Okay, I’m just going to come out and say it, flying Business Class freakin ROCKS!!!!! We seriously owe our travel agent Bernard, major props for securing the entire 21 legs of our trip with Business Class tickets on Emirates Airlines, at almost the same price as the regular Star Alliance rtw ticket.

The main problem with Business Class, is the amount of free amenities which you just feel like you must indulge in, ie. food and alcohol. As if the 5 course meals on the airplane, prepared per your request aren’t enough, the lounges at the airport offer gourmet food, full bars, magazines, internet connection, etc. Jason even took a shower in one of the private showers in our layover in Sydney, where he had an attendent waiting on him.

The airplane seats are more comfortable then our beds at home, as they almost fully recline, with lumbar support adjustments, leg supports, and padded head rests. Emirates also provides a full entertainment system for each passenger including choices of hundreds of movies, television shows, the best of Van Morrison music station J and about 50 video games.

I must say, sipping champagne and playing Jason in Tetris (you can connect with the person next to you and play games against each other) made the flight go by real fast.  Things are off to a good start!

It kind of feels like we’ve given birth (although neither of us knows what that feels like, yet), after the long, exciting, sometimes laborious, stressful, and even painful process of planning this trip, for actually almost 9 months as it turns out.

We are currently in Auckland, New Zealand, actually sitting in an internet cafe as I type. This is definitely an interesting way to begin our travels, since we kind of don’t even feel like we’re half way around the world; everything is in English, there’s a beautiful waterfront (like the SF Bay), and we’ve just taken to our routine similar to home of wandering the streets for hours, observing people, and searching for nice restaurants and bars.

The reality of our foreign destination hits in different moments, like every time we try and cross the street, and forget how cars are on the opposite side of the road, only to narrowly miss being hit. Also, the overall pace of life seems to be much slower. There isn’t a sense of urgency or real hustle and bustle like we experience at home. Although this can translate into what feels like really poor/slow service in a restaurant, I think it could be a cultural norm, and we're actually taking to the more relaxed pace.

Well, the official verdict we’ve gotten from locals is typically people do not leave tips at restaurants. I still cannot get used to this concept. Each time we pay at a restaurant I convince Jason that we need to hurry up and leave, before the waiter notices we haven’t left a tip. He rolls his eyes every time. . .

5 days in Auckland is more then enough.  There is not a ton to do here that can't be accomplished in about 3 days.  I must say though it's been a great way to ease into the swing of things, especially the working balance for Jason.  We've certainly mastered the art of finding cute neighborhoods, and eating tons of yummy food (something SF living trained us well in). 

HOWEVER, I'm ready for adventure.  Give me sand tabbogoning, sea kayaking, jet-boating, and zorbing.  I crave something out of the familiarlity of my own life, which a city like Auckland doesn't necessarily provide.  I'm revved up and ready to go. 

Tomorrow we pack up the Toyota Corrola, and brave driving on the "right side" of the road as someone so blatantly corrected Jason.  We're heading up to the Bay of Islands for a couple nights which should be a spectacular excursion. 

This was one of the coolest things I've ever done, thanks to the Dunerider adventure.  Imagine hiking up an incredibly steep sand dune with a boogie board.  The trek itself up the hill is a task, as our foot sunk deep into the beautiful, silky sand.  You get to the top, of what is actually a really steep sand dune, jump on your boogie board, and high tail it about 40 mph straight downhill. 

It truly is a rush, especially since it feels like at any moment you're going to start tumbling head first into the ground (actually, we both managed to do this, which just covered us in fine sand that was impossible to get off from head to toe!)  Now that's what I call ingenuity--if you don't have snow to tobbagon down, why not use sand.

This was just one of the many adventures we had in the Bay of Islands.  This area is the Northern most part of New Zealand, which is dotted with gorgeous beaches, small islands, and lots of beautiful clear, blue bays. 

Sea kayaking to the Haruru falls was also a spectacular day trip.  With the guidance of Liz and Kylie of Coastal Kayakers, we managed to manuever through mangrove swamps, and arrive at these mesmerizing falls.  Jason was even brave enough to go directly underneath the falls, which the person before him capsized attempting.  Jason made it through saf eand sound, although the water bottle on the front of his kayak was crushed from the pressure of the water--that's how powerful the falls were.

So this was kind of funny.  We had just finished a delicious dinner at Bistro 1284 with jennathan, and were outside having an after dinner drink.  All of a sudden the girls working at the restaurant hurried outside, and starting pointing and whispering like little school kids at these guys across the street. 

It turns out the Auckland National Rugby team happened to be in town, and had just caught a movie at the local theater, and were waiting for their van to pick them up.  The girls were literally in awe of these men, naming who they all were, including Troy Flavell (center in our picture).  One even said that her "nan would have an attack if she saw her in a picture with them." 

So, the girls dared us to go over and take a picture with them, since they were too embarrased and nervous to approach them.  Feeling little inhibitions after our overly indulgent meal, we walked right over to them, introduced ourselves, and asked if we could snap a photo. 

We finally convinced the girls to go over and that we would take a picture, and begrudgingly they did.  I'm sure the couple moments of embarrassment was worth the lifetime of having a picture with the Auckland Blue Hotties!

It finally happened, I finally got the chance to meet my hero who I've been cyber stalking for the past 6 months.  Her name is Jen Nathan, although I solely refer to her as jennathan, the name of her website. 

 I initially thought that her website was her way of refering to her trip around the world as a "jennathon", like a marathon, but came to realize it was actually just her name, Jen Nathan.  None-the-less, she is jennathan to me.  Funny thing is, she told us last night that she thought that our website name was just a cute way of saying we like to wander and walk, not realizing until recently that Walker was actually our last name.

I was introduced to her via e-mail by our original travel agent, who had helped to plan jennathan's trip around the world.  I was instantly mesmerized not only by jennathans website, but also by her courage to travel the world for a year as a single person.  So, I started e-mailing her, asking lots of questions about her trip, sharing bits about Jason and mine plans, and hoped our paths would cross along the way. 

Jennathan, now in her 9th month of travel, just happened to be in New Zealand.  So, we worked it out that our paths would cross in Rotorua.  She told us to choose a time and place and she'd be there.  Low and behold, we walked into Bistro 1284 last night, and to my amazement, as planned, she was there.

We had an awesome evening of sharing stories, mainly listening to her wise words of travel wisdom, drinking lots of wine, and gorging on sumptuous food.  Our main regret is that we wouldn't have more time to travel together.  We did however manage to get a photo with the Auckland Blues Rugby team that night, and check out Sheepworld together this morning.  We also both share SF as our homes, so jennathan can't escape from me so easily.

Imagine flying down a river in a boat at about 80 miles per hour, just narrowly missing every trunk sticking out from the water, skimming the trees on the side of the river with your Jetboat, and doing 360 spins along the way.  This was our next thrill-ride of our trip -  Jetboating. 

I honestly was amazed at the absolute skill of our driver, not to mention more impressed at my willingness to trust this total stranger to conduct such an intense ride.  The drivers of these Jetboats actually take psychological tests to ensure they are sane enough to be manuevering these high speed boats, and they have over 100 hours of training, before they even take their first passenger. 

Our final destination of the ride was to Huka Falls, a spectacular waterfall, that is supposedly the most visited site in New Zealand.  Although the trip is only 30 minutes total, we certainly felt like we got our monies worth on this totally unique experience.

To top it off, right next door to the HukaJet was the Huka Prawn Park - Grandpa Art would have something to say about the Kosher aspect of that one.  Although a completely cheesy, tourist place, we couldn't resist a plate full of peel and eat prawns to end our HukaJet experience.

The next destination of our adventure was Bleinheim, a small town in the heart of Marlborough wine country in the South Island.  Although our original plan was to only spend one night here, once we discovered how beautiful the area was, with tons of wineries to visit, we decided two nights would do. 

We immediately booked a wine tour for the following day through Bubbly Grapes.  When the driver arrived at our hotel to pick us up, she informed us we would be getting a private tour, since no one else had signed up that day.  So, we had Kerry, our driver, and 5 hours to see and go wherever we wanted to in the Marlborough wine region - we were certainly not going to complain about that.

An interesting part about having a "private tour", was that Kerry was with us the ENTIRE time.  She escorted us into the wineries, stood close while we sampled the wines, and even sat with us while we ate.  At this point in the trip it was welcomed company, however Jason and I definitely noted how some people, possibly on a romantic afternoon in wine country may have looked at it differently.

The absolute funniest part about our "wine tour", was that our fearless driver had very little knowledge about wines and the wine country.  She even admitted to rarely drinking wine, which we found to be interesting.  None-the-less, we had a fabulous time, thanks to the wonderful Savignon Blancs, Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs of the region - these are the wines most predominately produced in Marlborough.

Lets just say after the 6 wineries we hit up, we certainly had that "tingly" feeling our driver hoped we would by the end of the day. . .

Coming from California, I've experienced some pretty spectacular National Parks - Abel Tasman, however was a completely unique experience.  The only two ways to even get into this park were either to hike, or take a water taxi - there are no roads for cars to drive in.  We opted for the water taxi, and hiked most of the way out of the park (about 15 kilometers or 9 miles.)

The weather on this day was perfect, so the colors in the water were crystal clear and truly amazing.  Along the water portion of our journey, we stopped at Split Apple rock, and Tonga Island Seal colony, both amazing sites to take in. 

The water taxi arrived at the shore, literally pulling right onto the beach for us to disembark.  From here we hiked first to Barks Bay, eventually ending at Torrents Bay.  The timing of our hikes corresponed with low tide, so we got the luxury of playing along the huge outstretch of beach, which was so neat. 

The views along our hike were mesmerizing, at times almost making it easy to slip off the edge while not paying attention to where we were stepping.  We even crossed a swingbridge, which was a thrill to jump up and down on, as some of the video captures.

I truly felt energized after our day at Abel Tasman, one of the most gorgeous places I have ever had the fortune of experiencing in my life.

Now you may be asking yourself, "What is heli-hiking?"  Well, it's simplythe most amazingly, incredible ways to see Franz Joseph Glacier.  It involves taking a helicopter up to the glacier, landing on the ice, and hiking around for hours.  This was truly a once in a lifetime experience for us.  The sheer grandeur and beauty of the glacier is impossible to put into words - it left both Jason and I speachless (but we know that didn't last too long!)

Franz Joseph Glacier is one of only three unique glaciers in the world, since it flows into a rainforest.  Imagine flying over an incredible lush rainforest, viewing waterfalls flowing down the side of the moutain, and then landing on the ice of a majestic glacier . 

We had the absolute coolest guide for the hike named Goose - he allowed us do anything we wanted on our hike.  This would not have flown in the States.  We strapped our crampons to our ice boots, which kept us from slipping, and we were off.  Jason and I actually became "those people" on this adventure, since we were off like a bullet exploring every crevice, ice cave and free flowing water fall.

I was quite impressed to see that Jason was more graceful maneuvering on ice then dry land.  We were both climbing all over the ice formations, at times even taking up our guide's ...inappropriate... challenges to conquer some pretty risky stunts.  In a last second decision on the helicopter I decided to bring my water bottle with me, for which I was able to fill it up with the purest, most delicious glacier water. 

When the time came for our helicopter to pick us up I was quite sad to leave the magnificent glacier.  The images and memories will at least last a lifetime to remind us of our icy wonderland of Franz Joseph Glacier.

This town is so incredibly cozy and quaint.  It reminds us a lot of Lake Tahoe - it's surrounded by gorgeous scenic mountins and located on the edge of  the expansive Lake Watatipu.  We've set up camp here for a full week wanting some time to chill out after all the adventures we've had the past couple weeks.

We managed to find the Pounamu apartments to stay in.  These places are gorgeous - not only are the 2 bedrooms/2 baths more then enough space to sprawl out in, but the place is fully equipped with kitchen, washer/dryer, 3 plasma televisions, surround sound and best of all the most incredible view of the lake.  Check out the picture from our loft style bedroom above.

Now, being the adventure capital of New Zealand you're probably wondering what kind of crazy activities and dangerous stunts have we indulged in here - the short and easy answer is nothing.  We did take the luge down the moutain as you can see Jason doing - however that was pretty tame compared to the skydving, bungee jumping and river rafting the town is known for. 

We're enjoying our time to take in all the beautiful scenery that surrounds us, as well explore the historic towns of Arrowtown and Glenorchy.  Tomorrow we're off to Milford Sound for a day trip which should be amazing. . .

There literally are dozens upon dozens of tours to Milford Sound making it almost imposible to know which one to choose.  BUT, this one was a no brainer for Mr. foodcentric Jason Walker whom was all about finding the tour group that offered a bar-b-q lunch with the excursion.  So the Bar-B-Q Bus was our transport to the gorgeous Milford Sound.

Milford Sound, likely the most famous tourist site of the South Island is situated within the Fiordlands National Park - it is another natural wonder that New Zealand boasts.  The drive alone to get to it is 5 hours just from Queenstown (which itself is pretty remote in the S. Island).  It certainly is a trek getting to Milford Sound but certainly worth the effort.

Our bar-b-q bus made some really spectacular stops along the way, one of them being the most incredibly beautiful location to have the bar-b-q (most likely Jason's highlight of the day).  Our leader John was quite the master at the grill, which was just a bonus to the spectacular scenery we gorged ourselves in.

Since Milford Sound is not only one of the wettest places in New Zealand but one of the wettest in the world, there are dozens of waterfalls cascading down the cliff faces some reaching a thousand meters in length (check out the video).  On our boat ride we took around the sound that reaches out to the Tasman Sea, we got quite up close and personal with some of the raging waterfalls pouring down the mountainsides.

Although Milford Sound is very remote and at minimum a full day trip, I am definitely glad we got the oppotunity to experience it.  I don't know if we'll ever have a meal anywhere else in the world that holds a candle to our Milford Sound bar-b-q backdrop.

Although we considered skipping it, there was no way we could leave Queenstown without at least checking out the "original" bungee jump at the Kawarau Bridge.  In fact, it was on our drive out of town heading towards Christchurch.

Walking in the building, neither of us were at all committed to the experience. We were just going to watch a few people do it...  Maybe snap a few pictures...

Our first excuse was if there was a line and we had to wait very long we’d just skip it – there was no line. Hmmm, okay well how much does it cost? We thought if it’s outrageously expensive it just wouldn’t be worth the money.  Unfortunately, $100 USD/person didn’t seem unreasonable for an experience like this so that excuse was out. They neglected to even ask about any injuries or body issues, so I guess there was no excuse there.  In fact, as is the case with all adventure activities in New Zealand, they never even had us sign anything.  The decision was made. We were taking the plunge.

We decided I would jump first so that I didn’t get scared and back out of the experience after watching Jason – I’m glad we did it that way. The whole process happened so damn fast it’s hard to recount the details (I think that’s intentional so people don’t freak out and bail).

All I know is I was asked whether I wanted to touch water or not as my legs were being bound tightly with a towel. There was major commotion going on, with people radioing down to the raft below in the water. Then a harness was strapped onto my legs.

Next thing I know I’m shimmying out on a ledge.  To the left are about 3 dozen people at the observation point all cheering me on.  The instructor is standing behind me telling me to wave, look at the camera, take some deep breaths, but yet still no instruction on how to jump. All of a sudden he starts counting down five, four, three, two, one, jump.

All I know at that moment of faith, I thought I was going to die

Jason and I both agree that this was the freakiest thing we have ever done in our lives. I was proud of Jason who managed to touch the water on his way down. I didn't quite make it that far.  We were both shaking like leaves after the jump.

In hindsight, I’m certainly happy to have the “bungee jump” notch on my belt, however don’t know if I’ll be rushing off to do it again any time soon:)

I know that sounds harsh, but arriving in Sydney has really made us question some of our strong convictions for declaring SF to be our favorite city on earth. Now we’re certainly not abandoning that claim by any means at this point, since it’s just too early in our relationship with Sydney to make that claim. However, Sydney is really an amazing town and making us think long and hard about things.

Maybe it’s just the novelty of being in a new city, or the relief of having a solid internet connection in the place we’re staying, but something about Sydney is truly fascinating. For one, the weather couldn’t be better. It’s probably 80 F, and absolutely gorgeous which can always put the perspective of a city in much “lighter” terms. The restaurant scene here is really out of this world. We keep having freak out moments that we’re just barely going to be able to skim the surface of the foods this town has to offer. The harbors surrounding the city are sparkling and the town itself is very clean with little homelessness. There are tons of cool neighborhoods to explore, and the area we’re staying in is really hip.

When we first arrived here late two nights ago, it was quite difficult to assess where it was we were actually staying. At night time things tend to look a little “shady”. We actually are in somewhat of a shared accommodation style joint. Okay, it’s so not what you may be thinking. It’s basically a really nice house that everyone has their own rooms and bathrooms, and then a huge shared living area downstairs with kitchen, washer/dryer, plasma, etc. Jason doesn’t like the whole concept, so I think this may be our last night “slumming it”.

We spent our first day here wandering the streets from 9am to 10pm. Jason makes fun of how map obsessed I am – I guess I just like to know where I’m going. So here’s what we did in a nutshell. We checked out Darling Harbor and Jason had an ice coffee there (more like a milkshake) – we headed over to the Star Casino and Jason got a haircut - then walked to the Fish Market and had lunch - headed back to Darling Harbor - over to Paddies Market - meandered through China Town - headed down Oxford Terrace – Jason bought an Icebreakers shirt in a shop – we grabbed a beer at the Beer Garden Bar in Darlinghurst – came home for a bit – headed out to Stanley Street for an appetizer and drink at Vaigo Restaurant – walked to the Circular Quay – over to The Rocks – grabbed another beer at the Lush Inn – finally called it a night with a lean-burger at McDonalds and a cab ride home.

This city ROCKS . . .