Tuesday, July 29, 2008

North Island






Here are some pictures still of Australia! A shot out to Delaware, a cool picture of Di and i biking, a trailer we stayed in and some cool plant life! Enjoy!

So we have made it to the North Island. Some fun facts about NZ. There are only 4 million people here. 3 million live on the north island and of that 3 million 1 million live in Auckland! Wild stuff! Two of those millions are Drake and Erica who we rocked out with for a few days in Wellington aka WINDington because it is freaking windy as anything! I had to get crampons just to stay upright as we walked around the town. No really it was wild. Drake and Erica were amazing hosts and there housemates rocked as well. We celebrated Christmas in July! It was fantasgreat! The Te Papa museum was amazing! a truly beautiful and education place.

We then headed to Tongariro to do the northern circuit hike- famous from Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, after we had prepared 3 pounds of rice and beans because there is no way to cook while hiking out there a blizzard came through and threw us off the mountain. Their were winds of 200 km/h going on and snowing! About 2 hours into our hike di and i regrouped and decided that this was not the way we wanted to spend our last week on "vacation." So we high tailed it to Auckland and won a cut throat game of Cranium with Anne and her beautiful family!

We are now on Waiheke Island WWOOFing with a splendid family! We have been gardening, cooking, and hanging out with some rather energetic 4 and 5 year olds! It's been fun. We are very excited to come home and see you guys all soon!

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Pictures






Hey folks here are some picture of Australia-

Pictures of Di and i wine tasting in the hunter valley, some cool rock formations in the Blue Mountains, a puppet shop in Sydney, a cool tree in the sunset and the Cliff Mallee tree. I really like this tree b/c the bark is looking like it is melting off!
Enjoy-

Monday, July 21, 2008

Strazzer US Reunion East Coast Tour Dates

Hey folks New Zealand is great! We rocked out the South Island with the help of James, Biff and both mommie and daddie birken! It was great. We hiked the Kepler Trail a bit in Te Anu, we went cross-country skiing in Wanaka, we went hiking in Queenstown, we eat a "world famous" salad and sausage buffet in Greymouth. Good times!

We are planning out return to the US and it will be a short and sweet tour down the east coast as we make a b-line to Asheville. We would love to see our friends along the way so if you live in any of these areas hopefully we can set something up. Below are our tour dates! Get excited!!!

8/3-5th- NYC- wake up on the 5th and head to NJ
8/5- NJ- wake up on the 6th and head to DE
8/6- DELAWARE- wake up on the 7th and head to DC
8/7-?DC
8/8 or later- Asheville!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

NEW ZEALAND

If you know me well you know how much I love this country. It is interesting to be here in the winter since the last time I came it was sunny summer (during January unfortunatly when most people don't have vacation). It is still sweet now but for a super outdoor enthusiast who likes to hike it is a little bit of a bummer. The cadebury chocolate factory was a good side trip. They have a chocolate fountain that is in an old huge silo that is quite the site and only there for your entertaiining. thank you to all the amazing couchsurfing houses we crashed at. I had my sights set on the Milford trek, proclamed to be the best hike on the planet. There are many avalanche paths though and I don't need that. So we did the kepler hike. We didn't do the top section becuase the snow drifts made you step down into the snow all the way to your hip and doing that for 8 hours does not appeal to me. But it was sure beautiful up there. Mountian ranges covered in snow, last time I was here it wasn't as glourious as this. The forests are covered in moss or ferns, the lake is everywhere and they have huts with tiny wood stoves. really i can not believe wood stoves are made this small. small enough that you have to chop wood down to the side of your foot. we were a little low on food but thankfully our freind farmer neil shared his feast with us. hopefully i will throw a photo up soon. we will be back in the states at the beginning of august and down in asheville by midmonth. i am pretty excited to see you! I get to see my parents in a couple of days here in nz cool!