Today was the last day on the way for me in Airlie Beach. We got up around 5 and Daniele went to pick up the girls from their backpacker lodge. The weather was gorgeous but the waves were a bit choppy even early on in the morning. We headed north and after hitting Mantaray Bay we turned around. About a half hour from the marina we stopped for a lunch break. I had already eaten so I deci
Saturday June 19 2010
The girls and I woke up pretty early which is pretty good seeing that breakfast was served at 7. I found out I slept through the anchor being put in the water late at night which apparently was ridiculously loud. Yup lets add that to the list of just about everything I can sleep through. I went out onto the deck and saw a gorgeous sunrise and an even more beautiful beach behind me. There we
Welcome to Australia
God I hate this stupid laptop. I hate Microsoft. I loathe and detest everything to do with wifi.I also hate Virgin Blue for losing my luggage. I abhor the World Cup this time a curse onto the rotten spoiled playboys of Brasil Portugal Spain Chile and England.Now you may be getting the impression that I'm a bit jazzed up at the moment and you wouldn't be wrong after all my thyroid meds
OZ Week 40 Darwin Part 2
I moved into a tiny windowless room over a bar for 4 nights while the V8 Supercars Championship was on in Darwin as everywhere was packed. Not only were all the hotel rooms taken but you couldnrsquot get tables in restaurants or cafes. My room was over the Wisdom Bar claiming they provide enlightenment through beer where they sold over 50 types of beers had loud live music every night and
Traveling by the Dozen
Sunday morning we were doing surprisingly well considering the night before. We did however take it very easy and get off to a slow and mellow start. At some point we decided to head to the old part of Panama City and check it out. Between the rental van and Miguelrsquos car we managed to get all of the family and the friends from Michigan to a museum. It then took us a ridiculous amount o
Continued adventures
After our wonderful trip to the Galapagos we landed in Guayaquil a huge metropolis with more stories of violence robbery and kidnapping than we were comfortable with. We immediately got on a bus and got out of town We had a long bus trip to Cuenca and were very tired of the road after that. We only spent one day exploring Cuenca mostly because itrsquos very compact lots of churches an
Sunday June 20 2010
Last night was miserable. We tried to get to the reef but almost capsized in the process. We sailed half way there and the skipper had to turn the boat around and motor back or risk flipping the boat. I took some seasickness meds the night before so my sleep was really intermittent. However I did sleep through all of the things on the shelf emptying onto Anna and Susanne and a showerrsquo
More Latin Decadence
Still living the high life in the Murder Capital of the World. Why even today I've probably done stuff that must seem impossibly exotic and alluring to everyone left behind in humdrum England. Let's see... I went to work and played Scrabble with a student heist was my lexical highlight... I gave my charge a sound thrashing by some 60 points I bought some eggs from the corner shop pissed abou
Monday June 21 2010
The final day on the water I woke up to the sound of the waves something I was fast getting used to. I wasnrsquot really sea sick anymore which was a good thing as we were still in pretty choppy water. Soon before breakfast I heard the motors start up and I went and sat with the Skipper. He was an older man named Baz and he told me a few stories before breakfast. I guess he has sailed mos
Homeward Bound and arrived to storms
We left Sundance thinking we might stop somewhere in the eastern part of South Dakota. We did stop but only for a few fireworks. The weather was fine until we hit Windom and then the clouds thickened darkened and the wind picked up. We turned on the radio to a Mankato station as the kids said there were tornado sirens going off in Mankato. We ended up pulling off into St. James and parking i
Conspiracy Yes There Is One
The message you are about to read is top secret. Do not share this with the general public. Do not let anyone see you reading this. Do not share this file with the FBI. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars.You are holding in your hands a secret. A terrible secret. A secret so grim so warped in its bearing that I can scarcely bring myself to tell you of its existence. It's a
Tuesday June 22 2010
We had to check out of the hostel by 10 in the morning so we got up had breakfast and packed. Luckily we could leave our bags at the hostel for the day as we were taking a bus to Rockhampton at 12 midnight. In town I picked up my advanced open water dive card Anna got her hair cut and we wandered the shops for a bit. While we were away for the weekend Daniele was flying to his University to
Wednesday June 23 2010
I woke up 6 hours later in Rockhampton a larger city south of Airlie beach. It reminded me so much of home with a greyhound station McDonalds Subway Pizza Hut Dominos and other American stores and restraints. We waited in McDonalds as Daniele was flying into Rockhampton at 730. Soon enough he arrived and we all piled into the car for the 45minute ride to Yeppoon. The area is very arid
Thursday June 24 2010
We woke up today to a pretty gross day. We thought we might be able to go out on the water but it was raining and windy. Daniele went out real early and bought one bed for the house. He wanted us to come with him to pick out the rest of the stuff so early afternoon he picked us up and we all went to the red cross. We left with two more twin beds and mattresses a few bureaus and a sofa couc
Friday June 25 2010
Woke up this morning and Daniele headed off early to Gladstone to get some errands done. There is some bird in the area that has a call that sounds like someone is whistling so I want to try and figure out what it is because it is such a cool sound. The girls and I lounged around for a bit and as the weather was gorgeous we decided to walk to town. It is a bit of a distance but we had nothi
Day 12 Gondola Rides and Flat Tires
Well good morning Montrose Colorado It's bright and early and Tim is chomping at the bits to get on the road. He's always like this when we have one of those days that consist of mostly driving and a little sightseeing. We were up and ready to pull out of Wally World by 900 am. He found a place called The Black Canyon of the Gunnison in the book so he plotted out our route and off we went to
Unique Berlin
Berlin was bliss.We stayed with Dan's friend Matt from auckland and his girlfriend Becky. They were the best hosts we loved being in somebody's home again after all the hostelling. Being able to wash your clothes when you want not having to learn everything about your surroundings and eat home cooked meals is something we didnt realise we were missing so much Becky is an absolutely awesome cook
If London was a marathon Spain was a sprint
We concluded our last evening in London with dinner with Salys Swedish friend and his friends whom he was visiting in London followed by a few drinks nearby. Pimms we were recommended is a super English drink which is amazing and Id say its somewhere around a Jerimiah weedlongisland but with much less alcohol. The next morning we checked out of the hostel stored our luggage and contnued
End of Semester
As the end of the semester wraps up I had all of my friends come together for one final night on the town. Not everyone was able to attend however those that did we all had a great time. We started at Pancake Manor which is like IHOP but better and then went to the Victory where we met up with Ashleigh and all of her friends for her going away party as well. It was a great night.Two days late
Zipaquira Colombia
visited the underground salt cathedral...