What the hell is Steampunk? Well, from what we can tell, it is art and design that combines things totally unrelated into a statement. What…
Made it back from the Sound, as we Kiwi’s call it, and headed for Oamaru, our next stop on the NZCWT (New Zealand Country Wide…
We booked an overnight fjord trip on the Southern Secret to cruise through Doubtful Sound. The boat is smaller than your typical luxury liners, Ed…
Sorry for not posting more about our trip. Hotel internet service is in the dark ages, unbelievably slow and downloading one picture takes almost 20…
As we said earlier, the countryside is a mix of mountains and rolling hills with a few crops, mostly stock feed, and some animals. The…
Finished up our time in Queenstown now off to Te Anau (pronounced, “Tay Aanoe”) and a day trip to Bluff. Te Anau was chosen because…
Although Queenstown wasn’t on our original itinerary, once here, there were tons of things to do. But first, find an ATM! Queenstown is a college…
Back in the day Arrowtown was a little more than a hunting ground for local tribes. That all changed when in 1862 that precious little…
Looks like yea ole blog is going to have to wait a bit. Seems our faithful computer is on the down and out and won’t…
Just a quick video of our Shotover Jetboat ride. Amazing rush to say the least. Check out the short video. I’ll send an email out…
I know what you’re thinking, me too. Why do you have to wait so long for wineries to open? 11am can seem like all day…
Made it to our apartment in Queenstown, finally. Raining a little so we decided to hang out, play games (dice, cards, stretch) and have a…
One of the dangers of having an internet savvy wife is the risk of her finding something like the Wild Foods Festival, and buying tickets….
In Maori the words mean, “to take / carry joy”, that is unless they are said as one word, Harihari which means, “ambulance”. Not sure…
Not sure how but I forgot one of our stops on the way to Franz Josef, the Pancake Rocks. This geological oddity is just up…
Beautiful day today so we decided to hike up to the glacier’s edge. Not too many people and the hike was really easy, along a…
Pretty easy drive even though it took the better of 6hrs. Roads here, yes it’s the roads again, are deceiving. Because of all the curves,…
Finally! The wine country!!!! Rained today so we thought that would be a good time to have a few drinks and drive on these NZ…
So, everyone here said, “You must go to Abel Tasman Park. It’s beautiful!”. So, why not. Packed some sandwiches, drinks and jumped into the Kiwimobile……off…
Sunday morning and just about on NZ time. Good evenings rest so we decided to take a drive to Mapau (pronounced, “Ma-Poe”) and see what…
It’s Saturday and off to the Farmer’s Market. After one of Collette’s famous breakfasts, drove down to the city center for a stroll and maybe…
Well, in spite of all the attempts by United Airlines to make this trip memorable in the wrong ways, we arrived in New Zealand and…
So after about 8 months of planning, changing the plan, replanning, changing the replan, we’re finally close to getting on with our adventure. New Zealand…
So after many months of researching homes, flights, tours, transportation, etc. we’re finally ready to move on to the pre-packing stage. Seems like this process…
Seems like everyone has a deal when looking for a rental. Homes, apartments, even motorhomes list really good prices. That is until you inquire about…
Just got home from France and now it’s time to start planning the next trip. In March 2017 we leave for New Zealand and the…
I must admit that when we first started to talk about a trip to France, I wasn’t overjoyed. Our first trip to France was in…
5 weeks went by so fast. Just seems like yesterday we started our tour of France and now, getting ready to head back to beautiful Colorado….
Just a few more pictures from Paris starting with the Arc de Triumph (built 1806-1836). Located at the western end of the Champs-Elysees, the Arc stands 164′ tall, 148′…
Well, pretty close to perfect but Paris has a few quirks. To sum it up in a word, Crowded! To sum it up in two…
The picture below is of a woman that tried to scam us in Paris. She pretended to find a gold ring on the ground and was…
Time for us to take off for Paris but not before we take another look at Reims. This is probably the smallest town we’ve stayed in during…
As part of our continuing WW,Too tour, we visited the site where Germany signed the surrender. A pretty non-descript, brick building located across from the rail…
Just outside of Reims is a little town called Epernay that lives for champagne. Home to growers, houses, cellars and co-operatives, Epernay and the surrounding…
“Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we’re fighting for, it’s Champagne!” – Sir Winston Churchill Couldn’t have said it better. Reims, France is the capital…
On the way to Reims, we stopped off at Verdun, WW1’s longest and costliest battle. The battle for Verdun began in February 1916 and continued until…
One of the things we have done on these travel adventures is cross the path of one of America’s greatest generals, General George S. Patton….
A little less than an hour from Metz is the country and city called, “Luxembourg”. With a population the size of a small city in…
Battle of the Bulge – the costliest action ever taken by the US Army, 108,347 casualties! Civilian deaths – 3,000 due to military action and execution…
Whatever name you use, the Cathedral de Metz (nicknamed, “God’s Lantern) is one of the most ornate we’ve seen on our tour. The cathedral stands where the shrine…
Quick intro to the Maginot Line. The line is a series of forts and fortifications that formed a defensive “line” between France and Germany, Luxembourg,…
Here we are on Sunday morning and I’m finally getting around to writing about our travels to Metz. Woke up this morning to the unusual…
As part of our UNESCO funded history tour, well, I wish. Anyway, Lyon has been an important location for centuries. After Julius Caesar received the working…