Adventures of Julie-uli-uli & Captain Obvious

From the beginning of May to mid-July we have (or will have) spent time in the following places:

• Philadelphia
• South Florida
• Michigan
• Baltimore
• Charlotte
• Orlando

I'm going to need a(nother) vacation...

So, cousin E suggested that I participate in NaBlPoMo (that's it, right?) where you post every day for a month. Traveling has put a bit of a kink in our plans. You know, the whole 7 to 11 hours per day in a car for the past few days, stopping every two for bathroom breaks for a certain pregnant woman ;) - that whole thing isn't really conducive to posting. So, I lied.

The past two days' posts were not technically posted on their respective days, but they were written (at least mentally) on those days. Whatever. I'll try to post more.

We went out to Assateague Island, MD for the weekend so CO could get some of the hurricane swell. (Ask him for how that works...)

I caught a few good pics of him surfing...

This is our news update for the past month or so...

- We found a house in DC and signed a 2 year lease. It's in one of my favorite little cities just outside DC and the house is cute. We'll have 3 bedrooms, so come on over for a visit!

- CO had a great time on his surf trip to Central America and he didn't come back with any diseases!

- We've been relaxing in Florida with CO's family. He's out golfing with his dad, brother, and sister now. I've been busy trying to get things in order for nursing school. It isn't working so well.

- We go back to DC this weekend, and CO starts work officially on Monday. Our playtime is over :(

I think that's about it for now :)

CO had a conference in San Antonio (or "spanish tonio" as my niece says) a few weeks ago, and since we're technically homeless now, I tagged along and explored the city. I enjoyed the River Walk, the Alamo (she was amazed I saw Elmo!), and the snow cones in Alamo Plaza (though they've got NOTHING on shave ice). We also met up with one of CO's old Coast Guard buddies and his family, who live in San Antonio.

Well, we're alive. CO has passed all of his exams, written all of his papers, and graduated with an MBA. (I'll try to post pictures of graduation soon - but most of you have seen them on facebook). The movers have come and gone, and we are homeless yet again for a few days. We bid goodbye to our friends and home in Nashville, and headed up north to see my family.

We arrived in Michigan in time to see my cousin's wedding - it was beautiful and it's good to be able to catch up with family. Plus, the wedding was at Windmill Island (it has a big Windmill) so it was really pretty with all of the blooming tulips and Dutch stuff around. They had windmill cookies (speculaas) for favors, so my family has been enjoying them for the past few days- even CO who is not usually too keen on sweets.

In other big news, I donated 10 inches of my hair to locks of love when I got it cut! I had been itching for a change, and I thought I might as well do it. I'll post pictures soon. CO could barely recognize me when he came to pick me up from the hair salon.

CO and I start our drive out East tomorrow, so we're relaxing today and catching up on laundry. We also are trying to repack our car and make sure all of our random things fit...

We'll take two days to drive, and once arriving, will have three days or so to look for houses before CO reports to work. (Hello - he had to report 2 weeks after he graduated?) But, I think we'll get a few weeks of leave this summer so he'll be able to go on the surf trip I promised him for his graduation present.

It's a little chaotic, but all good :) I'll try to keep you updated when I can.

In our seemingly unending moving, I have found the following in foreign currency:

- 57 Brazilian Reais
- 5 British Pounds
- 220 Mexican Pesos
- 25 Canadian Dollars
- 100 Costa Rican Colones
- 10 Turkish Lira
- 5 New Zealand Dollars
- 50 Euros

... and that's not even counting the coins or the Australian money we have.

Any one want to guess (not using a currency converter) truly guess how much it's worth in US Dollars?? I'll send a prize to the closest person who I don't think cheated.

We're in Auckland, and tomorrow we fly back to Melbourne. It's been a great holiday - I have tons of pictures and cool experiences to share. We're excited to reconnect with people in Melbourne once we return, and are sad that our time there is coming to an end. But, we are super-excited to see the family in USA :)

Here are a few pictures from our trip thus far :)

Hello!

Yesterday we drove from Hokitika to the glaciers. It was so cool to see huge things of ice, kilometers long, making their way down mountains! We didn't get to hike too close to them, or on them. We could have at Franz Joseph, but heard it was better at Fox Glacier. So, we drove on to Fox, and all of the public access points were closed due to construction or flooding. Grrr. The only people who could get through were the paid tours. Paid tours that started at $90/person. Um, thanks, but no thanks! We did get in a few good hikes, tramps, if you will, that were pretty cool.

We drove on to Haast, and had a great dinner at a local pub.

Today we drove from Haast through the Haast Pass. It really reminded us of Hawaii - lush green foliage, including big tree ferns and hala. It rained most of the day, and is still raining now. I hope it clears up soon, but hey, that's what makes everything so green, so I'll take it.

The town of Wanaka is pretty cool - it's a ski/resort town in the mountains. We ate lunch there, and it looked cute, even in the rain.

I'm a little disappointed because we don't have enough budgeted to go jetboating, but I'll get over that. It looked like a really cool trip - Dart River Jetboat Safari. CO says I'm whining like a spoiled brat. That could be true, I suppose.

It's kind of funny, after being in OZ for a while, I am beginning to be able to tell different accents - like between British, Aussie, and Kiwi. It's kind of fun. I wish I could imitate them, but alas, no such luck.

Until next time...

We have internet access in our hotel in Hokitika :)

We arrived in Christchurch, full from a meal on the plane. Air New Zealand is fabulous! One of our friends from Melbourne, A, used to fly with them and I could picture her being one of our air hostesses.

Christchurch really has an English feel about it, I think. We found it to be really cute. We didn't stay there long - just overnight- but it was adorable. I can only imagine how cute Lyttleton and Akaroa are... go there if you have a chance!

Today we drove across Arthur's Pass and did a hike in the National Park there. Talk about wonderful views from the moment we left Christchurch! It was one of the best drives we've taken. Hiking in the middle was good too - it helped break up what could have been a long day in the car. We're in Hokitika now and it's pretty good. We ate dinner tonight at Stumper's and it was good and cheap. We might go ponunamu (greenstone) shopping tomorrow!

It's odd how much NZ reminds me of Hawaii. The terrain is beautiful, it's green and volcanic, and the ocean is breathtaking.

I can't wait for the adventures tomorrow will bring!

It's that time folks, that dreaded time, where I face my worst fear. Packing. And this time, the military isn't here to help me out. Sad day.

We're entering our last few weeks in the southern hemisphere, and packing up all of the stuff we have accumulated in the past few months. And it's A LOT. We leave tomorrow to go to New Zealand for a while, and I'm not sure if/when I'll have internet access next. We'll be staying at the cheap hotels, so Free Wi-Fi is probably not included. I'm excited to see what adventures we will have there!

I am also proud to announce that Christmas presents for CO's family are in the mail. Seriously. It's nice to have that bit of shopping done and over!

Oh, sisters, presents are on! Respond to the email I sent, please :)

Yeah, who ever thought of the "silent r" was genius...

I headed up to Cairns this weekend and it's tropical - so it reminds me of Hawai'i. Gosh, I miss that place.

I'm excited to take a trip out to the great barrier reef - really quite excited, as a matter of fact.

But, I find that on my trips without CO, things go wrong. Things like oops, all of my travel info is at the travel agent's still. Whoops. Things like oh yeah, 5 minutes before I'm supposed to board a massive thunderstorm rolls through the city. Yup. Happened today. But it all worked out, and I explored the city of Cairns today and bought some essentials (aka towel, 30+ sunscreen, Coco Chex- my new fav).

I had a great dinner tonight - mahimahi! Mmmm! Again, I sat, eating my mahimahi, looking at plumeria and palm trees, and past those to the ocean and Hawai'i felt so close, yet so far away. But in case you come to Cairns, go to Splash for dinner. Affordable and good food :) Yay!

Well, I had better go to my room and get some sleep - the tour leaves early tomorrow - Later!

CO and I have made friends with a couple of Kiwis, or people from New Zealand, through our church. We had them over for dinner the other night, and we told them we're planning a trip to NZ in the next few months. I've already done some research, but it's always good to get advice from someone from that country. Anyway, we're sitting there and the woman says to us, "You guys are the kind that would like tramping. Oh, honey, we know some good tramps to recommend to them!" She went on for a while about how she knew a lot of good tramps all over New Zealand.


Ha. In New Zealand, tramping means hiking. But you should have seen CO's face...

CO and I watch travel shows. It cracks us up because one is offering a series of free trips that you can win. And the destinations? France, Italy, the Mediterranean and a great US destination - Texas! Ha! Really, Texas is the best they could come up with for the US? Heaven help us.

- Blue cheese dressing, and ranch for that matter
- Hot sauce
- Lucky Charms (unless you want to pay $13/box)
- Sour Patch Kids or any good sour gummy snacks
- Chocolate & Peanut butter treats - ie Reese's PB cups, Reese's Pieces, PB M&M's
- Corn Meal
- Canned Pumpkin

Just FYI...

Ha. Not really. Those are just some of the things we saw on our trip down The Great Ocean Road.

Dh doesn't start school until tomorrow (Thursday), so we took a few days (Monday and Tuesday) and explored the southern coastline. We took the Great Ocean Road from its start in Tourquay to Port Campbell.