Although it says that we're in Geelong, we are actually in Melbourne. This week, however, we spent our days slaving away at work in Geelong! Well, okay, there was no slaving awaying. But, we did find some temporary work! At Jessica and Jon's wedding, we met some friends of the Mibuses who live in Geelong (an hour away from Melbourne by train) who own a gourmet shop/deli and they needed some help in the kitchen around christmas so we accepted the offer! Geelong is a cute little place (pop 200,000) and the gourmet shop has been a good time! The cook, Linda, hasn't kicked us out of the kitchen yet, so i'm guessing she appreciates the help! It's a pretty low stress job, since we're not cooking to order, so it has been good. Vicky (the friend we met at the wedding) is letting us stay with her as well, so that's awesome. Her and her family are wonderful, and we're happy to help out. This weekend we're back in Melbourne to do some christmas baking and packing so we can be ready for christmas in Portland with the Mibuses! We have to go back to work 2 more days on monday and tuesday in Geelong, and then we're heading to Portland. And then from there we're going to Tasmania (which we're not excited for at all)!

Also! we have breaking news! Originally, we planned on making a trip up the east coast in January to see the barrier reef, but we decided instead to go to.......Bali!! Believe it or not, making a trip overseas is much cheaper than staying in Australia. Plus, Jean Michel was just in Bali in September, so he can show me the good spots and he knows everything we need to know for the trip. We bought our tickets yesterday, and we're leaving on February 21st, returning to Melbourne on the 9th, then leaving the same day for New Zealand! we're busy little travelers aren't we!!

I will write again when we return from Tasmania (January 7th) since I won't have time to before then! (well, maybe...) If not, then...

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you all! It's so sad to be so far away!! We want nothing more than to be millionaires so we can fly home for christmas and then fly back (and take you all with us!)

We love you all extravagantly!!

Lisa and Jean-Michel

written by  jeanmichelisa on December 18, 2008 from Geelong, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia, Bali and New Zealand adopt Jean-Michel and Lisa!
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firstly! we missed being with you all for the holidays and were thinking of you constantly!

now! on to business!

We have had some really good times these past few weeks! Starting with christmas..we hitched a ride with erin from Geelong to Portland on christmas eve! we arrived and got settled and shortly after we we to christmas eve mass at the lutheran church in Portland. We went for drinks shortly after and home then home to bed! the next morning was christmas of course! We got up at 7:00 and opened gifts! We both got some really awesome gifts from the mibuses (thanks again guys!) and then we had christmas breakfast! it was a good morning! then we headed off to church and after that we went to Martin's sister Bronwen's house for a party! that was super awesome! Lots of eating and drinking occurred as well as a kris kringle gift exchange and some cricket in the street (buncha crazies). It was definitely the most different christmas i've ever had! It was +26 baby!

On the 27th (I'm skipping boxing day because we just chillaxed), Sue, Martin, Erin, Jean Michel and I set sail for Tasmania on a giant boat called the Spirit of Tasmania! It was about a 9 hour boat ride and we spent our time reading, playing cards and doing homework (aka sleeping). We got in at 6:00 pm to Devonport and stopped in to see from friends of the Mibuses briefly before hitting the road for a 3 hour drive to Ansons Bay. We got to Ansons bay at about 11:00 and pretty much went right off to bed. Now from here on, I won't go on about every detail of every day, but i will indeed tell you the highlights! (well, the whole thing was a highlight..)

The whole week was totally action packed with jet skiing, fishing, eating, drinking, barbecues, walks, drinking, day trips, drinking, and kayaking.
I went on the jet ski on the first day and it was my first time on one! Holy shmokes best time ever! Nick (the son of our wonderful hosts, Barb and Gary) took me out for a ride and it was awesome! I want one mom!
a few days later we went fishing! my first fishing trip ever! and it was a successful trip too! we caught about 20 flathead (a tasty white fish) and 6 squid!! mmm! I myself take pride in catching the third biggest fish and about 4 more! Later we went to the middle of the bay where it is shallow and got an enormous amount of clams and mussels! The next night we had an epic seafood feast! Paella, Laksa, fried squid and flathead...mmm i want a reapeat. so tasty...

New years was also good times! We drank champagne and cocktails all night and ate lotsa yummies. and we had sparklers! did YOU?! haha
needless to say, new years day was a recovery day and we hung around and watched movies. But it was the day of the seafood feast! mmm...
A few days later, Erin, Jean Michel and I took a day trip to Coles Bay to take an hour hike in the mountains (called the hazards ironically) to the saddle overlooking the gorgeous Wineglass bay. It was an awesome hike and the view was totally worth it. And on our hike down, JM and I found some sweet caves and stuff to climb around in. monkeys we are!
We had a big pizza lunch by the water and Erin took us to other amazing outlook points (see pictures - on facebook) before driving back to ansons bay.

Other than that, we just had an awesome time partying with everyone, playing cards, hanging out on the beach and oh! kayaking was pretty cool too. all in all, it was superb! the most eventful time we've had since arriving! Thanks again Mibuses and Barb and Gary!

We now have only 6 weeks left in Australia! Can't believe it! Upcoming events include a possible trip to Sydney for a few days at the end of the month, and then on to Bali in February and then New Zealand in March! then we're home! Ah! too fast! but we miss you and are thinking of you lots! come visit us! :D

We love you!

Lisa and Jean-Michel

written by  jeanmichelisa on January 4, 2009 from Melbourne, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia, Bali and New Zealand adopt Jean-Michel and Lisa!
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sorry about not writing for a while...

here's what we have been up to!

Well...really we have mostly just been hanging out and doing free things in an effort to conserve our monetary reserves. Did you get all that?
anyways! a few nights ago, we went to the victoria night market which is very different than the day market. Lots of art vendors and booths and food, and there is live music! We ran into Kevin, Shannon and Libby (weird coincidence, their first time there and ours also so it really was.) The market atmosphere is alive, there are people everywhere sitting around drinking and eating, having a good time. as were we!
After watching the main act (can't remember his name) libby showed us all one of her favorite bars called St. Jerome's. it was a really cool outdoor bar that was in a couple inclosed back alleys. melbourne is full of really cool outdoor venues and bars. makes sense since they have good wether year round unlike canada does.
We've also been eating out a bit. had an awesome crocodile green curry with yummy coconut rice at one of our favorite thai places extending our list of must eat foods while in australia. kangaroo - check, crocodile - check, koala and platypus - no check.

Also, last night we revisited one of our favorite spots to eat called Lentil As Anything. There are 3 locations, but the original location is in an old convent about 15 minutes from our place. It is run by a buddhist monk, and the concept is that you pay what you think the meal was worth, by donation. They use all organic produce and they provide support to the community in a variety of ways. It is a very popular spot! We had various curries and dahl, etc. mmm! so tasty! I myself find the idea very inspiring! The surrounding convent is also quite beautiful, with gardens and footpaths, all enclosed inside a brick wall.

An exciting upcoming event that we're excited about is the Moonlight Cinema! Erin gave it to us as a christmas gift! As the name suggests, it is an outdoor movie theatre in the Melbourne botanical gardens. We are going to see Pulp Fiction and we will be taking a picnic and some blankets with us! Being Canadians, we have never been to an outdoor movie theatre, so we are excited!

We hope everyone is well at home and that none of you are freezing your buns off! Speaking of the weather...i'm sure you are interested to know that it has been heating up and earlier this week, it warmed up to a scorching +37! we hope there's more of that coming!
Come visit us! :D

lots of love!

Lisa and Jean-Michel

written by  jeanmichelisa on January 15, 2009 from Melbourne, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia, Bali and New Zealand adopt Jean-Michel and Lisa!
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first of all, sorry i haven't written in decades. The reason for this gap is because we have been taking a bit of break as far as events go, so the action has slowed down a bit. but I DO have a few things i can report!

Since our last blog, we went to the moonlight cinema, an outdoor movie theatre (duh) in the royal botanical gardens in Melbourne. That was super cool! Before i go on, i must inform you that we have had some really really ridiculously hot weather. at the end of January, there was a week that was between +43 and +46 and it was insane. I described the feeling as "opening an oven door and having the heat blast in your face". that was the wind. i loved it! but i admit it was a bit tiring, because there is no escape. Anyway! the day of the moonlight cinema was the beginning of the heat saga. We saw pulp fiction that night (i had not seen it before. awesome awesome movie!) We had a picnic beforehand, and then bought some champagne (they love their champagne here..) and chilled out for the movie! The only thing i have to say is that i was near heat stroke, because we had been out in the heat for a good 4-5 hours straight. and the alcohol probably didn't help! but besides that, it was a fantastic evening!

We also took a night to go out to Erin's restaurant! Well, the restaurant where she works, that is. and it too was incredible! We had an enormous and delicious meal (including calamari, whole barramundi, veal, and raspberry semifreddo) and we got to see Erin of course! It was also just nice to have a night out. I think I forgot what it's like to spend real money. So it was good to go out on a date and indulge in some awesome food, cooked by one of our favourite chefs. :D

This last weekend, I went to Portland one last time to see Sue and Martin and Stuart. Jean-Michel couldn't come because he had to work and practice his bass (i will get to that part!), but it was a very good visit. I did some drinking with Stuart and his friends on friday, went swimming at nun's beach with Sue and Martin on Saturday and had some fish and chips afterwards, and then relaxed on Sunday morning before heading home. Unfortunately there has been some brutal bush fires recently because of the heat we've been having, and so my train home was cancelled (part of the tracks were damaged in the fires) so i had to take the bus, and we ended up driving through an area where the fires had been and it was very scary, and very eerie to see the aftermath. Luckily though, we are all safe.

Tomorrow, Jean-Michel is playing with a band called Dirty Canary here in Melbourne. He met the singer at the bbq we went to on Australia day and it turns out they needed a bass player! hello! he is a bass player!
So he rented one, and is practicing as i write this! It's gonna rock! pun intended! Anyway, we are all very excited to go see him play! Pictures will follow! if you care to check out the kind of music he will be playing, feel free to visit the band's myspace page: www.myspace.com/dirtycanaryrock

We sadly only have a week and a couple days left here! We both can't believe how fast it has gone! I know everyone says that, but holy, is it true. we have both come to really love this city and if we weren't 21 and traveling like little crazies, we both agree that Melbourne would be on our list of possible cities to move to. There is so much more going on all the time compared to Edmonton (well that's not hard) and it's a very accessible, friendly place. and the food is awesome! Great place! I recommend it!

So we're off to bali next Saturday! I am really REALLY. really. excited. it doesn't even feel real! it will be such an amazing experience! And then we're off to New Zealand!! we have rented a car, and are in the midst of making our plans to see as much as we can in 21 days, and then...
we come home to Edmonton.
how boring.
but! I am incredibly excited to see everyone! yes you!

I will try to be more disciplined in my blog writing, and will do my very best to write again as soon as we have anything exciting to report!

We still love you all!

hugs and kisses

Lisa and Jean-Michel

written by  jeanmichelisa on February 11, 2009 from Melbourne, Australia
from the travel blog: Australia, Bali and New Zealand adopt Jean-Michel and Lisa!
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For real, i don't know where to start. We just arrived in beautiful beautiful Bali on the 21st and we have been enjoying our little selves maybe too much!

We got here at around 3:00 pm and got a ride to Ubud right away. I'm sure i looked hilarious with my wide eyes and huge smile...it's so...tropical here and amazing! (understatement) and it's about 1884% humidity!
When we got here, we went to our homestay called Padma accomodations...wow, so incredible! Our room had a small terrace outside with a table to eat breakfast and our outdoor shower had a stone floor.

Well, words can't actually accurately describe how amazing Ubud is (really, you don't understand). We decided to come here first because Lisa's first impression of Bali will be a lasting one. On our first full day here, we visited the monkey forest (one of my favourites - and now one of Lisa's as well!), and spent a bit of time walking around, gawking at the beauty of the forest and being entertained by hilarious monkeys all over the place. Then we checked out a few homestays for our days 3 and 4. After a delicious lunch and dinner, we headed down the old reggae bar for some bintangs, fried peanuts and live indonesian reggae. Good times!

For our second day in Ubud (a much more eventful one), we took off at 9:00 in the morning with the owner of our homestay who was kind enough to drive us around (it was JM's third stay there and the owner has grown very fond of Canadians) to see some temples on the way to Kintamani to see the volcano. We stopped at 3 major temples on the way to see Kintamani, including the elephant temple, the holy spring temple and another grand temple with huge ancient rock wall stone carvings and rice paddies. It was truly a mystical experience, to put it plainly. Also, I Wayan was kind enough to bring us to an organic cocoa, coffee and spice plantation, where we got to see them roasting coffee beans and pounding cocoa into a fine powder and we were offered complimentary samples of all their specialty drinks (Bali coffee, mocha coffee, cocoa, citron tea and ginger tea) and they were all fantastically delicious, so we bought some bali coffee (yes, some for you shannon! :D) and hot curry powder to bring home. mmm.. then we were off to Kintamani.

We got there just in time to see the breathtaking view of the volcano before making overtaken by mist, cloud and torrential downpour at 12:30. We ate a delicious buffet lunch on the edge of a precipice overlooking the volcano view and took off after the rain slowed to a tropical flood (haha!). On the drive back to Ubud, we stopped to see the famous rice paddy views of Tegallalang, which were beyond stunning. Pictures and words can't describe how it felt to see the panorama of rice paddies and palm trees in the sweltering heat and humidity. Back in Ubud we purchased our return tickets to the Gili islands (on the fast boat! no 15 hour voyages this time!) for a hefty 1.2 millions rupees a piece (for you canadian folk, that is roughly 140 buckarooos) which includes all transport and breakfast. not bad i say!
It is now 5:00 pm and it hasn't rained in Ubud yet today and we are high fiving that! We are sitting in an absoutely gorgeous brand spanking new restaurant at the honour table (private hut with extravagant cushions and fountains) drinking bintangs and utilizing the free wifi, soon to indulge in some delicious indonesian cuisine. be jealous! sorry.

We will write again as soon as we can!

We truly wish you could be here because this blog really makes bali sound lame compared to how it really is. Shannon would know! And we do too!

we miss you!

Lisa and Jean-Michel

written by  jeanmichelisa on February 23, 2009 from Ubud, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Australia, Bali and New Zealand adopt Jean-Michel and Lisa!
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I know I promised to write sooner, but our time has been so eventful that I forgot all about you! Just kidding! Well, we are obviously now in New Zealand and it’s beautiful and fantastic! But I should probably pick up where I left off last time!

After the good times checking out volcanoes and hanging out in ubud, we rented a motorbike and went to see the botanical gardens about 20 minutes away, and it was so beautiful. Lots of tropical plants, flowers and fruit that I had never seen before.

Later that day, we headed to Devilicious, a restaurant that Jean-Michel and Shannon visited a few times during their stay and met some really cool people. There, we met Dewan, a local medicine man and his American friend, Erin. (Jean-Michel had already met Dewan in September with Shannon) After visiting with Dewan and Erin for a while, Dewan invited us to join him and Erin the following day to come watch him teach kids to play gamelan. Gamelan is an instrument that most Indonesian males learn to play. The best way I can describe it is xylophone-like, but it doesn’t chime clearly like a xylophone. It has a tinny, bell like sound to it, and when there are over 20 of them at the same time, it is a loud clammering of different bell sounds. That makes it sound really unappealing, but it’s actually quite beautiful (as long as you’re not right up close, because it’s too loud when you’re close).

So Dewan and Erin picked us up at our homestay on their motorbikes the next morning. It was the rainy season in Bali as you may know, but Dewan assured us the previous night that it wasn’t going to rain. 5 minutes after mounting the motorbikes, it was pouring, and we pulled over and took shelter under an overhang. It didn’t look like the rain was going to let up any time soon (just the opposite actually!), so we decided to bear it and get drenched. And get drenched we did (do or do not, there is no try). It was literally coming down in buckets and the sewers were backing up. There was a river flowing down the streets in under 10 minutes of this. By the time we got to our destination, we were soaked from top to bottom. We took our shoes off and dumped out the water, and went to sit in the hut to listen to the kids play, still getting wet by the rain that was still coming down. It was beautiful though! The kids were so funny. We quickly picked out the teacher’s pet, the brat, the shy one, and the class clown. But they were all so cute and the music was wonderful. We sat with coffee and crunchy fried soy bean crackers and watched Dewan teach the kids with a wide smile on his face the entire time. It was a lovely afternoon!

After that, we went for a trip to the Gili islands of Lombok! We got a ride to Padangbai with the owner of our first homestay, and from there we took the gili cat, which is almost as cool as it sounds! It is the fast boat to the gilis (takes about 1 hour), which is significantly faster than the public ferry (called the JM ferry!) that JM and Shannon took last time for a hefty 12 hours boys and girls! We first got to gili Trawangan and had to wait a few hours for the island hopping boat to Gili Meno which was our destination, so we hung out on Trawangan for a few hours and had lunch and some tropical drinks.

Then we took the boat to Gili Meno! It was so beautiful! The weather was very hot, the water was clear and blue and full of coral and fish, and we were on our very own secluded island! Hello! Well, it wasn’t our very own, but it felt that way. There was probably a total of 40 tourists on Gili Meno and it takes 45 minutes to walk the circumference of the island. Bam! Anyway, we planned on spending about 3-4 days on Meno and then going to Trawangan for 2 days, but Meno was so relaxing and we made friends there! (some were JM’s old friends from last time) so we stayed almost a week. During that week, we did things like chillax, eat, drink, swim in the beautiful warm ocean and socialize with our friends. But the most eventful part of that week was going scuba diving for my first time! We actually went snorkeling the day before, and it was very very cool and I should probably describe it to you better than that, but the scuba diving was just too cool, so I will skip to that. We had a training session in the pool in the morning on Gili Air (the third gili island) and then we were off to the ocean! It was crystal clear blue and warm. We descended to 12 meters with our instructor and we saw some incredible things under the water! It was such a breathtaking experience! We saw many different colours and types of coral, thousands of tropical fish that were close enough to touch(!) and four sea turtles!! (two different types) The sea turtles were the coolest part!

Sadly, our time in the Gilis had to come to an end eventually, but we were also very excited to go back to Bali. When we returned, it felt just as exciting and new as when we got there the first time! It was so green and lush and full of good energy. We drove back to Ubud and found a new homestay near the monkey forest, and that night we relaxed and went to Devilicious again, hoping to see some of our friends, but it was a quiet night. The next day, we went back to the monkey forest! The monkeys were all over the place and very excited! One of the people working there threw some lychees into a pond, and they went nuts! It was a fun afternoon! The next few days were less eventful, more relaxing than anything. But we did go to the Arma museum, which was very cool. Lots of amazing art pieces!

After Ubud, we headed to crazy Kuta! (near the airport) Once we arrived in Kuta and found a crazy cheap homestay (7 bucks American a night), we went to the beach! Duh! It was blazing hot in Kuta and stayed that way for our whole time in Kuta. (I burned my scalp in Kuta that day) If you can believe it, the water at Kuta beach was even warmer than in the Gilis! It was incredible! It was like bath water! But there was quite a bit of garbage since Kuta is a very busy place, and there are lots of surfers. The waves were also quite violent (hence the surfers!), so we didn’t swim for long, but the beach was nice. The next day, we both were feeling a bit off. I think we had gotten too much sun the day before, and I was very near passing out the whole day (I actually fell in the street and scaped my knee, but I think that might just be because I’m clumsy..) Anyway, we did some shopping that day, but other than that, we just feeling too tired to do much more, so we relaxed and played cards that night! The following day, we had to leave! Very sad! I will tell you about our last day in Indonesia because it is a funny story. We arrived at the airport very early and we checked the screens for our flight but it wasn’t there, so we figured it was just because we were so early. We were sitting waiting, and I glanced at our tickets and I think my heart actually stopped. I said “Jean Michel what day is it?!” and he said “it’s the 10th, why?” and I go “no…it can’t be the 10th. No no no…” It turns out our flight had been the day before. Yes, we missed out flights. All three of them to get to New Zealand! We think the reason is because everything we had booked was on the 10th, but the one thing on the 9th was our flight out of Indonesia (we flew overnight). Long story longer, we had to buy new tickets, and 28 hours later and wallets much lighter, we have arrived in beautiful New Zealand! We have actually been here for 5 days already but I will leave you to digest this giant blog entry before I tell you about the fantastic time we have been having since we arrived!

Wow, my fingers are 5 pounds lighter after that blog! I feel like I should thank you for your attention! Thanks! And please, come back and read about new Zealand in the next week or so! It will be worth it, I promise!

Also, we come home very soon, so get planning your welcome home parties! Just kidding! We are had and are still having such a wonderful time on this trip and we are sad that it’s almost over already, but we are also excited to come home! And it will be so great to see you all again! We missed you lots!
Okay I’m done! Catch you next time!

Love

Lisa and Jean-Michel

written by  jeanmichelisa on March 15, 2009 from Ubud, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Australia, Bali and New Zealand adopt Jean-Michel and Lisa!
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So we have successfully completed our first week in New Zealand and it has been amazing! After our crazy plane adventure from Indonesia, we finally arrived in windy Wellington at around 9:00 pm on March 11th. There was a bit of confusion finding our rental car, but we found it and crashed at the first hostel we found in downtown Wellington (as in slept, not car crashed). The next day, we headed to the Te papa museum, which is the national museum of New Zealand, it was super cool and as a bonus, it was free! We couldn’t believe that it was free! This place was massive! The only unfortunate thing was that we were exhausted. I don’t think I have ever felt the exhaustion that I felt that day, and it was a bit frustrating because there was a lot to see! After our museum expedition, we headed back to our hostel and had a long nap, and then had a bite to eat before going back to bed.

The next morning, we had an early start on the road to Turangi, which is a small town in the centre of the north island about 45 minutes south of Taupo. We decided to take the long and scenic route as suggested by a bartender we met in Wellington. We drove straight to Napier, through some of the country’s densest winery area, which is on the east coast. But there was no whining coming from us! (I’m soooo funny) It was incredibly gorgeous. We stopped in the art deco city of Napier for about an hour for a coffee and a break, and then we continued on to Taupo and Turangi. We arrived in Turangi at around 4:00 and checked into the Turangi Leisure Lodge after 8 hours on the road. I can hardly describe how amazing it was to walk through the door and realize that this was our accommodation for the next week. After nearly 6 months of living as backpackers, we were in disbelief that we have the opportunity to stay in a 2 level, fully equipped, private lodge. When you walk in the door, you see a kitchen to your right, a dining room and living room on the left and staircase leading to a master bedroom. There is a second bedroom and another bathroom with a Jacuzzi on the main floor, two TVs, a dishwasher, a stove, fridge and a car park. Nice! Thanks so much Jean-Louis and Carole! Words can’t describe how good it feels to be able to relax here!

Our adventures started the next day! We headed to Tongariro National Park and went on a seriously beautiful 2-hour walk. On that walk we saw some amazing scenery, including the volcano that was Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings and a gorgeous waterfall! It was nice to be in the wilderness for a nice hike! Later the same day, we went on another short walk to see a second waterfall, and after that we went for a drive down a secluded dirt path to see some caves, and that was very cool. The next day, we went to Rotorua to a thermal area called “Hell’s Gate”. We started by going on a thermal walk, and saw some boiling mud, hot springs and mud volcanoes, which was totally amazing. After that, we went to the mud spa that they have there. First, we went into a private mud bath, which was fantastic! It was pretty much like playing in the mud, but with more hot water. It was so nice. You can rub mud on your arms and legs and bathe in the water for 20 minutes, and when that is over, you get to have a lovely cold shower, and go into the hot spring pool for as long as you want. It was so nice. We both had gotten a cold from all the travel and exhaustion, so it was nice to be in the warm hot springs. We went for sushi after that, and then went to the Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland. We did a 1.5 hour walk and saw more thermal pools and boiling mud, and we saw craters that had been formed by subterranean waterways, we saw some ink pots (small thermal pools that have an ink-like color because of graphite and crude oil that has been brought up with the water) and the last thing we saw there was a huge hot spring that was bright lime green. I have never seen anything natural that color before! It was incredible! Later that afternoon, we saw Huka falls. There were actually some kayakers on the water that day, and it was so cool to watch them kayak through the rapids and then down the waterfall.

The next day was an adventure! We drove to the Waitomo caves. The Waitomo caves are the most visited glowworm caves in New Zealand. There, we signed up for what they call the “Black Abyss”. First, all geared up in a wetsuit, boots, helmet and harness, we learned to abseil. Abseiling is lowering yourself on rope while in a harness. After completing a quick training session, we abseiled down 35 meters through a narrow opening in the ground that led to the top of a cave cathedral, which was the beginning of the Ruakuri cave. I’m scared of heights, so I was a bit nervous, but that made the experience more exhilarating! Once we all got to the bottom safely, we continued deeper into the pitch black cave (luckily we had the lights on our helmets!) where there was a zip line! We all turned off the lights on our helmets and took a turn to zip line in the pitch black with glowworms above us. Our guides did everything in their power to heighten our fears by making crashing noises and screaming! Of course I fell for it. Hilarious! So after that, we all sat on the edge of a 4-meter drop into the water for a quick snack, and then they handed us each a tube. They then instructed us to jump from those 4 meters, bum first into the freezing water. I didn’t like that idea at all, but it’s not like I could turn back, so I did it and got a face full of ice cold water. It was terrible! But I got over it, and it was all good fun! We then walked upstream further into the cave and had to swim in parts that were too deep. Once we arrived to where the guides were leading us, they made us form a chain on our tubes by grabbing each other’s feet, and then we turned off our lights and drifted silently through the cave, watching the beautiful glowworms on the ceiling. When we turned on our lights again, we threw our tubes up on the ledge that we jumped from, and continued to swim downstream, grabbing on to whatever we could. We then arrived at a waterslide that had been built over a small waterfall, and we each took a turn sliding down head first! After that, we continued exploring the caves and swimming through narrow passages that eventually led us behind a huge waterfall. We had to swim around it and then the guides instructed us how to climb the waterfall by ourselves. It was challenging and super fun! The hardest part was that our wetsuits and boots were already weighed down by water, and the waterfall was also pushing against us, but we all made it up! After that waterfall, we walked for a while and got to a second, almost as challenging waterfall, and ascended that as well. At the top was the opening to outdoors. We were all a bit cold and wet but mostly just excited! It was such an amazing experience! We all got changed and had some warm soup together and checked out the photos of our adventure before hitting the road again. We came back to the timeshare and headed straight for the hot tub and relaxed for the rest of the night.

For the next day (Tuesday) we had booked ourselves for some white water rafting fun! The nearby Tongariro River is a class 3 rapid and we thought it would be a good idea to try to raft it, adding to my list of firsts. It was such a blast! We all got wet and got to plunge off a small cliff into the river half way down our rafting trip. The experience was not as frightening as I thought it would be but did not disappoint. We saw some amazing scenery as we rafted through serious rapids in the light rain and we really felt like we were right in middle earth. We have been staying away from the cheesy lord of the rings tourist attractions but come on, this place is middle earth and it’s awesome! After rafting for two hours down 9 km of river, descending 250 vertical meters of rapids (not all at once obviously), we headed back to ground base for some sandwiches and then back home. We have been shopping at the grocery store and making our own meals in our very own kitchen! So we had a quiet evening eating soup and relaxing in the rec. room playing ping pong. Yeah!

Okay now for Wednesday! Yay! Wednesday was very nerve-racking day because I did something I never thought I would do! Skydiving! Yes mom you heard me! I thought I would tell you after I already did it to save you the stress! Haha! Anyway! We arrived at the skydiving place, filled out some forms and got suited up. I was absolutely terrified the entire time, it was ridiculous. I was so excited though! But wow, I have never been so scared to do anything! After a quick talk with our tandem guides, we headed for the plane (there were 6 of us that skydived). The ascent was so beautiful! We got to see lots of the Taupo area and surrounding scenery! I admit though that I was too paralyzed from fear that I didn’t get to fully appreciate it. I got teamed up with an awesome tandem instructor, and he did a good job winding me up and telling me stories to get me even more scared. So we finally got to a height of 15 000 feet, and it was time to jump! I jumped second last (Jean-Michel was last! Sucka!). First, I had to scoot up to the open door of the plane and dangle my legs over the edge into the nothingness below. !!! Ahh! Then I had to humiliate myself and get a picture taken before I plunged to the depths. I leaned back and we pushed off into the sky and did a somersault in the air before we began a 60 second freefall through the sky and clouds! I have never felt anything so terrifying and exciting in my life! We were falling at full speed through the sky toward the ground and the cold air rushing in my face made it hard to breathe, but once I got over the initial shock of falling out of a plane, I enjoyed the ride! My tandem instructor (Mike) released the parachute at 5000 feet and we floated the rest of the way to the ground! The view was incredible and the feeling was even better! Of course he pretended he was going to unhook me and send me to my death but obviously he was just having a laugh. He let me control the parachute for a while and we went in fast spirals to the ground and eventually landed safe and sound back on the ground. It was such a freaking awesome experience! DO IT!

So now we are enjoying our last day in Turangi at our amazing timeshare. We are so sad that it is the last day here! But there are more exciting things to come and we are heading north first thing tomorrow morning to explore it all over the next 2 weeks before heading back to the ice cube that is Canada!

We love you and miss you! Don’t hate me for not telling you about skydiving mom! Haha!
Until next time!

Lisa and Jean-Michel

written by  jeanmichelisa on March 18, 2009 from Turangi, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Australia, Bali and New Zealand adopt Jean-Michel and Lisa!
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I'm not sure where I left off last time, but I will let you know that i'm back in edmonton, safe and sound and freezing my buns off! And Jean-Michel is still in transit, home tonight! And we are both so excited to see everyone!

But to continue from my last blog, I believe I ended the last one with our skydiving adventures. After we went skydiving, I think we had one more day in Turangi which was spent getting ourselves organized and doing laundry. We sadly had to leave the amazing place we were staying at and hit the road! We drove to Rotorua from there, and spent a night there. First we went to Te Puia, which is a thermal walk and a geyser that erupts 2-3 times per hour. It was a really nice day and the walk was very cool. but the geyser was the most exciting part! It was the first geyser Jean-Michel has ever seen, and it was impressive. When it erupted, it got to about 30 meters or so. The next day, we went to the agroventures park where they have all sorts of rides and crazy things to do, but we were mainly just interested in zorbing. For those of you who have no idea what i'm talking about, zorbing was invented in New Zealand by some crazy kiwis! Basically, it is a giant clear plastic beach ball with a slightly smaller one inside that is suspended with bungee cords. The idea is that you jump through a hole into the smaller interior ball, they throw in some water and send you down a hill and you slide around and have a gay old time. It was awesome! I wanted to do it again because it was over so fast! but these things cost money you know!

From Rotorua we headed up to Whakatane, a smallish town further north and a bit east. It had a very cool feel to it. It felt like a very alive small town, almost a surfer town because it was close to the water. We stayed at a hostel above an old irish bar for 20 bucks and we enjoyed our one day there! We went for a short scenic hike to a lookout point in the morning and that was very cool. We left Whakatane after lunch and headed further north to Te Aroha, which is another small town. Very small town. but we had pre-booked 3 nights accomodation there, so we spent some time in that area. We stayed 5 minutes out of town at a very cool place. It had private bungalows and the host was a very nice lady. When we arrived, we found out that they had actually given our bungalow to someone else by accident, so they updated us to the most expensive one for the price of the cheapest one. Good deal! It was a nice place with our own bathroom and shower, a decently equipped kitchen, a tv and a deck with a beautiful of the nearby mountain. That day, we headed into town and went to have a soak in the hot springs. They had an amazing spa and we got a private hot spring hot tub to ourselves, and it was incredible. The thermal water in that region has an incredible unique quality to it. The texture of the water is very soft and slippery. Our skin was so soft for the next few days! We couldn't get over it!

The next day we decided to sleep in and just relax for the day and do some laundry. but the day after, went for a 20 minute drive to do a hike and see a waterfall. It was cool because the trail seemed very out of nowhere and we only came across 1 or 2 other people on the trail, so it was nice to have an amazing hike with no crowds! We first hiked for 45 minutes up to a lookout point. The hike itself was amazing, I didn't know where to look. There were always moss covered boulders, palm trees and pine trees (living together! weird!) and some beautiful streams, and it was also a gorgeous day, so we were enjoying ourselves. anyway, the lookout was amazing! What we saw was a 250 meter waterfall! I have never seen a waterfall so incredible in my life! It was so stunning! we then set off for the last 45 minutes which led to the top of the waterfall, and it was totally worth the hike. We got to the top and we were literally standing right next to the waterfall, and standing in awe at the amazing view. It was such a crazy panorama. It was so green and it stretched on forever, and the sun was beginning to go down. It was perfect. We made our way back down on a different trail. We decided to take an old Mauri trail, which was marked "steep and not maintained". Awesome! It indeed was steep and pretty muddy. I slipped on my bum a few times and got nice and muddy. It was truly the best hike i have ever taken! After the 3 hour total of hiking and climbing, we headed back to town to get some groceries and have some dinner. We were both pretty sore the next day, but that didn't matter!

Finally, our time was up in Te Aroha, so we packed up and headed to our final and most northern destination, which is the beautiful town of Russell in the Bay of Islands. What a breathtakingly beautiful place, it's ridiculous. We arrived and had no idea where we were going to stay, so we pulled into a parking lot to look at the map, and I happened to look up and there was a backpacker's accommodation right in front of us! nice! We got an amazing room for a good price and it was close to the water which was perfect. And on top of the that, our host was such a cool person and took very good care of us! He cooked us breakfast one morning and we ate together outside in the sun with some other guests as well, and the next day we ended up sharing a bottle of wine and eating mussels with him and his friend Catherine who was on vacation as well. It turns out that she is from Auckland which was our next destination and she was crazy enough to trust 2 twenty-something canadians who she just met, and offered us to stay at her house in auckland, even though she wouldn't be there. crazy! But i'm getting ahead of myself!

Our first night in Russell, we had some pizza and walked by the port and took in all the amazingness (after all, we only had 3 days left in NZ!) The next day, we went parasailing (another first for me!) and that was so cool! It was such a crazy feeling to be sitting under a parachute 1500 feet in the air with just water beneath us. But the view was spectacular. We brought our camera up with us and took some superb photos, although it's a bit challenging to use a camera when you're in a parachute. But it was a gorgeous sunny day and the water was a beautiful azure. I can't even describe it! Later that day we took a short drive and went for a walk in a Kauri forest. A kauri is a type of tree they have in NZ, and they are enormous. The trunks are so wide and thick and they are very tall. The biggest one we saw was probably 15 meters wide, it was beyond crazy. We actually took some sap off of it and chewed it. That sounds weird I know! but we read that the sap of Kauri trees is Mauri chewing gum, so we were curious okay! haha! it was actually very cool. We spent the rest of that day relaxing and went for thai food. The next day we went on 6 hour boat trip on a catamaran to swim with the dolphins! we saw tons of dolphins which was so cool, and when we got to a good spot, the majority of us put on a snorkel and swam as hard as we could to see the dolphins, but they were too far away unfortunately. But luckily it was a good swim! the water was warm and beautiful! We stopped at an island around noon to explore and relax on the beach, and then we got back on the boat for a barbecue lunch! Nice! We had a very good afternoon in the sun and it was very cool to see the dolphins and go for a swim!
That night we got some delicious wine from a local winery, and it was awesome. We drank it with the host of our hotel and had a great night!

We had a hard time leaving Russell the next day, but we had to go! So we headed back south and stopped in the town of Dargaville for a night. what a weird name for a town. Sorry, I had to throw that in. Anyway, in Dargaville, we stayed at a caravan park, but it had private cabins, and the cabins were actually old shipping containers on trains. It was cool! Anyway, the next day we drove the rest of the way to Auckland and found Catherine's house and spent the night packing, relaxing, eating indian food, and being sad because it was the end of our trip! The next day, Jean-Michel took me to the airport and we said our goodbyes and I began my ridiculously long journey home. What a crazy long flight. It took me a total of about 35-40 hours to get to edmonton. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I have been shivering in my shoes since getting back, and it is only -2 or so! You are all breaking out the shorts and bikinis, and i'm bundling up and drinking tea! I have been so spoiled, and I am having a hard time handling the snow. Luckily it will only get better from here!

Jean-Michel is currently in the air as I write this and he will arrive tonight at 11:30, and i'm sure he will have similar opinions about the weather as I do, although he likes the cold much more than I do! All complaints aside, it is great to be home, and it is awesome to see my family and to not live out of a backpack anymore! high five to that!

Thanks to all of you for reading my blogs! I'm glad to hear that some of you have been following our adventures through the blog entries; it made me more encouraged to keep writing them! I can't wait to see you all and tell you more stories that have not been included in the blogs! and to hear your stories! We both missed you all a lot!

love,

Lisa and Jean-Michel

written by  jeanmichelisa on April 1, 2009 from Edmonton, Canada
from the travel blog: Australia, Bali and New Zealand adopt Jean-Michel and Lisa!
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