Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite and San Francisco

Hey all from the wonderful city of San Francisco. The past week has been really really fun and we have seen ALOT!!

From Los Angeles our tour bus took us all the way to Las Vegas (sin city) where we were checked into a lovely hotel by the name of $ Queens Hotel, it was luxury, a big change to the hostels we are used to!! We were taken on a tour of all the hotels!! We found Vegas to be a crazy place as its right in the middle of the Nevada desert and there are the most fantastic hotels surrounding the city. One in particular that we saw was the Venician which was a replica of venice! There were canals with gondola rides inside!! All the ceilings were painted so it looked like you were outside during daytime, it was very disorientating but really clever! We saw a couple more shows and the had a early night as we couldnt drink or gamble due to age restrictions in the entertainment capital!! The following day we were taken to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon ( a very long journey!). It was stunning and just how I imagined!! I could'nt believe the grand scale of canyon it was massive!! Later that day we head back to Vegas (via the hoover dam) and had a huuge $10 buffet in the hotel opposite!! The next couple of days we visited Yosemite National Park which was beautiful! Soo many trees, landforms and waterfalls everywhere it was stunning. A very different side to America I thought I would never see!! The following day we were taken for a tour in San Francisco or the Golden Gate Bridge and other attractions where we finished off and checked into the European Guest hostel!! We spent the weekend with Mike before he headed home. This week we managed to go and visit the island of Alkatraz (the old high security prison, located just offf the bay) It was a really good day out! They provided a very good audio tour and we felt like we learnt quite alot about the prisoners experiences when the prison was up and running.

So whats the plan from here... tomorrow is our l;ast day in San Francisco so were probably going to visit golden gate park. We will be off to New York on Friday!! I really cant wait to get to the big apple!!

I really cant believe we get home in under a week now, it is very strange...

I will see you all soon then.
I guess.

Alex.xxx

Fiji, California and Tijuana

Hey All!!

I know... It's been a while!!!

What have we been up to you may ask?? (if you hadnt seen Chris' blog already)
Well.. Since I last updated the four of us made our way to the lovely Fiji!! We wanted to find somewhere we could completely chill out and do our diving course and we found that!! 2hrs north of the main island to a place called Rakiraki we took a small boat to an island name Nananu-I-RA. There was 6 guests in the hotel (including the 4 of us) most days. It was stunning and peaceful. Just what we needed after an exhausting 3weeks in New Zealand. Mike and I spent most of our days with our dive instructor Paulo who was an absolute legend. We completed our Open Water Dive course which I had always wanted to do and went diving down to the reefs a coupleof times after that. So heres an average day for us in Fiji. Awake about 8am, get picked up and get straight into a wetsuit. Dive some of the most beautiful reefs in fiji for a couple of hours. Go to volivoli (where the dive team were located) eat lunch by the mangroves, head back out for another dive of head back and go kyaking or stay at volivoli, play volleyball for hours with the staff and wait for the kiwi bus to arrive for a bit of a party and a fire on the beach.

This is what we spent most of our days doing, which was such a good time. We could have spent so much longer here, we got to know the dive intructors pretty well so we got really good discounts for diving and had a really good laugh in the meanwhile.


Athough this was all good fun it was time to get back on the road, stu left us to meet Derek and steve as he was staying in Fiji for another 2weeks! So Chris, Mike and I all head off to LA!! We have now been here just over 1 week and we have done soo much!!! On our first day we stayed in Santa Monica which is a beautiful seaside town, we found ourselves being drawn toward the resturant 'fat burger' where chris and I took on a 24oz burger american style! We recieved certificates and our photo on their wall! The following day we moved to Hollywood Bvd, where everything really happens. The movie premieres etcetc. We visited the avenue of stars and the kodak theatre. Also on the boulavard was the massive Virgin megastores, a music shop like no other. I think we spent 3hrs here checking out all the music and dvds they had to offer!! We decided we should go and visit mexico as it was just a couple of hours drive away so the following day we hopped on a bus to Tijuana!! WE walked across the mexican border to find the only entry we needed to do into mexico was through as small turnstyle gate. no passport control nothing!!! It was crazy! We spent most of that evening with mexicans with whistes pourind straight tequila down our throuts, riding mechanical bulls!! It was really good fun to see what this part of central America was all about!

The following day we returned back to LA and I head off to watch Flight of the Conchords in downtown LA . (a comedy duo from New Zealand). I saw a couple of celebrities here including Tony Hawk and Weird Al Yankovich. It was a really good evening despite the weirdest journey back to the hostel. There are some really crazy people out here, id never suggest getting the metro alone at night. Los Angeles is amasing for concerts we were lucky enough to catch Newton Faulkner play in West Hollywood which was an amazing gig!! I never though id ever see him in Hollywood! We also managed to get hold of tickets to see a band called the RX Bandits of whom Mike and I are big fans of so we took a 2day trip up to the lovely town of Santa Barbra!!

We are now back in hollywood staying at the Vibe Hostel which is actual really good fun! Chris and I head off on our tour tomorrow!! We're really looking forward to what lies ahead. We will keep you posted about what we get up to and hopefuli we will get some photos up soon!!

lots of love

AJ.xx home soon!!

New Zealand!!

Hello from Christchurch!!

We'll here we are, a couple more hours in New Zealand and then we're off to Fiji!!!
Its been three and a half really fun weeks driving around in our spaceship, sleeping in some of the randomest and most beatiful places (such as next to Lake Wanaka, Stunning!)

New Zealand has soo much to offer as we found out from visiting Seal Colonies in Kiakura, climbing up the Franz Josef Glacier, Skydiving from 15,000ft over Lake Wanaka, Queenstown!! Bungee Jumping! and Surfing in Dunieden. We've really enjoyed ourselves here, having the freedom to go where we want and see what we want. It's good to have that freedom and attempt to get away from the usual tourist route and really make a trip our own.

Most of the things we have done here should definately be at the top of your list to do before you die. The day of the Skydive I have never been so scared!! I was soo nervous and im not entirely sure why loking back at it. (this shows in my dvd) but with nerves came soo much fun. It was such a good feeling except for the fast it was soo soo cold.

In New Zealand the place to be is definately Queenstown, theres soo much to do! One evening we all went to the 'world bar' and we entered a compettion to win a bungee jump and I was lucky enough to have my number drawn out of the hat. So I won a free nevis jump (the biggest in New Zealand) which was a big saver as I would have spent $220 on this the previous day!! While in Queenstown I was lucky enough to do 2 bungee jumps. 1) was a tandem with stu off the Kawara Bridge (i think thats how u spell it) well anyway, this was the first commercial bungee jump in the world which was really really fun. We were both quite ok until we got to the ledge and though what are we doing! We jumped anyway and it was sucha good feeling, the adrenaline rush is soo much fun. 2) The Nevis, Stu was nervous because this time it was 3times the size of the day before! 8 seconds freefall. Chris and Mike were both excited hiding both their nerves. I really couldnt wait to do it. Everyone should try this, seriosly one of the most fun things ever, you really do have to push urself to go over the edge but when you do it such a good feeling, the whole day i was pretty much speachless!!

So next stop on our Journey is Fiji!! We really look forward to getting back to the hot weather and onto a beach. Its really tiring moving about all the time here and we need a holiday! I think I may do my dive course out there which I'm really looking forward to!

All my recent photos are now up so i'f you have time on your hands heres the link.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gapyear2008/NewZealandLakeWanakaToChristchurch

Christchurch to Franz Joseph Glacier (life in a spaceship)

Hey all from the wonderful Franz Joseph Glacier (located west of the south island).

We have been traveling through New Zealand for about a week in our Spaceship (camper van car) named 'Megatron'. It's just what we needed, we are far away from the tour bus, touristy areas, we can finally be free!! The past week we have mainly been hiking in some fantastic locations, camping in some really random places and watching DVD's in our Spaceship. Today we were lucky enough to climb up the Franz Joseph Glacier, It was amasing! Something I was very keen to do here in New Zealand! You will have to check out the photos, it was stunning!! 6hours of hard work climbing up the ice was well worth the view and the opportunity to climb through the ice sheets. We've been to some very cool destinations including Chetwood Forest which was included in the Lord of the Rings film. Theres not all that much more to say about New Zealand but WOW the scenery is breathtaking and were having a really good time despite it being really really cold. The pictures are much much better than words so go and have a look. On Tuesday we plan to get to Lake Wanaka, Chris and i are very keen to do the 15,000ft skydive there so I think we will be booking that tonight. Really loving New Zealand but looking forward to being back on the beach. Ohh and by the way my eye has healed fine, the stitches came out a couple of days ago and you wouldnt know a thing.

i'll do my best to keep you all posted, but internet is proving rare in some places.

Go check out the photos!!

AJ.xxxxx

Sydney to Melbourne to Sydney to New Zealand!!

I know!! It's been quite a while since I last posted! We'll I've only jus found time! We're non-stop at the moment. So heres the vaugue story so far (if you want the low down of every second of our travels please see chris's blog).... Ohh all of my pictures are now up if you would like to check them out. Im very excited about getting some awesome landscape shots here in New Zealand.

So I left you last when we were about to travel to Melbourne. We took a Greyhound bus overnight lasting around 12hrs (much longer than I thought) to the well recommended city! We arrived around 8am and checked into our hostel called Nomads Industry (by far the best hostel so far). really cool funky little bar downstairs and hot working showers!! We stayed in Melbourne for a week exploring the city (reminds me of Bristol quite alot, with all the river etc.) We spent most of our evenings in Uni bars which were awesome, just our thing I guess. Tons of people our age, no tourists about and cheap beer. A bar we found on the thursday night was called the 'Traders Bar', we found this jus by walking down some back alley it was reali quite cool. On the Wednesday it was Mikes Bday!! woop. It was reali funi, we bought Mikee party hats, drink umrellas, curly straws and Party blowers and went for lunch along brunswick street. In the evening we were determined to head out for a big night but it was a wednesday and ended up in some small Irish bar in the Centre. On the Friday we were lucky enough to be taken out by one of Chris' relatives to a Wildlife park which was fun and quite different as we had our own safari. (check out the pics of the baby hippo, its pretty cool). It was reali gd to be taken out by someone who lives there as gettin around is next to impossible without a car. On the saturday Ellen a friend of mikes who we were stayin with took us out to a cool little surf beach where we spent the day on the Surfboards, it was good fun. Later on that evening we met up with some friends who we met along the way and went to an AFL game. It was very exciting to watch as it was a very close scoring game! AFl is a strange sport, It is pretty much a cross between football and rugby. It doesnt seem too logical but they are crazy for it in Melbourne. It was good to watch tho, a really awesome atmosphere.

After a pretty busy week in Melbourne, we head back to Sydney for Stuarts birthday, arrived at about 8am off the bus again and went to breakfast with stu and his parents who shared their storis about their travels around Fiji!! We then all head off to the pub (about 11am now) where chris and I left to book our campervan for NZ. An hour later chris and I returned to a very drunk stu where we joined in and then head to the cinema to give the livers a rest. After the cinema we head back to the hostel to get some sleep that didnt really happen!) Not too long after Stu parents arrived with a cake and sparklers. We lit the sparklers ready to sing Happy Birthday when we suddenly realised that there were smoke detectors in the room. We quickly attempted to put them out but it was too late. The fire alarms to the whole hostel were going off. We evacuated the builing, and stus mum ran down to reception to explain. We got outside when two fire engines arrived and cleared the building!! It was soo funi. We were very lucky we didnt get charged for the call out!! We decided to stay clear of the hostel and head back to the pub til the evening and went to Sidebar to meet some of stus rugby mates from back home. It was a very amusing evening. The remaining 3days we decided to spend at Manly beach which was an aweosme little chilled out surfing town!! We spent a day at Bondi surfing and another at Manly!! On the last day we all hired boards and immi and rachael came down to visit us!! We were out in the surf for about 4hours all of us were getting up great and the surf was pretty gd. Although we were surfing quite close to each other. I unfortunately managed to injure myself when i fell offr my board and then chris fell off his board resulting in a surf board in the face causing an inch long gash within my left eyebrow. It wasnt painful but there was blood evverywhere, we walked to the nearest doctors who stiched it up for me (5 stitches!!) and took a break for the rest of the day!!

We are now in New Zealand and loving every minute of it, my stiches come out tomorrow woo, hopefuli It wont scar too much! We now have our own Spaceship (a type of campervan which we will be staying in for the next 3weeks!!) Its really good fun, were stayin around some of the worlds best scenery, check the pics, we slept on the beachfront last night was soo nice.

I must go now, but ill keep you all posted about our adventures in New Zealand!!

Alex

Sydney!!

Picture taken at Mojo Surf Camp, was such a wicked day!!



Hello from Sydney!!!

We have now finished the East Coast of Australia, travelled 4,000km and it has been an amasing 5 weeks!! Loved every minute. We arrived in Sydney late afternoon, checked into our hostel (cheapest yet in oz at $17 a night) and went out to 'The Gaff' Australia's Number 1 backpacker bar for an Afterparty with the Oz Experience bus. It was really good fun, stu met up with us and the 4 of us were once again back together which was really good fun!! Yesterday (our first whole day in sydney) we decided to head out to one of its many beaches, so we went to visit Coogie Beach, we took a very scenic walk along the coastline (for about and hr) to the famous Bondi Beach which was amasing and had a quick swim. Checked out the costs for surfboard hire for the following days to come. Last night we headed out into Kings Cross with Joe, Emma and Martin. It was martins last night away and was heading back home today :( so we all said our goodbye's and danced to night away. The DJ was amasing!!
Today (well in about 10mins) we plan to head off to the sydney opera house and the harbour bridge to get some photos (watch this space). Then Ed (who we met in Thailand) and I will be heading off to the ANZ Stadium (formerly Telstra Stadium) where Englang Won the Rugby World Cup and the Olympics were held!!

Chris and I are off on our bus to Melbourne which were really looking forward to. I will keep you updated from there.

Much Love

Alex.

Brisbane and the Gold Coast

Hey all!

It's been a while since I have posted as I have been soo busy!! Everything moves soo fast over here especially when you are non stop. This is literally one fo the first times ive been able to sit down and write this.

So we arrived in Brisbane on the 25th of March at an amasing hostel (my favourite so far) named Bunk, it had a TV room, Hot Tub, Bar, Swimming Pool and tons of people we have met along the way. It was a real good laugh. Janhavi joined us for a couple of days which was good fun and quite surreal to see her the other side of the world. Natalie also joined us for her easter break and has now travelled down to sydney with stu. We spent until the 30th visiting Southbank [public beach pool] and going out in Brisbane's Valley [brisbanes top nightlife location]. We then headed down to Surfers Paridise [which is apparently the benidorm of Australia] lots of high rise buildings and miles and miles of stunning beaches where we spent most of our time. We only stayed in Surfers for one night before we headed down to stay with Vicki and Jack [Verity's Cousin] in Burleigh/Miami. It was really good to be out of the hostels and into a home. Vicki and Jack were both very kind to us letting us stay for the time we did, we had a good laugh and really enjoyed ourselves. Within the week we stayed we managed to visit Burliegh Heads [stunning view all along the coast], go to Wet n' Wild [which was sooo much fun, we spent most of our time on a water ride called the Tornado, which threw you and 4 other people down a watery half pipe at high speeds, it was good fun!] and also in Burleigh I took a surf lesson which was amasing. The waves were brilliant and I managed to catch quite a few, on my first attempt to stand up I managed to do it which I thought was a great achievement. We were using big boards and they were really good conditions. I really hope to do more as we go down the coast. However my last day in Burleigh, I hired a board and spend most of my time on the beach with my head in the sand as the waves were very rough as there was a storm brewing.

We are now in Byron Bay, back with Mike, Joe and Emma. The weather here has been rubbish lately but we hear its better in Sydney (which is where we are heading tomorrow). Despite the rain we have managed to go out on bike rides up to the lighthouse which was the most easterly point in Australia and watch dolphins below in the sea which was really good to see.
I'm not sure if you have head back home about the Shark attack on a 16 year old boy in Ballina [15mins south, a couple of headlands away]. This happened yesterday so all the beaches were closed to surfers and swimmers which was quite scary. However we plucked up the courage to go surfing this morning which was good fun. Tipping down with rain but ah wel we were wet anyway.

So tomorrow we head to Surf Camp for one night then to Sydney where the 4 of us will be re-united again. :)

keep checking the photos! We've got tons up now!
Still loving every minute, hope your all enjoying the snow back home.

Alex.