For over 30 years I've wanted to travel to New Zealand and Australia - and now we're less than three weeks away. When I was in Elementary School in Grafton we had an exchange student come and talk to our class. Immediately, I was hooked. I thought in 2001 I had a chance when Kerri wanted to go to Teacher's College, but instead of the University of Western Brisbane, she chose Queens. There are way better beaches and wildlife in Queensland than Kingston - I'm sure of it (wildlife in the Kingston ghetto doesn't count).
But, ten years and two children later, our plan (translation - my plan) to goDown Under was hatched. My School Board approved a self-funded leave and a year later, Kerri's Board agreed they would grant her a personal leave as well. Last summer, I started seriously researching and into the Fall when Kerri's leave was finalized, we booked out flights. It was official - starting February 11, we would be off to NZ/Australia for almost three months (of note is the negotiations of how long we would stay - probably touch on that later).
With such a big endeavour comes much preparation and planning (see in future post). Maybe I've been planning/ researching too long - maybe there's something to say for just picking up and going. You can lose yourself on the internet reading information, reviews, etc. However, that's where I found myself during any spare moment I had. I feel as though there can't possibly be situations that I haven't thought of, although I'm pretty sure there are. Between hotels, driving routes, internal flights, car rentals, excursions, there's tons to do. This doesn't even include the things we have to do before leaving. So, we've booked nothing but a flight into Queenstown where we will start our adventures, and out of Brisbane when we return home.
Please follow our blog if you'd like, we'll be posting things throughout the weeks leading up and then once again on the road. I've included the boys' blog addresses below if you'd like to look into the mind of an eight or ten year old boy. Enjoy and post comments as you'd like.
Derek
carterdownunder.blogspot.com
bradendownunder.blogspot.com
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