Numbers at Random: 4 months

Brisbane, QLD – 8 April 2011
Kansas City, USA – April 8, 2011

Destinations:
# of countries visited: 2 (Australia & New Zealand)
# of states visited in Australia: 4 (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania)
# of islands visited in Australia: 3 (all in the Great Barrier Reef)
# of islands visited in New Zealand: 2 (North & South)
# of cities/towns visited: 54

Transportation:
# of flights: 17
# of missed flights: 1 (Sydney)
# of airlines: 4 (Delta, Virgin Blue, Quantas, Jet Star)
# of times through customs: 3 (Sydney, Auckland, Melbourne)
# of train rides: 32 (Brisbane, Sydney)
# of bus rides: 14 (Sydney & Canberra Australia….one continuous bus ride in the South Island of New Zealand, Auckland and Tasmania)
# of wrong bus rides: 1 (Sydney)
# of ferry rides: 6 (Brisbane, Sydney & N Island to S Island {and vice versa} in New Zealand)
# of boat/yacht rides: 2 (continuous for 9 days in GBR & one in Doubtful Sound NZ)
# of tram rides: 22 (Melbourne)
# of cars rented: 5 (2-Melbourne, 3-New Zealand)
$ of money spent on car rentals in Australia: $58.30
# of kilometers driven in Australia: 1,263 (All in the state of Victoria, AUS)
#of miles driven Australia: 785
$ of money spent on petrol in Australia: $117.05
$ of money spent on car rentals in New Zealand: $133.40 NZD (2 rentals were Free!)
# of kilometers driven in New Zealand: 1,982
# of miles driven in New Zealand: 1,232
$ of money spend on petrol in New Zealand: $195.41 ($2.05/liter NZD average)
$ of money spent on diesel in New Zealand: $95.37 ($1.43/liter NZD average)

Housing:
# of stays with friends: 2 (Joyce/Ken & Susanne/Sheldon)
# of stays with friends of friends: 3 (Elizabeth, Jason, Roger/Megan)
# hostels: 19
# guesthouses: 1 (Olembia)
# hotels: 4
# rented 2-bedroom apts: 1 (Auckland)

Adventure:
Bush Walks/Hikes in the Mountains: 9
Beaches: >15
Snorkeling: 3
Skurfing: 1
Horseback riding: 1 (NZ)
Swimming with Fur Seals: 1 (NZ)
River boarding: 1 (NZ)
Kayaking: 1 (NZ)
Skyline Gondola: 2 (NZ)
Glacier Hikes: 1 (NZ)
Helicopter Flights: 1 (NZ)

Did you see that:
# of cricket games: 1 (NSW vs. TAS)
# of baseball games: 1 (NSW vs. Adelaide)
# of games at the Australian Open: 1 (Dojokovic beat Federer)
# of concerts: 1 (Jimmy Buffett)
# of rugby games: 2 (Go Brisbane Broncos!)
# of visits to see "The Australian Outback Spectacular:" 1

Under the sea:
# of times I’ve been seasick: 2
# of sharks: 6
# of dolphins: 5
# of barracudas: 1
# of manta ray: 2
# of eagle ray: 1
# of turtles: heaps
# of sea cucumbers: couple hundred

Critters (in the wild):
# of kangaroos: heaps
# of wallabies: several
# of koalas: ZERO – Goose egg – boooo
# of wombats: 3
# of snakes: 1 (that was enough)
# of leeches: >75 (I stopped counting at 30)
# of spiders: at least 15
# of spiders in my bed: 1
# of geckos: >10
# of geckos slithering in front of the treadmill I was running on at the gym: 1

Random:
# of home cooked meals: heaps
# of fresh fish eaten with meals: 12
# of vineyards: 4
# of purchased Olympic bricks: 1
# of purchased vintage lawn bowls: 1
# of books I’ve read: 17
# of loads of laundry: too many to count (with only 1 bag of clothes I feel like I do laundry all the time)
# of natural disaster near misses: 5 (a flood, a cyclone, extreme heat, and a flash flood…and now an earthquake)
# of movies seen in the movie theater: 9
#of times I’ve cried: 1 (when I saw the devastation of Christchurch on the TV in Taupo)
# of times I’ve laughed: too many to count
# of times I’ve been lost: loads
# of sunburns: 3
# of windburns: 1 (on the glacier in Franz Josef)
# of times I drank fresh water off a glacier: 1
# of times I’ve heard the “sound of silence”: 1 (Doubtful Sound)
# of people I’ve encountered on the street that I had met before: 4 (Jonas & Pat from Brisbane while I was in Queenstown NZ; Stefan & Melanie from Germany in Picton and then in Queenstown; John Adams from Brisbane while I was in Hobart)
# of people I’ve met from Missouri: 1 (MU Grad…boooo)
# of library memberships: 1
# of gym memberships: 1