Roaming Konos

Summer in Montreal

As fate would have it, we had the opportunity to spend a couple of months last summer in beautiful Montreal.

Top of Mont Royal Parc!

After returning from our 13 month trip, we spent a month catching up with friends, family, & most importantly, Little:

However, when a summer sublet popped up in Montreal, we figured it would be the perfect spot to buckle down for a few months and get some work done.

The perfect work setup!

Our new home. We live on the second floor.

On our balcony

Tree lined streets of Montreal

Sunday at Mont Royal Parc

Street side library

Outside acrobatics show

Hot baguette from La maison du roti. We eat about 1 baguette a day.

Poutine…..!

Montreal is not a safe place for cats…Everywhere we look, there are posters for a chat perdu.

Or maybe Montreal cats take matters into their own hands…

Montreal has amazing street art on nearly every corner. We got to check out the International Graffiti Festival, Under Pressure.

Under Pressure

Johnny Depp Street Art!

Our main method of transport: bixi bikes.

At our local bar

Botanical Gardens with views of the olympic spaceship in the distance

Montreal’s Squirrel Ambassadors

We had an amazing time! Merci, Montreal!

We spent the final 6 days of our trip in one of my favorite cities in the world, Sydney, Australia. Great bars, an efficient and fun public transportation system, beautiful beaches, and wombats. What more could we ask for?

Sydney opera house at night

Harbour Bridge

Luna Park at night

Giant clouds over Bondi Beach

An ocean pool = no sharks.

Modern art museum

Relaxin’ at the beach

We spent the last day of our trip at the Sydney Zoo. We loved all the Aussie critters.

Hungry wombat

Contemplative koala

Lounging Kangaroo

So long, Australia! So long, world!

New Zealand Road Trip - Part 2

We have been home for a little over a month now, and I am slowly getting around to organizing all my pics and finishing up this blog!

So without further ado…the second half of our New Zealand Road Trip.

After leaving the beautiful coastal rainforest area of the Catlins, we headed towards the wild west coast of New Zealand.

The open road

My pet rock in tow

West Coast, South Island

Our first stop on the west coast was Te Anau to hike the Kepler Track. The Kepler Track is a 60km, 3 day long hike. Since we were short on time and did not have proper trekking gear, we decided to do as much of it as we could in 1 day. We made it all the way to the summit of Mt. Luxmore, at 4,829 feet. This 11 hour, 36 km round trip hike is the hardest hike I’ve ever done. If you ever find yourself at Kepler, do yourself a favor and do not attempt in one day!

The easy part of the trail, the soft and gentle Kepler forest

Skipping rocks at Lake Manapouri

Climbing up to Mt. Luxmore

Summit of Mt. Luxmore, fjords abound!

After Te Anau, we were happy to relax and give our muscles a rest with a leisurely drive and cruise around Milford Sound.

Cruisin’ milford sound

Seals basking in the sun at Milford Sound

Getting up close and personal with the falls

After Milford Sound, we did a short section of the famous Routeburn Track. Like Kepler, Routeburn is a 3-4 day trek. We learned our lesson this time, and were in and out in a few hours.

Routeburn Track

Routeburn butterfly

By the time we reached Queenstown, autumn had officially hit NZ.

Giant fall trees in Queenstown

Jimmy, our hostel kitty

In Queenstown, we hiked around the aptly named “Remarkables” mountain range. A few scenes from Lord of the Rings were filmed here!

The Remarkables

We found Lake Alta!

Emerald green Lake Alta

From Queenstown, we drove up to Glacier Land to see the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers. Unfortunately, as soon as arrived in town, Cyclone Ita hit and we were without power for three days. We managed to squeeze in couple of visits to the glaciers anyway.

Fox Glacier with stormy skies overhead

The sad and shrinking Franz Josef glacier

After 3 days of gale force winds and rain in Glacier Land, we made our way to Golden Bay, my favorite place in New Zealand.

Finally some sun peaks through the rain clouds!

Blue skies in Golden Bay

A cuddly sheep

Wild and windy Warariki Beach, the coolest beach in NZ

We found this sweet pengunio at Warariki Beach

Beach at Golden Bay

Golden Bay sunset

The Master

North Island

After Golden Bay, we said goodbye to the South Island and hopped on the ferry towards Wellington.

The lively city of Wellington was a breath of fresh air after the relative isolation of the South Island. We visited the Weta Cave, met up with friends we made in India 5 months earlier, and enjoyed the Welly nightlife.

In the park overlooking Wellington

Trolls! At the Weta Cave

After Wellington, we went back into the wilderness to see the impressive Tongariro National Park. It was starting to get pretty cold in NZ by this point!

Hiking through the marshland outside Tongariro

Winter is coming…!

Mt Doom

We then drove up to the volcanic wonderland of Rotorua. Rotorua is famous for its geothermal activity - hot thermal baths, bubbling mud pits, and steamy geysers. The entire area has a sulphuric rotten egg smell, try to imagine as you look at the pics!

Basking in the sulphuric steam vents of Rotorua!

An unholy steaming lake

Leaning trees of Rotorua

Caliente!

Testing the waters despite the warnings

Mystical lake

Perfect place for a swim

Mud bath

Our last stop in New Zealand was the invigorating Coromandel Peninsula. We saw gentle coastlines and giant kauri and redwood trees. It was wonderful to breathe in the fresh air – no rotten egg smells here!

Coromandel redwoods

Giant Kauri

Coromandel Coast

New Zealand is certainly one of the most beautiful places on earth. We hope to return to this paradise some day!

Sweet as!

Climbing Mount Doom & the Tongariro Crossing

We must have done over 50 hikes in New Zealand, but the Tongariro Crossing is by far our favorite. And it’s not only because Tongariro National Park is the setting for Mordor & Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings movies…I swear.

When we arrived at Tongariro National Park, we found out there had been a big snow storm a day earlier. Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom) was covered in snow.

Snowy Mt. Ngauruhoe

It looks a little different with snow than it did in the LOTR movies.

Mt. Doom from LOTR

The woman working at the i-site (NZ’s tourism outlets), told us that the snow was likely to stick around for the rest of the winter and that we’d need alpine gear, crampons and poles, to climb to the summit. We were disappointed as climbing Mt. Doom, Frodo style, was something we’d been looking forward to since we landed in NZ.

The day we hiked Tongariro was perfect. The sky was crystal clear and the sun was shining. When we got to the junction of the Mt. Ngauruhoe summit option, Simon suggested we attempt the climb anyway. "We’ve come all this way, Mr. Frodo!“

I was reluctant, but when I saw others were making the journey without alpine gear, I agreed. We started our march up the mountain.

That’s me at the end!

Mt. Ngauruhoe is an active volcano. It is perfectly sloped at an even 30 degrees. There is not an actual trail to the top, you have to pick your way up along whatever route seems best. Simon and I took different paths.

Simon headed up the mountain

Above the clouds!

The hike up was challenging, but the view from the top is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen.

View from the top

Enjoying the view

Summit selfie

Walking around the rim of the crater

Craggy crater

We tossed our mental baggage into Mt. Doom and started our descent down the mountain. As we didn’t have Gandalf’s eagles to carry us home, there was only one other sensible option - sliding down! It took us nearly 2 hours to get up the mountain, only 15 minutes to slide down.

Sliding down the mountain

The rest of the hike was just as spectacular. The Tongariro crossing took us through a lively active volcanic area with steam vents, craters, and colorful volcanic lakes.

Hazard

Emerald Lake

Breathe in that sulphur dioxide!

Takin’ a rest

Looking back on Mt. Doom

We made friends with two guys on the hike, one from Germany and one from France. The German guy carried a small boom box attached to his pack. He played all the right songs at the right moments!

Tongariro Crossing from Kara Kono on Vimeo.

The fellowship headed down the mountain

Watching the sunset

The hike ended up taking longer than expected, and we finished the trail in darkness, picking our way through the last forest-covered section. Cold, wet, hungry…looking over our shoulders for Golem. The stars spread themselves out vividly over the car park at the trail’s end. As always, it was well worth the effort. Time to head back to the shire for some ale!

New Zealand Road Trip - Part 1

Goodbye, heat! Goodbye, mosquitoes! Goodbye, Nescafe!

We are in New Zealand.

Fresh off the plane in Christchurch, our first day in New Zealand

We have nearly two months in New Zealand to camp, tramp and road trip our way through both islands. New Zealand is the dessert course of our year long trip. Everything is perfect in NZ and we are loving it!

Hiking near Godley Beach Park outside of Christchurch

We rented a car and purchased some camping gear for our journey. We have been camping out under the stars (as weather permits), drinking lots of red wine, and hiking everywhere we can.

Our campsite outside of Lake Clearwater

Cooking up some breakfast on our portable stove

Watching the sun go down

Sleeping under the stars…Simon actually took this picture!

The stars are different in NZ than they are in the US. There is no Big Dipper, no Little Dipper. Instead they have the Southern Cross and lots of cloudy nebula & visible galaxies. Orion still persists though…no escaping him!

If you like hiking (or tramping, as it is called here), NZ is the place for you. We usually do at least one hike every day. It’s unbelievable how much variety and beauty is crammed into such a small island!

At the Birdling Flats on the Banks peninsula

At the top of Mt. Sunday (or Mount Edoras if you’re a LOTR fan!)

Akaroa Harbor

Waterfall in the Catlins National Park

Tasman Glacier

Did we get transported back to Turkey? At the Clay Cliffs in Omarama

Greener pastures in Akaroa

Wild rainforest in the Catlins

At Tunnel Beach near Dunedin

At Hooker Lake

Touching broken off bits of the Hooker Glacier

Moeraki Boulders

New Zealand is the last land mass on earth to be occupied by humans. Humans didn’t arrive here until 700 years ago. This makes NZ one of the most unique places on the planet in terms of plants & animals, as they evolved here in relative isolation. As there are no native mammals in NZ, the variety in wildlife is seen mostly in the birds, plants, trees, and marine life.

We were able to watch some wild ‘little blue’ penguins come home after being at sea all day, eating fish and swimming around. They sleep in nests on shore. I don’t know why, but watching these little penguin nuggets find their way back to shore for the night is one of the highlights of our entire trip for me!

Little blue penguins coming to shore for the night! ♥

The sea lions are crazy here. They don’t mind people at all and you can find hours of entertainment watching them argue, loaf in the sand and growl at each other all day.

Sea lion at the beach

A sea lion loaf

They kind of look like dogs!

Sleeping fur seal

An extremely rare yellow eyed penguin!

We even saw a wooly mammoth

Lastly, after 12 months on the road, we finally bought ourselves a mini tripod. It’s really cool to have some pics of us that aren’t just awkward shots of our heads!

Tripod love at Mores Reserve!

At Lake Heron

At low tide near Dunedin

At Mount Edoras, home of the Rohirrim, riders of Rohan!

We still have 4 weeks left….the journey continues!!

Low Tide in Koh Lipe, Thailand

We ended our tour of Southeast Asia with 5 lazy days in Koh Lipe, one of the many perfect Thai islands in the Andaman sea. The best thing about Koh Lipe is the incredible snorkeling right off the beach. On many Thai islands, you need to pay for pricey tours if you want to see a great display of sea life. We stayed on Sunrise Beach, where the waters are crystal clear and fish and coral are abundant.

Sunrise beach, right outside our bungalow

We rented some snorkel gear and swam out to the edge of the reef where we saw a cornucopia of fish. We saw a moray eel, scorpion fish, needle fish, technicolor parrot fish, insane coral, and many, many spiny sea urchins.

After our 3 hour long snorkel session, we swam back to the shallows to find that the sea had disappeared.

Extreme low tide

The tide had gone out so far that boats were laying on sand, and coral that we had snorkeled over only hours earlier were now exposed to the air. It was surreal. Everyone was very curious to check out the underwater world from this new angle.

Everyone loves low tide!

We teamed up with this curious pup to check out the coral reefs on foot.

Spiky urchins piercing the surface

I have an irrational fear of these things…

Our new doggy friend did not…

Being conscientious snorkelers, we had been very careful not to touch any of the coral while snorkeling as to not harm it. Our doggy friend had no such concerns.

Tide is coming back in…time to call it a day!

Koh Lipe was a great place to tie up our travels throughout Asia. We loved our time in Thailand, and hope to return someday. Goodbye for now, and thanks for all the pad thai!

New Zealand updates coming soon!

Time for Lime (& Cats)

Time for Lime is a magical guest house in Koh Lanta, Thailand where you can hang out with cats, drink the world’s best mojitos, and spend lazy days relaxing at Klong Dao beach.