USA

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New York, New York - back to civilization!!! Flew into JFK and arrived at Manhattan Island around 9pm. Settled into our wonderful guesthouse (Hotel 31 in case you're planning a trip there).

Up bright and early to the sound of rain on the roof. The first wet day on our whole trip so one can't complain! We were both dying to see Times Square so that was the first port of call. Armed with coffee, doughnuts and bagels, we stood in awe of the lights, lights and more lights - what can we say, wow!! Wandered around the shops - including Toys'r'Us - got to be the world's biggest! It has every toy from your childhood.

Wandering around Times Square we got offered tickets to be in the audience of an NBC show - Dr Keith Ablow. Its a new show in the US and is just like Dr Phil. It was facinating watching a show be filmed and have the camera stuck in your face while you're trying to look intrigued while listening to why a girl slept with her boyfriend's twin brother! Spent the arvo at Maccas, Madamme Tussades, NBA store and just wandering. Headed to a Yankees game at night. Argued with a security guard about letting us in with a backpack (surprisingly, we didn't win and paid a small fortune to leave an empty day pack at the bowling alley!). The game was great and although rain threatened, we saw the Yankees beat Tampa Devil Rays.

Up bright and early to board our bus tour to Niagara Falls. Stopped at a truck stop where we ate Hershey's bars and Twinkies! Visited Corning Glass museum then arrived at the falls at night. Saw them from the American side lit up, and were in awe! Stayed there for ages, watched a fabulous fireworks display, and nearly got lost in a forest/park before finally making it safely back to our hotel.

Crossed the Canadian border in the morning to ride to the top of Skylon Tower to view the falls in all their glory! Then boarded the Maid of the Mist and sailed to the base of the falls and got very wet. Watched an Imax movie of people who have attempted and survived a trip over the falls!

From Niagara, we headed to Toronto. Wandered around the town (much like any Aussie city) then headed up CN Tower, the tallest tower in the world. Looked over Lake Ontario, which you'd swear was the ocean because its so huge! Had dinner at Chinatown then headed to our hotel. Up bright and early and didn't see the sky until 9.00 due to the fog. Did a cruise around Thousand Islands and saw Boldt Castle on Heart Island, built by the guy who established the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

Drove back to New York after stopping at the duty free shop on the border. We were stopped and asked if we'd appear in a tourism ad they were filming. Of course we said yes! Our brushes with fame are becoming more frequent!

Arrived at Manhattan Island and sat in traffic for about 20 minutes, listening to the bus driver and tour guide argue about the quickest way to get to the drop off point. Clearly, they've never sat in traffic on a Sunday arvo coming back from the Sunshine Coast. I think they'd kill each other if they did!!!

Back in New York and the sun was shining. We headed up the Empire State Building, hired bikes and rode around Central Park, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, stood in awe at the WTC site (very moving and very sad), took the Staten Island ferry (free, yes free) past the Statue of Liberty, wandered down Wall Street and past the NYSE. Wandered around Greenwich Village at night and just soaked up the atmosphere.

Next morning we headed to Harlem. Wandered around the shops and streets - never seen so many Baptist Churches in such a small suburb! Bused back into the heart of the city. Visited some fab shops - tried on gorgeous dresses in Macy's, admired handbags in Gucci etc, etc. Headed to Intrepid - an Air, Sea and Space museum on the aircraft carrier, Intrepid, used in WWII. It was facinating to see all the planes and they even had a Concorde which you could go in. Very cool! Headed back to Times Square at night, ate pizza and hotdogs and saw the Broadway musical, Rent.

Time to leave New York :-( but it was off to Disneyworld! Took the Magic Express from the airport to our hotel, All Star Sports resort. It was massive and took about 10 minutes to walk from reception to our room!! It was all go go for the 4 1/2 days!

Day 1: Animal Kingdom - did a safari around an animal reserve - zebras, giraffes, meercats and heaps of cool African animals, rode the Mt Everest rollercoaster, and watched the parade.

Day 2: Magic Kingdom - and magical it was. Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and a million other rides to keep us entertained! Ate Mickey Mouse icecreams (of course!). Watched the fireworks at night then headed to Pleasure Island. Still in the Disney resort, its packed with nightclubs, shops and restaurants. Went to an impromptu Comedy Club which was great!

Day 3: Blizzard Beach water park where we sped down the steepest, fastest waterslide in America. Then to Epcot where we rode a rocket ship into space (thanks to a simulator anyway), soared over California in a hanglider, and pretended to be crash test dummies as we helped them test some cars at very high speed. Also had a go of Segways - the motorised chariot type things that you can ride around Epcot on. Had a ball! Finished the night off by watching the lights and fireworks show.

Day 4: MGM Studios. Watched stunt shows, 4D movies, survived crashing elevators in the Tower of Terror, rode the Aerosmith rollercoaster at amazing speeds, and saw how Disney magic comes to life on the movie screen. Watched Fantasmic show at night which is a movie projected onto a screen of water - quite ingenious! Headed back to Pleasure Island and found a magic store. Saw the most amazing card tricks I've ever seen.

Day 5: Typoon Lagoon water park. Went on waterslide that defy gravity and propel you upwards, nearly got knocked over by 6ft waves in the wave pool, and swam with sharks. Went back to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom to ride our favourite rides again. Headed back to the hotel ready for a very early morning start to head to Las Vegas!

Las Vegas - got to our hotel where I think we got the honeymoon suite, complete with Love Tub and mirrors above the bed!! Someone had left a friendly message for us (see picture below)!! Started with a free buffet then walked the strip. Explored Luxor, MGM Grand, Excalibur, New York New York and plenty of the other fabulous casinos/hotels. I really don't know why people bother travelling the world when all you have to do is come to Vegas - New York, Paris, Venice, Egypt, Arabia all within a few miles!!!!

Next day we sat by the pool then headed up the strip in the other direction. Went to Venitian where we had a free gondola ride (thanks to a fellow traveller who gave us free tickets for a gondola ride and entry to Madamme Tussades) and took our photos with all the stars! Headed to Riverina, Circus Circus and then to Downtown. The atmosphere of the 'old' Vegas was great. We were looking at the open air neon sign musuem when we were stopped by a photographer from National Geographic and asked to kiss behind the wedding chapel sign for his photo. We're going to start getting recognised when we walk the streets of America!

Went up the Stratoshere tower and rode the most scary/crazy ride of our lives! X-Scream which is based at the top of a 1000 ft tower and basically sends you over the edge along a straight track at 30mph and suddenly jerks to a halt leaving you hanging - staring straight down at the strip below. It's kind of hard to explain it properly but it leaves every other ride for dead as far as sheer adrenalin rush goes!!!

After X-Scream the big shot was a walk in the park. It simply shoots you up into the air at incredible speed and you then bounce up and down (all still based at the top of a 1000 ft tower!!).

Finally it wouldn't be a Vegas blog without a mention of buffets...we went to a buffet lunch at the Rio casino which has a mere 300 dishes to choose from!!!! All divided up into sections for different world cuisines, and it was all top quality including an ice-cream selection similar to Gelatisimo for those lucky enough to have experienced it...I'm starting to sound like someone from the Castle so I think it's time to stop!!!

After finally getting through airport security (minus my Canadian, maple syrup fudge which is aparantly a "gel like substance" and hence a deadly weapon) we arrived in LA faced with a 12 hr wait for our flight to fiji. The plan was to store our bags at the airport and take off somewhere but of course the airport has removed all of it's luggage facilities due to the security threat so we had to lug all of our bags on 2 buses down to Santa Monica and beg/plead with the reception girl of the hostel to let us store our bags for 5 or 6 hours. Thankfully she kindly let us dump our bags and we headed down to Santa Monica beach and pier. For the same price as our 300 dish buffet in vegas we had some really bad Indian food, then relaxed on the beach for a while. We hired some bikes and cruised along the bikeways past Venice beach and got to Venice pier before turning around. Grabbed our bags, headed back to the airport and jumped on our plane to Fiji.

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Photos

Joy and the Jetsons!
Meet George Jetson, daughter Judy, here's boy Elroy...