As I sat in the plane on the way to Auckland, New Zealand I thought about some of the innumerable experiences that I had been through since I had last left the Southern Hemisphere; travelled through Europe and Africa (well one country each which may be stretching it!), spent two semesters on exchange in Montreal at McGill University, travelled through Western Canada and the Rocky Mountains, San Fran, Yosemite National Park, LA, San Diego, Hawaii and now finally the last stage of my year away awaited me, one month in NZ with friends. As I sat on the plane I also thought about the slight loss of existence that occurs on flights west over the date line, I left Hawaii on June 24th 2007 at 11.55pm and arrived bright and early in Auckland at 7.30am on ... read more

Jumping on the plane to Maui from Oahu was the shortest flight of my life, no sooner had we climbed into the sky and reached cruising altitude than we began to descend. I think the flight was officially scheduled for just under half and hour. I was staying at a little hostel called the Banana Bungalow, it is not in the best area but it does run FREE tours everyday (repeated weekly) to different parts of the island, you only have to tip the driver at the end of the day. It is easily the cheapest way to see the island and by the time I left a few days later I wanted to stay so that I could do all of them. Haleakala Vocano Hike Beginning early on Saturday morning we all jumped into one ... read more

Los Angeles Arriving in LA I was glad to finally feel the warm after the chill of San Fran, finally it was shorts, t-shirt and thong (flip flops for all you non-aussies out there) weather! I was staying in a hostel in the Santa Monica area for the first couple of nights before moving in with my cousin, Anita, her postcode is 90210, now that's cool. We met up that first night and she took me to a couple of very swanky and very expensive places for a few drinks with some of her friends, a few drinks soon turned into many drinks and it was a memorable first night. Over the next few days I visited the Venice Beach area, home to lots of wild, wacky and wonderful characters, or many not. It wasn't particularly ... read more

Landing on the plane and looking out the window I was a little sceptical of San Francisco's reputation for being a hilly city, indeed millions of people must have just been having a winge about a few little hills. It was a day or two before I realised my mistake. It was a big one. After arriving at this really cool little place called the Adelaide Hostel I decided to go for a walk in the remaining light of the day, this inevitably turned into a massive trek as these things inevitably do. I walked along the main street towards the Embarcadero and the Old Pier's where the ferries used to ply their trade before the construction of the city's bridges. It was kind of pretty walking around a new city in the late afternoon sun ... read more