New Zealand
Auckland
We started and ended our trip in Auckland, the city of sails. It's a very beautiful city with a lovely downtown area. What sets it apart from any other city for me was it's closeness to the water and the fact that it's all pretty new. Many of the colonial buildings are less than 150 years old.
While here, we took a bus around the city, went up to the Auckland Sky Tower and visited Rangitoto Volcanic Island. One of my favorite things had nothing to do with sights though. On the second leg of our trip, we went to a local bar and watched the Auckland Blues rugby team on TV. Rugby is definitely the number one sport in that country and seeing their passion for it was great.
Queenstown
The nature in and around Queenstown is truly majestic. The mountains, the lakes, the streams, all of it is jaw dropping.
The camera didn't have to do much work on this trip-the views themselves look like they come out of a picture book. While here, we took a boat ride on Lake Wakatipu, went on a trip to the Milford Sound, and perhaps my favorite, did a Lord of the Rings nature tour. On the LOTR trip, they took us to places where the films were shot, but more importantly, it was just the sensational nature that made it worth it.The last big thing in Queenstown was the most nerve wrecking - I went bungy jumping! It's supposed to be the home of the original bungy. When I got up there, I was extremely nervous, but kept saying just do it, just do it.
Once the guide told me to wiggle out to the edge (eek), there was basically no other choice. It's hard to describe, the free falling with absolutely no control of your movements. I wanted to grab something but couldn't. It was over in seconds, a short and body busting experience. It will probably be the only time I ever do that, but it was worth it.Wanaka
Midway through our stay on the south island, we spent two days at a bed and breakfast at Lake Wanaka. Of all the things we did on the trip, this was maybe the one thing I'd change. To be honest, my favorite part was the drive to and from this small lake town. Not that this isn't a great place, it just was a very difficult place without being able to drive. Unfortunately, neither Amanda or I had a valid license for this trip. It would have been great if we were able to just get in a car and drive, see the nature, but alas, we still had a great time taking all forms of public transport.
Bali
About two weeks after New Zealand, we visited Bali, Indonesia. This was one of my Singapore Bucket List places to visit and, well, it wasn't as awesome as I'd expected.
To be fair, it just was different to what we'd built up, and we should have planned in a different way. Bali seems to be a place where you go once, figure out how it all works and then go another time. 
Still, there were some gorgeous sights there including the Tanah Lot Temple, the Uluwatu Temple and the rice fields all over the place. A big thanks goes to my friend Melanie who suggested a nature walk in the town of Ubud. It was a fantastic way to see the rice fields and jungle like environment.
Joplin Tornado
Now on a much more serious note, while I've loved traveling and seeing the awesomeness of the earth, we've all been reminded lately that there is another side to mother nature. Christchurch, Tokyo, Alabama, Oklahoma City, Missouri, Massachusetts, it seems to be one natural disaster after another. The Joplin, Missouri tornado has been the one that has been on my mind the most. This is a city that I've driven through, eaten in and met people from. In a day, the entire city was changed forever. It reminds me that we should always appreciate the good things in our life.
Michael
