Back in Seattle!

Well it feels like the 10 months has gone by super fast.  Yet, it is easy to sift back through the memories of each and every place we have been.  Two of our friends (Tracy and Roxana) threw us a welcome back/Halloween party which was a lot of fun.  A bunch of our friends stopped by to see us which was really nice. 

It seems quite strange to be back in Seattle.  My pockets seem to be suddenly full with things like a wallet, a cellphone, keys and other odd ball things like the post-it note that has my phone and address written down on it.  Today I was driving around, running some errands, and things seemed to be so similar to 10 months ago…well, everything IS feeling a little mundane which makes me all the more happy that we vacated Seattle for our little adventure. 

Just to let you know, we aren’t quite done with the blog yet.  We are going to try and post some videos (which were too hard to upload in a lot of countries), some top ten lists and maybe some thoughts on traveling for that extended periods of time.

I have to say, it was nice to get back and find out that 1) my car was working (thanks Ryan) and 2) our storage unit was not broken into. 

Stay tuned and thanks everyone for reading!

Fiji doesn’t suck

Francie and I decided to spend a few days in Fiji before ending our trip and flying back to Seattle.  In fact, it was actually cheaper to have a layover in Fiji than to fly straight from New Zealand to the US.

Well, you know how Francie likes the beach soooo off we went!

We ended up deciding to stay at the Tokoriki Island Resort which is in Fiji’s Mamanuca island group.  Not surprisingly, it was pretty awesome.  In addition to soaking up the sun and being totally pampered we snorkeled and I saw a reef shark and Francie interacted with a giant clam.

We flew into Fiji and took an hour ferry to our island.  This little island was along the way… 

And this is the Beachcomber resort or Island…

Here is the view from our resort.

This is our beachfront bure.

And the view from our bure.  That hammock was sweet!

 

You can’t see it from the picture below but there is a small beach as well.

Here are some other random relaxing pictures.

The seaplanes were cool.

We would definitely recommend the place!

Shark!

Yesterday while snorkeling I saw a four foot reef shark.  Up close and personal!  Luckily, I had already learned that these sharks (they have a white tipped fin) are not dangerous (to humans). 

Eerie but cool. 

More trip photos!

Francie uploaded some more of her pictures to Flickr and I wanted to post some here.  These are from the batch she got developed in Bangkok.  You can see all of them here.

Greg and the one year old Pandas.

Camping in Tibet.

5,300 meters up at a glacier in Tibet.

Me jumping for joy that the hike is over!

Kids playing in a park in XiÁn.

Signs in Hong Kong.

View of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon as we walk down from ‘The Peak’.

Francie at the main square in Macau.

Francie screwing around while on the clock at Wolong Panda Research Center.

Cute Panda pic

Dried fruits and nuts for sale in the Muslim Quarter–XiÁn, China. I found out that you can only eat so much dried pineapple.

Two little girls at the Great Mosque in XiÁn, China.

Slide no workie.

Figures unearthed from a Tomb in XiÁn, China.

What this Panda really wants is a Thomas the Train. Balls are boring.

Suggest your own caption

Goats in Tibet

I think I need a thicker coat!

Ok.  Maybe we will post from Fiji!  Maybe we will just work on that tan!

On the way to Fiji

Francie and I are headed to Fiji tonight.  We should be back in Seattle in a few days!  Here is where we are staying. 

It shouldn’t suck.

Sheepshearing Show (say that 10 times fast)

Francie and I went to a sheapshearing show in Kaikoura before we left.  Not only did they shear their sheep but they also shared their sheep for the benefit of our education and enjoyment. 

We learned many facts that I will call out along the way.

Of course, Francie was thrilled by Act 1.  Feeding a little lamb.  This was not a ‘white as snow’ lamb but a rare black lamb (1.5 months old).  Fact 1: Black sheep are very rare.  One in a thousand–they just appear automagically from somewhere way up the gene ancestory.  Very interesting.

Fact 2: While this little lamb probably won’t be sent to its death any time soon–90% of all lambs in New Zealand are slaughtered for food (this number has gone up as the price of wool has gone down). Very old sheep are turned into mutton.

Act 2: Ram-Man 

Peter, the sheep shearing guy, brought out the older Ram-man. This beautiful ram was incredibly calm and fun to interact with–he let us hand feed him. Actually, he refused to eat from some people and Peter said–’he just doesn’t like some people’. Here is Ramman.

Of course he liked Francie.

Act 3: Sheep Shearing Show

Then we got to the actual sheep shearing part of the show. Peter’s family has sold most of their land because the price of wool has dropped so much (due to synthetic fabrics) and he just keeps enough sheep to do two sheep shearing shows a day. These sheep regrow their coat in six months (Fact 3). Fact 4: Most of their wool is worth 3 NZ dollars per Kilo. Some other types of sheep have wool worth 10 NZ dollars per kilo. Fact 5: sheep are kept indoors at night so they don’t get too cold.

I know this may look painful but, strangely enough, the sheep didnt seem to mind too much.

The Gotcha shot

The shearing shot.

Fact 6: Professional sheep shearers can do a sheep in 33 seconds.

“Can I go now?”

Fact 7: Lanolin oil is pressed from the wool to make various products.

There were more facts but I think that is all your mind can handle right now.

Go back to work.

NZ travel post “i can has cheezburger” style

How to spin a dog in a circle

1.  Obtain a wooden board at least 12″x6″ in size.

2.  Insert dog’s teeth (both top and bottom) into board.

3.  Pull on board until dog starts making “Grrrr” noises.  (note: if dog does not start making “grrr” noises and/or lets go of the board, dog may not be suitable for spinning in a circle).

4.  Holding board out in front of you, spin in place, slowly increasing speed until centrifigal force lifts dog completely off the ground. 

More animal dreams!!!

This afternoon, as Greg & I were about to leave Marahau after our day of sea kayaking, we ran into a local who was taking his 2 Clydesdales for a stroll.  I stopped to admire the beautiful animals and he said, hey, hop on, I’ll take your picture!  And guess what happened next?  OMG, I rode a Clydesdale horse!!!  That’s another childhood dream I can check off the list…

Riding Clydesdale = maniacal happiness, according to this photo.

The horseman didn’t want Greg to feel left out, so while I trotted along, Greg rode in the carriage:

A totally awesome day!!!

Whales, dolphins and sheep! Oh, My!

We are in Kaikoura, New Zealand and it is very, very beautiful.  There are lots of fun things to do here like whale watching, snorkeling with dolphins, watching some sheepshearing, hiking and just hanging out.

This is what the main street looks like-sleepy! Look at all that available parking!

We decided to spend some of our precious remaining time to try and see a sperm whale.  We ran into the writer of the Rough Guide and he had went whale watching the day before and apparently the only thing to watch was the third of the boat that had sea sickness. 

Fortunately, we were lucky and had a beautiful, calm day where we saw two sperm whales. 

Here is a picture of the other Whale Watching boat close to the Sperm whale.  The whale hung out there for about 15 minutes so I don’t think he minded our presence.

Here is Francie helping the captain listen for whales!

We were also really lucky because we also ran in (not literally, duh) to a pod of Dusky dolphins.  There were at least 200 of them having fun around the boats-jumping high in the air, racing with the boat and all that kind of ‘we’re happy’ stuff.

After we got off the whale watching boat we did a short hike back to our motel.  We saw a lot of great terrain, sheep and seals.  Beware! Extremely pretty scenery ahead!

This is the sheep section of the blog post!  Francie just found this great story on Shrek-a sheep somewhere near us that had hidden from the sheepshearers in a cave for six years and was finally caught.  Check out these amazing pics.

Here are several, non-Shrek, sheep.

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb. Mary had a little lamb and its fleece was not quite as white as snow.

These sheep are rightfully frightened of Francie. I don’t blame them.