This is a focus post about the Healesville Sanctuary near Seville, Victoria. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 We took a guided tour to learn more about their rehabilitation and conservation efforts. So many new friends to make! We became members and visited twice but there was still more to see. 👀 Hello ibis (aka b...

We were in our final week of pet sitting with Che so we took in more local sights. Those eucalyptus trees .... man ..... 💪 More roos out at dusk on our Mt Lofty hike. 🥾 Saw a wombat (aka ground koala (aka tree wombat))! Terrible photo so added a stock one too (looked freshly bathed in the stock photo). 🤩 More roos at the golf course ne...

More fall gardens! We were greeted by enormous gum/eucalyptus at Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden. 🪾 Native rhododendron in bloom. ⁕ The jewel of the visit was the replica of London's 2013 Chelsea Flower Show winner, the Australian Native Garden. The Chelsea Australian Native Garden was the first ever Australian entry to win the prestig...

Hey everybody, I am sending this on 5/10 in the US so Happy Mother's Day to all those celebrate - hope you have a wonderful day! 🤗 Thank you for following our travels. We have been so damn lucky over the last three years and it has been wonderful to see many of you along the way. We miss Boulder and our friends & family very much but w...

This is a SHORT focus post about a small art exhibit we saw in Warburton. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 Ali Griffin is a multidisciplinary artist based on Wurundjeri Country in Victoria, Australia. With over two decades of experience in advertising and design, she adeptly translates complex briefs into compellin...

Hey everybody 👋 We had a rainy day so decided to go to the movies. It was early on a Saturday so chose The Magic Faraway Tree just for fun. It was entertaining and watching it with a theater full of young children really made it special. Their laughter added to the whole experience so I highly recommend seeing it in a similar manner if...

Hey everybody 👋 You probably already knew this but I did not - Australia has six states and several territories (only the Northern Territory shown here). Our visits in April - May were limited to Victoria and South Australia. We left the pet sit in Frankston South on April 18th and drove north a few hours to Seville (stress on first sy...

This is a focus post about the McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery near Frankston. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 We enjoyed a lovely day at this sculpture park which included over 100 pieces. Tree of Life by Phil Price 2012 This was our favorite - it was 10m / 33ft tall and moved so well on the breezy day we wer...

This is a focus post about the Australian Sand Sculpting Championships. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 The rules of the competition and it was more carving than building a sand sculpture. I thought that I took photos of each sculpture's description but I didn't so I can't offer more than photos in this post. They...

We left Melbourne on April 10th and picked up a rental car to drive to a pet sit in Frankston South (house in red circle). We watched Frankie (dog) and Tinka (cat) while their family went on holiday to Lord Howe Island. 🏝 Tinka loved the sun and Frankie was more of a loner who enjoyed her crate time. 👋 Our hosts left us a snack basket ...

This is a focus post about a street art tour. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 We booked 'An Insider's Walk' street art tour with David as our guide: Melbourne reveals itself differently when you walk with an artist. David sees layers where others see surfaces – stories imprinted in bluestone, centuries buried bene...

This is the second and final post about our trip to Melbourne. 🇦🇺 We checked out Pan Asia night at the Queen Victoria Market on April 8th. 👀 This dad was warming up the dance floor. 🕺🏻 The Melbourne Comedy Festival was in full swing and we got some tickets to see Kitty Flanagan. We enjoyed her on the law office sitcom (Fisk). The stand...

🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 We flew from Auckland to Melbourne / Naarm on Saturday April 4th. The state of Victoria had made mass transit free (due to high gas prices) so many folks decided to enjoy the city for the school holidays (the first 2 weeks of April). 🚊 We enjoyed a lovely lunch along the Yarra River on Easter Sunday. ⛱ Funny story ...

We flew from Nelson to Wellington and then had a bumpy ride into New Plymouth. Always happy to see the black sand beach and our favorite bike bridge. 🤩 Susan and Brent hosted us (and their friends Cathy and Fred) for a delicious dinner. Susan was holding Lola who was part crocodile. Snap! 🐊 Sweet Daisy was much more friendly. 🐾 A beaut...

After 2 weeks in Golden Bay, we drove back over the Takaka Hill towards Nelson. 🚙 We had heard about the Riuwaka Resurgence and stopped to take a look. This is where the Riuwaka River emerges from the Takaka Hill. 🗺 The pool at resurgence point and the river was stunning. 📸 We moved on and stopped for a wander in Motueka. Saw this sign...

This is the last post about our stay in Golden Bay. ☀ We had heard so much about The Langford Store (and Post Office) so we made the trip to see it and wow, we were not disappointed. 🤩 It was filled with Kiwiana which are iconic items from historic New Zealand (usually mid 20th century). So much to see! 👀 I was proud that I resisted th...

This is the second post about our two weeks in Golden Bay / Mohua. We drove up to Wharariki Beach at low tide. 🚙 We parked and followed the track through the bush for about 15 minutes before arriving at the beach. 🥾 The Archway Islands were putting on a show. 📸 The clearest tide pools I had ever seen and good wind for our kites. 🪁 Beau...

Hey everybody 👋 Since we had heard so much about Golden Bay / Mohua on the northwest side of the South Island, we decided to spend two weeks to fully explore the area. 🗺 We started with a 6 hour Farewell Spit / Onetahua tour. You can access the spit by foot for the first 4 kms (2.5 mi) but only one tour company had access had access to...

This is a focus post about the driftwood on the beach in Hokitika. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 Hokitika is located on the west coast just below the alpine mountains on the South Island. As a result, some of the wood which is brought down by the alpine rivers to the sea washed up on the beach. The result was a ...

Hey everybody 👋 This is a short post about a 4 day tiki tour of our own on the South Island. We flew from Queenstown to Nelson on 3/5 and rented a car to drive over to the West Coast town of Hokitika. We had been there a few times and always enjoyed this quiet, funky place (cloudy or sunny). We found a spot which backed to the beach wh...

This is the second post about our friend Amy's visit and includes many of her photos too. We left The Catlins on March 2nd for another tiki tour north through Central Otago to our first overnight stop in Arrowtown. 🚙 We stopped at see Mel at The Penny Drops studio. This was our second visit in two years so Somerset remembered us (not r...

Hey everybody 👋 Our friend Rebecca is a very accomplished recipe developer and writer. She and her partner Steve (my former colleague) have been working as nomads since 2020 and we love following their travels and catching up when we can (Michigan in July 🤞). She maintains 3(!) blogs: Of Batter and Dough - Reliable recipes for exceptio...

This is a focus post about an urban art walking tour with our friends Dave and Les on 2/19/26 in Ōtautahi / Christchurch. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 Thanks to Dave for booking this fabulous tour. It was managed by Watch This Space, and Reuben was our guide on a gorgeous day. We started in the SALT district wh...

Hey everybody 👋 Since we were hosting two sets of friends visiting the South Island, we flew from New Plymouth to Queenstown instead of going across the Cook Strait with our car. We rented a car for 6 weeks instead. We weren't sure if our car could hold us and our luggage so PAUPAU stayed in the storage shed. 🚙 As we left New Plymouth,...

We headed southwest from the Taupo area for the 4 hour drive to Ngamotu / New Plymouth. 🚙 We heard about the annual car festival called Americarna but were never been in town for it. We missed it again but this poster in the elevator made us smile. I heard that 'dressing up' referred to dressing in the style of the 1950s and 1960s sinc...

This is a focus post about a few hours at the Orakei Korako Geothermal Park outside of Taupo. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 We spent a night in a cabin on a farm on our last night in between Kinloch and Taupo (Feb 8th). The neighbors were pretty quiet. 🐮 We drove over to the geothermal park for a self-guided tou...

Hey everybody, once again, I want to start by sending strength and hugs to all of you. ❤ These are still turbulent times and we need each other to get through them. Thank you for the outreach. 💪 This covers 3 weeks so is a longer post. We were fortunate to go back to the village of Kinloch on the north shore of Lake Taupo. This was ano...

Before I get to the post, I want to send strength and hugs to all of you. ❤ These are turbulent times and we need each other to get through them (along with some strong politicians to resist and stand up for us). 💪 This is a LONG focus post about our second set of pet sits so if that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 I post...

Hey everybody, thanks for all the responses to my last two posts. It was a hard few months (with some good times too) but we got through it together and appreciated all your kind words and thoughts. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives. We love hearing from you so thank you. ❤ We planned out our travels for mos...

Hey everybody, we got back to Colorado from the UK in September and spent most of the fall in Nebraska to be closer to Steve's mom and family. I wrote about losing her in a separate post but we did get to enjoy family time and took a few trips for special events along the way. This is a summary post from mid September until late Decemb...