TravelStream™ news feed for member richsarasloper on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/richsarasloper en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 25 Jun 2006 12:03:06 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1151227260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1151227260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1151227260/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jun 2006 12:03:06 -0400 The Sloper's adventure to the southern hemisphere and we made it back again!!!!

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Bracknell, United Kingdom

We have now been back six weeks, had to put up with rain for the first three weeks of being home, followed by a mini heat wave in early June. It's 10am on Sunday and it's cloudy and I think it's been raining. Since returning, we have moved back into our home after spending a week of enjoying the hospitality of Sara's parents, both found jobs, caught up with most of our friends, bought a car and at times the trip seems like a distant memory.

There are many occasions that I find myself drifting off into a daydream, picturing myself lying on some beach on the other side of the globe without a care in the world, but unfortunately you soon slip back into the routine of everyday life. Would I do it again? - absolutely. The sacrices made are more than out-weighed by the benefits. I would recommend the experience to anyone that has ever dreamed of doing it, but hasn't got the guts as you learn so much about each other and the world and when you return, you feel almost cleansed and refreshed. It's not long before you are able to fit back into the way of life you lead before, although this time you have a slightly different attitude towards people and a hell of a lot more memories to fall back on.

This will be my last entry and I would just like to thank both Sara's parents and my Father for their support whilst we were travelling, but most of all I would like to thank Sara for "tolerating" me and helping me to make my dream a reality. There is no other person I would have rather shared the experiences with.

Goodbye and always try and make the time for the person you love............
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1147535100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1147535100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1147535100/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jun 2006 12:02:22 -0400 The Sloper's adventure to the southern hemisphere and we made it back again!!!!

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Heathrow, United Kingdom

Sun 14th May

Arrived on schedule after a pretty restless and un-eventful flight, although Virgin have to be one of the best that we travelled with. Passed through customs without any hitches and when we got into the arrivals lounge, we found it difficult to see any of our family as we had timed our arrival with about 15 other planes from Asia and the Middle East so that we again felt like foreigners at the airport, although this time we were back in the UK!

After some emotional and joyous welcomes at the airport from Sara's parents, my Father & Barbara, we headed to Anne & Ted's to tell stories of our travels and to get some well earned rest........

After 27 weeks of being away, it seemed very strange to be back. We had visited some amazing places, seen some brilliant sights and met some fantastic people who had helped to make the experience that more memorable. However, the best part of the trip was being able to spend some quality time with Sara who had been my companion throughout and had to put up with my little ways and get to know my other foibles. There would never be another opportunity to spend so much time together and after all we had been through, sharing the experiences with her made it more special.

There are some places that we are both very fond of and have every intention of returning to one day as they hold a special place in our heart and if this trip has taught me anything, it is to make time to appreciate the ones that you love and try not to let the stress and strains of everyday life grind you down!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1146926160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1146926160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1146926160/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:43:56 -0400 The Sloper's adventure to the southern hemisphere and we made it back again!!!!

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Las Vegas, United States

Sat 6th May - Sat 13th May

At 10am the next morning we booked the hire car with Dollar and by 11.30 we had checked out the hotel, caught the hotel courtesy bus to the airport, then caught the rental car courtesy bus to the depot - all very smooth & straight-forward. I decided to spend the £2 a day upgrade from a compact to an intermediate car and was told to go into the compound and choose any car from the middle row. I ended up with a huge Chevrolet Pacifica for the same price as a Hyundai Accent.

We left for Vegas along the highway, but it took us an hour to get out of LA. After a short stop on the way at McDonalds with the countryside becoming more and more barren and desert like and the outside temperature climbing, we arrived in Vegas after about 5 hours of driving by cruise control on the empty roads. We checked into "The Carriage House Hotel" on Harmon Street, which was about 100 yards from the strip by the "Aladin" so the location was ideal. It had a nice pool and the rooms were ok, but a little "pokey" by US standards.

That night we just ate more junk food from the garage and got ourselves excited at all the channels we had to choose from on the TV.

On Sunday morning we got some supplies from the local supermarket then in the afternoon we walked along the strip in awe at the hotels and sights on display. That night we checked out "New York, New York", "Monte Carlo", "The Excalibur", "Luxor" & "Mandalay Bay" and by the time we finished it was nearly Monday! There was so much to look at and so much money had been spent in trying to make the themed hotels as spectacular as possible and better than the rest.

Monday was another day of sleeping until lunch time with a relaxing afternoon by the pool, followed by a trip to the ESPN zone so that we could watch some Stanley Cup play off hockey. We met up with Kevin & Wayne, who if you remember previously we had met in the Cook Islands, as they were in town for the night and explored "Paris Las Vegas" & "Bally"

Tuesday saw us hitting the "Desert Passage" shopping mall within the "Aladin", with loads for us to buy, but no budget left to afford anything special. We spent the night in too exhausted to cope with the Vegas night life.

We set off the next day for the hour long drive to the Hoover Dam via Lake Mead. Unfortunally since 9/11 security has been stepped up at the Dam and a lot of the areas that used to be open for tours are now off limits, but we parked up, had a walk round and took some impressive pictures. We drove back via Boulder City, then looked in the Factory Outlet shops just out of town. That evening we went to the "Tournament of the Kings" at the "Excalibur", which is an excellent night out where you eat like a banquet with your fingers and each area supports their own Knight depending on which country they are sitting in. We had to cheer for France, which was a shame but I really got into the spirit of the evening and Sara commented that she had never seen me so animated. We were both feeling quite lively so we stayed up and explored the "Bellagio", "Caesar's Palace", "MGM Grande" and "Tropicana"

Thursday saw us shopping again at the Forum Shops followed by a buffet lunch at "Treasure Island", which was our first one and turned out to be quite disappointing, by Vegas standards. We then walked on to "Circus Circus", which seems very dated and shabby in comparison to most of the other themed hotels. One of my favourites was the "Wynn", which has a Ferrari showroom in one corner of the ground floor! Next we went to "The Venetian", which we agreed had to be one of the most spectacular hotels on the strip. The architecture and design were amazing and it was easy to believe that you had stepped back in time to Italy, with the singing gondoliers and operatic plays. After that, we found a bar with cheap beer and ice hockey in the "Flamingo" hotel and within a couple of hours we were quite drunk mostly due to lack of food and walking too much in the hot afternoon. We intended to go out that evening with some people we had met at the bar, but by the time we got back to our room at 9pm to eat & change, it wasn't long before we were tucked up in bed with our plans for a wild evening truly shattered!!

Spent most of Friday morning sleeping and on the Internet, before catching our last bit of sun on the trip then getting ready for the Lance Burton Magic Show in the "Mirage". The show was excellent, although there is no such thing as magic! The illusions are very slick and the half-time juggling was very entertaining. After the show, we tried to explore the remaining hotels, we decided to pay another visit to our favourites such as "The Venetian", "Caesars Palace" and "The Bellagio" with a last drink at the "Aladin", which was our nearest hotel.

I have to admit that I wasn't too excited about the prospect of visiting Vegas and it was certainly a culture shock compared to what we experienced in both Fiji & Cook. The hotels are amazing, although some are in need of updating but there seems to be constant rejuvination of areas so that more and more is on offer. The downside is that if you want to have a good time, you need to have money, which at the end of a 26 week "holiday" is hard as there is so much than can be bought at such reasonable prices. Still we managed to only spend $17 on gambling, but mostly because I don't really know how to play roulette or cards. We will definately go back there one day with enough money in our pockets to really do it justice as we missed the Grand Canyon which is a place that apparently must be seen.

Woke early packed and felt pretty depressed about the prospects of returning to the UK and the trip being over with the only thing to look forward to of seeing our family and friends again. We left Vegas at about 11am and decided to take the route through LA via Santa Monica Boulevard, which meant we saw the Hollywood sign on the hill, as well as the Beverley Hills area, but unfortunately we didn't have time to explore LA properly as we had a plane to catch. We eventually dropped the car back, got to the airport, sat in a really small teminal where there were no facilities to buy any last minute duty free items. Our flight was an overnighter with a 5 hour time change so after watching 3 hours of the whole of the second season of Little Britain, we settled down to some sleep knowing that when we woke, it would all be over.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1143083940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1143083940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1143083940/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:41:52 -0400 The Sloper's adventure to the southern hemisphere and we made it back again!!!!

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Timaru, New Zealand

22nd March

Woke up to sunshine then spent a couple of hours looking around Akaroa. We took a road signposted towards the lighthouse which eventually became a dirt track and we had to turn back, however, the views over the peninsula and of the town were spectacular.

Left and headed back to Christchurch via Pigeons Bay in order to go to the Crusaders signing where I got to meet four of the players, have my picture taken with them and also got my shirt that Sara had bought me for my birthday autographed. The shirt was a really big suprise which Sara had arranged on the previous Monday without me having any idea she had it.

Set off South, driving for a couple of hours down the East coast and pitched our tent at Timaru on the Top 10 Caravan Park which turned out to have great facilities.
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Napier, New Zealand

Sun 16th April

Drove for three and a half hours to Napier via Hastings and stopped for lunch at Rosie O'Gradys where, you guessed it, I watched another game of rugby. The main reason for going to Napier was to look at the Art Deco buildings but after thirty minutes of walking and the equivalent of driving, we were both left underwelmed by the architecture.

We pitched our tent at Westbourne Caravan Park and had a nice quiet spot to ourselves before phoning Toby and heading back into town to watch the final rugby game of the weekend (yippee said Sara).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1145002500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1145002500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1145002500/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:37:42 -0400 The Sloper's adventure to the southern hemisphere and we made it back again!!!!

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Wellington, New Zealand

Fri 14th April

Good Friday, although not so good for Sara as she woke up feeling ill with a bad head. We were intending to spend the morning maybe horse riding or one of the thermal pools, but instead we decided to leave for Palmerston North which was four hours South so that Sara could sleep her headache off on the way. I had a McDonalds breakfast and left in the sunshine following all the boats and trailers through the forested countryside.

The only reason we stopped at Palmerston was to look at the Rugby Museum of New Zealand and we spent a couple of hours there with no other guests, chatting to the staff who fed us cups of tea and biscuits (although they wouldn't normally do this if it was busy). I found the museum pretty fascinating because of my love for rugby and at only $5 good value for money. We set off again at 4pm when they closed and drove another 2.5 hours to Wellington stopping on the way to view the sunset setting on the peninsular.

Finally we checked in to a reasonable hotel called Quest on Willis for $89 a room including self contained kitchen and with the added bonus of Sky TV I was able to watch a couple of rugby games.

Sat 15th April

Watched some movies on Sky, caught up with some friends and family on the internet then went to the Lord of The Rings Trilogy exhibition at Te Papa Museum which is on until the 24th April and at only $12 per person is well worth three or four hours. It was full of artifacts and props from the films as well as lots of making of information.

Spent the evening watching three more rugby games back at the hotel (Sara can't wait till the Super 14 finishes).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1145419800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1145419800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1145419800/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:29:57 -0400 The Sloper's adventure to the southern hemisphere and we made it back again!!!!

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Hamilton, New Zealand

Tues 18th April

Woke to grey skies and rain! Packed up the tent as quickly as possible, then stopped so Sara could have breakfast at the Cheesecake Shop then headed to Matamata, about two hours away, which is the home to Hobbiton, as featured in The Lord of The Rings Trilogy.

The tour cost $50 each and can only be done guided as it is on private land. You get to hear all the history of how the site was chosen, to tales regarding filming, to how the tours were set up and it is a lot more interesting than expected. A lot of the sites had been removed, but due to bad weather some were retained and with the movie story boards in the relevant locations, it is easy to imagine how it would look. The only downside of the trip was the torrential rain during the two and half hour duration, but our trip to New Zealand had encouraged us to buy and watch the movies again.

We were both soaking so we dried off in the car and drove to Hamilton where we checked into the Aquarius Motor Inn as rain was forecast throughout the night. Hamilton is also a nice place, which seems more laid back than Auckland and much, much cleaner. We had some pizza, did about three loads of washing and saw some movies on sky.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1144798380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1144798380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1144798380/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:24:44 -0400 The Sloper's adventure to the southern hemisphere and we made it back again!!!!

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Rotorua, New Zealand

Tues 11th April

Spent the morning going up the Sky Tower to further overcome my fears as it is 323 metres high and the largest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. Sara thought I was being pretty brave and I even stood on the reinforced glass floor looking down at the city below, although there was no way I would do the bungy jump. After that we drove to the Auckland Museum and spent a couple of hours looking at the exhibits. It is well worth a visit as the layout is really logical and everything in there is interesting to look at. My particular favourite was floor 2 which dealt with New Zealand's assistance during the war effort.

Following this we drove for three hours through fairly ordinary countryside to Rotorua where we checked into The Rotorua Thermal Caravan Park and spent the evening watching New Zealand television and reading.

Weds 12th April

Went to the big i-site on the corner of Fenton Street and booked a package of trips. That afternoon we went to the Te Puia thermal pools and Mauri centre just five minutes out of town. We attended a Mauri show in a traditional ceremony house and after that we were given an hour long guided tour around the mud pools and geysers by a very knowledgeable and informative Mauri guide. Then we did our own walk around the rest of the park. At only 8.50GBP each lasting about three hours it was money well spent and gave us a good cultural insight into the Mauri way of life.

That evening we went to see "V for Vendetta" at the cinema which was a film that left us both feeling pretty indifferent and although I doubted Natalie Portman could act from her performances in the Star Wars films this movie proved how awful she really is.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1145506500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1145506500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1145506500/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jun 2006 11:12:43 -0400 The Sloper's adventure to the southern hemisphere and we made it back again!!!!

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Auckland, New Zealand

Weds 19th April

Unfortuantely, we had to drive back into Auckland to pick up our tickets to Fiji from the flight centre and Sara really wasn't enamoured by the prospect as neither of us had a good vibe regarding the place.

Did a bit of last minute shopping and left as soon as possible and after an endless trawl of the airport motels looking for vacancies, we ended up at the 'Grand Chancellor', which is by no means the cheapest, but is pretty luxurous and had plenty of space.

We had some food and our last chance of some local lager in the hotel bar, whilst reflecting on our journies around New Zealand before watching Dantes Peak.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1144385640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1144385640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/richsarasloper/richsarasloper/1144385640/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jun 2006 06:02:22 -0400 The Sloper's adventure to the southern hemisphere and we made it back again!!!!

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Christchurch, New Zealand

Thursday 6th April

Woke up to lots of dew on the ground but blue skies. After packing up Roo (our tent) once again we headed off into Hamner Springs town to have a look around, this did not take long as it is quite small but quaint place. I would definitely say that it was worth a visit for a day or so.

We then drove all the way back to Christchurch and checked into a very nice backpacker's called Stonehurst Lodge, the room was small but clean and had Sky tv which was excellent value for money. We spent the rest of the day organising changes to our flights and accommodation for Fiji and Cook Islands.

From our previous blog's you may remember that we went to Larnach Castle, where we met a couple who live in Christchurch. We called them and arranged to meet up outside the Crown Plaza Hotel. We had a lovely meal and caught up with what had been happening for both couples since Larnach. It was a great evening. They had also bought tickets for the Rugby match the following night so we arranged to meet up once more on the Friday at 6.30pm.

Friday 7th April

After plenty of drink the night before we were pretty tired so we had a morning lie in and watched a film on our Sky Movies channel(The Manchurian Candidate). Once we got up we had to continue organising future plans via the Air New Zealand office and Flight Centre, which took us until about 5pm meaning that we never actually got a chance to ride on the tram as intended.

After a quick Chinese and another jug of beer we met Vanessa and Paul and walked the twenty minutes to the Jade Stadium and on the way I was starting to get excited as the atmosphere was beginning to build. We were sitting in separate parts of the stadium so we agreed to meet after the match and by the time we got to our seats the horsemen crusaders had come onto the pitch, unfortunately this was one of the aspects of the night that Sara was most looking forward to but she missed most of it as nature called (good job I got it on video).

The match was really exciting, I got some great pictures, our seat was in a perfect position and the crowd were very family orientated. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the bonus was the Crusaders won, I can't wait to go back there and watch them again.

We met with Paul and Vanessa and went to a pub called Latimers near our hostel for some chips and wedges and a couple more beers and then it was time to say goodbye again. I hope we see them again some day either in England or back in Christchurch.
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