Let's go to San Francisco!

As I am writing this, we are sat in Jon and Ellen's apartment overlooking the Bay and Alcatraz. If you stand on the balcony and look to the left, you can see the 'crookedest street', which goes up one of the many hills on Lombard. San Francisco and California has been really great.

We were a little excited as we landed at LAX, because we were certain we'd see loads of famous people instantly. Turns out most people in LA are pretty normal!! Once we'd got over our disappointment, we picked up our upgraded hire car and went cruising around LA. After getting a bit lost and confusing the left and right lanes a little, we finally managed to get to Hollywood. We drove down Santa Monica, Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards and past Rodeo Drive (very exciting). We even managed to see the walk of fame and the Hollywood sign.

We headed up to Santa Barbara that evening and watched the sun go down while eating clam chowder in a bread bowl. Tasty. We were pretty tired after the flight, so made sure we got an early night before our long drive up to San Francisco. We decided to take the scenic route up the coast, the Big Sur.

We'd been looking forward to getting to San Francisco, not only because we've been staying with Jon and Ellen, friends from Hoddesdon who moved here a year ago, but also because Kate's Mum and Dad (Chris and Jean) were in town on holiday. We had a great few days sightseeing with them around the city - and some great evenings out too! The best was probably cocktails at 'Top of the Mark', a fancy hotel bar with panoramic views of the city.

Kate and Jean's favourite were the sealions on Fisherman's Wharf (we went to see them three times). Chris and I were much more impressed by the Golden Gate Bridge which was just as cool as I'd hoped. Ellen provided us with some excellent itineraries for a tour of the city and helped us use every type of city transport - cable cars, street cars and a few buses with insane/entertaining drivers.

Alcatraz was pretty interesting to visit, with a cracking audio tour (we really are geeky tourists). Although bumping into the Beckhams was the highlight... don't think they fully appreciated the prison - they weren't using the audio tour.

Last weekend we went up to the Russian River for a day's kayaking. It was all downstream, but there were a few tricky rapids - Jon and I were much better than Kate and Ellen... although it was also us who ached the most for the next two days! Kate claims it's better technique... we say she didn't work hard enough. We relaxed a little the next day, with a tour of the coast which included visiting a winery for champagne tasting.

If that wasn't enough, we've just got back from a couple of days in Yosemite National Park. It's an amazing place with spectacular scenery. The local bears have been known to rip doors off tourists cars while looking for food, so to visit the park you have to sign a declaration that you are "Bear Aware"! We were, but didn't see any. More appropriate would have been "Squirrel Aware" - the pesky blighters team up to steal your pickernick basket. We took a day hike up the valley to a couple of stunning waterfalls and, as usual, took far too many photos!

Yesterday was dedicated to shopping, and spending the last of our budget on shoes and clothes - no, not presents. Ellen cooked us a great Mexican meal last night, and Jon introduced us to Guitar Hero on the Wii... we rock!

San Francisco has been great. It's the first place we've been where we feel we could live (don't worry mum!) - however, that may be down to Jon and Ellen making us feel so comfortable!

It's been a great finale to our vacation(!) - just time for one more trip to the sealions before our flight this afternoon. Quite looking forward to coming home... the weather better be good.

Cook Islands Time

The Cook Islands were great! Pretty much what you'd expect a South Pacific island paradise to be like, only a bit wetter and windier.


We arrived in Rarotonga airport, and were greeted by a guy playing a ukulele. Everyone staying in the fancy resorts were given a flower ei (necklace) - we didn't, but got some cheap rum in the duty free shop instead. The first guesthouse we stayed in was completely empty except for us, and was a little run down. The family who owned it was very friendly: invited us to church and to join them for Sunday dinner. We declined, as we'd only just arrived and were shattered, but they left us some food in the fridge.

We moved on to another guesthouse after a couple of days, which was great. Much busier - although we did have to share our rum! Our first week in Rarotonga was pretty dull and rainy, but we managed to do loads of snorkeling, which was great. We saw trigger fish, butterfly fish, puffer fish and big blue star fish. We managed to get to an Island Night too, where there was drum music and ladies wearing grass skirts and coconuts and wiggling their hips! Most importantly I spent a good few hours reading on a hammock.

We hired a kayak for a day, figured that since the lagoon was so sheltered from the waves it'd be easy... well, it was easy one way - but the current was so strong coming back that we couldn't move forward! The water was only knee deep, so had to get out and drag the kayak (with Kate in it) back to calmer water. Oh, and we got stuck in the middle of a sailing race too... oops!

After a week in there, we took a flight to Aitutaki (another island within the Cooks). Aitutaki is really beautiful and is surrounded by a huge lagoon dotted with tiny uninhabited islands. We managed to get a beachfront bungalow here, which had stunning views of the lagoon. It was so stunning that we barely left the beach and balcony and chilled out for most of the week eating coconuts and paw paws.

I did a couple of cool dives and saw some huge white tipped reef sharks and a massive moray eel. I didn't see any turtles though, but we did spot them on a lagoon cruise that took us to some amazing sand banks in the lagoon.

We'd planned to do the cross island walk when we got back to Rarotonga before flying to LA, but the hammock was much more inviting than a 4 hour hike. Then it was back to the airport, to see the guy playing the ukulele while we waited for our flight to LA.

We've been so chilled, we're getting behind in our blogs. We're in San Francisco now, having a great time sightseeing, shopping, eating and celebrity spotting... more on that later!

Geology in the North Island

After Fox Glacier, we had a couple of days steady drive to Picton for the ferry crossing to the North Island. Stopped off in a few places along the way including Pancake Rocks (rocks that look like pancakes) and a seal colony. We expected to see 3 seals at most, but there were over 100 and even some pups playing with each other on the rocks!

We didn't hang about in Wellington, looked nice, but you had to pay to park, so we went straight north towards Tongariro National Park. We were hoping to do a day trek across the volcanoes - including Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings! Unfortunately the weather wasn't great on the peaks - snowy, cloudy and cold, so we couldn't go. Instead we went on a couple of really nice shorter walks in the volcanic valleys, around lava flows and rock falls. Speaking of falls... I did, and ripped my trousers - dangerous things these volcanoes.

I'm slowly turning Kate into a bit of a geologist, and after glaciers and volcanoes we moved onto the geothermal areas of Taupo and Rotorua. These places are weird! You see steam coming out of the ground all over the place and pools of bubbling mud! Our campsite in Rotorua was geothermally heated and had a hot spa and steam oven. We tried cooking our mussels in the steam oven, but it took too long, so had to do them on the hob! (a kilo of huge green mussels -for a quid!). Wasn't all geeky though - we spent a day racing luges down the hill and terrifying ourselves on the Sky Swing (bungee swing on a hill over Rotorua)! We even saw some Kiwi birds in the wildlife park. (oh - Kiwi fruit, 20p a kilo - who knew they came from New Zealand?)

Our last couple of days in the van were spent cruising around the Coromandel Peninsula. Wonderful coastline with big green hills and windy roads. We visited Hot Water Beach and tried to dig our own hot pool - didn't quite work, as we missed the tide... but if you buried your feet in the sand under the water, you could feel the hot spring water! Pretty cool!

We were both a bit sad to return the campervan, we had a great time and is strange to have had the same accommodation for so long! Auckland has been cool - we've seen more volcanoes and climbed the biggest. Also saw a Maori Cultural Show at the museum, where they did the Haka. Another box ticked for NZ.

We're off to the Cook Islands this afternoon, and we'll arrive yesterday... this dateline thing is very confusing.

Kiwi Campervanning

I thought I had better write this blog to prove to John that I am, in fact, still alive and well! That is despite all the crazy things Paul has been getting me into in New Zealand.

New Zealand is really beautiful, but also really cold! It's Autumn here and all the trees are golden and red, which is nice. It's pretty chilly in our camper van, though. We have a little electric heater, two quilts and a box of beer to keep us warm, though. It's really nice having the freedom to go where we want when we want. It's also great not to be in dorms for a while, too. Not so nice when I'm desperate for the toilet at 4am, though!

We started off in Christchurch, which is very pretty annd reminded us a lot of home - little old churches, cathedrals and Olde Worlde trams. From there we headed to Lake Tekapo, where you could see millions of stars at night. We even saw a shooting star! The views over the lake of the mountains were also stunning, and also very sheep filled!

Next stop was Oamaru, because I really wanted to see penguins. We saw Yellow-eyed and Small Blue penguins coming in from the sea to roost. Penguins have such big pink feet! They are very cute and really noisy! We saw a really lazy fur seal, too, who pretty much flopped on the beach and waited for the tide to come get him. Must have been a male - couldn't be bothered to walk to the sea!

Queenstown was good fun. We watched bungee jumpers, which was more than close enough for me. Paul said he would have done it if it wasn't so expensive!! We really wanted to go canyoning or white water rafting, but it's not the right season for them, so we ended up going river surfing! This involves riding through white water rapids on a body board! It seemed like a great idea until we got up that morning and it was freezing! We had ridiculously thick wetsuits, though, so stayed pretty warm although the water was 9 degrees. It was great fun, although neither of us can really say we surfed! It was more like clinging on and hoping for the best! As part of the package, we were taken to a hot pool place after, which was much more luxurious and meant we could both feel our toes again by the time we got back to the van!

After Queenstown we went to Wanaka and did a beautiful walk up a big hill/small mountain (?), which had great views of Lake Wanaka and more snow capped mountains. I don't think I could ever get tired of views like that, which is good, because they are everywhere we go!

The best bit so far was yesterday when we went for a day's guided walk on the Fox Glacier (of the mint fame!). We had to wear crampons, which was great, because it meant I had no chance of falling over! The glacier was stunning, with ice caves, tunnels and crevasses. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. It was like another world. I was really sad to leave. We rounded off the day by going to see some glow worms in the local woods, which was also magical (if a bit dark and scary!)

We have a few more days in the south before heading to the North Island. We're really looking forward to the volcanoes!

Sharks and Surfers in Sydney

Much less smelly now! Found our way to a much nicer hostel and spent two nights as the only people in a six bed dorm. Our company for the other night was a crazy, drunk american girl and her unfortunate friends - she decided she was leaving at 2am, which kept us amused in our bunk beds!

Where to start with Sydney? It's a great city! We started off in Darling Harbour at the Aquarium - really cool, with underwater paths through the seals and sharks, and a huge coral reef. Even saw a platypus - I didn't think they were real! The harbour itself was really nice, with cool bars and restaurant. Too expensive for us though, so we headed back to the hostel bar for happy hour.

We spent the next day taking photos of the Opera House! Took far too many, but you can't help yourself. We got great views of both the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge from the Botanical Gardens, home to hundreds of fruit bats and almost as many joggers (running up and down stairs over and over again... crazy!). Had a look inside the foyer and, just for a laugh, asked how much tickets were to the evening's ballet. We were lucky on two counts: we could afford a ticket and there was no dress code! It was my first (Kate's second) ballet, and we both really enjoyed it. It wasn't a traditional show, but a tribute to the guy who choreographed West Side Story. Interesting and funny - really great.

On our last day in Australia we walked from Coogee to Bondi Beach, the cliffs and bays along the coastline were beautiful. Bondi was oddly familiar, felt very much like a British seaside town - except for the weather, although it wasn't that warm - the surfers were all in wetsuits. We sunbathed a bit, and Kate had a bit of a paddle in the Pacific (that's paddle, not piddle - I hope!).

We arrived in New Zealand yesterday, and are staying in Christchurch on the South Island. It's already very different to Australia: autumn here is cold, and the leaves are falling. The red and gold trees look really pretty. It's even more like being at home here - cathedrals, oak trees and mallards. We're picking up the campervan in the morning, and then we hit the road! Woo hoo!

Western Australia

We've just spent a week in Western Australia, which has been very different to all our time in Asia. It came as a bit of a shock! Especially as we spent most of it with Kate's family, who looked after us amazingly well, even feeding us oysters and champagne - we're not used to such luxury!

The morning after we arrived we were taken out waterskiing. Kate was great at it and managed to stand up for ages, but I didn't. Think it's harder when you're tall... I did much better at the doughnuts and only fell off once. Kate didn't fall off at all - of course.

After a couple of days exploring Perth with Kate's Uncle Ian, we hired a car and headed south to Margaret River, the big wine growing area. We went on a great 'Bushtucker' wine tour, which involved Kate getting a little tipsy and me eating a wichity grub (delicious - tastes like peanut butter, looked horrible). While down in the south west, we also went to a beautiful cave and to the forests of giant karri and tingle trees. There was a really cool, but very wobbly, tree top walk. Next stop was Albany and the incredible coastline with natural blowholes and bridges.

We did well spotting Australian wildlife: kangaroos, emus, possums, kookaburras, and we cheated a little by seeing koalas, wombats and dingos at Cahuna Wildlife Park back in Perth. The place was a little run down, but the kangaroos and wallabys were very tame, so you could hand feed them which was fun.

While in Perth, we also managed to get to Scarborough and Cottesloe beaches to watch the surfers and eat fish and chips (different over here, they use snapper - yum!).

Our last couple of days in the west were spent on Rottnest Island. It's a beautiful place, with great beaches and bays. The weather was wonderful so were able to snorkel. It was a bit chilly, but there were loads of fish. While I was scuba diving, Kate saw a dolphin - I'm not jealous though, the underwater caverns were cool! Loads more wildlife here too: ospreys, oystercatchers, snakes, lizards, quokkas (they're not rats, they're not kangaroos!) and a huge sting ray.

We were really sad to leave Ian and Jenny yesterday as we had such a great time with them. Was even worse when we arrived at our accomodation in Sydney at midnight last night. We've already checked out, and are off to find somewhere a little less smelly!

Beijing and the Great Wall

After Xian, we visited Pingyao, an ancient walled city. I spent most of our time there in bed with a cold, but Kate told me it was pretty nice - lots of old buildings. Not too much to do there though, so we quickly moved onto Datong. Not the most charming of cities, but just out of town there are some caves with Buddhist carvings. They were incredible, thousands of buddhas all over the walls - did wonders for our giant stone buddha count!

Beijing has been cool, once it stopped raining. We tried not to get beaten by the weather, but lost after getting drenched at a market, and came back to the hostel and watched DVDs for the day. We treated ourselves that evening with a Peking Duck feast. Delicious, one of the best meals we're had in Asia, but ate far too much!

We've done lots of touristy stuff: the Forbidden City, Tiannamen Square (although we didn't see Mao), but the highlight was the Olympic Stadium. We could only see it from across a busy road, but it was very cool. To console ourselves for not being able to see the games, we've bought loads of Olympic souvenirs instead. The mascots are great!

Speaking of great... The Great Wall of China really was great. We were on a trip organised by our hostel to the 'Secret Wall' - a stretch of unrestored wall which no other tour groups go to. It was spectacular with incredible views, there really was no one else there! It was very windy on top of the wall, and with some sections being really ruined it was a bit scary at times. Lots of fun though.

We're off to the airport shortly for our flight to Perth. Our four months in Asia has gone really quickly, but it's been amazing. Will miss the chopsticks and the cheap beer, but not the squat toilets!