Day 212

 I apologize. It has been over a month since my last post, but for good reason. We made it to Bali safely and had two computers go down. We had only one laptop left, so time was spent doing homework on the one. I also had some trouble getting adsense working. Lastly, I just didn't want to spend any unnecessary time on the computer. We were in BALI! Why would I want to be inside when there are so many things to do? The beach was amazing, it was hot and humid, people were nice, everything was beautiful, and food was good and cheap. It was a pretty bizarre place. By the time we had to leave, we were already trying to plan our next trip there. The lifestyle is a world away from Americans'. Describing it is really nothing compared to actually going and seeing what it is like. I highly recommend traveling there to anyone. A vacation to Bali is probably cheaper than one to anywhere else even though it is so great. You can get a full meal for something like $3.50 and a villa for the night is around $10. Uluwatu is an awesome place to stay with everything walking distance, good surf, and it is very quiet. Overall, Bali is terrific. We were sad to leave, but found a cheap flight for Paris, so we jumped on it. We were in Bali for a little over a month before our departure. We have been in Paris for the past week or so and absolutely love it. The food and sights are great! We have been to a lot of famous places including the Louvre and such. We aren't sure what the next leg of the trip is going to be, but we are starting to talk about heading home. None of us are ready to, but the money is a big issue. Anyways...I will include a couple of Bali photos, but will save the France ones for when we are finished here.

About to paddle out

Me

Me

Me

Me

 Monkey at Padang Padang

In the Temple's Jungle

Sarongs at Temple

Volcano

Nice place in Kuta

Walk to Ulus

Salin's Warung at the beach

Our new friends

The Best

Ah

Carey

Carey

Carey

Carey

Carey

Day 167

I don't have much time to post. I am currently in the Perth International Airport waiting for the flight to Bali. We didn't find much work down South and our visa's are running out so we are going to Indonesia. We had a great time in Margaret River and met some awesome people that I will have to tell you about some other time. Well, I am off to another country.

Day 158

I have been really, really busy since my last post. Sorry for the delay. After the Newstead Live music festival, my family and I went to a winery in Miamia to work. It was a pretty hard job, but It wasn’t all bad. We made a little money and got to drive tractors and see what farm life was like. We stayed for close to a week before getting a transfer car to Adelaide and one from there to Perth. We made a lot of great stops along the way. We got to see Bells Beach and more. I have taken quite a few pictures and will post them when I have better wifi (I only have it for a few minutes). We also made a nice stop in Ceduna and went to the Wombat and Fauna Rescue Homestead. It is run solely on donations and houses an array of rare animals. I also have some pictures from there.

On the way to Perth we had to drive through the Nullabar. It is a pretty outbacky road with very little along it, other than kangaroos, emus, and road trains. It also includes the longest piece of straight road in Australia, which we got to drive along (about 149 km). We also met some really friendly people from all over the world on our journey. Our best stop, in my opinion, was to the Cape le Grand National Park. Out of all the wonderful beaches here, it was voted Australia’s best beach last year. We went to Thistle Cove, which was slightly out of the way, and thought we were in heaven. The sand was the whitest we had ever seen and the water the clearest. There were almost no people there and just enough waves for bodysurfing. We have even more photos from there. We are turning in the transfer car to Perth tomorrow and are looking for jobs along the way. If we can find work for a while, we could some money for the rest of the trip, so our fingers are crossed. I will upload recent pictures as soon as I have better internet. Until then…

Day 142

Wow. A lot has happened since my last post. We didn't have wi-fi until now, so I will try to catch up in this one. We left Airlie Beach and went to 1770. We camped there for a night and met some awesome Aussies and learned a lot about Indonesia. We went to Rainbow Beach after that and camped out for two days. You can actually go in the ocean from there south, so we spent a lot of time in the ocean. It then started pouring too hard to camp, so we packed everything up and continued south. We saw Surfer's Paradise and a lot of famous beaches as we traveled. We stopped when we got to Byron Bay. That place is perfect. We stayed in a hotel and rented a couple of surfboards. The water was super warm, clear, and tropical. The surf was about head high and just reeling. It just came off of a point in consistent lines, so there was no shortage of waves even with it being crowded. We surfed all day for two days and then headed to Brisbane. We picked up another 6 berth camper van in to transfer to Melbourne there. We saw a lot of sights, including the CSIRO Parkes Observatory. During the drive, there was the craziest, lightning storm/sunset that I have ever seen. There was blue and purple lightning in every direction with stormy clouds and the blue/pink/orange sky of a sunset. It was amazing. We dropped off the camper soon after and landed in Newstead. We are staying at the Newstead Live music festival and have been having a lot of fun. We have met a ton of nice people and will be here for a couple more days. Afterwards, I think we are going to fly to Indonesia.

P.S.
A local cricket team had batting practice and lent me some gear and let me try it out. It was a lot different than baseball but a lot of fun. We have it on video, but I can't post it on here. Hopefully I'll get it up somehow in the near future.

Day 123

Wow. The Great Barrier Reef was amazing. It was like a movie! The water was so clear and there were so many fish, we couldn't believe it. We took a two hour boat ride from Airlie Beach to a pontoon at Knuckle Reef. There was nothing in any direction except for clear blue water. There were underwater viewing tanks and snorkel gear, so we spent a ton of time observing the wildlife. The coral was spectacular. We didn't take very many pictures or videos because we were busy experiencing it on our own. There were people scuba diving about 10 or 15 feet down with a HUGE Maori Wrasse fish and my dad and I dove down to them with only snorkels. One person had an underwater camera and took pictures of us holding it. It was one of the best days any of us have had on the trip. We are waiting on them to be sent to us, but I will post them as soon as I get them. The day before we went out to the reef, we took a boat to Daydream Island and spent the days at the resort there. It was pretty fun, but the Great Barrier Reef was incomparable. We are staying in Airlie Beach for the night and I'm not sure what lies ahead., hopefully something as fun as this.

Day 120

We are leaving Mackay. The day was spent getting ready to leave, and we are driving out in our rental car and heading to Airlie Beach tonight. It is about a 2 and a half hour drive. In the next few days, we're going to go to the Great Barrier Reef, courtesy of my grandma, as a Christmas present. I am really excited to see all of the ocean life. We might check out some nearby islands as well. If I don't post for a while, it's due to lack of wi-fi.

Day 111

Well, Merry Christmas everyone. We had a really quiet Christmas but it was a lot of fun. Definitely theIt was a nice and relaxed day. The day after, the NBA opening day games were on tv here. Miles and I were set on watching all of the games, so we made sure we had time for it. The gym is closed this week, so we don't have very much to do. There is a huge rainstorm with thunder and lightning here. We're hoping that it doesn't turn into a cyclone. Carey and my mom got a really bad infection on their bums. It looks like a big, black hole. We thought that they were weird spider bites, but the doctor told them it was an infection and gave them antibiotics. It looks like they are going to fine in a couple of days which is a relief. There still aren't too many things to write about, so I think I'll take a break from posting again until there is more excitement.

Day 104

There hasn't been much to post about, so I have been skipping them for a while. Sorry about that. Well...We have officially been away from home for over 100 days. Miles and I have continued playing basketball at the local gym almost every day. We are also getting ready for a small Christmas. We have decided on going to a music festival down south when we're done housesitting here. I think we will be volunteering to get in free and my dad might play some. It sounds like a lot of fun. My parents and Carey have become members of a local country club with cricket games and have spent a little time there. I'm sorry there aren't many exciting things to post about. If anything does happen, I will definitely blog about it.

Day 96

Another mellow day today. Miles and I played some more basketball. Other than that, we just did some homework and relaxed. It rained heavily again and we had to wait for it to stop before we went to the gym. There isn't much to do around here because we have a lot of schoolwork to do and no car. Miles and I might go play some more Bball tomorrow. We really like having access to this nice of a gym. That's about all there is to say.

Day 95

Today was pretty great. Miles and I went to the basketball gym and played for a few hours. It was perfect. The general manager of the stadium had balls for us to use and it felt great to play again. After we walked home, the whole family took a walk to the local manmade lagoon/pool. We picked up dinner on the way home and are now lounging around. I'm pretty sure that we'll go shoot around again tomorrow and maybe every other day that we can. It's been too long.

Day 94

Still not much happening here. We went to a gorge to swim yesterday and then to a river to look for platypus's/platypuses/platipi. Carey and my dad saw one, but my mom, Miles, and I didn't get to. There was also a heavy storm with thunder and lightning. We almost ran out of gas on the way home, but made it to a gas station just in time. My dad took the rental car back with Carey and they stopped by a local basketball gym/stadium where a local pro team plays. There were teams my age practicing and my dad talked to the guy running it and he said I could go there and shoot and maybe work out with a team. I think I'm going to go check it out tomorrow because it's been so long since I played. Hopefully I can get some practicing in.

Day 92

We are starting to settle into the house we're sitting. We have been taking it easy and doing homework mostly because of the heat. It is CRAZY hot. It is hard to do anything except swim. There is a nearby pool that I think we might start going to. There is also a skatepark nearby that Carey and I checked out. It isn't very good but is better than nothing. There are more parks a little bit farther away that we might look for on a cooler day. The best way to deal with the heat is cold showers and naps. We are right under the hole in the ozone, so the sun is pretty brutal. You can't spent too much time outside during the noon hours. Here is a random photo because I don't have much to talk about.

This is a high exposure photo that I took during a big lightning storm in Port Douglas. The lightning was the brightest that I had ever seen (Daytime would occur when it would strike). It is blurry because I took it in a car ride, but you can really see how bright It was. This was taken in the middle of the night.

Day 89

We have had no wifi! I haven't been able to post for the past week or so because we have been moving around a lot and without internet. We made it successfully to Cairns and stayed there for a couple of days. It was really nice and they had the nicest skate park that Carey and I have been to. It is the biggest park in Australia! We have done a lot of swimming, but not in the ocean due to crocs, sharks, and jellyfish. After Cairns, we went to Port Douglas and stayed for a couple of days while going on hikes and to zoos. My favorite thing so far was hand-feeding kangaroos. We saw a lot of different animals in the wild and in captivity. We pulled an all-nighter driving to Mackay from Port Douglas last night. Now we are going to stay here (in Mackay) housesitting for a month. Here are a couple of photos to make up for the lack of posting:

Day 77

This has to be a short post because I am writing it on my iPod. We made it safely to Australia and are driving up the coast towards Cairns in a big campervan. It is nice and hot with a ton of wildlife. I will post the next time I have wifi.

Day 72

I have made it safely back to Christchurch and am getting ready to leave New Zealand on Thursday. We head out of here at 6 a.m. and are landing in Melbourne, Australia. We have a lot to do to prepare, but are looking forward to a new adventure. Let me give some details about the past few days. My dad played well at his gig in Nelson, and then we kept driving. We then saw a lot more sights (The clearest body of freshwater in the world, glow worms, a filming sight in the making for The Hobbit, pet a baby sheep, etc.) We have been camping out all over the Northern part of the southern island in a new place almost daily. We also got to swim in the Tasman Sea, which was a little bit cold, but great. We have a 6 berth camper to relocate in Australia and then will most likely be housesitting. We also got an offer to spend the holidays with a big Aussie family that sounds like fun. I will have wifi until the flight, so I'll try to get another post in.

Day 63

I haven't been able to post for a while for a couple of reasons. A total lack of internet is the main one. We went to Dunedin and had a ton of fun. Carey and I did a lot of skating in some really nice parks. Carey is getting crazy good. He put together a sponsor me video and is going to try to get on some sort of company soon. We did a lot of hiking and saw a lot of sights in Dunedin. Some of the sights were the steepest street in the world and boulders, which I will include photos of. We also did a little bit of farm work. Since then, we went to Queenstown and now Nelson. We got a small campervan and have been sleeping in it for about a week. My dad has a really big gig today in Nelson, and it has been publicized well. There are posters around town and he had a big spot on the front of the entertainment section in the local newspaper. We have seen a lot of sights, too many to tell about in fact, but I will include pictures. In a couple of days, I think we are going to fly to Australia. It isn't for sure, but we may house-sit for a while. I'm not sure when the next time I will post is, but hopefully these photos will count for a couple of days.

 

 

Day 54

We got a lot of work done yesterday, but didn't get home early enough for me to post. Carey got his head shaved, which is a big difference from his lion's mane. Today we drove out to Methven and are staying in a nice lodge. I think we will be away from Christchurch for at least a few days.

Day 52

We had another day at the library and then came home and had some dinner. For dessert we had ice cream with milo. It is like chocolate malt powder and is really good. I think we are going to leave the city tomorrow, so I might not have wifi for a couple of days. Hopefully there is excitement in the near future.

Day 51

Not too much happened today, but it was very productive. We got a rental car and then headed to the library. At the library, we were all on computers doing school and work. I got 5 or 6 assignments done and downloaded 2 movies and 2 albums while working. I felt pretty accomplished. The weather was great here the day that we came, but it's getting pretty stormy. It rained a little yesterday and is looking like it might rain again. I have no idea what the plan is for tomorrow.

Day 50

The past couple of days have had so much going on but no internet to post. We left Cook's Beach and then headed to Auckland for a night. We stayed at the Unicorn Motel again and my dad had another gig. The next morning we picked up our camper from transfercar. It was huge! It held all of our things and slept us 5 comfortably. We drove south and stayed at camper parks along the way. We took the camper on the ferry and made it to the South Island. We then continued south and stopped at a few more parks. The scenery is amazing. There were points of the drive with snowy mountains on one side and a beach with surf on the other. There are tons of sheep and reindeer too. We made it to Christchurch and are staying at a friend from the cruise ship's house. Carey and I went skating yesterday afternoon, which was Halloween, at a nearby park and Carey broke his board. It isn't all the way through, but he'll need a new one within a week or two. He has no money for one so we aren't sure what to do. I have taken some pictures, but not enough to upload a whole roll. I did, however, make a .gif of looking off of Shakespeare's Cliff near Cook's Beach. It was an almost 360 degree view of ocean and islands off an overhang. I have wi-fi for at least a few days while we stay here, so I will definitely post tomorrow.

I used gifninja to make this because I didn't have very much time and there were to many photos for other sites. I hope it works alright, I think it might be a little slow. Here is the .gif!!!!!!!!!!!!