Hi Everybody!

I know it has been a really long time since our last update, but I finally got around to getting the rest of our photographs uploaded and into galleries. Now that we're finished, there are 5126 pictures in 109 albums. That's sort of a lot huh? We've had to do some highlights albums for a few things so maybe we'll do a highlights gallery for the whole trip one of these days. Anyway, we're not quite done yet... Stay tuned for The Globies!

Ok, so I probably didn't actually kill the poor woman, but who knows, maybe she took a turn for the worse after we fled the scene of the crime. First off, let me explain that it wasn't my fault. Had it actually been my fault, I wouldn't have felt nearly as badly about the whole incident. Had I done it intentionally, I actually would have been quite proud of the simple elegance of the act. Sadly, it was simply a case of physics gone awry.

As Heather already explained, one of the reasons we visited New Zealand in the first place was to try some of the idiotic activities we had seen on The Amazing Race. With Sledging checked off my list (cold, but fun) we were off to try Zorbing. If you're lazy and haven't read the linked page from Heather's post, here's the short version: Strap into a harness inside a giant hamster ball. Roll. Heather went first. She made it look pretty easy. Get in, tighten up the straps, and then the dude pushes you down the hill, the zorb stops when it gets to the bottom of the hill and rolls up an embankment.

I thought, OK, no problem. Heather was giggling the whole time so I figured it must be fun. My zorbing experience was mostly the same but with one crucial difference, my zorb stopped when it bowled over one of the staff and then rolled up the embankment. I didn't feel a thing. When the staff photographer came to get me unstrapped and out of the Zorb, he was saying over his shoulder "No, I don't think she's OK, I think she needs help up" - had not a clue what he was talking about. I figured maybe a child was nervous about trying the Zorb and needed some prodding to get in or something. When I was finished doing silly photographer directed poses with my Zorb, I went over to Heather who could tell I had no idea what happened. Then she showed me the pictures. She had been shooting in continuous mode, so I got a frame by frame replay of the incident.

Brief Aside
Now seems like a good time to mention that we won't have any more picture galleries posted until after we get home. But I promise that will be my first priority after filing our taxes and eating ribs.
End Aside

We were actually able to trade the pictures Heather took of the incident for a free CD of the shots their photographer took of my Zorb. I felt really bad about the whole thing. I went inside their office to see if she was OK and she had clearly been crying, and looked to be in a lot of pain. I apologized, she said it wasn't my fault, but I don't think she really meant it. Some little part of her clearly blamed me. And some little part of me hopes she isn't dead. At least the pictures will make a cool souvenir for her (or next of kin) someday.

We spent the next couple of days driving around the northeast area of the North Island visiting geothermal features and sheep. We wound up liking NZ quite a lot and are anxious to return for a longer visit.

We left NZ on 9-17 for Tahiti. Crossing the international date line was a complete disappointment. First off, unlike the Equator, there is no visible line you cross. Nor does the journey back in time actually feel like anything. I was expecting some kind of a warp sensation, but not even a chill up the back of the neck. We did take a picture from the airplane window though.

It was strange being in Tahiti. It was the first time we had been anywhere familiar in 8 months. Unfortunately (or fortunately for the budget) we only had a few hours so we checked into the world's most expensive two star motel and then took a tour around the island after getting some much needed sleep. The management was actually really nice to us and gave us a 6pm checkout gratis. Our flight to Easter Island wasn't until 1am so we killed some time at Le Troi Brasseurs, a brewpub/pizzeria that was a favorite from our honeymoon.

I was lucky and managed to fall asleep before we even took off, but Heather was luckier and managed to snag a full three seat row to lay down in. We got about three hours of sleep on the plane and then were somewhat relieved to find that it was pouring rain in Easter Island so we could go back to sleep and not worry about missing much. Easter Island is really tiny. We rented a car which to our horror turned out to be manual. We got a crash course in stickmanship from the owner of the B&B we were staying at and managed to get the car around the island only stalling a few hundred times. The car was really messed up though, it wasn't all our fault. There are no automatic transmissions on the island to rent, so there are a lot of people that learn to drive stick in rental cars on Easter Island. I got a ton of pictures of the big spooky alien statues which will be posted in about a month.

We've spent the last two nights in Santiago. Again, we spent most of the time asleep. I think its actually worse to cross the pacific in a series of four poorly timed flihts than it is to just do it all at once and get it over with. We're just barely adjusted, but the good news is that we're back to Eastern Time, so very little jet lag from this point on. Huzzah. This evening we leave for Lima. Nine flights to go. Plus three flights on Sunday just to go see the Nazca Lines. I'm beat.

Okay, so we are big, fat liars. We never wound up writing about dinner at Yacout in Marrakech, our second week in Israel, cuddling pandas, or Hong Kong. We just get behind sometimes. But it just means that you can take us out to dinner and you'll hear fresh stories that you haven't already read here.

Always leave 'em wanting more.

Make sure you read this entire post, because there are special announcements at the end.

We are currently in Rotorua, New Zealand. We arrived here from Sydney, which was sometimes cold and usually rainy. It is Spring, after all.

Australia was great. Prior to Sydney, we were in Cairns and on the Great Barrier Reef. We spent three days and two nights on a very lovely boat. We went on nine dives and snorkelled once. It was a lot of fun and we got to see some great stuff. There's not much to describe about it really. I've found that it's very difficult to make a dive trip sound interesting to someone that wasn't there. I can tell you that wetsuits must be the standard issue uniform in Hell. We saw some big turtles. We saw some sharks. My mom asked what we did after we saw the shark that was swimming in the area. My response, "Chased it." It was too fast for us, though. Mom's confidence in my decision-making capabilities might be dwindling.

While on dry land in Cairns, we also cuddled a baby koala in this kind of weak wildlife dome on top of a casino. Very cute. Very sharp claws. It's a good thing koalas are so sleepy from being high on eucalyptus, otherwise, they'd be deadly. The coast is also covered by a rainforest. Someone got the bright idea to construct a cable car/skytrain/gondola thingy over it to this hippie town. So, we went on the 4.3-mile gondola ride, had lunch in hippie town, and took the scenic train back to Cairns. There were some nice waterfalls along the route, but they were pretty dried up.

Sydney, what can I say about Sydney? Not much, since I've never watched Alias. Ha. Actually, I can't say much about the city, either. It was raining most of the time. And almost everything that one wants to do in Sydney kind of depends on there being nice weather. We did spend a lot of time in the aquarium. Definitely one of the better ones I've seen. We also saw Clerks 2 and Snakes on a Plane after eating dinner at the Sushi Train. During the brief periods when the clouds parted, we managed to go line up our pictures of the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. And we discovered a "boutique beer cafe" called Red Oak that had some tasty beers and food. We got to talk to the brewer for a while, which was cool. Always like meeting a brewer.

So, now we're in New Zealand, where we have rented a car. It's a lot of fun getting used to the wrong side of the road. I didn't do much today. Matt went sledging, but I sat it out. I just don't like getting in cold water and getting splashed and swallowing half of it. Sledging is white-water rafting on a kickboard instead of a raft. Matt loved it. He wants his own sledge when he gets home. I don't know where he's going sledging, though. I guess we've got some rivers that are good for it. Who knows? Not my cup of tea, but I'm sure he'll tell you more about it. Tomorrow, we go Zorbing. That's when you get in a giant hamster ball and roll down a hill. It should be awesome. These are both activities we never would have heard of if not for The Amazing Race. Best. Show. Ever.

New-ish Photo Albums
Make sure you visit the Dubai and Southeast Asia photo albums. They've been up a while, and we're still in the process of getting Vietnam up there, but check them out.

Serenity is Gone
Serenity is gone. Big shout out to my Mom and Dad for getting her sold. Book that table at Sullivan's, because you are getting one delicious steak dinner for all your hard work! Seriously, I know they're glad it's out of the driveway. I know it was the last thing I wanted to see when I arrived home. Holla!

And now for some truly upsetting news...

We're Fat
Don't be alarmed. There's no reason to adjust your set. We just got fat while we were traveling. It happens. We have palates that seem adapted to all world cuisines. There just wasn't any food that we didn't like. Sure, we could have tried to keep the calories down on this trip, but where's the fun in that? Dieting is not what this trip is about. But it's all about dieting when we get home. After a 2-3 week binge at all of our favorite restaurants that we'll never eat at again (the early list is Sweetwater Tavern, Red Hot + Blue, On the Border, Lost Dog Cafe, Cafe Asia, Zed's, and more). To prepare you for what to expect when you next see us, here's a recent photo of us.