Itinerary

Today was a sad day. It was probably the last time I will go fishing in Austin from my kayak, at least for a while that is. This a short clip from the start of the day of my buddy Steve "Catfish" Dudley. Mmmmm cold beer on the lake, it doesn't get much better than that!

Lake Travis is about 35 feet low in this video as you can probably tell from the waterline.

I am working on getting a link set up to our itenerary for the trip, but it isn't working out as easily as I would have liked. I have decided instead to post a written list of our intended plans for the next two years.

Jan '10 to May'10 NEW ZEALAND:

We Plan on hiking('Tramping' if you are a Kiwi) the entire length of the country of New Zealand. The approximate distance is 3000Km. We will arrive in Cristchurch, NZ at 2:55 pm on New Years Eve 2009, and plan to be in the country until mid-end May. This is about 5 months of pretty intense activity and we will ready for a much needed break!

~May '10 to June '10 AUSTRALIA

While we are in the area(other side of the world :) ) we are going to 'swing in' to Australia to climb the highest mountain on the continent, Mt. Kosciusko, as well as see the great Ayers Rock/Uluru. Our plan for now is to rent a Wicked Van(these are basically cargo vans outfitted with 2 captians chairs and a double bed in the back for about 30 dollars a day.) and drive to the center of the continent to see Uluru, then on to either the Great Barrier Reef or Sydney, depending on where we fly in from, and on to the Philippines.

~June '10 to Mid. Oct. '10 PHILIPPINES

The Philippine islands are going to be the first "real vacation" part of our trip. We plan on getting fat, tan, and happy during our stay here. Unfortunately, there will be that whole rainy season thing to contend with but I am sure we will be content just not having to hike anywhere for a while. We have some extended family in the southern pacific islands and are looking forward to spending some time with them and getting to know the area outside of the normal tourist attractions.

Mid. Oct. '10 to Dec. '10 NEPAL

The Himalayas! Seeing these Mts. has always been a dream of ours. Spending a few months walking around in them is going to be great! We will be trekking from Jiri to Everest base camp and back to Lukla. We are planning on climbing Kala Pattar before going to base camp and taking the route through Zatr La on the way back. Before we leave Nepal the plan is to do a multi-day rafting trip out of the mountains. It's gonna be cold :)

This will effectively be the whole first year, and is the portion of the trip that we pretty much have all of the details worked out on. Well, as much as you can for a thing like this. The second year will be a little more improvised, but we hava general idea.

New Years Eve 2010 to Mar. '11 MAINLAND SE ASIA

This will be another rest and relaxation stop. We would like to experience this area of the world during the tourist season, as we will have seen the South Pacific Islands during the rainy season.

Mar. '11 to Apr. '11 AFRICA

Keeping with the theme of climbing mountains we are going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro on the Kenyan border in Africa. Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain on the continent of Africa and is the largest free-standing mountain in the world. There is a spectacular glacier on top of Kilimanjaro and the views are supposed to be breath taking, as well as the altitude. From here we will travel to Cairo to see the great Pyramids. We don't plan on spending too much time here but seeing the pyramids should be a lot of fun, and it might be our only opportunity to travel on the Nile River.

Apr. '11 to Aug. '11 EUROPE

This is about as far as we have come with concrete-ish planning. We are going to follow the pilgramige route to Santiago. El Camino de Santiago. This famous walk is said to have been travelled by millions of people over the course of time. The route we are going to take starts in the Pyrenees Mountains at the Spain and France border. We are expecting to spend a couple months on this trek. While in Europe we will also more than likely climb Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe. We are also planning to tour the major cities in Europe.

Sept. '11 to ??? SOUTH AMERICA

Wish List: Patagonia, Chile, Machu Piccu, Inca Trail, Buenes Aires, etc. etc. If budget allows we will try to fit in South America. We will see how it goes!