Down the East Coast

(Location: Weston to Franz Joseph Glacier, New Zealand) [one_half] [/one_half] Day 7: To the Glacier From Westport, we headed down the west coast of the South Island. The coastline here is breathtaking – steep cliffs, boulder-filled bays, and crashing surf. Our first stop was the blowholes and Pancake Rocks near Punakaiki. After a bit of […]

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From the North Island to the South Island

(Location: Wellington to Westport, New Zealand) [one_half] [/one_half] Day 6: From the North to the South Island The ferry from Wellington departed at 8am, and the crossing to Picton (on the South Island) took just over three hours. The sea was generally calm, but the boat had to travel very slow due to the narrow […]

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A Vacation from Our Vacation

(Location: Tongariro to Wellington, New Zealand) [one_half] [/one_half] Day 5: Easter Monday We continued south from Tongariro, past field after field after field of sheep. There are 7 million sheep in New Zealand. Pretty sure we saw 1/4 of them this day. Despite the hard lesson learned of being “homeless” on the first night in […]

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Glow Worms, Bees, and Free Camping

(Location: Auckland to Rotorua, New Zealand) [one_half] [/one_half] Day 3: Heading South from Auckland We said a sad goodbye to the Hilton, with its fluffy towels, hot shower, and comfortable bed, and headed over to pick up the campervan. Those of you who know me know that I need a real incentive for camping and/or […]

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Wining Around Waiheke

(Location: Auckland, New Zealand) [one_half] [/one_half] In April of 2014, Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Anzac Day lined up nicely, meaning one could take three vacation days and get 10 days off in a row. This phenomena comes few and far between, so we took advantage of the time and headed to New Zealand. Because […]

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Battling Bangalore

(Location: Bangalore, India) In March of 2014, I taught a class in Bangalore. Unfortunately I spent the majority of the time at the hotel, office, and in traffic in between those two places.   The most adventurous we got was a team trip to the city market…     And our taxi driver disappeared so […]

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Working in Dubai

(Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates) In February of 2014, I was invited to teach a course in Dubai. In keeping with our “why not” philosophy, we decided to stay the weekend and visit with some friends in the area. Dubai is a quick  (ha) 14 hour (7,251 miles / 11,669 km) flight from Melbourne. Arrival […]

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“Can you be in Perth on Monday morning?”

(Location: Perth, Western Australia) “Can you be in Perth on Monday morning?” Um, err, it’s Friday at 5pm… OK, what the heck. If you are or know a consultant, you know that this is the norm rather than the exception.  But what the heck. I hadn’t been to Perth. Andy had some work he could […]

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Kangaroo Island – Raw Beauty and Many Wild Marsupials

(Location: Kangaroo Island, South Australia) In January of 2014 I had a work trip to Adelaide, so we decided to make a long weekend out of it and tick Kangaroo Island off the list. Our flight from Melbourne landed late afternoon, so we arranged to spend the first night in McLaren Vale. After a light […]

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