Viewing entries in
Travel

Feeling a bit Tinggly in Thailand!

4 Comments

Feeling a bit Tinggly in Thailand!

image.jpg
20150508_132815_1
20150508_132815_1

We have been feeling pretty Tinggly here lately with all our Nuventures! Adam and I are partnering with Tinggly as their ambassadors testing and reviewing their worldwide inventory of experiences. We are pumped to be a part of their unique mission: gifting people with amazing experiences all over the world!

When we got married, we dreamed of future holidays and adventures together on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Alps or cruising Thailand in a long-tail boat. (Now, we can check one of those off our bucket list!) We decided we wanted to start a new tradition for ourselves. Instead of giving each other physical gifts each holiday, we want to simply spend time together and make memories in amazing new spots around the world.

Thankfully, we discovered Tinggly. A perfect fit to what we are looking for! Instead of giving a gift that someone may never use, Tinggly provides hundreds of experiences all over the world for people to gift to one another. The receiver is then able to choose which experience they want, wherever they want!

Our first assignment: the James Bond ISland Tour, Krabi, Thailand

20150517_113346_1
20150517_113346_1

 And, we were off getting Tinggly! We quickly realized our first adventure's focus was more about the journey rather than the destination. We jumped in the minibus, escaping the tourism of Krabi, and drove the country side seeing the real Thailand. We whizzed by local markets selling brooms made of wild grass, trucks fully loaded with palm bunches on the way to make palm oil, and perfectly aligned rubber tree farms. Then, we hopped into a long-tail boat through Phang Nga Bay. Adam and I were speechless. We were overwhelmed by the dramatic scenery of the limestone cliffs and towering islands bordering the bay.

20150517_104531
20150517_104531

As the long-tail boat skirted the edges of the islands, the cliffs just seemed to be dripping above us.

wpid-20150517_115605_1.jpg
wpid-20150517_115605_1.jpg

Our main goal was to set our sights on James Bond Island. The island is famous for it's debut in 007's The Man with the Golden Gun. Look familiar?

wpid-20150517_112344_1.jpg
wpid-20150517_112344_1.jpg

After this spot, we jumped back in the boat and were on our way to the floating village of Panyee.

20150517_110214_1
20150517_110214_1

Panyee was the highlight of our adventure. The village was seriously floating with homes, shops and restaurants on stilts. No solid ground underneath, only water!

After lunch we snuck past the tourist shops and wandered the village alleys. We dodged kids riding their bikes, playing soccer, and tackling each other on the three foot wide sidewalks used as their playground. They didn't have soft, cushy grass along the path, but six foot drop offs into the water on either side. Homes and bars that we passed had wooden slats for the floors. Drop anything, your ring, your keys, your fork, your pen and it would be gone in an instant into the murky sea water below only maybe to be seen again at low tide.

wpid-20150517_133224_1.jpg
wpid-20150517_133224_1.jpg

How many times have they cursed the holes in their floors? For the kiddos, I'm sure that is all they know. No fear to fall off their bike into the water below. They will just find the village ladder and climb right back up!

wpid-20150517_134211_1.jpg
wpid-20150517_134211_1.jpg

Later, we visited the reclining Buddha statue in the Suwankuha Temple, otherwise known as Monkey Cave. Monkeys welcomed us in while the bats soared over head between the stalactites as we went deeper into the cave.

wpid-20150517_142640_1.jpg
wpid-20150517_142640_1.jpg

A bit creeped out by the bats, we monkeyed around with the fury locals outside the cave until we were almost caught in a scramble over bananas. The monkeys changed in an instant with terrifying growls, fangs gleaming and crazy speed over the rocky terrain. Monkeying around turned into giving some serious distance and respect.

wpid-20150517_145553_1.jpg
wpid-20150517_145553_1.jpg

Tinggly's experience took Adam and I on an all day Thailand adventure. We hung out with locals, played soccer with the kiddos on their floating village, pondered and reflected on Thailand's amazing culture, got a shocking view of the wildlife  and gazed at the amazing landscape Thailand boasts.

Get your Tinggly on and gift someone you love with their dream adventure!

4 Comments

New Zealand Campervan Catastrophes

2 Comments

New Zealand Campervan Catastrophes

wpid-20150409_084603.jpg

Our five month camper van road trip in New Zealand has been a journey we will never forget. With a bed in the back, we have vowed we will be tent camping no more unless we are in the backcountry. Hey, we camped in a tent for four months on our US road trip. We did our time.

Last day with our good ol' camper van, Bernie. You treated us well for all five months and killed those 16,000 km. We'll miss ya, boy!

Last day with our good ol' camper van, Bernie. You treated us well for all five months and killed those 16,000 km. We'll miss ya, boy!

We woke up to new, stunning New Zealand views every morning. We are sold! Forget a house, we are dreaming of living in a campervan! We were outside all the time. We fell asleep next to bubbling brooks and woke up to views we would never have in a house or hotel. We had most of our meals outside soaking in beautiful vistas of coastlines and mountain ranges for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We have even stumbled upon the southern lights and an eclipse just because we have been more in tune with nature. It’s been incredible!

Waking up to mountain tops covered in snow! Ah!

Waking up to mountain tops covered in snow! Ah!

We have had our fair share of catastrophes and fails, though. How 'bout that time...

We had our nightmare on the Forgotten HighwaY

We should have known we were setting out for bad news. The name is the Forgotten World Highway for a reason. There’s nothing on it. Well, to be honest, we knew there were four campsites along the route, so we thought we would be okay.

We passed the first two in the daylight and thought we could make it to the next one. One thing we have learned about New Zealand is the distance on maps is incredibly deceptive. In reality, it takes three times longer than you estimate due to the winding and curving roads. Well, this was just the case this time, too. We underestimated our timing.

By now it was dark and we finally got to the next campsite option. Our headlights hit the locked gate. No access. Okay, moving on. We made it to the next site. This is it! We are home for the night. No, no campsite here. It was midnight at this point, we had been driving for hours and Adam finally just pulled over at a rest stop in the pitch black. I looked over and our van was situated on a decline with a cliff only feet away.

As we got into bed, I asked, “Is the parking break on?” My mind was racing of the what if’s. Ladies, you get this. Adam, knowing me too well said, “Lindsey, if we roll, we’ll roll into the tree." Oh, great, we'll just roll into the tree on the edge of the cliff. Hell no! I scrambled out of bed, jumped into the drivers seat and steamed down the never ending Forgotten Highway. Adam stayed in the back snuggled up all cosy in bed.

Driving further and further there was nothing. We were in rural New Zealand and good luck to anyone trying to read road signs in the dark. I kept politely asking for Adam to help me find the next campsite. Silence. “Oh, you’re going to play that game?” I have never been so livid. He always expects me to navigate for him and the time I’m powering through to get us to a safe spot to sleep, he’s not helping me! I’m talking to him, he’s not responding.

I know he’s awake. I turn on the music just to ensure he can't sleep. Again, I ask him to help me. I’m missing turn offs and signs for new camp sites because I can’t see the gosh darn signs. He’s still not talking. I crank up the music, loud, blasting it as loud as the knob will go. It's so loud, I can’t even think straight. I’m fuming at him! I keep missing turns and I don’t know where to go. I keep pulling over to look at maps, but keep missing signs. Oh, sweet Adam is still in the back, cuddled up, cozy and silent. Can you believe him?!?

At this point I’m crying from frustration and exhaustion. I don’t know where to go and when I need Adam’s help, he’s not showing up to help me. Desperate, I just pull into a motel parking lot and fall into the bed in the back of Bernie. If we had a house, I would have kicked Adam out that night. The couch wouldn’t have even been an option.

And the night we were attacked and kicked out of our campsite by the vicious flock of keA

Don't be fooled. Kea fly in gangs, consume rubber, can run as fast as your small terrier, and have beaks sharpened for war. Quite intimidated and outnumbered, we were run out of our campsite!

Don't be fooled. Kea fly in gangs, consume rubber, can run as fast as your small terrier, and have beaks sharpened for war. Quite intimidated and outnumbered, we were run out of our campsite!

Remember that time we were invaded by thousands of ENORMOUS beetles

How peaceful and calm this looks. Our experience was the complete opposite: Hysterics followed by chaos!

How peaceful and calm this looks. Our experience was the complete opposite: Hysterics followed by chaos!

So, we pulled into a green, grassy campsite in a beautiful gorge with a river flowing through and a historic bridge as a backdrop. I started pulling out our camping chairs and tv table to get ready to make dinner. I unfolded our little pink camping chair and immediately went peddling backwards screaming! The chair was covered with tens, hundreds, thousands of black beetles all 2 inches long! (Okay, I know I’m exaggerating, but there were tons! They were HUGE!)

I screamed and started freaking out at Adam. My fright turned to rage and even got stubborn Adam to clean off every one of them as he laughed hysterically. He started flicking them off the chair right next to the van. “What are you thinking?!? Not next to the van!!!” I made him go as far away as possible to execute those buggers. I had the whole campsite gaping at my hysterics.

Dinner was delayed as I pulled everything out of the van and scoured every nook and cranny of every item in every box until I was satisfied that every single beetle had been exterminated. Adam had left the pink chair out all night at a beach the night before and these nocturnal beetles found comfort in the seat of the folded pink chair in the morning. Unknown to us, we shoved the chair and the hundreds of beetles into the van and transported them all day! Disgusting! Thankfully, they were subdued during their transport, so many didn’t escape the chair’s boundaries. Thank God I found them before they became active that night as we slept right above them! Ah! I cringe at the thought.

My meticulous cleanse wasn’t thorough enough, though. We found remnants of other beetles throughout the van in the days to come. You bet no item has been left outside or will ever be left outside ever again!

Oh, and how many nights did we compete to see who could kill more sandflies and mosquitos?

And the time we found a wee bird in our push bike wheel. We felt horrible. 

And the time we found a wee bird in our push bike wheel. We felt horrible. 

Can't forget the Flood of 2015

All right, so Adam, our beloved, intellectual, college edumucated CPA, has a history of making terribly illogical decisions when storing large amounts of liquid. On our US roadtrip, he insisted on storing a gallon of Gain washing detergent in a Ziploc bag stored in the exact spot that we were shoving our gear in and out every morning and every night. Ziploc, I believe in you, but not that much. Turns out, I was right. The bag exploded.

Round two: New Zealand. With Bernie, we inherited an unused thick plastic camping bag that boasted it could hold 5 gallons of water. I doubted that from the moment we layed eyes on it. We already lived through this. So, we argued. Adam didn’t budge, so I gave up. The bag made it the first two months. Surprisingly, the plastic bag got a hole in it! What? Can you believe it? Poor Bernie’s carpet and everything stored under the bed were soaked for weeks.

Every chance we got we hauled everything out of the van and had it air dry. Wonderful Nancy and David on the sheep farm even tried a heater and fan on it for days. We won’t make that decision again. I’m putting my foot down.

Oh no. We are following a truck load of 45 porte-johns up a mountain pass. If anything goes wrong, things could get really sh!$&y!

Oh no. We are following a truck load of 45 porte-johns up a mountain pass. If anything goes wrong, things could get really sh!$&y!

These are the true, imperfect tales of #nuventures. I hear they say, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I'll hang onto that.

These accounts are unbiased, with no name calling or blame, and are objective in all aspects.

"I'll go climb the tree. This will be the perfect picture! Ugh, ugh... hold on a sec. Wait, ugh. I'm getting there."

"I'll go climb the tree. This will be the perfect picture! Ugh, ugh... hold on a sec. Wait, ugh. I'm getting there."

2 Comments

Learn New Zealand Vocabulary

3 Comments

Learn New Zealand Vocabulary

Can you count them all?

Heading to New Zealand, hey? Good on ya! You speak English, hey? Sweet as! Just to be sure you and your mates will have heaps of fun and your mum won’t be worried, rattle your dags and get keen on learning your Kiwi English! When you do, you’ll be good as gold! If not, don’t get your knickers in a wad, she’ll be right.

We have a brand spankin’ new English vocabulary after five months of road tripping New Zealand in our not-so-flash campervan, Bernie, and tramping through the fern filled bush. The drives around the country were filled with hours of admiring thousands of shorn ewes in green paddocks, being spontaneously welcomed into generous Kiwi homes and served heaps of tea, biscuits and mince pies. It's been a corker!

We hope our stories and pictures have inspired you to explore New Zealand for yourself or return to the inspiring views! We have loved it here in this magical country known as Middle Earth. Make sure to use the US vs New Zealand English dictionary below to prepare for your trip. Don’t forget your sunnies, jandals and togs for the beach and your jersey for the cool nights, hey!

Tongariro Crossing, North Island

Tongariro Crossing, North Island

American mustard: mustard

bach: vacation home

biscuit: cookie

bogan: redneck

bonnet: hood of a car

boot: trunk of a car

Mount Cook, South Island

Mount Cook, South Island

brekkie: breakfast

bush: forest

capsicum: bell pepper

car park: parking lot

cheeky: sassy

cheers: thank you

Moeraki Boulders, South Island

Moeraki Boulders, South Island

chemist: pharmacy

chilly bin: cooler

chippies/crisps: potato chips

chips: French fries

college: private high school

chook: chicken

Nugget Point

Nugget Point

corker: very good

corgets: zucchini

coriander: cilantro

cotton buds: Q-tips

dags: dingleberry

dear: expensive

Hokitika, South Island

Hokitika, South Island

entrée: appetizer

ewes: female sheep

fizzy: carbonated soda

flash: fancy/ high class

flat: apartment

fortnight: two weeks

Route burn Great Walk

Route burn Great Walk

“Gold as!”: “Awesome!”

“Good on ya!”: "Congratulations"

gutted: bad luck

heaps: a lot

hens: chicken

hey: used similar to the Canadian “eh”

Queenstown

Queenstown

holiday: vacation

jandals: flip flops

jersey: sweat shirt

keen: excited

knackered: exhausted

knickers: underwear

Manuka Mire, Invercargill, South Island

Manuka Mire, Invercargill, South Island

kumara: sweet potato

lolly: hard candy

loo/toilet: bathroom

mate: friend

maths: math/mathematics

mince: ground beef

Roy's Peak, South Island

Roy's Peak, South Island

mufti: when students don’t have to wear school uniforms

mum: mom

munted: broken beyond repair

nappies: diapers

naughty: mischievous

paddock: field

Cave Stream, South Island 

Cave Stream, South Island 

partner: girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse

petrol: gas

pie: meat filled pastry

plaster: band aid

pram: baby stroller

push bike: bicycle

Arthur's Pass, South Island

Arthur's Pass, South Island

“Rattle your dags!”: “Hurry up!”

rubbish: trash

“She’ll be right”: all will be okay

shout: pay for something for you

slip: rock slide

sunnies: sunglasses

Pancake Rocks, South Island

Pancake Rocks, South Island

“Sweet as!”: “Awesome!”

tea: dinner

tea towel: dish towel

togs: bathing suit

tomato sauce: ketchup

torch: flashlight

Sunset at Pancake Rocks, South Island 

Sunset at Pancake Rocks, South Island 

tramping: hiking over several days

tyre: tire

university: college

walking: hiking

wapiti: elk

wee: little bit

Fiordland National Park, South Island 

Fiordland National Park, South Island 

windscreen: windshield

yarn: chat and jokes with mates

zed: “z”

A huge shout out and thanks to the Foresters for sharing NZ with us and teaching us our Kiwi-isms!

A huge shout out and thanks to the Foresters for sharing NZ with us and teaching us our Kiwi-isms!

3 Comments

New Zealand's Kepler Track Great Walk with Tuna at the Ready

2 Comments

New Zealand's Kepler Track Great Walk with Tuna at the Ready

Who loves some TUNA?!? TUNA! TUNA! TUNA! Let's hear it for tuna!

The view at the start of the Kepler Great Walk. This is gonna be good!

The view at the start of the Kepler Great Walk. This is gonna be good!

We have never eaten so much tuna in our lives! "You are what you eat," they say. Maybe we should lay off the tuna. Who knows if gills are forming under Adam's out of control beard!

Into the bush we go!

Into the bush we go!

This canned fish has become the staple for all of our hikes. New Zealand is the Disney World for walkers. Tramps galore! The stunning views we can only see by foot are why we go walking, but when it gets to ten hours of walking, heck, just two hours of walking, our focus turns to the food we are carting up these mountains on our backs. "Hmm, where's the chocolate?"

Our quick and easy backpacking list:

  • tent (1)
  • sleeping pads (2)
  • tuna
  • sleeping bags (2)
  • head lamps (2)
  • tuna
  • tp (1 roll- never know what's ahead)
  • clothes for cold & rain
  • tuna
  • water
  • water filter
  • first aid kit
  • tuna, tuna, tuna
Steep trail kept us pushing forward until we hit the golden alpine. 

Steep trail kept us pushing forward until we hit the golden alpine. 

Heading into a wall of clouds and rain:(

Heading into a wall of clouds and rain:(

Where there's mist, there's rainbows!

Where there's mist, there's rainbows!

What a landscape!

What a landscape!

For some reason, we have come to feel ready to go hiking as long as we have canned tuna. With a sober reflection on this, why in the world we feel that way, I’m not quite sure. We need new ideas, ya’ll!

"On the boardwalk! We be havin' some fun!"

"On the boardwalk! We be havin' some fun!"

Well, this post is based on true stories.

“How many tunas we got?”

“Six!”

"Good to go!"

With our tuna at the ready, we snap on our backpacks and a walking we go!

Into the fog...

Into the fog...

Our regular menu regiment:

Breakfast: tea, rolled oats, apple

AM Snack: granola bar

Lunch: TUNA, crackers, cucumber, apple

PM Snack: trail mix Dinner: ramon, squash, carrots, onion, mixing sauce

Dessert: uno cookie

See ya blue skies!

See ya blue skies!

After three days on tuna, our trail conversations turn to day dreams and cravings of food! Our voices trail off in longing tones, our mouths get watery and our eyes glaze over with visions of dripping cheesy pizza or a delicious juicy hamburger or what about a burrito smothered and covered with sour cream, salsa and guac! As the days continue, the purpose and excitement of our steps change from the new sights we will see to cutting the distance between us and the lasagna we are drooling over in our dreams!

The mountain ranges were so close, but we were only getting eerie peeks through the clouds. 

The mountain ranges were so close, but we were only getting eerie peeks through the clouds. 

To be fair on ourselves, when prepping for our trip we like to zip in and out of the grocery store with light, dry foods since we are hauling everything on our backs. However, since we have had rolled oats, ramon and tuna so much, we refuse to eat them when we aren’t on the trail. We refuse!

Got into the white out. Smack dab in the clouds. Well, we love to see, so heading back into blue skies. 

Got into the white out. Smack dab in the clouds. Well, we love to see, so heading back into blue skies. 

Anyone out there with lighter, more delicious recipes than tuna? Holla at the Nubern's and share your good news!

Pit stop at Luxmore Hut before making our descent.

Pit stop at Luxmore Hut before making our descent.

We'll be growing gils and flippers til then!

"Blue skies smiling at me! Nothin' but blue skies do I see!"

"Blue skies smiling at me! Nothin' but blue skies do I see!"

2 Comments