TravelStream™ news feed for member shieldsontour on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/shieldsontour en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:54:15 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1205567220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1205567220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1205567220/tpod.html Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:54:15 -0400 Our World Tour 2008 - two laps of the globe in 348 days !

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Aoraki Mount Cook, New Zealand

After a nice restful day in Wanaka it was back on the road again.  We had planned to drive to Queenstown but as the weather was nice we thought that we should drive up to see Mount Cook as this was our only chance.  The round trip was to take us about 8 hours, as Mount Cook is fairly inaccessible.  Directly it is only about 150km from Franz Josef but that is over the alps so you have to go all the way round and access it from the Wanaka side.  On this side it is still quite isolated at the head of a 55km valley.  After about 3 hours we reached the end of the valley and were greeted by our first sight of lake Pukaki which was an amazing turquoise colour due to the silt that washes down from the Tasman and Hooker and glaciers that are situated on the east and west of Mt.Cook.   The lake was impressive but the view of Mt. Cook wasn't as it was covered in cloud.  Luckily for us there was a visitor centre at the end of the lake and the ladies in there had just called the helicopter base to check the status of that days flights and had been told that the cloud was clearing imminently.  As this was our now or never chance to see it we headed off up the lakeside to see if the pilots were right.  As you would hope being pilots they did know what they were on about and about 2/3 of the way up the valley the cloud started clearing and we could see the Tasman glacier glinting in the sunshine.   As we arrived in Mount Cook village the cloud had almost completely cleared and we had our first views of Mount Cook (or Aoraki) to give it it's proper name.   Guessing that patience would be the only way that we would get the best views we headed to the Old Mountaineers café for lunch and had a look around at the old climbing gear they had on display and pictures of early climbers on the glacier including a woman in a frilly blouse, floor length skirt climbing with an ice axe !   After lunch we had a wander around the village to see the Sir Edmund Hillary sculpture outside the Hermitage Hotel.  The statue was of him as a young climber and had him looking up the valley at Mt. Cook where he had completed the Grand Traverse of the 3 peaks of Aoraki in 1970.   After wandering around the village it was back in the van to head up the two valleys either side of Mt. Cook to take some snaps of the Hooker and Tasman glaciers. The Hooker glacier was visible from the road but the Tasman required a 15 minute hike.  This was a bit of an odd sight to be honest.  As Lake Pukaki that the glacier melt water drains into is so turquoise we expected to see crystal clear water running down the valley but instead we came over a rise and found ourselves looking at a wide stream of water that was the colour of concrete and had some dirty icebergs in it.   It took us a while to realize that what we thought was a valley full of scree was actually the base of the glacier and it was so covered in rocks that it wasn't white at all. : Higher up the valley it was the expected ice blue colour and lower down the valley you could see where the ice had carved out the valley leaving behind scree piled high on each side. Knowing that we had another 6 or so hours of driving ahead of us we hit the road and headed back past Wanaka and onward south to Queenstown - the adrenaline capital of NZ !!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1203205380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1203205380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1203205380/tpod.html Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:26:17 -0500 Our World Tour 2008 - two laps of the globe in 348 days !

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Auckland, New Zealand

We are in a new continent and new country. Yep, we are in New Zealand, Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud.  Arriving at Auckland airport you are welcomed by biohazard signs warning you of the fines involved for bringing food, seeds etc into the country. They take this very seriously over here, with a beagle sniffing out a random apple in some girls bag, she was told very matter of factly that the dog had just saved her a $200 fine. Abiding by the regulations we duly declared our hiking boots as a "biohazard" and the nice lady kindly dipped and washed the remaining llama droppings off the bottom for us. Decontaminated, we got a cab into Auckland to our digs for the next 3 days, the Oaks Smartstay Apartments on Hobson Street in the city centre. It was nice to have a 2 bed apartment with kitchen and laundry to be our base for the next 3 days - it felt like a home away from home and like we were back in the real world. Desperate for haircut each, we found a hairdressers in a local mall, Maud had a trim and her hair ironed very straight, I had a trim from a bloke that was anything but.... We then wandered back to the apartment up Queen Street, one of the main shopping areas, with Maud making a couple of purchases on the way. At last we had a good selection of eateries to choose from, so that night we headed to a Thai place "Mai Thai" that Maud had spotted and which had won a few awards.  Needless to say we weren't disappointed. Not wanting to change our current traveling habits we then headed to Sky City casino, had a good win and hit the sack at about 2am. Next morning we got up and finally cooked something ourselves, bacon and egg butties, before heading down to Victoria Park Market. This was quite a nice chilled out market for a Sunday stroll and a few wooden crafts were purchased. We then walked down to Viaduct Harbour to check out the cruisers and sailing boats, as well as debating which apartment Stu (little shot) would have owned. After checking out some very nice yachts, we had a few drinks on the harbour at the "hog" (can't remember the full name), Maud finally getting some decent cider and myself tucking into a few pints of "Great White" wheat beer which was pretty good. That night, with a huge selection of gourmet restaurants available to us, we headed out for an Indian. The one we had tried to find had obviously closed down and become something else (thanks Lonely Planet) so we found a really small place whilst wandering around. It was a bit of a strange Indian, with the bathrooms being in a building next door so you had to ask the waiter every time you needed the bathroom, but the food was very good indeed, and we had know it was also bring you own wine...shucks. Suitably stuffed we retired for the evening. We got up fairly early the next morning, and after a lazy Sunday the previous day decided some adrenaline was needed. What better way to wake up than take a walk around the 328 metre Sky Tower, but not at ground level, at about 250 metres up at the observation deck level, walking on a 1 metre wide platform with no railings and only held on by a sort of seatbelt device attached to your back. This may not seem that scary, but once you get onto a platform that high up with no railings and the wind gusting around you, it soon wakes you up. Unlike a bungee or skydive, you don't get the adrenaline rush of the 2 seconds when you jump, instead you are teetering on that adrenaline precipice the whole way around for the entire hour, as at any moment you could fall or get blown over the side....a different buzz altogether. Half way around we did a lean over the side for some photos (we can't post them unfortunately as they weren't on a disc) until the finale of walking across a 12 inch glass plank between the walkway and building. I managed to do this with a few 360's thrown in, but Maud could only manage a few steps, I don't blame her though as it was getting quite windy up there at that time. We then had another look around some of the shops as I was interested in buying an iPod for the long roads ahead in the campervan. Undecided, we headed to an area of Auckland called Parnell Village for lunch, which was a really nice area with lots of cafes with their chairs spilling onto the street front, good for people watching. After lunch we wandered around a bit more, some of the arts and crafts places were very good but the stuff we liked was a bit too big to ship home. So having bought nothing we headed back into the city were I decided the new iPhone would be the best accessory for playing music in the van, this was whilst Maud posted the Easter Island blog - she shouldn't leave me on my own with a credit card really to make such decisions, it's only going to work out very expensive !! That night we went to the Grand Harbour Chinese Restaurant on Viaduct Harbour as recommended by Stu & Bels (thanks guys - or should I say "cheers bro"). We had a lovely meal, maybe the last in a while as we were picking up the van the next day, the lobster tank there was the highlight with some absolutely huge spiny lobsters, (even put yours to shame Billy) but we couldn't find any dishes with lobster in ? After dinner we headed back to Sky Towers as we had been given free observation deck passes having done the "SkyWalk" earlier. It was good to see the city at night and they also had glass floors you could walk over, just not quite as extreme as earlier in the day.  A final couple of hours in the casino ("there aren't any now until Queenstown" said Maud) where we came out even, finished the night off. Tomorrow we pick up the Wicked Campervan to begin our travels round New Zealand in earnest. The next morning we packed up and headed down to Parnell Village again (as this was near the Wicked Camper pick up). As we were going to rough it for the next few weeks, we decided to get a decent breakfast of eggs benedict, coffee and OJ, especially as we would be cooking on a gas stove going forwards. We walked down to the van depot, only to be told pick up was at another depot near the airport.  So we caught a cab down to there where we were presented with our van for the next 3 weeks.Somehow I think we got possibly the worst van available, but had no other choices, as this was the only two seater van left at the depot. On the passenger side was spray painted DiC and on the drivers side BiTCH, both plays on the BiC lighter symbol. To cap it off, the phrase "My wife's a sex object - every time I ask for sex she objects" was emblazoned on the boot door. We couldn't do much but laugh at the whole thing, so signed the papers, got instructed on how to use the single burner stove, grabbed some cutlery and hit the road. As soon as we got onto the main road there was much laughing from passing motorists as well as a few glares, it appeared we were going to be the amusement of the general public for the next 3 weeks. On the way out of Auckland we stopped at a large supermarket (they love warehouse style shopping here) and picked up some necessities. Cheap bedding, mosquito nets and coils, food for the next few days and unbelievably some Brit food, so Pot Noodles, Hula Hoops, HP and Colemans were all in the shopping trolley and we headed for the open road...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1227668460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1227668460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1227668460/tpod.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:18:03 -0500 Our World Tour 2008 - two laps of the globe in 348 days !

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santa rosa, California, United States

The drive from San Francisco to Wine country took us through Marin County, a nice area of hills and pine forests were we stopped to have lunch and watch the rain clouds roll in (first time in California since we have arrived). All accommodation in Napa seems to be boutique hotels at the vineyards, but being on the motel budget we decided to stay a bit further North of Napa and Sonoma in a city called Santa Rosa. The plan of action was to arrive there, book a tour of the vineyards for the next day and try and visit the Renwood vineyard (one of favourites for the red Zin) the day after - well that was the plan... On arriving we asked the motel reception girl/monster if there were any hop on - hop off wine tours for the area. She gave us a leaflet which seemed to meet our requirements perfectly and was only $20 each. Problem was, after eventually getting the monster to turn our motel room phone on, I rang the number and it was answered by an equestrian centre, who had no idea about wine tours. Not to be dissuaded we headed to the visitors centre to find out more info, but they had no tours and could only recommend a personal driver at $60 an hour or drive yourself "you only drink a small amount at each one" - don't think so. The whole thing didn't seem to be geared towards tourists and was all a bit cliquey if you ask me, no tours and boutiquey accommodations, give me Stellenbosch any day off the week, $30 for a full days personal tour and a good honest piss up rather than this taste and spit nonsense. So time for a new plan of action then !! Now being an official designated driver I offered to drive round all the vineyards on our own little wine tour, but then we realized the day after next was thanksgiving so Renwood wouldn't be open. Final plan then was to drive to Renwood and back via a couple of vineyards so at least we would go to the vineyard we actually wanted too. Word of warning - don't try and drive anywhere the day before Thanksgiving, it was absolute gridlock. In 5 hours we managed to do an 85 mile round trip having turned round at the halfway point realizing we weren't going to get to the vineyard at a decent enough hour. It didn't help that it was also pissing it down and in the end we were a more than a little bit pissed off - what a total waste of time, the wheels seemed to be coming off the road trip !!! To drown our sorrows we didn't have any wine, but a kebab and the largest piece of apple pie with ice cream instead, food can always make things seem better. In retrospect I think if you're going to do Napa, fork out for the boutique hotel at a vineyard who does multiple tastings, then you don't have to worry about transport and you're in the wine cliché frame of mind. Otherwise don't bother as transportation isn't geared towards tourists and the place itself is quite scummy, well Santa Rosa was anyway, let's get out of here and get to Yosemite. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228031700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228031700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228031700/tpod.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:17:28 -0500 Our World Tour 2008 - two laps of the globe in 348 days !

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Visalia, California, United States

We woke the next morning to find we were still in a blanket of fog so headed to the supermarket for some supplies while it cleared.  As we'd done an extra bit of driving the night before the entrance to the Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park was only 30miles from Vasilia so we were soon there to pay our $10 for a 7 day pass - bargain.  Maud had done the rancid fog driving the night before so now it was my turn.  The road was very windy and most bends could only be taken at a crawl which wasn't too much fun. Again some of the higher roads were closed due to snow so we headed to the viewpoint at Moro Rock.  Once we'd climbed to the top we had a great panorama of the snowcapped peaks of the Kaweah Range. That afternoon we went to see the General Sherman tree which is the largest (by volume) tree in the world and it was pretty massive.  It's about 275ft high and has a base circumference of over 100ft with a diameter of 36.5ft.  A few months back a large branch broke off after being hit by lightning and that was bigger than most trees that you would usually see. For the rest of the day we headed off to see Kings Canyon which meant a lovely drive through more massive sequoia trees then a steep descent to Junction View where you could see where the two rivers in the canyon meet.  We couldn't travel any further into the canyon as the road was again shut for the winter - which seemed a shame as there wasn't any snow here at all.  Having had our fill of sightseeing for the day we decided that we'd stay in the park until sunset and then take a couple of days out for a bit of a rest.  We decided that Palm Springs sounded rather nice so after a beautiful sunset we set off south back towards the warmer weather. In our original calculations we thought that the drive would take about 5 hours but didn't factor in the blanket of fog.  So instead of arriving at about 10pm as expected we ended up crawling along, unable to see much in front of us for the best part of two hours (still without fog lights).  We finally arrived in Palm Springs at 12.30am.  Thankfully we had stopped on the way and booked a hotel on Expedia but now - both kn*ckered and not very happy we spent about an hour trying to find the hotel.  They all looked the same and most were in gated complexes with security guards - none of whom knew where anywhere was.  We eventually found our resort and realized we had driven past it about 4 times, checked in and hit the sack.We awoke the next day to lovely sunshine and warm weather and decided that the best way to spend the day would be to take Maud to the outlet mall for some retail therapy followed by a good curry.  After a couple of nights in Palm Springs we were then ready to hit the road again and carry on the tour of California....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1227840660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1227840660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1227840660/tpod.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:16:58 -0500 Our World Tour 2008 - two laps of the globe in 348 days !

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Yosemite National Park, California, United States

Glad to leave skanky Santa Rosa we set off on the long drive to Yosemite National Park on Highway 99 that runs the full length of California. After a long day behind the wheel, we were thankful (well it was Thanksgiving) to arrive at our accommodation, The Narrow Gauge Inn at Fish Camp, just outside the park. The place was really nice, in the middle of the forest with a balcony overlooking the giant pine trees, like a traditional log cabin, chintzy on the inside but warm and cozy. Just down the road was a big hotel complex, where we managed to get a decent meal and felt quite Christmassy as it was cold here and they had a log fire burning outside, as well as one of the largest Christmas trees we've ever seen indoors. Everything seemed so much better than the last couple of days and we were looking forward to getting into the park itself the next day. We awoke to a cold but glorious sunny day to drive into Yosemite National Park. After paying the $20 entrance fee we drove the winding road through large pine & sequoia tress for about 15 miles before reaching the valley view point. It is a very impressive sight to behold when you turn that corner, El Capitan nearest and on the left with its sheer granite rock face, Half Dome on the right and in the distance with the distinctive shape, all surrounded by other granite cliffs jutting out of the tree covered valley floor After catching our breath we decided to kick off the one (and only - according to Maud) hike we had planned to do in the Park, the walk up to Inspiration Point. The 1.4 mile (or in reality 3, their distances are well out here) hike was a nice gentle climb through the forest to a viewpoint about 300 foot higher than the one on the road, but even so Maud needed some coaxing at times, she is definitely done with this hiking lark !! The walk was worth it though as the views were even better up here and well away from the crowds and crazy Japanese tourists. It was so nice and peaceful. After retracing our steps back to the car we headed off into the valley for lunch.  As it was nice and sunny we ate al fresco at Cathedral Beach at the foot of El Capitan which was stunning even though it was still chilly in the sun.  In the afternoon we headed for another walk (this time on the flat) to Mirror Lake where we got some arty shots of Half Dome perfectly reflected in the water. The next morning we headed back into Yosemite to see the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia trees which is the biggest and most impressive  cluster of big trees in Yosemite.  The biggest tree there is known as the Grizzly Giant and began it's life over 2,700 years ago and there's also the fallen Tunnel Tree that you can drive through after it toppled in 1969 and another one that had a big hole cut through it so that folks could drive their carriages through it.   The Sequoias were impressive but surprisingly the wood is really weak.  Years ago when they were felled the loggers found that all the wood was good for was toothpicks and pencils so they soon stopped hacking an hour them down.  After wandering through giant trees for an hour or so we headed back into the valley but found that both the routes we wanted to drive were closed for the season due to snow so we took in the parks waterfalls and some more views of El Capitan and Half Dome. We had planned to overnight in Fresno and having left the park after sunset arrived there about 8pm.  We picked a reasonable looking motel and checked in only to discover that Fresno wasn't the most salubrious city in the state and the motel room looked like one from a movie that you might be murdered in.  We asked to see another room which wasn't any better, there were a couple of doors with fist marks in and a few rooms that looked as if the occupants lived there permanently so we swiftly got a refund and hit the road. We drove through a blanket of fog for an hour finding that Californians are nutters who see no reason to slow down from 70mph and build cars with no fog lights (even rear fogs are an optional extra that we didn't have).  At $20 more than the scummy motel we checked into the Holiday Inn amazed that they even had a choice of pillows.  We ate at a tasty Italian called Little Italy and hit the sack ready for the next days drive to Sequoia National Park.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228162560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228162560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228162560/tpod.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:16:27 -0500 Our World Tour 2008 - two laps of the globe in 348 days !

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Joshua Tree, California, United States

Now feeling refreshed after a couple of nights in the same bed we planned to head to Joshua Tree National Park - made famous by U2 as the name of their album and where they came for inspiration when they were writing it.  But first we had an auto issue to deal with - the mighty Dodge Avenger had decided that it needed an oil change and we coudn't get the irritating warning sound to stop so we headed to Palm Srings airport and the Dollar counter.  After explaining our issue and pointing out that this was the second car that had issues we were given the keys to our third motor of the road trip.  This time a Chrysler Sebring convertible which would have been brilliant apart from the fact that it wasn't warm enough to have the roof down and the boot was much smaller than the avengers and with our increased post-shopping baggage count it was all a bit of a squash.  we manged to get everything in and hit the road heading to Joshua Tree - what a weird place... The park is in the transition zone between the Colorado Desert and the higher, cooler Mojave Desert.  The trees were named by the trees were named by the Mormon settlers who apparently saw the branches as reaching towards heaven.  The park is (as you would expect) full of these trees and also has many weird shaped rocky outcroppings which (they claim) make it the best place to climb in California - I'd argue with that one having seen El Capitain.  We drove around a circuit of the park stopping at the highest point we could drive to at the Ryan Mountain trailhead for lunch where it was pretty chilly.  From there we had great views over Silicon Valley.  On our circuit we also stopped at some of the weird rocky bits some of which had been named after things they resemble - like skull rock. That evening we had a 135 mile drive to Barstow so that we could make it up to Death Valley the next day.  We tried to take the most direct route that was on the map but soon discovered that the tarmac ended and the Sebring wasn't built for dirt roads so had to do a u-turn and take the longer route.  Arriving in Barstow we soon found a reasonable motel that had a kitchenette so for once we could cook our own dinner - the joy !!  Nothing deep fried for a change.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228354920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228354920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228354920/tpod.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:16:06 -0500 Our World Tour 2008 - two laps of the globe in 348 days !

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Stovepipe Wells, California, United States

 The next morning we headed off to Death Valley.  Heeding the warnings about breaking down and dying we took along a gallon of water for us and made sure that the car was full of all it's fluids.  The park wasn't as bad as it sounds at all.  I'm sure in the summer when the sun is at full blast that the heat is a bit ferocious but there are gas stations every 50 miles or so and plenty of places to fill up your car radiator, and if you do break down the roads have a decent amount of traffic on them that you wouldn't expect to have to walk and die of dehydration to find help.  The valley itself is the largest national park in the continental US at more than 5,000 sqr miles.  The main valley is a great sight at about 140 miles from north to south and about 20 miles wide.  The hottest temperature recorded was 134F in 1913.  As well as being the largest park the valley also has the lowest point in the continental US which is at a Badwater a spring on the edge of the salt pan at -282ft below sea level.  Here you can walk out on a boardwalk and onto the bed of salty evaporating water Along the way we were stopped by a coyote who just stood in the road to make us stop and then spent 5 minutes or so just circling the car - a good trick to get tourists to chuck food at you ! We also took a detour off the main route through an area called the Artists Palette where the layers of colourful sediment and volcanic ash have been exposed by the wind.  That night we were staying in Death Valley at a hotel in a village called Stovepipe Wells.  This village was just the hotel, complete with saloon bar, and a store.  We've no idea where the local blokes came from who were sitting at the bar but they had a long drive home wherever that was. The next morning we were up at 5.45am to see the sunrise as the sunset the night before hadn't been that spectacular.  At that time in the morning it was freezing in the middle of the valley - but the sunrise was worth it as it appeared over the horizon making all of the mountains and dunes a vivid pink colour.  We then drove up to Dante's View which stands at 5,475ft above the valley floor - so a bit of a climb for the old sebring...Up there it was even colder but we had a great view up the valley of the salt flats. Our next stop on the tour was the Grand Canyon so we headed out of Death Valley National Park, back onto the highway and into Nevada.  Having passed through Vegas we headed to Boulder City where we planned to spend a couple of nights to take in the Canyon and the Hoover Dam.  After trying a number of motels and finding them all pretty poor standard and at least $80 a night we tried to see what we could find on the internet for somewhere to stay.  It turned out that due to the credit crunch that all the hotels on the Las Vegas Strip had deals on and instead of $80 a night we could stay at the Sahara in Vegas for $36 a night with 3 nights for the price of 2.  This meant about an extra hours driving each day - but the hotel was much better than the motels and there would be more to do in the evenings ! 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228441860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228441860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/shieldsontour/world_tour_2008/1228441860/tpod.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:15:48 -0500 Our World Tour 2008 - two laps of the globe in 348 days !

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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

So on our first day in Vegas we managed to stick to the plan and not head straight for the casinos.  We spent about 2½ hrs driving out to the nearest place you can see the Grand Canyon from which was at a place called Grand Canyon West.  To get out to the canyon you have to drive over the Hoover dam (which we decided to visit on our way back) and into Arizona.   Grand Canyon West, and most of the other places in the area where you can access the canyon, is in a native reservation and this one is owned and run by the Hualapai who historically (and according to their leaflet) were "skillful traders" - well they haven't lost that skill.  In order to see the canyon here (the next place is another 4 hours drive) you have to pay $20 to park your car, then it's another $35 each to get on their bus in order to reach the two view points.  Maud also fancied walking on the glass platform that has been built out over the canyon but that was another $35 each so we decided to check it out first before we splashed out the cash.  The canyon itself is an awesome sight and, unlike many other places we have been to that are cordoned off for safety, you can walk right up to the edge - and off if you're so inclined.  It was far more impressive than any canyon we've seen since Fish River in Namibia and well worth the drive and expense to go and see it.  We were glad we didn't shell out on the skywalk though as it looked quite small when you actually got up to it and you aren't allowed to take your camera out onto it - they will take your picture while you're out there and kindly sell it to you for (you guessed it !!) $35 per person.... We visited both Eagle Point - where you can see an eagle with it's wings spread in the rock formations and also Guano Point where there are still some old quarry workings.  The Colorado river was about a mile below us and every few minutes there was a helicopter flying past beneath us.  We did consider that but it was more than $35pp so decided to save that for another time.  After a couple of hours and hundreds of photographs later we headed back to the car and hit the road. We arrived back at the Hoover Dam and had a walk across the top.  They're building a new road bridge high above the dam a little further down the valley which is supposed to be the worlds biggest concrete arch bridge (or something like that) when it is finished - but even at the construction stage it looked like a pretty big engineering job.  The dam is also an amazing feat of engineering. It is over 220m high, has a top length of 380m and a bottom thickness of over 200m.   There was a tour that we could have taken but that all seemed to be inside the power plant and everyone coming out had a Bob The Builder style yellow hat so we gave that a miss ! We headed back to Vegas and popped in to the Palms hotel.  The previous evening Maud had seen an ad for an Oasis concert that had a limit of 2,500 tickets.  Having only seen them with tens of thousands of others at a time we didn't think there was much chance but were very happy to find out that we could get great seats.  That evening we headed to Caesars Palace for dinner and had a great Italian at a restaurant called Trevi next to a replica of the Trevi Fountain (surprisingly). The next day we went to the outlets to do a bit more shopping and a bit of a relax (and a bit of gambling obviously).  That night we headed for the Oasis concert which was fantastic and then onto the famous Ghost Bar at the top of the Palms (where the celebs are meant to hang out).  We think it was good, not sure if we did see any celebs and don't quite remember getting home - sign of a good night out and proof that we can no longer handle our drink like we used to.... The next day we felt pretty rough but managed to pack all of our stuff and move a bit further down the strip to Treasure Island hotel.  Luckily when we arrived our room was ready so it was back to bed to sleep off the hangover before dinner at the Grand Lux Café (owned by the Chesecake Factory people). The next day we felt back to normal so Maud tried a poker tournament at Treasure Island, managed to get to the final table but then the wheels came off and she was out in 8th place - not a bad effort from a field of 60 though...We'd decided to have a posh night while we were in Vegas so we donned the new glad rags and took ourselves to Tao for dinner then on to the Wynn for a bit of 5 star gambling.  Like a fish back in water Maud was soon making the most of the complimentary champagne and winning at table poker !!  Our last day was spent doing a bit of sightseeing and grabbing some last bargains in the sales that seem to be on everywhere.  We'd seen a few ads for a show called The Real Deal which seemed to involve some poker pros we'd seen on tv and the audience so I headed off to get us a couple of tickets.  For those of you who have heard of them we ended up having an evening with Doyle Brunson (aka the granddaddy of poker) and Daniel Negreanu.  There were 6 people picked out of the audience (we tried to get picked but failed) and they played live poker with the pro's on stage.  The rest of the audience (about 70 people in the small theatre) then played along on wireless handsets winning hands electronically against the players at the table.  Between each round they had an audience game of 52 card pick-up  where you pick 5 cards and the best poker hand in the audience wins a prize.  Good old Turkish managed to pick a full house and so won copies of both the pro's books signed by both of them - nice one !  Later in the next game of 52 card pick-up I pulled a straight and won another copy of the books !  The audiences scores were on a leader board at the side of the screen and somehow as the last hand was dealt my score rocketed me from 16th place to 2nd  - so another prize for the Turk.  Once the pro's had said their goodbyes to everyone we headed outside to collect the prizes and then discovered that 2nd place also earnt me a GPS system - just need to buy the car to put it in now !!  What a top evening out....After the show it was back to the hotel to pack for the 4.30am start and the full days traveling back to sunny Bermuda.....and I think we were ready - 6 nights in Vegas is hard work !!
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St Helens, United Kingdom

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Hamilton, Bermuda

Our last few nights of the trip were spent in Bermuda - it was great to see all of you again that we did manage to catch up with and apologies to those that we missed....After 348 days we're ready for a bit of normailty now and are actually looking forward to getting back to the UK and putting our clothes in a wardrobe.  It's been an absolutely fantastic trip and if you ever get the chance to take a bit of time our and travel - DO IT !!All the best to everyone for a great Christmas and our very best wishes for a great 2009.Apologies for the lack of Christmas cards - but we missed the post...Keep in touch and we'll be back with an update once we get ourselves jobs,  a car and somewhere to live.Au revoir for nowThe Shields,  Over and out-x-x-x-
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