Adelaide

We arrived in Tanunda, which is in the heart of the Barossa wine region about an hour outside of Adelaide, late afternoon on St Patty's Day. Amy and her boyfriend Hugh were kind enough to let us crash at their place for the next 5 days or so, while we explored wine country, checked out Adelaide and celebrated Amy's bday.

When we arrived Amy was having a bbq with a group of friends to celebrate St Patty's Day, so we just joined in! Lots of Guinness was consumed, as well as lots of delicious wine and food. It was really nice to sit and chat with Amy, Hugh, their friends and their two animals, Cooper the dog and Mika the cat. Everyone was so nice and welcoming and we had a great time!

Our first day there was a pretty lazy one. We slept in and did some laundry. Then we spent most of the day organizing the rest of our Australian adventure. We booked another camper van to drive from Sydney to Cairns, a few tours (of Fraser Island, surf camp, etc), booked our hostel for Sydney and tried to nail down some dates for the next few legs of our adventure through Asia. We also spent the afternoon helping one of Amy's friend (Jo) prepare a huge Chinese food feast. Jo was in Tanunda visiting Amy from Sydney for her bday, so it was a full house! But we helped Jo make spring rolls, ribs, fried rice, chicken balls, etc. There was so much food, but Amy had apparently requested it all and Jo was very nice to prepare it all for her bday. We ate like kings that night! I loved every second of it, but I guess it was a little too greasy for Dave because by that night he wasn't feeling very good. In fact, a few hours after dinner he was violently puking. It was so loud - everyone was a little worried about him.

Dave was still feeling really weak and not great the next day so we had a bit of a lazy day. He did manage to leave the house by early afternoon and we went to visit Amy at work. You see, Amy works at the St Hallett's winery in Tanunda. She wasn't too busy so she gave a tour of the winery and then I did a little wine tasting, while Dave watched. The wine was all so yummy! That night we just relaxed - I drank some more wine with Jo and Amy, Hugh had some work to get done and Dave sat quietly recovering on the couch.

An amazing wood carving at St. Hallett's winery

 

Dave seemed to have a little more energy the next day so we decided to make our way into Adelaide and explore the city. We did a little shopping, walked through Chinatown and went to the market. Laura, you are going to be so jealous because it was the beginning of feijoa season - it is a fruit with a very interesting flavour - and I was able to hunt some down to try. I don't think I like them as much as you do. That day was actually Amy's real bday so we went out for dinner to a restaurant called FermentAsian - get it...because it's in the Barossa?! It was delicious.

We all had the chef special, which was about a 6 course meal of all specially prepared dishes. We definitely ate some things I had never had before, but it was all really yummy. And of course, there was more wine to go with it!

On Friday, Amy had the day off so we spent the day with her and Jo. She took us on a little wine tour to all of her favourite wineries, as well as a little shopping in Tanunda. It was such a cute little town with tons of little shops - cute vintage one's, really nice clothing stores, delicious looking little cafes and restaurants...I really like Tanunda. What Amy didn't know, was that her boyfriend Hugh had planned a weekend away for her and her friends to a little area in the Barossa called Clare. So, once our day was done we had to try and get her to pack an overnight bag and get in the car without asking too many questions. Everything was going really smoothly and they had all told her a lie so she had no idea what was going on, until the cat got out. Dave, Jo, Amy and Hugh and I spent almost 30 minutes looking for that stupid cat since we wouldn't be coming home later that day. Unfortunately, we never got her and she had to spent the night outside that night. But off we went to Clare.

Hugh had rented this cute cottage there. There was almost 10 of us there and we just spent the night drinking, eating, dancing and socializing. But to top it all off, Jo had bought us all matching onesies. So we did all of the above mentioned in matching onesies. A hilariously fun night!

Happy Birthday Amy

 

Sadly we had to catch our flight to Sydney the next morning so we said our farewells to the crew, especially Amy and Hugh. I love seeing familiar faces and catching up with people, but we were off to Sydney next and we were very excited!

Thanks for reading

xo

Ramblings...

I cannot ignore you any longer. I feel I have let Steph speak for me for too long (although she has covered all the important pieces, and done it admirably) and now I need to fill you all in on my thoughts on our trip to date. So in no particular order or organizational structure, here they are...

1) People everywhere tend to be extremely nice and will do what they can to help you out if they have the means to do so. We saw this in New Zealand, Australia and now SE Asia. Whether they were friends or complete strangers, everyone has been fantastic to us.

2) I am not a fan of traveller dreadlocks. Now before you get all bent out of shape because you have not washed your hair in 3 months preparing to get your mop made into locks, it's not that I dislike all dreadlocks, only some. The 'some' I speak of are people who feel that since they are travelling they no longer have to maintain ANY sense of personal hygiene. From what I have seen, aside from the dreadlocks, they no longer wash their clothes, that were bought while travelling SE Asia, so the bright colours are now covered in dirt and grime. Shoes are not needed anywhere they go. I find this fascinating. We saw a youngish couple shoeless as they marched up the 1km of slippery rock fall to a glacier. I love the idea of the barefoot movement, but shoes have their place, and hiking a glacier may be one of those places. Lastly, dreadlocks. Fine on their own, but with this 'some' it is combined with a lack of showering/bathing so the hair becomes a symbol of disregard for personal health. Not my idea of fun.

C) Umbrellas. In all countries, umbrella etiquette must be taught. I believe this should be done at a very young age to solidify the lessons for life. If you are not tall and hold the umbrella just over your head, you are going to poke people in the eye and they will dislike you. Spatial awareness is key.

4) Walking on the other side of the road is much harder than driving. It sounds simple and easy, but with driving you basically follow the other cars or stay between the lines and try not to change lanes too often. With walking, I have been so used to staying on the right side of the sidewalk that when we landed in the Auckland airport for the first time, I kept running into men leaving the toilet as I would go right and they went left and we both ended up hugging the same wall when there was about 4 feet of space on my left, his right. You know that awkward dance when you both mirror each other for a series of pass attempts. You would have thought that would set me straight, but I guess I am a slow learner.

5) Hobbiton is AMAZING!!! That is all.

Frolicking

6) We don't work hard. Being overseas and seeing the conditions that people work in, how they are treated and the long hours that they put in day after day, it brings to light how easy our life truly is. I hope that I can keep this humbling experience in the back of my mind when I have a 'long' day at school and would like nothing more than to complain.

7) 8 months is a long time to spend with anyone. I would not want to spend this time with anyone but my gorgeous wife, but living in close confines for months on end and driving thousands of kilometers together, you kind of maybe sort of might crave other people's company. Just sometimes though.

8) After living in a van for 4 months and a trailer for another 3, I have realized how little you actually need to be happy, although it definitely helps that Steph and I have been travelling some amazing countries.

9) Travelling has really hammered home the importance of staying in contact with friends and family. I have been notorious for being difficult to get a hold of, but I would like to think that I am changing that. Those special people that you connect with and share memories deserve the few minutes it takes to write an email, Facebook message or give them a phonecall every now and then. It means a lot and doesn't take much, so why not.

10) The internet is awesome for #9, and staying up to date with the NFL news.

11) In Australia, trailer parks are often called 'relocatable home communities'. How amazing is that!

Pretty insightful I know, but those are the ramblings of Dave Brown. Now you see why Steph writes the blog.

 

The Great Ocean Road

Early Saturday morning Dave went to pick up our rental car while i finished packing and then off we went...in the wrong direction at first of course, but we quickly figured it out and got back on track!

We spent the first day driving between Melbourne and a little town called Port Campbell. We passed through a ton of other little towns along the way and stopped at most of them - Torquay, Angelsea, Lorne, Apollo Bay and an area called the Shipwreck Coast. They were all major surfer/beach towns so we stopped to watch some amazing surfers in action - Dave was really jealous. He can't wait to get on a surf board soon!

Towards the end of the day we made it to the iconic 12 Apostles viewing point. And, small world, we ran into Julie and Richard - the American couple we did the Able Tasman kayak trip with. We knew they were in Australia, but not that they were also driving the Great Ocean Road...small world! We stopped and had a chat with them for a bit and then went to see the sights. Unfortunately for us it started raining right as we got to the viewing platforms for the 12 Apostles. We managed to get a few pictures before running back to the car. It is a beautiful sight!! So much so that we decided we were going to drive back the next morning to see them in better weather! We stayed at a hostel in Port Campbell that night. It was only about a 10 minute drive from the 12 Apostles, so it was the perfect location.

Rainy day at the 12 Apostles

The next morning we made our way back to the 12 Apostles and had much better weather this time! The view is stunning and we had some fun taking a few good pics before we went on our way. We made a ton more stops on our drive. The first was the Lock Ard Gorge - a former shipwreck site. Then we saw London Bridge. This used to be an intact rock archway, but in 2009 the arch broke and fell away into the ocean. The story goes that there was a couple who had just finished walking across the arch way before it fell and they were stranded on a piece of rock in the middle of the ocean. They were quickly rescued by helicopter, but once on the mainland, they tried to hide from the cameras because they were having an affair together and didn't want to get caught with all the press. The next spot we stopped at was the Grotto - this was our favourite spot. It was a beautiful bit of rock formation with waves crashing into it - so pretty! Then we made our way through the city of Port Fairy, which is known as a good spot to whale watch. Unfortunately for us, it is too early in the season so there were no whales there. Instead, we did a little grocery shopping and bought some St Patty's day souvenirs before finishing up our day in the Grampians National Park at a hostel there.

Next morning at the 12 Apostles

 

The next morning we had decided to do 2 short hikes in the morning since we were in this beautiful national park. The first one was a total bust! It was supposed to be a walk out to a waterfall, but there was no waterfall at the end. I guess it had dried up, even though it had just rained for the past 3 days on and off. The second hike was a little more successful. It was through the forest to the Venus Pools. There were some natural rock formations filled with river water there. It was raining by then though, so we checked them out and then made our way back to our car for the last leg to Adelaide.

The Grotto

 

The rest of the day we just drove through pretty bland country to Adelaide. Amy, a friend of Dave's from Kingston, is currently living just outside of Adelaide in Tanunda in the Barossa region, so we were off to go stay with her for the next few days!

Thanks for reading

xo

Back To Aussie Land

We were sad to leave New Zealand, but excited for the next portion of our trip - back to Australia we went. We flew into Melbourne early on Tuesday, March 11. A friend, Mike Thorburn, from Queen's lives there and was kind enough to pick us up from the airport. We hadn't seen him in years, so it was so nice to see him again and catch up. He drove us to St Kilda in Melbourne, where we spent most of the day. It wasn't the most fun day ever - most of it was spent reactivating our phone, mailing stuff home to Canada and getting organized for our time in Australia.

We were staying at a place we found on Airbnb. The place was in North Melbourne, so once all of our errands were done and we had explored St Kilda, we made our way to our accommodation. We ended up staying in a room of a cute little house owned by a young couple with their dog. We stayed with Nat, Ben and Phyllis for the next 4 nights and had a great time! We both fell in love with Phyllis and it was nice to have a solid home base for a few days while we explored Melbourne.

Phyllis is a suck

Once we were settled in at our place Mike came to pick us up and we went out for dinner and drinks. He took us to a few cool places - there are so many restaurants and bars in Melbourne, it's insane!!!

The next day Dave and I went off on our own to explore downtown Melbourne. We walked around a lot of the city and really fell in love with it. There are so many neat little arcades and laneways that you can walk through, with tons of little shops, coffee shops and restaurants. That night we went to the night market with Mike. There was so much delicious food and cute little stalls selling vintage and current clothes and trinkets. The most hilarious part of the entire market was the "Silent Disco". So, what happens is everyone in the disco is wearing headphones and they are all listening to the same song at the same time. It is hilarious to watch people dancing and singing along from outside. Everyone looked like they were having the best time - doing the YMCA dance and just bopping along to all the music.

 

On Thursday we went to the gym with Mike and then he was kind enough to take us out to the Mornington Peninsula for the rest of the day. It is about an hours drive from Melbourne and there is so much to do there. We did some wine tasting, followed by some cheese tasting (my favourite!) and then finished it off at the hot springs. It is sort of like Le Nordique in Ottawa, but the view is amazing. They have one hot pool on the top of this hill and you can almost see all the way back to Melbourne on a clear day! We were all pretty much starving by then and went out for some Vietnamese food and ate our faces off. It was such an awesome day!

On our last day in Melbourne we had made plans to see an old friend, Marci. I worked with her at the Wigamog Inn, the summer I spent there after first year of university. I haven't seen her in years, but I feel like I have because we have a mutual friend (Paige) who updates us on each other often. But it was so nice to see her face to face and catch up. She has been living in Melbourne for almost 8 years and was about to marry her Australian boyfriend. They were actually heading back to Canada for their wedding at the end of April, so we were lucky we got to meet up with her in Oz.

On our way home from lunch we walked through a little more of the city, including Chinatown and then went to the Queen Victoria Market to pick up some food for dinner. After dinner Mike was able to get us some amazing tickets to the op


ening game of the Aussie Rules Football season at Etihad Stadium, so off we went to the game. One of his friends goes to the same gym as some people who work in the AFL head office so we ended up with front row seats, near midfield for the game. I have never sat (and probably will never sit) in better seats again! The game was a bit of a blow out - Freemantle kicked Collingwood's butt. Dave actually even bet on the game, and unlike his horse-racing bets, he actually won on this one. He won a whole $2.75.

Best seats in the house

Sadly, that was all the time we had in Melbourne. On Saturday morning we had a car rented so we could drive the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide for the next 3 days.
Thanks for reading

xoxox

Vanna...Vanna White

We picked up our new camper van on Thursday morning. Jan and Iain were kind enough to drive us over to the depot. But first, we had some business to attend to with Iain. Not many people know this, but since Iain retired a few years ago he has gotten more into his water colour painting. He is very talented and we were very lucky to be able to purchase one of his paintings and send it home! We picked one of Mount Ngauruhoe, which is the mountain we climbed on the Tongariro Crossing. It is beautiful and has a bright blue sky in it. So awesome! Jan and Iain were so kind to have us stay with them for a couple of nights. We really appreciated it and had a great time getting to know them better.

We named our new van Vanna White - get it, because it was a white van. hahahaa. Cheesy, I know! We started out driving up the west coast of the northern part of the north island because this is where the two largest Kauri trees are located. These are trees native to NZ and they grow to be massive. Not that tall, but so thick and wide. They were pretty impressive to see.

The largest Kauri tree

 

That night we stayed at a campsite which was connected to a little forest. Apparently, Kiwi live in this forest so they do tours at night so people can see them. Unfortunately, all the tours were booked out, but you can also do the walk yourself as long as you have a red light. Kiwi don't like white light but they can't detect the red light alone so you can see them pretty close up if you're quiet, and very lucky. We didn't have red light, but a lady at the caravan park gave us some red cellophane to put over our headlamps so we could go out that night.

Once it was dark we set out to see if we couldn't find this elusive Kiwi bird. With our cellophane headlamps on and ready we set off on the boardwalk through the forest. At first we didn't hear or see anything except for a few glow worms. Then we started to hear all this rustling just in front of us. We kept walking a little bit and honestly you could hear something pretty big rustling on the ground only a few feet away from us. We turned our headlamps on, but with the cellophane and crappy batteries that we had, we could barely see just in front of us. And I think we scared the animal away. A minute or two later the guided tour showed up with this massive red light. When we told the tour guide we had heard something he got the group to stop and listen. What we think was the kiwi did come back, but never as close as it was when we first heard it, so we didn't get to see it. The tour group moved on and so did we. We hit another area where we could here 2-3 more 'kiwi', but again, with our crappy headlamps we were unable to find them in the forest. So close and yet so far!

The next day we started to drive inland from the west coast to make our way across to the east side of the island. As soon as we started inland we saw a sign for sand tobogganing. Dave has never done it before and the sand hills were huge so we decided to make a pit stop and try it. When the guys dropped us off at the sand hill they told us we may want to wait a little until the tide came in a bit because the water would then stop right where the dune ended so you could slide from the sand right onto the water. We thought that was an awesome idea so we took his advice and went on a little hike up the dunes to see some neat sand sculptures he assured us were at the top. Honestly, that hike didn't seem so little after a while. Hiking up in sand is really hard work, and it was a hot day without a cloud in the sky. We did make it to the top and saw some sand sculptures, but I'm not really sure it was worth it. So, we headed back down and did some tobogganing, which was really fun...except the climbing back up to the start part! After that we kept driving over to a town called Paihia on the east coast, right in the Bay of Islands. We had dinner there and then stayed close to town.

Steph bombing it down the dune into the ocean

 

The next day we took a car ferry over to a town, Russell. Jan and Iain highly recommended it and so had a few other people so we made sure to spend a full day there. And, we were in luck. While we were there it was the Battle of Kororareka Festival, so there was a lot happening in the town. There were bbq's and live bands and a market. We had a great day just walking the town, checking out a few lookouts, hitting the beaches, having a drink and eating some yummy food. Russell definitely lived up to its expectations!

While we were in Russell we had checked out a few brochures to see what we should do with our last day in the Bay of Islands. We signed up for a boat and snorkel trip to a place called the Poor Knights Islands. So, off we went on a huge boat that would have held 50+ people, with only 20 of us onboard (including the crew). We spent the majority of the day on the boat and it was awesome! They drove us out to the islands and did a little history about the place while we were heading there. Then we got about 3 hours to snorkel, paddle board, kayak, eat and relax around the island. We started with a paddle board to a nearby cave, which was awesome. It was so big that later in the day we took the whole boat into it. It is actually the largest sea cave in the southern hemisphere. Then we did some snorkelling - and both Dave and I think this was some of the best snorkelling we have both ever done. There were so many different types of fish. There was also another smaller cave that you could snorkel into and when you got to the back and looked out towards where you had just come from, it was spectacular. It was a sort of blue grotto effect with the lighting and everything just looked so beautiful!

One of the Poor Knight's Islands

After some lunch the boat left the snorkel spot and we went on a tour around the island. They showed us some other cool spots about the island before we stumbled upon a heard of Hector's dolphins. We got to dolphin watch for a little before heading back to the mainland. All in all it was an awesome day!

Then it was back to Auckland for a night before flying back to Australia. We had such an amazing time in NZ, we were both really sad to be leaving. The country is so beautiful and so small that within a few hours you can see and do so much. It is definitely a place neither of us will every forget and hopefully we will have a chance to head back sometime in the future!

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Goodbye Wanda

We got to Auckland on my birthday. We woke up at the caravan park and as I was getting up I felt a pop in my neck along with a lot of pain. I just laid right back down and didn't move for a while. My neck had already been sore, but not that bad. After a little while and some Advil I was able to get up. It still hurt a ton and I couldn't move my head very much but it was manageable. During the day we toured around downtown Auckland and got the lay of the land a little bit. But we left early afternoon because we had a big night to get ready for.

For my bday, Dave and I went to see The Boss in concert. It was the first time that Bruce Springsteen had been in NZ in almost 20 years and he just happened to be playing on my bday. We got tickets a few days before hand and we were both really excited to go. Oh man, does he ever put on an amazing concert! He played for over 2.5 hours straight and totally rocked the house. He even open the concert with an acoustic version of the Lorde song "Royals" and everyone went crazy since Lorde is from NZ. I got drunk and pretty much just danced the night away. Great Birthday!!

Not the best seats but great show

 

The next day we had to get down to business. We made an online ad to sell Wanda and posted it on Gumtree. We made a flyer and dropped it off at over 10 hostels in the city and we posted another add on the backpacker car market. We started the day off pretty optimistic, but by the end of the day we were both feeling very defeated and sad because we hadn't heard from anyone. Clearly we were VERY impatient with very high expectations! By the next morning we had 2 phone calls from people interested in looking at the van. We made some appointments with them and showed them Wanda. Later in the day we got another call from a French couple who were also interested in Wanda. While Dave showed them the van I went to a Physio appointment for my neck. Yay insurance! Later that day we heard from the French couple and they wanted Wanda!! We made plans to meet the next day to get the registration changed over and to sell Wanda. We were so happy to have sold Wanda, but we were very sad to see her go!

Luckily for us, my mom and sister had another contact in Auckland for us. Jan and Iain to the rescue. Since we sold Wanda a little quicker then we expected we didn't have anywhere to stay, but Jan and Iain were kind enough to let us stay at their place for a couple of nights. It was actually beyond kind because they also had their daughter Fiona and her two boys, Oliver and Callum, staying with them as well. So, it was a full house. I had met both Jan and Iain once before when they were staying with family in Toronto, so it was nice to see more familiar faces. Iain met us downtown and picked us up and drove us out to their place in St Heliers Bay. We had an awesome dinner with them that night and got to chat and catch up. Iain even let us indulge in a nip of scotch with him that night. It was definitely the best scotch I've ever had, but that's not saying much!

The next day everyone went their separate ways and Dave and I went to the Auckland Cup. Neither of us had ever been to a horse race before, but after being in Australia during the Melbourne Cup, we definitely wanted to go to one. And luckily enough, the Auckland Cup was on the week we were in Auckland. So, we got dressed in the nicest clothes we could find in our bags and off we went. It was actually a really fun day! We bet on all of the races we were there for. I did really well - I won 4/5 of the races I bet on. Dave, on the other hand, did not do very well. He was 0/6 on the races he bet on. It was still a really fun way to spend a day.

Another one of Steph's winning races

 

After a few nights in Auckland we decided to make our way north. We had about 4 days until we flew back to Australia and everyone raved about the Bay of Islands area north of Auckland so we rented a caravan and decided to drive north.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Coromandel Peninsula

Once we left Wellington, it was our goal to just book it to the Coromandel Peninsula as quickly as possible. We stayed one night on the way up there around Taupo. We managed to make it to the peninsula by late afternoon the next day and stopped in a town called Thames for the night. We did a little tour around the town, had dinner and then did a little planning for the next leg of our adventure, back in Australia.

The next morning we finally set off to explore the peninsula. We started by heading over to the east coast to an area called Mercury Bay. In this area there are a ton of beaches and beautiful little spots to check out. We did a hike into a few secluded beaches. We started at Cathedral Cove, which was the most spectacular of them all. It was so pretty; white sand, clear blue water and neat rock formations. We stayed there for a couple of hours to soak up the sun and have lunch. Then we made our way to Gemstone Bay, which was supposed to have a little snorkel trail laid out in the water. We did some snorkelling, but there wasn't much to see and the water was a bit rough so we only lasted a little while in the water.

Cathedral Cove

That night we had planned to stay near a beach called Hot Water Beach. We stayed at a caravan park that had a small micro-brewery right on site. So, obviously, we had to go for a tasting and a drink. The beer was really nice and we got to enjoy it while sitting in the sun on a lovely patio.

At about 10:30pm that night we set off on an adventure. You see, Hot Water Beach is called that for a reason. At low tide, there is an area of sand that becomes exposed that is heated from below by carbon dioxide gas. It is totally crazy! So, you go and find an area near this sort of spring and start digging a hole. The water from the ocean mixes with the hot water/gas being released from underground and you basically make your own hot tub on the beach. We had originally gone to the beach at low tide during the day, but it was a madhouse! There were hundreds of people in this small little area trying to dig pools. Since low tide was at midnight that night (and you can dig 2 hours on either side of low tide), we decided to go back at night. There were probably about 40-50 people there at night, but it was much more manageable. We got together with another group there and started digging and managed to make this massive hot tube. It was pretty cool to sit in your own hot tub on the beach under the stars!

The next day we continued up the east coast. We spent the morning in a town called Whitianga, then we drove to New Chum Beach. All of the guide books raved about this secluded beach so we had to check it out. It was pretty neat because you could only access it at low tide by hiking in along the coast line. There weren't many people there and it was a beautiful beach, but we both preferred the beach at Cathedral Cove. I especially didn't like the hike in aspect because I managed to stub my toe so bad that it split open and was bleeding everywhere. It got all dirty and I had to clean it out that night, which hurt!

Coromandel Peninsula

 

From New Chum Beach, we continued through Coromandel Town and back towards Thames for one more night on the Coromandel Peninsula. The next day we started to make our way to Auckland because we had to try to sell Wanda :(

Thanks for reading

xoxo