lazy

The past two days have been very lazy days. Lots of sleeping in and hanging out at the beach; at least I have been hanging out on the beach. I am not sure what Clint has been doing! We went to a near by zoo and got to hold a Koala and pet Kangaroos. The Roo's are pretty nutty animals. Clint and I both thought that our nephews and neice would love them! I sat on the beach all day long today and it was heaven. Reading and tanning are most relaxing things ever. Tomorrow we are heading further north to Morton Island to do some sandboarding, snorkling and whatever comes our way. Friday I am going to adverture the waves and try to surf! Fun times. Not much esle going on besides lots of R-n-R. There ya have it mates....cherrio!

Here for a WEEK!! YIPPY.

HOLY BUCKETS - WE ARE FINALLY HERE. THIS IS THE SIGHT FROM OUR CONDO. NICE HUH. IT IS MUCH WARMER HERE. MID 70'S, BUT VERY WINDY...SO SOMETIMES IF THE SUN ISN'T OUT IT FEELS ALOT COOLER THAN THAT. BUT- THE SUN IS HOT AND I CAN STILL GET TAN, WHICH LETS BE HONEST...IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. OUR CONDO IS NICE....THERE IS ONLY ONE BED - HUH, THATS A BIT WEIRD! SO, I AM SLEEPING ON THE PULL OUT COUCH AND CLINT GETS THE BED. NOT SURE WHY HE GETS THE BED, I GUESS I AM JUST NICER THAN HIM! BUT OVERALL IT'S NICE- AT LEAST FOR WHAT I PAID! TODAY WE SLEPT TIL LIKE 11 CUZ WE DIDN'T GET IN TIL 3:30 A.M. - LONG DRIVE! SO...MOST OF DAY WAS SPENT GETTING OUR FEEL FOR THE PLACE. I TOOK A TWO HOUR WALK ALONG THE BEACH WHILE CLINT DID HIS LANDUARY. THATS RIGHT... WE ARE ON 'HOLIDAY' AND HE SITS IN THE ROOM AND CLEANS HIS DIRTY CLOTHES; WHATEVER MAN.
THAN WE WENT TO FIND SOME FOOD AND IT GOT REALLY COLD SO WE WENT BACK TO THE ROOM AND WATCHED TENNIS; THAT SUMS UP OUR FIRST DAY HERE IN SURFERS PARADISE! IT'S GETTING LATE AND I NEED TO GET HOME AND TAKE A NAP. WE ARE HEADED TO THE BAR TONIGHT (NOT TO DRINK) TO WATCTH THE WORLD CUP 'FOOTBALL' (soccer) GAME TONIGHT. AUSTRALIA vs ITALY. AND LET ME TELL YOU THE AUSSIES TAKE THERE FOOTBALL VERY SERIOUS- SHOULD BE AN INTERESTING EVENING! HOPE I SERVIVE. I FOUND A REALLY HOT SURFER DUDE THAT GIVES LESSON- SO TOMORROW I MIGHT TAKE IN A LESSON...OR FIVE! WHATEVER. HOT SURFERS HERE. WITH THAT - GOOD EH MATE. OUT!

OUTBACK

WHAT CAN I SAY....THAT'S A BIG ROCK. Traveled to the outback - Ayers Rock; the Australians call it Uluru. Anyways! After our flight was almost two hours late we finally got up in the air and 2 1/2 hours later arrived in the OUTBACK. We were out in the middle of no where... just to look at a rock; which in truth is pretty insane. God is pretty powerfull to make something like this out in the middle of no where! When we arrive and checked into our Outback Pioneer hostel (which is much better that the Backpacker hostel in Sydney), we got bused to the rock. We really wanted to climb to the top of it, but didnt have time. So...we explored the bottom of it and got to see the sun set on it. IThe rock actually changes colors; for real! The next morning we bused back out ot the rock to see the sunrise and to try (again) to climb it. iBut it was to windy thus - no climb! So instead we decided we'd try to walk around it. please note- we had 1 1/2hours to walk it in and the base of the rock is 6 miles. we huffed it and made it...ok, almost made it! (we were a 1/2 mile short before the bus had to pick us up to check the plane) it was pretty cool. got back on the plane - made the change to car travel and drove of 12 hours that same day north to the gold coast. the drive was long and very tiring. the picture below is one of my favorites. its just a picture i snapped during sunrise of the outback and such and it turned out so well i'd thought i'd share it with you all. sorry for the misspelled words and the un-caped letters. no time- internet hook up here is very spendy. with that said, i will not be updating on a daily bases....just so you know (mom) not to get to nervous! we are fine, healthy and enjoying aussie land.

Sydney or Bust

No worries Mates - we are still alive! Sorry that is has been a couple days since we have updated our blog, but we have had some tougher times than in NZ. First and for most I lost my phone....so for those of you that cant wait to call me when I return, sorry; NO PHONE! (so keith and allison, i need your number so i can call you when in chicago to pick us up - send me an email please!) I spent a couple hours at the airport looking for the phone while Cllint settled into our 'new home'. One of which he likes to call 'hippyville'. It is very small - as you can see in the picture; thats our room. Not a lot of space. Plus the place is hoping with hippies! Third- our new home did not offer internet, unlike our favorite place in NZ (go Thurlow!) Thus I have not had much time to be on the computer. We spent our first two days here in the rain and finally broke down and got some umbrella's, then of course... it hasn't rained since! Onto the fun stuff. We climbed the Sydney bridge and has the coolest guide ever(John) - too bad he was married! hehehe- It was a very long climb, but well worth it, the view was awesome! Toured the Opera House - crazy cool crap! Want to go to a Opera now. Went whale watching....a lady got real sick on the boat- so that part wasn't so fun. But we did see some hump-back whales. They are big and dark- they didn't show us there talls and they didn't do any fun jumps...but they made some loud whale noises and blew lots of water! Got to touch a small shark at the Sydney Aquarium; they have really smooth skin. And today, our best day weather wise - we went to Bondi Beach and Bronte Beach. Both beautiful and fun. Water was a bit to cold to go swimming, but walking in the sand and the view was good enough for us, especially after days of rain! To present we are sitting in a internet shop chatting with you guys and looking very forward to Ayers Rock and the Gold Coast. (and Clint is highly looking forward to leaving the hippies behind). Sorry this one is long, but had lots to say. Miss you guys and hope all is well with you. NO worries Mates.

north bound

I have decided that this is the coolest place on the planet. I want to move here. There is so much exploring to do. We headed North on motorway 1 (tour bus) for four hours today until we came across the Bay of Islands. This place has around 140 Islands about its harbor. It's amazing. We took a Ferry ride (2 hours) to explore the islands, one of which is Cape Brett. Cape Brett is also called 'hole in the rock'- note picture. This island is about 20 miles from shore line and is the coolest thing ever. God is pretty creative in how he wants things to look! Our adventures admist the Bay of Islands was one of our highlights! Although very cold....it was still worth it. On the bus ride we also took in some of the most amazing sights...full rolling hills, sheep, cattle, jungle like trees and plants, rivers, views of the ocean and there beaches...the list goes on! I AM coming back here!!!! I have decided. We both are sad to say good bye to NZ and the Kiwi people, but highly enjoyed our time here. We are looking forward to our time in Sydney and than onto the Gold Coast. Our flight is early tomorrow and we need to return the 'lawnmower' ( our car) tomorrow a.m. as well. So...cheerio my friends. Hope you all are well!

Monday....

Again, our morning started out pretty sucky. We found out that Andrew, the hot air balloon ride guy in Hamilton, needed to cancel our ride for this morning cuz the weather; it was to windy and rainy. So....although very bummed out about not getting to see NZ by balloon we still packed up the 'tin can' (thats our nickname for the car) and went to Hamilton. The drive to Hamilton was a 'nip' of a distance. Once there we drove around aimlessly til we found the Hamilton Gardens - which when we got there it was to cold and rainy to really walk around. So we found too very kind ladies to give us directions to the Waitomo Caves....the glowworms!!!!! It was another nip of a distance (an hour) from Hamilton, but we decided since we were already half way there we best go see the caves. On the way out of Hamilton Clint decided he wanted to forget to drive on the left hand side of the road and we met head on with a truck- ' no worries'....we didn't crash, but got a honk and a scare! We laughed a lot afterwards and I am sure will continue to laugh at it. The caves were awesome. (note the picture) In some places it was a very tight fit. We also went to the cave that had all the glow worms, which was totally cool, but couldnt' take any pictures so you will just have to beleive me when i say it was very cool. After a afternoon at the caves we got back in the car and came back to the Aspen Hostel. Thurlow (note picture), our reception guy has hooked us up with things all week and we are very thankful for him and will be sad to say goodbye tonight. He doesn't work the next two days we are here.....
Again we end our Monday sitting at the hostel, me on the computer and Clint on the floor sleeping next to the fire and snooring away. He kept me up last night with his snooring!
Vocab we have learned thus far. 'nip' - means a short distance. 'take away' - means to take out of the store. 'give way' - means to yeild when driving. 'no worries' - means your are welcome. 'holiday'- means vacation.
Clint highly improved in his driving and only stalled the car 8 times today and wont let me drive!!!! We also discovered the pool balls here are the size of a ping-pong ball and very hard to get to go into the hool. Otherwise, all is well. Still very cold here. happy belated birtday tim!

A LEARNING DAY!!!!

Day Two of our New Zealand adventures was a bit of a learning experience. We woke up this moring with good intentions of getting our rental car and having some fun tooling about the city. Our intentions were not what we expected as we spent most of the morning waiting for a bus to take us to our EZY rental car...the bus came and went- we missed it and had to wait a long time before we finally waved it down. Back at the airport we found our car! Take a look at the picture above - 'what is wrong with this car???????' Yes, Clint is sitting on the wrong side...so is the steering wheel. Not only do we have to learn how to drive with the wheel on the wrong side, but we also have to learn how to shift with the opposite hand, drive on the other side of the road and use the blinker that is on the wrong side of the wheel...Clint said that the blinker is the hardest part. Every time he wanted to turn he turned on the window wipers instead of the blinker. It is nutty...and hard! It was, and will be for the next couple of weeks, a learning expereince. Clint stalled the car about 20 times today; got flicked off bye a local surfer who was in a hurry, got beeped at two times, and had an old man wave his hands at us to 'get going'!!!! Funny crap! Since our 'car adventures' took us all morning we missed a ferry to a near bye volanco/island we wanted to hike. Thus, we ended up at a fancy resturant for lunch instead and spent way to much money on very skimpy portions of sea food! As our expectations of the day contined to dwindle.....WE MET GEORGE. Our waiter at the fancy pants resturant. We asked him what cool things there were to do here in Auckland on a Sunday afternoon. He mentioned 'the west coast' where he life gaurds. So he gave us directions, a map and some detailed instuctions on what to do. GEORGE was our life saver in chaning our pretty crappy morning into a awesome afternoon. We drove the 35 minutes out to the west coast where we found some pretty intense waves at a beautiful black sand beach. Cllint got drenced by a massive wave, we sow tons of jelly fish, I climbed a tree, and we took in some great secerny. This place has to be crazy busy during the summer months- it was so beautiful. It was again a bit to cold to swim. On our way home we sow tons and tons of sheep. Mom, you will love some of the pictures I took. We found out from a friendly Brit earlier on that there are 40 million sheep on this island- we sow some of them!!! We toped off our 'learning day' with some converstation at a local bar; again the people here are so friendly and so helpful. Clint is laying on floor bye the fire and I am drinking some tea....a great way to end our learning.
Yes Mom, that really is Clint in the picture. Weather is still cold and rainy, but we are dealing with it and still enjoying our time here. Best wrap things up - i am getting charged for internet!!! cheerio. no worries. see ya later mates.

June 17 (in NZ)

Auckland is a big city, we think it has 1.3 million people living there. Upon on our arrival (7: a.m.) we were delighted to find our Hostel - Aspen Hotel, let us check in early, so we did and got our muched needed shower and change of clothes. We than figured out what we wanted to do today (it took us about an hour ) and decided on checking out the city by hicking up the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is the tallest tower in the southern hemipshere. When we got up to the top and took some pretty cool pictures, Clint decided he wanted to jump off the building. Yes, Joyce I said jump off the top of the building!!!! So... he did. As you can see in the above photo. He enjoyed his 1000 foot drop! That afternoon, in the rain and the cold, we decided to take a ferry to an island about 20 minutes away. The Waiheke Island is beautiful. Reminded us of the North Shore in Hawii. I could move there for sure. We jumped on a bus and drove the distance of the Island (took about 30 minutes), got dropped off at the end and took some time playing on the beach and climbing rocks. It was very cold- but fun. The water looked so inviting, but I didnt get in! Got back on bus, and the ferry and an hour and 1/2 later we are sitting in our hostel living room trying hard to stay awake. Jet lag was not bad at all....until now. It's 8:20 Saturday night ( for those of you reading it's 3:20 a.m. saturday morning) and all we want to do is go to bed but we are trying to stay awake to make tomorrow a bit more bareable. We have found the New Zealanders (aka - ' Kiwi's') to be very friendly and helpful; and I love the way they talk. They are cute too!!!! So June 17th has been a very good day. Good day Mates!

Travel Days

June 15 - June 17th...Travel Days. Thanks to Keith for getting us the the MSP airport on time. I owe you big time. Everything went great as we traveled our many hours in planes. In LA we had a small issue with Clints ticket...they canceled it. He was bit upset and worked up, but everyting worked out just fine and he got his ticket. In LA we meet up with Clints life long friend Justin (in picture - Clint in the one on the left, Justin on the right) for dinner and some conversation. Than we boared Air New Zealand 747 for our 13 hour long flight. It wasn't as bad as Clint thought it was going to be. We slept...ok, I slept - and
watched a couple movies and than landed in New Zealand; and I was so excited to see the city! We were in much need of a shower, tooth brushes and some clean clothes. But our travel days were good. Safe and no major issues. Although we did think we were going to crash leaving Denver airport...lots of turbulance. This is Clilnt and I in the NZ airport.

Dads day a bit early!

Went north to visit my pa and ma for Fathers Day, and to pick up my cousin Clint for our adventures down under. Quick little visit -but it was nice to see them before I leave for 18 days. Mom of course is a bit worried about Clint and I and our adventures, but we are just plain excited! Our flight leave in about 4 hours and we are just kicking it.
Dads day is a great day huh! i am so thankful for such a supportive Dad. (Thanks pa!) He loves coffee and I thought he'd like a new one, but to much suprises he really likes his old one. oh well....
Anyways- Happy Fathers Day to all those Dads out there. Peace.

June 2nd - 4th my college friends (from left to right- me, Heather, Sarah, Tammy and Gina) from Northwestern College got together for 'girls weekend'. We do it every year! It has become a tradition! This year our outting took us to Brooklyn Park MN. We stayed at my house on Friday night and just chilled and do what women do best- talk!!! Saturday we checked into Grand Rios Hotel for some relaxing R-n-R. We played on the water slides there, did some sun bathing and again, caught up on life! That evening we went downtown to Manny's steak house and enjoyed some awesome, yet very expensive, food. The pic above is us hanging out on Nicolet Ave. It was a fun outting!!!! Sunday we slept in and than said our good-bye's. That afternoon I joined Heather at her house to helped her set up her pool in her back yard, worked out at the YMCA and played 'Life' with her kids. It was a great over all weekend. I am of course already looking forward to our next 'girls weekend'!

I thought this would be a great way to keep family and freinds posted on my many journeys and adventures. Please bare with me as I am not completely sure how this bog thing works. For those of you that dont know, my cousin Clint and I are leaving for New Zealand / Australia on Thursday June 15th til July 2nd ,and we are soooooo excited! I hope to post a daily record of our experiences, along with pictures...that is if i can get this blog to work! This first blog is just an introduction, and mostly just to see if I am doing it right. Please keep checking it.
The picture enclosed is from a long time ago, way back in January, at my 31st birthday dinner. The two lovely twins sitting with me are the Miller Twins! Aren't they the cuttist things ever - they are three years old. Anyways....Hope this finds all of you well and enjoying the beginnings of summer time.