Little Lists of Things.

Well, we arrived in Samoa (the day after we left...) and it is absolutely beautiful here. It really is just like a postcard, brilliant blue sky, turquoise waters and golden beaches. All the Samoans are very friendly, and everywhere you go you'll get a big smile and a "Talofa!" which means hello.

Firstly, can we all just say a big happy birthday to Isaac, teenager at last. Now he has officially entered teenagedom, Isaac and I have decided we are going to take over the universe with our wise teenage wisdom and the new Vans I bought him for his birthday (I am sick to death of socks with crocs. AGHHH!)

As our four month travelling experience now begins to draw to its close, we have all been reminiscing over our favourite bits, worst bits, places we'd go again, what we've learnt, etcetc. So here are our little lists of things from the holiday.

The Yules' Top 10 Experiences (in no particular order & there are many, many other experiences that we wanted to put on here, but 10 is a really nice rounded number, so we had to edit our long, long list)

1. Teaching in Udaipur
2. Taj Mahal / Fatephur Sikri visit
3. Lake Palace Lunch
4. Being with the Frankels in Oz, and the family BBQs
5. Whale Beach
6. Mum's Birthday in the wilderness, with no human contact
7. Doubtful Sound overnight cruise
8. Skydiving at Lake Wanaka
9. Mount Doom Walk, and the staying at the fancy hotel afterwards as a treat!
10. Abel Tasman walk/kayaking experience

Least Favourite Experiences

1. Safiya loosing her treasured pink hat, because Rafi threw it into the waterfall
2. Aliya's fainting fiascoes
3. All the homesickness
4. Isaac's having to do all his homework
5. Sand flies/other biting/buzzing/irritating insects all over the world!
6. Delhi belly!
7. The masses of luggage that had to be stored very compactly in the camper van... but we managed it!

What Isaac Got For His Birthday!

1. A slingshot
2. A knife (New Zealand hand made)
3. Vans (the cool pair of shoes)
4. Mini Vans (exactly the same but in Rafi's size, so they can look like matching brothers)
5. Crocs (because he lost his old pair and Dad was sick of him borrowing his)
6. Two t-shirts- one saying "DEATH. Our nation's number one killer"
7. Badges, one saying "I am NOT normal" and another one saying "Don't be so humble, you're not that great!"
8. A big sloppy kiss from Rafi

What We Have All Learnt Over The Holiday

1. Tolerance, especially of each other and our annoying habits, that we've all come to put up with, thanks to the camper van experience
2. Appreciating things more, especially the little things, and the things we normally take for granted.
3. Looking after our possessions (and not trusting Rafi with things that can a) melt, b) break, c) be thrown into waterfalls or d) be thrown at someone)
4. How hard it is to upload photos onto the blog!!
5. How much we miss and love our family and friends when we aren't with them/in regular contact with them!
6. To travel lightly, and not to buy too many gifts /clothes along the way!

So there are a few of the lists we have been comprising about our entire travelling experience. Here in Samoa we are relaxing and going over all that we have done and learnt over these past four months, and then making sure we have them stored in our memories. We are also trying to print photos and then make photo albums, which we think is a much nicer way of viewing photos than huddled round a computer screen! For the time being, for those of you who don't have facebook and can't see the photos from NZ that are currently on there, I have figured out a way to email them round (finally!) and I will pass the link onto mum who can send it to everyone whose emails we have.

I don't know what is going to happen to the blog once we stop wandering the globe, and we stop being the Wandering Yules...

More New Zealand...

Dear Friends and Family,
New Zealand has been all go from day 1. Mike has summed up some of the amazing things and its true that everyday seems worthy of a top ten lifetime highlight. So to rebalance things, I thought I would point out some of the things that are not in the brochures. Here is the list so far:
1.Sandflies that bite. They are everywhere, especially on all those impossibly blue & golden sand beaches, and for all hours of the day. Their venom is so horrid it makes big puffy bites swell up and just when you think the itching has stopped, bites flare up again especially at night {the poison is reactivated by the heat of blankets). Luckily those clever Maori discovered a plant that numbs the pain so we have bought lots of this stuff and apply it daily([along with the real sheep placenta cream that is working well on my wrinkles, though no effect on Mike's)
2. The boring food. NZ is blessed with wonderful seafood and meat but all the chefs seemed to have been trained in the last century. You cannot buy limes or rocket in supermarkets and there is no cardommon or chilli powder either. Cravings for real curry and samosas are high and will require a major detour to a city centre to be satisfied. Its getting harder to be inventive in the motorhome with one frying pan and 6 inches of worktop space.
3. The motorhome is shrinking. Mike alluded to this. Its true Isaac is growing very fast [he eats a meal every 2 hours and wants pudding after each] and we have acquired more stuff (fleeces mostly and kagools to cope with the cold and wet weather!!!) so perhaps there is less space in the motorhome with each passing day.
4. NZ is soooooo far away. Well all this unique beauty & peopleless wilderness comes with a price. We are getting a bit homesick and phoning/skyping/MSN is totally impossible with the 13 hour time difference.
I think that is about it (for now). I will feel better once I have had some biryani and korma! Thinking and missing you all lots and lots.

New Zealand

This has been overwhelming! A very slow start gave no indication of what we were about to see in this impossibly beautiful country. Is it widely known how spectacular New Zealand is or is this a well kept secret?
Highlights have included walks to waterfalls where Rafi disposed of Safi's favourite hat, hiking up to glaciers that surge down through narrow valleys to temperate forests, sky diving from 15,000 feet, jet boating through canyons, glimpsing the rare hector dolphins playing in Purpoise Bay off the southern tip of the South Island. We've kayaked off the golden coves of the Abel Tasman coastal path and Safi walked the 40km without complaint. Sperm whales spotted off Kaikoura on the east coast and as an added bonus we saw albatross! But probably top of the pops for has been the overnight stay on Doubtful Sound (or fjord) where we ate freshly caught lobster, fished and actually caught fish and had dolphins play at the bow of the boat while intense rainbows played out seemingly within touching distance. We are however divided as to the magic of the campervan but we wonder whether we should invest in one for the UK. we hope you are all well in uk and we are definitely on the homeward stretch xxx