Stories From Month 3

As the colorful wooden bus makes its way down the road, the sights out the window will be the memories I keep of Samoa. Manicured lawns dotted with chickens, pigs, dogs and an occasional cow. Brown bo

We walked around the vegetable market on our last full day in Samoa. On a whim, I purchased a carved multi-legged wooden kava bowl. Once I bought that, I decided to buy some kava to match. I picked up

Our flight from Samoa to New Zealand was only four hours, but in crossing the international date line, we lost a whole day. It's like the 8th of August never existed. It is strange to be in a winter c

Rotorua is the most heavly touristed city in the north island of New Zealand. No doubt, it also the smelliest. The smell is caused by the incredible thermal activity in the area. You notice

We flew in from Christchurch yesterday on a twin engine prop plane from Rotorua. As it happened, we arrived at t

Yesterday morning, we picked up the campervan we will be using for the next two weeks. It has heat, a bathroom, hot water, a fridge and microwave,

A beautiful view of Queenstown from above.

For those of you who were wondering what it's like to rent a campervan and drive all over New Zealand, I thought I'd write a description of a typical day in "Life in Our Campervan."

When I was 14 my church youth group went skiing. I had never been and didn't quite know what to expect. It turns out skiing wasn't my forte. In fact, I still consider that day one of my most embarrasi

Photo check-in.

Photo check-in.

"Around the corner and up the stairs." We followed a few stragglers into the small equipment room at The Guiding Company, blurted out our shoe sizes, and received mean pairs of clunky boots soled with

Sheep, sheep, everywhere! New Zealand has only 3.8 million people but has 48 million sheep. As Tim and I drive along the rolling hills, steep mountain terrain, and beautiful lake shores, sheep dot the

We looked like clowns and Michelle couldn't stop laughing. On top of the full-body wet suit, gloves, and caving helmet, we wore

Singapore is a great county to enter as a gateway to Asia: lively streets bustle with vendors, food hawkers offer a huge variety of inexpensive Asian food, and there is much to see and do. Unlike othe

The best way to visit attractions in Singapore is on foot, so I've racked many miles on my Tevas in the last few days. We've walked through Little India, down into the huge upscale shopping area of Or