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World Tour 2019-2020World Tour 2019-2020
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World Tour 2019-2020

November 2019 - March 2020
Starting in Morocco, with stops in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, the Seychelles, the UAE, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, & Hawaii, this is the culmination of 5 years of planning. Read more
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  • 117footprints
  • 16countries
  • 138days
  • 889photos
  • 104videos
  • 79.8kkilometers
  • 61.3kkilometers
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  • TravelerWorld Tour 2019-2020
    Day 138

    Home At Last

    March 21, 2020 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 0 °C

    After traveling for over 24 hours, we finally made it home safely, only to discover that after reinstalling our phone Sim Cards, we couldn’t get service, and Xplornet Internet required us to call in to reinstate our WiFi. That’s why we couldn’t post sooner. Our daughter, Ashley, came to our rescue, once again, and let is borrow her phone to “reach out” to Bell. Who knew that when we originally called to suspend our Canadian phone #s, they did that, but somehow they couldn’t stop charging us our full rate!? We were expected to call in to reactivate our #s. The 14 day self imposed quarantine prevented us from calling. If you’re wondering, Ashley dropped her phone on our front porch, then walked away from her potentially virus carrying parents! Health wise, we are both fine. We slept for 10 hours when we did climb into our own beds at 3:30 this morning.Read more

  • TravelerWorld Tour 2019-2020
    Day 137

    Back in North America

    March 20, 2020 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    We’ve made it to Houston, Texas. This airport is quite empty. We’re at the gate waiting to board our last flight of the trip, to Pearson Airport in Toronto. We’re delayed at least a half hour, as the inbound flight hasn’t landed yet. They just announced that they’d be coming around to ask everyone health questions before we board. They said it was a requirement of the Canadian government. Not sure if they’ll take our temperature or not. Would’ve been nice if this had been done prior to our 15 hr flight from Auckland. We likely will have an elevated temperature, having dragged our luggage a half mile to get here...
    Update - we just passed the health questions. Our plane is here. Now they say heavy winds at Pearson may delay us further here. We’re approaching 24 hrs of travel...    Read more

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  • TravelerWorld Tour 2019-2020
    Day 136

    The End of our Journey

    March 19, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Today we started our long journey home, we hope. The COVID virus has caused us to cut our world tour short. We vowed to return to New Zealand to see the places we couldn’t get to this time, & to get to Hawaii in the future, as well. With the help of our travel company back home, we managed to book multiple flights home, the first ones on New Zealand Airlines. The New Zealand PM just announced that at midnight tonight their borders will be closed to tourists. We made our way back to Christchurch. If the flights aren’t canceled, we’ll fly to Auckland first, then to Houston, Texas, before flying back to Toronto. We plan on renting a car at Pearson to drive (on the correct side of the road) back home. We appreciate our daughter, Ashley’s, help in securing contractors to re-open our house, and fill our fridge & freezer with enough groceries to last for our upcoming 14 day self imposed isolation. Off to sleep now to rest up for what we hope will be an uneventful, very long, day tomorrow. We’ll post next, with a bit of luck, from home.Read more

  • TravelerWorld Tour 2019-2020
    Day 135

    Dunedin New Zealand

    March 18, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Our last stop on our trip was Dunedin New Zealand. It may be the furthest south we will ever be, even though we still saw palm trees. Dunedin has a Scottish history and some quite unique architecture. It is home to the Royal Albatross Centre, furry seals, & the world’s smallest, & according to our tour guide, world’s cutest penguins. We visited the Centre & learned a lot about the albatross & how the Centre is working to save these birds from extinction. At dusk we walked down to a viewing platform to watch the little blue penguins come ashore for the night. We saw 30-40 of these penguins. Pics were tough to take, as no flash photography was allowed. The next morning we visited the Larnach Castle, which was built by William Larnach in 1871. It took 200 craftsmen 3 years to construct the outside & many more collecting the interior furnishings. The family history is fascinating. The Barker family purchased the castle, raised their family there, and with financial help from the country, & tourist donations, spent years restoring it. The gardens on the property are diverse and huge. We drove into town, toured the Dunedin Public Art Gallery & found the statue of Robbie Burns, the Scottish poet, & songwriter born in Scotland. Robbie’s nephew was the co-founder & first Presbyterian minister of Dunedin’s first church.Read more

  • TravelerWorld Tour 2019-2020
    Day 134

    Sad News

    March 17, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    We’re in the process of booking flights home. We had thought of continuing our time here in New Zealand, as we have accommodation booked here until Apr 14th, & defying Justin Trudeau.... The deciding factor was an announcement by New Zealand airlines that they are cancelling most international flights (including all to Canada) between March 30th & June 30th. Other airlines may follow suit. As you can imagine, trying to make these arrangements from here has proven difficult. We’re fortunate because we’ve had an excellent trip, so far, we’re both still healthy & still getting along. 😏 We are a little concerned about the long flights, & what we are flying home to. It seems as though there are more & more cases of COVID-19 being diagnosed in Canada. Certainly many more than here in New Zealand. It seems unbelievable that all sporting events are postponed or canceled. The Kentucky Derby is the latest to be postponed until Sept. That seems unfathomable. We certainly will try to practice “social distancing” at airports as much as possible. As far as a 14 day self quarantine at home, we can think of worse places than our home, on the lake, to be.Read more

  • TravelerWorld Tour 2019-2020
    Day 132

    Milford Sound, New Zealand

    March 15, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Today we visited Milford Sound, which isn’t actually a Sound at all, it’s a fjord on the Tasman Sea. Captain James Cook sailed past the opening. Welshman John Stokes gave it it’s name in 1851. Donald Sutherland arrived in 1877, and became the Sound’s first European settler. He ended up staying 42 years & built an 18 room accommodation house. He rowed tourists around the Sound to become the region’s first tour operator. We missed out on the Underwater Observatory, as it was damaged by recent flooding. As it was, we had to travel to Milford Sound by coach bus convoy. The road just opened up to tour operators in the past month after flooding destroyed large sections of it. The convoys are allowed through at specific times to allow road crews to carry out repairs. That way they’re only interrupted twice a day, when as many as 120 coaches go in & out. We expect this operation may grind to a halt with New Zealand’s new policy of putting all visitors & returning Islanders into a 14 day quarantine upon arrival. We circled the Sound for an hour and a half in a huge boat. Highlights were seeing Stirling (155 metres) & Bowen Falls (161 metres), which are both higher than Niagara Falls. We did see a pair of juvenile fur seals, as well. The coach ride was 2.5 hours each way from Te Anau over a winding, steep (in places) road. We stopped at Mirror Lake on our way there. We climbed to 940 metres above sea level at one point, and travelled through a tunnel that was more than 1 km long. Great scenery once again. We were also fortunate to have a really nice day again today. Our bus driver told us that the Milford Sound area has rain over 200 days a year, averaging over 7 metres a year!! He said it receives the most amount of rain of any place at sea level on the planet.Read more

  • TravelerWorld Tour 2019-2020
    1
    Day 131

    Wanaka to Te Anau

    March 14, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Today we drove just over 200 kms, over and through the Southern Alps. The views were spectacular once again. This is a very beautiful country. Te Anau is known as the gateway to Fiordland National Park & Milford Sound. Lots of cycling & hiking trails are in the area.Read more

  • TravelerWorld Tour 2019-2020
    1
    Day 130

    Wanaka, New Zealand

    March 13, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Today I went fly fishing & Kim went to a Lavender Farm & the A & P (Agriculture & Produce) show in Wanaka. It was a beautiful day here. High around 22 & sunny all day. I hired a guide today to teach me how to fly fish & hopefully hook into a big brown or rainbow trout. The good news is that I didn’t drown! Actually I had a great day. We walked 12 kms along the Makarora River, about a half hour outside of Wanaka. I have fly fished before, but my guide, Paul Wright, was a good teacher as I managed to hook into 6 trout. Two of them broke my line, & the other four managed to escape from the tiny barbless hooks. The first fish I hooked, I got too excited and set the hook too hard, breaking the thin tippet. It was about a 4 pound brown. Later in the afternoon I battled a 5 or 6 pound rainbow for 5 mins or so before it dragged the line across a sharp rock. I got to see some other trout in the ultra clear water, too, including a couple of huge browns over 10 pounds. I was happy that my clumsy casting improved enough to be able to entice all of these trout. It’s all “catch & release” fishing here. I was clearly better at the releasing part! It would’ve been nice to get to photograph the rainbow I had on. During the fight, it jumped clear out of the water. So, at least we got a really good look at it! Kim enjoyed visiting the Lavender farm, which was quite a bit bigger than the other one we went to in Hobart. The A & P show packed the village of Wanaka. Lots of agricultural, art, food displays, along with animal & fruit & vegetable judging made up the show. Lots of farmers, locals & tourists crowd into Wanaka for this once a year show.Read more

  • TravelerWorld Tour 2019-2020
    Day 129

    Wanaka, New Zealand

    March 12, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Today we did the scenic drive from Fox Glacier to our accommodation for the next two nights, just north of Wanaka. This was the most breathtaking drive of our trip so far. We saw waterfalls, creeks, rivers, lakes, & lots of mountains. The South Island of New Zealand, & this area, in particular, really is stunningly beautiful.Read more

  • TravelerWorld Tour 2019-2020
    1
    Day 128

    Fox Glacier & Lake Matheson, New Zealand

    March 11, 2020 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    The highlights of today were our 2 hour hike around Lake Matheson & our glow worm after dark walk. With just one night here, we decided to hike around the lake prior to checking in at our hotel. The hike was nice, but unfortunately we missed out on the real reason tourists do the hike, & that is to see the Fox Glacier Mountain reflected on Lake Matheson. Clouds covered the top of the mountain the whole time we walked. It was a beautiful day for a walk though, & we did see some mallards, & an eel in the lake. When we checked into our motel, the receptionist suggested that we do the Glow Worm walk, but it needed to be pitch black. We ate dinner at an expensive restaurant in the town. We have noticed that even with our favourable exchange rate, everything is expensive here. We didn’t have to walk too far down the trail, after dinner, before we saw lots of glow worms all around us in the trees. It was another interesting experience. It was impossible to get a decent pic...Read more

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