January 2012
1 post
3 tags
Last Stop Singapore
Sydney airport was fab, loads of great shops and bars and loads of choices The hot food. Good as we had a few hours to kill there before our flight to Singapore. The flight was fine, we’d definitely pre booked good seats and the food was even okay too. We landed in Singapore at 2130 local time. The airport is really efficient so we were straight through and on a shuttle bus to the hotel. The...
December 2011
3 posts
5 tags
Sydney - Such a Special Place
It was a really early start for our trip to Sydney, 5am! We had to get a coach to the airport which was an hour out of Melbourne. The airport was tiny but at least the flight was early. When we landed in Sydney it was raining and cold! We found the hostel really easily, it’s right off railway square so straight off the train. A good location at the bottom of George street with all the shops,...
3 tags
Melbourne, The Sports Capital
We nearly didn’t leave Canberra, our alarm didn’t go off for some reason it was just lucky Ste woke up in time so it was a bit of a mad dash to be ready for the coach. Having no breakfast was probably why we both felt so rotten on the coach which made the 3 hour trip to the train station a bit rotten. We were starting to feel better by the time we got to the train station in the middle...
Canberra, The Nations Capital
Another early start to get to Canberra. We had to get the train to just outside of Sydney then change to the 6 hour train to Canberra. We bought some cards so spent most of the time messing about with them, lol. We got to Canberra in the evening and went for a bit of an explore and found this ‘English’ style pub that brewed their own beer so we had a few tasters of that. We were about...
November 2011
6 posts
Newcastle New South Wales
Another coach and then a train then a bus replacement for the last leg of the journey to get to Newcastle (NSW). The hostel was right near the beach and we had a TV and DVD player in our room! WE had a nice walk around the beach the first evening we got to Newcastle and had a look at the Victorian style ocean baths and along to the pretty Nobby’s beach with the lighthouse at the far end.
...
Port Macquarie
We got the train and then a local bus to Port Macquarie from Coffs Harbour and along the way we saw loads and loads of wild Kangaroos which was very exciting!
We were in Port Macquarie for 5 days and for 4 of them it rained, sigh! We’ve now found out that it’s similar in Australia as it is in New Zealand when it rains as in there’s not much to do. The first day we went to see...
5 tags
Coffs Harbour
We had to get up really early to get a coach and then a train to Coffs Harbour (exactly halfway between Brisbane and Sydney) but it was fun getting the train as it went throught the rain forest. We were staying down by the beach, away from the town centre.
We had a lovely walk around the Marina and along the breakwall to Mutton Island nature Reserve our first morning in Coffs Harbour. We got...
6 tags
Byron Bay and Lennox Head
It was only a 2 hour bus ride down the coast to Byron Bay but it was bloody raining when we got there, typical! For the first 2 nights we staying in The Arts Factory Lodge which was mean’t to
be an island retreat next to a little lake but turned out to be a awful backpackers with smelly, dirty tents next to a mosquito ridden swamp with nutters shouting all night. We ended up having
to stay...
6 tags
Gold Coast - Surfers Paradise
We took a train to the Gold Coast, and two local buses to get surfers paradise. We are going to be staying in an apartment on the Chevron Island, which is just over the river from Surfers Paradise, about a 15 minute walk from the beach. It was a nice little apartment complex, and good that we had our own kitchen with an oven, which ment we could have some proper home cook meals that we miss so...
7 tags
A nip across the Tasman Sea to Brisbane Australia
We spent four days in Brisbane, and really enjoyed it. Everyday the weather was lovely. We had a wonder around the shops and down by the riverside and through the pretty botanical gardens. Even though Brisbane is not near the coast, it still has a beach which is called ‘The Streets Beach’ and we spent a day there, what a great idea! It was absolutely heaving the day we went because it...
October 2011
6 posts
4 tags
The last few days in New Zealand
After leaving the central north island region we drove up to the Coromandel Peninsula and spent a couple of relaxing days at Waihi Beach playing a bit of Frisbee on the beach, Ste swimming in the pool and Cat sitting in the jacuzzi. On our way up through the peninsula, we stopped Whangamata which was a really cool town with a lush beach and loads of cafes and surf shops. It must be the holiday...
7 tags
The Volcanic Region a Thermal Wonderland
Cat drove again when we left Poverty Bay and headed towards the centre of the North Island to the volcanic regions of Rotorua and Taupo. On the way, through this crazy road skirting a gorge all the traffic was being stopped by the police as there had been loads of serious accidents on the road caused by fatigued. Cat was breathalised and passed!They had a little rest area set up and were giving...
7 tags
Hawkes Bay and Poverty Bay
After leaving Wellington, we headed up the east coast of the North Island, our first stop was the town of Hastings. We just stayed one night as there wasn’t a lot to see or do. In the morning we had a look around the little cute town of Havelock North before we headed up to the top of Te Mata Peak. From the top, the views were magnificent. Out over Hawkes Bay coastline and over to the Kaweka...
2 tags
Wellington, New Zealand
We got to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital later in the afternoon, we were staying in a camp site in the suburb of Hutt City just around the harbour from the city centre. We had a drive around to the lovely area called Eastbourne and which had some lovely views out over the harbour and of Somes Island (a nature reserve in the middle of the harbour). It was a trendy little place with...
2 tags
West Coast, New Zealand
After leaving Auckland the day after the disappointing quarter final we headed south west. A hundred and a bit kilometres on and we stopped in a place called Hamilton. A pretty place, we sat and had lunch next to the lovely Hamilton park and Lake Rotoroa. We then went and took some photos of the Riff Raff statue in the town centre, it’s there because Richard O’Brien, the creator of The...
4 tags
Northland New Zealand
We picked up our Campervan on friday, it was older and a bit tattier than we’d expected, especially because of the amount of money it cost us to rent but never mind, we’ll make do. Filled up on loads of food and headed just a little way up the coast to Orewa and checked into a Top 10 Holiday Park. Orewa was a lovely little town and the campsite was right on the beach which was gorgeous...
September 2011
8 posts
5 tags
Auckland New Zealand
We landed on time, it was 10 past 9 on Sunday morning, where had Saturday gone? We took the airbus into Auckland City Centre and walked to the hostel along Karangahape Road (K Road to the locals). The hostel is in the suburb of Ponsonby, a fashionable neighbourhood, with restaurants and boutiques along Ponsonby Road. By the time we had got to the hostel it was raining and did really remind us of...
4 tags
The Day We Lost A Day
Not much to say between San Diego and returning the car at LAX. We spent a couple of lazy days at Huntington Beach, but neither of us were very well so we didn’t do much apart from lay on the beach. We stayed in a nice hotel next to LAX the night before our flight, shame it was in Inglewood, but we ordered take away to our room so it wasn’t too bad. It was a long last day in America,...
San Diego, California.
On the drive from Hermosa Beach to San Diego, we stopped off at, Huntington Beach, it was an amazing place. But you’d expect that being called Surf City. It wasn’t even sunny, but there was still loads of people around on the beach, and of course, loads of surfers. We watched the surfers for ages, they were really really good. We couldn’t find the live, Hollister shop camera...
LA the city of bad drivers
On the way down to LA, we stopped off at Malibu to see all the huge mountains up in the hills. The beach was gorgeous and it was red hot even the water wasn’t too cold at all. After lunch we continued down highway 1 onto Santa Monica. The beach there too was lovely and we had a look around the famous Santa Monica Pier. We also went to Venice Beach, it was a real mixture of people there and...
Santa Barbara and the most disgusting hostel ever!
We were a bit concerned about going to Santa Barbara because a couple of days prior we were talking to a French couple that we’d met a few times and they said the hostel we were going to be staying at they’d stayed at a few days ago and it was bad. So when we got we were prepared for it not being very nice, but it was truly awful! It makes Cat shudder just thinking about it now. For...
San Luis Obispo, lets go Poly, lets go!
San Luis Obispo is a cool little college town, slightly inland. We had a look around the downtown when we first arrived as the hostel was not yet open. There were loads of cute shops and coffee shops and it was a red hot day. The hostel was nice, shame the woman who owned it had to come back from Oregon to help run it because she obviously didn’t want to be there and ran the place like a...
3 tags
The Big Sur - Best Road in the USA
The first stop on our big highway 1 adventure was the Carmel Mission. It was the first mission built from stone and a pretty cool building at that. Next we stopped at Monastery beach (just next to a monastery funnily enough). They call it Mortuary Beach because so many divers die there, but we still saw loads getting ready to go in. Otherwise the beach was deserted, it was a lovely little spot. We...
1 tag
Monterey California
On the way out of Santa Cruz, we stopped at Capitola, a pretty seaside town, it was heavy probably for the Labour Day weekend. We watched the surfers getting thrown around by the waves and had a little look around the town. We also bought sandwiches for lunch and drove onwards to Seacliffe and sat and ate our lunch looking down onto the beach.
We continued around the corner on the coast, and...
August 2011
13 posts
3 tags
Santa Cruz
The drive to Santa Cruz from Pigeon Point down highway 1 was cool. When we arrived in Santa Cruz, we parked up at the first part of the beach we found and were greeted by loads of dolphins just off shore in the surf. What a cool sight! We immediately liked the place. We had a little walk on the beach, the waves were huge, no wonder everybody surfs here. We drove along West Cliff Drive to...
Pigeon Point, staying in a lighthouse.
There was more crazy windy roads to get to Pigeon Point, but eventually came out on Highway 1, with the Pacific Ocean and very beautiful views. Checked into the lighthouse, staying in the old keepers quarters in an dorm but no body else was there which was nice. Ste managed to get us a free dip in the hot tub for an hour (normally $7 for half-hour each) after befriending the Mike the cool surfer...
The Universities and a drive-in movie
After checking out of the hotel, we headed up to Berkeley. It was like a completely different place. There was a festival on, so there were little stalls everywhere, selling everything you’d expect from the hippy capital, tie-die t-shirts and hand made jewellery etc. They had live music too, from some young people with dreadlocks, playing violins and cellos, it was really cool. We had a walk...
San Fran - Fog City
We decided to stay in Oakland, just outside of San Francisco California, it was a lot cheaper and we got free parking which we found hard to get in San Fran. It was a bit of a mistake though as the area wasn’t very nice and the BART train, that you take into San Fran, is expensive.
On our first day, we took the BART to Powell street, right in the centre, this was the shopping centre, with...
Point Reyes National Seashore
It was a very scenic drive to Point Reyes National Seashore and we got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. We were staying in a HI-Hostel, the only accommodation within the National Seashore. It was really lovely, by far the best hostel we’ve stayed in so far. It was like staying in someones house. We were meant to be in a 10 bed coed dorm, but there was nobody else in our dorm for both...
Napa Valley - Wine Country
We stopped off on the way to the Napa Valley in a place called Fairfield just to break up the driving, there wasn’t much to see so had a relaxing evening in a motel 6.
The next day we first drove to the town of Napa, there was a cool wine train that you could have a meal on, whilst it goes around the region. We headed onwards to the very pretty town of Yountville, it was more like the south...
The Gold Country
Set off from Yosemite and had to drive more crazy roads, up and down to get out heading towards the gold country. We stopped briefly in a town called Mariposa, but their wasn’t much to see. The road continued on passed the beautiful Merced River and Don Pedro lake. We got to Jamestown around 2pm. It was like we’d set back in time. The buildings were something out of a wild western...
Yosemite National Park
We drove the very scenic Tioga Pass (it’s only open in the summer), the views were magnificent, and we kept stopping to take photos. Once into the national park, the roads were still a bit hairy and it seemed like we were driving through the mountains and down the other side. Eventually got into Yosemite Valley, and it was amazing.
We setup our little campsite and put pretty much everything...
Mammoth Journey to Mammoth Lakes in Cali
It was a long long journey to Mammoth Lakes. The sat nav said it would take over 12 hours, and we couldn’t work out why. The roads through Nevada were endless straight through the desert. Then we turned off to the road to California and we realised why the sat nav said it would take so long. We had to drive up and over the mountains and the roads were really really windy. It took absolutely...
Grand Canyon, Grand isn't big enough!
It was a really long drive to the Grand Canyon, eventually got there at 8pm and had to put our tent up for the first time in the dark! Well, by car headlight. Woke up early to the sound of a woodpecker, pecking a tree next to our tent which was pretty cool.
We took the free bus all over the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It stops at all the “good view” spots. So we jumped on and off...
Viva Las Vegas
Got to Vegas at 7am, it was mental driving through the desert at sunrise, only to see the skyscrapers of Vegas in the distance, it was like a mirage. We were very excited. We left our bags at the bell desk of the MGM Grand, yes, we forked our to stay somewhere nicer than the hostels. We had a look around the MGM hotel and casino and saw the lions and their cubs in the lion habitat playing with...
Albuquerque, New Mexico
The bus to Albuquerque was a bit of a nightmare, we had to change at San Antonio, but there was too many people for the bus so we had to hang around in the station for an extra 3 hours and get a different bus. We meant we had to change again in Amarillo. The whole journey was crazy because the greyhound people didn’t know what was going on, the passengers didn’t know what was going on,...
1100 Miles South to Austin Texas
Today is going to be a long day, headed over to Minneapolis to catch the greyhound towards Austin at 11:30am. The bus stopped in loads of little obscure towns, with make shift bus stations, glad we weren’t getting off there. There were some really odd folk on the bus as well. A little Armish kid kept kicking the back of Ste’s chair. Kelly the driver was a bit of a character too, at one...
July 2011
9 posts
Minneapolis, St. Paul and MALL OF AMERICA!
Had a huge thunder and lightning storm last night, that cat found quite scary. At least it had stopped raining by time we got the bus. Our bus driver was really cool, and the bus was practically empty. The bus stopped in some weird places thought, like a random town called ‘Sparta’, the “bicycling capitol of the US” apparently… The scenery on the journey was really...
Madison, WI
In the Chicago Greyhound station we asked the Greyhound staff where we would change to get to Madison Jefferson Lamers station. They couldn’t understand why we didn’t want to get the ‘direct’ bus to Madison. This was because their service stops 10 miles out of the city on the freeway which would be no good for us. The staff couldn’t understand Ste’s mumbled English accent. We eventually...
Chicago, the town that Billy Sunday couldn't shut...
We got the Greyhound bus from Cleveland OH, to Chicago IL, it took seven hours with lots of stops in Toledo, South Bend etc. For once the bus was unusually hot, now on central time, so we are now 6 hours behind Blighty.
The Greyhound station is in a good location in Chicago, close to downtown and only a mile from the HI Hostel. The hostel was easily found because of the grid system the city has,...
Rocking and Rolling in Cleveland OH
Checked out of the Hotel and got a ride to the greyhound station. The bus only took 2 hours to Cleveland and we found the Radisson Gateway hotel quickly and easily. We got changed and went out to explore. We walked around the pretty bar area and arcade to the public square and looked at some of the grand buildings. Walked down to the water front area and looked at the huge Football stadium. Went...
Erie PA and Presque Isle State Park
It was really hot the night before our trip to Erie. We both couldn’t sleep and we had to be up at 6:45 for the bus. Lovely Elaine gave us a packed lunch each and some bus tickets. Got the local bus to Buffalo then caught the Greyhound to Erie.
Got to Erie around 11:30 and started the 4.5 mile hike to the hotel with our packs. Erie was lovely, the bayfront area is very picturesque. It was...
The Mighty Niagara Falls
When having breakfast on the day we left Buffalo, we were talking to a south london / aussie guy called Peter who was very cool and had beads in his beard. Checked out the Buffalo hostel and headed for the bus. It took one hour and there were some interesting folk on the bus. Got off near the falls, our bags were really heavy, walked through the pretty state park to catch our first glimpse of the...
Buffalo, New York State
Got up really early to check out as the bus we were catching to Buffalo came at 7:15am and takes 11 hours. The bus ride was ok, we had lots of supplies and even got stopped by border control (although we don’t believe we crossed a boarder). Eventually got to Buffalo, it was very intimidating getting off the bus, lots of strange people walking around. The hostel is nice, but the area is a bit...
Boston
We had to get the bus, from the Port Authority bus terminal in New York. That was a bit of a trauma as when we got there, we couldn’t find where to pick up our tickets from, we eventually found the Greyhound ticket office, thanks to a NYPD Officer, but then it didn’t tell us which gate to get the bus from. When we eventually found it, there was a huge queue for the bus, but once we...
Rain and Top of the Rock on July 4th
Today we were woken up by rain, then the thunder and lightening started which scuppered our plans of lazing in Central Park. Instead when the rain eased a little, we headed out for breakfast, Cat had pancakes and Ste had an english muffin with egg and sausage and a nice cup of ‘english’ tea. To work off our breakfasts, we walked up Madison Avenue, to the bottom of Central Park.
We...
June 2011
2 posts
5 tags
central park and brunch on the Brooklyn Bridge
Today was our first proper day in New York. We both didn’t sleep very well, tiny pillows, hard bed, noisy bar and British time meant we were awake at 6am. We got our act together and headed out to Central Park. We passed the Rockefeller Center on the way. Picked up a toasted bagel and juice for breakfast. We wandered around central park, there were some amazing views of the skyline. We also...
Come fly with me NYC
This morning we finished off the packing and got the blog live before leaving for the airport. Tried our luck to get upgraded on the NY flight, with no success, and even ended up sitting 10 rows apart! Because the Newcastle flight was delayed, we couldn’t look around terminal 5 which was a shame but it was heaving. The flight seemed long and cramped but in Ste’s section, they got an...
