Where in the world is Puppy Poulin?

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Australia - Land of Advencha! (and really cool animals).

I know this is becoming a common theme! But we never realized how hard it is to write a blog when every moment seems to be on the run. In any event - here are the Australia pics. Hopefully Lori can catch up to them with the blog. Cheers - Chris

Brisbane was our first stop in Australia

#2 on Bryce's Bucket list. He was very excited to be at the home of Steve Irwin.

CRIKEY BRYCE! Grab thet croc!

Kangaroos are amazing creatures. They are incredibly friendly and gentle like a good dog.

RUN!!!!!

Did I mention Bryce was excited? He even started to dress like Steve Irwin.

The animal show in the Croceseum was awesome.

Lori's best new friend. Wake up dude!

Galaxy I took us to the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel. Quite the nice ride.

Ready to go see the reef in our stinger suits to protect from jellies.

Next was Silky Oaks Lodge in Mossman. This is the swimming hole on the river, also known in Australia as a Billabong. No crocs!

Our bungalow at Silky Oaks.

The restarant at Silky Oaks. Just like Swiss Family Robinson.

Silky Oaks pool was gorgeous at night.

Ulysses butterfly at Silky Oaks. A rainforest beauty.

Ahhhhh!

A "salty" in his natural environment on the Daintree River. 250 million years of evolutionary perfection.

This stuff will put hairs on your hairs. Awful stuff!

Uluru at sunrise was spiritual. It is the center of Aboriginal culture.

View of Uluru from an aboriginal cave.

Our camel tour at Uluru was great fun!

Spinaphynx our steed.

Bryce and Spinaphynx

Lori on a salt flat at a cattle station in the middle of nowwhere.

Did I say Kangaroos are awesome? I want one in my office for stress relief.

Spent a day in the bush roughing it at our guide's "bush camp".

Sydney's famous landmarks.

Our last day in Australia and Sydney sailing on the harbor.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Queenstown, NZ - Land of Adrenaline Junkies

In progress! We have been so busy between schoolwork and the schedule of going from place to place it has been hard to sit down and get our blog written. Be patient! Here are the Queenstown photos and a few 360 panoramas and the post is to follow....

Helicopter panorama: http://360.io/2HesP8
Matakuari Lodge panorama: http://360.io/a8qeZs

Matakuari Unit #6

Matakuari Lodge

Matakuari scenery

Glacier outside Queenstown

Glacial lake where we had tea and a snack

Glacial lake from above

Mountaintop landing - what a view!

Luging above Queenstown

Speaks for itself!

Cowabunga!!!

A Tuatara - these live over 100 yrs

The ill fated NZ1- which lost in the Americas Cup and on display in Auckland

Puppy and Sheepy say goodbye to New Zealand

Nelson, New Zealand

We arrived in Auckland just to stay the night and catch a flight early the next day. Kia Ora is the Maori (the indigenous people of NZ) greeting! And although we didn't visit with any Maori tribes (there really aren't any still existing because they have all integrated into the social system as doctors, lawyers, business people, etc.)we did learn the Haka because of the "world cup champions" the All Blacks rugby team chant it before every game. Rugby is "the sport" in New Zealand learned by all children at a very young age (starting at the age of 5). One memorable moment was upon our first arriving into Nelson and being hungry, we stopped for the "right Kiwi thing to do" according to our driver/guide John, fish and chips. They were delicious and won't be soon forgotten. Kiwi's do many things well, and fish and chips are no exception.

We spent several days in Nelson on the south island. We stayed at a beautiful b&b(picture a big English estate with acres of pure beauty) where the grounds were full of fruit trees, olive trees, flower and vegetable gardens, cows, sheep, and a big pond that had resident ducks and wild ones. Chris and Bryce enjoyed feeding them every day. Here we were once again spoiled by all. We stayed in the guest cottage that was truly extraordinary (our hostess used to be a designer in England!) and filled with every amenity possible. Drinks were served every night with our hosts Bobbi and Peter and then dinner – the chefs here were amazing!! They introduced us to hokey pokey ice cream and we’re hooked! We also enjoyed dining with other guests from around the world.

I love it here! 99% of the food is organic and grown or raised locally! Most of the products we used at the b&b were also local! NZ is basically a self-sustaining country with heating oil and gas being the exception – just an amazing place!

We went on several adventures - mountain biking, "quad biking" (we call it four wheeling), soaring on a sky wire (the only one in the world) - its like zip lining on a chair lift over a huge gorge (for almost 2 miles) going over 50 miles an hour - we had so much fun that we did it twice! We also saw one of the oldest trees in the world here - it was huge and just over 2000 years old they think. On another day we went for a boat ride in the ocean into the Abel Tasman national park - we hiked into cleopatra falls and had lunch on a beautiful secluded beach accessible only by boat - then we went kayaking and fishing – Bryce and Chris both caught a big fish! Bryce thought it was awesome! Off to Queenstown .