. We thought we’d spend about five or ten minutes checking it out but were nicely surprised after an hour long tour of the place. Russell was in fact the main port in New Zealand for many years before Auckland, and although many of the original buildings are no longer there, the tannery still exists. The tannery was started by a French Protestant missionary who used a printing press to create and distribute stories from the bible and turned cow hides into leather to bind the books. Shortly after the arrival of many Europeans, the Maori actually sent two of their head chiefs to England to make the Maori language a written language. The printing press and tannery actually only printed books in the Maori language and as these shortened bibles were spread throughout New Zealand, more and more of the Maori people became literate. There is, obviously, so much more to the story but I’ll hold off on writing it all. If you ever end up in Russell, make sure to pop in for a tour in the tannery.

As we were leaving the tannery, one of the women on the tour said she was in a hurry to watch a drag queen race taking place on the dock. This, not surprisingly, caught our attention. It turned out that we were in town for the annual Russell Birdman Festival, which all started a couple years back when a local dressed up as a kiwi bird and rode a bike off the dock, trying to catch a bit of flight. It’s now a weekend long festival complete with a drag queen race as a kick-off event. We watched the lovely lady men strut their stuff through town, stopping at various check points where they had to drink a cocktail or put on fish net stockings before moving on. It was quite entertaining.

We woke up to rain the following morning which put a bit of a damper on watching the birdman competition and although we were sad to miss out we decided to head west to the Kauri forests instead of stand in the rain and wait to see if they would cancel the event. The Kauri trees were amazing and definitely worth seeing. Standing in a grove of much smaller trees the presence of a kauri tree, which can be as old as 2000 years old, is overwhelming. They are huge and we had trouble fitting the entire tree into a single photograph. If you can make the three of us out at the bottom of the photo, we are standing in front of a Kauri tree to give a little perspective.

It felt like an action packed weekend and went by way to fast, but on Saturday night we made our way back to Auckland before the three of us would fly out the following day . . . me heading back to Punakaiki and Tara and Will back to Boulder, Colorado. During our endless conversation, we had to continually remind ourselves that we were actually hanging out in New Zealand . . . it was so great to see them.

BJ picked me up in Westport on Sunday and we immediately drove out to The Bayhouse, a restaurant on Cape Foulwind (it doesn’t actually smell) that came highly recommended from our friend Brendan back in Queenstown. We sat down for a long lunch overlooking the Tasman Sea on a beautiful West Coast afternoon. As much fun as I had up on the North Island, it was so good to come back “home” to BJ and the West Coast. We returned to Punakaiki to spend the evening doing another dry run to see if we could fit all of our stuff. This time I was way more willing to purge and we enthusiastically got all our stuff into a backpack and carry-on . . . oh, and a bike each. Not very motivated to cook, we went down to the local Punakaiki Tavern for dinner and a beer. And finally, today, we are carless. We drove down to Greymouth with Phil to transfer ownership, stock up on a final week of groceries, go to lunch, and teach Phil how to drive a standard car. Phil also took us to the local polytech, where he had taken a jade carving class about ten years ago, so that we could see all of the tools that he used to carve jade. Turns out it is the only place in New Zealand that offers a certificate in jade carving . . . any artists out there should consider signing up.

I can’t believe our time is coming to an end down here. As we plan out the flights, campgrounds, hotels, rental cars, etc for the weeks ahead, we are feeling both excited about our upcoming travels as well as sad to leave a place we have become so attached to. We’ve seen and done so much but we still feel like there is so much more to see and do. We’ll make the most of the next two weeks but I am sure we’ll be back again someday.

P.S. I experienced firsthand the new safety video presented on all Air New Zealand flights this weekend. Pretty funny . . . this would never fly in the states. Take a look.

We learned a little bit more about Phil, the local that we are selling our car to, who is apparently a bit of a West Coast legend. Known as Possum Phil (we haven’t asked why yet), he has been riding his bike around the West Coast over the last 15 years and our buddy Brendan was surprised to hear he is actually buying a car. We went to Phil’s house last night to make plans for transferring ownership because, as he has no phone, we couldn’t just call him up. He invited us in and we chatted about business for a few minutes before he busted out his entire collection of jade, mostly pieces that he has found along the beaches around Punakaiki. He also took a jade carving class a few years back and decided to focus his final project on Native Americans. So, he has a handful of pieces that are carved profiles of legendary Native Americans . . . they are actually really good. Needless to say he was really excited when we told him we lived in Wyoming and he immediately asked if we see many Indians where we live . . . well that led into another big discussion. In the end he forced two small pieces of jade into our hands, finally convincing us to accept them by telling us it would bring good luck to him to give them away. We will be spending next Monday with Phil to drive down to Greymouth to transfer the car, get groceries, and, as he requested, give him some driving lessons. He is so genuine and modest that you wouldn’t guess he is so legendary. I can’t wait to spend more time with our new friend, Possum Phil.

On our way out of Queenstown, we stopped by Duncan’s house (Lisa’s “boss” at Mount Edward) to pick up some wine and say goodbye.  His wife was still in her robe after noon that day as she has been in bed all morning reading this book.  They both highly recommended it and as fate would have it, we stumbled across it in a used book store on our drive up to Punakaiki.  I’ve never really read a fictional crime novel and found that I really enjoyed it.  It is the first in a trilogy and I’m sure to be finding the others as they become available.  A great way to get into another world and completely disconnect from the day to day.

With an extra day off this weekend, we planned a trip to Abel Tasman National Park, a beautiful jungle lined with bright yellow sandy beaches along the northern coast of the South Island. BJ spent some time here twelve years ago, touring the park via sea kayak and was excited to bring me back. Visiting the park in the middle of winter was much different than BJ’s experience in the heart of summer. Although the temperatures were quite a bit colder and the daylight hours much shorter, there was practically no one there. Apparently in the summer months the bays become stocked full with yachts, sail boats, kayaks, water skiers and bathing beauties. We didn’t test the waters this time but we thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful trails and beaches, as well as the playful seals and chatter-box birds. We started out in a water taxi which took us up the coast and dropped us off on Onetahuti Beach, where we began our walk south, staying the first night in the Bark Bay hut and the second at Anchorage Hut. Our forecast wasn’t superb and it drizzled consistently on us the first two days, but on the third day as we walked back to our car the sun came out, lit up the bright green ocean water and warmed our faces. Sections of the trail can only be crossed at low tide as water quickly fills in each lagoon that separates the next headland. We came upon the crossing at Torrent Bay a little before low tide and had to make a decision to go ahead and cross the tidal flat or to walk 2 hours around it. As BJ put it . . . “it’s just how you do it here” so we opted for the crossing and although it was raining, took off our shoes and tied them to our packs.  The sand and water were chilly and we had to place our feet carefully in sections to avoid crushing tons of clams and sea snails, which when we did crush them we’d yell out “ouch!” and “sorry!” After arriving at each hut, we quickly tossed our packs down and, in order to soak up as much daylight as possible, ventured out again to explore the beaches or whatever shorter trails were nearby. Our handy dandy ponchos which we nicknamed our “turtle shells” were our life savers . . . which we wore pretty much all weekend. The hut life in the winter months was something new for us too as there is so much time spent without light. We ended up eating dinner, visiting with fellow trampers, reading our books by candle light until our butts grew sore of the hard benches and went to bed each night no later than 8pm! Our legs might be a little sore after the weekend but we are definitely well rested up.

Overall it was a great way to spend what we realized is our last “weekend” in New Zealand. The next few weeks will cruise by faster than we know. I fly up to Auckland this coming weekend to see Tara, a good college friend of mine, and her husband Will who are in town for a week. Then, the day after BJ picks me up from the airport, we will officially be saying goodbye to the family wagon which we sold last Friday to a local who has lived here in Punakaiki for 30 years and hasn’t had a car for the last 15. He rides his bike everywhere, including a weekly three hour trip to Greymouth to get groceries, and recently decided he might be getting a little too old to have to bike through another winter. We’ll spend next week in Punakaiki before bussing up to Nelson for our final week in New Zealand, the same place we began our tour of the South Island. I feel like we have turned into professional travel agents over the last couple of days, booking bus tickets here, plane tickets there, and actually doing a practice pack to see if we can fit all of the crap we’ve acquired down here. It turns out I need to take a few things to the local thrift store but there are some things I just can’t let myself give up . . . for example my duct taped puffy jacket which BJ has been trying to convince me to ditch since it got its first big hole three years ago. Our friends Tim and Mary Lynn are currently “purging” back in Jackson as they get ready for a huge year long road trip and thanks to their latest blog, I may find the courage to purge a few more items.