Jason
After leaving Robbie behind we cruised through Surfers Paradise, imagine Benidorm with a decent beach, to Byron Bay, a lovely little town, where I learnt to Surf. It was so cool, i managed to stand up on my first attempt and for several after as the instructor was pushing the board as the wave came but as soon as he introduced paddling it was wipe out central for the next 30 mins!! By the end though i had got back on my feet and even managed to ride a wave all the way to the beach. We also met a couple travelling in a camper van round Oz for their 50th wedding anniversary!! After leaving we went though the Blue Mountains which were even more stunning as there had recently been a huge bush fire though them. We had our Christmas party at a local RSL club (a working mans type club) which had really cheap beer and we found a huge tv screen showing football so we watched 2 matches back to back! We had 2 weeks in Sydney for Christmas and New Year. We had a great Christmas and even bought pressies for each other, just a $20 budget each, Vicki really liked the dartboard that I bought her! We had them wrapped in TV guide and placed under our Christmas tree!! We had the traditional steak BBQ for Christmas lunch before watching The Santa Clause 3 at the cinema then heading for the customary photo on Bondi beach in our Santa hats. We spent New Years eve on a cliff top at Watsons Bay, which had a great panoramic view of the Opera House and Bridge. We arrived at 10am loaded with chairs and a eski full of beer and food. We had been told that you needed to reserve your spot early but we were the only ones there, it turned out that here was a local secret and people were still turning up at 11.50pm and still got a great view. We did hear that it was chaos in the city centre parks though! The fireworks were amazing, and well worth the wait and had a great day chilling and chatting to the locals, when they turned up! We spent a very hung over New Years day talking to a great couple we met from London who are on the same style trip, but their backpacks are half the size of ours!! It turns out they're loaded and buying stuff as they go along and then sending it home! Oh to have money!
We did get to see both the Bridge and Opera house close up which are both fantastic, and we had to buy the obligatory Didgeridoo and Boomerang. You have to, its the law!
Vicki - Off to Hawaii next for two weeks of relaxing.....it's hard work travelling for a living! The plan was to chill on the beach but that went pear shaped on day one when I opened the door on my foot and ripped my big toenail off. Surprisingly it didn't hurt at the time, although I did nearly pass out when I actually looked at it as I didn't realise what I had done, not a pretty sight and neither was the doctors bill, thank goodness for insurance. After a couple of days hobbling around it wasn't too bad. We did have to spend a few days to aid my recovery in the pubs which had great Happy Hours (well Happy Day really as you could move from bar to bar and find a full day and night of Happy Hours). We took a bus to Diamond Head which had spectacular views and to Koko Crater to walk around the Botanical Gardens. Pearl Harbour was interesting and very well done. We especially liked walking around on a submarine, the USS Bowfin that was really cool. The surfers on the North Shore were incredible, we watched them doing 360 degree turns and all sorts, the waves were enormous.
San Francisco next to see the sea lions at Fishermans Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge. We rode the cable cars stood up on the outside up and down the steep streets, it's just like in the movies!! Alcatraz was fascinating and we got great views of the city on the boat ride over.
We also took a trip to Yosemite where we saw stunning scenery, wild deer, frozen waterfalls and luckily no bears!
Off to Hollywood, we were greeted by smog as we drove from the airport. We were staying just off the Avenue of Stars which was more like the Avenue of hookers and not the nice ones like in Pretty Woman! We did get to see a premiere and the red carpet however it was an Armenian film so we didn't know who anyone was and there were no A list stars there (the week before was the premiere of Smokin Aces and Ben Affleck was there). We took a trip to Santa Monica Beach and walked along the pier & Venice Beach which was full of every conceivable wack job and not at all like in the movies apart from all the rollerbladers. We completed our Disney World tour and went to Disneyland and Disney California, so we now have the full set......... until they build another one. I really enjoyed Universal Studios as you got to see the set of Desperate Housewives. We took the customary limo ride in a Hummer down Sunset Strip and Jason tried riding the mechanical Bull which resulted in a broken watch and luckily nothing else. Oddly enough the women with big boobs, tight tops and no bras were VERY popular. We wandered around the homes of the stars in Bel Air and Beverley Hills and Jason got his photo taken outside the gates of the Playboy mansion. We strolled down Rodeo Drive (which was smaller than I had expected) and looked in the windows of the posh shops (we didn't think we would be allowed in with our backpacker attire!) and saw the Beverley Wiltshire hotel.
We spent a few nights in San Diego which was beautiful, the complete opposite of LA. The Zoo was superb and Seaworld was also amazing. We saw Shamu, we touched a shark and went behind the scenes to feed walruses and seals and to see the polar bears and the high tech security they have for their enclosure. We got to get up close to a polar bear in his cage, they look totally different to when they are behind glass in the enclosure, you really got a sense of their power! The highlight was the 45 mins we spent just the two of us and the trainer in the water with three Beluga whales, the largest weighed 2,000 pounds. They were incredible, so friendly and gentle, we got to do some tricks with them, they even kissed us on the cheek. To quote the Americans "It was awesome".
Jason
It was a bumpy cross country flight to Washington DC next, and time to buy some winter clothes as the temperature has dropped considerably! The Smithsonian museums are fantastic ( and free) and we got to see loads of historical stuff including an Apollo moon landing craft (the conspiracy theorists may be right on this one, it looks like Blue Peter may have built it!) , the first light bulb, Abe Lincolns hat and Kermit! We went up the Washington monument, which has great views over the city, went in the Capitol building and the Lincoln Memorial. We also got to see the Declaration of Independence, which we didn't know was based on the British Magna Carta which is also on display (again all free). Oh and we did see the smaller than expected White House, we were stopping a few blocks from it. One of the best museums was the International Spy museum which is full of all the history of spying and has some great gadgets on display. Its a nice place Washington and there is a lot to see here.
We then flew to Chicago where the temperature dropped again, to about -6 c. We had great 30 mile views over the city from the top of the Sears tower the tallest building in the States and 3rd in the world. Some of the architecture is amazing and the Wrigley building and Tribune building are fantastic. We also went to the Chicago Auto show, America's largest, which had some fantastic motors on display. The concept cars are amazing and look awesome. We also got to sit in a lot of cars that we will never own. (its a reliant robin for each of us when we get home! ) The Dodge Viper stole my heart though! Its annoying that the cars are half the price that we would pay in the UK.
Next we flew to Anchorage in Alaska which surprisingly was warmer than Chicago! Although the thermals still came in handy. Its a very spread out city and everything was closed for the winter but its a beautiful place, and everyone still seemed to have their Christmas decorations up! We took a 10 mile stroll along the coastal trail which had stunning views over the semi frozen ocean. We decided to catch a flight up to Fairbanks for a week in a little 18 seat propeller plane. The views over the Alaska range were amazing. Its REALLY cold here, with averages of about -20 during the day and -35 at night! We managed to see the Northern lights 3 nights in a row,which were amazing green hues across the sky, you have to put in the time to get the rewards, we took turns looking outside from 8.30pm till 2am every night. We took a walk to the museum one day and along with Vicki's glasses freezing we both had frost on our eyebrows and icicles on our eye lashes!!! We also visited the Ice sculpture park which was preparing for the 2007 championships, it had some stunning works though already completed. We took a trip up to the Arctic circle which had some stunning unusual scenery along the way, the place where you cross the line has a large sign which is really bizarre. We also visited Chena Hot springs which were great fun as while in the water we wet our hair, held it out, and it froze in position in about 1 minute which gave us an insight into how our hair will look when we are 60 as it just frosted over totally white! The people are incredibly friendly, the visitors centre arranged for a local guy to gave us a lift to the springs, its a 120 mile round trip and he even stopped for us to take photo's of wild Moose along the side of the road! We got to see the end of the 2007 Yukon Quest, a 1000 mile dog mushing race. On our last day we went Dog Mushing in -35c which was fantastic fun and after being driven round they let us take the dogs out alone stood on the runners although typically Vicki managed to fall off twice! The cold weather finally caught up with us when we flew back to Anchorage and we both came down with colds! Just in time for us to relax for four nights on the ferry down the Inside Passage to Prince Rupert in Canada. The views along the way were amazing and the ferry takes the same route as the really expensive cruise ships. Vicki was on deck taking photo's one day in 65 knot winds and the Captain saw her and took pity on her and invited us both up to the bridge which was great. The funniest thing was the words Left and Right placed above the front window!! The ship holds 745 people and there were only 23 passengers on board, it was like a ghost ship, there were twice as many crew as passengers and we were definitely the only tourists. We also saw a few Orca whales swimming along but too fast to get a photo. Alaska is a magical place, really friendly people and we put it right up there with New Zealand!
Vicki
We took a 16 hour bus ride from Prince Rupert to Jasper, I managed to read a whole John Grisham book. Jasper is a really small quiet village, winter is actually low season as it is far more popular in summers with hikers. It is nestled in the mountains, real picture postcard stuff and only one KFC/Pizza Hut which you wouldn't know was there as there is no garish sign outside. We decided to give snowboarding a try and try we did but I didn't appreciate that you need to use your knees to get yourself up from a sitting position which I can't do anyway never mind with a board strapped to both feet at the top of a slippery slope! The instructor was really nice though and basically pulled me up each time, I even made it down the hill a couple of times alone (although I did fall off the magic carpet on my first attempt which was rather embarrassing). The hard bit was looking straight ahead as you went down the hill and not at the board as it really throws you off balance. Jason picked it up much quicker and so after lunch I just took some pictures, as without the instructor to pull me up I couldn't really do anything else! The next day we were both so bruised and battered we could barely walk but it was worth it just to have a go.
We are now in Banff, which is a bigger version of Jasper, just as pretty in a great setting but with more shops and restaurants and three ski resorts close by. We decided to try skiing next which we were told should be much easier to pick up. We went to Lake Louise for an all day lesson and things were going OK, Jason picked it straight up and was off to the top of the hill while I was still getting the hang of stopping. I soon learned how important it was to master this before trying to go down the steeper slopes.
Jason
Sorry but I really need to explain this bit. Imagine if you will a blur of speed as a mysterious shape whizzes past you missing the fallen snowboarders fingers by inches not turning left not turning right but straight on and on and on and on. Imagine the instructor and I looking at each other in a "she'll stop in a minute" kind of way then looking back towards the blur still heading on down the slope towards the approaching fence! The next thing I knew Vicki had made contact with said fence (luckily a flexible mesh fence) , ski's came off and Vicki managed to go straight over the fence just missing the metal bars the other side and came to a stop in a heap on the floor. The next minute or so went very slowly as I stood at the top of the hill and watched people rush to help her wondering to myself how many bones she had managed to break! and being pleased we added the Ski option to the insurance. Miraculously she was unhurt save for a few bruises and she got back on her ski's.........to do it all over again 5 minutes later but this time someone stopped her before she hit the fence again!!
Vicki
It was a good time to break for lunch and head for the bar. I tried to get some extra practice in before the afternoon session started but just couldn't quite get my confidence back and thought it might be third time unlucky. The rest of the group had progressed to the T-bar with a much longer and steeper slope so I decided to call it a day and became the official photographer for the group. I nearly got crash of the day except that a lady came hurtling down the hill straight into the bench that I was sat on, she was also OK, I seem to attract disaster! Jason has just told me to put that he seems to be a natural at skiing, to be fair he was and it was just a shame that I wasn't.
We had a great meal last night in a fondue restaurant, Cheese fondue followed by your choice of meats that we cooked at the table ourselves on hot rocks. We had beef, chicken, ostrich, buffalo, venison, frogs legs, alligator, shark and rattlesnake with chocolate fondue for dessert. It was fantastic, we were there for 3 hours, hands down the best meal we have had (although we are desperately missing traditional English food).
