Victoria and Mike

San Francisco was instantly likable. We have found that with many of the cities we have been too, the opinion we form on what we see initially is generally the lasting one. Our route into the city took us over the Golden Gate Bridge, which we would explore in more detail later. The bridge sits at the entrance of the bay area, a natural harbour that is the largest on the West Coast. The city looked beautiful from this distance, bathing in the afternoon Californian sun, creating a bright symphony of colour combining orange, blue and white. The days of our rifling through our coupon booklet for motels and doing daily rounds of the best choices were over for now. The motel network is enormous and reaches every remote corner of the country with great value ... read more

With the bright lights firmly in the rear-view mirror, we left Vegas and made our way east on a road-trip that would take us through 4 of the United States south-western states. The first area we headed to was perhaps one of the greatest engineering accomplishments of the 20th century - the Hoover Dam. The dam keeps back the man-made Lake Mead. The road to Hoover Dam gets quite congested as the main highway actually runs over the dam itself. It marks the state line between Nevada and Arizona, straddling the Black Canyon. A new fly-over bridge is in the process of being built, meaning the dam will only really cater for tourist traffic in the near future. The dam itself is an enormous wall of concrete. No surprises there. It is bonded to either side ... read more

We fumbled our way out of LAX jet lagged after jumping back 21 hours flying in from Auckland. Our only problem at the airport was Victoria being pulled aside and asked a few routine questions. This ended up in a misunderstanding that resulted in a customs official searching for me with the false knowledge that I had $15,000 cash on me! (which is an illegal amount to be bringing into the country). The dozy customs officer didn't realise that the money was actually in a bank account being reduced to nothing because of the lousy exchange rate. She didn't think to ask where the money was or seek any clarification before beginning her crusade to track me down. Anyway, we escaped her and rode the shuttle into the city and to our hotel, which was located ... read more

We approached Queenstown from Lake Wakatipu and followed it round to the town. Queenstown is a busy town with an alpine lodge feel and is the undisputed adventure sport capital of New Zealand. The town is situated in a beautiful location surrounded by large mountains on each side with lakes, canyons and rivers all in the vicinity. The surrounding buildings are made of a combination of wood and stone with clear evidence of further expansion planned. As a result the area is a busy hive of activity with camper vans lining the car parks and thrill-seekers in search of satisfaction. For the thrill-seekers there are a host of options to choose from such as the conventional bungy jumping, jet boating or white water rafting to such oddities as canyoning and zorbing. The bungy was actually invented ... read more

The flight into Sydney from Brisbane was wonderfully scenic. We flew over the city, which gave us a birds eye view of the beautiful harbour area including Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, before swinging back in to land. We have both long been looking forward to Sydney - Australia's famous 'world' city. It is a place renowned for its awesome weather, sights and history. Our hotel was conveniently located just outside the CBD (Central Business District) area and 5 minutes from where our train from the airport stopped. The trains were double-decker semi-subterranean trains, which was instantly likable. Our first day was committed to wandering the central area and taking in the main sights in the blissfully fine weather. How nice it was to go for a delightful amble in the city and not ... read more