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While the tour was many things - an expedition,
research, writing, project, holiday - our goals were simple: We road tested a few different styles of adventuring as we made our way around the world by varying our budgets, durations, locations, modes of travel and focus. And this gave us a personal feel for the different ways families can travel together. See the overall route map here. |
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Our first leg was a long term, independently organised cycle expedition to what many consider to be the world's capital for outdoor adventure. Travelling by bicycle we pedalled our way (and pulled the kids) from the southern most tip of New Zealand to the most northerly point. Travelling light, camping out, living out of panniers, we spent six months on the road, riding right through New Zealand's natural splendours. It was a financial and physical challenge, eeking out our budget over six months whilst keeping enough fuel in our bellies to cover a meandering 4000km from end to end through New Zealand's diverse physical and climatic environments. Like a small nomadic tribe, we were relatively self contained and self sufficient, lugging all we needed with us, stopping off here and there to gather and top-up our supplies from the towns, villages and communities we passed through. And as we travelled we sought out others who shared our quest for family adventure. Our time in New Zealand included time learning to sail on a yachting charter in the Bay of Islands, something we hope has set us up for another great way to adventure as a family.
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The USA and Canada Leg |
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Our third leg was a two month adventure in logistics. Travelling without bikes now, we used a rental car and trains to make our way across the USA and Canada, from Los Angeles to New York. Our six week road trip took us into many of the extraordinary National Parks scattered along West Coast America and also in British Columbia. This was followed by a two week railroad and big city backpacking experience taking us coast to coast in America visiting Seattle, Chicago, Washington, Boston and New York. In six months in New Zealand we carved a trail up the country; in a month in Samoa we circled the islands a couple of times; but in two months we barely scratched the surface of the vastness that is North America. We followed a more conventional tourist trail, seeking out small
scale adventures hiking, canoeing and kayaking in and around nationally
recognized areas of outstanding natural or environmental significance.
And relying upon trains and automobiles to skip some of the vast
distances between the places we wanted to visit. Mixing hotels,
motels and campsites, stuffing all our gear into rental cars, in
a style of traveling more recognisable as a (very, very long) family
vacation. |
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Three different kinds of adventure experience, one little, one large and one in between. And a thousand little adventures within each one. You can read about how we got on in our postings from the road. |
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