Why we loved New Zealand.
We loved New Zealand. Absolutely and totally loved it. It was the most consistently beautiful country I have ever been to, the people were incredibly friendly, the Kiwi dollar is worth next to nothing so it was much less expensive than expected, there are 10x more sheep than people, there is free wi-fi (and wedding magazines!) in almost every public library, the sub-of-the-day only costs NZ3.90, and their wine regions are compact enough to bicycle around, among many other wonderful things. Though we spent a few days in Christchurch our NZ trip felt like it really started when we picked up...
Read MoreA very expensive experience
Well, we’ve finally had the quintessential South American experience. We’ve been robbed. More accurately, we’ve been robbed twice. The first time was in the middle of the Amazon jungle. Foolishly thinking we were isolated from societal ills, we left one of our money belts buried deep in one of our bags in our room. After returning from dinner one evening, Allison asked me why I had taken out the passports. As soon as she finished that sentence, I knew. We were out 400 soles (about $160 CAD). Fortunately, the culprit did leave our passports (if you’re reading...
Read MoreFamily Vacation in Oz (5.5 weeks in one post)
We spent December 2008 and early January 2009 in Australia. Our trip really consisted of five distinct parts. In the interests of catching up with the blog I am going to write briefly about each one of these parts in this blog post! Part 1 was pre-family vacation in Sydney, Melbourne (with Dan) and driving the Great Ocean Road. Part 2 was family vacation with the Suters, where we took in Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Ayers Rock, the Great Barrier Reef and the Atherton Tablelands. Part 3 was in Airlie Beach and on the Ileola with the Suters, the Martin Suters and the Pelenskys over...
Read MoreThinking about Koala’s Backpackers? Think Again.
If you are thinking about taking a self drive 4×4 tour to Fraser Island and wondering who to go with, I would think twice about booking through Koala’s Backpackers in Hervey Bay. Our trip was fun – the 4×4 was sketchy but roomy, our fellow travellers were great company and for the most part the provided gear worked (make sure to check your ground sheet for holes before you set off!) – but the staff at Koala’s really are terrible and I would recommend going elsewhere. Here is the letter of complaint I sent back in January and didn’t ever receive a...
Read MoreWelcome to Cool Japan
Japan. Everyone thinks they know a thing or two about the Land of the Rising Sun. Be it through an unhealthy obsession with ninjas, playing Super Mario Brothers 3, driving a Toyota, or taking a picture with your Sony camera, we’ve all come in contact with Japan in some fashion. So, before we begin, I wanted to clear a few things up and address some of your preconceptions. First, no, I’m sorry, you can’t see ninjas running all over the place, throwing their ninja stars and flying through the air and whatnot. That is ridiculous. Ninjas are far too agile and sneaky to be...
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