Mosi'ing Around the World

We've been home a little over three weeks now and I think about Australia and our trip all the time. It's been a wonderful whirlwind of emotion... regrouping and finding home back in our actual home. It's an amazing feeling to see everyone you love after such a long time... well at least a long time in my mind :) It's really the small moments from the trip I think about the most. How I felt in a place in a  specific moment in time. Walking to Cathedral Cove in the dark for the sunrise, sitting in the sand and watching the sunset at Wharariki beach, eating the acai bowl in Currumbin... I'm worried I'll forget the little details and that places will blur together. Anyway, I figured I couldn't end the blog posts for this trip without some numbers and summaries of how the trip went :) Here's our path through Australia, we really hit a lot of the East Coast and I have no regrets of the path we followed. So grateful for our time here. I definitely still ...

Well, here we are... sitting in the Lihue airport about to get on our flight home. I won't say the adventures are over, Raleigh is still full of adventures and new things to discover :) But, I can't believe this particular adventure is over. Five months is a long time to be gone, but like I said it just becomes your way of life... traveling. I can see why some people do it non-stop. However, I'm ready to rest my head on my own pillow. After 35 different beds, I'm ready for my own!

Larry and Tina met us in Queenstown, and we began a whirlwind two weeks together! We are so happy they were able to join us, and right off the bat they were ready for anything... even after 30+ hours of travel time. We immediately felt taken care of, they went on a hike with us, made us dinner, and even made us breakfast the next day. Parents are just the best, aren't they? After two months since Chris left, it really was an amazing feeling to see family again. Can't wait to see all of you reading this NEXT WEEK... CRAZY!!!!

We arrived in Tekapo! My main reason for coming to Tekapo was to go on the Earth & Sky observatory tour. Tekapo is part of the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve which regulates light pollution at night (among other things I'm sure) in order to have perfect star gazing conditions. We've heard on a clear night it isn't a white spots on a dark sky, but dark spots on a white sky because the stars are so bright.

Our NZ adventure continues on from Rotorua to a town called Turangi. The drive to Turangi was full of more cows, rolling hills, and a beautiful lake called Lake Taupo. Wish I had chosen to stay in Taupo even though it was a little further from our big hike location... Turangi was super small and didn't have a whole lot going on (apparently trout fishing is the big thing there). Lake Taupo We stayed three nights in Turangi to give ourselves a choice of two days to do the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. We decided on the second day, and so began our journey!

Kia ora! That's Maori for hi/hello/be well. We made it to New Zealand! It was a nice and easy nonstop flight from Melbourne to Auckland. And so, we begin our journey in middle earth starting on the north island. Kola says kia ora!

It's hard for me to believe, I blinked and we were in Victoria, the last stop of this Australian part of our trip. At the end of this post I write about some reflections so far of this amazing country, and the trip itself. The Great Ocean Road The Great Ocean Road starts in Torquay (about 1.5 hours from the Melbourne airport), and continues 244K past one of the big attractions called the 12 apostles. It reminds me of driving up highway 1 in California, the coastline was similar with cliffs and beaches... and of course breathtaking views!

 Adelaide After taking a super early flight we made it to Adelaide with time to spare before our Kangaroo Island ferry. This was planned on purpose so that we could stop by one of the opal shops in downtown Adelaide :) The shop owners here buy the raw sandstone and cut/polish the opals themselves. They actually supply most of the Sydney shops that sell opal jewelry as they are wholesalers, so Adelaide is the best place to buy them. Directly from the experts!

Got quite a bit behind, but here are the last few weeks that we mostly spent with Chris! Surfer's Paradise After leaving Currumbin, we picked up CHRIS! Our first stop was Surfer's Paradise, about 30 minutes north of Currumbin and still on the Gold Coast. The city was not what I expected, and if I could do it again I would choose a different stop. Luckily we only stayed there two nights so it didn't really matter. Surfer's Paradise is just a super touristy and busy coastal city. It didn't feel Australian by any means, but hey at least we tried it! Our Currumbin Airbnb referred to it as that "Vegas Bullshit"... LOL. He's right, the Gold Coast's best kept secrets are further south for sure. Chris is here! So champagne in coffee mugs :)