Happy New Year from Adelaide.

Hi everyone. We're still in Adelaide, enjoying the hell out of the beach mansion and the company of the Ormsbys. Since our last post, we have taken a tour of Adelaide (via the tour guides Max and Marg) and driven around the Fleurieu Peninsula. Here's more pics, captions are below.

This is Max and Margaret and me in front of their house in Adelaide (not the beach mansion, this is their nice house in the city.)

Sara and Max shopping in the Adelaide Central Market. Max loves shopping, no seriously you should always invite him to the mall when you go.

The gang at the Victory Hotel pub at the bar before dinner. We tried Kangaroo for the first time this night. We didn't have the guts to order a full plate, but we tasted Michael's and it was FANTASTIC. Really, really good.

The gang playing cards-- the game is Up and Down Whist. Sara won the first night, Brendan won the second night and Emily took the prize on night three.

This is from our trip to the Urimbirra Wildlife Park. They had kangaroos roaming freely all over the park. I fed them while Brendan hid behind the camera. We'll tell you more about it later, but we found the whole place really frightening. We're just jerks from the city, I guess.

Jennifer and Emily Ormsby. We met Jennifer (who is Mike and Cathy's goddaughter) for the first time this trip.

The wine/beer bottle graveyard, and there are more in the trash. No, this isn't even New Year's Eve yet.

Sara trying Vegemite for the first time and Marg looking on... it tastes like soy sauce.

This is the sign for the beach where we're staying. We're just a minute away from the shore.

Sara on the "wave ski" (it's like a kayak).

Hello from Adelaide!

By popular demand, this is a photo-heavy post. To sum up: We have successfully moved from NZ to Australia and are with our good friends, the Ormsbys. We are having a great time in Adelaide, and we've been here for a full day now. Today, we went to the Barossa Valley for wine tasting and a lovely lunch (and I had my first run in about 2 weeks this morning on the beach, which was amazing), and we're finishing up a fun dinner and about to play cards. Tomorrow, it's the Adelaide city center and Saturday is a drive up the coast. Anyway, here are lost of photos and captions below...
Christmas morning bike ride-- Mike, this is for you because you thought we were so attractive in helmets.

Us on the phone talking to you all on Christmas Day.

Our Christmas Day dinner location, and Brendan looking handsome.



Two pics of the outside of our Queenstown B&B called the Dairy (where we stayed for Xmas eve and Xmas).

We left Queenstown for some DREADFUL weather, but it was okay, because we were leaving. But, we went sightseeing to Mt. Cook, which is the highest peak in NZ. It was raining and super cloudy, though, so we don't actually believe Mt. Cook exists.

After the non-sighting of Mt. Cook, we went to the town where we were staying-- Twizel. It kinda sucked, and it was the first place that was not so great in NZ-- did you know there were a lot of low riders and tricked out cars owned by teens in NZ? There are. Well, at least we had a lot of beer, and there was a laundromat next to the cafe.

Finally, we think we saw Mt. Cook the following morning as we left for our flight in Christchurch. See the tallest snowy mountain in the background-- we think that's it.

Here we are in the Antarctic Centre-- did you all know that Christchurch is the gateway to Antarctica? Well it is, and the very cool Centre is across from the Christchurch airport which was very handy for wasting time before the flight. In this photo, we are in the Antarctic storm simulation room, right before the blizzard simulation began.


Here we are in Adelaide-- actually doing some wine tasting in the Barossa. We are with our friends Emily Ormsby and her new husband Michael Van der Sommen. They toured us around the valley and took us to a lovely lunch.

This is the balcony of the Ormsby beach mansion. We are enjoying apps and wine here and are looking forward to the rest of our Adelaide vacation.

Happy Christmas from Queenstown!!!

After a long night's rest in Haast, at another awesome B&B (with an awesome Xmas tree-- balloons anyone?), we hit the road again heading to our Christmas location in Queenstown. We have decided that we are bringing fabulous weather to wherever we go-- it rained a bit in the morning in Haast, but we chased it away and headed into the Otago valley and the clouds broke and it is perfect. It's actually even a bit too warm and the sun is brutal down here. We strolled for a bit and we're dealing with some sunburns despite SPF 20 sunblock.

As soon as we made it in to town, we headed out. It's Christmas Eve, so we were a little worried that we should try to grab food before things close, but this place is swinging. It's such a touristy place and there are so many people willing to work here for extra $$ for the holidays (and many shop workers here are foreigners, as well) so the stores and restaurants were essentially all open when we headed back to the hotel past 8pm. So no problems with dinner or any tourist things we wanted to do today.

We had a great lunch at a brewery, then we went straight to the gondolas that take you up a steep mountain. The view was very obviously breathtaking, you can see for yourself. Then we did pretty much the funnest thing we've ever done and did the luge from the top of the mountain where the Skyline Gondola operates. We did it 3 times each-- it's hard to describe, but it's like a go-kart sped that you sit in and ride down a hill with steep embankments. Anyway, it was AWESOME. Can't wait to show pictures. Think we may do it again tomorrow.

Then, we took another wander through town and found ourselves in front of the Minus 5 bar, which is a bar made completely of ice. Chairs, tables, ice sculptures, and even your glass are made of ice and the room is -5 degrees C. You got gloves and parkas to go in and you have a drink. It was fun... and weird.

We will try to post again, but not sure when. Tomorrow we're going to have a bit of a rest day for Christmas. Maybe a bike and run... or maybe just drinking champagne. Then, on to Mt. Cook and Twizel. After that, we're leaving NZ, which is sad, but we're really excited to see Adelaide and hang with the Ormsbys!

Merry Christmas to all! Love and miss you.

Further down the coast to Franz Josef Glacier

Next day we went straight from our B&B to do the half-day hike up to Franz Josef. (Before we get into this, a little side note about all our B&Bs because we are having too many adventures to get much into that. The places we are staying are all amazing-- robes, baths, fancy linens, the works. And Brendan is being good by enjoying all the yogurt and muesli he can get his hands on, but I have gained about 8 pounds eating full NZ breakfasts EVERY day-- including eggs, bacon, tomato, hash browns and about 4 pieces of toast. Plus, I manage to have fish and chips every day. But I digress.) Anyway...

Even though we have previously complained about our unexpected hike through Sydney, we have been super jazzed about hiking one of the glaciers for a long time. Yesterday was finally the day and it did not disappoint. It was a long, hard day-- we bus to the national park area, hike into the glacier (about 7 km or 1.5 hours round trip) and then actually hike/climb the glacier (say it with me like a Kiwi-- glass-ee-er) for about 2.5 hours. We hiked on the ice!! With ice talons or crampons or whatever you want to call them. It was really great. And we were devastatingly good at it. But we're so sore today-- lots of climbing steep steps carved into the ice. We can't wait to bore you all with more details and pictures. We're posting one but have about 15 more.

We're not sure what day this is - Road to Hokitika

So, it has been a little while since we posted... we've stopped the whole day numbering thing because we're sitting here arguing about what days they all are. :) Anyway, it's still been amazing. In fact, New Zealand keeps getting better every place we go.

When we left Nelson, we headed down the West Coast toward Hokitika. We did LOTS on the way there. First, we stopped at the Buller Gorge, home of New Zealand's longest swing bridge. Basically, that's a long, skinny bridge only wide enough for one person that sort of sways as you walk on it. Brendan wasn't a big fan, but for whatever crazy reason, I really liked it. See Brendan's nauseous face as he exits the swing bridge for the second time. (I kid because I love-- he was actually a real trooper.)

Then there was Punakaiki-- the Pancake Rocks-- which are awesome. It's sort of hard to explain but they are rock formations that look like pancakes which also spout water when the tide is high. Google it... or wait until January 6 for more details.

Next was (big big surprise is coming here) another brewery tour! We went to Monteith's Brewery and had a very extensive tour and a tasting. We got to pour our own beers which was pretty fun because even though we drink excessively, neither of us have ever been bartenders.

Day 5 - More fun times in Nelson

Today is our last full day in Nelson. Because it's a little stressful to move around every day, we decided to take it a little easy on our 2-day stay in Nelson. After our huge breakfast and lunch yesterday, we decided we couldn't eat much for dinner, so we went to a great market and got tons of organic food to snack on. We had NZ boysenberries, strawberries, salad, sheep's milk cheese and a bottle of sparkling wine from the Marlborough wineries. Then we sat in the sitting room of the B&B and read tour books while listening to Christmas carols. Who knew we were B&B people?

This morning we had another great breakfast at our B&B, and we got to chat with a nice couple from Kent, England. They were really sweet (please picture the Dursleys from the Harry Potter movies for a visual). Then we got ready and "chickened out" of our kayaking (words of the Kent woman) and decided to take a walk through the city to the Founders Park & Brewery. I'm sure you're all shocked, but we stayed and tried beers. It was really fun and we got to see the whole family of the brewer in action.

Now we're hanging out waiting for our first high-end dinner. The food has been so amazing here that I'm sure it will be great. Tomorrow we're off for a long drive down the west coast near Hokitika, but there's lots to do on the way. We'll post again when we can.

Days 3 & 4 - The most beautiful place in the world

On Tuesday, we took a flight from Sydney to Christchurch for our 8-day tour of New Zealand. As we write, we have only been in New Zealand for 2 days and have quickly decided that it's the prettiest place we've ever been. We drove straight from the airport at Christchurch to Blenheim, up the east cost of the South Island. The drive was beyond words; the landscape is so varied and spectacular it looks like it can't be real. In a 3-hour drive we saw rolling grassy hills, pine forests, black sand beaches, enormous snow-capped mountains and grapevine after grapevine. When we arrived in Blenheim, we went to our B&B (called The Bell Tower) which was basically the nicest place we've ever stayed at-- it's a farmhouse on a vineyard, but fully renovated in modern boutique B&B style. Cirsty and Steve were our hosts and they opened bottles of wine from the family vineyard (Dog Point), gave us snacks and we chatted for about 3 hours. We woke up to a misty morning and could see clouds hovering in the grapevines and mountains. Words can't describe it.

And not to go on about this place we stayed, or New Zealand for that matter, but we had a spectacular breakfast. It was super simple, but really delicious because it was so fresh. Plain whole-fat yogurt, homemade muesli, fresh strawberries and blueberries, homemade bread, fresh butter and preserves. We ate a little bit too much, but are still trying to re-nourish after the hike from hell.

Sadly, we left our place in Marlborough, promising to go back and to send everyone we know there. But, we did get to keep on moving through the South Island. We spent the morning wine tasting in Marlborough (famous for Sauvignon Blanc), and bought some wines to enjoy in our remaining B&Bs. We then ate lunch in Havelock, at the Mussel Pot and had steamed and grilled mussels. Incidentally, Havelock is the green lipped mussel capital of the world. We write this about 5 hours after lunch and are still full.

Finally, we made it to Nelson, which will be our home for the next 2 nights. Our B&B is lovely, but we're worried nothing will compare to the majesty of Blenheim and the Bell Tower. We've walked around Nelson, which is bohemian, casual, young and fun-- lots of backpackers everywhere. We're trying to decide what to do tomorrow, either breweries or kayaking, maybe both. Anyway, we'll keep you posted, hopefully by Christmas, but we're not sure when we'll get to the next internet access.

Day 2 - The Longest "Scenic Walk" Ever

On our second day in Sydney, we decided to be somewhat active and head to Manly Beach in the North Shore area. We took a ferry from the harbor, which was really nice (even though I thought I was seasick, which I don't think I was). Then we make the foolish, foolish decision to take the Manly Scenic Walkway which is a 10km (6 mile) walk from Manly Beach to the Spit Bridge. So, all the guidebooks and tourist information people pass this off as a "walk." My friends, we are here to tell you it is a HIKE, not a walk and a very advanced, difficult hike at that. We thought we would be walking 6 miles, but strolling.... uh-uh. It was cute for awhile, but then we had to climb stone step with difficult footing. All that money on the hiking apparel for the trip and Brendan wears Pumas because he thinks we're taking a leisurely walk. It kinda stunk, but we did it! We thought we might die for about the middle hour-- we only had 2 tiny bottles of water and a Clif Bar, and it was about 85 degrees-- but we finished triumphantly. Then we went to lunch and had some beers.

We also took a Pub Tour of the Rocks area in Sydney, which was neat especially because it ended up being a private tour because no one else signed up. Our guide, Matt, was very knowledgeable and a lot of fun. We had a quick dinner at one of the pubs and went back to pack for the trip across the ditch.

The Plane Ride and Day One

Brendan didn't believe me when I told him how bad the flight would be... but I sure showed him! Anyway, we did survive through a lot of walking/stretching and a powerful Xanax/Benedryl one-two punch. We even slept about 5 hours in a row! We also met a lovely girl from Canberra who sat next to us, so chatting seemed to take our minds off the long hours.

When we got to Sydney, what seemed like 4 days later, it was only about 9-ish in the morning. We forced ourselves to stay up... and were able to take quite a walk around the Rocks (area where we stayed near the Harbor) and the Opera House. We went back to our hotel (a pub, really) and drank and drank and drank. (See drunk timer photo.) We took another walk and mercifully allowed ourselves to go to sleep at the late hour of 7:45pm. Slept for 11 hours that night and were great after that!

Our Itinerary

The Day Before We Leave for Australia

Let's Pack!!!