Greencaviar Travel

The last four years of my life sounded like the female version of Tim McGraw’s song “Live like You Were Dying” (you can google the lyrics) with a slight variation in that I went traveling. And it was during those travels where I went mountain climbing, hiking, sailing,scuba diving, zip lining, ballooning and did things that I would not ordinarily do. In fact, this whole blog started with the theme:  1000 Places to See Before I Die. I took a trip after trip after trip, after trip, and in the age of extreme travel, I pushed on against greater obstacles. Take my kayaking trip (previous blog), for example, I pushed on to paddle more than five miles despite the sore back. In short, I went too fast that I felt I had to take a vacation from vacation. There still are many travel plans in the year ahead that include cities, mountains (the Himalayas), oceans and nature in general. However, a recent R&R trip to an island getaway opened my eyes, at least, in terms of traveling style.

Neither body aches suffered from the bird safari the day before, nor the bleak weather forecast deterred me from going ahead with the day’s plan of kayaking Lake Rotoiti, a lake in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. It is the northwestern most in a chain of lakes formed within the Okataina caldera and close to Lake Rotorua, its more famous neighbor. We traveled from Tauranga for one hour and thirty minutes to Lake Rotoiti.  We passed kiwi plantations along the road and saw lush vegetation as we approached the lake. The menacing clouds never left our sight. Knowing that it was going to rain, I did not bring my SLR camera, but I had my iPhone secured in my pocket. Before gearing up and while our guide tried to get the kayaks ready, I took photos of the tall trees with pink colored leaves and the swans prancing in the water.  The air was cool and had a fragrant smell emanating from the pink trees, not the smell of rotten eggs that Rotorua is known for. With the hallucinogenic

I will not let the recent events in France deter me from traveling to Paris next month. KUDOS TO THE FRENCH POLICE.  Great Job!!!  I  wanted to look back to the beauty of the city through the photos I took from a previous trip - images that never get tired.  La Basilique du Sacré Coer de Montmarte Musée d'Orsay La Tour Eiffel Moi at La Tour Eiffel at sunset NOTE: All photos by the author

HERE'S TO 2015 FILLED WITH TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE!!! YEAR IN PHOTOS 2014   CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT ON YOU TUBE OR CLICK THE THUMBNAIL BELOW