The drive to Mt. Cook

Alright, so I have not quite been on the ball when it comes to blogging - BUT WAIT! I have plenty of excuses, good excuses. You see we had the arrival of our wedding pictures (which consumed about 2 entire days of my life), Christmas festivities, winter illnesses, and my favorite part - 5 little 5 week old kittens that moved into our home temporarily and after about 2 minutes with them, into my heart permanently. I'll do a blog on those little buggers a bit later.

For now, let's just go through some highlights of our 4ish hour drive from Christchurh to Mt. Cook. Cassidy and I were both extremely excited to be heading further south and away from city life so that we could catch a glimpse of the much talked about natural beauty of the New Zealand countryside. It didn't take long before we were driving along curvy roads weaving through green hills that elevated up into snow-capped mountains. And the sheep! My God, the sheep! It's unreal how many there are. Below are some random shots we took along the way:





A highlight of the trip was Lake Tekapo. It is a lake that feeds from the glaciers and is the bluest blue that I have ever seen. The pictures below were not edited at all, this is the actual color of the water! The church in the picture is the Church of the Good Shepard. It is a teeny tiny little chapel that stands alone on a hill looking out across fields of flowers towards Lake Tekapo. We spent a while just walking along the waterfront, enjoying the views, and checking out the wildflowers that grow everywhere in New Zealand. They are beautiful! Oh, and I found a very large bumblebee and followed him around to try to get a good picture of him. It seems that Cassidy had never seen a bumblebee before because he kept telling me "that is not a bee!" due to the very large size of it. I assured him that yes, this is a bumblebee...but I don't think he ever came around to believing me.

Next post - Mt. Cook!

I interrupt my previously scheduled post....

Our wedding pictures are in! Every picture I look through brings me back to that exact moment and what I was feeling. I will be doing a post once I get all of the images in disk, but for now, here is a teaser of some of my favorites (so far!).

Christchurch, New Zealand

Our second honeymoon destination was Christchurch, New Zealand. After our midnight arrival and the discovery that the rental car company was nowhere to be found, nor was the car that we were told would be parked and ready to go - we just took a taxi to our B&B. A bit tired and sufficiently aggravated about the rental car, we were thrilled when we pulled up to the historic manor that would be our home for the next 2 nights. It was built in 1861and it was beautiful, both inside and out!

The next morning we walked through the city's Botanical Gardens, which were actually quite impressive (well, as impressive as trees and flowers can be). Granted, Cassidy and I aren't really the types to stay in the gardens for hours on end and ponder the species of trees...but every so often we do stop to smell the roses and take a picture or two. Below are pics of a black swan that lived on the river that ran through the gardens. He caught me taking his photo and came over to where I was, presumably b/c he wasn't all that into me hanging around his family. However, I got a good pic of his red bill and eyes (then ran away)!


We then headed toward Cathedral Square to see the namesake cathedral - "Christ Church". The town square was an interesting mix of older, more detailed buildings and a whole lot of buildings built in the 70's and lacking of any character. I think Cassidy and I have been spoiled by the beautiful architecture of cities like Prague, Paris, and Rome because we spent a little bit of time taking it all in but then ultimately decided our time would be better spent with a meal and some cocktails. We did end up having some of the very best Indian food we have ever tried that night. So if any of you ever go to Christchurch (I'm sure you've been inspired by my yawnfest post), go to Himalayas on Colombo street!




The next morning we picked up our rental car and started our 4 hour drive toward Mt. Cook! Stay tuned for some beautiful views like you have never seen before! Unless, of course, you have been to New Zealand.

Cairns, Australia

Day 1 of our honeymoon started with out midnight arrival into Cairns, Australia. From the first gust of fresh air that hit our faces, we knew we were in for a very hot and very humid couple of days!

We woke up bright and early the next morning, ready to hit the ground running. Then we walked outside...and turned right around to head back into our air conditioned room. It was in the 80's at about 80% humidity - and it was only 9 AM! The first day ended up being a day of relaxing at the B&B, which had a small pool and a parrot named Chook to keep us entertained while we adjusted to tropical temperatures and a new time zone.



The next morning, after drinking our weight in liquids and coating ourselves in sunblock, we boarded a boat that would take us out to the Great Barrier Reef where we had a full day of snorkeling as well as our first introductory scuba dive. We were instructed to put on "jelly suits" - which turned out to be a full body wetsuit that protected you from jellyfish, since they were floating around the areas where we were diving. After suiting up, it was a full day of swimming, floating, diving, and me staring at the horizon every time our boat was on the move. Turns out as I get older my body is not a fan of boats. It was an incredible experience and we both really liked scuba and the additional things that you can see when you are able to dive deeper and not have to worry about where your next breath is coming from! Not suprisingly, my favorite part was a huge fish named Wally that comes to the diving site daily and actually loves attention! I was able to "pet" him (can you pet a fish??). Below are pics of us and some of the pictures we took while snorkeling/diving. The one with a head and a fish is Wally and myself:























Our 3rd, and final full day, in Cairns started with a scenic train trip up to the rainforest at Kuranda where there was a wildlife park, bird park, butterfly house, and a small village with a mix of art galleries, junk stores, and aboriginial stores (complete with aboriginies out front playing some tunes).



It was here that I was able to hold a koala. Many of you heard my premeditated plan of getting one and running with it, but all of those plans went out the window due to the fact it was an effort to keep myself walking out in the heat, let alone try to run with a 20+ lb koala. So I had to settle for holding one and really, it was everything I thought it would be. As you will see in the photos below, I was very excited to get him in my arms!





After we cooled off at a local pub, we jumped into our cable car that hung very high above the rainforest canopy and began the descent that took just about an hour! I was terrified b/c it didn't feel very stable and we were very, very high in the air. There were many bumps and strange noises along the way which freaked me out for the duration of the ride. However, the conversation for the entire ride down went something like this:
Cassidy - "Want to make out?"
Amanda - "Stop talking, you are shaking the car"
Cassidy - "Oh we can shake the car"
Amanda - "Seriously, shut up, I'm trying to focus on breathing"
Cassidy - "How about I move to the other side of this car?" (thinking it is funny)
Amanda - "How about a divorce if you don't Shut Up?"
Cassidy - "If we make out I'll stop talking"
...so on and so forth.... Here are some views from the ride down:




The rest of our time in Cairns was spent around the house chatting with Chook (yes, he could talk), other guests and Joanna, the woman running the B&B. The next day we woke up and headed to the airport to board our flight to Christchurch, New Zealand!

Also, the picture below is possibly my favorite picture of the entire honeymoon!

Back in the U.S.A.

It has been three glorious weeks of honeymoon bliss in Australia & New Zealand (with a quick side of Tokyo)! We are back home, welcomed by snow on the ground to make our transition back to real life nice and easy. Today has been a day of sorting mail, doing laundry, and spending quality time with the cats who seemed to have fared just fine - their waistlines, however, are a bit larger!

I'll be posting all about our adventures over the next week so stay tuned for pictures and stories!

While grabbing lunch today...

Real conversation while on my way to grab lunch (alone) today, I'm walking along minding my own business when:

Homeless Woman: "Can you help me and buy me something to eat?"

Me: "Sure, I'm heading to this place on the corner. They have salads and sandwiches. What would you like?"

Homeless Woman: "I don't have no teeth, I can't eat that stuff." (Smiles to show me proof) "Can we go to a Chinese place? I can eat fried rice pretty good."

Me: "I suppose, where is it?"

Homeless Woman: "About 4 blocks up"

Me: "I have to get back to the office. How about I buy you a soup at the place I'm going, you should be able to eat that."

Homeless Woman: "That ain't filling enough."

Me: .....

Homeless Woman: "How's about MacDonalds down the block?"

Me: "That's fine."

At this point she starts walking to McD's - the opposite direction of where I was going to get lunch.

Me: "Can I go grab my salad first?"

HW: Sounding annoyed "Are you going to eat it in there?"

Me: "No, I'll just get it to go"

HW: "Ok, I'll wait outside for you then"

After I wait a ridiculous amount of time for a salad, I decided I didn't have time to go to McD's too, so I decided to just give her $5 and let her grab what she wanted. She was thankful and I was glad to give it. I just thought the whole thing was funny and worth posting.

Florence, Italy - September 2007

Oops - things got a little crazy over here and I forgot to post my Florence blog! Well, before going to Florence I had heard all good things about it. Many "oohs and ahhs" escaped from the lips of those that had been before. Sherri and I had about a day and a half to spend wandering Florence so we had to be very selective with our plans.

First things first - we didn't go to any museums. I know, for shame, the horror! However, like I have said before, I'm a walking around and seeing the sights, people, and food type of girl. I love museums but when it comes down to a time crunch a leisurely stroll will beat out a museum any day. I did see 2 of the David replicas in Florence so at least I have that.

Day 1 we arrived in the afternoon and headed out to get our bearings. First we stopped at an ATM for some cash. As Sherri was at the machine, 3 vans pulled up in front and all kinds of people starting hopping out and coming towards us. My first thought was that we were about to witness "The Italian Job" up close and personal. I just leaned over to Sherri and whispered "this bank might be getting robbed in a minute". Then they started to unload cameras, tripods, and actors. Turns out a movie was filming...whew!

We then headed towards the Ponte Vecchio which although isn't stunning in its beauty, has a very interesting history that goes all the way back to the 1300's. From the picture you can see what looks like houses that are built on the bridge. These are actually little shops that today sell mostly gold...but in the past these were all butchers. You can also see an area above the shops that spans the bridge - this is a walkway that was built at the request of the Medicis so that they would not have to walk through the common area and see/hear/smell the butchers below.

After crossing the bridge we had the option of taking back roads or the main road to head up to Piazzale Michelangelo. We chose the back roads since the guidebook said that we would walk on cobblestone roads through vineyards and a monastery. Sounded lovely and it was...however sunset was fast approaching and we wanted to be at the Piazzale for the "breathtaking sunset views". Upon consulting our guidebook we read that our back road experience was a little over 4 hilly miles. Probably should have read that part before getting about 1/2 way into the walk. So we continued at mallwalker speed and made it to our destination while quickly enjoying the scenery along the way. What we saw at Piazzale Michelangelo made the mini-marathon totally worth it. You can see all of Florence laid out before your eyes and at sunset it is just what the book described - breathtaking.




We stayed here for a couple of hours because it really was that beautiful. There are steps that people were sitting on and enjoying bottle(s) of wine. I wish we would have known about that beforehand because we would have done the same! Finally we decided it was time to head back and grab some dinner and then go to bed. This was the scene from a bridge as we crossed back into the city of Florence.

Day 2 we had planned a 3 hour walking tour of Florence and it was by far the best tour I have been on. I have tried to look for an online link to it but have been unsuccessful so far. If I do ever find it, I'll post it. The woman was AMAZING. She was an American that came to Florence to study Art History and ended up falling in love with an Italian and stayed...she had so much knowledge of the city and she pointed out so many little things that I would have otherwise not paid any attention to. The highlight of the tour was the Duomo with the Dome built by Brunelleschi. She told us the history of the Dome and the problems encountered while trying to build it and how Brunelleschi solved the problems with ingenious and unprecedented new solutions. The result is beautiful. Unfortunately, the Dome end of the Duomo was being cleaned so there was a lot of ugly scaffolding up around it. However, I did get a picture of the front of the Duomo. It was nice to see a church that was nothing like anything I had seen in the rest of Europe. The colors were all pastels on the outside which I didn't expect.

After the tour we had time for lunch and we went to a local *hole in the wall* and had one of the best (and cheapest) meals I have ever had. I never knew a tomato sauce with mashed cauliflower could be so good - but it was heaven on a plate. We walked back to our hotel past some horses eating their lunches (so cute) to pick up our stuff and said goodbye to Italy. I look forward to returning!

*Speaking of hole in the wall - do you know how that phrase came about? I do, compliments of our previously mentioned AMAZING tour guide. Back in the days when the very rich held elaborate banquet dinners with far too much food they would give their leftovers to the hungry people of the city. In an area near the kitchen, the servants would hand out food from a hole in the wall of the home to the line of people waiting outside. Hence, those folks ate at a hole in the wall. We actually saw these holes in a few places during our tour. Interesting, no?!