Wylie and spent a long time feeding our corn to the wallabies.
I kissed one while it was eating. I bet the wallabies get kissed very often.
This wallaby had a very funny looking joey in its pouch, it wasn’t very fluffy but still very cute.
Dad filling up the wallabies hungry bellies.
Giving the last of our food away. It was hard saying goodbye to them. I think we will see them again though, hopefully in our house 🙂 – Aimee
On May 13th we decieded to go stop by the Billabong Koala Park hoping to see all the animals on our check list for Australia and pet some koalas. Little did we know we would get to feed wallabies, wallaroos, and kangaroos and also pet dingos. – Aimee
Me petting a super fluffy koala. This was was one of the only ones that was lazy enough to let the zoo keeper pull him off his tree.
We love the koalas…
And the dingos
We even got to pet them.
We stayed at the Ocean Breeze Resort. It was right in town and a 1 minute walk to the beach.
The little town of Noosa.
The main beach in town.
Our cute little apartment.
Harper is the town Koala. You can spot him in different eucalyptus trees around town.
The beginning of the coastal walkway out of Noosa.
Lake Pukake
Lake Tekapo
Roadside Friends
Magnet Bay
Akaroa
The Franz Josef Glacier and the Fox Glacier are located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West coast of the South Island, NZ. You can hike from the temperate rain forest to the base of the glaciers in about 45 minutes.
Greymouth
When we arrived at Greymouth, the only waves to surf were concrete.
National Kiwi Center, Hokitika, West Coast, South Island
Kiwis are New Zealand’s national bird. We had no idea that they are nocturnal and rarely seen by humans. We ended up going to the National Kiwi Center that keeps a couple of Kiwis at a time in captivity. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to photograph them. The center also has a tank of giant eels, like the ones we saw in the rivers of Tahiti. In an attempt to get over our fear of them, we fed them. I’m not sure if it helped or made it worse.
Willie needed a quick surf fix, so he randomly turned down this dirt road called “Beach Street”. We found a gnarly beach break and a beautiful place to camp for the night. A local later told us that he had never seen any one surf this break. Hmmm…I wonder why?
As if the waves weren’t gnarly enough, these large pieces of drift wood were floating in the water.
Aimee surfing the driftwood.
Sunset with driftwood.
We woke in the morning to our first view of Mt. Cook.
While the boys were still out surfing Raglan, Aimee and I walked up on the rocks to take some photos of the sunset. Rarely do you get to see a complete sphere setting over the horizon. I snapped a few photos and turned around to find a full moon rising in the eastern sky. We sat there awe struck and then started video taping.
We spent a few days at Raglan. It never got that good, but we had a lot of fun.
Heading out.
Willie on a wave.
Wylie on a nice long left.
Looking down on Raglan.
Family surf at Ngarunui beach break near Raglan.
One day we rented a motor boat and circumnavigated the island. What an adventure!
Our little “put-put” packed with surfboards, snorkel gear, and lunch.
Wylie navigating through the reefs like a local.
Shortly after debarking from our house, we spotted a remote island with a white sandy beach and beautiful clear waters – an invitation we couldn’t refuse. There appeared to be no one on the island, but as we approached the sandy beach, a dark skinned gentleman in a bright neon green t-shirt walked out to greet us. It turned out that he was hired by the President to keep watch over the island. He gave us a little jungle tour , cut open a coconut for us and we were off to enjoy the rest of our day.
The perfect picnic spot.
We pulled out our lunch and sat at the table that was placed about ankle deep in the water. Within minutes we had hundreds of little fish swimming around our feet, tickling our toes.
I love this video!!!! I think you will, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6p0Pp7WUmQ&feature=youtu.be
After sadly saying goodbye to the fishies, we continued on to a local surf spot where we found a pack of groms catching waist high waves over a very shallow reef. I was pretty nervous about dinging my new board, but I couldn’t pass up surfing with the pack whose mean age was probably 10 years old. Once I got out into the line up, I asked them how they all were in French – “Comment allez-vous?” and in unison, they all replied “Bien!” From that point on we communicated with the universal language of a smile. I couldn’t believe that these guys surfed at this shallow reef on their broken up surf boards and boogie boards. It kind of freaked me out after riding a wave and looking down at the reef about 6 inches below the water’s surface.
One of their Dads was in a motorboat anchored nearby as their support crew. They would surf a little and then paddle over to the boat for snacks of papaya and other tropical treats. My favorite thing was when they were all out in the water and broke out into spontaneous singing that lead to giggles and smiles from ear to ear. Now that is my kind of surfing!
Aimee surfing the local break with the groms.
The locals support crew.
Swimming back to the boat after some fun surfing.
Excerpt from my journal, March 9.
After leaving Moorea, we returned to our house in Teahupoo, Tahiti. Despite the bugs, we really liked Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti. Although it doesn’t have the white sandy beaches you see in all the postcards, its black sandy beaches, low lying coastal roads that seem to float on the lagoons, and steep, jagged mountains covered in dense green leafy forests give it a rustic beauty of its own. It also is home to one of the most well-known surf breaks in Tahiti – Teahupoo. Our house was within a 10-minute walk and 20-minute paddle to this world-class surf break. Although it wasn’t really “going off” during our stay, Willie and Wylie got a chance to ride “small” Teahupoo. Even when it’s small, it is a fast left, that breaks over a shallow reef. The potential for reef rash is high and screwing up your take off can prove painful for days to come. I wasn’t ready for Teahupoo, even when it was “small”. For Willie and Wylie, who had looked at endless videos of the pros riding this wave, it was a dream come true.
Walking to the surf.
The shark in the water we spotted before Wylie paddled out to Teahupoo.
Willie, apres surf at Teahupoo.
After spending a week on the island, we had driven on every main road exploring the sites, the sounds and people of Tahiti. We were told before traveling here that the people on the island of Tahiti still have “Aloha”. The natives here, more so than the other Tahitian islands we traveled to, were super friendly and welcoming. Unlike the surf in Hawaii where you can get “bad vibed” out of the water, it is customary to shake hands with everyone in the line up. People are always smiling and the sound of laughter is as common as the smell of Taire in the air.
Black sand beaches.
Lush jungles and waterfalls.
The smell of Tiare in the air.
Locals gathering at the river mouths.
Why we didn’t go in the rivers. Actually, the locals told us this fish is completely harmless and good to eat. We didn’t believe them.
Although Tahiti is part of French Polynesia, I was still surprised at how the French influence permeates through every part of their culture, from language to cuisine. Most people speak French, even if they know how to speak Tahitian. Their currency is the Pacific Franc and the baguette is a staple in their diet. Every day from morning until noon, people are walking home with their arms full of baguettes. They even have long cylindrical “mail” boxes for daily baguette deliveries. You can even buy baguettes at the Shell gas station! The supermarkets shelves are filled with French wines, the coolers with Brie and Camembert and the freezers with escargot. Stores close from noon until 2 daily and sometime never open again in the afternoon.
Aimee with her new found love….baguettes.
Baguettes were delivered daily to people in Tahiti Iti. They were put into a long cylinder outside peoples home or these fancy boxes. I want to bring this tradition back to Boulder!