November: Down Under and Back Again

Less than two week after moving in to our new house, we were off world-traveling. As I mentioned before, we planned an epic adventure to New Zealand and Australia, with the best layover in Taiwan. We took hundreds of photos, so I'm only going to put a few highlights on here. Head to Facebook or message me for more!

November 7, Day 1: Tai Pei

It started with a crazy taxi ride by a woman who runs her own business- and got a ticket with us in the car. Then we got to the airport and learned we needed more military documentation than we had. One of the chaplains rushed to our house, then the airport, to bring us what we needed. We barely made the plane!

An hour and a half flight dropped us off in Taiwan for a 10 hour layover. So naturally we went out and explored. 

This is the Chiang Kai Shek memorial. We spent all of the afternoon getting to here and exploring. There were several museums on the side.

November 8, Day 2: Travel

This day was spent entirely in transit. We flew from Tai Pei to Sydney for a brief layover, then on to Auckland. We picked up our rental car. grabbed dinner in a Burger King (they call it take away instead of to go), and drove to a holiday park, arriving much later than the check in, which we were unaware of. But we did get in and spent a cold night in a place that did not at all look like the pictures...

November 9, Day 3: Hobbiton and Waitomo

The real fun begins! First thing, we had to find a grocery store to get some breakfast. Easier said than done. New Zealand is very rural, but gorgeous everywhere. We spent the day exploring Hobbiton, a dream come true, and visiting Rotura and glow worm caves in Waitomo. That evening, we drove to Waiuku and spent the night in a trendy little suite we found on Air B&B, a site where individuals can rent out extra space.

November 10, Day 4: Waiuku and Auckland

We bought breakfast in a tiny bakery, then headed to a black sand beach. Due to the iron in the area, the beaches on the west side of New Zealand's north island literally have black sand. We enjoyed our breakfast there, and spent a long time wandering in the hot sand. The rest of the afternoon we spend exploring the giant city of Auckland, which was very clean and culturally diverse. We caught an evening flight, which ended up having us spend the night in the Brisbane airport.

November 11, Day 5; Cairns

After our early flight got in, we got our rental car and checked in at another Air B&B place , a neat cabin set into a hillside. Our host was very helpful and pointed out some places to eat and visit. We got lunch where she suggested, then drove up a mountain in Barron Gorge Park to Kuranda, a village with several different things to see. We walked around in it, and spent a long time in the butterfly sanctuary. We also jumped into a freezing creek. We spent the evening exploring downtown Cairns, and watching hundreds of bats fly overhead as we ate dinner outside.

November 12, Day 6: Great Barrier Reef

Something from the bucket list! We spent all day on a boat, diving, snorkeling, eating, relaxing, and getting a terrible sunburn even with loads of sunscreen. We walked around downtown again and enjoyed a great Greek dinner.

November 13, Day 7: Sydney

We took a very early flight down to Sydney. Although we had originally planned to use public transportation, we ended up getting a rental car when we saw how long the buses took to get everywhere. We spent the day at Taronga Zoo, seeing some fantastic shows and animals too big for little Okinawa. We stayed in a brand new hotel, the first Americans in there, and enjoyed the busy area.

November 14, Day 8: The Finale

We got pastries for breakfast from a bakery across the street from us, then drove out to Featherdale Wildlife Park. This was very different from the zoo, as we got to touch and feed lots of animals. It was the experience of a lifetime. After that, we rushed to Sea Life Aquarium in the harbor, since aquariums are our thing now. Lots of neat things to see there too. We briefly went back to the hotel room to clean up, then headed out for an unforgettable evening at the Sydney Opera House, seeing Shakespeare's Henry the Fifth.

November 15, Day 9: Flying

We flew from Sydney to Auckland to catch our round trip flight, then back to Sydney for a layover, then all the way to Tai Pei for another long layover. All day in flight.

November 16, Day 10: Tai Pei and Home

We spent this afternoon with Gem, a college friend who now teaches English in Taiwan. Nathan's wallet got left on the bus, so we spent a good portion of the day using Gem's Chinese skills to get it back. The rest of the day, we explored the underground malls in the train stations, which were rather tricky to navigate. Finally, we took an evening flight back to our own Okinawa, where a friend picked us up and brought us home. 

So much more happened and there are so many little stories I could tell, but I think you get the idea that it was the trip of a lifetime.