Life is Good

Australia:
    For a long time I have been against ever going to Australia.  My thought is why go-everything wants to kill you there? So when we chose this trip I decided ‘Fine I’ll go but I’m diving the whole time’ (probably said with a childish attitude....) So we got off the boat in Darwin, which turned out to be a very cute town, but you can’t swim there because the waters are full of crocodile! Crocodiles-see everything in Australia wants to kill you! 
    We flew to Lizard Island (yes it has lizards-one was kinda cute.) and had a great week of diving. Highlights of the week included: being the only ones on the dives, Swimming next to a fish the size of a Mini Cooper, and me sitting next to a shark.  YES I actually sat next to a shark and took pictures!!!!! (For Alisa-white tip reef shark.) 
    Oh I forgot to mention-the plane we took was a small Cessna 402, 6 seater. Which meant someone had to sit co-pilot.  I have never moved so fast!  Thats right don’t mess with a short girl who loves airplanes.  I sat right seat for both flights it’s was so much fun. 


New Zealand:
    This is one of the few spots we have been to before.  I highly recommend this country to everyone.  What a peaceful, beautiful, open country.  So easy to navigate even someone who has never driven on the other side can do it easily. (Matt says I'm to add a statement saying I have never driven here.  It freaks me out.) A bit of NZ history: the Maori people were one of the first on the islands.  They lived a life of peace and harmony with others that came, and the land that was around.  As other cultures began to discover New Zealand they were welcomed and their history shows only one time that they battled against another culture coming in.  That peacefulness is still evident and built into everything.  All are welcome the only request is to keep the country clean and be kind to others. 
     Now for those wondering their boarders are CLOSED.  It is very hard to move there-in fact it’s easier to move to the US. They welcome tourist from all over the world year round-as long as you have a flight home already arranged.  No out bound reservations=no entry! 
    Sadly for us-this trip started very rocky.  Matt got the worst case of food poisoning ever and spent a week stuck in the hotel room.  Darn airport food! He did get out once, but only to find a doctor.  After he was feeling better we rushed to see all that we could, and eat all that we could.  NZ has the best meat pies anywhere-trust me!  

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