OUR CITY! Melbourne, Australia

OUR CITY!!!
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

I come from the land down under ....

"Welcome to Melbourne, Australia!!!"

"The Cathedral!"

"Federation Square! What a community!"

"Sitting on the steps, everyone loves to do this here!"

"Our Slice of Paris"

"LOVE THIS"

"CHEERS MATE!"

OH WHAT AN ADVENTURE....

Oh what an adventure New Zealand was!!! If you would have asked us a few years ago if we would be traveling the other side of the world… we would have probably laughed in your face! Wow, what an amazing plan God had for us. Every minute of the hard work that it took to get here has been worth it… down to every last second! I find myself asking, can it get any better than this?! and the answer is …. YES! Each place has been unique, and absolutely breathtaking! New Zealand was a beautiful place from the mountains to the oceans, from the bright yellow sun to the ice cold glaciers, from the caves to the wineries, from the bright green hills to the glowing yellow sunflower fields….. WHAT AN AMAZING PLACE! We both have agreed that the most beautiful sunset we have ever seen has been in Queenstown! Queenstown was an experience since we finally knew how it felt to LET GO and FLY! We had no other choice but to be in the moment and worry about ourselves and the beauty of the world around us. We also met the most amazing friends we met while wine tasting…. wow was that fun! But yes the adventure had only begun as we made our way to Fiorland National Park where we hiked up the most beautiful mountains and went horseback riding through the most beautiful sceneries (Anthony still talks about his horse "Lippy" and I will never forget the couple that went with us that was our age and from Perth, Australia). And as we asked ourselves, how can Milford Sound be better than what we had just seen? IT WAS! The drive to Milford Sound was beautiful as we drove through the clouds singing our favorite New Zealand hits. In Milford Sound we went on the Tasman Sea for the first time, went 100 meters in a tube into the water, saw sea lions, and were surround by mountains and waterfalls…. and last but not least we had a BLAST at the Blue Duck Pub with the locals! We then made our way up through a NINE HOUR DRIVE to Franz Josef Glacier where we went on a helicopter ride to Heli Hike the glacier! Can this trip get any better? Franz Josef Glacier was another "check off the bucket list!" Yes, many people get to see glaciers and even get to walk onto them, but we got to spend four hours hiking them and going through glacier tubes!!! Franz Josef is also one of three glaciers in the world that has a rainforest in the same mountain as the glacier! The colors that we saw were incredible…. the white white snow to the blue blue cold glacier ice! Anthony had a blast drinking the fresh glacier water and winning the competition by only wearing shorts…. and my favorite was going through a glacier hole by rope! We also had the most delicious burgers…. they were almost bigger than our faces (and that is no joke)!!!! From Franz Josef Glacier, we made our way on another NINE HOUR DRIVE to Wellington (where we had to cross with our car by Ferry), on the west coast (one of the most beautiful drives in the world). The Ferry crossing to Wellington, was an adventure in itself as we had to drive our car into the ship!!! After a three hour ferry crossing we made it to Wellington, also known as the "coolest little capital in the world." I loved this city from the botanical gardens to the awesome shopping, from the ocean to cuba street, and from the local pubs to dancing at the night clubs! We truly got to dance the night away (my favorite thing my sister and I love to do…. miss you Michelle)! From Wellington we made our way to Rotorau where we saw volcanic activity and were able to enjoy a hot spring over looking the lake (my second favorite sunset)!!! Now it was time for a change up in whether as we made our way to Tauranga where we enjoyed the beautiful beaches of New Zealand over ice cold Pina Coladas and were even able to watch a local band play country (our favorite)! Anthony couldn't help but laugh when I asked if "Country night" meant "American Country Music"… and YES it was!!! After 3 great days at the beach we made our way to Hamilton…. and ADORABLE city! Hamilton was full of flowers, and I even go to run through a sunflower field (my favorite)!!! Another check off the bucket list: Finding sunflower fields in NEW ZEALAND! But that wasn't the only bucket list cross off… Anthony and I went CAVE DIVING!!! And we thought bungy jumping and glacier hiking were scary? Were we in for a surprise!!! Cave diving was by far the scariest, but most exciting thing we have ever done! Finally from Hamilton we made our way to Auckland, where we were able to enjoy this HUGE city!!! Opps, did I forget to mention we went to HOBBITON (where Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit have been filmed)!!! Of course Anthony has read each and every single book, apart from watching the movies. WOW, it was identical to the movies… after all that's where it was filmed. Hobbiton was bright green and so colorful, we were even able to drink a beer in the Pub like a Hobbit! Now back to Auckland, we even ate in the Sky Tower and gambled all night in the casino (we played the lotto and find out soon…. cross your fingers)! So to put this in simple terms, WE TRAVELED ALL OF NEW ZEALAND as we road tripped from the South Island to the North!!!!


Now many may be asking, are you guys exhausted?! Well, the answer is yes, but no! We are excited for all the other adventures ahead of us!!! So after a few amazing and life-long filled memories in New Zealand, we made our way to enjoy our first night our in MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA! Australia…. our dream destination! It still feels unreal …. how did we get here (well I guess after over of 24 hours of travel you would think we would get it)! How can I describe Melbourne? IT'S OUR TYPE OF CITY! From the nightlife to the events, and most importantly the beaches! There are hundreds of beaches!!!


Our favorite part of our first night out was Federation Square! The town provides chairs for the entire city to come take a seat and enjoy the giant "TV Screen!" Or the steps where you see young couples sharing ice cream, toddlers running away from their parents (thinking they are so old), or the elderly smiling hand in hand…. never letting go! Life here is so different, as they tell us "we work to live, we don't live to work… that's the problems American's have." So… here we are learning to live life to be happy! Because at the end of the day (my mom's favorite line LOL) we only have one chance to live life, right? So why not live it until we laugh so hard tears fall down our faces?! That's what we plan on doing! So, all of you who read this blog… try to find that laugher in your life that brings a smile to your face.. Let's live like the Aussie's…. lets work to live, not live to work!


Well, I hope you have been enjoying the photos as much as we have been enjoying taking them! We will continue blogging everyday…. so stay tuned!


Miss you all,


Nicole