November 24 - Arrive in Adelaide, Australia, meet up with Claudia!!!
November 25 - visit Wadlata Outback Centre, camel ride exploring Flinders Ranges
November 26 - hike in Wilpena Pound, gorge hike through Brachina and Bunyeroo Gorges
November 27 - hike through Gammon Ranges National Park, Italawi Gorge, Balcanoona Ranges Head Quarters and Wetootla Gorge, ridge top hike to Sillers Lookout, evening observatory tour
November 28-December 2 - camp at Iga Warta and work with native Aborigines
December 2 - return to Adelaide
December 3 - travel to Auckland, New Zealand
December 4 - visit Maugakiekie, learn about the native Maori, bush walk, beach walk
December 5 - repel into underground caves, four hour black water rafting trip inside cave lit by glow worms, stay in a hotel that is a replica of a hobbit home!
December 6 - walk through Wai-O-Tapa (hotsprings with bubbling mud and geysers), visit Te Puia, a Maori cultural center and another geyser, participate in traditional evening rituals performed by Maori, evening bush walk
December 7 - fly to Dunedin on the south island
December 8 - cruise up Dunedin Harbor to Taiaroa head, scenic Otago Peninsula hike, tour of Royal Albatross Colony and Yellow Eyed Penguin Reserve
December 9 - travel to Catlins, local exploration of Papa Towa, evening meal and slideshow on yellow eyed penguin conservation
December 10-15 - Conservation project on yellow eyed penguin reserve
December 15 - arrive in Te Anau
December 16 - overnight cruise in Deep Cove
December 17 - travel to Queenstown
December 18 - explore Queenstown
December 19 - travel to Makarora, afternoon or evening bushwalk
December 20 - explore Siberia Valley, Mt Aspiring National Park and Wilken Valley
December 21 - travel to Fox Glacier
December 22 - scenic rain forest hike, ice trek with crampons
December 23 - travel to Christchurch
December 24 - travel to Nadi, Fiji, shell welcome
December 25-28 merry Christmas! down time, possible day trips
December 28 - travel to
December 29-January 2: volunteer/teach English at Fiji orphanage
January 2: fly to Hawaii
January 2-8: visit cousins Albiona and Noel in Hawaii
January 8: return home!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Thailand/Laos Itinerary (Oct. 29-Nov.23)
October 29 - Leave USA
October 30 - Arrive Bangkok, Thailand
November 1-3 - Three day cruise on traditional rice barge stopping in small fishing villages along the way
November 3 - Arrive in Ayudhaya, ruins of Thailand's formal capitol
November 4 - Fly to Luang Prabang, Laos and meet up with journalist to tour city
November 4-7 - tour Luang Prabang
November 7-9 - Volunteer at SOS School of Luang Prabang
November 9 - Participate in morning collection of alms with local monks and visit Pak Ou Caves where there are thousands of statues of Buddha
November 10-12 - Volunteer at Minority School of Oudomxay
November 12 - Return to Bangkok, Thailand, split up with travel companions
November 13-18 - 5 day home stay on Andaman Island in a village affected by the tsunami, participate in a batik workshop run by widows of tsunami victims
November 18-20 - three day scuba diving trip, nine dives in the Similan Islands Marine National Park
November 20 - Return to Khao Lak
November 21-23 - Volunteer at Khao Lak tsunami ophanage
November 23 - Depart for Australia
October 30 - Arrive Bangkok, Thailand
November 1-3 - Three day cruise on traditional rice barge stopping in small fishing villages along the way
November 3 - Arrive in Ayudhaya, ruins of Thailand's formal capitol
November 4 - Fly to Luang Prabang, Laos and meet up with journalist to tour city
November 4-7 - tour Luang Prabang
November 7-9 - Volunteer at SOS School of Luang Prabang
November 9 - Participate in morning collection of alms with local monks and visit Pak Ou Caves where there are thousands of statues of Buddha
November 10-12 - Volunteer at Minority School of Oudomxay
November 12 - Return to Bangkok, Thailand, split up with travel companions
November 13-18 - 5 day home stay on Andaman Island in a village affected by the tsunami, participate in a batik workshop run by widows of tsunami victims
November 18-20 - three day scuba diving trip, nine dives in the Similan Islands Marine National Park
November 20 - Return to Khao Lak
November 21-23 - Volunteer at Khao Lak tsunami ophanage
November 23 - Depart for Australia
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
in the mi-cro-phone!
Testing, testing, one, two, three. If you have come to this page on purpose then you are a friend and loved one who has been invited here to peek into the worlds that I will soon be exploring. This is officially my first 'blog' and I aim to entertain. I leave on October 29th, 2007. I return on January 8th, 2008. There's a lot of time in between for wonderful adventures.
My first stop is Laos to meet up with the man who has helped me plan my travels and a journalist from the Financial Times. We will tour together for a little over a week and then I will travel on to Thailand to explore by myself for a while. On November 24th, I will meet up with my baby sister in Adelaide, Australia. Claudia is studying in Townsville (northern Australia) for the semester and she and I will explore the outback together when she has completed her classes. Once we have had our fill of camel-back-riding and learned some gardening techniques from the Aborigines, we will travel to New Zealand and Fiji. On our way home we'll get to stop by our cousin, Albiona's house in Hawaii and visit with her and her sweet daughter, Noel!
We are very lucky women to have the chance to explore the world. Hopefully we will be able to not only learn about the countries and cultures that we visit, but also have the opportunity to give back to the cultures that welcome us. In my attempts to plan the perfect adventure, I stumbled upon the concept of 'voluntourism.' There are a few companies out there now who specialize in eco-tourism with a twist. Instead of simply supporting the environment, you help to improve it. New Zealand native and Hands Up Holiday director, Christopher Hills, has been incredibly helpful in planning this trip. Christopher's company is similar to that of a eco-travel agency in that it has trips all over the world that offer extensive environmentally friendly tours of whatever country you wish to visit; only, through Hands Up Holidays, you have the opportunity to volunteer in the country for roughly one third of the time you are there. I am hoping that this will give us a truer understanding of the cultures we are going to visit. I contacted Christopher a few months ago expressing interest in a trip to Australia and New Zealand and from the moment I contacted him, he has been unbelievably helpful in planning my dream exploration--right down to booking us a room in a Hobbit Home hotel in New Zealand and signing me up for a batik workshop run by tsunami victims' widows in Thailand.
I had the fortune of adding the Asia leg of the trip to my itinerary because Hands Up Holiday wants a patron to partake in their Laos trip with a journalist from the Financial Times (British newspaper). I have been asked to join the Laos trip with the director of the company, his wife and the journalist for a discount fee! After this trip, I would have had over a week before Claudia finished classes, so I decided Thailand would be a wonderful place to taste.
Wow, wow, wow. I can't believe I'm about to go on such an adventure! I hope to 'blog' whenever I have internet access, and hopefully will also be able to upload photographs--little morsels for you to suckle until we meet again... I've set this thing up so that Claudia can join in the banter when we meet up and/or she can keep us posted on what is going on in Australia, but no one will be forced to write.
I don't know how to end a blog.
Love always,
AM
My first stop is Laos to meet up with the man who has helped me plan my travels and a journalist from the Financial Times. We will tour together for a little over a week and then I will travel on to Thailand to explore by myself for a while. On November 24th, I will meet up with my baby sister in Adelaide, Australia. Claudia is studying in Townsville (northern Australia) for the semester and she and I will explore the outback together when she has completed her classes. Once we have had our fill of camel-back-riding and learned some gardening techniques from the Aborigines, we will travel to New Zealand and Fiji. On our way home we'll get to stop by our cousin, Albiona's house in Hawaii and visit with her and her sweet daughter, Noel!
We are very lucky women to have the chance to explore the world. Hopefully we will be able to not only learn about the countries and cultures that we visit, but also have the opportunity to give back to the cultures that welcome us. In my attempts to plan the perfect adventure, I stumbled upon the concept of 'voluntourism.' There are a few companies out there now who specialize in eco-tourism with a twist. Instead of simply supporting the environment, you help to improve it. New Zealand native and Hands Up Holiday director, Christopher Hills, has been incredibly helpful in planning this trip. Christopher's company is similar to that of a eco-travel agency in that it has trips all over the world that offer extensive environmentally friendly tours of whatever country you wish to visit; only, through Hands Up Holidays, you have the opportunity to volunteer in the country for roughly one third of the time you are there. I am hoping that this will give us a truer understanding of the cultures we are going to visit. I contacted Christopher a few months ago expressing interest in a trip to Australia and New Zealand and from the moment I contacted him, he has been unbelievably helpful in planning my dream exploration--right down to booking us a room in a Hobbit Home hotel in New Zealand and signing me up for a batik workshop run by tsunami victims' widows in Thailand.
I had the fortune of adding the Asia leg of the trip to my itinerary because Hands Up Holiday wants a patron to partake in their Laos trip with a journalist from the Financial Times (British newspaper). I have been asked to join the Laos trip with the director of the company, his wife and the journalist for a discount fee! After this trip, I would have had over a week before Claudia finished classes, so I decided Thailand would be a wonderful place to taste.
Wow, wow, wow. I can't believe I'm about to go on such an adventure! I hope to 'blog' whenever I have internet access, and hopefully will also be able to upload photographs--little morsels for you to suckle until we meet again... I've set this thing up so that Claudia can join in the banter when we meet up and/or she can keep us posted on what is going on in Australia, but no one will be forced to write.
I don't know how to end a blog.
Love always,
AM
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