Simon & Caroline's World Tour 07/08

We may not have got up early enough to see the Taj at sunrise but I still think it was worth the early start since as we were leaving (9am-ish) the sun was already becoming fiendishly hot and the crowds were beginning to swarm!

Several hours later we were back in Delhi, this time in the suburb of New Delhi which was a world away from the Old Delhi we had experienced two days ago. Suddenly there was order, wide roads and pavements, well kept parks and fancy buildings. Finally we could see the influence of the good old Brits and their empiring days.

We boarded our train bound for Amiritsar and found something that the Indians do far better than the Brits. Our ten pound, five hour train journey included being served with a whole manner of free meals from afternoon tea, dinner and ice-cream. It felt like we were travelling in style, I think British rail should take note!

The highlight of the day was a pre sunset quad biking trip through the Cambodian countryside. As we vroomed our way along dirt roads, seeking out the puddles for that mud splattered look (until I burnt my leg on engine splash back! - Si), we found ourselves attracting quite a lot of attention from the local villagers. In fact a bit of skillful, one-handed driving was called for to steer around whilst waving to the children who came running out into the road to shout hello. It was nice to see the children showing so much interest in us and I soon realised that their enthusiasm was partly (entirely?) fuelled by the lead quad-biker handing out sweets!

Just as we were getting the hang of child waving/swerving through the villages, the road opened out to reveal the countryside proper. Suddenly we were surrounded by acres of swampy green fields - rice paddy fields. It being almost sunset by now and therefore the end of the working day, this turned out to be the busiest stretch of road as lots of workers young and old, their bikes, tractors and cows were obviously making their way home.

Another sunset bagged and we began making our way home. Trying to navigate around the cows and 'hello' shouting children was even more tricky in the dark, plus now we also had to try to avoid running over the many frogs jumping across the road.

Our last supper in Siem Reap was a Cambodian BBQ, basically a DIY meal consisting of a clay pot of burning coals placed in the middle of your table alongside your choice of raw snake, ostrich, crocodile or kangeroo which you cook yourself. Very tasty but a bit too much like hard work.

Finally we were ready to board the slow boat to Luang Prabang (we took some advice from the guidebook and passed on the fast boat; it goes twice as fast but is ten times as dangerous - we waved off the helmet and life jacket wearing passengers not in the least bit envious!) The boat was actually a houseboat belonging to a Laos family who seemed to make their living from ferrying people up the river on board their home. It maybe wasn't the most salubriuos of accomodations for the journey but we had a seat each and space to spread out. Any shortcomings were more than made up by the glorious scenery as we meandered our way down the Mekong river through rural Laos. We passed and stopped at several villages, characterised by wooden huts with thatched roofs, smiling locals, and the sound of laughter as happy children jumped and splashed around (naked) in the river. We arrived in Pak Beng, our home for tonight, feeling glad that we had ignored the advice of the man who tried to tell us that the boat was full and that we'd be more 'comfortable' on a mini bus for ten hours.
Pak Beng is a small town with one street of guesthouses and restaurants which surely must have popped up as a result of boat loads of tourists arriving every night and leaving again the next morning.

We thought we'd better try some traditional Laos food tonight - think a plate of minced up meat with lemongrass flavour... We're looking forward to croissants for breakfast from the French bakery.

As it turned out Ao Nang is a bit of a tourist hot-spot and so was filled with 'farangs' (white people). We might not get to experience true, authentic Thai culture just yet but the competition for tourist money meant that we can stay in relative luxury and eat like kings for bargain prices, already we're thinking we're going to like Thailand.

By the time we had our beach clobber on and were ready to catch a boat to Railays it was getting late so we were considering delaying our trip until tomorrow. Watching the daytrippers return and have to exit their boats half way out to sea and come back soaked sealed the deal.

So we found ourselves walking along Ao Nang beach looking for a shady spot to settle in with our books. Before we could reach that spot we met 'Oi' a friendly Thai massuese who was keen to give us massages. I didn't need much persuading and for 2 quid who could refuse. Some pineapple on lolly sticks secured the deal and I left Si to his pineapple and book while I indulged in a little R and R. One hour and one glorious massage later I rejoined Si on the beach feeling like a new woman with all my stresses and strains eased away! I'm feeling an obligation to do my bit for the Thai economy by having one of these every day...

And of course we indulged in a bit of our new favourite beach hobby; snorkelling. The water here is a perfect clear turquouise and there are two excellent snorkelling spots on this beach, one at each end. There is such a huge variety of pretty, muti-coloured fish to see as well as the interesting coral that you can easily spend ages just swimming around and marvelling at it all (unfortunately, the resulting snorkel face is not such a good look!).

Si helped me to find a Nemo so I was happy and of course he's got his new favourite hobby; underwater photography so he's happy. All in all, everyone's happy and it was a pretty perfect day (just in case you are not jealous enough; we enjoyed beer / cocktails on the beach after sun-down.... Mmm :)

To get to the main Cathedral cave you have to climb 272 steps which in this heat is quite a climb but it's ok as there are several well-fed monkeys hanging around the steps to entertain you on the way. At the top and in the cave it is hard to notice any cave like features among the Hindu shrines and statues but once again it is the monkeys that steal the show.

Unfortunately I don't know enough about the Hindu religion (I know I should being a teacher!) but the myriad of colourful and interesting statues of the many gods certainly do inspire me to want to learn more. Like the huge green monkey/tiger/human god statue. Not surprisingly Si was very interested in the statue of the half cow, half topless woman god.

The next cave was a Hindu art gallery and the best word to describe that would be unnatural! There was not much regard shown here for the ancient cave formations since they were painted in bright rainbow colours which complemented the colourful Hindu art work beautifully! Through the back of the cave we were surprised to find an almost impromptu reptile zoo with snakes, turtles and mini crocodiles. We weren't really sure about the environmental / conservation policies here, especially since outside there were a couple of monkeys being kept in a cage whilst being taunted by one of the free monkeys leaping about on top of the cage!

We may have mentioned that it is hot here but just to paint a picture, it is so hot that merely walking down the street and around the corner from one sight to the next leaves you hot, sweaty and exhausted. The only solution was to do the lazy touristy thing and jump on the KL Hop on Hop off bus. It probably took a lot longer than walking by the time the bus navigated the congested traffic of KL but the air conditioned comfort made it so worth it.

We hopped off at many sights from Freedom square (with KL's answer to Big Ben), parliament house, the National Palace (reminiscent of Buckingham Palace where you peer in the gate but the most interesting thing to look at are the armed guards on horse back!) a colourful Hindu temple, the National Mosque (impressively simple inside but with the capacity to accomodate 15,000 praying muslims at any one sitting. Wow.) And lastly Central market where we practised our bartering and bought some more things we shouldn't have.

We were in the mood for going up a high building today so we headed towards the KL Skytower, which is the fourth tallest communications tower in the world. We didn't think 100 extra metres (compared to the Auckland tower) would make much difference but when we got up there it really did. It was high and everything down below looked like little dots. Even Si wasn't tempted to do anything crazy like jump off from this height. Which was just as well since the 'adrenalin' entertainment in the form of a flying fox (only from the base of the tower which is at the top of a small hill) looked pretty tame. We weren't quite sure what all the screaming was about, we could only conclude that these people obviously haven't been to New Zealand.

As we left the tower we saw a couple of monkeys hanging around the sign that read 'Don't feed the monkeys' (ah, if only they could read!). The sight of Malaysia's answer to the kangeroo tempted us into the city rainforest walk to see if we could see anymore. Sadly the monkeys remained elusive, however we did encounter some wildlife, in the form of our arch enemies the mosquitos (is there no escape?)

On our way home we called into the Malaysia Tourist Centre and ended up trying lots of exotic Malaysian fruits, some nice, like the hairy mangosteen, some not so nice, like the rotten feet smelling durians, that are also banned from many public places, including our hotel!

Next up was a return trip to Mustapha's in Little India. We must have been feeling in the mood for a little crazy but it was the cheap shoes that lured me there. We are hoping to go for drinks in Raffles later and I'm not sure they will let me in with my flip flops!
Cheap shoes in hand we set off to do the touristy thing around Clarke Quay (and buy yet another pair of shoes!). We found the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, a rather dapper looking man who was responsible for creating Singapore as the international trading post it has become today.

In the evening we met up with a local, my friend Faz from university. It was fab to see her despite the fact that it reminded me that it has been almost ten years since we left uni, man we're getting old! Anyway Faz took us to Arab street where we had a meal in a Morrocan restaurant almost at the entrance to the mosque (we made sure not to embarass Faz by trying to order a beer!). One of the most interesting aspects of Asia so far has been the food so I feel the need to describe the new things that we try. Tonight I had chicken tangine which is chicken and potatoes cooked in a clay pot and served with pitta bread. Very nice. Si had a kebab so I don't really need to describe that.

After our meal Faz drove us up to Mount Faber for a drink overlooking the views of Sentosa Island, the city lights and the oil refinery! She then dropped us off at our hotel where she informed us with a grin that we were staying in the red light district. (I hope she was joking!)

We decided to go to Bintan, firstly to see my parents who were spending the last couple of days of their holiday there but also because it is in Indonesia and so gave us an excuse to receive another stamp in our rapidly filling passports. The Angsana resort in Bintan is a little slice of paradise. Our room is luxurious, the pool area is lush and the beach is straight out of a travel brochure. We spent the day relaxing by the pool and diving in for a cool, refreshing dip now and then.
Dinner tonight consisted of freshly caught fish on the beach. Heaven. Already we never want to leave.

By now we are becoming somewhat connoisseurs of flying and with our flight to Singapore we have now sampled the last of the airlines that we are scheduled to fly with on this trip. So how does Singapore Airlines compare? Well, we were a little disappointed with their inflight entertainment which Virgin Airlines still holds the top spot for. See how we research these important things for you! It's not all one big holiday you know :)

After almost ten months down under in Australia / New Zealand, Singapore was the culture shock we expected. The first thing to hit us as we stepped off the plane was the humidity which I'm not sure we will ever get used to. Then during our taxi ride to our hostel the heavens opened and the torrential downpour began. In just a few short seconds whilst running from the taxi into the door of our hostel we were drenched. Guess we will have to get used to this since we have come to this part of the world during monsoon season!

Our hostel is in the Little India area of town which as you can imagine has lots of character. But I'll get to that in a minute, first: the hostel. We chose it because it had good reviews and I can see why, it is clean and in a good location. However, the best way to describe our room would be bijou! There are two single mattresses on the floor and then just the tiniest space beside them to prop up our rucksacks. The toilet / shower combo is described as a Singapore special. Just imagine a toilet cubicle on an airplane, complete with the concertina door plus a shower over the toilet. Hindsight may be playing tricks on me but I'd almost say the shower toilet in our first NZ campervan was bigger. However small room and toilet aside, all is forgiven because our room has air-conditioning. Bliss.

We collapsed on our beds for awhile waiting for the rain to stop. When it soon became apparent that it had no intention of stopping, we braved an outing. We managed to duck and dive under shop awnings until we found an umbrella stand and then we ventured off towards Mustapha's, a famous shopping centre in Little India, known for stocking everything you can possibly think of at bargain prices. We managed to dodge the crowds and buy a few bits and pieces, the most exciting being Tiger balm (just in case we ever get a headache or an insect bite - hopefully not!)

My aunt had advised us to go in search of a banana leaf curry in Little India but unfortunately we failed on that mission. Although not for the lack of trying, in fact I think some of the restaurantuers that we asked if they had banana leaf currys were quite offended. One response was; No banana leafs, we have plates!! To absolve him of his indignation we felt obliged to eat at his restaurant and it was very yummy even if there was not a banana leaf in sight.

Feeling suitably chilled out after relaxing on the beach with my smoothie we drove back to my aunt and uncle's for a culinary treat that was a taste blast from my past. Singapore curry. It used to be a Sunday tradition in our house. And I was reminded that almost everyone in my family can cook a mean curry and I haven't learned yet (something for my to do list when we return.) My aunt's curry was delicious....

Feeling rejuvenated we braved the last stretch and made it to Bondi in time for a spot of lunch at Icebergs. We enjoyed our food whilst watching the brave swimmers facing the cold of Icebergs pool and the Bondi surfers catching some waves, albeit tiddlers.

Our day of Sydney highlights was rounded off perfectly with a glass of bubbly at the Opera bar, we had just sat down when the fireworks began to light up the harbour bridge - it was almost as if Sydney was welcoming us back. Unfortunately mum and dad were sleeping off a touch of jet lag back at the hotel and missed the fireworks but we appreciated them. Thanks Sydney, it's good to be home.

We started our Saturday morning (early!) with a swim at the local hot salt water pools, is there a better way to start your weekend? It was just the right combination of relaxing with a bit of exercise (one of the pools is a slightly cooler 34 degree for swimming) and a bit of fun. Not sure if it was Si or Will having the most fun as they raced on-the-back-of-a-turtle style with Paul and Josh.

After we dragged ourselves away from the pools Kelly took the boys home for a sleep whilst Paul, Si and I went off to climb The Mount. Probably not as impressive as it sounds since Mount Maunganui probably doesn't really qualify as a mount as such. Nevertheless it's an impressive mount / hill on the edge of the sea.... New Zealand may be on the brink of Winter but the East coast has that special sunshine ingredient which we love. So it felt like the middle of Summer to us (from Scotland...) There were lots of local fitties jogging past us (I'm sure one woman passed us twice!) whereas just walking to the top was exhilarating enough for us. The 360 degree views at the top were pretty awesome and worth the climb, especially since we had a local with us to explain the points of interest. Our family fun day in the sun was rounded off perfectly with a yummy kiwi barbie. Ah, it's good to be home (well, obviously I mean we won't get too settled here....)

Beach Two:

Once again the stunning scenery of this country has been used as the backdrop to another film. This time the film was The Piano and the backdrop was Karekare beach (try to imagine a piano in the picture!). We haven't actually seen the film but the beach has got a moody, dramatic air with the waves pounding, the sea spray causing a fine mist in the distance. We have managed to pick up a cheap copy of The Piano so our task tonight is to compare and contrast.

By now we have pretty much seen all there is to be seen in this country so we were really struggling to find some unexplored wee nook somewhere. After much searching of the map and guidebook we found such a corner just to the west of Auckland. We headed to Muriwai beach first to check out their gannet colony. Unfortunately most of the gannets have flown off and left New Zealand for the warmer shores of Australia (must be the time for leaving New Zealand!) However we did spot a couple swooping around so all was not lost.

When we arrived in Paihia we hooked up with Glen, our skipper for the day who promised to show us around the Bay of Islands on board his yacht, 'She's a Lady' (I made the mistake of asking how she got her name and was told it was because she was high maintenance. Huh!)

Our track record with sailing led us to believe that the weather probably wouldn't be great and it would no doubt rain. I'm thinking of our last day trip sailing from Brisbane, heart of the sunshine state but where it rained all day for our sailing expedition. Sure enough as we set sail it looked like a rather grey morning. There was also not a great deal of wind around (kind of a pre-requisite for sailing) which meant that we kind of drifted along in a very relaxed manner, which set the tone for the rest of the day. We drifted past many islands, some very exclusive and privately owned. How do the owners get to their homes I hear you ask. By boat more often than not but we did also spot a helicopter hanger (ah how the other half live!) As we came close to where the islands stop to reveal endless miles of sea, we chose our very own deserted island and dropped anchor. We passed up on the proposed swimming although we did brave a wee bit of kayaking, alas despite the glass bottom I saw nothing except some rocks and the sea bed. We also climbed the hill of our wee island and were rewarded with 360 degree views of the area and a light spattering of rain.
After what were quite possibly the best sandwiches ever we boarded 'the lady' once more and continued with thè 'relaxed' sailing back to harbour.

Not really knowing what I was letting myself in for I agreed to cycle the twin passes of Hamner Springs. The bike hire shop offers a deal where they drive you to the top of the first hill and then you cycle the easy bits. Simon reckoned he was too much of an experienced cyclist to be getting lifts up hills and in the end we thought we would be cheap, load the bikes in our campervan and get them up the hill ourselves.

Now we expected the road up the hill to not be of the best quality and probably a little bumpy and gravelly but we were not prepared for quite the steep, muddy and pot holed affair that greeted us. So the plan changed, we would leave the van at the bottom and cycle up (or Si would and I'd push mine!). Finally after much huffing and puffing we got the bikes to the top of the hill and were looking forward to the prospect of freewheeling downhill. And it started ok, a little steep, narrow and bumpy for my liking but I was doing it. Then came the stream. Then came the uphill. What? Already? This was not what we were expecting! Maybe it's only for a little bit. Half an hour later we were still pushing / carrying (Si) our bikes up. I began to realise that this was not just me, even the most serious mountain biker would not be able to cycle up this path. So that's when I consulted the map and yes we had gone the wrong way! We could see the nice gentle gravel road across the valley that we were supposed to be on. The thought of going back the way we had come was not an appealing one so we carried on up and up and up. Si was an absolute star and my hero as he carried his bike up and then came back for mine, I struggled just walking up the hill (it was very steep!).

At last we made it to the top of the hill, which luckily joined up with the road we were actually meant to be on. However we were so exhausted that the thought of getting on the bikes we had pushed/ pulled/ heaved and carried (thanks Si) up the hill was more than we could bear.

After our sandwiches and a much deserved half muffin each we were feeling like we might be able to face a bit of downhill action. After all we were now at the top of the hill (the bit we could have been driven to if we were so tight with our cash!) and had been promised that the rest of the bike ride would be easy and mostly downhill. And at first it was. A bit bumpy but I would actually go as far as to say I was having fun. There was a little more uphill but that was ok, I managed to stay on my bike for most of that. And then came the extreme downhill. The very bumpy, very steep downhill that had me squeezing the brakes so hard I thought my hands would be forever stuck in the same position. We were belting down the hill so fast that there was only one thing that would stop us. The sight of two HUGE bulls in the middle of the road! One of them was staring at us in a very menacing manner and looking like he might charge at any second (I was pretty glad I wasn't wearing red!). In the end we braved cycling past them (with no squeaking of the brakes so that we would be too fast for them to catch us!). Several hours later two weary cyclists returned their bikes with one of them swearing they might never get back on one again (no that wasn't Si, although even he may be aching tomorrow!)

Luckily it was ok. We had all made our joint pact to retire (er, I haven't! - Si) from those sort of adrenalin pumping activities and to hang up our harnesses! I was safe for another day. That left only one activity with which to occupy our time and I'm talking about my kind of activity. Turns out that relaxing in the glorious heat of a 40 degree pool is just how I like to spend my time . Even the stinking sulphury one was quite nice if you could just ignore the smell and I'm sure it has done wonders for our tired old bones!

The showers at this campsite were not the stuff of dreams but at least we were clean again and able to hit the road without the clothes pegs on our noses! We had planned another scenic drive for ourselves today, this time crossing the country east to west on the Arthur's Pass. The drive promised to be a belter from the off with views of snow-topped craggy mountains calling us from a distance, we just had to dodge the two escapee sheep causing havoc on the road first.

By now we have grown used to the expectation of encountering something unusual and unexpected around the corner and today was no different. Today's round the corner surprise was a plethora of stone monoliths randomly sitting on the hillside. Think Stone Henge x10. The guidebook didn't really explain how they had got there so that just made them all the more mysterious. The drive up to the village of Arthur's Pass was pretty spectacular but a quick visit to the DoC centre proved quite alarming as it turned out that we were in an area surrounded by at least twenty fault lines and which had experienced several serious earthquakes in the not so distant past. Probably better to not hang around too long then. A quick hike up to the Devil's Punchbowl Falls and we were off. Just a little further along the road and we saw some of the effects of those earthquakes. Up on the hill was the remainder of a road that had been rebuilt several times before they gave up and built a very impressive viaduct complete with rock slide deflectors!

Our daily search for a campsite was a bit more interesting and time consuming than normal. We contemplated staying round the back of an old abandoned community centre in the very strange town of Blackball. Apart from the dodgy looking yocals/rednecks who looked like they might shoot us in the middle of the night, the newspaper article declaring this building as the most haunted building in the South Island definitely sent us packing.

The next stop was Slope Point, the most southerly point on the south island, so of course a flag photo was required. It was pretty cold and blustery on the cliff, but then it would be when the next point of land is the Antarctic! It's not often you can say that!

Lunch at Porpoise bay introduced us to the smallest and rarest species of dolphin; the Hector's dolphin. Aparently this is the only place in the world where dolphins live permenantly so close the shore. There is not much of them to see from a distance as their dorsal fins are small and only occasionally pop out of the water, but they were spotted doing their dolphin thing, swimming around the bay and doing wee acrobatic jumps every now and then.

Our next stop involved a pleasant walk through a very moss covered forest to get to McLean falls, followed by a much needed (it was cold and overcast!) cafe stop for coffee and scones. By now time was getting on and we would have to pass all the other waterfall stops and hightail it to Nugget Point so that we might be able to see another rare species.

Darkness, or greyness at least was beginning to set in on the long and rough gravel road to Nugget Point. But it was worth the effort and enduring Si's strategy for coping with all the bumps in the road - just drive faster! As soon as we got to the beach we walked down to a hide and were just in time to see several Yellow-Eyed penguins come ashore for the evening. Considered the most ancient of all living penguins these guys are endangered and the rarest of penguins. They are bigger than the Little Blue penguins and much much shyer and more wary. They took a very long time to make their way to their nests with several changes of mind and direction along the way. They also entertained us with a tummy slapping greeting, which thanks to the photographic skills of Si have been caught on video. The return drive on the gravel road in the dark was pretty hairy but we made it to a campsite in one peice where we could enjoy the luxury of having a powered site by keeping the fan heater on all night.

So it was with this newfound (at long last) self knowledge that I chose my method of swing for the Shotover Canyon Swing (think bungy but without the pinging up bit!). There were ten styles to chose from but the 'Cutaway' was only one pant on the pant scale of scariness and best of all it didn't involve me having to propell myself off the ledge. I would be placed in a harness and sit in a swing like position and someone would then push the button that would make me go. Too easy!? How wrong can you be. It may only be a one panter but it was an adventure too far for me. Of course the crazy Kiwis running the show were a bunch of jokers and seemed to take far too much pleasure in scaring me even more than I already was. They pushed me off the ledge, left me dangling there for a while and then dropped me unexpectedly mid-sentence. It was 109m high with 60m of freefall which trust me is a long time when you are plummeting towards the rocks at the bottom of the canyon. There was a brief moment at the bottom when I braved an eye opening to experience the fun of swinging at the bottom (why we chose this and not one of the five available bungies) and then I was hoisted up and the whole thing was thankfully over. Or so I thought.

I actually found it more traumatic watching Si and Cat do their jumps than I did doing it myself, especially since both of them did it Pin Drop style (a whopping 5 pants on the pantometer!) which involved them stepping of the ledge of their own free will. Crazy dudes. Si (a.k.a Slyman) then continued to age me even further by doing a second jump, this time in 'the chair' (a mere three panter!). For this he was tied to a garden chair which he then swung backwards of the ledge to back flip his way to the bottom.

Several hours later the whole ordeal was over and could be forgotten about. Oh, if only it were that easy. The constant reliving it will give me nightmares for days and as for the dvds... (You can check them out for yourselves on the links to the right, look out for Si's legs in the Pin Drop and the expression on his face as his chair leans back that final time, which is also on the blog photo) I have to point out that in Cat's dvd that is my scream that can be heard, she was as cool as a cucumber!

After we had been carrying our inner tubes for what seemed like an age we were finally allowed to get in them. We all linked ourselves together in a long chain in preparation to paddle down the tunnel of love. We had all turned our head torches off by this point so it was pitch black inside the cave but then as we turned a corner and looked up we were treated to the most impressive array of glowworms twinkling away like stars in the night sky. Pretty cool.

We drifted past two awesome cave entrances where it was quite beautiful to see daylight after so long underground. Next came the fun part. The reason for carrying those inner tubes all morning. We got to ride the rapids of the river back to our changing room and the train. With bums lifted to avoid a river smacking, we all made it safely back to dry land with only one capsizer amongst us (done in style Cat :) It was all quite an adventure and very good value for money, we were even provided with photos without paying the fortune usually required on these kind of trips. Fantastic! (You can actually check these out on the website if you wish; www.caverafting.com Just follow the links to the pics for Underworld Rafting, morning of the 6th of April.)

After a slap up lunch to refuel we were on the road again. Next stop pancake rocks. An impressive rock formation set amongst a coastline not too dissimilar to the Great Ocean Road. The rocks themselves are made up of layer upon layer of thin rock which looks like lots of stacks of pancakes. Hence the name. Some more spectacular winding road later (including two very narrow one lane bridges also used by trains) we pulled up the van in our campsite for the night. What with all our adventures and the clocks having gone back an hour we are suddenly in need of a kip! Good night.

Back on dry land we treated ourselves to a last supper at The Flying Haggis, a Scottish pub that served surprisingly good Haggis, Neeps and Tatties, as well as a tasty Irn Bru (at one stage it looked as though we might not be able to drag Cat away!)

After all that excitement we were expecting to just settle down for the night at a campsite. But Smith's farm was no ordinary, run of the mill campsite! We were greeted with warm, freshly baked muffins for a start! And then despite it being almost bedtime, Chris the owner took us out on a guided walk up into the hills, past sheep and some shy calves, across streams to see glowworms. Not a bad start to the week.

I also got another very exciting purchase: a new camera! Yep, we wore another one out with all our holiday snapping. I hope you are all prepared for the number of photos you will be subjected to on our return :) Now with my new jazzy camera I can do all sorts of fun and cool things. It has settings for every conceivable photo opportunity from landscapes, portraits, a portrait against a landscape, pets, children and so on. It is great fun to play with and I now almost rival Si in the number of photos taken each day. But the best bit about it is that it is PINK! Which is great just cos it's cool but also because Si is less inclined to nick it!
After our very successful shopping trip we went off in search of something to take photos of. South of Christchurch are the Port hills where we hopped on a gondola (cable car) up to the top. We were warned about the lack of visibility at the top and it was no lie. The clouds had the hill covered and the wind literally took your breath away so the only other hardy soul, apart from ourselves, braving the elements was a hedgehog. True to form New Zealand wildlife is not as scary as the Aussie variety.

(It also has a confusing rear tent attachment that will keep me guessing for ages, as you can see! - Si)

The rest of our day involved a wander around Melbourne soaking up the atmosphere. After dinner we stumbled across a comedy festival. One of the comedians managed to persuade us to come to his show because it had Scottish connections and he promised to talk about something I didn't really understand (I thought he was talking about a person called Kay Lee) but he seemed so pleased with himself that I didn't want to disappoint him by admitting I'd never heard of her! Anyway it turned out to be the perfect show for us, all about movie trailers and a grandfather who was born in Ireland and moved to Glasgow. The comedian had a bit of a dodgy Irish and Scottish accent (turned out he was talking about ceilidhs!) but he was very funny and like I said the show could have been tailor made for us! Melbourne rocks so far!

Next stop: Campbell Town. Really only because it's a namesake to the real one that is home, but we were pleasantly surprised to find quite a lot to this wee town. It was of course settled by Scots many years ago and for a wee town has a lot to boast about; the first telephone call in the Southern hemisphere, several bushrangers (bad people, so we won't go into too much detail about them!), a local who flew around the world in a biplane, a bridge built by convict labour in 1838 which despite an annual load of about 1,200,000 vehicles has never needed any repairs! There is more but I've been told to stop there!

It's also the last night sleeping in the van and then we have four whole nights of sleeping in a real bed to look forward to, what bliss!

We have become suckers for Australia's big things and so with the guidebook promising a big platypus at Latrobe, a mere 5km away, we were there. Unfortunately, the big platypus wasn't up to the usual standard of big things, it was actually disappointingly small (certainly no Larry the Lobster!). All was not lost though, a wee chat with a real Tasmanian in the Tourist info office gave us a plan of action for our nine days here and she also sent us up to a good place to spot platypuses in the wild. Despite our patient searching the platypus remained elusive for today but we have got ourselves a mission for the next eight days; to spot a platypus in the wild and a Tasmanian devil and maybe a tiger, although they may be extinct so I'm not sure we'll get lucky there.

Our plan for today was to explore the North West coast so the first port of call was Penguin. Named by some imaginative (I'm ashamed to say British) explorer who saw penguins when he first arrived here. The town has, as you might expect, made the most of it's name and every shop, cafe etc has some quirky name like The Groovy Penguin cafe, as well as some statue of a penguin. The dustbins are also quite quirky with their penguins attached to the sides and of course there was a big penguin, who was actually quite big this time!.

P.S. I know it's meant to bring good luck, but I don't think Si found being pooed on by a seagull so lucky!

Another few hundred kms of hot sticky driving and we have now crossed the border back into Victoria so at least we are now in the right state to catch our ferry.

It then came time to say farewell to Kangeroo Island as we have a slightly bigger island to get to in a hurry. Spotting a pod of dolphins from the ferry on the way back seemed like a very fitting send off.

It all began with an early start and a drive to Seal Bay, home of the Australian fur seal. A guided tour took us up close and personal to the seals on the beach (close enough to smell their fishy breath!) Their breeding season has just finished which meant it was a pretty safe time to be so close, the bulls were past their aggressive stage and were not likely to mistake us for female seals! It also meant there were lots of cute little pups frolicking around. Some of the younger ones were still breastfeeding while the slightly older little boy seals were playing at being big boy seals with their pretend fights and chasing of the girls for kisses. The girls, of course, were playing it cool, lounging around on the beach. Si's favourite photo of the day is this young seal surfing the waves with his fin sticking out like an upside-down surf board. It was a pretty hot 45 degrees on the beach (before 11am!) so it was time to move on.

Next stop: Little Sahara, a plethora of huge sand dunes, supposedly perfect for sandboarding. But at 45 degrees that kind of energetic pursuit was not going to happen so we pootled along to Vivonne bay for a bit of a cool down in the southern ocean. This bay was voted the best beach in Australia by a professor at Sydney University. Can't have been an easy decision as we have seen a lot of impressive beaches in our time here! We got the boogie board out and had some fun cooling off when some dolphins swam along to join in the fun. So Si can now say he surfed with dolphins. I did capture this moment on film but unfortunately my photography skills were not up to scratch (I'll blame it on the new camera) and the picture is a little out of focus :(

After that excitement we headed off to Flinders Chase National park where our first port of call was Admirals Arch, an arch in the rock complete with an impressive array of stalagmites and New Zealand fur seals lounging around and enjoying a bit of shade (they have thicker fur than their Aussie counterparts from this morning, hence the reason they are found here on the shady rocks as opposed to the 45 degree heat of the beach). When Si had got the required number of seal photos (i.e. a lot) we were ready to move on to the piece de la resistance of the day; Remarkable Rocks. A group of wind sculptured granite boulders that do indeed look quite remarkable but once again I am left feeling that the Aussies lacked a little imagination when they were naming the delights of this country.

Almost finished. The original plan was to stay at Remarkable Rocks to watch the sunset but with our campsite being about 100 km away we decided to head off and instead just keep stopping the car for sunset pics. In our prior reading about KI we had been promised 'abundant' wildlife, all with slightly different island adaptations. Since we usually do quite well with our wildlife we were a little disappointed with the elusiveness of the land based wildlife here thus far (not counting the roadkill at the side of the road - that was quite abundant!). But after the beautiful deep orange sun had set and darkness had desended we began to learn why there was an alarming amount of road kill. Suddenly the wallabies and the possums became abundant, and they had no road sense what so ever. Si has to be commended for his careful driving and the fact that he managed to avoiding hitting any of these guys who seem to think it is fun to play on the road and then do the startled rabbit pose when you approach! Still no sign of a kangeroo though :(
After that long day and the long blog I bid you good night.

With our legs feeling like we couldn't possibly walk anymore we set off for Philip Island, home of the parade of the penguins. This experience was one of the highlights of my previous visit to Oz so I was looking forward to repeating it. Southern Australia is home to huge colonies of the very cute Little or Fairy Penguins (which proves to the geography buffs that this continent was at one stage, albeit millions of years ago, joined to the Antartic). Every night, shortly after sunset, these little guys waddle in from the sea and make their way to their burrows. It is magical to watch the first few rock up, they seem a bit dazed and confused as if they have got the time wrong or something, but then hundreds of their friends begin to emerge from the sea beside them. And when there is a large enough group for them to feel brave enough to make that treacherous journey across the beach, past the nasty seagulls, they begin their comical stop start waddle. Whilst they are lovely to watch, even more special is watching the chicks emerge from their burrows to wait for their parents to arrive home. You get a sense of the hunger these little guys must be feeling from the squawking racket they make. Not to mention the accosting of every adult penguin that goes past. But it is only when an adult penguin is certain that the demanding chick does actually belong to them that they surrender their catch of fish. The whole "Penguin Parade" set up may be terribly commerical but that doesn't detract from the magic of watching these little guys. I'm looking forward to seeing more later as we drive along the Great Ocean road.

We failed in our attempts to experience some white water rafting when a rather rude woman informed Si that they were "chock o' block" with kids!? A further phone call did not prove much more enlightening but we have deduced that it is not the right time of year and so there is not enough water in the river. Hopefully, an activity to look forward to in New Zealand.

Our thoughts turned instead to the daily task of finding just the right place to set up camp for the night. A tempting ad had caught our eye: Mingling Waters promised a waterside location, a tranquil setting, good food and interesting walks. Unfortunately, the campsite did not quite live up to expectations largely due to a pungent sulphor smell emitting from the nearby river. It was this continuous and overpowering smell which prompted us to rename the place Minging Waters!

The journey to Victoria did see us making an expensive shopping stop at Merimbula where I bought some flip flops, and Simon got a new camera - I wonder who got the better deal there!

We also stopped off at a wee town called Eden which boasts an illustrious whaling history. A strange past to be proud of you may say but this town has two unique tales to tell, which we learned of in the Killer Whale Museum. The first tale is about Old Tom, a killer whale who with a couple of his mates used to lead the human whalers to a poor unsuspecting whale victim. After the whalers had harpooned the whale, the killer whales were allowed to eat the whale's tongue and lips! (I didn't say it was a nice story!) The skeleton of Old Tom is on display in the museum, and you can even see his worn down teeth from where he pulled the harpoon rope (you have to look very closely at the picture to see that!)

If left feeling a little upset by that story you may feel a sense of whale justice from this next story. Whaling was a dangerous job and a couple of men were once knocked out of their boat by a thrashing whale never to be seen again. Or so everyone thought... Unfortunately the whale didn't escape. After he was killed and brought ashore, when they began to cut him open they found one of the missing men. He had been inside the whale for about 15 hours and was still alive. Just. His skin had turned a very pale white, along with his hair. He was blind and unconscious for a while but he lived to tell the tale for a few more years.

One last strange morsel of whale info to leave you with; apparently people with rhuematic problems used to sit inside a hole cut into a whale carcass for up to two hours because of the healing benefits of this. Yuck!

So all in all it was a grand day out and worth the trecherous journey to get there.

We had a fantastic morning for being up in the air and the views were amazing. The valley below us was lush and green (theres been a lot of rain recently!) with rows upon rows of grape vines. We could see mountains in the distance (the great dividing range, I think). But the best view was looking down (and it was a long way down) at the animals the size of dots, we saw cows, horses and a few kangaroos bouncing along. The view upwards was pretty cool (or rather hot!) as you can see from the pic.
Sadly all good things must come to an end and so we began to think about landing. It was a bit hairy. We bounced along the ground several times before stopping but it then felt like we were going to tilt over with maybe some dragging. It certainly got the adrenalin pumping but we survived and enjoyed the obligatory post flight champers. It never tasted so good!
We were all done and dusted and it was only 9am! What to do with the rest of our day? We started with a gourmet breakfast at the Crown Plaza - just a taster of how the other half live.

After a refreshing roadside snooze we headed off to sample some more wine. We found ourselves in Tyrells, one of the oldest wineries in the Hunter in it's 4th generation of family ownership. These guys have been making wine since 1858 so they certainly know what they're doing. The tour of the winemaking process was very interesting and we will be appreciating our next bottle of wine just a little bit more now that we know how much effort went into making it. After the tour we were treated to some tasters and I am pleased to say that Si seems to be coming round to my way of thinking where white wine is concerned so I will no longer be forced to drink whole bottles singlehandedly! (I have been missing you Donna!). I also took a bit of a liking to the expensive, aged red wine - there is no doubt it tastes better - just a shame we can't afford it! After buying several bottles (of the slightly cheaper stuff, alas) we headed off to the smelly cheese shop (that's what it's called!) to spend some more money.

So the next few days will be spent consuming the produce of the Hunter Valley - wine, chocolate and smelly cheese ...yum!

After the show there was some dolphin belly rubbing and then onto the marine tank to feed fish, sharks and turtles. I managed to make a bit of a spectacle of myself again as I got nervous at the last second and dropped my fish in the water - a disgruntled shark then splashed me ferociously leaving me completely soaked - much to the amusement of everyone else - that will teach me! I felt a little safer feeding the fairy penguins.

After the excitement of Pet Porpoise Pool it was on to Coffs Harbour's other big attraction - the Big Banana. It was similar to the Big Pineapple in that there is not a lot to it, aside from the giant, yellow concrete banana of course! Si was feeling a little traumatised by all the banana paraphenalia and especially by the many banana themed foods in the cafe. So the only way to put a smile on his face was to have several goes on the toboggan ride, which involved whizzing down the hillside and carreening around corners (I was advised to ease up on the brake after my first go!). A perfect end to another action packed day. And another day to be grateful that we are here having fun rather than back home working. Especially since St J's had the inspectors in today - hope it went well guys (rather you than me!! ;)

As you can imagine (especially if you read the blog / saw the video about the pool slide) Si was in his element. As for myself, after a bit of a nervous start (my thumb is still not completely recovered from that same pool slide!) I too had a ball. The best ride by far, called the tornado, involved sitting on an inflatable ring and being thrown down an almost verticle drop, with almost definitely some freefall, to then spin around a giant cone - all the while being sprayed with good old H2O, of course!

Simon managed to go on all rides, even an oversize version of the campsite slide. The difference being it was about 30m high, straight, and involved a drop as steep as can be, he even claimed to take off as he dropped!

With all that fun, plus all the stair climbing to get to that fun, we are two very tired cats who will sleep well tonight (even in our cramped, lumpy campervan bed!)

The only place you can get up close and personal to all three is Bundaberg. First stop was the Bundaberg rum distillery. The Bundy rum and the company's advertising genius Bundy the polar bear are a bit of an Aussie legend that hasn't really made it across the water because everytime the company expands to export, the Aussies just drink more! The most memorable aspect of the distillery tour was the overwhelming odour of molasses that is piped in from the sugar mill next door. That and the alcohol fumes are almost enough to make you feel tipsy before you even get to your free tasters, one of which was a very tasty rum liqueur with chocolate, coffee and caramel in it (when mixed with cream it is just as tasty as Baileys). With our insides suitably warmed from the rum we headed off for the barrel, where they make the Bundaberg ginger beer. We didn't even bother with the tour this time - just raided the shop for gingerbeer and hit the road.

When dusk fell it was time for the highlight of the day. Walking from our campsite we arrived at the Mon Repos turtle rookery where, because it is exactly the right time of year, we were hoping to be lucky enough to see either a female turtle nesting or some hatchlings emerge from their eggs. Reading up on these magnificent animals at the information centre we learned about their threatened status (mainly from humans sadly - their lights, fishing, pollution etc). We also learned that we might be in for about a 4 hour wait for a turtle event. Lady luck must have been shining on us however because after just an hour we were ushered down to the beach where we walked along in pitch black to see a beautiful loggerhead female (K67838 or K for short) digging her nest. We then watched in awe as she began to lay her 4th clutch of eggs this season. After the first 20 or so eggs she didn't even care that we were there and so we could take photos of this miracle of nature before us. By the time we had watched 133 eggs emerge we were beginning to feel how tired she must have been. While we were watching her set to the task of covering up her nest we were treated to another special sight - a tiny little hatchling appeared, as if my magic, from underneath a little boy. Oh my, were we also about to witness 100s of little hatchlings emerge? You could almost feel the excitement build in our little group. After careful checking of the perimeter the ranger concluded that this little fella was probably an escaped hatchling from the group next to us. She explained that he had probably been confused by our lights and gotten lost on his way to the sea. Bonus for us though- we got to feel this little beauty tickle our palms, which he fit into beautifully with room to spare!

Back to our heroic K who was still packing the sand tightly around her precious offspring, during this time and on her long walk / shuffle back to the sea she had to stop several times to rest (not surprising when you think this is the 4th time she has done this recently and she will not have been taking the time to feed properly). Finally we said farewell to K and waved her off into the sea but our adventure wasn't over, we were about to play an important part in the conservation of this beautiful species. Ranger Jae dug up her nest and we helped to relocate the eggs to a safer nest further up the dunes. Si and I each carried 4 little turtle to bes up to their new nest. Unfortunately the odds are against these little guys as only 1 in 1000 make it to breeding age :( However we hope that we have given our little 8 champs a fighting start. What a night.

The best way to start off the day in a new city is to have coffee with a local and Jon the Pom (Si's Mum's self-named friend) was full of useful facts and tips to send us on our way. It feels very strange to be in a city again but luckily Brisbane seems quite laid back and not at all as hectic as Sydney. Our day was spent with a brief forray into the museum followed by a long walk along the river.

Si 'the thrill seeker' Gormley is as we speak climbing the Story bridge (I'll let him tell you the story!). I left him to it, not because I'm a big chicken but because I wasn't wearing the right shoes - what a shame! For my slightly more tame adventure I hopped on the river cat for a sunset cruise. I must have timed it just right as the many bends in the river made it feel as though there were at least two sunsets, one on each side of the river, and for once, even I, was snap happy.

Bridge climb update - as Caroline "wrong shoes" McFadyen has said, I've just done the Story Bridge twilight climb, in lieu of the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb, which was just too hard to book! The bridge is actually more Australian than the Sydney bridge, built by the same man, but of Australian materials, so I reckon it's more of an Aussie adventure (it's named after a civil servant called Story, not exciting but I thought I'd put your mind at rest...). After being decked out in jumpsuit and harnessed into what was essentially a belt with no hope of holding me up if I did fall, we began the climb. The first section underneath the road showed how much the bridge could rattle and shake, not exactly inspiring confidence, but as soon as we were above the road it was all fine. Views from the top stretched as far as New South Wales and the Great Dividing Range - either it was an exceptionally good view, or Brisbane isn't far north. The sun set behind the Brisbane skyscrapers, turning the sky orange then crimson before dusk, when the night became the realm of the flying foxes which gave the cityscape an almost prehistoric touch. With that, it was time to climb down, just as it was getting too dark. I've now climbed 33% of the climbable bridges in the world...

No I'm not talking about some dangerous new sport you've never heard of, I'm talking about chilling out and relaxing - it's bad for you! We spent today chillaxing by the pool at our campsite. It all started off well, we had the pool to ourselves and so Si thought we should try out the pool slide, after all there was nothing to say it was just for kids! The first few slides were fine, perhaps even fun but then just as I was about to sit down for another go, I slipped and foolishly put my hand out to save myself. The result? One very sore, very bruised, very swollen thumb! :-(

Despite the fact that I had just demonstrated the perils of the slide, Si carried on enjoying it for the rest of the day, running up the hill like an excited kid with a big grin on his face to go down the slide over and over again. (Si - I had my share of scraped elbows and banged knees due to tight corners and a shallow pool, me thinks the slide was built for smaller kids than I, but there was too much fun to be had!)

Looking at our rough schedule we had pencilled in about 3 days for Byron bay but after 3 hours we'd had enough. I'm sure once upon a time it was a chilled out, alternative haven but today it was just a hot, sweaty bustle of people and noise and traffic. Most of which, I have to say was fellow campervanners! The only thing to hint at it's aspiring alternativeness these days is the aroma of incense everywhere you go. Like I say we headed off pretty quickly and have settled for the night in a very quiet, chilled out town called Brunswick Heads - maybe we're getting old!

P.S. No that is not some trendy belt Si is sporting in the pic, it is in fact a bum bag!! Hee hee, Si's got a bum bag.... (I did promise I wouldn't tease too much when he threatened not to carry anything for me- but I couldn't resist! Sorry Si :)

Anyway our short stroll turned into a long hike (it included a 4km detour along the beach to avoid a return trip into the mossie forest) and by the end of it we were hot and bothered and itchy! So where better for our next stop than Lennox Head which promised a teatree lake with medicinal healing properties.

It may well be medicinal but it is very disconcerting to find yourself swimming in what effectively looks like brown tea. Having been spoilt by swimming in crystal clear waters I really did not like being unable to see what I was swimming in (to give you some idea today's photo is of Si's foot!) Who knew what might be swimming below me or what I might be about to stand on (Si assured me there were no crocs but can he really be sure?) And I especially did not like the brown tea like dirt left on me when I emerged from the water. AND I was still itchy afterwards! Nope I'm sorry but the 'medicinal' teatree lake is not for me! I think I'll stick to beaches - at least you can see the sharks coming! :)

After an afternoon of hectic packing and despairing over how much stuff we have accumulated over the last 4 months (yes those 3 pairs of shoes did seem absolutely necessary at the time!) we headed into town to say our farewells to the city. First up was Circular Quay and the Botanic gardens, fitting in the obligatory flag photo along the way (it's only taken us 4 months to get around to it!). Then to the Andrew 'boy' Charlton pool so Si could swim a few laps next to the harbour with fantastic views of Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo. Finger Wharf is where Russell Crowe is supposed to live so instead of swimming I spent the time trying to guess which apartment was his and which boat was his, all the while keeping a keen eye out for any signs of the star himself (alas to no avail!). After his swim Si treated himself to a pie & peas at Harry's Cafe de Wheels (something he has been looking forward to for about 4 months!). He was a good boy and didn't have the 'tiger' as we are now heading off for our last supper and if we can make it to Leichhardt (a.k.a Little Italy) we plan to treat ourselves to a nutella pizza Mmmm...

Other events sort of pale into insignificance but I'll do my best to recount them nonetheless. Saturday we went to explore Parramatta, in the rain. It's supposed to be one of the oldest settlements in Sydney with lots of old buildings but all I can really recall now is that it rained. All day. Apparently November had twice the amount of rain than normal here for this time of year (a third of that was in one night too!). Doh! But it's ok, don't feel too sorry for us cos on Sunday the sun came out in full force to bathe us in its glory once again. So we made the most of it. Headed down to Bronte for an early morning swim. Suppose it was more of a splash around in the waves really, seems a bit cheeky to call it a swim. Especially since we saw the final leg of the Bondi to Bronte ocean swim. Over 1800 competitors swam more than 2kms, in the sea. With a whale! (Forgot to mention that on Friday night we saw some beach surf life saving competition action, unfortunately, team GB didn't too very well despite our cheers.) Witnessing all these fit people doing all their fit stuff inspired us a little. Si mentioned something about us now having 9 months in which we could hone our bodies into their peak physical fitness but I'm not sure I could hold him to that (or want to!) However we did say that we will put more effort into our swimming, just need to buy some goggles first - swimming in the sea isn't easy! And maybe one of those nose plugs. Wonder if a wetsuit would be going a bit too far...

After our beach visit we headed into town to visit the Rocks market and walk across the Harbour bridge. I am working myself up to doing the bridge climb!

Saturday began with a very scrumptious 5 star breakfast after which we set off to see for ourselves if the famous mountains really are blue. It is certainly an impressive sight, comparable to the Grand Canyon, except more undulating. As for the blue, well the trees are green, and the rocks are red, but to be fair there is a blueish haze above the distant hills (due to the eucalyptus oil evaporating from the trees). Our hotel was right on the doorstep of the 3 sisters - an impressive bit of rock erosion that has resulted in 3 sticky up bits of rock close together. There is an interesting aboriginal dreamtime story to explain, something to do with caterpillars, witch doctors and 3 sisters (surprisingly enough!)

From there we walked along the cliff path to the Katoomba cascades, and down a lot of steps to the Katoomba falls. We then carried on descending further down into the valley until we got to the bottom of the 'world's steepest scenic railway'. Boy was it steep (45 degrees), with no safety belts either so you literally have to hold yourself from falling down the carriage! After a cliff top lunch we caught the skyway (cable car with glass bottom) across the valley back to where we started. Back at the hotel, we managed a quick swim in the hotel's heated outdoor pool before catching the sunset.
In the evening we got dressed up and strolled (pretty quickly as it was freezing!) across to the hotel's very fancy 'Darleys' restaurant. The food was amazing (I had oysters, snapper and chaflotis!) I could get used to this lifestyle!

On Sunday we were certainly feeling the effects of our wining and dining as well as all of the previous day's walking (achy calf muscles!) so we had a more relaxed day. Beginning with a swim, sauna and steam, followed by another glorious breakfast (eggs Benedictine was delicious). Retracing our steps back across the valley to catch the scenic railway down (the rollercoaster effect makes going down more fun) we had a mini bushwalk, and wandered around the rainforest boardwalk for a bit before getting a different cable car back up (somebody somewhere is making a lot of money from all these different forms of transport!)

All in all it was an amazing weekend and an amazing way to celebrate turning 30. I didn't want it to end and now I've got the Sunday night blues (which admittedly, I have not had for quite a while) at the thought of going back to our flat and getting up for work tomorrow (I've got a shift in the toddler room of a day care centre! Wish me luck!)

As for the weekend, our day of fun was spent in the Sydney Aquarium, full of all sorts of ugly fish, scary non-man eating sharks, and this odd duck-beaver thing called a platypus ;-). Seems to be we are making a habit of spending Sunday with aquatic animals! (Maybe it's so when we leave I can say so long, and thanks for all the fish!)

We are settling in quite nicely to the living in Sydney lark, even getting into a sort of routine of meeting up after work (sort of a requirement as there's only one set of keys! And the flat is so horrible that it is best to spend as little time there as possible!), and eating out a lot too - even getting favourite restaurants (kebab shop actually!). Well, we are on holiday really!

Then, the final few hours in the US were spent wandering along Santa Monica beach, with Dolphins surfing in the waves! (yes Mum/Helen, I know you've swum with them before! :-) )

This update is being written from a Burger King in LA airport, one I think I've been to before with Rich, our total fast food meals probably account for half the meals we've eaten, when in the US... :-)

Although it's not even been a full day since we arrived in the Grand Canyon, it's time to leave, as there is a very long road trip back to LA ahead. Lake Havasu was as far as we could make, new site of the old London Bridge, yes the world famous transaction in 1976 when America thought they were buying Tower Bridge (funnily, they didn't mention that), at a cost of 2.5 million to buy, and 4.5 million to shift the thing. It is a bit surreal seeing a piece of London in the US, especially in 111F heat - yes, that's hotter than Death Valley was...

Wildlife update for Helen: Turkey Vulture (it's almost a condor :-)), and a skunk - luckily with no smell!

Fortuitously, we arrived at Grand Canyon just before sunset, the red and brown colours created by the setting sun were amazing, even more so as we will be gone before the next sunset, makes you realise what a whistlestop tour this is!

In the end we decided to head off early to maximise the Vegas fun, and fun it is! The whole place is like one giant theme park for adults, starting off with a map of the hotel attractions when you check in! Every hotel has a large portion of the ground floor set aside for gambling, surprisingly mostly slot machines, with some as low as 1c bets. There are other things to see, like the lions in the MGM Grand, and the Coyote Ugly bar - barmaids on the bar pouring drinks into people's mouths (literally). Plenty more to explore tomorrow!

Back at the hotel, I had a bath and Si went out to forage for food, he came back with burgers from Jack in the box, I think he is adjusting to the American lifestyle a bit too well - they were all he could get, honest!! Ah well, think we earned them today. Heading back to Yosemite again tomorrow, hopefully for a more leisurely stroll. Might pop down to Mirror lake - Ranger Bob reckons we might see a bear there and apparently that would be a good thing!!

Simon's addendum - Driving an automatic is so easy, just stop and go pedals! On motorways there's also cruise control, so only need to steer. I liked it so much, I drove to the wrong motel, just to get some extra driving in! ;-)

So we arrived yesterday about 9pm our time and 2pm local time, and after being told to "go pick a car, any car" we stumbled our way to the hotel. I was very tired but we tried to stay awake and experience some of the sights before going to bed so that we could combat the jet lag and make the most of our holiday!! We went for a wee cruise in our very cool convertible cruiser. Si drove off without a plan and just over an hour later (!) we found ourselves accidentally in the Fisherman's wharf area. A very cool area - we caught a glimpse of the Golden Gate bridge (see the picture, it's there somewhere...) and Alcatraz on the way and were greeted by a piper after we had parked!! They really pull out the stops for you here!
We woke up very early this morning and made ourselves waffles for breakfast at 7am - Si managed to resist the burgers and didn't join the woman (American!?) who had her burgers on top of her waffle! We're off to explore the sights today - what to wear? We have already seen the San Fran fog (leave off the cisco if you want to annoy the locals... :-) ) and oh my the wind!!!

I'm all packed up and ready to go!! San Fransisco here we come! I wonder if i can convince Simon to carry some shoes for me! :-)

Who would have thought that booking 3 nights accommodation in a city as big as San Francisco would be so difficult! 3 painful hours on dial-up Internet later, no booking has been made...  It is of course my own fault as I want a cheap few nights, somewhere free to park, close to the centre of the city, oh and a swimming pool too!

Vegas on the other hand is a completely different story - fancy 4-star hotels for £40 a night, I'm there!