The Magic bus - North to South Island AUCKLAND-ROTAORUA Two night’s recovery and we are fighting fit again! A visit to the Base travel agent and a decision is made! With a bit of prompting we got a good discount on “The Magic Bus”, which is great as our other choice “Stray” did not go to the boulders down at Moeraki Which are more than 60 million years old. We jump on the Magic bus first thing in the morning, after a couple last night in the base bar (ladies night, so free drinks for Charlotte!) and the 15 dollar ½ [View Full Entry]

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New Zealand - The North Island They say that Great Britain and America are two great nations separated by one language; New Zealand should be added too. Pronunciation is the key, ‘I’ is pronounced ‘u’ and ‘e’ is pronounced ‘I’ once you’ve got your head round that the rest is easy. Except when place names should finish like Kaukapakapa, Tutukaka, Whangaruru and Haruru they seem to roll off the tongue and keep rolling. AUCKLAND We got a shuttle to LAX with a lovely girl, who was supposed to be on stand-by on out flight & staying at [View Full Entry]

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Well it feels like coming home! We start recognizing bits! Banana Bungalows are rocking! At least we can drink here and are actively encouraged to! A little wine, a bit of TV, and an early night. We are up for breakfast and getting some directions to the airport so we can drop the car back. A pretty straight run and we are at the airport, which is where the fun begins! We find the budget car return place but cannot for the life of us figure out how to drop the car off, no one is around so we drive around [View Full Entry]

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Well a long journey to the first lighthouse and a stop en route to get some supply’s , we have had enough of pasta chicken dinners, so get some minced beef for Bolognese, deodorant, they only have lady’s stick’s here, not spray’s! When I asked a lady about it she said it would be nice, so there is a marketing opportunity for the big companies out there! Also we had enough of paying for internet and as everywhere has free wifi (and everyone travels with a netbook), we decided that it would be cheaper to get our own! Good so far! [View Full Entry]

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Monday morning and we awake to another glorious day! How did we get so lucky! Up, shower, breakfast and off and away to find our car! We walked past the shop yesterday, so we know roughly where it is! A good 15-20 min walk downhill! We get there & guess what, they don’t take our pre-paid card, or my debit card, or Liam’s card without his driving licence! (what licence?) Liam offers to run (well, walk fast), back to the room to get my spare credit card, as he knows I will only slow him down! Whilst he is doing that [View Full Entry]

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Well to get to San Francisco we decided to take the cheapest flight with SouthWest Airlines, as recommended by Julia. To get here the time that we wanted we decided to take the flight via San Diego! Crazy I know but it worked out for us. Until that is we landed in San Diego ran to get the connection flight and were advised that it was delayed due to bad weather for at least 2 hours! We were not fazed by this and thought that it was par for the course & we had been lucky so far! But some people [View Full Entry]

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Viva Las Vegas! (Elvis not ZZ Top) Probably the most unusual stop on our tour as neither Charlotte or I are gamblers, This is not an environmentally friendly town judging by the amount of lights on our hotel let alone the rest of Las Vegas Boulevard. Good room in Circus Circus, on the 24th floor with a view of the mountains and downtown. We go in search for a spot of dinner, find THE Steak House (emphasis on the 'the'), we've died and gone to heaven! The 'THE' is well earned, the steak is cooked to perfection & the size of [View Full Entry]

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missing photos from L. A. finally got access to download from Liam's phone! [View Full Entry]

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The time has come to go on our little jaunt arond the world. 4 30 am is a bit harsh to be start, Thanks to my (Liam) Mum and Dad for putting us up for the night, and Mum for driving us to the station at that ungodly hour. We meeet up with our friend Eve and her daughter at Heathrow They e off o L. A. for three months with friends and enough luggage to clothe the whole of Russia. 11 hours, 3 movies, 2 meals, and 7 toilet trips later we arrive in L. A. through passport control Charlotte [View Full Entry]

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Finish work, get home, get changed, get in car and be driven to Kernow (Cornwall for the uninitiated). A bit of a test for this here bloggy type mabob, and how long a 6'5" man can be cooped up in tight spaces (plane seats, car seats, bunk beds, packing creates, jail cells), 4 1/2 hours door to door and I can still feel all my bodily particles, so 11 hrs to L.A. no sweat. William Blake was absolutely right when he said 'green and pleasant land' Crow's nest, (near Liskard) is beautiful 'her rolling fields, swooping swallows, and her playful sheep' [View Full Entry]

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