The trip the journal was started for. Nearly six months around the Pacific, through New Zealand and Australia, and up into Southeast Asia, from September 2002 into the following spring. It started with a wedding, a Ryder truck across the country, and a JetBlue flight out of New York with a paper diary in the backpack.
Most of this site’s “from the archive” posts come from this trip. A week in the Cook Islands that was meant to be two nights. A month or so in Fiji, including the Yasawas and a bit of Ovalau. New Zealand’s South Island in a summer that felt like Portland’s, except with more meat pies. Christmas in Adelaide and New Year’s in the Blue Mountains. Then north through Australia, a long stopover in Kuala Lumpur that turned into Melaka and Port Dickson, a week in Bali, and home in March.
Forty-plus posts came out of this trip, written on hostel lobby computers when connections would let us and transcribed from notebooks when they would not.
Photos from the trip
day by day Timeline
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Arrival in Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Cheryl asked me to point out that we are in the Cook Islands. In Rarotonga, the largest island in the group. In the capital Avarua. In a cybercafe a few feet…
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First Full Day in Cook Islands
Rarotonga, Cook Islands Ah ha. The island is beautiful...you know I'm not one for the hot weather but even the humidity is do-able in this environment. Our…
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Mynah Birds and a Goat Waiting for a Bus - Cook Islands
Not much to add on my end: There was pig running in the streets. He looked a little confused. Also someone tied up a goat on a bus stop so it looked the goat…
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A Quick Switch Out of Our Nasty Hotel -- Cook Islands Lodges
Rarotonga, Cook Islands We have found other accomodations...the woman at the Friendly Mart (which is a five minute walk from the Cook Islands Lodges)…
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Rain in Rarotonga
Rarotonga, Cook Islands Rain again, although not as bad as yesterday. It was POURING practically the whole day. We headed on out at night with the intentions…
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Dance Competition and No More Spiders
Rarotonga, Cook Islands. The rain has stopped, but it's still cloudy. Fortunately, it's much warmer and the skies aren't so very dark. The forecast predicts…
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Bali News - Rarotonga
Rarotonga, Cook Islands (Avarua) Fuck! I just read the news and there was a massive explosion in Bali, Indonesia. Over 150 dead so far. Brings back bad…
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Sunburn and Stray Dogs
Rarotonga, Cook Islands. I will add since I have a few more already-paid minutes to use online. Casey has sunburn on his shoulders (even though he put…
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Aitutaki Trip Report
(Still) Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Well, we have gone to Aitutaki and come back. I must say that I did enjoy it, although after a few days it got a bit boring.…
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One Week in Aitutaki
Dearest correspondants, we have been to paradise, and we can say--it is really quiet there. We left Rarotonga on Air Rarotonga (The Airline of the Cook…
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Rat Turds and Castaways
Rarotonga, Cook Islands Okay, so we are no longer at the Kii Kii Motel. We came back to our room yesterday after hanging out in Avarua all afternoon and…
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Arrival in Nadi, Fiji
Nadi, Fiji We arrived in Fiji this morning, the 25th of October. Although we left on Thursday the 24th. So for most of you reading this, we are in Fiji today…
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Suva, Raintree, Cockroaches
Suva, Fiji. Well, it has been a long time, hasn't it? We both feel as if we have been neglecting our duties! However, we were on a small island for four days…
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Yasawa Trip, Kava, and Back to "Momma"
Suva, Fiji Hello! I added the archive of this site to the main page. So you can now see the postings in month-by-month order. This will make more sense later…
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Ovalau, Levuka, and Nausori
Nadi, Fiji. We are back from Ovalau. Levuka (the old capital of Fiji and the main town in Ovalau) is a small town that reminds me of a U.S. fishing village;…
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Crime Comes to Fiji!
Auckland, New Zealand Crime Comes to Fiji! We made it to New Zealand. But first, we should finish up with Fiji. After yet another exhausting Fiji bus ride, we…
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Auckland and Waiheke Island Wine Tour
Auckland, New Zealand. Yes, Auckland is making me very happy. I was trying to figure out why I like it so much and I came up with a somewhat shameful reason:…
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Leaving Auckland for the North Island Countryside
Hamilton, New Zealand We are now armed with a car, much to the fear of New Zealand's pedestrians and drivers. Actually, the car is working out very well. New…
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Rotorua - Sulphur Smells and Worm Caves
Rotorua, New Zealand It's true what the Guidebook said: "You will know that you have arrived in Rotorua when you smell the sulfur in the air." It seems odd…
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Rotorua - Will the Eels Chew Our Fingers?
Rotorua, New Zealand. Halfway there?!? I know that I was quite ready for the helicopters to sweep in and take me away to a warm bed and a nice, muscle-kneeding…
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Napier - Art Deco City and NZ Stereotypes
Napier, New Zealand We are now in Napier, "the Art Deco city". The city was completely destroyed by a 7.8 earthquake in the 1920s and entirely rebuilt in the…
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Crossing to the South Island and On to Christchurch
Christchurch, New Zealand. We made it across the Cook Strait this morning all in one piece (or, two separate pieces). We got up at the crack of dawn (6am) in…
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Dunedin and Beach Boulders
Dunedin, New Zealand This is one of the most Southerly cities in the world, although you wouldn't necessarily know it as it is about 63 F outside (19 or so C).…
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Te Anau and the New Zealand Southern Alps
Te Anau, New Zealand. Ahh...cool, crisp mountain air, a beautiful lake, and a small tourist town too small to be annoying; this is Te Anau. We drove yesterday…
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Rafting in Queenstown
Queenstown, NZ Queestown is rightly called "the adrenaline capital of the world". There is just about every type of activity here involving, air, water, and…
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A Plague of Flies in Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia. Sorry if this entry is a bit strange...I haven't had my morning coffee yet and I feel a little bit spacy. It's our second day in this…
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Glacier Experience on Fox Glacier
Melbourne, Australia. We are at an internet/cafe and they are playing that Travis song (the one about the rain) and it reminds me of a James song (sort of the…
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Adelaide; Food in Australia; Do New Zealanders Hate Salt?
Adelaide, Australia. Arrived in town this morning on the overnight train. The train ride was pleasant enough and we both got at least a few hours of sleep.…
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Adelaide, Australia - Christmas in the Summer
Adelaide, Australia. Today is Christmas Eve and it sure doesn't feel like it. Aside from a mild rush at the stores and a few decorations, it just does not seem…
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Christmas in Adelaide
Adelaide, Australia. Merry Christmas! It's too warm for Christmas, even by California standards. We have the a/c cranked up in our apartment and have slipped…
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Feeling at Home in Sydney
Sydney, Australia. Well, I am very happy to report that both Casey and I like Sydney a lot better than the rest of Australia. It's cleaner, has more…
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New Year's in the Blue Mountains
Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia Happy New Year! New Year reached us about 37 minutes ago. We celebrated with a bottle of French bubbly (Oyster Bay's and…
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Box Wine Dreams
Coff's Harbour, Australia. We are getting ready to leave Coff's Harbour to head about 2 hours North to the small town of Ballina. We tried to find a place to…
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Bowling for Columbine in Brisbane
Brisbane, Australia The last 4 days here have been very relaxing, quite like a vacation from travelling. And there was no particular reason why they should…
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Kareem in KL
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Having survived the night we shall call, "One Night in Bali" (Cheryl will have to explain), we are now happily situated in Kuala Lumpur.…
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One Night in Bali
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hmm, it wasn't really Bali that I disliked but our hotel room. Our flight got in at 10:30pm, we tucked ourselves into our silk liners…
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Port Dickson, Malaysia
Port Dickson, Malaysia We are staying for 2 nights in this seaside resort for Kuala Lumpur residents. Since most of the hotels are empty during the week (the…
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Melaka and a Goat with Elephantiasis
Melaka, Malaysia We are in the lovely, very old-fasioned Chinatown of this, Malaysia's oldest city. The town was founded in the 14th century and was…