I start with my husband in Thailand, we then move on to Hong Kong. Following Hong Kong I go to New Zealand for 5 weeks. We will then be in America for a 2 week trip visiting San fran, Yosemite, Vegas and Washington before returning home at the beginning of May.
Hi, Washington is the last installment of our trip (i'm now at home in not so sunny England). However, before I got home we spent two nights in sunny and very warm Washington DC, which was no where near enough time to see what DC had to offer. We caught the sightseeing bus and went around the whole route before seeing the white house and visiting the Capitol building. We then split up and rob went to the Air and Space Museum and I visited the Holocaust museum which was verty interesting and emotive. Our second day we chose to go to the Native American museum which was also interesting. We then headed to the airport for our flight back. Ending the trip.... read more
We arrived in Las Vegas Saturday for the first couple of nights we stayed at the Bellagio. On Arrival we booked tickets to see Viva Elvis at the Aria - great show - I personally really enjoyed it but then I like Elvis :) Sunday we wandered around Vegas got some information and booked a hire car for Monday and Tuesday for a day trip to Death Valley. So Monday: We picked the car up (a 4x4) and headed out to red rock mountain where we did a scenic drive getting out to look at lots of rocks. Heading back to vegas we stopped off at the outlet centre where I did some shopping :) We then checked in at the Venetian where we are spending the last few days in Vegas. We also went to ... read more
Although we are now not doing our intended trip in America we booked a day trip from San Francisco to Yosemite which meant on Friday we got up very early for our pickup. As we entered the park there was lots of snow on the high ground very picturesque. Was a very long day took about 5 hours to drive to the park (I slept nearly all the way) when we arrived we drove to Yosemite Valley and had just over 3 hours to do our own thing. We headed for Yosemite falls and wandered around the valley we saw deer grazing. Headed for the village before back to our pickup point. ... read more
Tuesday in San Francisco I decided after speaking to rob in the UK (who was stuck due to the volcano) that I didn't want to travel to yosemite on my own mainly due to a number of passes being closed and that I would stay in San Francisco till Saturday then move on to Vegas :) So I extended the hotel and headed out to Market via union square, i mooched around the shops a little then got the tram to fisherman's wharf. Love riding the trams :) Wednesday bought good news as the airspace over UK is open and Rob managed to get a flight out wednesday afternoon. While waiting for Rob I again got the tram to fishermans wharf and visited Alcatraz. The audio guide of the prison block is very good telling you ... read more
After leaving Morro Bay on the way to San Francisco I headed up the coastal road stopping off at a spot to view elephant seals sleeping on the beach. While watching the seals I could see whales out to sea :) also so a number of pelicans flying up the coast. Weather was lovely and sunny :) Dropped hire car off at airport and headed into town on shuttle. My first full day in San Francisco I walked to the golden gate bridge before heading to pier 39 to see the seals sleeping ... read more
So I arrived in LA at 6 in the morning for my second Sat 17 April although the plane did have to wait for customs to open before we were able to disembark. Found hertz and picked up the hire car rob had booked for me fortunately the roads were really quiet so I had plenty of space to figure out how to drive an automatic and drive on the wrong side of the road ;) Spent most of the day (did have a little sleep in the car) driving from LA to Morro Bay some of which I did on the coast road and some on the inland road (where the sat nav took me!!) Arrived in Morro Bay had a little sleep again and then headed out to the waterfront to watch the sun ... read more
My last full day in New Zealand I drove from Paihia down to Auckland dropping the car off at the airport and heading into town on the shuttle bus. Ended up arriving in Auckland around 3.30 so went for a walk down to the harbour then back up through Queen Street - lots of shops saw the Sky Tower. My first saturday I left Auckland at 13.30 for my flight to LA pretty uneventful 12 hour flight however I arrived in LA for my second Saturday as the plane arrived at 6am!... read more
I am still in Northland today I went dolphin watching today - seeing lots of bottlenosed dolphins and I jumped out of a plane. The dolphins were great although really hard to photograph they are so quick! I have re-packed ready for my flight to the US. The last 5 weeks in New Zealand have flown by. ... read more
Since my last blog I have been to Taupo for a couple of days I spent Saturday in Taupo went on the lake on a boat weather was great :) Sunday I visited geothermals and a Maori village and institute of weaving and carvings which included a cultural. Since then I have come right up past Auckland and am currently in Paihia Bay of Islands. Unfortunately the next couple of days are not expected to be sunny. Today I visited Waitangi Treaty Grounds where the Maori and the early european settlers signed the treaty. ... read more
North Island - Copy of blog not published I arrived in the north island on Tuesday (flew from Christchurch to Palmerston North) Picked up another hire car this one is a silver toyota corola so I don't have to re-work out where everything is as I had finally got used to the indicators being on the wrong side of the steering wheel so i'm no longer flashing people instead of putting the windscreen whipers on. Anyway I made it into Palmerston North and hung around there for a little while before heading out to New Plymouth on the west coast. Mostly I was driving in the dark roads were really quiet and no-one walking in the towns I drove through. Arrived in New Plymouth about 9 in the evening. And that leads me up to today ... read more
