The South Pacific continued...

I woke up early each morning to a combination of things: chickens, roosters, dogs barking at other dogs protecting their property, the 7yr old Samoan boy Carl who lives up stairs walking a stroller with his lil brother down the stairs outside my room and wheelin it around on the gravel. Also the warm air would wake me up. It was never uncomfortably hot but warm enough that I was sleeping in my bikini top and shorts, on top of the sheets. One morning I woke at 3am to a biker gang of locals on scooters who showed up causing complete chaos! They were banging on the walls of the open aired common area, yelling and then they threw something big and left. It was probably a coconut they threw and they were likely just looking for a fight with someone. Apparently I was the only one who woke to this. 

My room and window was right behind the stairs. 

The Saturday morning market was the biggest market on the island, full of food vendors, souvenirs, and some fresh fruit and veggies. Floor and I hitchhiked there. I bought a tank top for myself there that really put me into buyers remorse with its price tag of $35! I always have buyers remorse Its a weird thing I deal with. I liked the design on it and it was made special for the Vaka Eiva competition and it was also from the only brewery on the Cook Islands. I don't tend to buy myself gifts as I travel. Traviling is my gift so I decided one tank top wouldn't wreck my wallet and I got over it. 

We watched a cultural show of dancing and music that was happening on a stage at the edge of the market. About mid way through the young girls who were dancing pulled people from the crowd to dance with them. I was a chosen one. I didn't understand that I was supposed to just dance on my own so instead I copied the young girl in front of me. I thought she was supposed to be teaching me the moves of their dance. The other 2 audience dancers won a $99 voucher to a tour because they were dancing their hearts out. Next time I suppose I should ask what I'm supposed to do. 

I did some dive research because I intended to dive off the island but it never happened. I heard from several that the diving wasn't good there and that Thailand and the Great Barrier Reef were better. I have dove in both of those locations so I had a good idea of what they were talking about. The dive shop that was recommended to me wanted $100 for a reintroduction and then a day later they would TRY to get me in for two dives at $160. I wanted a guarantee that I could dive after the intro and that price seemed pretty high. It had been almost 2 years since I had last dove so the re intro was necessary. Maybe I'll look into it once I get to Vietnam. 

I located the Crossfit box on the island and rode a bike there that a girl from the hostel loaned me one morning. She had rented it for the week. 

The only Crossfit box on the island. 

I also had two days in a row of backpacker WOD's with travelers who were staying with me. It was the same as when I stayed in Bali and had a room full of German girls, Alicia and I. This time it was 3 German girls and a girl from Switzerland. The Samoan man who lived upstairs at the hostel would watch us each day with his youngest baby boy in his lap. 

The girls coming back from their warm up run. 

I made several more German friends, met a lady from England, a few from NZ, one from Holland, 3 from Canada, and one from Scotland. 

Some of the hostel family, taken the day 5 of us were saying goodbye to the island. 

I love the connections from traviling that are brought together at backpackers like this. I even became friends with the Samoan family who lived at the backpackers and a Rarotongen girl named Sala. Oh and a couple of ladies from the Sunshine Coast of Australia who gave me their contact info and asked me to come visit and stay with them next time I was there. More connections for later travels that will benefit both them (for USA travels) and myself. 

Because food was so expensive I really tried not to buy a lot or eat a lot. At the grocery store I bought a box of healthy-ish cereal to eat dry because it was $7 on sale and milk would have been $8 or $4 for past date milk. I also bought a $2 papaya and 2 packages of ramen noodles at $.60 each. Then I ate a few meals out. 

For example...!!! $$$

I made a mistake and opened my cereal one night for dinner where I ate it by the handful. I got lazy and put it back on a shelf instead of the fridge. When you live in the tropics you should just put all your food once opened, in the fridge. I knew this but like I said, I got lazy and I paid for it the next morning! I pulled the cereal out and started eating it, again by the handful and quickly felt lil ants running up my arms. I instantly looked at the box only to see it covered in them and in the bag! In my $7 box of cereal! So I tied it off tight with a hair tie to cut off the trail and when the outside of the bag was insect free I stuck it in the freezer. I continued to eat on it the next day, it helped that I couldn't see the bugs any more. I decided it was a little extra fiber and if the islanders would still eat it then so would I. These ants were easier to eat then the larger ones they eat in Thailand. So yet another plus! 

I went to church on Sunday with 6 others from the hostel. We walked there and back along the beach. Tisa at the hostel had encouraged us to go so we could experience the island culture even more. As if we weren't already convinced she also told us they have a reception after the service with home made local food. 

The Christian church we went to. 

Most graveyards around the island look like this and many homes also have graves like these in their front and back yards.

There was lots of signing in both Raro and English during service and half of, if not most of church was lead by the Sunday school kids, signing and resiting verses from the bible they had memorized. I took 3 pictures but felt awful taking them so I have since deleted them. I felt that it wasn't a place for photographs. It wasn't a tourist attraction even though I saw others taking photos. It felt like an invasion of their privacy. It's something private to them but they welcome guests to worship along side them.

It was a beautiful service at a basic Christian church. All the Sunday school kids and the adults who led them wore white and sat in the front middle section of the pews. There was lots of colorful flowers decorating the building and colorful outfits and hats. The interior was mostly white, wood and turquoise coloring and there was an up stairs balcony which is where we sat. The service ran for an hour and a half with fans spinning throughout to keep us all cool. The dress attire was clothing to cover your shoulders and down to your knees. I did my best with the limited backpack wardrobe I carried. 

Food from the after service reception for visitors. 

My church dress and a random beach dog that greeted us as we walked back after church. 

There are lots of churches around the small island, lots of religions are being celebrated there! I felt that the Christian church I went to was going to be the most authentic.

I spotted a Blue starfish and a number of flying fish in the distance, all jumping together on our walk back. 

The blue starfish that is supposed to be good luck. 

Mariana, the Brazilian girl who also stayed at the hostel with us, said the blue star fish are good luck if you touch them. Then she went on and on about it, so much that I had to go back and touch it. I found 2 more in the days to come and touched them all. I'd say that with three blue star fish encounters and church I should have great luck coming my way!

Getting in on some good luck! 

Resorts! As a group of backpackers we discovered resorts would often give one access to some of their facilities if food was purchased from their restaurants. The Rarotongen resort would let you only use their pool and if you wanted use of their sup's or kayaks you had to pay $100 for the day! No thanks! The young Canadian couple from Prince Edward Island, Mattie and Casey discovered that if you sit on the beach in front of the Rarotongen close to dinner time the staff will invite you up for drinks and appetizers, on the house. We aren't sure if the staff is assuming you are staying in the hotel though. Mattie and Casey acted like they were, just in case. And yes there was a girl from North America at the same backpackers as I with the exact same name as I. 

Nautilus resort at Muri beach would let you use their infinite pool and their sup's and kayaks for the price of a meal. It was a nicer beach area as well. This place was a definite win for me! 

The clouds were coming in hard when this picture was taken but it was still warm and never rained. Tayna from Nova Scotia, Canada and I in the infinite pool at Nautilus. 

Minus 2 of the girls and a guy that was also with at Nautilus. The beautifully groomed beach in front of their hotel.

Just lounging in a coconut palm. 

We talked a lot of travel, the girls and I, during lunch at the resort. Telling eachother the key things to see in each others home states and countries. The Swedish girl, Christine is going to LA soon so I talked salt and straw up, since they have 2 locations and a kitchen in LA now. She's going and very excited! 

By the way here's an updated photo of my latest stash:

I'll be sharing with Catherine and her husband since they have picked it up for me. They also pick the flavors and buy every other month. 

Mariana (from Brazil) and I went to the Muri beach night market one evening. It's mostly a food market so we were going for dinner. I sometimes think I'm a bad influence on new'er travelers, especially when I suggest hitchhiking and then we get picked up by a drunk driver!  We were so thankful to be picked up that nothing clues us into his drunken state except his speech about a paragraph in! 

Drink driving at any hour of the day is unfortunately very common in the island and not very inforced by police. This guy was from NZ originally and a lawyer on the island. Great combo! Drunk driving a lawyer! There's lots I could say about the conversation the 3 of us had in the car but I'll keep it short! 

There's was a lot of speeding up (only to the speed limit though) and then slowing down and pulling off to the side of the road when cars approached us. Then he says, "okay ladies we have a decision to make, we can go to my house for drinks or I can just take you to the market and drop you off." I quickly said the market was good, we were meeting friends. I didn't really know any good way to get out of the car after we both realized he was drunk and it wasn't a long drive so I just kept him engaged in conversation so he'd stay focused on the road and not falling asleep. 

The market was worth it and good food with good prices! We didn't plan to meet anyone there but 2 other girls from the hostel showed up there so we all ate together. 

Christine (Switzerland), Danillea (Germany), Mariana (Brazil) and... ME! 

We shared a tuna steak with papaya relish, rice and salad and a seafood mix with rice, veggies mushroom gravy on top.

For desert, Choclate coconut cake

The Muri night market 

hitchhiking back in the dark wasn't as easy! The biggest problem was that I was dark so no one could see us. We would either stand under street lights when they were available or I'd turn the light on my phone on and shine it at my thumb and my face. We walked about half way before getting picked up by 3 local girls for only 100k's but we were greatful for anything! We walked a distance more before finally getting another ride that got us right to our door! It was a local lady and her sister in law who is a cop. How I ironic to be picked up by a drunk driver one way and a cop the other way!  Also ironic was that they couldn't believe we had walked the distance that he had and they had just come from the market and were heading home. Ha! What luck! 

A group of us went to watch the paddle races at Trader Jacks on opening day. 

We sat under a pop up tent at a picnic table for the majority of the day. It was a great view as we are right next to the water and also where the boats were launching and coming back to for the finish line. 

The local paper highlighting the race.

We cheered on all the teams and mingled with participants and fans of the Hawaiian team, Australian teams, and Canadian teams - mostly. 

We all had delicious waffles for lunch from a coffee cart/waffle stand and then said goodbye to Daniella, one of the German girls as she was leaving by plane to explore another cook islands and we wouldnt see her again.

The adults category, after under 18 raced

I met with the girls for our last sunset opportunitiy together. we had tried for a few nights to see the sunset together as it was supposed to be a great beach (across from our hostel) for sunsets. The first time we attempted it it rained so we basically turned around, another night it was pretty cloudy so we watched it but didn't get the spectacular colors who are hoping for. Our last night together it was so cloudy and I would say the previous night was actually a better cloudy sunset but we had great company and really that's all that mattered. 

First decent sunset

Germany, Switzerland, Brazil and the USA watching the sunset together.

Last sunset

We had three new doctors staying in our hostel studying and interning from NZ. It's common I suppose for Kiwis to go to those islands to begin their careers. I also learned from them that a lot of Americans go to NZ to to study to be a doctor. Why? Because it's more affordable.  

This island could have easily blown my budget if I had stayed longer. There's really no way to do it cheap on Rarotonga. Eating out for any meal is on average $15 to $20 and that's without drinks. A shirt or tank top would be $20 to $35 on average and the grocery store...! That could be an entire story on its own! A container of single serve yogurt can cost you around $12, a box of cereal $7 on sale otherwise $10(ish), eggs are expensive and that's weird because the island is covered in chickens but I think they are mostly wild chickens and no one knows where the chickens lay their eggs. The best egg deal you can get on that island is $.50 for 2 eggs at the corner market near the hostel. 

I spent more then I should have on the island for being there such a short time. I had to remind myself that I was paying for accommodations and feeding myself and that I may never return so I should enjoy it. I did, within reason and I kept track of all the money I saved by hitchhiking! 

Anja, the German girl I arrived to the island with helped me finish the trip off. We spent the last day together, rode the entire island (45minutes) on her scooter and ended by going to black rocks to watch the sunset but once again it didn't really impress. 

Crusin the island with Anja.

Black rocks 

Black rocks 

Landmark 

Landmark sign 

On the way to the airport with Tisa driving and another couple (from England) flying out that night, I noticed for the first time what the public bus reads. Across the top of the front windshield it says "clockwise" so im guessing it reads counter clockwise at other times! 

I have one last Rarotonga photo to share with you:

Checking my bag in at the airport. Check out this luggage scale! 

Arriving into the South Pacific

Saturday evening is when I left Auckland NZ, flying out to Rarotonga of the Cook Islands and landing on Friday night. How did that happen? I crossed the international date line, that's how. 

Travel day! NZ to Rarotonga.

The couple I sat next to on the plane looked like islanders so I slowly started up a conversation with them. I wanted to get the scoop on the island and what I should do while I was there. They were islanders but lived in NZ now. I was next to the lady, her husband was next to the window. She told me that there was a big paddle race happening the week I was there called Vaka Eiva. 

Then we continued to talk about Crossfit and she told me there was a box on the island. You know that made me quite happy. She was also very interested in my travels and how I travel on such a budget so that was a big conversation as well. 

Her husband had a carhart hat on so I had to interrupt him from his music to ask where he got it. It's (as far as I know) an American working mans brand of clothing. It's also my dad's favorite brand of work jeans, he would have like this islander with his carhart hat. And the answer I got from him was that he ordered it online. Incase you cared to know. 

The flight was pretty rough, lots of turbulence much like my last flight to Hawaii with dad and tutu. A lot like that flight!!! It sounded like a roller coaster ride inside the cabin as we seemed to free fall a time or two. 

My plane. Typical island style airport. 

We did land safely and arrived to a very small airport that only has a plane or two in at a time. The landing and take off strip is also not long enough making for some very abrupt landings and take offs. The smell of the tropics and the sound of the ocean greeted me as I walked down the stairs of the plane. It was warm and not terribly humid like I thought it would be. I was suddenly even more excited to be here then I was when I left Auckland. Thanks for the suggestion to come here, dad! 

There was a lot of traditional lei greetings from islanders as they picked up passengers. There was also a man playing the ukulele in the center of the baggage pick up. That was different but really cool considering I first thought it was coming from the radio. I also saw a banner that told me the island just celebrated its 50th anniversary. 

The ukulele man. 

Welcome to the smell of the tropics!

The backpackers (hostel) I booked with had free airport pickup so I waited for Tisa from the backpackers to arrive for me. My accommodations was also the cheapest I found on the island. Tisa was in a well loved island style mini van. She had one other girl to pick up who was on my flight, a German girl named a Anja.

I got lucky with her. She had already been on the cooks and was returning to see a local guy she met 3 nights before she last left. A kiwi who is part Raro. Anja gave me the low down on what I needed to know. I didn't need to buy water, for example. I had my own water bottle and there was a purified water fill station near our hostel. These stations are spread out upon the island, you just need to ask where they are. 

The water station down the road from my backpackers. 

As we arrived to the hostel Tisa told me that I was rooming with a guy that apparently I knew. She said we met on the couch surfing website. Indeed we had! I saw a message from him the day before I arrived to the island. Ironically we had both been looking for couch surfing hosts on the island for about the same time frame. There wasn't anyone hosting so we both ended up at the same backpackers. He was messaging me to see if I had found anyone to host me and to ask where I was staying. 

The international backpackers

My room. I had the single bed and Floor had the bunk bed for 2 nights. When he checked out I had the room to myself for the next 2 days. 

We were unloading our backpacks from the van and Anja invited me to go into "the city" with her. I was not expecting city to come out of her mouth but it made me laugh, knowing how small the island was. It seemed there was nothing else for me to do on a Friday night there, so off I went. We hitchhiked from the bus stop at the end of the road the hostel sat on. It was dark out but the bus stop was lit up so drivers could see us. The bus was $5 to take each way and that was the start of how expensive the island was.

We were picked up pretty quick by a local couple who was heading home. They drove us past their house and exactly to where we needed to be, Trader Jack's, a restaurant and bar directly on the water. We met Paul here, Anja's guy and a mix of locals and visitors. There was a live band playing cover songs in an island rhythm that was really good. Oh and the city, yeah it wasn't a city but it was for this tiny little island. It was just one stretch on the main road of several single story buildings.   

I attracted lots of drunk old men at the bar, the first guy was persistent on me going to his house that night. He kept saying you can sleep on my bed, I'll sleep on the couch, you'll be safe. Then he'd re introduce himself to me. This conversation repeated itself a few times while Anja and Paul stood near by and enjoyed a laugh. 

We moved down the road to a club called rehab. Not a place I normally would have gone but it was fun for that night. There was a $5 cover charge which I'm not a fan of unless it's going to a live band, there was only a house DJ. It was a partially open aired building with the bar under cover and the dance floor and dance stage  outside. 

Rehab.

I met my roommate Floor (pronounced with a fancy Dutch accent), here. He was from Holland and when he walked in I knew immediately that it was him! After all we had talked on the couch surfing site and I had seen his photos.

I danced with a few local guys and tourists before the club closed at 2am. We took an open aired "party" bus home for $5 which was really the only option at that hour. It started down pouring and it was windy with the rain blowing in on all of us. One by one we quickly jumped up grabbing ahold of the poles in the middle of the bus. Without communicating it we all decided it was better to stand in the middle and dance to the music blaring from the bus speakers rather then sit on the outside edges, cold and wet. 

A few food vendors set up outside Rehab to feed the hungry and drunk adults.

The party bus that took us home. 

I think everyone on the bus was drunk except for Anja and Paul and myself. This one guy who was a on holiday kiwi started pole dancing behind me! He wouldn't leave my side and then when we arrived at his stop he wouldn't get off. I didn't realize it was his stop but I asked him if it was and he said, well it depends, are you getting off here?" I said no and he said well then I'm not getting off here either.

When we arrived to our stop, Paul, Anja and I got off followed by the drunk kiwi. He  tried to come back to the hostel with me! Paul told the guy to get back on the bus, that I had a roommate and he couldn't sleep over with me. He replied that he would be quite. Then all three of us were shouting at the bus to not leave without him and to him, that he couldn't come back with us. He whispered to me "I'll follow your footsteps." 

I mean come on... This guy was actually hilarious with his comments but not someone I was about to take back with me. 

He skipped his resort drop off for me apparently and he DID find his way back to the hostel that night. 

I over heard a conversation the next morning about a drunk guy who was found on an outside couch early the next morning. His description was a match! There's a Samoan family of 4 that lives in a room upstairs at the hostel and looks after the place. The guy crashed on the couch just outside their room. 

The couch he crashed on for the night. 

He was kicked out of the place once he was discovered. I guess he actually did "follow my footsteps."

Some important info. Changes coming soon.

Man!!! Wholey Moley!! Thank you to the handful of friends and a family member or 2 who have been letting me vent to them about all the craziness in holiday flight priceses and just booking a ticket. As well as the desire to often just want to come home and spend time with my amazing friends and family! I totally miss them and after a portion of my time in Australia partially sucking the travel vibe out of me, close friends and family brings me a lot of comfort. I called my grandma today and later had a long conversation over the FB Messanger/phone app with a good friend from college. Both these conversations worked wonders for me. 

The desk in my room that I took over and made my travel research center! At least I had a pleasant view while I was stressing out. 

I've had a lot of requests for travel info lately and many people also telling me that I should set something up on my site where for a small fee I'll help answer travel questions. Not a bad idea because even a small income when I'm traviling is nice  and better then nothing. So this may be something you see in the near future from me. Oh and while I'm on the topic... I'm currently in the process to switching from this blogger site to a new blog site with wordpress it's almost fully set up, I just need to learn how to manage it a little bit better before I make the posts public. 

It will include all of my posts from 2013 and all of these new ones from 2015. It looks so good and way more put together! I'm pretty excited about it!

It'll still be the same domain name but now it will be worldtravelsbycasey.wordpress.com 

I plan to leave the blogger site up for a bit until I'm comfortable enough with Wordpress and I can let go of my old ways. 

So let me know what you think as we make the transition from Blogger to Wordpress, together! 

More NZ and some ice cream talk

The day after the tour with "Mike the Guide," Mike took me with him to a town called Porirua where he was going to see a chiropractor. I waited for him in the lobby and then we went for a drive to 2 nearby towns and explored a bit. 

We went to the kiwi bank/ post office first so that I could exchange some of my Australian money into NZ at no extra fee! 

Then to a small art museum and after, drove by Whitakers Choclate headquarters but sadly they claim they are to small to hold tours of the facilities just yet. 

The main building of 3 that it looks like Whittaker's occupies. 

Petone was the next town we went to for a walking street venture up and down both sides of the ONE street really worth exploring. We went into an old record shop that smelled like a combination of a smoker and old musky...? books. We went into a small store called On Trays that was full of foods from all over the world, we had lunch and special hot Choclate at a cute cafe called Beannie's. 

The cafe. 

Special hot chocolates. 

We then returned to the car just as we were getting a parking ticket! We were maybe a minute late back to our 2 hours of free parking slip but you know what, I laugh because that ticket was only $12!!!!! Are you kidding me!? That's the cheapest parking ticket I've ever heard of! In a country where everything else seems to be so ridiculously expensive (a dozen eggs range from $5 to $12!) they give pretty cheap tickets. Or maybe it's just the town that we happened to be in. 

We had take out dinner one night where I  got an order of Korean pork buns that had an unusual twist on the bun part. But they were great! Even better then the traditional version, a ball of white dough around shredded, mixed with sauce pork. 

I could have eaten two of these everyday! 

I got a bit of travel planning done, relaxed and treated Mike and Nicole to drinks here and there as well as pitching into the groceries for dinner. This put me over my normal budget for such a short stay but they have become good friend and I wanted to help out and say thank you for their hospitality in more ways then just saying it with words. 

Nicole, exiting the secret back patio of a bar. 

A Maori influenced playground. 

Me, photo bombing Mike and his breakfast. 

The stairs behind Mike and Nicole's house that connected us to the cook places in their neighborhood. There was more stairs behind from where I was standing. 

Nicole is a musician. She had a gig the night before I flew to Auckland that was just down the street from her place. Mike was sick so he stayed home but Whickus (pronounced Vickus), their rad house mate came with us m. He sat with me while Nicole played the keyboard and sang her songs with a sound most similar to Tori Amos. 

Nicole, playing at the Moon. 

Auckland day! Time to say goodbye to Nicole and Mike and experience the Wellington airport in a different way then I had a few days ago. A domestic flight meant I got to see a lot of Lord of the Ring action throughout! 

This happened, as soon as I walked inside. 

And hello (again) to The Peters family! The first family I met and connected with when I originally landed in another country on the start of my 2013 back packing trip. 

I almost cried when I saw Tisha waiting for me in Auckand by baggage claim, weird! I don't know what was trying to come over me. Maybe it was because of her family taking Alicia and I in, in 2013 or maybe it was because I was still fresh from comimng from such an interesting work experience back in Sydney. You know, it's probably because she's just a really cool, artistic, chill lady! I must admit, as beautiful as New Zealand is, it kind of cramps her style as far as its lack of creativity and artistic expression goes. Portland is definitely where Tisha should call home. 

On my last full day in Auckland, Tish and I got creative and worked on making art journals and drawings. 

It was great to see Scott and the girls (Sophia and Isabella) and of course the animals (a cat and 2 dogs) were all excited to have new company. 

The animals. 

I really spent a lot of time here catching up on my blog, researching flights from the Cook Islands and into SE Asia. I also had to sort out the cash I made in Australia and figure out how much to convert into what currency and the transfer rates as well as what to do with the money while I'm Traviling. All things that need a lot of research put into them. 

A rooster that crossed my path in the Titirangi village while I was on my way to do some banking. 

Sophie and I got lunch one day at the Hardware cafe in the village. I had to try the coconut black rice (infused with some kinda fruit) porridge. It sounded to interesting to pass up. Sophie got the grilled banana crepes. 

The stairway to the library in the village. This place is so cute! It's like an urban hike to the library. 

So the last of Auckland was spent visiting with the family, a morning beach hike with everyone before Scott had to fly to Perth on Buisness. 

Starting off for the beach hike.

The view from the top.

The girls with mom, dad and one of the dogs in the distance. 

It's me! Swinging from trees again.

I made a few trips into the Titirangi village to soak in its charm and deal with the Kiwi bank and transferring money, AGAIN!

The village. 

Not only are there chickens but ducks too, in the village. 

I got into waking the dogs in the evening for some alone time and more exercise. I watched a movie with Scott and Isabella which is a rare occurrence in my life. Love movies I just don't ever seem to find the time for them. 

So... 

I'm finally done planning my entrance into SE Asia. I'll be spending my thanksgiving in a few airports and in the air. In fact between the morning of Thursday November 26th and Friday afternoon of the 27th I'll have touched foot in: the Cook Islands, NZ, Australia, Bangkok and Chiang Mai!!!! That's insane! I'll bet there will be some movie time in the airplanes. 

Missing thanksgiving, well aside from missing out on family time, it's okay that I'm missing it. I've already taken care of my thanksgiving dinner. It'll be waiting for me in the form of salt and straw ice cream when I return to Portland. 

The back story on this salt and straw thing that I speak of, is this:

In September my friend Jen messaged me and said she felt like she was cheating on me because she had been to salt and straw a number of times since I had been gone. She felt it was a place to go with me only. I suppose and i like the way she thinks! 

She also told me about this flavor that I had never heard of, smoked apple or something like that. She said it was the best flavor she's ever had from there. When I asked her if she'd pick me up a pint next time she went she said she was sorry but it was already out of the stores. 

Well I admittedly have a lot of salt and straw knowledge locked away in this brain of mine. So I knew that I would have a good chance of tracking down a pint of the flavor if I called a particular store of theirs. So I used some of my skype minutes and called the Alberta set location kindly requesting this flavor to be set aside for me if they had it. They had 2 left! So being good, I only asked for one they set aside for a friend of mine to pick up later that night. I told them I was in Australia and what was going on. They thought it was pretty freakin cool that I was calling to order ice cream all the way from down under! 

And so it began...! 

My friend Cathrine picked up the pint and I paid her thru PayPal. She thought about it for a day or two and messaged me saying that she liked the idea of buying pints every month I was gone and when I return we have an ice cream party. So every other month we take turns buying ice cream and her and her husband are saving it for my return.

October was their month to buy and they couldn't pick one flavor so they bought 5 different pints! 

November has become one of my favorite months for their seasonal flavored so I had to request 4 flavors that they will be picking up this weekend. 

This is just the Halloween flavors. My apple flavor is hidden in the back and the November flavors haven't been picked up yet. 

Honestly, if I was home with family I'd rather eat the ice cream than the actual thanksgiving meal! 

Do you want to know the flavors I selected!? I bet you do and I'm betting you will cringe a little when you read them, especially if you have never had this ice cream before. Okay! Here you go:

Sweet potato w/maplet pecans

Apple cranberry stuffing

Salted caramel thanksgiving turkey

And...

Spiced goat cheese and pumpkin pie

So the deal with this ice creamery (if I haven't said it before) is that they only use milk from grass fed cows to make the ice cream and all the ingrediants for the flavors are locally sourced and fresh to the season. So there really is some form or Apple cranberry stuffing in one of the flavors, for example. They do a great job of creating these unique to Portland flavors and spend a lot of time preparing the flavors for the upcoming months. I've actually been in their office a kitchen and I've seen Tyler (one of the owners and the master mind behind the ice cream flavors) hard at work with a team creating the perfect recipie. It's pretty cool! 

Do you think there's a "help line" for specialty ice cream addicts!? I might need one. 

I'm off to the Cook Islands now so you won't hear from me for about a week wifi is limited there and you have to buy it. It doesn't come free with any place you book accommodations at. So I'm going to take this time to enjoy being disconnected from the world. I'll chat with you all again after thanksgiving! I hope everyone enjoys the start of the holiday season! Gobble gobble!