The Daring Crusades of Drew and Chris

Mexico City

2007-11-19T04:41:00.001-08:00

The first day of our stay in Mexico City we visited the Archaeological Museum. It was fabulous and had many artifacts from the Aztec and Teutihuacan periods.

The picture of the city is of Mexico City in its earlier days. It was built on a lake as a floating, yet secured city.

Teutihuacan architecture.

Drew at the Museum of Freida Kahlo, a famous Mexican artist and poet.

The main reason we wanted to visit Mexico City was that it was close to the Mexican pyramids as we wanted to compare them to the Egyptian pyramids we saw earlier on our trip. We are on the pyramid of the sun with the pyramid of the moon in the background. Chris is halfway up the pyramid of the sun. huffing and puffing and looking for an excuse to stop. Remember, if you are laughing at me back at sea level that we are more than 2km above sea level, and my heart was racing just to look up at the steps.

Before heading off to the pyramids, we had lunch with our tour group and were serenaded by the mariachi band.

Over a two day holiday period we were in Mexico City for the Festival of the Dead., There were many celebrations and offerings as this festival means alot to the Mexican peoplle. They beleive that the dead have gone to a better place annd this is why they are celebrating. This scene, one of many throughout the country, was at the palace.

In the park near our hotel in central Mexico, this little boy fell in the polluted fountain and had to disrobe his also polluted nappy and pants and dry them on the fence. No matter, the family were all happy and having a lovely day. (We mean the real family - not the papier machier characters which were part of a union protest for more wages)

Needing some dental work, drew accepted a leaflet handed to him on the street for a discount at the local dentist, but when finding the 1 room dentistry and the Spanish speaking dentist wearing street clothes and standing beside the 2 dentist chairs, he became a little wary about trusting the ´´´´dentist´´´´. The deciding factor in his imminent escape was the terrifying view of a pair of pliers and multigrips on the dentists chairs. Later, having received a recommendation from the staff at our hotel he took a taxi and over a period of 3 days visited the recommended dentist to undertake root canal surgery. On the 3rd day while he was bravely and perhaps somewhat foolishly undergoing root canal surgery by the Mexican dentist, Chris was enjoying a lovely day tour to the silver mining township of Taxco. In the town of Taxco, Chris is pictured on a balcony overlooking the town. Behind the trattoria Marco Polo in Cuernauaca is an open courtyard with jewellery and traditional clothes shops.

Mexican folklorica dancing was amazing. The colors and sound memorised us and the theatre was beautiful.

Jamaica

2007-11-11T05:55:00.000-08:00

Dunns River Falls were beautiful, but somehow I´ve got this out of order and can´t work out the Spanish editing language to get the photos back in order.

From Montego Bay airport we headed straight to our Jamaican all inclusive reosrt. This is the view from our room.The resort was a nice change from the cheap motels we´d been frequenting. But we decide after this to go back to bed and breakfast only because otherwise we tend to stay at the hotel and just eat and drink too much. Now we can leave the hotel, but stilleat and drinktoo much.

The view from the glass bottom boat back to Pebbles resort was pretty, but Drew foundthe glass bottom boat helped him to more than remember last night´s dark and stormy moments.

Having been warned by all and sundry not to use the unregistered taxis or public buses to travel to Dunns River Falls, of course, we did just that. Had a great trip on the very crowded bus and loved climbing up the falls.

At Negril we stayed at a clifftop hotel, with great views over to the sunset. The hotel had a free shuttle to its sister resort on the beachfront of seven mile beach. So once again we had to spend some time lazing on the beach and wandering up and down passing all the cheap beachfront bars and cafes. One night we went to a clifftop bar called Ricks cafe and enjoyed a quiet apperitif watching the cliff divers and the vast array of locals and tourists strut their stuff.

On a day trip from Negril, we visited Black River and took a boat ride to check out the wildlife. Crocodiles with no teeth, beautiful birdlife - unlike the beautiful birdlife witnessed on Negril beach. Then we toodled off to Ys falls and played in the water. Next we hopped on the bus and tried to take a short cut to the rum factory. The bus stopped and started and grunted and finally made it so we had many samples, as if we needed an excuse.

Tarzan the monkey man at Ys falls.

A typical scene in Jamaica.

S.E.U.S.A. Washington to Key West

2007-10-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

The Whitehouse D.C. We think George was not home but visiting Johnnie at the time.While George was playing with John, Chris was playing with the bears. A great photo exhibition.
What can you see in this photo except sand and a plant. You may have to zoom in to find this secretive creature. It is called a Ghost......
Chris having a lovely time in posh land which translates into the city of Charleston.
Drew also in Charleston playing with the subs. Unfortunately we did not get a photo of a great pub we had a drink at. It was a converted church.
The only plantation we did a tour of was this one in the Carolinas. This pov house was one of many of a second son of a rich plantation owner back in the bad old days.We spent a fascinating hour listening to descendants of slaves from this property. Apparently both descendants of the owners and slaves and free workers get on famously now.
This is the old fort at St. Augustine. The oldest city in Florida. This is a rendition of the Red Coates firing the cannons which were very noisy. They were fired at Francis Drake from this castle but not sure who won the battle. The city is very quaint as it has kept its cobblestone streets, churches burying grounds and buildings from a couple of centuries ago.
As Drew and Chris got married at St. Augustines church in Melbourne Aust we just had to add this photo in. Yes we are getting fatter. Too much American salty,fatty,sugary food.
Cute turtle next to the road.We also saw an otter crossing the road but it was too quick for us to take a photo.
Drew holding up the winners trophy at Daytona Race track.

Alligator in the Florida Everglades National Park. Whoops, that photo has gone and what a shame it was truly magnificent. If anyone has not seen a photo of an alligator, I would recommend using google to search for alligators of the Florida everglades. You might have guessed that this is not an alligator, but Chris posing in front of an elephant plant, commonly found at Disneyworld , Orlando, Florida. OK, OK we're just a couple of big kids.
At Cape Cannaveral they have lots and lots of big spaceships. Some have been used!
Melbourne beach Florida was named by an Australian who came from??
Found the alligator. He wasn't at Disneyworld, but in The Everglades national park. An area of slow moving fresh water where Alligators love to hide out.
Drew next to a hummock in the Everglades. Small raised areas of hardwood in a sea of sawgrass.
On Drews wish list was to Tailgate at a Football Game in the U.S. of A. The two people on the far left of screen came into the game with us and explained the game to us. The yanks have a fantastic way of preparing for a game of football. They all meet in the carpark, set up the BBQ, open the esky and settle in for a session of 2-4 hours before the game, with some staying in the carpark and not bothering about the footy. Can't say i blame them - the atmosphere at the game is great but a 1 hour game takes 3 hours because of all the time outs, team changes, etc, etc
Players about to come onto the ground through a helmet while the cheer squad were cheering, the band was playing and the crowd was yelling. Every time one team managed to gain 10 yards - the band would play the theme song and the cheerleaders would strut their stuff.

The area of Fort Lauderdale before development.
And after.
Key West. The most southern tip of Florida.. The township was hip and happening. Music and drinking everywhere.
Sunset and champagne.
We are driving on a bridge in between two of the Florida keys and a new bridge is being built beside it. I wonder why it is so much higher than the road we are traveling on? Hurricanes maybe? Good bye to North America. It was a very interesting six months but now we must leave for more exotic places.

Maine to Maryland again

2007-09-24T15:51:00.001-07:00

Maine to Maryland

2007-09-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Atlantic Provinces - Canada

2007-09-22T05:53:00.000-07:00

After Quebec we drove to New Brunswick and after staying the night in a university dorm room (during students summer vacation) we headed to the Acadian village of Buchtouche. This replica village of the way the (french) Acadian people lived was fascinating. They love to sing and dance and act the goat but, of course, it was all in French. Where were you Shell we needed you.

Although the crab season was over the boats and pots were all stashed away until next year, we managed to find some crab and have a good feed.

Can you pick the real Anne of green Gables.

Beautiful, beautiful, Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) is overwhelming. The mountains meet the sea and the mist rolls in and out. The people who live here are mainly descendants from Scotland and are proud of it. They still practice the traditions e.g. bagpipes - yuc piano - lovely, brewing whiskey - no comment. We walked for 3 hours through the wilderness and arrived at the cliff top. On the way we saw birds and wait for it..........

Moose...6 of the suckers. This magnificent creature just lazed around while all us excited tourists took many many photos.

On to Peggy's Cove (near Halifax) where the weather was....... As you can see the rain coats have come in handy. The view was breathtaking as so was the icy wind. The lighthouse also doubled as the local post office. People will come up with many different ideas to capture the tourist dollar. We had to add a light house into the blog because there are lighthouses all over the place due to hazardous coasts and in the olden days pirates .. arr arr arr

This is Fundy National Park site of the biggest tides in the would. Only in America. I was particularly chuffed to include the rainbow.

The headquarters of Fundy was set out in a very English style. So different to the rest of the park.

At St Andrews Beach our camp spot was perfect and we met a great family who invited us to stay at their house which we did but that is another story.

We went on a whale watching cruise on a pirate ship and saw Fin whales and generally had a great chill out time. The last for us on
Canadian soil.

St. Andrews beach was a great resting spot for us before we hit the U.S.A. again.

2007-09-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

No prizes for guessing where we went next.

Cruising on the Maid of the Mist under Niagara Falls was great - but a little damp.

Walking under the edge of the falls on the Cave of the Winds tour was a highlight - and very damp.

Although the Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds tours were terrific, we felt like a pair of sardines in a can full of touring sardines.

The falls at night from the tower on the Canadian side.

Further down the St Lawrence River we tour a boat tour of the thousand islands(just like cruising in salad dressing). The houses were amazing. castles, shacks and some a little the worse for wear. One U.S. citizen owned a house on one island and had a small bridge across the border to his other tiny island in Canada.

Just another camping spot with a reasonable view (of the St Lawrence)

In Ottawa we stayed with our friends AK and Kieo, enjoyed dinner at a Chinese restaurant and looked around the city next day.

Ottawa, like most of Quebec, was enigmatically French with the occasional English remnant - like the changing of the guard.

Chris needed some female company after all the male testosterone, guns and swords.

Quebec city was magic. We walked around and saw the fort, castle, the port and enjoyed the street performers on stilts and juggling with fire.

But, not to be outdone I went to look for some excitement of my own.

Denver to Cleveland

2007-08-18T05:16:00.000-07:00

Denver, Colorado, was a reminder of how the USA gun laws
allow so many acts of violence. This is the Colorado State
capitol building. We arrived to take a tour and
saw the building was inundated with media.
An armed man had entered the building apparently intending
to assassinate the governor and was apprehended and shot
dead by security. Lucky we didn't arrive an hour earlier.

Our luck in getting to the State Capitol Building was caused by this place, the Colorado History Museum, which was so good that we stayed there a couple of hours longer than intended, before goingto the State Capitol!!!!!!!!!!

The Colorado Rocky Mountains had us singing like John Denver as we hiked(!) along the mountain paths at about 10,000 feet altitude. You were lucky not to hear that.

We made many new friends along the way and met some old ones too. these guys were at the Bedrock RV Park in the Black Hills of Dakota. A day before we arrived here they had a storm with hailstones the size of golf balls. It seems our luck is holding.

Chief Crazy Horse was accidentally bayonetted in the back while parleying with US soldiers under a flag of truce. After the Mt Rushmore monument to 4 US presidents was completed, the Indian nations decided to build a memorial too. Building started more than 50 years ago. The face of this monument is larger than the total size of the 4 president heads. This model shows what the mountain will look like when complete and under the models arm you can see the part of the mountain carved to date. Probably another 50-100 years before complete!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mt Rushmore monument was remarkable but the crowds and the American sense of pride in their heritage was even more memorable.

Our luck ran out when El Van's fuel pump failed to handle the record temperatures in the Black Hills and we broke down and waited 3 hours in 100F heat for the tow tuck to take us back to Hill City for 3 days rest waiting for the overworked mechanic to get us back on the road.

While waiting for the car we found a great "Happy Days" style diner and rode a steam engine built in 1885, spent some time lazing around the pool and caught up on the blog.

The Mississippi River was enormous and later we arrived in Minneapolis where Drew had his first game of bridge since leaving Caloundra. Four days later the Minneapolis bridge over the Mississipi River collapsed with the loss of at least 6 lives and several people still missing.

In the national parks it is illegal to feed the wildlife but they still like fast food like their countrymen.

Roger and Mary from the Alaskan cruise were fantastic hosts in Millwaukie. Together we toured the Brewers Ballpark, took a FREE tour of Millers Brewery with FREE BEER TODAY (unlike the Ettamogah pub at home which has free beer tomorrow) and the 3 Domes garden. Thanks for a great time, Roger and Mary.

In Chicago we took an interesting river cruise to check out the architecture, in the science museum saw a U boat captured by the US near the end of WW2 and ate at Gumpy's shrimp restaurant (based on Forrest Gump's shrimp restaurant chain) at Navy pier.

Camping near the banks of lake Erie we met Bob, a French horn player from Tennessee. Bob was playing at Lakeside, a gated community nearby, and gave us some tickets to see his symphony orchestra performing. The Lakeside Methodist community was a beautiful and fascinating place to visit. It's a summer vacation resort style village with everything you could ask for a holiday (if you don't drink, gamble or have any other unspeakable vices). The performance of the orchestra was superb and the whole Lakeside experience was definitely a highlight of our trip. Thanks Bob.

At Cleveland we planned to spend the day wandering around the Rock'n'roll hall of fame, but when we arrived we happened to park near the local ballpark and instead we bought some tickets from a scalper and went to see the Cleveland Indians beat the Texas Rangers. After a few beers and a great time at the ballpark, we made it to the hall of fame and spent about 2 hours, looking at the clothes, instruments and other paraphernalia of the rock'n'roll greats. the music was pretty good too.

Yellowstone to Arches

2007-07-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

At daybreak (OK OK, maybe the sun had been up for an hour or so) we set off to look for an elusive grizzly bear before leaving Yellowstone. But to no avail. Some lucky people had grizzly bears appear only 15 feet away from their campsite and had the opportunity to be really terrified before the bear just wandered away again.

No grizzly for us, so we drove south to Teeton NP and on to Jackson, Wyoming where we set up camp, then returned for a float down the Snake River. This is a white water rapids rubber raft ride except designed for people who don't want the trauma of too much white water. Perfect for us. But at least we saw some more wildlife. Such as the beaver in this photo.

No we can't see it either but it IS there.

At Salt Lake City we sought enlightenment at the Mormon tabernacle and Drew was almost converted by the 50 or so Mormon sisters who offered tours and spiritual guidance. Admittedly, each of the sisters was about 20 years old and quite attractive but they still could not help him reach the salvation that he so dearly desired. Even so, we did start to understand how so many people could find spiritual fulfilment with these people.

From the north rim of the Grand canyon, the south rim is several miles away and the canyon is about a mile deep.

But on closer inspection it looked like only 2 feet to me.

Zion NP impressed us with the diversity of rock and colour.

We walked to Weeping Wock where walls were weeping white wisps of weally warm water.

When driving through one of the tunnels in Zion, we tried to take a snap only to discover our 2 dashboard mascots looking suspiciously close.

Just outside Zion Canyon NP we found another great campsite. This time we camped in an Indian village, where the Indians allowed us to look around at some of their tipis, religious artifacts and historical sites. They also put on a presentation with some traditional dancing. This guy was actually a school teacher but helped out with the shows over his summer vacation.

In Bryce canyon the rock formations are called hoodoos and who do you think wants to be one????

Even Queen Victoria wants to be a hoodoo.

Just more spectacular scenery at Bryce canyon.

We walked down into this part of the canyon, from Sunrise to Sunset.
(Outlooks that is - that's what we call scenic viewpoints here in the US of A.) It was still a good hike of about 3 hours and b.. hot in the middle of the day. Our timing wasn't too good with these walks.

After trapsing around Bryce Canyon all day, we headed back to camp at Red Canyon where the campsite was almost as pretty as Bryce had been. Some of the locals seemed a little backward but the wildlife was surprisingly well educated.

As the name suggests Arches National Park was full of natural arches. This one was called Landscape Arch and was a 306 foot span.

The views were quite special when seen through the many arches and what a perfect day except for the 100F heat while we walked for 3 hours, again in the middle of the day.

In Capital Reef National Park we saw these amazing Indian aboriginal rock etchings. (You'll need to zoom in to see them.) About 6-700 years old they were unlike other artwork because they were etched and the other tribes had used paint similar to the ochre used by the Australian aboriginals.

Rockies road to Yellowstone

2007-07-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

At Drumheller in Alberta we were surprised to find some artifacts and fossils from the Jurassic era, but the wildlife at our campsite that night was really terrifying.

Chris demonstrated her skills at taming the prehistoric creatures.

We did get some exercise in Waterton NP when we took a short hike up Bear Hump. The climb was quite challenging but the view did make it worth the effort.

The golf course at Waterton had some difficult holes but there were other, more serious, challenges also to contend with.

Nevertheless, Drew, the undaunted golf warrior pars another hole at Waterton. It's such an easy game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, being the toffs we are, we had to have high tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel at Waterton and take a photo inside and out to show we'd been here.

In Waterton NP, Canada, the wildflowers were all in bloom, reminding us of the West Coast of Australia in Spring. The deer roamed through the township and rested in the shade next to the verandahs of local houses.

Chris sits beside the stream in red rock canyon, Glacier NP- the colours were amazing

Just another beautiful stream. Ho hum!

At Logans Pass on the Road to the Sun in Glacier National Park, Montana, we took a shuttle bus and saw more wildlife, including a few coyotes (this one was gulping down some roadkill), long horned wild sheep (they didn't look to angry to us, but sure blended in with their environment) and more lovely scenery.

Considered a walk up Logans Pass but the snow was a little to thick for our sandshoes.

Taking a boat trip on the Missouri River we heard about how this area was flooded and there was a house that was picked up in the flood, floated around a lake about 2 km wide, then settled back about 100 yards from where it started. The owners moved back in and lived there for another 20 years.

The most beautiful part of Yellowstone was the colours of the hot springs, because of the differing temperatures and minerals in the pools.

The variety of wildlife in Yellowstone was incredible, including Black bears, grizzly bears, elk, deer, buffalo, assorted squirrels and chipmunks, and 100's of species of birds.

Of course we had to include 1 photo of old faithful geyser. It goes off about every 90 minutes. Not the most beautiful part of Yellowstone but probably the best known.

Canadian Rockies

2007-07-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Travelling the Icefield Parkway from Lake Louise to Jasper we saw some of the most beautiful scenery of our travels to date. Here we travelled onto Athabasca Glacier in a custom made glacier bus. As our water supply was low this seemed a perfect chance to replenish!!

Th view of the glacier was lovely but walkling on ice was a little cool.

Having scaled the mountain overlooking Jasper we appreciated the view from the summit
OK we took the chairlift but the view was still great.

From the mountain we could see the 3 blue lakes fed entirely from glacier melt.
The milky coloured creek was fed by rainwater and run off and the small green lake was fed by a combination of both.

Drew wanted to show off

In the national parks we had to share our environment with the bears and other wildlife, but these bins were provided so we didn't need to share our food.

Just another glacier fed lake in the Canadian Rockies

Radium Hot Springs at the south end of Kootenay National Park was a pleasant space to chill out for a couple of nights and the ribs at Back Country Jacks were delic!

The 4 national parks that make up the Canadian Rockies are Yoho, Kootenay, Jasper and Banff. This stream (with EL Van) in the background was in Kootenay, but there were so many beautiful streams, waterfalls, ice capped mountains and glaciers that they all started to look the same.

The walk around Lake Louise was another wonderful sensational kaleidoscope as you can see from the view here from Lake Louise Lodge. Definitely much better than drew's visit to the dentist in Banff where he was prescribed pencillin to cure an abscess. Later he needs a root canal to fix the tooth - yuk.

Vermillion lake at banff presented Chris with a great photo opportunity

Here's some of the wildlife we found in the parks!

Alaska

2007-07-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

Our plane to Alaska was a little smaller than we expected. Just kidding, this plane was just from Vancouver to Seattle where we boarded a humungus plane to Anchorage.

It was raining, overcast and not very appealing when we arrived at Wittier to board the Diamond Princess so we adjourned to the bar.

But by the time we disembarked and started cruising the weather improved and we could at least look at the pool, but not quite warm enough to go in. The bar was still OK.

Seeing the wildlife at sea was a highlight - some sea otters float past.

Now here's some lines of code that you might like. OK, we don't know why they're here

href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_Qw-9F67UfxI/RpzpQXP1-hI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/h1z-86PDsZE/s1600-h/DSC04498.JPG">
The pool was too cold for us but even the seagulls had cold feet.

all the birds here seemed to have cold feet. There's nowhere warm for them to land.

Glacier Bay was spectacular. Had to stay out of the bar for several hours to take photos - but we only included a couple here.

Chris still found some time to do some line dancing classes. Drew's feet failed the classes so he reverted to plan A (photographing the bay, not the bar)

Proof that we were there - Glacier bay in the background

Lots of avalanches as the Glacier seems to have a life of its own.

Skagway was a fascinating town with interesting history as part of the goldrush - gateway to the Yukon.

We even made some new friends there.

Another beautiful glacier was Mendelhson, with the adjacent waterfall.

At Ketchikan, Creek Street was the old red light district and a beautiful part of town in other ways too.

Bald eagles here congregated around the marina hoping for a feed as the boats returned with their catch.

Our friend Roger went fishing and had some success so he and his wife Mary invited a few of us to help him devour his salmon. But it was too big for our table of ten.

Oregon and Washington photos

2007-07-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

In Seattle we found a great folk festival within our price range - yes it was free.
Memories of Woodford came flooding back.

Doing the tourist thing we walked to Pikes Market and watched the passing parade.

These guys in the fishmarket were entertaining the crowd by tossing the fish around when someone made a purchase - just like Tom Cruise and Brian Brown in "Cocktail"

Pikes Market was OK but the folk festival but much more fun.

What a beautiful starfish we saw on the beach in Washington state.
Look like someone you know?

Even the lamps here look human.

A bit on the side

Fragrance lake was another beautiful place in Washington state - so many places, so little time.

The view from the pub on Orca Island in the San Juan Islands just (north of the Seattle coast) was quite pretty.

From Friday Harbour in the San Juan Islands, the views were even better but there wasn't a pub - what a wasted opportunity.

Vancouver to Lake Louise

2007-07-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

In Stanley park at Vancouver - Drew thinks he's a totem pole.

Butchard Gardens on Vancouver Island was a photographers paradise but we thought we'd only publish 2 here so you don't fall asleep. Unfortunately the hat which was a favourite momento of Jaiselmere in India was lost later in the trip.

We were lucky to spot a female black bear and her 2 cubs on Vancouver Island near Uclulet.

Liz and Allan, our friends from the cruise had an amazing place on Vancouver island where they could gaze out over the water, sometimes watching the cruise ships sail past and a lovely garden where the deer grazed and the bald eagles soared overhead.

In the Okanaghan Valley we actually visited the "Soaring Eagle" winery, where the garden was beautiful, the view of the lake spectacular and the wines pretty good too. A great place for lunch as I recall.

In Yoho National Park (one of the 4 national parks in the Canadian Rockies we whiked from our campsite at Kicking Horse and watched one of the many mile long freight trains slowly roll past. "You can't sit on that station Chris!!!"

We took a bus to Beautiful Lake Ohara and walked to Lake Oessa mainly hiking through the snow (our sandshoes weren't the best choice of footware but the only choice.

At Lake Oessa we sat and enjoyed watching and listening to one avalanche after another

British Columbia, Alberta, Montana and Wyoming

2007-07-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

Washington state,Alaska and Vancouver Island

2007-06-17T14:42:00.000-07:00

Inland we went to see Helen do her stuff. St. Helen is an active volcano and we were lucky enough to see her under a sunny sky with smoke comming out. There was still a bit of snow around - beautiful. Then off to Olympia.
We did not know at the time what a good decision that would be - we only went there for maps. At the AAA office we saw a special for an Alaskan cruise which was too good to refuse so (off to alaska) we went via Vancouver, Seatle in a tiny weany 36 seater plane and a 3 hour wait then Ancourage. Oops I missed out on a week. After we booked we had a week to see Seatle where we caught a free folk festival and a look around the inner city and a couple of days in a state park looking out onto the islands and travelling through quaint towns and Widbey and Bainbridge Islands. We also took a ferry ride for a days trip to the San Juan Islands. You could not get a more picturesque place.

We had one day in Ancorage where we went to the local market where Drew purchased a really cool (I mean warm) beany. We had a look around the city and museum before we caught a train to Whittier where we boarded the very, very big boat (I mean ship) and ate and drank our way back to Vancouver via College fjord, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan.
The seas were angry that day my friend (no they were not. It was calm seas all the way)
We did not have any formal clothes for the posh nights but we were not going to miss out on the lobster so Drew borrowed a dinner jacket from the maitre d'e and I winged it with my Indian clothes. Dinner was delicious.

Back in Vancouver feeling very fat we waddled around Stanley Park and the Planetarium and then hopped on the ferry to
Vancouver Island where we spent 4 nights exploring Swartz Bay, Butchard's Gardens, Pacific Rim National Park, Tofino and Ucluelet. We bumped into Liz and
Alan (friends of ours from the cruise) and then spent a great night back at their house . If you read this Liz and Alan, thanks again. On the island we saw 2 single b

2007-06-17T14:41:00.003-07:00

2007-06-17T14:41:00.001-07:00

USA the west coast

2007-05-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

We made to USA, hooray, hooray,

After we were frisked when we arrived in Chicago, then missed our flight because of delays in the air before Chicago,we discovered that our flight was cancelled along with many others because of bad weather in the southern states. Tension mounted as we sat and waited to find if we would get a seat on the next flight or we would be stranded in Chicago without our luggage for the night. With over a hundred people on the wait list, Chris was relieved when our names were called, BUT WHERE'S DREW. "Yes, Mrs Dunlop you can board now but if your husband isn't here you will have to go without him", said the flight attendant.
After a few moments panic, Drew shows up with some Mcdonalds fries and a thick shake, which almost cost him his life, but as fate would have it, we made the flight and didn't feel too sorry for the 100 passengers left behind and stranded at the airport.

Finally, we made it to LA after about 28 hours travelling from Madrid, and then started to organise ourselves for the U.S leg of the travelling Dilburies adventures.

Finding a campervan took about 4 days, but eventually, we discovered EL Van, a '94 GMC Vandura, a small camper, with all the luxuries of home, except trivial items like a stove, a table, a loo or a shower. Obviously, these minor inconveniences would present no problem during the next 6 months, so the deal was done. El Van (or Ellie as Chris likes to call him, even his/(her) sex is in question) was duly driven to San Diego by way of a beautiful state park at San Clemente. In San Diego we made the mistake of stopping at a red light and after some 10-15 seconds at this intersection we were joined, rather abruptly (I'd guess at about 20 MPH) by a fellow motorist in her sedan, whereby she caused some slight modifications to the appearance and general health of El Van. You will, I hope, be pleased to know that, we, the occupants of El Van did not suffer from the same or any other form of modification to our health.

Undaunted, we proceeded to spend a few days in San Diego, visiting the wonderful San Diego zoo, 2 panel beaters and Tijuana. The highlights were, as you'd expect, the zoo and our walk over the border into Tijuana (the 1.5 hour queue to get back across into USA aside).

From San Diego we returned to LA and the same motel where we stayed for our 1st 5 night in US, and no it was not just because of the free champagne during happy hour from 4-6 pm. (Don't tell them but that's really 2 hours).

During our time in LA we did some of the tourist things like drive along Sunset Blvd, visit Venice Beach, Muscle Beach (where of course, we really looked just like everyone else), Santa Monica and the pier. One thing that really impressed us was the friendliness and the politeness of all the locals we met. Even the motorists are polite.In a suburban street, if you look like you're going to step onto the pavement (that's bitumen for all you Aussies) they slow down and even stop to wave you across the road.

We had afew obstacles to overcome in registering the van. These were overcome by using the L.A. backpackers address as our home address (with the cooperation of the front desk staff) and a few non disclosures i.e. where we were travelling to and the fact that we were not intending to get Calafornian licences which they were very keen for us to obtain. So off north we travelled, after purchasing the necessary items to be ultra coumfortable, eg. chairs,a table, a gas stove, pots, crockery, you get the idea.

We drove up the west coast until we turned to go to San Fransisco. The scenery was spectacular, as expected, but Drew nearly had heart failure when I was driving. I don't know why, I did not hit anything. We stayed in scenic State parks and loved the freedom of the journey. Mothers day was a highlight as we spent the lunch hours at Pier 39 eating a superb lunch and watching the seals, then off to Napa Valley.

The wineries, scenery and parks we stayed at were fun. Two days in both Napa and Sonoma Valleys were not enough but you cannot spend all your time walking in nature reserves and sampling wines - well we could, but we had places to go and people to see.

We drove back to the coast and through redwood country, camping at the state parks and walking through the forrests until we were put off by the ranger telling us that a wild cat had attacked a man recently and there were signs up to that affect so we packed up and headed north, over the boarder to Oregon where the beaches are even more spectacular that California and the forrests and rivers bigger - wow -
We ventured inland to see Crator Lake, and we were very lucky to see it in clear, sunny weather .
On the way back to the coast we went through waterfall country with more, beautiful, big rivers and forrests.

Over the border to Washington State.

Photos of Morocco

2007-05-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

Some of the views while trekking in the High Atlas mountains were quite beautiful.

And some of the villages were lovely too.

Talk about a job with a view

The contrasting colours of the green pastures,

the grey any red hills and the blue sky was awesome.

Marty, Chris, Kekulu, Drew and Allison at dawn overlooking a large Kasbah in the Dades valley.

A view from the same Kasbah!

Just another Kasbah. Ho hum.

At the start of our all day trek in the high Atlas Drew met and sang French songs

with some local village s. I think they just wanted him to give them some money.

That dot up on the mountainside is a local village woman collecting some sort of grass or herbs.

Chris shows off her amazing sense of balance and adventure crossing a raging river.

Allison looks on patiently.

Steve, our intrepid (no, sorry Imaginative) tour leader and some of the group enjoying a view of the Mid atlas ranges from the ruins of another (you guessed it) kasbah.

Just someof the s on the tour.

It was pretty tough for Drew being the only male except for Steve, our leader.

Dancing with some Berber women.

Chris and Kekulu during another trek

Here they are again.

the berbery apes

the home to 400 horses owned by the king in about 1500 AD

all the gang

Morroco

2007-05-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Casablanca airport in the afternoon (how civilized) and took the cheapest way to get to the hotel, train (bugger just missed it and the next one arrived 100 slow minutes later) ,then mini cab to the hotel. A lesson to the wise. We were told to negotiate everything - wrong - you pay on the meter which would have been half the cost of what we paid. So much for the cheapest possible transport to the hotel. Casa is a big commercial city, nothing like in mums favorite movie but the mosque is enormous, yes we went and saw another bloody mosque! The next day we travelled by train 2nd class to Meknes 4 hours in the train 1.5 standing squashed together in the isle, but we had fun getting to know the other 6 people on the tour all English speaking - hooray! That night we walked 1 hour to our dinner at the old imperial city - yum.

In Meknes we roamed the old city, exploring the grannery (every old city must have one of those. How else could one eat), a Muslim training centre for the olden days, and of course the suk (bazaar) where we had lunch. We were warned not to eat the salads in this area as we would have about a 50% chance of getting very sick for about 4 days. We ate cooked meat! Then another train trip 2nd class to Fes. This time we sat down. Oh I forgot to tell you that Drew and I got hopelessly lost walking back to the hotel before the train trip. As we were nearly out of time to get back before the train left we hailed a cab which took us 7k out of our way, Drew saying the hotel name over and over again. When we got back everyone was waiting for us and to our dismay we got into the cab around the corner from the hotel - very frustrating!

Fes was great. Alot of history and a day with a guide to get us through all the alleys, each specialising in different things, eg. jewelry (goodie). Another dinner 1 hours walk from our hotel. What is it with our guide, always marching us so far for our tucker? I must admit it was yummy so I forgive him.

The next day we travelled by bus to Midelt, which is in the mid Atlas mountains. The scenery is spectacular and the drive comfortable. Mid afternoon we went on a small? hike 3.2 hours and back for dinner and dancing - yes dancing ,Burber belly dancing. Drew had a ball and I must admit I enjoyed myself as well.

We are now getting higher into the mountain range. Stopped at Todra Gorge for a walk and then stayed at Dades Valley. In this valley are 1000 Kasbahs and to walk a small section of the valley was fantastic, Kasbahs and greenery everywhere. The villagers use the valley to grow food for everyone who cannot afford to pay for it. There we went for a half day walk of the gorge - beautiful, beautiful. Before we get into the high Atlas mountains we spend a night at Ait Benaddou where there are many Kasbahs. Many movies were made around here, eg. Gladiator and Lawrence of Arabia.

The nest two days were spent in Imlil, a village in the High Atlas mountains where the Berber people have always lived. There we went on a days hiking about 14ks of up and down, slippery donkey tracks. When it was over Terry, another woman on our tour and I went into the village and had a traditional humum (steam room wash by Berber women ) My muscles were aching before I went in but much better when I left. They then invited us to have tea and walnuts in their home - a mud hut two storey - animals underneath and a T.V.. That was a memorable experience and I flopped into bed early exhausted.

Off to the coast next to the tourist town of Essouaira where we walked on the beach and purchased jewelry (at last) then to Marrakech. This city, like Casablanca was a bit of a disappointment but only because Meknes, Fes, the atlas mountains and Essouaira were so very, very wonderful. The highlight of Marrakech was definitely the atmosphere at the huge market (souq) In there you will see Berber musicians, snake charmers, witch doctors and an assortment of food stalls. Yes, I know, I am always talking about the food.

The tour ended there but Drew and I took a train to Rabat. The capital city was memorable for the Chellah, an archeological site of old Roman ruins and Muslim tombs. With beautiful scenery and gardens it was well worth the visit.

In Casablanca we had another experience - we were walking around the city when we decided to head to the waterfront. As it was a bit far we were looking for a taxi when 2 guys driving an old truck stopped next to us at a traffic light and when we said hi and started to chat they offered us a lift. We jumped in and headed for the beach but then decided that we would have a few beers with them down at the waterfront. By this time Chris is getting very nervous. Anyway we stopped at a bottle shop for a couple and before we new it we had a dozen stubbies and a small bottle of Scotch. With Chris starting to getting a little scared we headed for the beach. The guys started drinking very quickly and we thought we better leave them to it. Although they asked us to come back for dinner we thought we might escape instead and left them to it.

With another long walk had great two days there before we headed back to Casa where we took a long walk down to the beach, past enormous Mumslim cemeteries (in prime beachfront real estate) and on to Ricks cafe. Although itr was closed and isn't the one used in the movie Casablance it was still worth the long long walk to see it.

The next day it was on the plane again to fly back to Madrid and onto U.S.A. What a great adventure we had!

Spain

2007-04-05T04:24:00.000-07:00

Time for lunch on the streets of Cadiz. The local mandarines were just out of reach.
The view over Cadiz harbour from the fort is truly superb.
Our hotel Riesco was in Sol Plaza, Madrid and it was in this Plaza that the residents of Madrid tried to foil the Napoleonic army when it invaded Spain in about 1803. The men, women and children resorted to throwing rocks from the balconies of the houses but all I had was my hat.

We arrived in Spain in Holy week.Every day there was a procession and a marching band with hooded people marching behind.
In Seville we had to witness an evening of FLAMENCO and it was everything we expected. OLE

Chris in Madrid with our supplies of food.

"Beautiful, beautiful" was the description of the local hostal manager in Sol Plaza,Madrid, of the parkland near our hostal. She was right, of course.
Sometimes we had to take time out from busy travelling life and just stop and smell the roses.

I am pooped because it took ages to get this computer to write in English instead of Spanish...Chris is writing this segment because Drew is trying to pay wages on another computer. This is my second go at this computer stuff and I do not know what I am doing. We arrived in Spain at Madrid airport at 7 in the morning after 1-2 hours sleep on the plane so we were slower to think than usual. Not a good place to be thick. Metro is fantastic, we could understand where to go and a map was also easy to understand so we found our way to our accommodation which was in a good spot very near the main square, had a sleep for a couple of hours, then the fun started. Armed with limited words of translated phases we tried to communicate to people in cafes, bus stations, museums and on the phone. Virtually no-one speaks English unlike in Egypt and India , so we gave up and went for a lovely walk around some parks (beautiful, beautiful - as our hotel receptionist described it - her only English words) and then off to a very fine restaurant, our only splurge for Spain.

Our limited Spanish is now coming in handy. We know how to order beer, red and white wine, coffee, tea, chocolate and not much else. We can count to 4 and say please, thank you, yes, no and of course no understand. We smile alot and use alot of pointing and body laungage. This does not go down to well, especially with young men who tend to stare at you as if to say go home you ignoramous.

Never the less, we enjoyed our time in Madrid, sampled many tapas bars, chocolate concoctions , cafes, walking tours of the old churches , Prada museum and went back to a market where dad had a pickpockets hand in his pocket 33 years ago. I can still hear him yelling thief, thief and thus frightened the man off. Nothing as exciting happened to us.We even managed to book a bus to Seville. We had to go to the bus station to book as we could not get anyone to understand us on the phone. At this point, I must be honest and say that Drew was the one that did all the communication stuff while I stood back and did nothing.

Off to Seville we go. That part was easy enough, but then we had to get a local bus to our accommodation. Around and around we went until we finally were told to get off the bus, go this way and that, more around and around we went ( all with back packs on) until we find our room at 10.00 at night. We dumped our luggage and headed off to a tapas bar - surprise. On the way back, at midnight we ran into a parade with floats and marching band music. It is holy week in Spain and we will see this sight over and over again.While we were in Seville we had a few great hours in the sun, next to the river, sipping vino, then more tapas bars then finally, the flamenco dancing. Yes... we had to do the tourist flamenco thing, but I tell you, it was fantastic.

Next adventure, bus ride to El Puerto de Santa Maria with the usual miscommunication . We seem to be able to get from city to city easily enough, it is the getting to the booked accommodation that seems to stump us. So around and around we go (again)until we find our room. Here we discover a treasure called (you guessed it) Maria. She cannot speak a word of English but she is delightful. She calls me Christina and then I cannot understand a word she is saying. She gives us the important things one needs in life - towels, a key with mimed instructions on how to get in and out of the place, a knife and a corkscrew - We seemed to have lost ours , bugger. Here we spend 3 nights , oh how good it is not to have to think. We wander around the pebble stone streets and find tapas bars - surprise - cafes, churches, forts and wineries (famous for sherry and of course we sampled as many as were available). We also spent a great day catching a ferry to Cadiz where we did the usual wandering the streets and finding the usual things to see and eatand drink (often without knowing what they were).

Tomorrow we bus it back to Madrid and the next day off to the next adventure - Morrocco.

It has been cold in Spain but mainly sunny. I have been wearing all my cold weather clothes on all at the same time. Drew purchased a leather coat in Cairo so he seemed to be warm enough. The countryside from Madrid to Cadiz is beautiful and fertile and I must say, that the vino has been very, very good. The streets of the cities are mainly clean and quaint and the facades of the old buildings are being or have been restored.

Adios amegos untill the next installment of this adventure.

PS We will eventuall put some photos here too. If you would like to see or hear some more about the Indian adventure, Scott and Shelley have a great blog called shelleymoore.blogspot

Egypt

2007-03-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

Just an aside. Chris learning to walk like an Egyptian.

One of our few pictures of the Nile. This was taken at Cairo.

Pick the Sphinx!

Pick Mohammed. The taxi driver for our trip to Saqqara and Drew exchange hats.

Chris loved this photo of the sheep going into a house in the back streets of Alexandria.

Just to prove we've been there! One of the 3 great pyramids of Giza and it's Sphinx.

Yahoo, an upgrade from Delhi to London, 5 hours in London airport where they took our unopened bottled water we got from the aeroplane - poobah then a drunken flight to Cairo. There was a man in the backseat moaning and screaming so security came and got him in a headlock. I did not know whether to be scared or feel very sorry for him. I think he was being deported. At Cairo airport Drew and his Egyptian drinking buddy had their passports taken off them while I was ushered through. I and assume Drew had an anxious 5 minutes before they let them through. I left my reading glasses in the taxi in my exhausted state, never to be seen again.

We had a free day in Cairo before the tour started (to sleep, change money and get our bearings in a new city). Police everywhere - this, apparently was normal.The tour leader 25 year old Aussy Amanda was fantastic and the rest of our group of 9 happy campers went off to the Giza pyramids and the Cairo museum, then an overnight seater train to Aswan where it was my turn for Cairo belly which made it a very yucky night and next day for me.Meanwhile Drew went on a felluca ride down the nile while I stayed in my cabin. When I emerged the boat staff were great. 4 nights and 3 days on the cruise ship on the Nile I will never forget, it was fantastic, even better than I hoped for. We visited lots of historical sites, road donkeys , I was petrified for the first 15 minutes and Drew cound not get on so they threw him over the donkey like a sack of potatoes and somehow swivelled him so his legs were apart. There he spent an agonising 1 hour jiggling on the donkey. I belly laughed all the way to the valley of the kings. We saw the usual sights in Aswan and Edfu , Luxor where we went on an early morning hot air balloon ride and took a horse and cart ride to Karnak temple. The next day we went to the Valley of the workers - everybody back then was mummyfied (after death of course).

We joined the bus convoy from Luxor to Hurghada, a Red Seaside resort town - not that we had any choice. Tourists are not aloud to travel in between those 2 destinations unless in convoy due to the terrorist attacks previously made on tourists. Snorkelled in the Red sea and relaxed by the sea for 2 days, then another bus convoy back to Cairo.

Now we are on our own in Cairo for 4 days. The first day was spent with our buddies Caroline and Sandy. We bargained the taxi ride from 20 Egyptian pounds to 10 and then Drew had such fun with the taxi driver that he paid 20 anyway. Our buds teased Drew but he was very happy. We saw another mosque, the old city and a great market and walked our feet off. We went back to the Cairo museum and braved the metro on our own - what brave vegemites we are.

The second last day in Egypt was spent in Alexandria. We caught the metro (underground) then a country train there and back. Shelley would be proud of us - All the way there and back and did not get lost once. We saw lots of stuff - Monuments and forts and mosques and Roman ruins and ended the day with a fantastic fish dinner. This may sound very boring to you guys but the fish was very exciting to us.

The last day was spent going by taxi back to Giza pyramids and also visiting Saqqarah pyramids and the Memphis museum, then catching up on the internet - thus this blog, and generally mucking around.

Egyptian people , in our experience, are very friendly and helpful. They speak quite alot of English and drive like madmen. Egpyt gets a big tick from us.

2007-03-15T05:32:00.000-07:00

Drew being checked for explosives at the entrance to the mosque.

An amzing tree in the gardens of the red fort.

DELHI AND FAREWELL INDIA, SCOTT AND SHELL

Delhi was like Mumbai in many ways, about 13 million people, very busy and the usual hassles in the streets from street vendors, taxi drivers and beggars.

On our last night together, we all took an auto rickshaw to a local dance presentation. Much of it was awesome. Beautiful costumes and intricate dances with great variety with the highlight being a dance by one oriental guy balancing a juggling a large bone shaped stick with 1 or 2 large chopsticks, while dancing and staying in rhythm to the drummer. Another rickshaw took us to a posh (very unusual for us) rooftop revolving restaurant. Amazing views, a few drinks, and great food for a very expensive $75 total ahd Scott feeling all at sea after living on about $200-250 per week for most of their time travelling in India.

Chris and I hired a taxi for 4 hours the next morning (for $1.50) and visited an enormous mosque and the red fort (also enormous compared to other forts we had visited) with beautiful gardens but less exciting architecture than the others.

After a few drinks and completing a few more games of 500 (the result of which I am unable to divulge for reasons of modesty) we said our very sad farewells to Scott and Shell as they took the train to Varinassi before crossing the border to Nepal.

Tomorrow we take the somewhat indirect route to Cairo via London. It will be a very, very long day.

2007-03-15T05:16:00.000-07:00

Some local kids who were excited to meet Chris, Scott and Shell on their walk.

AGRA AND THE TAJ MAHAL

Finally I succumbed to the anticipated bout of Delhi belly spending a memorable evening closing examining the local plumbing from every conceivable angle. Next morning, while Chris, Scott and Shell enjoyed a a 6km trek through Agra to visit the mini Taj, I waited for a repeat bout which fortunately never eventuated.

The next day we all visited the Taj Mahal and were not disappointed in the size, majesty or beauty of this, the world's large erection by one man for one woman.

Our anticipated 5 hour journey starting at about 2pm to Delhi was our worst experience with the inefficiency of India rail. Apparently, the rail department tries to compensate for being 2 hours late in departing by being 2 hours slow in travelling the 180km to delhi. Had the auto rickshaws not been quite so terrifying or uncomfortable they may have been a better alternative for this journey.

2007-03-15T05:02:00.000-07:00

4 DAYS TO RELAX IN LOVELY PUSHKAR

After taking the train to Jodphur, while waiting about 3 hours for a bus we were lucky to witness a lunar eclipse. Finally we made it to Ajmer and another short bus ride saw us arriving in beautiful Pushkar.

The town is very touristy and set around the banks of a small beautiful lake. Most of the shore of the lake is occupied by Hindu temples.

We lazed around most of the time, but we did hire a couple of mopeds and had alot of fun riding around town and the surrounding country looking for some temples, but not finding any.

Climbing up the small mountain to another temple rewarded us with some magnificent views back over Pushkar.

2007-03-10T05:13:00.000-08:00

OVERNIGHT TRAIN TO JAISELMER

We were very lucky to find that we could still stay inside the fort here. The problems of deterioration in the building caused largely by the problems of plumbing and water erosion mean the fort may not be able to accommodate tourists much longer.

The fort looked like a beach sandcastle from a distance but must look like a mirage to the local tribesmen.

The view from our $5 room was OK!!!!!!!!!
Making Roti or Chappatti or some other form of Indian bread.
Shelley, Thomas (a German tourist we met here) and Raju (rooftop restaurant owner)

Chris, Thomas and some locals before the camel safari.

Chris has been coloured by the local children as part of a Holy (Holly) celebration.

We all copped agood colouring, specially Scott and Shell.

After the camel safari we're sitting on the sand dunes watching the sunset commenting on the one thing that's lacking - a cold beer, when a local boy walks up with a sack of 4 kingfisher beers, 8& proof, so you don't need too many. The wonders of India will never cease.

2007-03-10T04:29:00.000-08:00

LONG OVERNIGHT TRAIN TRIP TO JODPHUR AND THE BLUE FORT CITY

The last overnight train trip was a breeze. This time we had the usual sleeping area designed to accommodate 8, in 2 triple decker bunks and a double decker. At times we had up to 16 people trying to sleep in this very confined area. Just add all the luggage and you have a pretty cramped space. Trying to chat to the locals was fun but difficult. They all wanted to talk about cricket and the world cup. This was to go on in every place we visited.

Jodphur was a very beautiful city (photos to come). The audio guided fort tour was exceptional.

The current Maharaja (now an honorary title only) stated that he always loved to come home to his palace in the fort. Gazing out from the top of the fort we could understand why. (Although the plumbing is somewhat antequated.)

Chris and Shelley in the outdoor section of the Zenana (womens area occupied by Maharaja's wives, concubines etc) protected by armed guards (sometimes eunechs) at Jodhpur fort.

The jeep tour from Jodhpur included a visit to the local opium den. Almost tasteless (so I'm told)
The local potters wre amazing and hardly tried to sell us anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The rug and carpet weavers were a friendly bunch and surprisingly the business had been in the family for several generations. No problems with choosing a career path here.

2007-03-10T04:17:00.000-08:00

OVERNIGHT TRAIN TO JAILGON AND THE AJUNTA CAVES

Our first experience of an overnight train trip was from Mumbai to Jailgon. We paid about $5 each for an overnight train journey and a bed in a 2nd class sleeper. What a way to experience Indian train travel. I hate to think what the conditions were like in the area without sleepers.

Jailgon was a much more sedate town, after the chaos of Mumbai. We took a bus trip to the Ajunta caves and were amazed by the work the Buddhist monks had done over hundreds of years in carving these temples out of the face of a long rock cliff. Beautiful, intricate carving.

2007-03-10T04:04:00.000-08:00

INDIA - ARRIVING IN MUMBAI- THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

Arriving in Mumbai was like landing on a different planet. We met a girl on the plane and shared the exhilaration of a taxi ride to Colaba district. Scott and Shell were waiting for us at the "hotel" and were a sight fore sore eyes.

Mumbai overwhelmed us with the noise, smells, poverty and the incessant requests to buy or give to beggars. We did enjoy the boat ride to Elephant Island where we wandered through the temple caves built over 500 years ago by the Hindus.

I found that I could buy prescription glasses with transitional lens for just $40 a pair, so investeed $80 and figured the savings would almost pay for 3 weeks in India.

Scott and Shell with one of the Hindu gods in the Elephant Island temples

2007-03-10T03:08:00.000-08:00

SYDNEY - USA visas and customs

First port of call was Sydney and catching up with our old mate (no offence intended) Keith.

After tackling the US embassy, where we were shuffled from one counter to another and being kept waiting about 2 hours we left, with high hopes that our visas would arrive in Mentone on time.

Dinner gave us an opportunity to catch up with Keith's friend Peter French and family. Interesting dinner conversation revolved around French's fetish for female pubic hair and the trouble he has at US customs when he brings several thousand samples into their country. It would be interesting to be a fly on the wall when he invites the customs officers to examine, smell and even taste his collection. But, he tells them, they may not xray the hairs. Why, you might ask? It's because French is using them to determine if his company can diagnose breast cancer from examining female hair samples, but because the samples cannot have been treated or dyed in any way, the hairs from the heads of the female patients cannot be used.

MELBOURNE- FAMILY AND FRIENDS

In Melbourne we took the opportunity to spend some time with family and friends and celebrated Chris's 50th yet again, together with our 30th anniversary.

Good Luck!

2007-02-20T03:08:00.000-08:00

Hey Mum and Dad

Well Shelley and I have just broken into your google account by correctly guessing your password (Geniuses we are !!!) and have set up this blog so you can use the world wide web to tell us all about your adventures in the weal wide world. No excuses now! When we see you in Mumbai we'll teach you all the tricks you need to know to keep your loving friends and family informed of all the mischief you two explorers are getting into. OK thats it... HAPPY 50th MAMA BEAR :)

Love Snott and Smell xoxoxoxoxoxo