The Schiefelbein World Tour: New Zealand
Helping To Educate Cambodia
Educate Cambodia Initiative
One of the purposeful missions we had set for this expedition is to help more children get educated in Cambodia. Between 1975-1979, Pol Pot killed 1/4 his entire population (roughly 2 million people) as he tried to communize Cambodia. In this horrible era, he focused on killing the educated out of paranoia it would be the educated who might try to overthrow him. As a result, the rebuilding of Cambodia is a challenge because the lack of educated to teach and lack of funds to equip the children. Most schools do not have plumbing or electricity. If they can afford a uniform to go to school they can get classes until they are 12. After that only 40% are able to go beyond that for lack of money (the average income is $2 a day, a factory worker makes $100 a month). If you ever think you have it bad, trust me, there are millions that have it much worse.
The stars really aligned for us. By great luck (or destiny) our guide in Cambodia was a wonderful man nicknamed Ritz (real name Ou Sophannarith). He took us to so many places you will see in our upcoming Cambodia Blog. The most impactful was going through the killing fields and prisons with him. His dad was educated and of course was executed along with 2 of his sisters by Pol Pot. At 7, he was sent to a labor camp and separated from his mother. As we talked, it was evident that he shared our passion to do what we can to improve the educational opportunities for children. His mother-in-law works at a school and was able to help facilitate the distribution of uniforms and supplies to children in need. 100% went to the cause and they were elated to do so.
Here is what we funded as written from Ritz to us in an e-mail:
Dear Craig and Mary
I would like to say thank you so much to you and Mary for your great support for Cambodian students. Your donation really help to build a better future for Cambodian students.
I and my wife have bought 120 shirts, 30 pants, 20 skirts, 100 notebooks, and 140 pencils. My mother in law selected 120 poorest students to get the gifts. My father in law made sign” the gifts from the schiefelbein family” and I made photocopy 120 pieces.
-60 students, each student got 1shirt, 1notebook, 2pencils.
-30 students, each student got 1 shirt, 1 pant.
-30 students, each student got 1 shirt, 1 skirt. Every student got shirt. The school that you and your family gave the students gifts is called ” Chroychangvar Sakura Primary School”. I have shown the students the your family name. And I told them that you want them to go to school to help them have better future.
Thank you so much. Ritz
Ritz was so happy to lead this project. A special thanks to he and his family for facilitating this. Also a great thanks to all who helped contribute to this cause before we left. A special thanks goes out to Pete and Nancy Roehl whose generous gift really helped make this happen.
Now that we have this great relationship, we will continue to support and grow what we can do. Its nice to know that all goes directly to the greatest needs. Mary’s parents are going in September and we will be sending funds with them to increase support. If you or your class are interested in helping let us know. As Luke wrote: To whom much is given, much is required.
ABEL TASMAN NATIONAL PARK
Abel Tasman National Park is on the northern part of the South Island of New Zealand. It has beautiful rolling hills/mountains, rivers and borders the Tasman Sea which is between Australia and New Zealand. We traveled through New Zealand by RV Motor homes which was a great way to see this beautiful country. Here we, hiked, camped and boated to hidden beaches.
A common view from the windshield of the RV. We just kept saying wow!!
Camping in the country, we saw some beautiful Stars that you don’t see around the city because of the street lights.
At our campsite, you could board a boat that a tractor would pull out in low tide to launch you into the sea. Then you can go to remote places to hike, camp and swim.
One of the beaches and hikes we went to was called Anchorage. We stayed below on the beach but hiked some amazing trails.
more cool trails
While hiking we saw amazing plants including these giant Silver Ferns that reflect the moonlight at night in a way that must be seen to believed.
Another of many breathtaking trail views.
This beach was a secret beach that Hans, Klaus and GG discovered. They swam around a big rock structure and this was tucked away. It had caves that you could live in and they pretty much wanted to move in.
Talk about great place to play hide and seek! You can see some carvings on this rock. Some of them go back to the 50s, just someone saying they were there.
Well they got it smoking and sparking before we left. They were determined to show mom and dad that they could live on their own…and then asked for a sandwich:)
Dad is doing a little caving…
So this is one of the biggest revelations of the trip to Abel Tasman. It started when Brad was trying to show Klaus who was the boss. Then out of nowhere…
We found that Klaus actually knows the force. Here he is doing a Vador on Brad. Nice work young Jedi!
Bond Girl
This is the view from the main beach which is still very remote. The water is so clear!
The below beach is by our campsite.
We would have loved to spend more time here as well but weather prompted us to hit the road to Christchurch.
Stay tuned for more!!
MORDOR
Welcome to Mordor, surrounded by evil but Frodo will deliver the Ring to end the potential reign of the Dark Lord. We visited so many sites from the Lord of the Rings but this one is also so memorable. Throwing the Ring in this Volcano is the mission of “The Fellowship”.
We stayed at the Chateau Tongariro which is an old historic hotel by the site for Mordor. Sir Peter Jackson and many of his crew resided here during the filming. It is a beautiful throw back in time to the 20s and resides in a small village in the middle of their National Park System. It serves as home for skiers in their winter as it hosts New Zealand’s highest ski mountain.
How do your skis not get wrecked? New Zealand was so covered in color, however this part seemed baron. As you can see from the following photos, is still had some breathtaking views.
From the top of the Ski Resort…
Ski Chalet, All that’s missing is Brad’s snow board and about 20 feet of snow base.
Don’t push me off the cliff, you can have some M&Ms. Its hard to tell that its a couple hundred foot drop right behind me. Rough terrain, you can see the Volcano that served as Mordor for the movie in the background. It is an active Volcano and has had issues as recent as 2012. They teach you at the hotel that if it starts to erupt, face it and walk backwards so you can see debris that might need to be dodged. Thought provoking…a little different than Olympia:)
We traveled by RV throughout New Zealand. Unfortunately, Klaus was not well and crashed below in the RV so Hans and Greta were king of the mountain without a challenge.
HOBBITON
There once was a Hobbit who lived in a hole…. Welcome to the Shire! I think that visiting the Shire and the Movie Set of the Hobbit is one of the highlights for the Schiefelbein Family. You are transporte
This is the original set from The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit. It was infinite in charm.
Welcome to Hobbiton. Behind is the tree that the fireworks are launched to celebrate Bilbo Baggins Birthday.
Gandolph the very Grey
This country is so beautiful, every view has been a post card.
Bilbo’s House in all its glory. It makes you smile just seeing it!
Though all of the trees are amazing around here, Sir Peter Jackson had this tree made out of stainless steel for the movie and covered with Fibreglass that is an exact match to Oak Bark. The leaves are replaced every three years and it looks amazing even up close. We are visiting several sites from the movies but this is the only one where the set is as it was. All others have been returned to there original state. over 150 sites throughout NZ we used in the creation of the movies.
Come on in for a Guiness!
Our Hobbits hiking through the Shire…
In the background you see Hobbiton’s Green Dragon Pub. Upon completion of the tour they welcome you in for a complimentary Ale and Beef Pie.
They say the farm’s primary purpose is to raise their 13,000 sheep. However, with 800 visitors a day to see the Shire with 2.700 on holidays, I would say its not funded by wool:)
The Schiefelbeins World Tour: Australia
GLOW WORM CAVES
One of the coolest parts of our trip this far was going caving in Matamata New Zealand. There are several caves and we went deep into a couple. This is one of 3 places that we went to so far that were on Planet Earth (Iguazu Falls and Great Barrier Reef being others).
The Schiefelbeins going in!
Here are bones discovered from an animal that has been there for centuries. It was from a bird from the Ostrich Family that must have fallen from a hole above.
Here is one of the entry ways to our expedition. There is water going through the caves that have Eels swimming that we fed by hand with meat from goats. The video is coming and worth the watch!
This area is famous for their Glow Worms. They don’t like light and are obviously harder to see in light but Brad was able to capture some amazing shots.
The Glow Worms spin this thread like a spider does its web to capture insects to eat. We were able to watch a couple get caught real time and it was wild to see raw nature again (as we have so many times already on this trip). A glow worm can stay in its form for 300 days then turn to a fly and live for 3-5 days.
As we went deeper into the caves they really started to pop. From this vantage point you can see their strings hanging waiting for prey.
As you can imagine, it is hard to capture images in the dark. This is the same cave that Planet Earth shot its footage(watch it, its great). Brad was able to do some time-exposures with his camera and did a great job. We rafted down this river to experience breathtaking beauty. All you could hear for 45 minutes was woooow, wow, wow, wow… Put this on your bucket list as a must do!
AUCKLAND
It was Chinese New Year when we arrived in New Zealand. In Auckland there are many Chinese so it was very festive with lots of decorations.
This is one tree! The root structure was fun and shapes of some of the trees here are wonderful.
We went to the top of Auckland’s Space Needle/Sky Tower and overlooked the city….Best not be afraid of heights:)
The top of the Sky Tower in Auckland where we were. It is 1,076 feet tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast,[4] making it the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere. Due to its shape and height, especially when compared to the next tallest structures, it has become an iconic structure in Auckland’s skyline.
One of the Chinese New Year decorations lit at night. We really liked the feeling of Auckland’s culture.
Australia Continued…
Hello from the Great Barrier Reef! Here we are first thing getting ready to get in our Scuba-Doos for a cruise.
Oh my Johnny Quest! Out on the Great Barrier Reef we rented these vehicles called Scuba-Doos which enable you to breathe and cruise around. We were able to get up front and close to all kinds of habitat. We spent 2 days diving out there and were constantly seeing something different. There are many pictures to come from the reef as it is so spectacular but here are some teasers.
This beautiful fish can grow to be 400lbs. in size. He was one of many that would come close and let you grab and pet them. The Reef is something that needs to be on every0nes bucket list. It was sensory overload!
Brads has a new buddy. We call him Frank!
We stayed in the city of Cairnes (which the Aussies pronounce Cannes as they refuse to use the R sound where it is written). This was really special for Craig as it has so many bats, it was like a family reunion. Here are some of his kin. These are fruit bats and there are thousands of them at our hotel alone. Though they might look freaky, they are mellow and just hang and climb around until dusk when they go to eat. They look huge in flight as their wingspan in flight is greater than 3 feet.
These are called Princess Fish and are found in places in and outside of the reef. We call these two Brittany and Greta.
Here is the tribe about to depart on a separate vessel which took us out for a guided tour of the reef. All agreed that it will be one of best experiences in our lives. There are over 400 types of coral and hundreds of types of fish and you see them all everywhere with bright colors. Klaus reminded me that they are still discovering species not yet documented.
Today and everyday is science class for the Schiefelbeins. This is a Sea Cucumber that Mary is holding. Klaus was sharing how it cleans the sand/ocean floor and lives off of what is on the sand.
The kids went to Aborigine school. They learned about Music, Medicine, Art and of course their favorite: weapons. They took class in throwing boomerangs and spears. (the gift shop loved us of course one the way out).
These fish can grow to be 400 pounds and are very friendly. They would come to you to be pet. it was awesome!
The Schiefelbeins World Trip 