DebzandSam

We arrived in NZ May (hard to believe we have been here nearly 6 months already!) we have been in the new house 5 months and are 1/2 way to starting the next chapter.. or rather the next novel in the trilogy. Yep for those that haven't heard Debs pregnant with our first born. Something that certainly changes life or so I'm told. This will be the final blog as we really have finished the journey into our new life now. But first a few pictures that hopefully show why we moved the other side of the world and traded in great jobs with great friends for life in NZ. The coast line of NZ really is stunning. The place is a natural paradise with all the things that one could want for a wholesome life. ... read more

After a ten hour flight we arrived back at London Heathrow, my lovely Dad picked us up and we arrived at my mums for a delicious home cooked meal….. London was a struggle as we only had 2 weeks and lots of people to say bye to. We had our leaving drinks at a great old pub in Belsize Park, It was great to see everyone at our leaving drinks, we started at about 2pm and continued to drink through till about midnight, it was so lovely to see everyone, we really missed our friends while we travelled and will continue to miss you all from NZ. Most people were tipsy by the time we left including myself… We were happy and sad at the same time, as we had such a fun day but were ... read more

As ever driving into places with the Tomtom is about as easy as it gets. We came into Gigs harbour across the famous Tacoma Narrows (site of the Galloping Gertie, or first bridge to self destruct due to resonance see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw). As we arrived into Gigs Harbour we were taken aback by it's beauty. Gigs Harbour is a gorgeous little town about 1 hour outside down-town Seattle. With a great view down the harbour to Mt Rainier which we took some really cool pics of. Denise parents were super cool and very welcoming, their house was huge and really homely (Sam however was most impressed by Denise's dads 52' plasma!) We had a great family home cooked meal the first night (which was most welcomed as we got a very tired of eating crappy diner food ... read more

After Yosemite we drove straight to San Fran arriving Tuesday around 1pm, we checked into our hotel in the china town area and headed straight out into town as we wanted to make the most of our 3 days there!!! With Sam in tow I made a beeline straight to Wholefoods which is now officially my most favourite store in the world and after getting some energy we bought ourselves a 3 day pass for the Municipal transport in the city. Which was quite reasonable actually, only $18 and provided full access to every part of town and the Golden Gate Bridge. Our first stop was North Beach/Telegraph Hill area which according to the guide book was a cool arty area with some nice shops. We rated it only as an average with just a few ... read more

So much is said about this place but the reality is in the name.. there is not much there as everything there is dead!.. We drove through Death Valley in a Day and marvelled at the barrenness of the landscape. It really is what you might imagine Mars to be like.. The best way to describe it is in photo's so this writing will be minimal. The highlight was my deepest decent below sea level with or without Scuba. There is a place in Death Valley called Bad water because the spring is salty that is 282 feet or 85.5m below sea level and that is the deepest I've been! On the way out of Death Valley we stopped briefly by Mojave and saw a multitude of mothballed planes. Sadly you couldn't get very close for ... read more

Road Trip! So the drive from Vancouver to Moab took 21hours in the end, we had a great drive but it was quite long… Once we headed out of Seattle we had views of beautiful snow topped mountain ranges. Then we got to Idaho the roads looked similar to that which I have seen in films (Thelma and Louise springs to mind) long straight roads, dry flat lands and lots of diners! Salt Lake City looked cool, though we only briefly stopped there to pick up our friend Pauline from the airport who was my roomie in India, she is hanging with us for 2 weeks. So we eventually made it to Moab and what a treat! Fantastic place, firstly its hot and sunny and secondly it’s a really pretty and happening town.. We have a ... read more