Merry Christmas to all...

Christmas comes but once a year. It is a special time to celebrate with friends and family. This was a Christmas of firsts for both of us. It was the first year of my life that I did not celebrate with my parents. It was the first time that Andrea did not celebrate the holiday in the depths of winter. It was also our holiday together on Christmas day. It was foreign feeling for her to be standing on the beach in short pants and T-shirt knowing full well that all of Canada was covered in a blanket of snow for the first time since '71. As much as I hate to say it I do miss the cold and dark that accompanies the holiday season, but only for one day...I am already over it.

So how did we spend our Christmas day? Well with Andrea's extended family in New Zealand of course. Christmas eve was spend at our flat talking about traditions with our flatmate Gregg. Drinking beers, wrapping gifts and swapping stories. Both me and Andrea were quite tired because we had worked all day. I managed to get a great surf earlier in the evening as well, best so far! Off to bed for an early start!!!

Christmas morn started off with our stockings...stuff with goodies from Santos Claus...

We then left our place and headed over to John and Susans (Andrea's Cousins) place for gift openings and more cheer. We were joined by Bob and Elen -Andreas grandfathers sister - also joined us and gift extravaganza was on...

The kids (Phalen and Sara) were SUPER stoked for the day. We did our best to supply some fun for everyone by providing the great Mexican Christmas Pinata Tradition.

Everybody had a go at it!

In the end old Rudoplh met his fate and was split across the entire yard. Candies were everywhere and the kids went bezerk. With this the great Kiwi-Mexican-Canadian Christmas came to a close.

It was a great way to spend the day, different from what I am used to by all means, but it was spent with my sweetie and that is all that counts. We miss you all and wish you all a very merry Christmas and joyous holiday season in whatever corner of this world you may find yourself in.

Lots of Love,

Dion and Andrea

Christmas Haka

What happens when you get a bunch of boozed fueled boys at a company christmas party? The Haka of course. This is now the third haka we have had performed for us by boozed fueled locals, which is much better than the last time I was here when zero boozed fueled locals performed the haka for us...

Good Decisions

Calgary


Napier

Drunk Kids

So last night I went out for a sunset surf. It was sweet because I was all alone and it was nice and clean. Anyway just as I am gearing down a small car came flying into the car park and came to a screaching halt. Three somewhat wasted teenagers spilled out of the car and began to suit up for a night session in the surf. Immediately I realized that these kids were ripe for manipulation and I engaged in conversation. The banter went back and forth strewn with lots of Kiwi and Canadian slang. Then I went in for the kill...

Dion: Hey guys, can you do the Haka?

Drunk teens: AHHH YEEEEAH MATE....

The Drunk Kids.

Pretty much the best thing to ask drunk teens to do whenever you come across them. This is the second time we have had the haka performed for us by boozed teenagers, which is 100% better than my last trip here six years ago when zero drunk teenagers performed the haka for us. I will do my best to try and get a variety of hakas on video for your viewing pleasure. I do apologize for the lighting...it was dark after all.

Home Sweet Home!

The days of living out of our suitcases and carrying all our food in a box in the car boot are now over! Temporarily. We are going to setup in a small seaside resort town called Napier for the next couple of months. http://www.napier.nz.com/

Above is the beautiful view from the patio of our new home! We have managed to get into a swanky flat share on top of the bluff in town. Dion loves that he can check the waves from the window and go down the hill for a surf.

As of today we have both secured work here in town. Which makes Dion especially happy as I have been hanging around in cafes and at the beach waiting for the right job to call me back. Meanwhile, Dion is working his butt off as a labourer (carrier of heavy shit) for a construction company. I have been brought on as a barista in a busy downtown cafe. I am looking forward to unlimited coffee but will miss my unlimited free time :)

Everything seems to be going well just in time for Christmas! Uncle Bob and Auntie Ellen are coming down for the holidays and we will be here with Susan and her family. It just doesn't feel right that it is Christmas when everyone is getting geared up for the summer. We are missing our friends and family holiday season get togethers. Happy Holidays to Everyone!!

Great Gunnar News!!!

Probably the best photo I have seen in years...Congrats to Gunnar and Joanna!!!

Movember is Done

Well after a solid 30 days on the grow I can official say that Movember turned out well, as far a growing a moustache it was the best one I have evar put on my upper lip, as far as getting work I reckon it did nothing but hinder me. In fact it was not until I shaved the beautiful piece of man status that I managed to secure work. Note how good I look below:


Before I get into the work details I'd like to thank the five people who voted in the last poll. Upon retrival of the results we did exactly as stated, we went surfing. It was a medium day on the water, not that it mattered as I was alone on the coast and kinda got scared, so I was only in the water for a short period of time. Furthermore even though the results did not state to leave town we did. Gone like a fading image in our rearview mirror is Gisborne. Jaded we left the town with no work or even the potential. We are now in Napier http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Napier%20NZ&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8&um=1&sa=N&tab=il.

Napier is wine country, with a climate that mimicks the summers of the Okanagan Valley. Known for the lazy summer days and Art Deco decor Napier is a quiant town on the East coast of New Zealand. It is here that I found a job as a labourer on a consturction site. I started off with the promise of three days work and by the time afternoon smoko (coffee break) rolled around I was asked to stay until christmas. It felt good to be making some money again. Andrea also has cousins here, they have been very welcoming to us. It is also nice to hear the Canadian accent again, germans tend to get on my nerves after a while.

Last weekend after arrival in the new town we did what any person should do in Napier...we left town for it's neighbor Hastings and went to SPLASH PLANET. A smaller second cousin to the waterparks of North America but no less refreshing. It was here that an incident occurred. This leads me to a:

FALL DOWN REPORT

Approximately 3:30 Pm on Sunday November 30th 2008. Andrea C. Forrest was walking briskly on the southern deck of the main splash pool of the 'TOOB SLIDE'. During a momentary laspe of thought Andrea step down off the deck and onto the first step that lead into the pool. During slack water this step would normally be covered in approximately 1/2 inch of water, however due to repeatative entry of jovulant youths at the northern end of the pool mild surges were clouding the actual depth of the step. With full commitment Andrea placed her right foot down towards the step, only to find that the step was actually much shallower than her perception had told her. The result, a hastened reaction to counteract and regain balance, it was an overreaction, much like a car in a skid, the overreaction always leads to shame. In this case that shame came in the form of a back leaning stiff upperbody that still had forward momentum. A chain reaction started with the right ankle, it buckled and folded under, then the knee, the left leeg continued straight out as if sliding into second base. Like a Jenga tower falling left due to an improperly balanced base, Andrea flopped into the splash pool. Instant shame fell over her. It was the first time in years that I never laugh instantly. It looked rough but she is ok, just a few braizes to her right foot. It wasn't till she was walking again that I really let the giggles loose...

New Zealand Pre-Work Album

Here are the photos from our first month in New Zealand... There are lots to see in the four albums...hope you got a coffee!!!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Tongan Photo Album

I will continue to state that Tonga screwed us, here are a few photos of the place you should not let your guard down at...

Still some neat beach huts...

BubbleShare: Share photos - Craft Ideas

Samoa Photo Album

Here are the photos we took during our stay in Samoa...a few more than Tonga, we liked it here...

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

San Francisco Photo Album

Simple enough, just push play...

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Gisborne, the first city to see the new day

We are in Gisborne. Gisborne I can confidently say stands for: "go away from here if you want to work." I am a bit astounded that nobody is hiring in this town, there are 40K people here that seem to be in some perfectly balanced system of commerce. There are what seems to be zero employment holes. Every place in town has given us one of three excuses

Excuse 1: No we are full up

Excuse 2: Economic turn down, go away

Excuse 3: Come back in the new year...

Now this last one gives me the shits. Here we are less than one month to go until Christmas and businesses keep telling us to come back in the new year. What the hell does that mean? How do you not want extra employees for the busiest season of the year??? Is there some sort of giant Kiwi shopping extravaganza leading up to Valentines Day? I don't get it. It is so bloody belittling to have to fill out a application form for a shoe store.

Andrea: Hi, I was curious if you guys were looking for any staff.

Shoe Store: Here is an application form, do you have your resume with you, do you have experiance?

Andrea... Ughhh...OK...right...

I mean seriously is there some sort of shoe polytech school that you need to graduate from in order to be qualified to grab shoes from a shelf in a back room. I mean personally I would like to think I would know how to handle the situation if a customer was to ask for a size 8.5 in red. That said I have never had to obtain a set of red pumps sized 8.5, so I guess I am unqualified. I guess I am a bit jilted that nobody seems to be hiring.

Perhaps a guy gets used to seeing help wanted signs in the window of every store in town for three years and figures it is the same way world around. We have humbly found out that Gisborne is not the same as Calgary. It gets frustrating after a while, I was close to blowing a fuse yesterday when I went to the NZ Wal-Mart equilivant and they asked me fill out an application, again what can I write on a piece of paper that will qualify me to open a box of Gillete razors and put them on a shelf?

So now that we have spent 4 days straight looking for work we did what any unemployed person would do. We went to the brewery in town, got a free tour and got drunk. When that was over we headed down the road to the Cider factory and scored more free booze, it was the best we could do to try and take our minds of not working.

Morale has been low, I can tell you that it is not all fun and games.

Photos of things like a really big tree

This is Andrea. This photo was takin at the luge run in Rotorua, in the interior of the north island. A lot of people will tell you that when you visit Rotorua you should see the large amount geothermal activity that occurs in the area. This is wrong. Upon arrival in Rotorua, you shall proceed directley to the luge track , pay your money and instantely the fun will begin. I can honestly say that I would fly around the world, to do this (this is my actual reason for returning to NZ after a six year hiatus). It is the best thing EVAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In fact I will come back ina month when a new track opens up. That is correct Scuba, A NEW TRACK! Look closley at the glee on Andis face, you should be able to see it.

Dion doing his best to look cool...


Once you make it all the way to the bottom you ride a chairlift back up, th eluge carts are hanging from the bottom of the chairlift. I reckon COP could make a go of this and make a mint of money as well.

This is what happens when you park your car on 90 mile beach and let the tide come in. I guess this dude got caught in deep dry sand. He was stuck and it was only a matter of time before the tide came in an ran a clinic in car ruining.

Artsy Raglan shot...

A Photo of the Raglan point break doing what it does, breaking at a point. There was a lot of water moving around that day, a bit messy. I mostly watched.

This is my girlfriend, can you see why I date her? Beaut isn't she?

This is Dion at Raglan. This was approximatly 30 mins prior to his 15 minute paddle that saw him, rip a fin out if his surf board and punch a plug through the top deck. That is tech talk for Dion f*&%ked up his board. Oh yah, I am growing my moustache out for MOVEMBER. Google it when you should be working to find out what it is all about. This is week two, Gordy you should be impressed that your son at the age of 30 can now pump out a moustache in 2 weeks.

Meet PY, our car, its a 4WD. It is red and awesome. Did I mention it is 4WD? This is PY at the Raglan Point, Manu Bay.

Here is the really Big Tree, in fact its the biggest tree in NZ. It is called a Kauri and before the greenies got ahold of the idea of chopping them down they yielded the most merchanable timber per tree in the world. Its a big tree...

Just an Update

We bought a car. Yep a 1991 Toyota Carolla Wagon, and it is 4WD! It is red and awesome. I'd have photos for you if Andi didn't take the car and camera off to work with her today. Oh yeah we have jobs too. Well had jobs, I did my last shift yesterday and Andi is quitting today. I worked a total of 9 hrs and she has held on for 24 hrs. It is tough to work really, i find it so boring and degrading performing a sandwich making service for money.

Actually we are just helping out a small cafe in town for a few days so the owners can take a breather. I make sandwiches for the school kids across the street and Andi makes coffees for the walk ups. SUPER easy work, i reckon one person could handle the entire operation but there are four of us there to make sure it all goes to spek.

We are in a town in the far north called ahipara (http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?hl=en&q=ahipara%20NZ&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=il) in the far north of NZ. We took a trip up the cape to the end of NZ, Cape Reinga. On this trip there was sandboarding, picture taking, big trees, old big trees in swamps, a giant chainsaw and a drive along a big ass beach in a bus. It was good, photos to come in another post. I think we will be heading south from here tomorrow and go back to Whangerie for one night at Bob and Elen's house (Andi's grandfathers brother) before we head even further south to maybe Raglan. I bought a wetsuit and there is nothing stopping me from surfing now...except the presence of waves.

More later, stay tuned.

Got a phone number

Hey kids,

you can reach me at 021 176 8055. This is my cell number. I am not sure of the country code in order to get through to me though. I think it is 011 64... then my number. I could be wrong. That said I have send out a couple of txt messages back to a couple of people, maybe they can jot down the full code in the comments needed to get through to me or to send a text message.

EDIT: Yes you need to dial 011 64 21 176 8055. If you send a text message try either the number i just listed or +6421 176 8055. That should get your message onwards to me.

Ode to a Travel Book

Just two weeks ago you were a beaming brand new book full of information. Bought for a mere 30.95 CAD you have led us towards great adventure, food and accommodations. In return we have folded, thrown, packed, bent and soaked you. You now bear the wounds of a well seasoned book fit for the shelves of a second hand store. That said we will not discard you, that would be cruel. No, you are bound for the bookshelf at home. Your final resting place will be among the other champions of the past like; Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Australia and the South Pacific the 3rd Edition. Today you fade to the hall of legends, I say thank you for your weeks of service.

Samoan Fia Fia Night

One of the nights that we were delayed in samoa we had a chance to see a Traditional Samoan Fia Fia. A good thing that came out of the delay as I wanted to see this awesome traditional dance! This is basically the Polynesian dances that you have seen in movies. This one has the men and women dancing together on the stage while there are loud drums playing in the background. All in all, it was about 1 and a half hours of dancing and this is what started it.

After this the lights when down and the fire dancers came out for their portion of the show. It was SO SO cool to see their talents!! They had to warn the front row just in case the fire spread... it never did and they looked in complete control the whole time. A few of the men barely looked over 16 years old!!

A really cool evening to remember!

Ongoing Samoa...

I apologize for the order here but with things being backlogged due to the incrediably shitty internet available in the islands.

Anyway we have a story to tell...

Dear Air New Zealand you suck for the following reason:

1. THE FIFTY (50) HOUR DELAY LEAVING SAMOA!!!!!!

Yeah that is correct, we were handing a delightful handful of sit around and wait for two entire days before we got the chance to board the plane and head onto Tonga. With hindsight we should have stayed in Samoa for longer with Tonga being a less desirable place but here were are.

Lets go back to the begining...

Wednesday 4:30 AM: Wake up and head to airport for flight at 6:30 AM.

5:00 AM: Arrive to a completely closed port, no plane it forgot to come from Los Angeles. We know now that it was a faulty fuel pump and the plane was not allowed to fly from LA.

6:30 AM leave airport and head back to Apia (the capital of Samoa) which is a 30 minute bus ride.

7:00 - 9:00 AM - Drop bags back at hotel, get breakfast head to Air NZ to find out just WTF is going on. Get informed that flight is delayed until 11:30pm Wednesday night. We get comp our hotel room and money to take taxi back to airport. We then made friends with a couple of other backpackers in order to save money on taxi fair and spent the balance on beer.

8:00 PM: Head back to airport, check in and clear customs.

11:00 PM: Board plane, do saftey check, and wait.

11:30 PM: Get announcement from captain stating that they were conducting more tests on the same fuel pump to see if it was fit to fly onto Tonga...guess what nope. Everybody deplanes into the terminal.

12:30 AM Thursday: Blankets and pillows from plane are handed out to passengers freezing in the air conditioned airport.

1:30 AM: Snacks handed out from plane to starving passengers in airport terminal.

2:00 AM: Flight is cancelled! We are then told we will be put up for the night at a hotel. This takes and hour to sort out who is going where.

3:00 AM: Leave airport after a serious amount of bullshit waiting around.

4:00 AM: Arrive at 4 star hotel with pool and head to room.

4:30 AM: Go to sleep with assurance that we will be informed when to come back to the reception to get back on the shuttle to the port for our flight which is supposed to be leaving at 1:00 PM.

12:30 PM: Wake up and find out that the flight will not be leaving at the 3:00 PM time, which change while we all were alseep.

1:45 PM: Get informed from other passengers who went to Air NZ office that we will now be leaving at 5:40 AM Friday. Also told we have a 35 dollar per meal allowance at the resturant and we need to be at reception for 3:00 AM to get shuttle.

Spend afternoon at pool.

8:00 PM: Told shuttle is now leaving at 1:00 AM.

10:00 PM: Try to go to bed, no sleep.

1:00 AM Friday: Get up and head to shutte.

1:30 AM: Leave hotel.

2:30 AM: Arrive at airport and line up.

3:15 AM: Check in system goes down.

6:00 AM: Finally clear check in, security and board plane.

7:00 AM: Lift off.

In the end it worked out to be a serious screw up and we were along for the ride. The worst part of it all was the lack of custormer service from Air New Zealand. Not once from the begining of the ordeal to the end was there a posted notice at the hotel or personale available from Air New Zealand to infom us of what was going on. It was all ruomour and hearsay. You had to go their office to get the details. Me = unstoked!

Tonga....Grrrr

Ok where was I

oh right...

Tonga, you suck for the following reasons:

• Theft - it happens in your country, to me and Andrea to the tune of $300 CAD. Stay out of my hut while I am eating dinner assholes!



• Friends Cafe in Nuku a Lofa, got us both sick a mere 6 hours after landing on your soil, we spent the next 2 days in bed.



• EVERYTHING closing on a sunday - church is not THAT important!!!! (this includes all food outlets, not even water for purchase). It was 3 before we finally found a bakery open, the only place in capital city!



• GOLD TEETH look ugly, stop doing it Tongans.



• No surf



• Almost dening me boarding to the airplane because of NZ errors on my work visa - appenently I was listed as a female on the NZ records, what the hell is that all about.



• $100 US flight change fee



• Gross dogs everywhere...



• Seagrass



• Colder water, it was only 26 C



• No turtles



• Yachties - driving up the prices for everything. A package of pepper for example should not cost $4.00 CAD.

We left a week early, the grass is greener in Auckland.

I have one good thing to say about Tonga, one island we went to had a ship wreck that you could snorkel around. I saw fish. See the photo below. The resturant is called BIG MAMAS YACHT CLUB RESTURANT. Do not stay there is you want to be stolen from...tell your friends.

Coconut goes Boom!

Actual qoute from Dion.:

"I blowed them coconuts up good!"

Dear Tonga,

You suck for the following reasons:

to be continued...

Palolo Rising

This is a story of how the Samoan People fish for a certain coral based worm that rises from the sea bed twice a year, 7 days after the full moon in October and November in fact. We were on the island of Savaii and all geared up to help the people go and fish for the sea based worm called Palolo (Pah-lo-lo). In order to catch the worm we needed to wake up at 4 AM and wade out into the lagoon (shallow water in between fringe reef and beach) and scoop them up with a skimmer and place in bucket. The lagoon was filled that morning with heaps of Samoans marking their territory for their chance to obtain this worm, the caviar of the Pacific. It looked as though it was a National Geographic film with all of the sillouttes of people wading in the waist deep water in the twighlight of the Pacific morning...at least that is what I am told.

We never made it up that morning because we met a Canadian couple that were from Toronto. As with any conversation with Canadians overseas it quickly led to a dispute about hockey. So we stayed up and drank rum and I continuely berated this couple for cheering for the lousy franchise located in Toronto. Needless to say, I slept through the wake up call of crashing buckets and outrigger canoe launches. But I did manage to wake up to a hangover, and a good one at that.

To make matters worse the next day was a travel day back to the main island. This was inclusive of leg one; a 45 minute van ride down windy roads along the coast spotted with random speed bumps. We machositically choose the back seats. Upon arrival at our destination we embarked on leg two; a 1.5 hour ride across a bumpy sea on a ferry loaded with large trucks. the boat lurched and listed, as did our stomaches. And to top it all off it rained...HARD! We were soaked, as was all of our luggage. Upon arrival, we needed to catch another taxi for yet another 30 minute ride. The taxi was a pickup with no topper for our luggage. Because it was the last taxi available we had no choice but to take it. Our luggage did a wonderful impression of a sponge and soaked up all the available water it could. The day was a memorable one.

The moral of the Palolo fish... When met with a one in a lifetime chance to experiance a significant cultural experiance, always make sure the hockey fans in Toronto know that they are just plain wrong!

Beautiful Samoa

The whole week... and 1 day, has gone by in Samoa and we have been so busy lying around on the beach... Dion finished 3 books!!.. that we haven't been able to post a few pics of what life is like for a Samoan. After a day in the big city of Apia, we headed off to another island, Savaii, and checked into our 'Beach Fale' for the night.



As you can see, it was a spectatular beach hut raised over the lagoon, with plenty of fish swimming in the reef below. A great place!! Once I got used to the geckos on the roof. :)


After a few nights here tired of the spot and headed up the coast to check out a few more fales. Below is pretty much what most of the country looks like... pristine white sand and the bluest water I have ever seen!

We made a stop at the local blow holes and I think this has been Dion's highlight of the trip so far as we were able to get close to these holes in the sea wall and throw in a few coconuts. The blow holes look like geysers from a far but are actually holes in the lava along the coast that blow up the sea water as the waves come in. Movie to follow.... Internet too shitty here to upload. :(

After 4 nights on the other island we headed back to the Main Island where we rented a car and headed up the coast for more sight seeing. We stumbled upon this awesome place that was a lava tube cave. Basically, that means a cave that connects to the ocean and fills up with sea water as the waves crash in. It was like being swirled around in this 50 feet DEEP swimming hole. Being slightly afraid of heights, the huge ladder was a bit much to climb down, but it was totally worth the hike. You can see a very small me at the very top of the ladder here to get an idea of how far it was below!

That is it for me, I want to post this short note before the internet crashes again. Hopefully once we hit New Zealand we will be able to post a few of the videos that we have taken. Hope all is well and winter hasn't fully hit yet!!

Samoa, South Pacific Islands

Ok Kids...

Has everybody found Samoa in Google Earth? Good... so you know that it is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, right? An Ocean that is bigger than all other Oceans put together, right? So you understand that when in Samoa things sometimes run a little different, right?

Kids: Well no what do you mean?

Us: Example the first...

9:00 pm last night: Andrea and Dion were talking to the boss of the Valentine hotel..." you can get us a taxi to the airport for 4:00 am correct?"

Boss: "Yes no problem, we will even wake you up at 3:45 AM with a knock on the door"

Us: Perfect...

fast forward to 4:30 AM... we wake up, with no knock on the door...PANIC!!!!!! We jump out of bed and secured a taxi and were off to the airport for our flight at 6:20 AM. The airport being a good 30-40 mins out of town we still had lots of time but it was a bit of a heart stopper to realize that we just about screwed ourselves.

5:oo AM: Arrive at airport to find that nothing is open and that Air New Zealand forgot to send the only flight off the island for the week! Yea that is correct, no airplane, no Air NZ reps and a terminal full of confused Palangi (Samoa word for Tourist). We got word that the plane had mechanical problems in L.A. and was never sent out leaving us stranded at the airport! So here we are now, with a full day to kill in the capital (Apia, Samoa) until the new plane leave tonight at 11:15 PM. We fly to Tonga and cross the international date line which means that we will completely lose the day of October 23rd, 2008....whooomp it's gone!

So that is the current update as of today...

the way this blog works, read above for the things we have done and seen in the last week or so...

Hope all is well!

"Two kids who did"

If your going to San Francisco...

Today was our second day in San Fran, we went to Alcatraz aka "The Rock". It was pretty cool... even though Nick Cage has stepped foot on the island. I figured I would go beyond my personal ban of going somewhere that Nick Cage has been because it is a National Park.

Enough about history though... the highlight so far was the barking Sea Lions at Pier 39.

Did you know about these Sea Lion Facts?

1. Sea Lions Range on the Pacific Coast from Vancouver to the southern tip of Baja
2. Grown males reach 850 lbs and 7 Feet in length, females can grow to 240lbs and 6 feet in length
3. Sea Lions in the wild may live up to 20-30 years
4. One of the biggest dangers to Sea Lions today is becoming entangled in plastic pollution
5. Sea Lions have external ear flaps, seals do not!
6. Sea Lions will bite if provoked

I asked a local what "provoked" meant, he mentioned something about subjecting them to the redneck musings of hockey mom Sarah Palin.





Oh Yeah... We have seen a lot of bums, hitched rides on the cable cars, walked the worlds crookedest street and tried our hand at crab legs too!

Getting Ready

So here is the deal. Personally I am fed up with certain seasons. Winter I am looking at you. Constantly sucking, year after year. I am tired of your bare trees and blankets of snow. I've had enough and I have convinced the girlfriend to head for greener pastures. Tomorrow AM we leave for a good seven months. First leg of the tour will bring us into the heart of rice a roni country, San Francisco. Don't kill me if that is spelt wrong, I've been trying for a month and cannot manage to get it right. But I don't really care to be honest.

After San Fran (note the ultra hip nickname - for spelling reasons) we are off to the small island group called Samoa. Deep in the centre of Polynesia we will be surrounded by the lush mountains of the rain forest and vibrant and jagged corals of the deep blue. We have a week here to do, well nothing really. I guess that is what retirement is all about. I have my surfboard in tow and Andi is bound and determined to dine on fresh coconuts acquired from the beach.

After Samoa we head south and west across the international date line to the Kingdom of Tonga. We have two weeks here, see above for intended itineraries.

New Zealand is our destination for the first leg of this trip. We have work visas, and no real idea of what kind of work we are going to do. Andi wants to make Lattes, Dion reckons swinging a hammer might be good for him. Well see what happens, the road ahead is about as clear as San Fran on a warm night.

Stay tuned for more musings from the two kids who did...

Calgary

Well we are definitely getting excited! 2 More sleeps until we fly to San Francisco.
We leave for San Fran Oct 12
Then to Samoa, a little island in the South Pacific on Oct 14
Check it out at http://www.samoa.travel/
Then to Tonga, another little island in the South Pacific on Oct23
Check it out at http://www.tongaholiday.com/

We get into New Zealand on Nov 5!

We had a great time out in Ontario and are hoping to post pictures before we take off!