How fitting that the new chapter of our lives should be to live and work in an Australian UNESCO World Heritage area! Shark Bay is truly an astoundingly beautiful area.It was recognized by UNESCO way back in 1991. It is only one of the few places in the world that gained its listing by satisfying all four natural criteria of 1) major stages of the world's evolutionary history, 2) geological and biological processes, 3) natural beauty and 4) threatened species.Hom...

One of the great joys of extended travel is the excitement of the flight that brings you back. There is an intense feeling of anticipation to be amongst familiar things and to see loved ones.Its 9 months since we have stood on Australian soil and thats a long time in anyone's books. Especially since there was only a frantic and surreal month of being home (to get visas and book more travel) since the three months of travel before. It really seems like the abs...

We have more to see of NZ's north island, as we head our way up towards Auckland. Bad weather set in and that made it harder to get excited about sightseeing, It held off long enough for a visit to the Tongariro National Park, where we see the ski slopes and can visulize how busy this place would be in the winter. We take a two hour hike to a waterfall that takes us up a mountain, across a windswept grass plateau and down another mountain. Reversing this was...

New Zealand has some amazing birds.First of all there is the iconic kiwi. So shy and hard to find and able to lay the hugest egg in comparision to its size - Ouch!! Then we were so impressed with the gannets because they sort of epitomise the NZ/Australia relationship. The gannets at Cape Kidnappers have their babies at the colony then when the babies grow to independence they fly all the way to Australia. They spend the equivalent in bird life of their teenage a...

As our tour boat edged up under a stunning rock face of streaming water in Milford Sound, none of the upturned faces I can comfortably say, showed any signs of unhappiness.Rapture and joy would be apt descriptions. According to some psychologists, you cannot have unhappy thoughts in the presence of a waterfall. Then to further add some atmosphere and a feeling of "being in the moment" stereo speakers around the boat started playing a funky and sweet rendition of ...