Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello out there and happy Thanksgiving to you all. We had KFC today. It's not turkey. I hope you all are eating much better than that.

We have been on the road non-stop lately. We went to the island of Java and did some really cool volcano trekking. We also went to Borobudur today. It's the largest Buddhist stuppa in the world.
Apparently everything you do in SE Asia has to be done at sunrise. Every morning you have to get up at 4:00 and catch a bus somewhere or hike up something. It's worth it though when you get the views. This is Mount Bromo.

The day after Mount Bromo we went to Ijen. There are sulphur mines there and it's one of the most amazing but disturbing places ever. The views are spectacular but the working conditions are horrifying. There are men mining sulphur with not much more than a handkerchief as a face mask. All day long they breath in horrible smoke and chemicals. They then have to hike up the mountain, many of them barefoot, with up to 90 kilos (180) pounds of sulphur on their backs. They labor is back-breaking and I can't imagine the pay is any better. It's sick to think that things like this actually go on. There is no OSHA here to say any other though. To them it's just work. To us it's appalling.

Next was Borobudur. This massive Buddhist temple was built long ago. It was abandoned when Islam starting taking over the island of Java and the Buddhists were forced out. It was covered by bushes and volcanic ash over hundreds of years and later discovered in the early 1800's. Even though the stones are beginning to crumble it's easy to appreciate how impressive this place really is. The carvings are so intricate and I can't imagine how long it would take to create. It's pretty cool to stand on something that's been there for thousands of years.

Tomorrow morning we are going to a festival bright and early. It is currently Hajj in the Muslim religion. Hajj is the pilgrimage Muslims must make to Mecca in their lifetime. It is celebrated here tomorrow with parades, ceremonies, and animal sacrifices. The locals keep telling us we have to go experience it so once again we are getting up at the ass crack of dawn to do so. It should be quite the experience though.

After that we have come to the point in our trip where we are parting ways for a bit. Andy has already seen most of Southeast Asia so he's going to head to the areas he hasn't seen yet. AJ is meeting a friend in Malaysia for a few days. I'm heading to Singapore and then probably off to Vietnam after that. We hope to meet again for Christmas and New Years if it's in the cards. Only time will tell....

Much love and happy holidays to you all,

Ryan


These pictures are out of order but I don't feel like rearranging them since I'm almost out of internet time. The bottom ones are Mount Bromo, the middle ones are Ijen, and the top ones are Borobudur. Enjoy.

Indonesian Sunsets....

Every night is amazing and they seem to get better and better with each passing day...

Bali, Indonesia...........It's NOT Missouri

Well, we made it to Bali last night. We left NZ at 7:00 in the morning and took a 3.5 hour flight to Melbourne, Australia. From there we had a six hour layover and then another 6.5 hour flight to Denpasar, Bali. We crossed four timezones in the process. We know have an +14 hour difference between the States.

We got in around 6:00 pm local time but by the time we got our visas and through customs it was dark. It was quite an experience right off the bat. The second we walked out of the airport we were barraged by locals pulling us every way trying to exchange money, buy maps, book hotesl, and get in their taxis. It was really frustrating. You couldn't even focus on our own maps trying to figure out where to go without 30 people saying, "Yes, yes, you come with me." It was a bit of a pain in the ass.

After finally negotiating a cab ride to the town of Kuta we made our way. It was chaos. There are motorbikes everywhere flying past cabs with hundreds to people just running about in the streets. There really aren't any type of traffic rules here. You basically just get out of the way and hope not to get hit. You have avoid children, bikes, motocycles, horses, street carts, and all kinds of other crazy stuff.

After about a half hour in the cab we get dropped off at our hostel. Lucky for us they had no vacancy for night. At this point we are all starving because we hadn't eaten in 18 hours. Our flight was on Pacific Blue and it's a budget airline. You get nothing free. All drinks and food must be purchased at a pretty ridiculous price. The Melbourne international terminal sucked too. They only had one crappy cafe to eat at and it was priced pretty crazy for the shit they were selling. We opted to wait and eat in Bali. We we freaking starving!

So, with fatigue setting in we decided to walk a bit and find the next place to stay. Lucky for us, again, there was a blackout in half of Kuta last night. We had no idea where to go and everything was dark so you couldn't tell what you were getting yourself into. You would look down alleys and just hear crazy Indonesian chatter and not know wheter to proceed or not. After some time we walked up to a hotel to try and get a room. Most people here speak Bahasa Indonesian with enough English to get your money and book your room. We just went for it and booked a room for the night not knowing what to expect. We didn't care anymore.

Later we walked the crowded, dark, chaotic streets and found some street vendors selling food. We don't know what we ate because it was dark but I know it was amazing! I'm pretty sure there was some pork, some fish, and some chicken. We got a huge plate of food covered in chili oil and beer for only $3.00. It was pretty awesome. We sat on a street curb while a woman served us with her bare fingers and finally got to take it all in. We were no longer in New Zealand and a long way from Missouri.

After that it was back to the hotel and thankfully the power had come back on. We passed out and woke up to a pretty nice view of the pool from our private balcony. Not bad for $10....


It's hotter than hell but only because of the humidity. It's like a Missouri summer with an extra 80% humidity. Hopefully it will be a great time though. Today we head for the beach to see what this place is all about. I'm sure we are in for some great views...

Talk to you all later!

Ryan

Penguins!

After much work up and down the coasts of New Zealand we finally saw some penguin colonies. We saw a few in Abel Tasman National Park but only when swimming by. We never really got a good look at them until now.

We are in Oamaru right now on the east coast of the South Island. There are two penguin colonies here. One is the blue penguin and the other is the yellow eyed penguin. The yellow eyed penguin is the rarest penguin in the world. They are supposed to be scared off really easy and you are supposed to be very quiet to see them. They come in from sea right around dark. There was a viewing area on a bluff and you could watch them float ashore like driftwood and all of a sudden they would pop up and waddle across the beach.

After a while they would waddle away and disappear into the bush. We didn't really expect anything else when all of a sudden a few came out of the bushes right in front of our face!

It was really cool to see the rarest penguin in the world in it's natural environment. Few people can witness such an event. What an experience.

Just around the corner was the colony of blue penguins. They come in at dark and are in the process of nesting right now as mating season is going on. They would come across the road and hide under sheds where they made their nests. Also really cool but it was hard to get a picture because the flash scares them off.

Overall, it was freaking cool to see some penguins in the wild carrying on like they do everyday. Worth the wait all this time.

Milford Sound

An amazing place! Milford Sound is in Fiordland National Park on the South Island of New Zealand. The huge area was carved by glaciers over millions of years. There are stunning waterfalls, mountains, and wildlife. It was truly a remarkable experience. The pictures (and video) speak for themselves.

Rain, Rain Go Away...

Our start to the South Island has been a bit frustrating. We have been here over a week now and it has rained at some point every day. Five of the days have been absolute monsoons. We did, however, get out and do a three day kayak trip around Abel Tasman National Park.

For working on Mt. Ruapehu we got a special with a company called the Sea Kayak Company. We got a three day "freedom rental" for the price of a two day. Basically, it meant we had kayaks for three days and could go wherever the hell we wanted. We booked campsites along the coast of Abel Tasman for two nights and headed out.

Day one was pretty good. We started off with a bit of sunshine but it quickly turned to cloud and later showers. We got the hang of the kayaks pretty quick and made it to our first campsite much earlier than we anticipated. We head a bit of choppy water during a stretch called "The Mad Mile" where the headwinds pick up a bit. Overall though, it was a good day.

Split Apple Rock, Abel Tasman National Park

Day two was a bit different. There is an island which is notorious for having a large seal colony on it. It's a couple of bays past where we were scheduled to camp for the second night. We were told by our instructor on day one that the water can get choppy out there at times when it gets windy. So, we set out early on Tuesday morning to try and see some seals and get back in time for a relaxing afternoon on the beach. We kayaked for a couple of hours and again got to our destination much quicker than expected. The waters were really calm and it made for an easy trip.

Tonga island was really cool. There were seals just hanging out on rocks and then every now and then you'd see one in the water playing around. They just roll back and forth like an otter. It was really cool when one would all of a sudden go under your kayak and then surface. Every now and then a penguin would pop up too. It reminds you that you are a far way from Missouri when you see it.

Seals on Tonga Island, Abel Tasman National Park

After we saw the seals we decided to head back to the campsite. This is when the weather took a turn and things got down right scary. The winds started whipping around the point of the island and it got really dangerous. The problem we had was that we were trying to cut across to the mainland. Our kayaks needed to go at an angle and we couldn't keep the noses of them into the wind to ride over the waves. It got to the point where the waves started intensifying and they started cresting right over the top of us. The waves were topping three meters (about 10 ft.) and really rolling. Then, of course, it started pouring down rain. We started to get tossed around like plastic bathtub toys. Our rudders became useless at this point and they only way to stay afloat was to try like hell to paddle and hit the waves head on. We really thought we were going to capsize the damn things. It was the second time we entered "survival mode" in New Zealand.

Luckily, about a gruelling hour later we made it to the beach exhausted and happy to be on land. We were very fortunate not to flip one of them over. There were a few casualties but none of us. We lost a spare boat paddle, water pump, water bottle, and flip flop along the way. We were soaked head to toe and made a nice big fire the rest of the day to unwind. We were then told by the conservation officer at the campsite that the waves got too big for the water taxis to run. Glad we were out there crashing along the coast in hunks of plastic.

Day three was pretty uneventful. We had a long way to go to get back to our car so we headed out early. The mighty Tasman Sea was calm so we made pretty good time. It was tough though because our entire bodies ached head to toe from the day before. Blistered hands and all though we finished the trip and have some seal photos to show for it. Worth it.

Mother Nature tries her hardest to keep us down but we keep coming out alright in the end.

Another victory for the three of us.

Heading out soon to move down the west coast. From here it's the Pancake Rocks, Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers, and a brewery tour of one of our favorite NZ beers.

And the dream continues...

A crazy sunrise in Motueka this morning right before a rain shower. The video doesn't really capture how intense the colors were but it was the coolest thing to wake up to.

Hitting the Road Again

Hello, hello!

Well, it's official. Our time at Mt. Ruapehu is over. We left yesterday morning. It's a very bittersweet feeling. It's great to be travelling again but we had to say goodbye to some really amazing people. Some strong friendships were made and it's hard to let that go. That's part of travelling though and there's not much you can do about it. Hopefully we keep in touch and our paths cross again some day.

Other than that we are stoked to be on the road again! We got into Wellington yesterday afternoon and spent the night. Luckily, a lot of our Ruapehu friends are here as well so we had one last night out with them. It was a good ending to a great winter season. In a few hours we board the ferry to cross to the South Island. We'll be travelling there until mid November and then it's off the Southeast Asia!

Life is good and it's only getting better. As the leaves change colors back home the weather is warming here and flowers are blooming. It's absolutely beautiful. Since we'll be on the road for awhile you may not here from us as often. We'll be sure to check in when we can though.

Love you all and a big congratulations to Jake and Heather getting engaged the other day. We wish you two the best of luck with all the planning.

Peace be the journey. Later!

Ryan



Matt Costa - "The Road" (It's become the anthem of our trip)

"Don't talk
Don't say nothing
I just packed my things
And I'm headed for something
Where I'm going
Well, I don't really know
The road is calling
So I've got to go
Yes the road is calling
so ive got to go"

"We bid farewell as the winds blew like hell
said we'd meet again
Like some storybook tale
but, no, we don't talk
We don't say nothing
I'll just pack my things
And go headed for something
but where I was headed
well i didnt really say
the road was callin
and I was on my way
yes the road was callin
and I was on my way"