Loving Tasmania

Went for a bit of a walk-about on a brilliant, sunny day in Tazzie. Warm sun on my face, cool breeze, clear air, and taking it all in.

I happened upon a wombat going about his business. I sat down to commune with him. He proceeded to consume a fine meal of grass as I sat with him. After he finished, he ambled on his way and I continued on mine.

It is simple, little things like this that make life grand!!!

Technology

Aint technology great when it works? Doesn't it make you want to scream like a senseless lunatic when it doesn't?

For your viewing pleasure, I brought my camera AND my cable (I often forget that) to this lovely internet cafe (which looks like an Indian call center). I intended to post a sample of our trip pics to bring some visual interest to the blog.

On my first try, my camera shuts down. Aparently it is keenly aware that our pics are more interesting to us than they would be to you. Fine, I over-ride the camera's superior judgement by installing new batteries in order to keep it from shutting down. On my second try, the computer says "No Path" or some such babble. Seriously? Clearly this computer doesn't understand that I am doing the download correctly and my request is simple and reasonable. I reconnect the two pieces of technology (that are clearly working together against me) and try a third time. Again "No Path". After a few choice explitives and foul faces, I see the web cam is staring at me. Nothing like a fake audience to realize how ridiculous a situation is.

So to make a short stoy long, sorry no pics.
Just close your eyes and imagine Steve in front of beautiful mountains, Daina at a scenic winery, Steve & Daina in front of a Kiwi Crossing sign, and the rolling back of a sperm whale from a helicopter.

New Zealand

The exchange rate is kicking out butts!!

New Zealand is more expensive than we thought, leading us to eat at McDonalds and Burger King more than we want. Quite a step down from the fine dining of Chile, but at least we've got breakfast! No more crackers and Tang!

Highlights of New Zealand include: Bay of Islands fun-in-the-sun, Napier wine region, Blackwater Rafting, sperm whales by helicopter, ping pong and home cooking of Invercargil, amazing forests and beaches of The Catlins on the south coast, and Milford Sound Fiordland cruise. It was great having people to share the sites with as Daina's parents joined us for a bit. We were all hosted by our friend Debbie (New Zealand ping pong champion)in Invercargil who showed us a grand time.

Today we enjoyed a wine and food pairing and will be going to Pick-Our-Own cherries after this. So life is bopping along just fine. We will be flying on to Tasmania soon! Perhaps when internet doesn't cost us minimum wage (what is minimum wage now?) we will post some pictures!

Pirate Detour

We have been working on our cruise itinerary since learning we are kicked off the boat.

We have heard 4 ships were taken by pirates last week. One freighter took an Israeli security force and had to use it to get through the area. What an outrage!

We just purchased airline tickets to go from Goa, India to Katmandu, Nepal where we will see Everest!!! We will then fly to Safaga, Egypt and re-board our boat to finish in Greece as planned.

We will have a lay-over in Kuwait en-route. Who knew??

Merry Christmas!

We have celebrated Christmas Eve with high adventure! We went Blackwater Rafting. This means you travel on a river, going deep in the heart of a large cave, to see glowing worms sparkeling on the ceiling in the dark, in your own inner tube.

You start your adventure by becoming attractively outfitted in a thick wet suit, used only a few hundred times. First the booties on your feet followed by squeezing yourself into overalls like a stuffed sausage. Then you put on an overcoat which helps you baste in the sun of the staging area for a wonderful ripe smell. You add padded boxer shorts over that (which they say is padding against the rocks in the cave -- but I think the guides just needed a laugh). The look is topped off by beautiful white rubber boots and a helmet with a light attached for visibility in the cave. Once you are in this adventure suit, you feel more like the Michelin Man than Indiana Jones, but you are ready.

When you get to the cave you are issued your inner tube. You begin the journey by spelunking your way deep into the cave following a trail of water. (That is walking.) As we walk, Daina is finding every hole along the way plunging in hip deep and climbing out. (Of course these same holes are only knee deep for Steve).

Finally the floating portion of the trek begins. You walk to the edge of a 6 foot waterfall. You stand at the edge, turn your back to the falls, hold your tube up to your ass, and leap backwards into the cold, dark water. Now that is taking the plunge! After some whooping and sputtering, equilibrium was re-attained and the view of millions of stars on the roof of the cave were ample reward. Just another traditional Christmas!

We continue our way through New Zealand joining with Daina's parents for a while. It is great to see familiar faces after a couple months on the road!

Grand Finale, Grief, Going Onward

Grand Finale. Our final days in Chile were a blast. We were joined by a friend we know in Atascadero who is from Chile. He got us looped in a night on the town, took us to his parents home/resort where we lounged in the pool and were served "Onces" (the Chilean version of tea), exposed us to near death in a funicular, and stuffed us with a fine fish dinner with a bloatation dessert before dropping us at the airport to continue our journey. We couldn't have asked for a better way to finish Chile.

Grief. Fate laughs when we plan, doesn't it? We planned our whole 7 month odyssey around our sailing boat cruise. First we were informed that the cruise had been cancelled (leaving us stranded in Thailand with no transport to Greece and 37 free days) because of the pirates. Then we were informed that we could go on the cruise from Thailand to Goa, India at which point we would be kicked off the boat and invited to re board in Safaga, Egypt, after the boat runs the pirate gauntlet sans passengers. Holy crap! We zoomed through the stages of grief:
Denial: This can't be happening!
Anger: Those bastards probably just didn't sell enough cabins to run the cruise!
Bargaining: If we sign a release can we go anyway?
Depression: Why is our life so bad? (TOTALLY JUST KIDDING, but we're really sad.)
Acceptance: We're ready for whatever comes.
So we are working on plan B: Nepal? We'll let you know when we figure it out.

Going On. We have gotten over our jet lag and settled into New Zealand.

National Park

We have survived Chile´s premier national park, Torres del Paine. This park is located at the end of a really long dirt road. We rented a tiny car and were assured it could handle the roads of the park. We began driving by delicately picking our way around potholes and boulders, attempting the perfect strategy for washboard, and stopping dead in our tracks to not be enveloped by the huge plumes of dust kicked up by other vehicles. Readers who are experienced off-roaders are of course thinking, "Idiots. Put the pedal to the metal and go!" Eventually we threw caution to the wind and adopted this attitude with our poor little car. It is hard to convey the experience of these roads. Let´s just say that as we rattled along, my face itched. With all this being said, the park was spectacular. Jagged, snow-capped peaks, mountainous glaciers, bluer than blue icebergs, and sweeping falls were all as magnificent as advertised. We even saw the promised creatures of the park, the fox, llama, ostrich, and flamingo. The weather was cold but clear with impressive visibility. It was a grand adventure.

During part of our visit, we stayed at a high-end hotel (similar to, but not as nice as, the Awahnee in Yosemite). The first morning we came to the dining room for the continental breakfast. We helped ourselves to the buffet where the plates were only slightly bigger than a cup coaster. We took our food and beverages, selected a lovely table with a spectacular view, and started eating. (The view was the picture above.) Then we spot a cursed little sign on our table: HAB 36. Oh no! This is a table reserved for the good people in Room 36. We are Room 21! We glance around and realize OUR reserved table was in the other room. These tables are for the people in the UBER-expensive rooms... We figured we had 2 options: move ourselves into the next room (which would include an outrageous number of coaster-sized dishes necessitating 4-5 trips) or switch the room number sign. Like burglars in the night, we switched the signs and ate our meal in fear of being ousted at any moment. Clearly we are representing America admirably in our travels.

In a few days we will head back to Santiago before flying on to New Zealand!