Our Dream List - A Journey Around the World

Final 2 video clips from Brazil

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:36:00 +0000

These were to big to upload until I reached a decent internet connection.

Enjoy...

The city of beaches

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:17:00 +0000

Our visit to Rio de Janeiro has come to an end and we are now on our return trip back to St. Louis. So how was Rio, well we just loved it. We were lucky in that my family has Brazilian friends that live in Rio, and we stayed with my dads friend's daughter, Mayra who lives in the awesome beach suburb of Leblon, which is the next beach along from Ipanema Beach. So right off the bat, we were in the coolest part of the city, with the beach, great restaurants and views of Christ the Redeemer overlooking the city below. Our first night at Mayra's apartment we got invited to go out to a Samba School with her, her roommate and some other friends. The Samba School was one of the top 3 in the city and a really cool experience. Basically, the school was practicing for carnival that is coming up in February, which means you get the full ,musical experience and get to see the dancers in their costumes etc. It was packed, and the beat of the music was pumping, and even I was grooving along to the beat :-).

The next day Mayra's dad picked us up and we headed to Copacabana Beach to visit his apartment, pickup the rest of the family and then down to the Copacabana Fort (a personal favorite of my Dads) for breakfast while overlooking the beach. We also drove around the city getting the local must see guide. It was great to see Tony and his family as I have not seen him and Mayra since I was a small boy.

Later Danielle and I headed up the 2 cable cars that take you to the top of the famous Sugarloaf Mountain which offered amazing views of beautiful Rio. The cable car ride itself is quite scary as it runs along a 1400-meter route between the peaks of Pão de Açúcar and Cara de Cão.

We met my Dad when he got off his ship and went to a traditional Brazilian Steak House in Ipanema, the food was amazing, but so much :-). The next morning we met Dad again for breakfast and saw him on his way to the aiport. Then since we were in Copacabana we decided to walk along Copacabana, to Ipanema and then on to Leblon. It was a full days walk, but awesome. We got to see all the locals practicing football, others playing volleyball, surfing, amazing sand castles and much much more. When we got to Leblon we decided to hit the beach ourselves for the remainder of the afternoon.

Finally, yesterday we made the trip up to Christ the Redeemer, on top of Corcovado mountain, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. This was awesome, the statue itself is huge and the 360 degree view of the city below is incredible.

In in all a great trip, but we are happy to be going home.

PS. When we got to the airport today, LAN airlines could not find our electronic tickets and we spent 2 hours trying to resolve the issue. Finally American Airlines fixed the problem, and then we were told that our flight from Santiago to Dallas was canceled. So another hour an a half later we got ourselves on a flight via Sao Paulo to Dallas and leave shortly... 6 months, 20 countries, 44 flights and this was the first cancellation, not so bad.

Take a look at all the video and pics I have uploaded.

Ryan

Rio is awesome!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:52:00 +0000

Suger Loaf Mountain, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, originally uploaded by fromthevillage.

We have 2 days left in Rio, this town is awesome. This is a pick of Suger Loaf Mountain, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Never thought I would agree with Vogue Magazine....

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Well I am sunburnt and happy to be so. We are on the island of Ilha Grande, south of Rio De Janerio which is a beautiful national park. However for the last 2 days we have had rain on and off, we get the sun, but not long enough to make a trek to one of the many beautiful spots on the island. Its a good thing our Pousuda is a beautiful spot and I can sit in my hammock and enjoy the view or I would be seriously bummed. Well this morning we woke to a beautiful clear blue sky and off we went to the beach, not just any beach, but what the locals say is the best beach in all of Brazil, Lopes Mendes beach. We had to find a boat to take us there as there is only one other way which is via a 5 hour hike.

The Lopes Mendes beach was actually voted one of the World’s 10 Most Beautiful Beaches by Vogue Magazine – its water is clear and shallow for quite a long way, presenting excellent surfing conditions and pristine sands. This meant we got to spend our day watching surfers go for it, doing some body surfing of my own, and just enjoying the visas and sound of crashing waves.

It was an awesome day.

Tomorrow we head back to Rio by boat, taxi, bus and taxi :-)

Ryan

Argentina... living large in life and death

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:56:00 +0000

Picking up where D left off...

After Peru we headed to the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Now I wanted to come here for the meat, D had other reasons :-), but guess what we ate, "STEAKS THE SIZE OF MY ARM". The food is fantastic, and really cheep. Just like in Chile we stayed in a real up and coming neighborhood of the city, far away from hotels and tourists, giving us the real experience of Buenos Aires. Our accommodation was a guesthouse, a just beautiful, multistory home, built around a courtyard. If you are planning a visit, check it out http://www.gardenbuenosaires.com/

So besides enjoying the local restaurants, what did we do? Well, we found a "free walking tour of the city", actually they work for tips, but we knew this. We did 2 of their tours, the first was their evening tour in the aristocratic neighborhoods like Recoleta and Retiro. We were told a little about some of the families that built some of the more incredible buildings, but Danielle being a little bit of a busy body / social historian wanted to learn more. The second tour was in the afternoon and it was of the city center and the political history of Buenos Aires. We walked from the congress building to the Pink House, learning about past protests and other political movements, seeing lots of interesting buildings and statues along the way. (The Pink House is Argentina's version of the white house. Our tour guide even noted what balcony Evita stood at to give her famous speeches) The tours are run by a local brother and sister and were very enjoyable. Danielle and I also made a special trip to Recoleta Cemetery where Eva Perón "Evita" is buried. This place was crazy, a mini city of mausoleums, each one trying to outdo the other, most have have the ground floor room and stairs that descend below ground for more coffins. Really creepy stuff... and to top it all, most have glass doors, so you can peak in and see the coffins. Apparently there is one with glass coffins, but I could not find it :-). We walked the famous Calle Florida for shopping and had a milk shake at cafe Tortoni. The rest of the time we tried to enjoy the surroundings of our little guesthouse.

Our next journey took us north to the boarder with Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, the Port of Iguazu. We traveled all this way to see some of the worlds largest and most impressive waterfalls. We stayed as another local guesthouse which was great, a good thing because on the flight to Iguazu I started to feel ill, and on arrival all I wanted to do was sleep. That night I attempted a nice dinner in town, but 30 mins later was in a cab back to the house and in bed. In the morning I was still not good, so Danielle and a friend of the guesthouse owner took a car and drove to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls. From what Danielle tells me, they had a great time and given her new friend was local and studying agriculture, D got lots of info on the rain forest. Danielle's words to describe the experience "100 times larger than Niagara, It was so large a panoramic picture still could not capture the whole scene. It was so amazing and the noise was deafening!" At lunch time D stopped back at the guesthouse and I figured, I came all this way I must try to see it, so we ventured to the Argentina side of the falls, and the "Devils Throat", and it was everything D had described, really awesome. The only problem, I was not awesome, the sun and walking was not a good idea and it was back to bed for me.

We spent our last night and day in Argentina at the Buenos Aires guesthouse again and now we are off to Rio (in fact by the time I post this we will be in Rio or maybe even Ilha Grande, an island south of Rio.

Check out the pics and video using the links below...

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ourdreamlist/

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/vanwykrl

9 days until we are back in the States. And one last thing re Buenos Aires, it is also the city of dog walkers, you see them everywhere (which D likes) and plastic surgery (its included in state health care coverage), so you do the math...

Ryan

Good food & a lost city

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:07:00 +0000

Hi All,

So... it has been a while since we have posted and some of you might have been wondering what happened. (Dawn ;-) ) Well this last part of journey has been jam packed with little down time. The few moments we had the time, the internet connection was slow, or it was used to upload pictures and video to free up space on the camera's memory. Now finally we are done uploading everything and we are overdo on a few posts: Chile, and Peru. Ryan will hit on Argentina while in the airports today.

Santiago, Chile

We only had two days and nights to explore this city, but it was enough to decide we would like to come back. Arriving at 7 am and feeling completely wrecked from our convoluted flight plans (Sydney to Los Angeles to Santiago with a 6 hr layover at LAX), we took a little nap and explored the neighborhood near our hostel. Bellavista, is a great little area a little like the CWE in St. Louis. An old urban area with quaint 3 to 4 story row houses, surrounded by cafes, restaurants and bars. Admittedly there is not much to do in this area except eat, drink and absorb the local life, but we were not up to much that day anyway. Our schedules being off we had a late dinner starting at 9:30 pm. However similar to Spain, this is just when the locals are starting to get ready to out for dinner, by 11 pm when we had finished there were like three groups of people stalking our outside table. The next day we did our own walking tour of Santiago. We went to the fine art museum, and the Museum Pre Columbo. We walked down a few pedestrian streets lined with local crafts to various plazas, then ventured in a few beautiful churches, and finally climbed two of Santiago's famous "hills," both topped with churches and one with a shrine to the virgin Mary. The Pre Columbo museum was one of our favorite museums. It is filled with artifacts of the various native civilizations that existed before Columbus's "discovery" of the new world. We ended the day with another great meal at an out door restaurant in our neighborhood. We would have liked to visit the sea side community of Valperaiso and a few wine estates, all just a few hours from Santiago, but we ran out of time. So next time we visit these sights are sure to be on our itinerary.

Cusco & Machu Picchu, Peru

So I know there is a lot to see in Peru, i.e. the Nazca Lines, Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu etc... We would have liked seen it all, but let's face it if you can only fit one place in it would have to be Machu Picchu. We flew into Cusco, after paying a small fortune in airport taxes. (It did not matter that we were just transferring on route to another destination we were herded outside just so we would have to re-enter and pay more airport taxes.) We spent a day in Cusco both before and after leaving for Machu Picchu. Cusco, has the closest airport to Machu Picchu and it used to be the center of the Inca Empire. Most of the Inca city was destroyed by the Spanish but some "new" buildings were built using the remains of the old Inca buildings leaving intact original Inca walls (you can see these walls walking down the street). Other buildings were made out of the Inca ruins, so the same stones that were in Inca temples are in the building that average people use every day. The cathedral in Cusco was built on the sight of an Inca temple and is huge. It is comprised of three churches each with colorful frescos and ornately clothed statues. (Mary, Joseph, and other saint statues are dressed in real miniature clothes... weird) In the main church is the most amazing and beautiful carved wooden choir room. Cusco is Peru's 9th largest city but it seems so undeveloped by western standards. We took the train to Agues Callentes a town that is 10 minutes from the Machu Pichu ruins, we spent 2 days here, so we could explore Machu Picchu at our leisure. Machu Picchu is amazing, the 5 square miles ruins remain hidden in the side of a mountain till the very last moment. The ruins are so complete compared to Athens, Rome or other ancient cities. I could easily imagine daily life by mentally drawing in thatched roofs and crops in the surrounding agricultural terraces. The skill in which the city was created was inspiring. Gigantic boulders were put in place and then single stairwells were carved out of that same stone. All of the buildings were built with out any type of joining compound; just stacks of precision cut stones dry fitted together. Modern buildings today do not have the same craftsmanship. (Our modern buildings need cement to stay put.) On our 2nd day of exploring we were able to get the first bus to the ruins and it was inspiring to zig zag up the mountain road with the morning mist breaking over Machu Picchu. We were also able to secure 2 of the 400 tickets granted to climb Huayna Picchu. Huayna Picchu are small Inca ruins on a neighboring mountain peak that provide an excellent panoramic view of Machu Picchu bellow. The climb took us 2 hours up and about 1.5 hours down. It was steep and wet, since it had started to rain as soon as we were 20 minutes into our climb, but well worth the journey. We were even lucky enough for the rain to stop and the cloud to clear for a few minutes once we were on top so we could enjoy the view and take a few photos. All in all it was an amazing experience. In my opinion Machu Picchu is on the same level and the pyramids and the great wall. It is truly an amazing place.

So that is all for now. We will see you all soon.
Danielle

More YouTube Loving

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:11:00 +0000

So I have a wicked internet connection at our guesthouse in Buenos Aires, so here is some more video from our journey...

To see more go to:

http://www.youtube.com/user/vanwykrl

House keeping

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 05:02:00 +0000

I just uploaded a bunch of pics from Australia onto flickr while in the airport...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ourdreamlist/

We are on our way to Argentina now.

Cheers

Ryan

Video from our 11 dives on the great barrier reef, Cairns, Australia

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 12:44:00 +0000

Part 1 of 3:

Part 2 of 3:

Part 3 of 3:

Bubble ... Bubble ... Bubble

Video from New Years Eve in Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Part 1 of 3:

Part 2 of 3:

Part 3 of 3:

Enjoy...

Ryan

Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:48:00 +0000

OK, so the 2 videos I just uploaded are too long for youtube, so they have been removed. I will edit them and re-upload as soon as I can.

Cheers

Ryan

The Rock and the Reef

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:05:00 +0000

Hi All,

Our trip to Australia would not have been complete with out a trip to Uluru (Ayer's Rock) or the great barrier reef. Uluru is the aboriginal name for Ayer's Rock.

Uluru

We flew into Alice Spring and drove 4.5 hours to our hotel just out side Uluru National Park. We had fun on the drive and the scenery was amazing, the bright oranges and deep reds of the outback contrasted beautifully against the blue sky. (However if you plan to make this trip on your own be sure to secure a rental car with unlimited miles. We could not find one but we know others who had and unfortunately our over milage allowance at the end was quite large.) We arrived in time to see the sunset over the rock and woke early the next day to to see the sun rise. We went back to our back packer hotel where we made our selves breakfast, took a little nap and then went back to the rock for a few hikes. Unfortunately we could not climb the rock because the heat and high winds had caused that hike to close, but we enjoyed the many other hikes around the rock for an up close view of the crevices, water holes and aboriginal rock paintings. We also ventured right next door to the Olgas (I can't remember their aboriginal

name).

This unique sandstone formation, has 22 separate round domes that just just right out of the earth. We did a few hikes here too then headed back to the hotel for a well deserved swim. We loved the natural beauty of the sight. It amazed us how flat everything was yet there out of nowhere, sprang Uluru and the Olgas.

The Great Barrier Reef

As some of you know Ryan and I like to scuba dive, so as with most scuba divers the great barrier reef is another dream. We spent 3 days and 2 night on a dive boat with about 18 other divers on the outer reef. We did a total 11 dives, two of which were night dives and it was amazing. Living in Missouri we don't get to dive as much as we would like so this was chance to really get into it. After the first few dives Ryan and I were able to perfect our underwater buddy communication and spend a good deal of time under water appreciating the totally different world down bellow. We found Nemo, a lion fish, sharks, turtles, eals and allot of other bright beautiful fishes and coral. It was some of the best diving we have done and we got to meet some great people. Our new friend's Donna and Gary even were nice enough to share their video of the dives with us.

Well that is it for now next we are off to Chile. We will be home soon and I hope to see you all soon.

bye for now,

Among the First to Ring in the New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Hi All,

It has always been a dream of Ryan's to be in Sydney to celebrate New Years. As child he watched all of the world's cities different celebrations on the TV. Sydney, always being the first was his favorite. Now, I and 1.5 million other people have had the opportunity to share in his dream and it was awesome!!! We had done our research and scouted out the perfect location, Mrs. Mac Guire's Chair, in the Botanical Garden, however everything we had learned indicated we needed to get an early start. Sydney gates off all of the major viewing sites, and only opens them up at certain times so, crowds can be regulated, bags can be checked etc.. We got to our gate at 8:30 am, we knew there would be a line, but we never expected it to be that long so soon. At 10 am our gates opened and we began inching our way to the opening. Finally at 1:30 pm, we made it through the gate. We ran hoping there would still be room for us in the free reserved section along the water front (only 3000 of the 25000 people for our site were allowed in the reserved section). We were lucky enough to be last people to make it!!!! We put down our blanket to insure a view of the city, the opera house and the harbor bridge and then cracked open our cooler to have cold drinks and some lunch. It was a long hot day but we were well rewarded with the best free view of the fireworks.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2009 is looking good so far!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:01:00 +0000

St. Some Where

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:18:00 +0000

OK, OK... so St. Some where is actually St. No Where because our day trip was to Port Stephens. No St. in the name anywhere. Yeah I know some times I don't pay the closest of attention. Anyways it was a good time. We were on a large boat, but the dolphins were really friendly and loads came right up to the boat. If I had arms slightly longer than Ryan I could have just reached out and touched them. Unfortunately our pictures were the best because as Ryan would say the our camera's "technology" was just not good enough. I think it is not the camera, its the photographer, he needs to anticipate. The problem is he really wants a new big super fast and fancy Nikkon. I think I will have to give in when when we have kids. After the dolphins we went 4 wheeling in the sand dunes, in some military style hard core 4 wheelers. It was really fun but I thin they could have pushed it just a bit further. We finished our sand dune adventure with sand boarding. Because of the high probability of injures they do not let you go down on your feet proper boarding style, instead it is more like sleding. It was really fun and super fast but the climb back up the dune and the sand in places I care not to talk about it might just be why the sport has not gone main stream like snow boarding.

Happy Holidays from Down Under

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:08:00 +0000

It has been a while since I wrote a blog, but Ryan has monopolized all the computer time. I have nicked named him the internet monster.
We are having a great time in Australia. For once the weather has started to co-operate and the sun is shining. We spent the first couple of days exploring the city, the Opera House, Art Museum, Botanical Garden, Harbor Bridge, Bondi Beach etc.... We even met up with some some of our friends from the China trip for lunch one day. The Opera house was great. As some of you know Ryan and I really appreciate modern architecture, so to see it up close was a true high light. All of the angles and the way the white iridescent tiles on the roof catch the light at different times of day was amazing. Ryan was also really impressed by the harbor bridge and of course the harbor. I enjoyed the botanical garden, Ryan tolerated it. The rose garden was small but still nice. The best part it that it is a free open park with great plants and trees all along the harbor with an amazing view of both the opera house and the bridge. (We hope to be able to get a spot there for the new years firework extravaganza.) We spent Christmas on the beach, still not used to the southern hemisphere thing of a bbq on the beach, but it was nice to get some sun after all the rain in Asia.

We spent the first part of today, Boxing Day, at Watson's cove which is right next to the southern Head of Sydney harbor, so we could watch the Sydney to Hobart boat race. We walked around the cove and then walked up the head so we had a better view of the start. It was cool to see all the sail boats jocking back in forth for the best starting position with harbor bridge in the back ground. We then walked to the ocean side of the head so we could see the boats race into the ocean for the sail to Hobart. Ryan was so happy.

We are planning a day trip tomorrow to St. Somewhere (can't remember the name) the Dolphins are suppose to be abundant. We are taking a boat tour, followed by 4 wheeling and sand boarding in the sand dunes, with even a stop at a wildlife sanctuary on the way home. (Yea!! koalas and kangaroos) I want to learn to surf here and I would love to go sailing the harbor with Ryan. We have not made it to Carins of Alice springs yet, so no reef diving and no big rock yet, but that is planned to come. I am sure Ryan or maybe even I (if I get a chance) blog about that later.

A not so sporty and not so co-ordinated girl's view on the Milford Trek

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:07:00 +0000

First of all let me say I did it!!!! 4 days of hiking from sea level up to 1141 meters and then back down. The hike was challenging but I am very glad I did it. 3 out of the 4 days were not that bad. The only day that had me a little fed up (at my worst moments I was begging for it to end) was the 3rd day when we had to hike up and over the pass, down to our last nights hut. We started the day at lower altitude with light rain, that then turn to sleet, and snow as we got higher. By the time we got to the top I was freezing and a bit wet despite the best efforts of my waterproof gear. Thank God at the top they had a hut with water, toilet and some gas burners, so we could dry off make hot chocolate and soup to warm up before we had to climb carefully down to the sleeping hut. It was a wet climb down, but we made it with out any major slips or twisted ankles. I know that is amazing given my complete lack of co-ordination, but I went slow and careful, and I only said that they were no major slips or falls. The views were amazing and the huts were very clean plus well appointed. They had almost everything you would need, running cold water, flushing toilets, proper bunk beds, heat, and gas stove cookers. No showers and no hot water, but it was a nature hike not a stay at the 4 seasons.

A digital christmas present :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:40:00 +0000

Hey all, just got done using the free wifi at the apple store (wicked fast) to catch up on my video and picture uploads. Check out the following for all the goodies:

Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ourdreamlist/sets/

YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E1FBED7FCC399470

Cheers, and happy Christmas.

PS. We got to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart boat race today, it was awesome!

Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:59:00 +0000

Hey all, just a quick merry Christmas to all of you from D and I in Sydney, Australia. We plan to spend Christmas day tomorrow on Bondi Beach with the rest of Sydney. Hope you all have a great day and get lots of presents.

Love Ryan and D

Amazing New Zealand ~ the longest post yet....

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 11:17:00 +0000

So to continue where I left off.... after our visit with good friends Dave and Jane Campbell in Auckland, D and I jumped on our first of many trains. The train is called the TranzSenic and our first trip was on the "Overlander Service" to Hamilton on the north island. Why Hamilton? Well we were invited by our new friends Emma and Jared who we met while traveling China. While in Hamilton we all headed to Waitomo Caves for a mid day black water rafting trip. Basically you put on a wetsuit, head lamp and pick up a large inner tube, shortly after you jump into an icy cold underground river and float your way through the Waitomo Cave system jumping off waterfalls and looking at the cave ceiling covered in glow worms... a lot of fun to say the least. We filled up on hot soup and bagels and then Jared took us on a driving tour of their part of the world which included a few short walks, one revealing a huge thundering waterfall. The country side is just stunning and we even got a peak at the west coast of the island. That night we enjoyed some very good New Zealand Meat on the BBQ followed by multiple beers.

The next day we wished Emma and Jared good bye and hoped back on the Overlander for an all day journey through the heart of the North Island to the capital of New Zealand, Wellington. This train was fantastic, we were in the last car with panoramic glass windows giving us views or the stunning countryside as we climbed the mountains crossing glacial rivers and huge snow topped volcanoes. We got our best view of the volcanoes when we stopped at "the National Park". Finally we winded our way down into Wellington getting full views of the ocean as we entered the port city. Wellington is a beautiful city set in a bay on the south end of north island at the foot of mountains. Everywhere you look there is another beautiful vista. Although it is the capital of New Zealand and a big city, it is still small enough to navigate on foot very easily and we only needed to catch a bus once. It has an awesome waterfront with a really cool museum "Te Papa". We also rode the famous tram to spot above the city to take in the views and them begin a walk down through the botanical gardens. The rest of the time we just wondered the streets, enjoyed some good food and the atmosphere. D loved the city and says it is her favorite so far... "she would like to live there".

Next we jumped on the "InterIslander Ferry" to the South Island. The ferry is a cool way to see Wellington from the water and then as you approach the cliffs of the South Island you realize you are about to see a whole different world. We landed in Picton and navigated our way to the train station and hopped on the "TranzCoastal Service" to Christchurch "the largest city on the South Island". Again this was an awesome way to see New Zealand, the large glass windows and open viewing car allowed us to get great views of the east coast of the South Island as we journeyed south. Christchurch is a small city, and is actually based on Cambridge in the UK, and feels very similar. You have your Gothic style cathedral in the cities central square and there is a river that winds through the city "the Avon"... and you have punting boats that you can take a ride in, just like Cambridge. There is also trams that travel the city streets and plenty of restaurants to choose from. We spent our days punting the river, walking the botanical gardens and reading our books in the park and at Cafes.

Another day, another cool train journey. This time we joined the "TranzAlpine Service" over and through the mountains to the west coast of the South Island, terminating in the town of Greymouth. This train takes you up through some of the highest mountains in the country and gives you great views of Arthur's Pass and the alpine scenery of the South Island. On arrival in Greymouth we picked up our rental car... some Cadburys Chocolate Bars and began our drive down the west coast. I cant put into words how beautiful this part of the world is, around every bend we were saying "WOW"... our journey for the day ended in Franz Joseph, the small town situated below the Franz Joseph Glacier. We had come to Glacier Country to see something truly amazing, something that can only be seen over other place in the world (Patagonia Argentina), a glacier at near sea-level and something else unique to New Zealand, it is surrounded by tropical rain forest. We spent 2 nights in this amazing place, hiking to the terminal face of Franz Joseph, and a number of other short walks that allow you to view these marvels of nature in all there glory. But the coolest of all was our Helihike on the Fox Glacier. We arrived early in the morning, suited up with boots, crampons etc. hoped in a helicopter and flew up the Fox Glacier, landing about midway up the glacier. We spent 3 hours walking the glacier, our guides using there ice axes to carve a pathway through this alien environment. We climbed into ice caves formed by the glacier moving at different speeds at the surface vs. the base. We saw waterfalls that are carving underground rivers through the ice, and stood on the edge of precipices that drop into oblivion. When down, back on the helicopter for a ride back to sea-level and reality. This one is in my top 5 of all time, WOW, WOW, WOW.

The journey continued... back in our rental car we continued down the west coast, joining the "Heritage Highway", named as such because it guides you through one of the many "World Heritage" areas present in New Zealand. Again, just beautiful, awe inspiring vistas around every corner. We spent the day stopping at a number of short beach and forest walks that allow you to explore what lies just beyond the rode, places like the "Blue Pools", a set of natural pools that are filled with crystal clear turquoise blue glacial water and a number of stunning waterfalls. The road takes you along the coast and then banks east through the mountains past the largest lake in the Southern Hemisphere and into the city of Queenstown, and our basecamp to prepare for "The Milford Trek". Queenstown is an awesome little city, sitting on the shores of a lake surrounded by high mountain peaks. This is the adventure sport capital of the world and you can do anything crazy you can imagine in this place. After a few days, and fully preparing for our 4 day hike through Fiordland (we needed hiking bags, sleeping bags, survival gear, clothing for all 4 seasons, food, maps etc... we set off by bus to Te Anau to check in at the department of conservation office. Next we journeyed to Te Anau Downs and what would be the start of another top 5 experience of my life, hiking the Milford Trek. For those of you who don't know some background on this hike. The Milford Trek, also know as "The Finest Walk in the World" is 53.5 kilometer trail through the heart of spectacular Fiordland National Park, part of the Te Wahipounamu - South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. 14,000 people hike this trek every year, although it is restricted to 40 people per day and you can only walk in one direction so you very rarely see any other people on the trail. I am not going to go into detail on how we spent our 4 days but will call out some highlights. First, you begin the walk by taking a boat from Te Anau Downs the Glade House.. the start of the walk at the base of the mountain range in the rain forest. You are now officially in the middle of the wilderness and the adventure begins. Over the walk you will climb from just above sea level to 1143 meters above sea level and then back down to sea level. You will and we did experience all 4 seasons in one day, and you will see some of the most incredible wilderness on earth, from the valleys, to the literally thousands of waterfalls, snow caped mountains, ice fields, crystal clear rivers, dense rain forest, beech tree forests, fern forests, glacial landscapes, lakes, the remains of large avalanches and much much more. The accommodation on the trail is great, each night you stay in mountain huts with bunk-rooms, a drying room and kitchen area with gas stoves supplied. There is running water, it comes fresh from local rivers and is ice cold, but clean and drinkable. You will get to see much of New Zealand's bird life, from Blue Ducks to Kea's... the worlds only Alpine Parrot and a really cool bird to see since they have the intellect of a 2 year old and love to get ahold of hikers gear. It was a hard 4 days, the toughest time was the accent to the highest point in freezing rain and snow to be followed by an even steeper decent through ice fields and avalanche valleys. But the scenery was worth every minute and the sense of accomplishment at the bottom is fantastic. On the final day you make your way into the final valley at end at Sand Fly Point, named for the little buggers that bite the crap out of you over the 4 days, the place is supposed to be teaming with then, but we were lucky and there were not that many on our final day. You meet a boat at this location and sail into Milford Sound.

When we got to Milford Sound we decided to take a scenic cruise of the Sound and just relax and take in this amazing place.... pictures don't do the sound justice, and the same goes for pics of the scenery on the hike itself, but I tried my best. We spend the night in an awesome private lodge (Milford Sound Lodge River Chalets on the river with floor to ceiling windows looking at the river in front of us and cliffs of waterfalls. The next day we made our way back to Queenstown and then to Auckland for another night with Dave and Jane... today we tooled around Auckland and then headed for the airport. This post is coming to you from Sydney Australia.

PS... the reason I did not post anything earlier was 2 fold... public internet in NZ sucks... and secondly I was too busy having the time of my life. I will do my best to post video on youtube and pics on flickr tonight and the next few days, so take a look.

And one more thing,,, New Zealand is the coolest country we have visited so far.

The City of Sails aka Auckland, New Zealand

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:30:00 +0000

D and I have been in Auckland since Tuesday morning and are loving it. We are staying with our good friends Dave and Jane in a suburb of Auckland named One Tree Hill. The weather is fantastic, clear blue skies, and a nice cool breeze off the ocean. Given Auckland is the City of Sails... I decided to go sailing, and how cool is it that I went sailing on the NZ 41 America's Cup Boat (1995). I took the helm and guided the yacht through a number of tacks in Auckland Harbor, grinded the sails up, and pulled in a jinnika from the foredeck. All in all a great way to spend the morning. Danielle and I also headed up the famous Sky Tower "the tallest building in the southern hemisphere", a great way to get a 360 view of the city/ suburbs. The city itself is very small, almost like a mini Cape Town foreshore and as such really easy to walk around and explore.

Yesterday, Dave, Jane and their two kids took us by ferry to Waiheke Island off the coast of Auckland, where we grabbed some lunch in a beach side cafe and spent the day on a beautiful beach. The ferry ride is also a great way to see all the islands/ volcanoes that make up the seascape around Auckland.

On Saturday we leave Auckland and head to Hamilton to stay with our friends Emma and Jared... until my next post.

- Ryan

The Kingdom of Cambodia

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:37:00 +0000

Ankor Wat @ Sunrise, originally uploaded by fromthevillage.

D and I just arrived in New Zealand after a great visit to Cambodia. We stayed in the small city of Siem Reap and spent 4 days exploring the amazing Ankor Complex and the surrounding countryside. We enjoyed both the sunrise over Ankor and the sunrise at Ankor Wat. Ankor is an incredible experience that I would rank with seeing the pyramids. Words are hard to use to describe what you get to see, and pictures don't do the structures justice, but take a look anyway. We really enjoyed our visit, very friendly people, great sights and good cheep food.

Now off to sail on an America's Cup Yacht.

Lets go to the moives

noreply@blogger.com (Danielle) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:40:00 +0000

Last night we found a theater in Saigon that was playing the new James Bond film in english.. it was awesome, I would highly recommend it.

- Ryan

Video from Vietnam on YouTube

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:09:00 +0000

Check them all out @ http://www.youtube.com/user/vanwykrl

Vietnam pictures now on Flickr

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:19:00 +0000

Man bathing next to his boat in Vietnam, originally uploaded by fromthevillage.

Check out our pics from Vietnam so far @

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ourdreamlist/collections/72157609981749387/