I, like so many bloggers, probably have disappointed my few subscribers out there for the absence of posts in the last 3.5 months. Like many, I got burnt out not by what I was doing but by my own words. Alas, I will probably never be a writer.

Since leaving the land of my past post I have traveled to Fiji, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador and the Us of A.

After leaving Australia I flew back to Auckland for a few days before flying out to Fiji. Anxious for my coming travels, I did little but wander around the drizzling streets of the city trying to avoid spending money and watching movies in my scummy hostel. When Tara flew up to head to Fiji with me we first spent a few days on Waiheke Island off the coast of Auckland. The island was beautiful with small village towns, green rolling hills and long stretches of beach. We ate amazing hummus and cheese, dipped bread in the olive oil made on the island and drank Waiheke's very own wines. It was a good farewell to the country it was not hard to love and gave me time to reflect on the gift of my travels.

From Fiji we flew to Nadi and had a whirlwind few days in the Yasawa islands. Fiji is actual paradise, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for heaven on earth. The volcanic islands woo you with soft lapping waves, white sand beaches, colorful coral and the soothing songs of the Fijian people welcoming you into their lives. I saw some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets of my life, swam with manta rays the size of small cars and got a really fantastic tan.

After a teary goodbye to the South Pacific I flew on a hellishly long flight with a broken television to LA where I seriously considered suicide rather than endure my nightmare of a 12 hour layover in LAX. I figured Meg would be mad at me if I didn't make it home for our next adventure, so dealt with the pain of the most extreme form of boredom and eventually arrived back on the east coast to a 5 day blur of time pass.

To save money Meg and I decided to fly from JFK, and so had to take the Fung Wah to NYC at 10pm. We arrived around in the city at 1 and had 5 hours to kill before check in for our flight to San Jose. I thought LAX was a difficult airport to lounge in, but it is the Ritz Carlton compared to JFK. It is their goal to provide the least comfortable airport in the world, with freezing cold stone benches that have immovable armrests or are curved in such away that laying down is impossible. (note- we later found out about a useful website that explains where to go to get the best night's rest in most airports around the world, unfortunately the consensus is that there is NOWHERE in JFK where one may sleep, as we redetermined on our return trip- www.sleepinginairports.com). So, we didn't sleep, boarded a plane and arrived in San Jose right before our 11 am bus to Tamarindo. Over the course of the voyage I fulfilled the planes/trains/automobiles quota, boarded a 7 hour bus and seemingly days later arrived at our beautiful little bungalow a few minutes from the beach. We slept well our first night in Costa Rica.

We spent 2.5 weeks in CR- visiting Tamirindo, Samara, La Fortuna and Puerto Viejo. We rode bikes and went for walks. We gorged ourselves on avocados and Imperials and spent a lot of time sitting on the beach reading books and catching up. By the end of our time there we were both ready for a more cultural experience and were excited and nervous to head to Peru.

Peru has become one of my most favored countries visited. It was nothing at all what I expected and also much much more than I expected. The country has beautiful cities, dry barren lands ( deserts folks, we are talking lots and lots of sand) and lush green jungles. It contains heart wrenching poverty and beautiful kind hearted people. The children are sadly more street savvy than I will ever be by the age of 4, but are still quick to smile or laugh if you turn down their offer of sweets, dolls or finger puppets. I learned a lot in Peru; about myself, my privileged life, and about people in general. If there is one thing that travel constantly reinforces in me it is the extreme sameness of all people in all places. We want the same things, crave the same comforts, share the same fears. I conquered Maccu Picchu though lost some toenails in the process. I made wonderful beautiful new friends, Teresa and Eva and swore to return to this land again.

From Peru we took an extremely painful overnight bus to 8 hour bus, topping off our travel time at over 30 hours to get to Ecuador. More scenicly beautiful than Peru, Ecuador wooed us with beautiful green hills, horses and colorful friendly people. Though something like 70 percent of the country is under the poverty line, we still felt that it was richer in comparison to Peru. The cities seemed to function correctly. The taxis had meters and radios. We spent a lot of time in Quito, salsa'd our feet off with some local Ecuadorian men and wandered through markets. My beautiful friend Leigh met us in a wonderful little hostel in Quito and with her we traveled to the coast and large market town of Otovalo. Despite some setbacks in health for my dear Meg, we all were able to salvage a pretty wonderful time in Ecuador as well.

It was hard to leave South America to come home. It has been over a month now since I have been on US soil and the culture shock is coming and going in waves. It is not necessarily the US that is doing it. I was not gone long enough to forget how our country operates, yet the change of being in one place for a long period of time is the most difficult. I am having trouble feeling that I belong here in Boston. Indeed I feel 'at home' when I am moving- on a bus or train or plane. It feels right to know no one and see something new every day.

Regardless, I am content. I have a great new job managing a cafe back in Cambridge and a glowing white new old apartment on a quiet tree lined street in Coolidge Corner. Though moneyless I feel fairly full- with great friends and intellectual stimulation all around me. The buildings do not compare to the magnificent mountains of Milford Sound, but I am adjusting to life in a city again.

That is, until the next adventure...

Australian Adventures

My dear Matt leaves this morning, after missing cab 1 and feeling quite ill, poor thing. Now I am alone in Brisbane in a quiet, not entirely organized backpackers. After some deliberation, I changed my flight to Auckland to a few days earlier. I am now clicking my heels and leaving the magical land of Oz for the familiar comfort of kaNZas.

We've covered a lot of ground since Sydney. Australia is BIG, and after the small island I've been living on for the previous months, this size has been hard to get used to. We flew from Sydney to Mackay, a nothing little town with quiet humid nights. We walked for 45 minutes trying to find a restuarant, ate average food and went to sleep. Things looked up the next day, when we traveled north to Airlie Beach. The rumors I heard about this town were true, it is touristy to the extreme, but sunny and friendly with a multitude of cafes and used book stores. We stayed for a night before going out on 3 days sailing outing on the good ship "Spank Me". (I know I know). For the next several days we experienced piercing sun, lashing rain, and a pleasant exfoliating wind/salt burn around the beautiful Whitsunday Islands. In the evenings people hung out on deck listening to music and quietly talking. I usually was in a corner absorbed in a book. Always the geek.

The highlight of the voyage was diving. We went on two amazing dips underwater to the magnificent colorful coral and fish filled reefs. We fed a large fish named Elvis and got to pet his fishy sides. We touched a giant clam and slimy sea creatures. We were breathing under water! It was absolutely incredible! We snorkeled too, saw a few beautiful beaches, a aboriginal cave and a few sea turtles. It was worth every penny. (And it cost a fair few)

From Airlie we took a 10 hour bus trip to Cairns, stayed in a disgusting packpackers called Nomad's Serpant Lodge (don't go there!) then rented a car a drove up to Cape Tribulation, through the Daintree rainforest. For two days we read books and napped in the tropical surrounds. We watched rain poor from the nylon tented roof and felt completely relaxed. We stayed in lush green jungle, a few feet away from an empty sandy beach and saw such exciting jungle creatures as a huge black python hanging out in a tree, enormous Golden Orb spiders the size of my right foot and terrifying above all, the hideous jungle chicken.

Australia has been exciting, varying so much from south to north. I miss NZ though. Different pace and fewer people. I am happy about my ticket change and extra time in NZ before departing friday for the happy land of Fiji.

Hard to believe I will be home in less than two weeks though, this portion of my trip over with! It seems like I left home a mere few weeks ago.

Oztralia!

I have been in this beautiful land for how how long now? A week and a half I believe... there is so much to see and do. A completely different sensory experience to the peaceful unpeopled En Zed. I am happy to be in cities again and happy to see different people and cafes and restaruants and food and buildings and sounds. My first few days in Melbourne I felt like the little mouse in the big city, but I have settled back in to the hectic dirty life of city living.

Melbourne was wonderful with loads of creative stimulation and indie pretty people and vegetarian eating. Sydney has been amazing though, and is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. My first night included sipping champagne at the Opera Bar as the sun set overlooking Sydney harbor. Afterwards we went to a beautiful amazing ballet collaboration of the Australian Ballet Company and the Bangarra Dance Company in the Opera House. Is this my life?

We've had perfect warm weather and wonderful company here. Tara has been a tour guide extraordinaire. I've met loads of people, traveled to the Blue Mountains and saw my first kangaroo (and then took about 287 photos of it), been to markets all over the city, wandered through galleries and along Bondi Beach and tried new foods.

And at the last minute Jo, a beautiful woman who happens to share my day of birth decided that Sydney was where she needed to be for her 30th celebration. Lucky for me, I then had her, Adam and Rich to share my weekend in this trendy sexy town. My darling Matt arrived groggily on Friday night, and so far we have been keeping him in smiles. Our birthday was perfect,laughing so hard that my face hurt in a park overlooking the bridge and Opera house for 5 hours on a warm balmy night.

Happy happy happy.

Matt and I fly out on Wednesday, and I am looking forward to what is next, though sad to leave Sydney too.

This is it! I am done! I can't believe I am leaving when it feels like a few days ago when I was twiddling my thumbs in a Chicago airport waiting for one of the many legs of my journey over here.

Tonight I am staying in Te Anau to get a bus to Orapuki where I will wander by myself in the southern coastal prettiness. Friday we are heading to Doubtful Sound (like Milford but more remote and supposedly more beautiful) for an overnight kayaking trip!

Two days later I will be boarding a plane to another country.

Tomorrow is my last day of work in Milford Sound! I have mixed emotions, mostly very excited, but also thoughtful and aware of the amazing experience living in Milford has provided me. I just realized how ironic it is that before leaving home I titled my blog "Open Roads" and then traveled around the world to live at the very end of a dead end road.

I have gained confidence and work experience and life experience and love experience and have created friendships that I know will last a lifetime. I have met incredible inspiring people, and had the privilege of watching how they live nearly every facet of their lives. It has been challenging here, in many different ways, but I have learned each and every day.

Sad to leave that behind. A goodbye is worthless unless there is some loss felt.

Ok, off to a party. Woohoo.

Truth be told, I began the countdown over a month ago. Now, with just over two weeks and 12 working days left in Milford, it is all becoming very real. I am not the first to leave. The last several weeks have hosted more departure drinks, cruises, parties and hugs than the rest of the season combined. I don't feel sad. I feel ready. And it is not because I am anxious to leave En- Zed, merely that I am excited for what is next. ( Australia, Fiji, South America oh my!)

It took me 6 months, but I finally completed one of NZ's "Great Walks", the Routeburn Track. The tramping culture in this country is enormous. South Islander's are a tough lot. They are farmers and fishers and hunters who feel comfortable in the mountains and all seem to know how to catch their own food and survive in the mountains for weeks on end. It could be a bit intimidating, but daily I am witness to 70 year olds who stumble off of the Milford Track all smiles and laughs.


Because hut prices are pricey during peak season ($40 per night! Much more than any hostel you will stay in) we decided to do the track in 2 days rather than the recommended 3-4. We meant to leave by 7 am, but of course made it onto the trail head closer to a quarter to ten. No worries. We were committed.

We had heard that the Routeburn Falls Hut was one of the nicest huts in NZ, we chose to walk a whopping 22 k's on day one to barely make it there by sundown. We lucked out with amazingly perfect sunny cool weather and spectacular views of the entire Lower Hollyford Valley. It was absolutely incredible and one of the highlights of my NZ experience. We began the track in Fiordland and the lush rainforest green that I live in, and walked to Mt. Aspiring Nation Park, encountering more woodsy vegetation and different colored mountains. When we reached Harris Saddle, the sun was about to set and we were the only ones on the top to view the colors and clarity of the height.

Needless to say, we were slightly exhausted upon arrival in the hut that night. We somehow managed to make pasta which we devoured instantaneously, but I remember little else before I stumbled into my bunk, buried in 18 layers of clothing.

Day two was an easy hike technically, but being sore and tired made it even harder. It was another beautiful day though, and very interesting to enter into a different national park and to notice all of the changes along the way.

Check it out:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/explore/002~tracks-and-walks/Great-Walks/Routeburn-Track/index.asp



So anyway, I spent the next two days enjoying civilization in Queenstown... eating and drinking and being merry.

Truly excellent days off. NZ is a beautiful country, in case I have neglected to mention that yet.

Spanish lessons are not going so well. Er... oops. Spending two months in Spanish speaking countries will truly be a wonderful challenge though, and I am committed to learn to communicate basic pleasantries with local people without making a complete ass of myself. In case I didn't mention it, I am going to Costa Rica, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador with my very lovely friend Meg this June.

:-)

Hola mi amigos!

I'm on 5 days off, all of which have been deliciously lazy and relaxing. I spent two nights in Manipouri, 15 minutes outside of Te Anau in the house of the co-owner Dave. He had a clean kitchen and shower, a DVD player where we watched 4.5 movies, and a beautiful view of Lake Manipouri. I read a book, I read the paper, I cooked and I listened to music. It was a lovely relief after a tough 9 days on while nursing an enormous couple of tonsils covered in a whitish/green mysterious gooey substance. (feeling much better now)



We then drove towards to relax further in the green grasses of the Peregrine vineyard for their annual Harvest Festival. I sampled three different central otago wines and ate olives and cheeses and quince paste on crackers.

Later, we lazed some more in our plush hotel room (one gets sick of hostels and shared showers after a while), getting takeaway Thai food and watching movies on the plasma TV.

Today, I've been reading and sleeping and reading and eating and accidentally watched 39-22 of E's "Most Awesome TV Moments".

Back to work tomorrow, but only 20 days left at my job. Gulp. Then world travel with some world class beautiful people. Hooray!