Recap

Hi everyone back home. It is getting chilly here at night and rainy during the day. We are keeping busy with school and work. Thought we would re post some of our favorite photos till we get some new ones this weekend. Talk to you soon. Love, Lauren and Matthew

Happy Birthday Ryan! (And Happy Earth Day)

Just a quick 28th Birthday to my brother Ryan! I love you like a brother!

Happy Earth Day to all... I have attached a link of the best (and worst) fish to order when you go out to the market or order a restraunt.

Please print it out, Thanks!

http://www.edf.org/documents/1980_pocket_seafood_selector.pdf

Hey everyone, Matt here...figured I'd do a blog entry to see if anyone is still checking in with us on this page. Things have been going really well for us here in NZ...Lauren's getting on with her work and in her spare time is turning out some really nice pieces of art, Jude has a girlfriend (a little jack russel from nextdoor), and my masters program is really taking off!
Life is good here, its a healthy lifestyle, with plenty of sunshine and outdoor stuff lauren and I like doing (ocean/beach, bike trails, hikes). I get to do field work in some amazing locations; last month I spent 10 days on a volcanic island doing scientific research scuba dives at a marine reserve. A marine reserve is like a National Park, but most of it is underwater. NZ has led the world in establishing these reserves, and they tie into global warming and the depletion of fishing stocks worldwide. If a local government sections off a peice of water and says no fishing (commercial or recreational) the marine community that was once depleted in that area comes bursting back to life. The reserve I did my field work at is one of the oldest in the world, and its only been around for 10 yrs! The ocean has been abused for so long people's perception of "healthy" isn't what it should be, the source of a lot of the worlds problems (climate change, cures for disease) can be resolved with healthier oceans.
NZ is on the forefront of the "green" movement, they live it. Unfortunately, the ozone is so depleted here it is not safe to be outside on a hot summers day, and this little country has the highest incident of skin cancer in the world. The CFC output of the rest of the world has caused this mess, and they are doing their best to lead healthy eco-concious lives. It's quite inspiring!

Enough of this talk, on to more serious matters...we got a TV!!! It can pick up 5 channels, one is all in Maori (can't understad it), an all rugby/cricket channel (boring), and the last 3 are made up of English and American sitcoms (they even show American Idol). This is the life, I hope my grades don't suffer (I'm kidding!). Needless to say we barely watch it, but it does have a built in DVD.

Till next time, enjoy the pics and your spring weather
Matt, Lauren & Jude

Happy Easter everyone

It's been a sunny warm Easter here. I fortunately had the day off from work, but unfortunately spent the day alone. Do dogs count as a companion? The locals have four days off to hit the beaches up before fall. I have a feeling they are always walking around in sandals and surfing. I can't imagine it cold here. I spent the afternoon walking around downtown Tauranga. There has been a Jazz fest going on all week around the city. There were lots of foreigners in big hats and white people with no rhythm. This added to the people watching pleasure and the photos. It put me in a good mood being around happy families and music. I walked down the water front and visited a place they call the shed. Local artists rent tables and sell their art there. I like to browse around and chat up the sellers. After town I did my favorite hike in the hills again. I climbed a steep part to sit under a tree and found a treasure hunt a grade school left. There was a little drawing etched on leather . I had nothing to leave in exchange so I wrote in the log book and left a drawing of a thistle. I searched for the other 3 on the walk but no luck.
Hope everyone enjoys their holiday because mine is coming to an end now. I love being a day ahead! Thanks for the phone calls . Matt just called from the top of a hill on the island. A bunch of them climbed up to use their cell phones. He will be home on Wednesday. He says the diving is the best and he's having a good time. Love Lauren

Happy Saint Patricks !

G'Day to ya. Just wanted to get a message up to all my shiny Irish people I know. I don't know if there will be much of a celebration here. There are far more English and Scots about than Irish. Matt will be gone to an island off the coast with his class for ten days, including Easter. This will be the longest we have been apart. It will get me ready for his month long trip to the Cook Islands. I'm looking to other Islands I want to visit before going to Hawaii.
It is getting cooler but everyone still surfs and walks barefoot. We are getting ready for winter. We bought a big comforter and a propane heater for the house. All our best to everyone. Love Lauren , Matthew and Jude

The Vacations over!

Here we are in NZ going on six months. We just had a weeks worth of celebrations. First Matthew turned 31. We had balloons, a banner, cards and presents. I even tried my hand at an icecream cake of sorts. The kiwis love their sweets but don't have customary birthday cakes. I did get 30 candles lit for a wish. The next celebration was Valentines day. We had a nice candle lit dinner at home. A few days later was our three year anniversary of meeting. Now it's back to the grind.
I am working full time and Matthews has got a full schedule. Seven more months here so we are trying to enjoy all the unique things. It is muggy today with showers this morning. There are flowers still blooming. People say it gets real cold here in the winter. Nothing can be colder than a winter in New England. We always have Jude for warmth.
We miss everyone and can't wait to call soon.
Take care ,Lauren and Matthew

The Vacations over!

Home at last

We are setteling in to our home. There is plenty of room and privacy. It is very peacful and close to the beach. The gardener is clearing the jungle out back so we can keep up with it ourselves. The rug cleaner came earlier to get rid of the old lady, cat smell. We have the placed decked out in the finest second hand furniture. We are keeping it simple because whatever we buy we will have to sell when we leave next year. We have all the esentials to living. We even have a washer and hang our clothes on the line like every other kiwi. We have a bore in the yard, free well water for garden, we are made to recycle everything. NZ is trying to stop the use of plastic bags in stores. All the outlets can be shut off when not in use to save power. This country is very green.

It has been a hot summer so far and the young boys are acting up. Every day there is another stabbing in the news. The other night a 13 yr old boy got stabbed by a man for tagging his fence with spay paint. It is a huge unstoppable issue.Every morning towns wake up have to paint over graffiti again . I don't get it.

On my birthday in Taupo a young Scottish backpacker who was walking home from a bar died from a blow to the head. They still don't know who did it. Two other couples in that same week were badly beaten by a gang of kids with bats. After that crazy week I had enough of camping out on the North Island. Things are different than the South were everyone is a hard working streight laced farmer. These kids unfurtanatley are immitated American gangs they watch.

Matt is at school and loving it.He has been going for about 4 days and there is only one other girl in his class. They scuba and survey beaches. I'm a bit jelouse I must admit. Matt will be traveling to islands to explore. He is required to collect all the species of seaweed to press and 100 kinds of shells. I love shells so I will be using them for still lives as well. He is still thinking about were he wants to go to do his thesis on.

It is still sunny and hot here. All you have to do is go for a stroll and you need another shower. I am still hunting for work. I thought I had a job at a gallery but someone with more retail and less art experience got it. I have been doing watercolors in my spare time. We have one car to share so on the days I drop Matt off I am able to go to Papmoa hills , a nearby Maori Pa sit. It is very steep and a great work out. Check out the pics. I'm getting use to driving on the left, who knew!

We finally had the internet guy come out and hook up broadband. It is still slow but no more internet cafe! We still don't have a tv. We tune in to the news at 6 on our wind up radio and then there is a talk radio talk show that's on for a few hours. We do rent DVDs and watch them sometimes on my laptop.

Lauren's BIRTHDAY!!

Hello All - It's Matt, and in honor of the Princesses' birthday I will be posting today's blog!

It is a beautiful sunny day here in NZ, and we are celebrating L's 30th birthday!!(Her favorite holiday) She is having a good day so far, as she awoke to her breakfast already prepared (by yours truly), then we went to explore some of the F1 race car action at the track here in town (they have a big race here this weekend), then we went to WATCH some fools bungy jump (L didn't want to jump to celebrate her big day!), spent a relaxing afternoon at the beach along the lake complete with picnic lunch, now a quick stop at the internet cafe before we clean up to go out to dinner (Thai food).

We having been staying the week here in Taupo before we move into out new house tomorrow afternoon. They have some nice mountain bike trails that we have been testing ourselves on for the past week, but now we are ready to settle down after our long travels around the country!

We thought that people would get a kick from some of the everyday lingo:

• Oy - hey
• Hiya - hi
• cheers - thanks goodbye
• seeyas - bye
• ta - bye
• corker - spectacular
• choice - awesome
• dear - more in price
• good as gold - done
• partner - husband or wife non homosexual
• reckon - think
• nappies - diapers
• handle- pint
• panel beater - body shop
• boot- trunk
• bonnet- hood
• arvo - afternoon
• tea - dinner
• bute - beautiful
• trolley -shopping cart
• docket - receipt
• Que - line
• Bach - beach house
• wicked -awesome
• lovely -great

Waiting to move in

One more week till we have a roof over our heads. It seems like it's been forever. We have been without a home since our closing in September. We now appreciate the little things like walls and a ceiling above. No more tarp shelters or tent building.
We are camped out at Reeds farm in Taupo. This is our standby that's a cross roads for all other travelers on the North Island. There are plenty of spots to camp near the river and long drops all over. The youth are fascinated with off road driving and fire. They are referred to here as boy racers as funny as that sounds. Someone had abandoned a car near our camp. The first day they broke a window and opened the hood, next day smashed windshield and finally torched it. The flames burnt all the trees around. There are some places we dare not go for fear of getting our tent torched!
Other than the random fire all else is uneventful. This is the lull before the storm. We are spending my birthday here so we can ride the Mountain bike trails for the week. This has been our favorite thing to do.
Sorry about the appearance of the blog. We are slapping pics on wherever we can. I'm still not traveling with my laptop.It's also good to hear that some people are interested in visiting. Cheers!

We did it!

Happy 2008 to everyone. Sorry we haven't kept you undated but we were literally in the middle of no were. We managed to see all of the North and South Island. It took allot of miles and searching every night for a perfect campsite. The 4 wheel drive came in handy on the gravely unpaved roads. The scenery is amazing and so diverse. We have seen glaciers,waterfalls, valleys, mountains, rainforests, rapids, beaches, forests etc. all in the size of the state of Calorado. We have been in the country for 3 months about. We are now ready to settle down.
We spent Christmas Eve camped at a site next to the ocean on the top of the South Island. It was sunny and Matt went for a dip. We exchanged presents sitting on our fold out travel chairs and a bottle of bubbly. We bought a crank radio for tunes but no Christmas music or any other signs of the season here. Christmas is being fazed out and the next day Boxing Day is the big deal. I bought Matt a Maori tiki, some t-shirts, fillet knife for diving and other odds and ends picked up on our travels. It's kind of hard hiding a present living together out of a van. He bought me a sarong with fern print a hand weaved backpack, a leather bracelet and some other hand made crafts. It was a unique experience. I had planned on finding a tree to decorate with the Pua shells we dove for at a beach but there wasn't a tree.
. We drove onto the ferry Christmas afternoon as planned with no troubles just a bit of rain. We sat in the front of the boat in reclining seats as we navigated through islands. We drove off the ferry 3 hrs later in Wellington on the North and started having engine trouble. The beast was on it's last leg and we knew we had to get to a camp fast. We tried to get up a hill but it died in the middle of the highway. There we were on Christmas in the rain in a foreign country with a dog and most our possessions with us. We had no time to get down we had to act fast. We each grabbed a pack and filled it with survival gear and important documents. We next called the Police who had trouble understanding were we were. Finally we got a tow # and he was able to come out for a fee and tow us. We had no were to go so we pleaded with a hotel nearby to let us stay with our dog. The van got dumped outside the hotel door and there it stayed for 3 nights while we had to wait out the holiday. The kiwis all go on a month holiday at the same time. Everything is closed while they go set up camp on the beach. Luckily Matthew is a trooper and got on his bike in driving rain and a hail storm to find the info center, bank and finally a car dealer to buy us our new Toyota 4 runner. We were so glad to get out of there on our way.
We were having a stretch of bad luck. Our camera broke at the most scenic lake at Mt. Cook , Matts surf board snapped in half before he got to the good beaches and then the car. The other day Matt misplaced his wallet at the library. For once I stayed calm and ran back to beg the librarian to open up. I knew our luck couldn't get worse...
We got the wallet back, got a new camera and today found a house to rent a street away from the most amazing beach. It has it's own private garden with fruit trees, lavender, hydrangeas, roses a shed, a garage for me to transform into a studio, a enclosed patio for entertaining and two beds. A young couple just bought it as an investment and we got along so they said it's a go in 2 weeks!
New years we saw Rhythm and Vines, a concert held on a vineyard in Gisborne. This is one of the towns that was days earlier struck by an earthquake. We haven't felt anything yet but we do sit on a fault line. It keeps us on our toes. We were by far the oldest at the concert. We didn't know any of the bands but were just glad to hear live music. We have been without tv or a radio for so long. They had fire breathers , acrobats, people on stilts and firwork show at midnight. We were able to set up a tent during the show in one of the fields.I'll post pics.
I posted only a few of the pictures we've collected.I am working on a slide show with it's own soundtrack. Hopefully I can burn everyone a copy and you can print out the pictures you each like. I can't wait enlarge a bunch of them. I kept two small journals too. One for North one for South. Keep reading the blog. We will change out the pictures in a few days.

Check Out the new PICS!!

Tuff travels on the South Island

Hello All - As we get ready to depart the south Island we finally have stumbled upon "civilization", a town of about 5000 that offers internet...for a fee. So real quick, everything is going great! we have really enjoyed visiting the South alothugh we both agree it's not a place we would like to live...WAY too desolite and wild, but naturally beautiful with the coastline, Southern alps over 14000 feet, abundant wildlife, and glaciers we can walk right up to! Unfortunately due to our lack of experience and the costs of internet time we are unable to post new pics (we'll try later, there unbelievable!) But travel is tuff...Our camera broke after 3 yrs of loyal service, and after 2 weeks of use Matt's surfboard snapped in half at a gnarly south island break!
We are looking forward to our ferry ride to the Noth Island next week (Christmas Day!) and our concert we have tickets for on New Years! Soon after we will be heading back to our base town of Tauranga to search for a house to hunker down in for the reaminder of our year.
So, from far across the world..Merry Chistmas to All and a Happy New Year!!

Further South

We are currently enjoying our time around the city of Dunedin in the southern part of the south island. We will be headed even further south this week, weather is cold...(about the same temps as now in NYC). Experiencing some problems with the internet and downloading all our new pics, promise new ones soon!

Going South

Hello again everyone now from the South Island. It has been an exiting time . Last we wrote we were in Napier on the North. Since then we have traveled to Wellington city. That is were we spent our 2nd anniversary. We got a hotel in a section called Cuba. It was a colorful, artsy fun area. The people are a little off in dress and the way they behave but they make for good people watching. We started out at a Belgian brewery for lunch then found a Borders book store. My present was a $50. paper back! It sells for $15 in the States. We spent most the day doing laundry. Later we got Thai food for dinner and walked around. We are usually in bed by 9pm. At midnight I woke shocked by the noise of rock, salsa and who knows what else roaring from the streets. We had to shut the windows because it was so loud. The locals didn't stop partying till the sun came up.
The city was a little crazy for us after being out camping in peace and quiet. We couldn't't wait to get out. We worked our way to Kaitoke park. A camping area you can stay for $5 each per night. It has trails and a river, and bathrooms and a kitchen area. The area is a popular tourist spot for Lord of the Ring tours. We found a rail trail down the road. It said to bring a torch so we brought headlamps. We had no idea the tunnels would be so long dark and scary. One lamp died so Matt followed me. I could only see a spot of ground in front of me. All I kept thinking was.Please don't see anything! This was what ghost stories are made from. We safely got back. The one other guy we saw on the trail wiped out in a tunnel and landed over his handel bars bleading. I guess we got lucky.
We visited Te Papa Museum for free in the city. There are great exhibits that expand over 6 floors. We took allot of the Native Maori things in. Matthews favorite was the Polonesian section with artifacts, costumed and pictures of their sailing rafts. We got our ferry the next day from this port. We drove the car under it and headed across the Cooks streight for 3 uneasy hours at night.
We arrived on the other Island around midnight and drove up a windy mountain not able to see much but possum eyes in the dark. We camped out on the side of the road, in the morning to discover a beach campsite down the road. Nelson was our next small city to drive through. Most the people here are passing through on their way to or from one of the great walks. This is a huge rafting and kyaking area because of the rivers and gorges. We crossed a swing bridge to the other side, a gold mining area. The beach had flakes of gold floating around. It was unreal. The bugs are awful and relentless.
We drove down the West coast. You can see the beaches in the pictures are breathtaking. There are lots of pull offs on the side of the road for photo ops. Lots of tourist in rental caravans everywere. W e try hard to escape them and find off road private sites to camp, sometimes almost falling into a ditch but most times finding places like the shot of the van on the beach.
We continues South to a town Hokitika, known for it's jade or greenstone. You can walk on the beach and just pick it up in it's raw form. This wasn't as great of a spot as we thought so we traveled on. Next was a drive through snow capped mountains with glaciers escaping from cracks. We got to climb to the base of fox glacier and see were it was receding fro. It's pretty dangerous. There are constant shifting and landslides. It moves a meter a day.
We celebrated Thanksgiving with a pasta dinner from our kitchen. People here don't have this holiday so they are early to get a start on Christmas.
We are doing well and are in Queens town now, the capital of extreme sports. No we are playing it safe. Everyone else is here for bungee jumping,para sailing,jet boating, hand gliding, rapid surfing, rafting, cave rappelling, monster trucks, 4x4ing and being flown to mt. tops and dropped with your bike. All this things are extremely expensive. We try to do things on the cheap. If it's free it's for me. We did a nice scenic bike around the lake in town. The Aspen flowers smell great. It is Spring here in the mountains and the sun doesn't go down till at least 9 pm at least. We are getting far South. All that is on the other side of the ocean is the south pole and Tasmania.
We are headed to Milford sound to do some day hikes then continuing south. Jude's a trooper and gets plenty of rest. We will keep you updated. Hope you all enjoy the postcards. Love Lauren and Matthew P.S. Everyone whos checking in please log on and leave a comment. We'd like to know who's out there. Thanks

South Island...the trip goes on!

made it here on a nite ferry, currently working our way down the west coast...enjoy the pics internet cafe is closing...we will write more at a later time...ENJOY!!!

Leaving the North Island

Hello from Napier on the East coast of the North Island. We have been camped out at a beach you will see in the pictures. The water is a clear aqua, the waves are all you hear, the weathers sunny and fine and it's all free! The rocky beach runs for miles on the coast and it is open for the public to enjoy. They even have a 7 minute shower in town for one dollar. We have held down this spot just outside of town for four nights. After waking we go into town to explore,have lunch, bike around etc.
It is a beautiful town with all it's architecture done in the art deco style of the 30's. The whole town was destroyed in a earthquake in the 30's so everything had to be rebuilt. The buildings are geometric with lots of arches , light purples and allot of soft yellows. We are in Hawkes Bay otherwise known as wine country. We lost count of all the vineyards. Fresh produce is sold at the roadsides. There is a local peak you can drive to the top of. Legend has it that it looks like a giant sleeping. We decided to bike down the designated bike trail after being recommended by a local. Good God-did we make a mistake. Take a look at the picture of me coming down the beginning of the trail. It didn't get any better. I have the bumps and bruises to prove it. Matthew made it down in one piece and was playing it cool. I know he was scared too. These Kiwis are hard core. Some of these trails I can't imagine just cruising down without padding and a mouth guard.
We just bought our ferry tickets for next week. It will carry us and car to the South Island. We will return on the Christmas afternoon ferry back to the North. Things are fine except for the shortage of used book stores and poor selection of literature. Please send books but don't send anything till a few days before Christmas or after. Our post office only holds mail for a month before sending back or discarding. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Back to the city

Kia Ora,(hi in Maori. We are back in Auckland to clear out our storage. It has been a month. We pick up Jude tomorrow. We have been on the road exploring and camping out. The first place we visited after leaving Auckland was Bay of Plenty were Matts school is. The first few weeks the weather was rainy, cold and windy, nothing like we had anticipated. We had only packed summer clothes and a pair of jeans each. It keeps us doing laundry regularly.The poly tech campus is gorges, covered halls leading to separate classrooms outside and a huge facility. I fell in love with the library. I may be sneaking in myself. As you see in the picture there is great surf here and one of the loveliest beaches either of us has seen. We climbed the mount as they call it. Everything is volcanic, the beaches have pumice like volcanic rock that floats. There is an active volcano off the coast.
We tried for a week or more to find a place between the beach and school but it is like the cape in the middle of the summer. Everything is rented and it's hard to find a place that excepts dogs. We decided to hit the road and save the money on rent we would be spending to store our stuff and explore the country like we had planned on.
We left for lake Taupo in the middle of the North island. It is an active thermal area that has natural hot springs everywhere. We were lucky to camp out on a Farm for free along a Crystal blue river with a trail leading to Huka falls. There are great bike trails here that gave us a run for our money. We both got new bikes,with disc brakes! We stayed the week indulging in the natural spas. The locals are very friendly and helpful but a hearty bunch. The cold and rain don't faze them in their short shorts. It is a clean way of living. No trash, everyone recycles, thermal energy, half flush toilets, and a great respect for nature. Everyone is active and spends most their free time outside.No one has a large home. If you have money you have more land.
We are headed out of the city for the Corromundell peninsula that is a warmer place. We will write more when we get a chance.Ta

Out Traveling Around

Nothing to post now...too busy compiling adventures and getting some amazing pics for all to see!! Picking up Jude in Auckland next week...plan on giving a full update then! Thanks...chat with ya soon!!