Kiwis in the Outback

Wow. We only have a month left before our big adventure ends. I can't believe it. In this time my brother-in-law had gotten married, two of my best friends have had babies and my brother is well on his way to graduating college, yet it's gone by so quickly and Chris and I can't believe our time here is coming to an end.

We are both quite sad about leaving - I have grown to love Sydney, and Australia in general. I don't even notice all of the peculiarities and differences any more. Chris and I each have our daily routines, and we have established a nice rhythm of living. We know that we will always look back fondly upon our time here. Anyway, the point of this post is to let you know about our upcoming travel plans before we come home - I don't know if I'll have time to update this one more time so here's a pre-trip rundown...

We leave for New Zealand today for two weeks and will be living in a campervan(!) while we tour around the South Island. New Zealand in winter is supposed to be breathtaking, so we are going to do as much as possible while we're down there. For those who are interested, you can look at a map and see exactly where we're going - NZ isn't very big, and according to our friend Ryan, has "about three roads" so you should be able to plot our route quite easily. Our rough itinerary is Christchurch > Akaroa > Arthur's Pass to Punakaiki and Okarito > down the West Coast > Helihike Franz Josef or Fox Glacier > Haast Pass down to Wanaka > Te Anau > Milford or Doubtful Sound > Queenstown. We're going to ski the Remarkables for 4 days before coming back to Sydney. Afterwards, we are flying to Alice Springs for a 5-day outback safari. I am SO excited about this. We are going to sleep in authentic bush swags under the stars (I hope the creepy crawlies don't want to get intimate), see Uluru at sunset, hike Kings Canyon, take guided Aboriginal bush walks, and generally experience the vast, amazing outback desert. I just might try a witchety grub if I'm feeling brave. We then fly to Fiji for 7 days, where we're staying on an itsy-bitsy,
teensy weensie island called Navini. It only takes 20 minutes to walk around the entire thing! We'll be very isolated - no resort-y activities, just a couple of palm trees, some great snorkeling, and the ocean. Sounds like heaven.

Needless to say, we are cramming as much as we can into the end of our adventure. Sandflies, bush tucker, campervans, bring it on. Actually, I hope we can handle the campervan. I'm a little nervous. It's big. We have a shower and toilet in the thing. It could get interesting. All of our Chicago friends - we will see you soon for some end-of-summer fun! Hope you all have enjoyed the (sporadically updated) adventure as much as we have.

Love, Anne and Chris