Sunday, July 12, 2009

Down Under!

Down under looks pretty much on the up and up after the rest of our trip! We've battled through a strong dose of culture shock (we can drink the water?! the shower is hot?!) and have had an indulgently enjoyable couple of weeks in Australia & NZ! Highlights include:

*Marveling at the amenities of the Seoul airport on our layover- free showers and TV rooms!, a Smoothie King!, and even southerners (Cate met a girl from Spartanburg in the airport!)

*Being picked up in Sydney by Cate's parents' friend, Averil. Such a luxury and no haggling for taxi prices.

*Sydney was gorgeous! Coastal walks along Coogee and Bondi beaches watching surfers.

*The Opera House at night, the Taronga zoo with a view of the harbor, walking around markets.

* Walking past the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, in the botanical gardens.

*Meeting up with my friend Mike, from Sydney, for a drink and then reuniting with Flynn, an Irish friend who hiked Machu Picchu with us and happened to be in Sydney also!


Onto New Zealand, where we jumped to Queenstown to meet up with my sister, Marissa, for a week!

*Seeing my sister after 9 months of not seeing her and 5 months of not seeing any family was pretty exciting!

*Also meeting up with my friend from high school, Stephen Downey and his wife, Rachel, who have moved to NZ! Pretty awesome to reconnect with people in crazy places.

*We took a cold, but beautiful trip to Milford Sound, skied through a cloud at Coronet Peak, Marissa and I bungee jumped 134m (amazing!), survived a pub crawl, danced the night away a few times at Winnie's, the bar where Marissa bartends, attended the 'Top Bloke' contest which is basically a 'Mr. Queenstown' contest complete with a talent portion and hilarious choreographed dances.


Now we've taken to the road with our rental car to make our way to Auckland where we fly home from on the 16th!

So far we've hiked the Franz Josef Glacier and stayed at some pretty pimped out backpackers hostels (complete with hot tubs!).
We'll try to post one more time before heading home!
xx k+c

2 comments:

Kathleen said...

I can't believe how soon y'all will be home!! I'm really looking forward to seeing your thousands of pictures and hearing about all the crazy characters met and sights seen. Travel safe on this last leg!

Simone Lawson said...

i have only just had a peep at the stories you guys are stocking up on your trip - i have been missing out - silly me! loved the play-do story! can imagine it dangling in hair..oops! haha.
Dan told me i have a postcard from you when i get back to london in a week - yee! enjoy your last day or two....will catch up more soon. HUGS xxx