Our profile from 2008...

Brenda (Ms Scarlett) and Nick

Well, here's the plan: we start in our stompin' ground in England and catch up with friends, visit Ireland for a few days (one of our favourite places!), and then we're off to Romania for a Habitat for Humanity build for 2 weeks. After that, we have a few days to tour (unplanned as yet!), and then we head to Uganda with Buy-a-Net, a Kingston-based charity - see www.buyanet.ca. Bayridge students raised $1050, enough to provide nets for 3 villages! After Uganda, we're doing a short safari with the buyanet group in Kenya. Then we're off to India, where we'll be visiting a village near Hyderabad with new a water-well that was donated by Bayridge students! We'll also be visiting other projects undertaken by Bala Vikasa, the charitable organization that facilitated the well. So Bayridge students: you're fantastic and you've accomplished good things, and hopefully we can share with you the experience of seeing how it is improving peoples lives. From there, its Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Australia, and finally 3 weeks in a Wicked campervan in New Zealand before heading home! Whew! I'm sure there will be surprises as time goes on, so stay tuned!

Being back in Canada!

Nick and I arrived home on Tuesday, January 27th and life has been a tad crazy since our arrival. We sadly left Vincent, our campervan which was our comfy home for 3 weeks, and then departed to Christchurch airport. From Christchurch, we flew to Auckland then to LA. At LA, we found out that we were put on the wrong flights to Dallas and needed to go to Chicago instead. This was fine except our luggage had already gone through so alas we were stuck. But I saved the day by jumping a barrier and grabbing my backpack as it went by me on a conveyor belt. Not the brightest thing to do and several very large men were not pleased at my actions. Thank goodness the airline checkin person explained to everyone why I did what I did and all was fine! We managed to find Nick's bag too and both were retagged. It was our lucky day or so I thought. I almost missed the plane because I was sauntering about the airport and had to be paged to the plane. Exciting to hear my name over the PA at the LA airport though. After this, the flights were pretty standard and we arrived at Toronto late on Monday evening. The next day at Toronto airport, we were able to enjoy a nice coffee and apple fritter at Tim Hortons but Nick was still sad to see all of our travels come to an end. Our greeting squad at the Kingston airport was incredible though!! Liam and Rowan gave the best hugs any auntie could ever wish for!!

Wonderful to be back home and see family and lots of friends!! We are still adapting to the climate change and the chilly weather has been a bit much but overall life is good.

Nick and I will be doing plenty of flashbacks as we still need to share the rest of our adventures in New Zealand and add many more flashbacks from various parts of the world. So new things will be added in the weeks to come...thank you for sticking with us through this absolutely incredible adventure!

New Zealand adventures!

Kauri trees, forest walks and one extremely fascinating museum filled our days as we travelled down the western coastline of the North Island. To begin it all, we visited a shop that said it had a giant kauri staircase which it did! The gentleman used a swamp kauri log over 45,000 years old and chainsawed a staircase in it. After this feat, he built his shop around it. We saw the largest living kauri tree - estimated to be 2000 years old! As well we spent almost a day in the Kauri Museum - this was a sight not to be missed. Nick especially loved the sawmill and the collection of chainsaws!

After this we had to get some pavement behind us so we could see some of the southern part of the North Island. So a night in Auckland then onto the Waitomo Caves where Nick and I did a Black water rafting trip through a cave. It was an adventure to say the least! We were given our raft (basically an inner tube) then taught how to fall backwards into the raging river and paddle our way back. The cave was amazing - tonnes of glowworms gave us light as we walked and drifted our way through the dark tunnels. One sobering event was the added attraction of an eel that decided to visit us for a small portion of the trip! After this we travelled to Rotorua to check out the thermal pools. We walked through the local park and viwed all the mud pools and geothermal wonders! It was awesome! After this we drove towards mountains in the interior in the search for Lord of the Rings scenery. It was quite a successful journey.

New Zealand - a country full of adventure!!

Nick and I are loving our adventures in New Zealand! We started in Auckland until the 5th and then we picked up our campervan and headed north. This is a picture of Nick posed by a transit bus (one that had not taken out a traffic light control box like we witnessed the night before - we think a brake failure caused it and we were happy to be on the other side of the road when it occurred) advertising a Canadian product Canadian Club ginger ale which we found rather interesting. On departing Auckland, it was quite crazy having everyone staring at us as we drove past in our van which I have named Vincent. Our two mascots enjoyed getting out of the backpack and now have a front row seat on the dash. We bought a coriander plant which also lived on the dash until the sunshine was too much for it!! Our campervan is an adventure within itself. No it is not the one with my name on - how cool would that have been? I had to get a picture of this! Many students have asked if I could get a magic school bus to go on adventures with them and I found the perfect one here but alas someone else had rented it. So here is Nick in our humble home, Vincent the Wicked campervan - filled with spelling mistakes on one side (just wonderful for a teacher to be in huh?) But it is a wonderful experience nonetheless!! In the first few days we were travelling north we stayed in Whangerei and checked out the beautiful falls then headed to Russell where we stayed two nights. In Russell we went kayaking down to the oyster farms and enjoyed the sights! In the evening we were lucky to be invited out to fish with Kahu and Nick and I were in absolute awe with the scenery of the Bay of Islands. We could not believe the kindness this gentleman showed us by taking us with him to fish and it was my first fishing trip at that!! There is a picture of Kahu with Nick at his kayak stall in Russell. With beginner's luck, I actually caught two snapper fish!! Talk about the excitement I felt at this accomplishment! Kahu cleaned the fish and Nick and I cooked them up for breakfast at Long Beach. At Long Beach we explored the countless rock pools and watched the locals pick mussels off the rocks.

After this exciting adventure, we did not want to leave Russell but hopefully Kahu and family will travel to Canada one day and experience the sugar bush with us one day. Our next stop was Matai Bay and Karikari Beach then onwards to Cape Reinga. On our way we drove Vincent onto 90 mile beach which was awesome!! I even drove too!! (I suppose Nick wasn't worried about me hitting anything except for the odd seagull!) The cape was beautiful - this is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet - an incredible sight! Our night at a campsite by the cape was an experience we will never forget - it was rainy and we ate in the van leaving the doors open a wee bit too long and a family reunion of mosquitoes occurred right when we crawled into our doona. The carnage was terrible as Nick and I set out to rid our van of them. Nick reckons it was uglier than a Lord of the Rings battle scene! But we survived - barely and we've learned our lesson! (Although to have this many mosquitoes is rare in New Zealand!)

The next day we travelled through the Kauri Forest region and I literally fell in love with these gigantic trees but these storeis will have to wait for our next blog!! Hope all is well - only 10 days left...

Flashback - Murray River Camping Trip!!

Huntsmen spiders, koalas (falling from trees) and more are what we found found when Jay and Melissa took us camping along the Murray River from Dec 27th to 29th. Nick and I were ecstatic to experience the Aussie Camping Experience first hand and our hosts were amazing!! After unloading the ute - we put up the tent - it was the Taj Mahal along the Murray I reckon!! - then we needed fuel for the evening fire!! We went and collected some "small" branches and Jay and Nick thoroughly enjoyed this part of the experience. Remnants of "I'm a lumberjack" song rang true indeed!
The first night the boys enjoyed a swim and we had a fine bbq Aussie style! We ate like kings - kabobs and burgers - sustenance after the wood collecting!! Nick was surprised by a koala with its baby on its back who strolled by him as he stood by the fire. We watched her climb a nearby tree.
The next day we enjoyed breaky and so did the millions of flies which dined with/on us! Spending time at the beach, swimming in the Murray (well letting the Murray current take us along) and just chilling was just right for the four of us. Speaking of the currrent in the Murray - you swam as fast as you could and did not move - great exercise but you got nowhere!! Nick was really amazed at the great Murray Kayak race that we watched go by us on Sunday morning. In fact we saw the same people racing the next day at Echuca - man they must have been tired!! Sunday ended with another fine meal and a great fire. Of course one of the crazy Canadians wanted to show these Aussie hosts how to make s'mores on the fire so we attempted this to great laughter. Despite the white and pink marshmallows melting into a gigantic mass (Aussie summers are a wee bit hotter than Canadian summers) and we could not find graham crackers, we improvised as best as we could. We had lots of dairy milk chocolate so it all turned out well - albeit tremendously sticky!! The next day the awesome adventure continued - as we packed up, various huntsmen spiders had to be evicted from underneath the tent and Nick was quite scared by it all!! The size of the spiders gave him the creeps! Also the mom and baby koala actually fell out of a tree and almost landed on another camper! This was exciting and thankfully the two koalas were okay. After this we travelled to Echuca and checked out the sites then returned to Kilmore. Thank you to our awesome hosts who we hope to have camping in Canada with us soon too!!

New Zealand - the final stop!!

The next time we're on the computer, we'll do the Murray River but in the meantime - an update from Auckland, New Zealand!! Nick and I arrived yesterday to a rainy afternoon but it brightened up by the time we decided to explore the central downtown area. It is an awesome little city! We are having trouble uploading images so we'll have to post those later. We pick up our campervan tomorrow and the crazy adventure continues as we travel north. Lovely New Zealand mussels and a cool bevvy await so I will end this here - all the best!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our friends and family worldwide!! Nick and I thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with our Aussie Family!! From GIGANTIC Christmas Crackers (it was almost larger than Iris!!) to silly hats, it seems Santa finds silly things in all parts of the world to keep the laughter going through the Christams season!! Jay and Melissa arrived on the 24th and the fun began!! From a wonderful sunny day and sitting out on the patio with festive drinks (Jay's quite the mixer in this regard!!) to Nick entertaining us with his use of the Australian dictionary! Yes, "chook" is in the dictionary and yes it is a chicken!! The entire evening was capped off with an exceptional meal cooked by Jan and carved expertly by Keith!!

With our full stomachs, we crawled into our beds and enjoyed a restful sleep. The crazy antics began shortly after we awoke and found lots of pressies under the tree!!

The very cute reindeer sightings really did make everyone's day!!

The next day - we went to Melbourne and enjoyed a boat ride along the Yarra River to Williamstown. We had lovely fish and chips and ended it all with an ice cream. Even though Nick declined the offer of ice cream, he did well helping me with mine!! The entire visit with our Aussie Family has been amazing!! We have been truly spoiled and wish we never had to leave! Alas, today we depart for Sydney. We are driving from Kilmore to Sydney and catch our flight to Auckland NZ on Saturday. Nick and I will be counting the days until we can return to our Aussie Home. We wish you all a Happy New Year and all the best in 2009!! We'll be adding more blogs soon on our excellent Murray River Camping Expedition soon!! Koalas, Huntsman spiders and more...stay tuned!!