the end is near

Here's what i've been cruising around in for the last month

what a sweet ride.  i loved it.  i'm back in Auckland now at the end of my journey, well almost.  On Friday i'm headed up to the bay of islands for a quick two day trip, then its off to Fiji for a week.  I can't believe i'll be back in the US in 12 days.  so strange.

on another note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful cous Sarah Michelle

Last day on earth?

So i heard on the news a few days ago that May 21st, the world was going to end.  A little crazy seeing as i'm over 10,000 miles away from home.  I of course think this is pretty silly, but in the back of my mind I kind of think..."hm is this true"?  Anyhoo, on a lighter note, new zealand is still going fabulously.  A few days ago I did a wine tour with a friend from my travel bus to the Marlborough region.  Its world famous for their sauvignon blanc.  Its what Helen and I drink all the time in the summer, so I had to go on a tour, it was just as great as it is on my roof, Heren!

I'm in Wellington right now which is supposed to be the San Francisco of New Zealand.  I wouldnt go that far, nothing can quite compare to my wonderful SF :), but it is a very nice city on a bay.  I hope to be able to come back to NZ sometime in the next few years.  I know its pretty easy to get a working visa, so I wouldnt be opposed to coming and working here for a few months and seeing it all again in the summer time.  I've had a lot of activities planned that have been cancelled because of the weather, so being able to do those again would be awesome.  One of the things I was supposed to do was to swim with dolphins, and was quite devestated when that got cancelled.  I'm headed to the very north part of NZ in a few days and am going to try that one again.

The end of the trip is coming very soon, i'll be back on us soil in less than three weeks.  I was going to do a road trip with Sara from SF to Indy, but she's now signed up for summer school so i'm taking volunteers for anyone that wants to join in on a road trip across the states at the end of June....anyone, anyone?  STACEY???

Missing you all and hope you're having a great start to the summer season.  NZ is nice and cold so i'm excited to come home to some warmer weather!!

Fantastic New Zealand!

New Zealand is absolutely spectacular!  It's one of the most beautiful places i've ever seen.  It has mountains and waterfalls and volcanoes and lakes everywhere.  The bus tour i'm doing has been pretty good.  It's been a great way to meet people and a good way to see the country.  I am currently in a town called Queenstown that is in a valley surrounded by mountains.  It's beautiful.  A few days ago I climbed a Glacier in Franz Josef National Park, maybe one of the coolest experiences I've had.  The next few weeks i'll be finishing up the south island of NZ and then making my way to Fiji.  I just booked my seven night package for there and i'm really excited about it.  Its been really chilly in NZ so it will be great to get back to warm weather before I head home. 

such a short blog, but my internet time is running out!

Who knew this could be such hard work?

Australia is really starting to wear me out. The expense of everything and the moving constantly to different places is gettig hard. It was work in Asia of course, but when there were tuk tuks everywhere wanting to drive you places for cheap it was easier. Oh well, on a positive note...I loved Sydney!

I met James and Nicole at their hostel which turned out to be fantastic. It had free wifi and breakfast and my dorm room was nice and quiet! We did some exploring and saw the harbor bridge, opera house, and bondi beach. We had an amazing sunny day so we got a much needed beach day. We also did a tour of the blue mountains which are called that because of the haze that the eucalyptus trees gives them. It's what I picture the grand canyon looking like thousands of years later. It's very beautiful. J&N left for Melbourne and I spent another nice day in manly- a town a ferry ride away.

Then off to Melbourne! I didn't plan that so well because I had about 5 days I'm Sydney and 10 in Melbourne, should have split it up better. I like Melbourne, it's more artsy here and a little more grunge than Sydney. Tonight I'm headed to Adelaide for two days then I'm off on a three day tour of the great ocean road. Then to new Zealand I go!!

I'm missing home more lately. Sad I'm not getting to see any of pregnant Sarah and have been thinking about being back more and more. I miss everyone and look forward to seeing you all again soon!

The land of OZ

Wow, I didnt realize it had been so long since I posted.  Its been almost three weeks!  A lot has happened since then.  The Gili's were amazing, so beautiful and small.  There are no cars there so it's just bicycles and horse and carriage which was really cool.  It takes two hours to walk around the biggest island, where I was which is Gili Trawangan.  I rented a bike one day and walked around the island another day and had some nice beach days in between.  No swimming which sucked because it was so hot there.  After the Gili's I came back to Bali and spent two miserable nights in Kuta.  That town is crazy.  Its so crowded and everyone is just trying to sell you something, like most places in Asia, it just seems way worse there.  Because of all the tourism, the beach is pretty dirty and trash just washes up which is so sad.  I paid way more than i should have to stay in a pretty crappy room.  Lets just say i was ready to get out of there. 

I flew to Perth in Western Australia next and really liked the city.  Its about the size of Indianapolis, and its clean and right on the water.  I stayed there for two nights and then headed to a small town about 20 minutes away called Freemantle.  I loved it there, it is quaint and has really nice beaches.  I stayed there for two more nights and then pack to Perth to fly out of the airport to Brisbane. 

I met Nicole and James in Brisbane and we explored the city on the first day.  We were all three exhausted so we crashed early.  The second day was amazing!  We went to the Koala sanctuary where we fed Kangaroos, petted Koalas and even got to hold one.  We loved it there, we were planning to head on the bus to Byron Bay that night but as most of you know, my backpack was stolen from the luggage room at the hotel.  So of course we stayed the night to try to sort that out.  It's really too bad because I really liked Brisbane as a city and now my main memory of that will be the stolen backpack.  I know i'll look back on this and it won't be a big deal, but right now it feels really hard. 

Next we took the bus down to Byron Bay which is a cute little beach town about three hours south of Brisbane.  I really liked the town, except its been raining on the east coast so there's not as much to do when its raining.  We got one good beach day though!  Now i'm in a small town called Port Macquarie and tonight i'm headed off to Sydney to meet back up with Nic and James.  I'm excited to see Sydney.  Should be fun!  Its nice to be in a country that speaks english and you can easily get around, but the cost of Australia is outrageous.  Cooking on your own and staying in dorms is necessary to not spend a rediculous amount of money. 

off to sydney now!  talk to you all soon 

OBAMA!

I've been in Indonesia for aout 11 days now and let me tell you, out of all the places i've been, i've never seen people more excited that i'm from america.  They love Obama!  He went to school in Java- one of the biggest islands and where the capital of indonesia is when he was a boy. 
Bali was pretty good, a lot more crowded than I expected.  We only spent two days in Legion which is close to the airport.  The traffic is crazy but it is a shoppers delight.  Many people who own shops in other countries must come to Bali because most places offer wholesale pricing.  The whole time I was there I thought about Stacey and how we needed to open a clothing/jewelry/art store at home and come to Bali to buy our goods!  Next we went to Ubud, supposedly much less crowded but I wasn't so sure about that.  so many cars and motorbikes, and everyone wants to give you a ride somewhere.  no one walks in these countries!  overall I feel like i didnt get to see much in Bali.  We spent most of our time hanging out with my dad's friend Sue, which was great, but I wish we would have done more exploring of the island.  Being with Sue was good because she knows everyone and where most everything is.  She also got me good deals when shopping because she owns her own shop in Indy and comes to Bali once a year to get all the goods.  She also introduced us to some great local people.  My favorite being her silversmith, Made.  Pronounced Mod-A.  He took us on a day trip to the north of Ubud and speaks great english so it was great to ask him many things about the Balinese culture.  He is the sweetest guy!  Sue kept wanting to hook me up with Made's 28 year old brother, who is apparently very cute!!  I never got the chance to meet him though.

My dad flew home and I came to Lombok, the island next to Bali.  I have made many Indonesian friends already.  everyone is so friendly and just wants to talk to you.  The beach is beautiful and the sand is almost a blackish gray, so cool.  the friends ive made have taken me to some good restaurants and one bar to watch live music.  one thing i noticed though is, they expect me to pay.  they ordered beers at the bar and then when the bill came they left me with it.  and at dinner, they dont offer to pay for what they ordered.  i understand that they see me as an american with a lot more money than them, but come on.  im unemployed here and they were the ones that wanted to go to the bar in the first place!  im going to have to cut down on hanging out with them if it requires me buying them dinner everyday.  I'm not sure what my next move is.  Im going to the Gili islands in a few days, just not sure what day.  I keep wanting to explore this island, but then get lazy during the day and just want to explore the town instead.  i borrowed a bicycle from a friend so i rode that around a bit today. 

as far as the leg goes, it got infected.  i just went to a clinic here and the doctor had to cut open the infected areas and clean it out, pretty painful.  i'm now on an antibiotic and an anti-inflamitory.  That also means no getting in the water which is so hard since its hot and i'm on the beach.  hopefully only another week of that. 

hope this long post makes up for the many days without it.  the usb i had to upload pictures is broken so sorry i can't put anything up.  i promise to make up for it when i'm home. 

i'll be internetless when i get to the gili's so sorry if i dont respond to emails, etc.  Miss you all

Emma

On to the next one, on to the next one....to Bali we go

Today is our last full day in Luang Prabang.  Its hot and humid here but its a cute little town so we've been exploring despite the heat.  Its a very obviously old French town.  so much french architecture and food.  The slow boat was good.  The first day we got to the boat and got a seat.  we thought everyone was on, the boat was about 75% full and then they loaded about 50 more people on.  The boat was Crammed.  There were people sitting in the aisles, on plastic chairs, and maybe even their luggage.  It was the only boat going out of Thailand that day so I'm assuming they just wanted to get as many people as possible.  It was not the best.  The slow boat is supposed to be a slow ride down the Mekong river just seeing the sights and relaxing.  It was not that.  there were about 30 drunk English 18-20 year olds on our boat singing and being obnoxious.  I was not impressed.  To say it put a damper on my experience is an understatement.  The next day I was expecting much of the same, but to our luck they had two smaller boats.  Most of the kids got on one boat and we almost RAN to the other boat.  It was so much better of a trip.  The boat was quiet and we got the experience we wanted.  We even saw elephants!!

We arrived in Luang Prabang and got a hotel and have just been exploring town ever since.  We rented bicicyles and road around yesterday and today we climbed up to a temple on the top of a mountain.  I am glad we stayed here for a few days, but will be ready to leave tomorrow.  There's not much to see here so its time to move on. We will have some big days of travel.  Flying to Vientienne, the capital of Laos tomorrow to catch the night train to Bangkok.  We will explore BKK on Sunday and then we fly to Bali monday.  Hopefully Bali is good, its rainy season and the weather is predicted as rain every day.  I hope thats not the reality b/c i would love to get a day or two of beach time before we head inland.

That's it for now.  Happy almost birthday to Helen and Brendo!!