Our Itinerary

A lot of people have asked us what our trip itinerary is. For help in the matter Ross has asked our good friends at Warner Brothers to explain;

Welcome to Monkey Kingdom

When we heard that there was a place where gangs of monkeys had taken over an ancient ruin, we knew we had to go. It was one of our best decisions too. After arriving in Lopburi, we began wandering in search of the infamous temple that is home to these monkeys. However, before we even got there, we spotted them...everywhere.

On buildings, outside the bank, on telephone poles.

Can't believe it? Yeah, neither could we. We were those people just standing there with our mouths open in complete disbelief.

When we finally got to the temple, there were even more. And as we went into the temple, the tables turned and we were the caged ones for once.


The attendants at the temple call this one "Big Boss."

We were really enjoying ourselves when the remarkable happened. Ross held out his hand and one...then two monkeys jumped on him. I didn't know whether to be completely excited or extremely nervous. And then one bit him. Don't worry, it didn't break the skin. However, we realized that holding a wild monkey may not be the best of ideas.

Our day trip ended up being one our favorite days and by the time we boarded our night train, we were as tired as this guy...

Yes and Yes

One of my favorite blogs to read is Yes and Yes. She doesn't know me, but I read her blog frequently.

One of her latest entries is this. Inspiring, huh?

Highlight #3-Picnic at Shakespeare Reserve

The day before we left Whitianga, Ross and I spent the whole afternoon on Shakespeare Reserve which provides an expansive and gorgeous view of the sea.

The Festival of Speed was in town, so we took the ferry and hiked up to the secluded spot to enjoy the air show from a far, practice dance moves and enjoy wine and snacks.


It was a perfect way to end our time in Whitianga and in New Zealand.

The Town of Whitianga

The town of Whitianga provided enough stories and sights to provide a couple solid weeks of blogs, but I’ll give you the highlights.

#1 Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach Circuit

It seems these two sights are done in the same day, considering we saw all the same people enjoying their days in both locations.

Cathedral Cove is a tiny sand beach where we found ourselves falling asleep in the sun, body surfing and trying not to let the waves make us wear our birthday suits, and watching some serious people TV. It doesn’t get any better than watching kids deal with sand in their swimwear and parents building sand castles long after their children have stopped.

From the Cove we headed to Hot Water Beach, highlight #2. A place where, at low tide, people can dig holes in the sand where water heated from magma rises to the surface. This is the truth. Both times we went the waves were too large to give us the room to dig our personal pools without being flooded every couple of minutes. There was a certain dance people did to locate God’s natural hot tub. We would stick our feet into the sand and do a sort of twist with the body until the feet were deeper into the sand. So, imagine a crowd of about 100 doing this dance. It kept us laughing.

We did, however, find the hot water it burned our feet many times. Our feet would be resting happily on top of a warm spot when all of a sudden they’d sink a bit lower and you’d hit the boiling water and jump from where you stood. Another funny scene to watch. All in all, the days were full of activity and provided us with good night sleeps.

On the move!

Greetings!  We have a slew of posts coming your way.  Updates on what we've been doing this past week, but decided that paying 10 bucks at the airport for an hour of internet just isn't for us!  But, we want to give you all an update...

We're leaving New Zealand!  Crazy.  Our flight is leaving today and we arrive into Bangkok, Thailand on the 13th of April.  So stay tuned and enjoy the day!    

Surprise!

Ross and I have been traveling the past few days separately. Ross stayed in Wellington and I made my way up to Turangi to do the Tongariro Crossing and now I'm in the Coromandel Peninsula...possibly my new favorite place. You can see the beautiful Cathedral Cove above.

Well, last night I just got back from a day full of activity...details to come...when I went to check my email. I was logging in to see if Ross had replied when I heard, "Got any new messages?" And who was it?! Ross! He had traveled a crazy amount to get to Whitianga and then used his classy skills to locate where I was staying. Pretty good, huh?

What a Catch!

Ross' first time ocean fishing was a success!