THE HONEYMOONERS

We're headed down the West Coast of the South Island. Thanks for checking out our pictures below.

And we want to wish Aunt Sharon a speedy and easy recovery!

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We headed East to a town called Napier from Rotorua. Our Lonely Planet guide compared the town to Miami Beach because of its art deco designs. How could we not stop by? Bradley was looking at the map and found what we thought was a great short cut through a national park on an "unsealed road." We had never heard of an unsealed road and decided it was a great idea - the drive was estimated to take about 5 hours. We hoped it would shorten the trip. So we filled up on gas (thank gd) and headed out. After an hour of driving we got to the "unsealed road" and discovered the definiton- a gravel road through STEEP mountains. It was not the type of road an RV should ever be on! It was probably the worst 5 hours we have ever experienced! Since we drive on the left here and the RV is so large we are constantly telling each other "LEFT" meaning we are about to crash into the left side of the road! So now we had unbelievably windy roads (which we held the horn the whole time around the turns for fear of another car coming) and no railings to save us from falling off the mountain. I have somehow developed a fear of heights on this trip so it was not fun. Halfway through the drive we ended up down the mountain and were amazed to find wild sheep, cows, and brombies (horses) wandering around ON THE ROADS. We had to wait for a while for a pack of cows to move out of the way! That was a nice break before heading up the next mountain. We also stopped about 3 hours into the drive and found a great hike. It led us to one of the highest peaks and we had great views of the lakes at the bottom of the mountains. So the shortcut did have SOME advantages. To finish off the crazy drive where we were both still tense being on gravel roads, a duck (we think it was a duck) decided to fly into the windshield making a huge thud and even leaving a few feathers on the side window. It was very shocking and pretty gross.

Finally we arrived to Napier around 8:30 pm, after dark. We figured we would go to dinner and then try to find a place to "free camp." That's when you just pull off and park instead of paying for power at a campsite. The advantages are it's free and the disadvantages are no heat or DVD. Since it was so late, it was silly to pay to stay somewhere. So after dinner we drove around and found a public car park (parking lot) and even asked a cop if it was safe and decided to stay there. It wasn't too cold so it was no big deal without the heat. When we woke up, we discovered we were right in front of a gorgeous beach! We also were in the car park of a really nice spa/gym that had showers. We loved the spot so much we stayed for 2 nights. We snuck into the spa for a shower the first day, but got caught the 2nd and had to pay $3. Our first day in Napier we decided it was time to try to start excercising again and had a nice jog along the beach. We then headed off to a few wineries and did some wine tasting and had a great lunch right on the vineyard. We also walked around the city of Napier. It was a great day. We also realized that it was nothing compared to Miami in the art deco world. There were really only a few neon signs and a few lit up fountains. The next day we went to Marine World. We saw a really neat dolphin and sea lion show and also took a picture holding a tiny penquin. After that we left Napier and headed to Wellington, New Zealand's capital.

We're in Wellington right now. We stayed at a campground right outside the city last night and cooked dinner and had a great bottle of wine from the winery. It was a blend of Gamay Noir. Today we're headed off to a few museums and tonight for "date night" we're going to see a concert, Mattafix, on Wellington's famous Cuba Street.

We're still loving the RV life. We've figured out all of the complicated stuff like emptying the toilet, filling up the water tank and checking the tire pressure. We love not living out of suitcases and driving our house around with us. We're headed to the South Island in a couple of days where the weather REALLY gets cold.

We were both thinking of our friends and family during the New Year. We hope everyone had a nice holiday!

That's all for now. And i'd like everyone to know that we officially have been Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Shapiro for 3 months last Sunday, the 24th!!!!!!

A $2 coin gets us 30min on the Internet at this library (most libraries are free) so this may be quick.

We had a smooth ride, obviously on Qantas, 'over the ditch' to New Zealand and arrived in Auckland losing 2 hours on the Date Line. We are now 16 hours ahead of you and the first to see each new day. We got on a 45min shuttle to the city and checked into a cool hostel called Base. Auckland is your typical 'city,' similar to Sydney, Melbourne, NYC, etc. What is not similar is when you head South (or North) and get out of Auckland, which we did the next day.

After a quick brekky at Base, a Kea rep picked up up and brought us to their offices where we went thru their orientation, poor as it was, on how our caravan (winnebago) operates. We're slowly getting the hang of it, but when you have a microwave that runs on the 240 volt, a water source for your sink and shower, and a different source for the toilet, the fridge working on either the battery OR the 240 volt, which you need to charge if you're not driving for more than 12 hours and a set of switches in a breaker box using to power the DVD player, lights, etc - you can see how it can be daunting at first. In fact, I couldn't even pull out of our parking spot when we first left the office b/c the stick shift was so foreign to me and I kept rolling backwards. We still stall every now and then, but we're getting better. Much respect to the truck driving world b/c driving a rig sure ain't easy.

Once we got on State Highway 1 headed south to Waitomo, it was smooth ridin with absolutely stunning scenery. If you like to drive, even the tiniest bit, I can't imagine they are better roads to drive than in New Zealand with the rolling hills, forestry and wildlife, cows and sheep a plenty, and mammoth plots of land in a farm setting that go on for acres and acres. Here's a stat - there are 4 million people in ALL of New Zealand and over 35 million sheep. For reference, there are over 4 million people JUST IN South Florida alone (Dade, Broward and Palm Beach).

We got to our camper site just in time and plugged in (hooked up our power cord to their power source) so that we could use the electricity in the van (lights, DVD, water pump). We went to Publix (ok, Pak N' Save) and got some food earlier in the day so we have a proper kitchen now. Made cheeseburgers the first night at the camp's facilities and watched a little There's Something About Mary on DVD before going to sleep. Although we have the ability to cook and shower, etc all in our vehicle, we typically use the camp's facilities as they are more spacious and b/c we're paying for it anyway.

So the next day we woke up and went to the Waitomo Caves, a famous tourist attraction with gi-normous caves underground hundreds of feet. Amanda lasted a whole 90 seconds before she turned around and left the tour (we got our money back though). After the caves, we headed on, again, an unbelievably picturesque drive East thru the North Island where we kept finding ourselves saying to one another "Wow," "Whoa, did you see that??," "LOOK" - it was that kinda driving.

After a quick stop at the Cadillac Cafe to have a lunch in a city called Putaruru, we contined on to Rotorua, where we are now and leaving tomorrow. Before checking in to our camper, we went to local video store and picked up Lord of The Rings, Part I - never had any interest in it really, but being that we are in New Zealand, it was something we both wanted to see. Last night we watched the first disc (90min). I don't have the attention to watch 3hrs straight, so tonight we'll probably watch the 2nd disc. As of now, seems like a lot of fuss and media attention as an 'epic' for a movie about a ring with powers.

Today, we checked out Hells Gate, which is about 100 acres of thermal activity. In fact, it is the largest active geothermal area in the world. There is steam and mud bubbles coming from the ground and awful sulfur smells everywhere, but it sure is a special experience. Better than the sites, though, is the mud bath that we took afterwards. Tonight is a Maori festival where we will be entertained and fed Maori traditions and food.

Will try and get pics out as soon as possible.

As we leave this afternoon for New Zealand to begin 3 weeks caravaning (winnebago-ing) around the North & South Island, we are excited, but saddened to leave Australia, although we'll be back for 3 nights in mid-October.

We finished up strong traveling mostly by bus, a lot of bus, up the East Coast of Australia. After Hunter Valley, we were driven to Newcastle where we had a few hours of a layover until another bus took us to Port Macquarie, where we arrived late and spent the 'short' night, as we were up early to get on another bus that was to take us to Byron Bay. In Newcastle though, after checking out Kevin Spacey's "Beyond the Sea" flick where he brilliantly portrays Bobby Darin (neither of us knew who Bobby Darin was before the movie), we had our first semi-scary experience as a drunk man nearly accosted us by throwing his beer bottle at me for no apparent reason. When he went to pick it up stumbling, he says "What are you gonna do about it?" I said 'nothing' and we walked away. Amanda was scared, but I reassured her I would of crushed that guy as I'm a yellow belt in karate, but more importantly, he was completely hammered. We soon learned at dinner that this is not uncommon as Newcatle has a problem with there drunks. This put Amanda at ease, a little.

The bus from Newcastle to Port Macquarie was long and tiresome as we didn't arrive until after 1am and were picked up by a guy that looked like a scary Greg Popovitch. But "The Port," as it is known, is a nice sleepy town with a beautiful spot along the Pacific Ocean. We weren't there long, but it was nice nonetheless.

The fun began was we arrived in Byron Bay, whose Cape Byron represents the eastern most point of Australia. Turned off at first by some anti-American sentiments we overhearded, we settled in and had 3 great nights there, staying at the famous Art Factory Hostel. This place is the most unique accomodation we've ever been to as it is a hostel with regular dorms, but also tents, an old bus that sleeps a bunch of people, a movie theater, a restaurant, an enterntainment venue and a day spa. We stayed in the room dubbed "The Love Shack," which probably didn't look like you're imagining, but we had our room and bathroom - a luxury. Also at "The Arts," there are free classes like Yoga, Poi, etc. We went on a 45min bush tucker walk where this crazy (CRAZY) guy, cockadoo Paul, called that b/c he walks around with a cockadoo on his shoulder showed us all these things you can do with different trees - make string, get water, get gum, get soap, etc.

In Byron, I took my first surf lesson (of course I got up) while Amanda hung out at the beach and watched and filmed. It was fun and something I had to do while I was out here, but as of now, I think catching a wave on a boogie board is just as exhilirating. Another day we took the infamous Jim's Tours that took us to Nimbin, a hippy town about an hour west of Byron, where all 'hippy' things are basically overlooked and where there is the annual Mardi Grass and Aquarias Music Festival each year. The tour was fanstastic as there was about 25 of us on a Merry Prankster's bus, and the narrating guide had music choreographed for the whole trip. For example, as we drove thru the beautiful Australian landscape, we stopped briefly at a very small, conservative city, and as we went thru an intersection, he said something about the town being dull and then the song came on "Give me one reason to stay here and I'll turn right back around...."

As we were checking out of "The Arts," I learned from my new buddy Rod, the cleaning guy, that The Arts is where Ricky Williams stayed when he did his "running," as Rod called it, meaing when Ricky failed his 4th drug test a few years back and was reported to be living in Australia in a tent, it was at The Arts! He told me some great stories about Ricky - about no one knowing who he was for a few days, about him looking confused at the laundry machine and Rod asking if he needed help and Ricky saying "Thanks, I usually have a maid do this for me", about playing poker with Ricky and Ricky bending the aces (in fun), and about how Ricky put a homeless guy that he befriended up for 3 nights in the nicest room in the Day Spa at The Arts and the morning after the first night the homeless guy was walking around the facility when an employee interrogated him and he simply said "I'm checked in Mate."

After Byron, it was back on the bus for another 8-9 hours up to Hervey Bay stopping briefly in Brisbane to have a look. Hervey Bay is the main portal to Fraser Island, where we did a 2day/ 1 night tour, but not before we spent a day Whale Watching in Hervey, which is the Whale Watching Capital of Australia. Each year during this time, these mammoth humpback whales come North from Antartica, where they spend most of their time, up to the northern coast of Australia to mate, have their baby calfes, and ready the babies for the cold trip back to Antartica. We were so lucky to have been there during this time as a short boat ride gets you a first row seat to some unbelievable sights - whales breaching (jumping up outta the water), their calves trying to mimmick thier moms with a half-breach, the whales blowing huge amounts of air and water outta their blow holes, slapping their arms and tails (huge tails) hard against the water. It was all very VERY neat to witness.

The next day we boarded the ferry to go to neighboring Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. Once you get on the island, you can only get around via a big ass 4-wheel drive vehicle. Ours carried about 30 people. It was a lot of bumping and up and down, but the island offers some of the most beautiful natural lakes and sights including Lake Macquarie, where we exfoliated with the sand and hung out for about 2 hours. The tour was a lot of stop and go, see sights and get back on the bus, and it was expensive, but we couldn't come to Australia and not go to Fraser Island. It is such a special place.

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Everyone knows that Bradley is huge Dolphin fan, so when he found out the first game of the season was on ESPN last Friday he made it our mission to watch the game somewhere in Sydney. This isn't an easy feat to accomplish. First we walked around to a few bars, but most of them didn't get the channel or just didn't want to watch it. Then we remembered the luxurious Marriot executive lounge that we had been enjoying while his parents were visiting. So after some strategizing and acting (because we checked out the day before) we made it up to the 30th floor and quickly took over the large flat screen telly (TV) and turned on the game. So now not only did we have the game but we had unlimited snacks, a comfy couch, and even some great views. Two other couples joined us, 2 Americans also on their Honeymoon and a couple from England. Needless to say it was a great afternoon.

The next day we packed up and caught a bus to Australia's Wine Country, Hunter Valley. It was only about a 2 hour journey and it was pouring rain, the second day of straight rain. We splurged a little on our Hotel and stayed right on a vineyard called Hunter Valley Resort. It was unbelievable! Our room was basically a log cabin overlooking the vineyards. It continued to rain the whole time that we were there but definitely didn't put a damper on our trip at all. Our first day, we took a full day wine tasting tour. The bus picked us up at 9 AM and didn't bring us back until 5! We visited about 7 wineries in all and were pretty "happy" by the time we got back. That evening we were walking around our resort and stopped dead in our tracks for a humongous kangaroo! It was unbelievable! We have seen many of them in zoo's and often from distances but this was the real deal. The excitement quickly turned to fear though since we both know they can be extremely dangerous, so we continued walking. The next day we signed up for "wine school," a two hour course given by our resort. We put on hardhats and walked around the machines, then tasted 4 whites and 4 reds and discussed them each. We loved everything we did at "The Hunter" and even sent home 2 bottles of wine that we hope to drink on our 5th anniversary. Hunter Valley will always be an amazing memory for us!

Say you were searching the Internet for a 2-week itinerary to see the continent/country of Australia. Where would you start?? If a search engine returned our adventures the last two weeks, it would come up "Shapiro Itinerary - ADVANCED". We've tried to attach links to our activities below so that you can see just how busy we were.

After a challenging 3 day camping tour in Kakadu National Park, we arrived via Qantas (our favorite airline) to Alice Springs and took a shuttle to our HOTEL. This may not seem like a big deal, but to us, HOTELS had not often been on our menu of accomodations. In fact, it probably wasn't since our stay with the Herlings in China had we stayed in a hotel. And as we were checking in, Bob and Janet came thru the looby and there were hugs and kisses a plenty. But that didn't last too long as Mom's motto was "I want to do as much as possible. We're only here for two weeks." From the Outback to the Great Barrier Reef to the Metropolitan Cities, we covered the best that Australia has to offer as we traveled from Alice Springs to Cairns to Melbourne and to Sydney.

Alice Springs - It wasn't long after we checked in that we were off on our first evening activity, Red Center Dreaming, pictured above. We dined while learning about the native Aborginal culture and traditions, and then were entertained by the native people performing some of their dances and music. I had a go at playing the didgeridoo, but proved to be not so good - tough instrument. No rest for the weary as we were up before 5am the next morning to board the bus for our one-day (18 hour) tour of Ayers Rock and the Olgas, Emu Tours. Five hours there, five back and some rock formations in between, and there you have it. Seriously though, it was an incredible experience to see Ayers Rock (aka Uluru), an enormous rock in the middle of the Outback. If you think of it as a circular rock, which it is, it's actually 2x as big below the ground as it above, just mammoth. It is considered sacred to the Aborginals and belongs to them under a 99-year lease from the Government under the condition that they continue to allow people the option to climb it. Although there are warning and pleadings not to climb it from the natives, many people do and Amanda and I did. It is a ridiculously scary climb and shouldn't be legal as there is only a single chain link to hold on to as you steeply climb and then descend, over 35 deaths and countless injuries.

Cairns - Again via Qantas, we arrived in Cairns and checked in to our waterfront Hilton Hotel, which was spectacular. And again, not wasting any time, we were booked the next morning on Tusa Dive where we boarded the boat about 7.30am and headed out to the Outer Reefs of the Great Barrier Reef, one of the 7 Wonders of the World. It was a brilliant day of snorkeling and sunbathing as we snorkeled two different sites and enjoyed the gorgeous weather and surroundings. Mom, Dad and I put on wet suits for the first time, which was a site to see, but I don't have those shots. They are on strict copywright on Bob and Janet's camera. Also in Cairns, we toured what is deemed the largest Rain Forest in the World and largest Sky Train, experiencing both the Skyrail and Scenic Train as we traveled to the nestled little city of Kuranda. As you might imagine, the Skyrail did not go so well with the girls. In the relaxed beach town of Cairns, we did just that, seeing two movies, Thank you for Smoking and You, Me & Dupree.

Melbourne - Pronounced Mel-burn, we checked in to the Melbourne Marriott and benefited from Pop's extensive history with the hotel chain as we were permitted continuous access to the Executive Lounge, where we ate and drank as much as we wanted for free. Breakfast was a given and usually a mid-afternoon snack was in order as well. Melbourne is undoubtedly a proud city with a rich metropolitan culture. It is a melting pot of urban, suburban, ethnic and traditional. Our first night, we walked up and down Brunswick street looking for a burger and struggled for nearly a half-hour. We did, though, walk by restaurants serving Italian, Vietnamese, Thai, African, Malaysian, Mexican, Spanish, Turkish, Greek and many other types of food. Next day we walked the Melbourne Zoo. Other nights included seeing the opening of Mum's the Word 2: Teenagers, a great live performance about 4 Mom's (Mum's) who struggle with their children's adolesent years. We also all went to an AFL (Aussie Rules Football League) game and saw Western knock off Essendon in the beautiful Telstra Dome, walking distance from our hotel. As gambling is legal throughout Australia, I obviously got some action on the game and won $50 as Western barely covered the 17.5 points. One afternoon, we shopped the Queen Victoria Market, went to the Melbourne Museum and saw Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees IMAX. Lastly, in Melbourne, we rented our first car and drove (I drove) on the wrong side of the road South for 2 hours to Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade, a 365-day a year event where you get to witness first hand the Little Penguins returning from the water to their burroughs, completely unprovoked or initiated, an amazing thing for your eyes to see.

Sydney - Arriving at our final destination, the center of Australia's commerce, we still had much to do and see in Sydney. First, we walked and walked and walked, and walked - a common occurence whenever you're with Bob and Janet, but at least it was thru the Royal Botanical Gardens and not the Aventura Circle. Other than walking, though, we took a fantastic 2hr ferry cruise around Sydney's harbor, Captain Cook Cruises, with a microphoned guide educating us on the harbour's history and the famous residences (Elton John, Russell Crowe, Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman, etc). Another day, we again rented a car and drove 100 miles or so (160K) and took a grueling hike (trek) thru Sydney's Blue Mountains. The adventures fittingly closed at one of the world's most recognized and revered pieces of real estate, the Sydney Opera House, as Amanda and I took in our first Opera, Turandot.

It is impossible to express in words how grateful we are to have experienced the last two weeks with my parents here in Australia as well as the two weeks spent in China with The Herling's. Believe it or not, for Amanda and I, the best part of traveling for us has been seeing and feeling the happiness and contentment when we were with both our parents.

Finally, our deepest condolences to Steve Irwin's family. While we obviously do not know them personally, we were and still are deeply saddened by his tragedy. Rest in Peace Croc Hunter.

Click here for some pics with The Shapiro's