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Working on the Bucket List

Both of us has a very special, triple prime birthday this year. With that as a reminder that we had a limited number of years for world travel (maybe 20?) we decided to pick up the pace. We first visited New Caledonia and New Zealand with six carefully selected birding friends. New Zealand is a very interesting place. About 30 years ago, the country began trying to undo the damage to the environment wreaked by their 19th century forebears. The result is a series of preserves free of intrduced mammalian predators. We visited most of these in the course of three weeks.

We also visited Colombia, finally safe again after years of civil war. In fact, we visited it twice, once to the Santa Marta area; later, the Cauca Valley.

New Caledonia and New Zealand

A complete report on the trip is available as a PDF file.

We have some of our photos from the trip in our New Caledonia and New Zealand Photos.

Santa Marta area of Colombia

A report on the Santa Marta trip is available as a PDF file.

Cauca Valley of Colombia

We have a report on the Cauca Valley trip as well.

Photos from both Colombia trips are collected together.

Jim's Travel Blog

Future trips will be blogged! Jim's blog, theotherjimhargrove.blogspot.com, will be the vehicle for future reporting. Right now, it has a few random thoughts and some packing hints labeled Packing 101. People (at least two) have requested info on how we manage to travel light. Here it is.

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Meanwhile back in the USA

We didn't neglect the USA this year, traveling to Houston, Austin, and Corpus Christi, as well as a stop in Arizona on the way.