Thanks

The big adventure is over! It was the trip of a lifetime and something our family will hopefully remember forever.

The MARS team would like to say a huge thank-you to all of those who helped make our trip extra special.

Thanks Andrew for dropping us off and picking us up from Auckland airport. Great job, you made it real easy.
Thanks John and Tanya, Fiona and Wayne and Kev and Kathy for picking us up, dropping us off, running us around, giving us your advice, feeding us and hosting us in your homes. You guys were awesome and were three special highlights in our 6 weeks away. We very much appreciate it. Cheers.

See you all when you return home for summer, and we'll catch up over a Mac's and a barbie.

Thanks too, to those who posted comments on the blog and sent emails and texts. It was great to hear from you and to keep in touch with what was going on at home. Very cool ta.

The home run

Thursday 6th Dec.
The last day of the big adventure. We raced to Disneyland at 9 to catch the early opening for "hopper pass" holders with the idea that we'd do the biggest rides without waiting in a cue. Unfortunately they only opened half of the park and it wasn't the half we wanted to go to. So we had to settle for another Space Mountain ride and another Buzz Lightyear ride. So we farewelled Disneyland and headed across the courtyard to California Adventure Park. This park is only new and has some rides more suitable for older kids. We went straight to the roller-coaster called California Screaming but unfortunately it was out of service so we had to take the ferris wheel which was a bit lame. The coaster got fixed soon after so were able to take a couple of rides and it was great. Shari and Adam also went on the tower drop ride and we all had a couple of goes on the white water rafting ride where we got soaked through.
About 4 we had to cut a track for the airport and prepare for the long flight home. It was great to hear kiwi (and Aussie) accents in the line-up to get on the plane and we knew it would be great to get home and see everyone and sleep in our own beds but we were all unanimous that if we had the choice we'd love to keep travelling for a bit longer... but 12 hours and 2 minutes later we were landing in Auckland (at sunrise) and it looked fantastic. The air is so clear you can actually see the horizon!
Andrew picked us up and took us back to Ngatea and then we drove back to Waihi. After a whole night without sleep it was just as well it was only a half hour drive!
It was a beautiful day and we had a BBQ for dinner... until it started to rain! Aaah, it's great to be home.

Disneyland and California Adventure Park

We had breakfast in Downtown Disney with the idea of getting an early start at Disneyland and not having too long a wait at the Finding Nemo ride... it seemed that so did quite a few other people... It was a lot busier today than yesterday for some reason? So today we tried to finish off the rides we missed yesterday which unfortunately included a 65 minute wait in a line for Finding Nemo, which was an OK ride but probably not worth the wait? Adam managed to get back on Space Mountain and Reid got back to Buzz Lightyear.

After we'd "done Disney" we walked straight across the courtyard, in the place here the carpark used to be to California Adventure Park. We only managed about an hour there but It looks pretty good and attractions are themed on a more current and modern set of movies and TV shows. We got to hug Sully from Monster's Inc. and see the Bug's Life 4D show.
We then raced back into Disneyland to see the Christmas Parade which was very well done. The parade was followed by the famous fireworks display, which lived up to its billing.

Sadly tomorrow is the last day of our Big Adventure... we'll be mostly at California Adventure Park for the day and finally catching a cab to the airport at 5pm for our flight home :-(
Mark

Disneyland at last

Visiting Disneyland was the original reason for our trip. We were supposed to be just spending a week in LA and then heading home....
Well we finally made it, and it wasn't a let-down. We had a great time checking out all the rides and character/movie themed attractions. The weather was great and the crowd was small. Adam and I liked Space Mountain the best, Reid like Buzz Lightyear and Shari liked Matterhorn. It's a Small World was all done up in Christmas mode and is always a winner. We got around most of the rides before we left for the day as the queues weren't too bad at all. 30 minutes was about the longest we had to wait.




We had to leave by cpm so we could make it to Medievil times for the 7pm show. They asked us to be there by 5.30 so they could "get us seated". It turns out that it's just to get you there and waiting in the gift store for an hour and a half before the show starts so you'll buy lots of goodies. The show was excellent though and the food pretty good. The kids got right into it, cheering for "our" night and following the story.
It was a very exciting day, and pretty full-on, and there'll be more of the sane tomorrow...
Mark

Universal Studios - Hollywood

Universal Studios has quite a few new rides since Shari and I were there 13 years ago. Sadly "Back to the Future" is gone, as is "ET" but they've been replaced by more current movie themed rides like "Jurassic Park" and "The Mummy". Jurassic Park was our first stop as it had been recommended to us. It lived up to its billing but the kids hated the "drop" at the end so we couldn't convince them to go around again (or go on the Mummy ride). We managed to get around all the attractions easily in a day because there was no queuing at all on any ride - fantastic! Shari and I did the Mummy ride on our own, in fact when I did it I was the only person in my "vehicle". The boys loved the Waterworld show and the Animal Actors show and were quite impressed with Shrek 4D. Shari liked Jurassic Park the most and I was most impressed with Terminator 3D! Terminator used a combination of 3D video, live special effects and live actors with great sound and lights - it was really well done.
We all like the good old Blues Brothers musical review too - an oldie but a goodie.
We met a nice English couple with two boys just a wee bit younger than ours who happen to be staying in our hotel. They live in Stevenage which is just up the road from where we used to work back in 1994 and they've been away for 6 weeks like us, visiting Australia and New Zealand. They've just come from NZ where they visited friends who live just south of Katikati. It's a small world after all...
Mark

Adam at Legoland

This morning we took a bus to a ticketing agent where we paid for our legoland tickets!!!!!! From there we took another bus to Legoland California. The ride was an hour long, once we got to Legoland our bus driver got our tickets for us. We rushed in and immediately found a life sized Lego Darth Vader with R2-D2 and a Lego light saber on a pole so that when you held it it looked like you're fighting Darth Vader with R2-D2. I then dragged Mum, Dad and Reid into miniland where major U.S cities have been reproduced into giant lego models. There were really cool rides like seats on giant mechano arms, a dragon roller coaster, a boat ride on which you squirt the audience, a roller coaster that goes around some Lego dinosaurs, a Lego technic roller coaster and a boat ride around some national icons made into Lego models like the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, Mount Rushmore and the Sydney Opera House.
see ya next time,
Adam.

LegoLand California

Wow - what a blast. Today we spent all day at LegoLand California which is about an a hour south of Los Angeles. It was incredible and Adam and Reid just loved it. The Lego characters they've created are amazing. I think the highlights were the rides like the roller-coasters and Miniland which is a world (mostly American) icons created out of Lego, such as the Sydney Opera House, New York City, San Francisco, New Orleans, Mt Rushmore and Las Vegas. It's hard to describe so best to check the photos.
Mark

Vegas to Los Angeles

Today was spent cleaning out the RV and delivering it back to Road Bear in the morning. They took us to the airport and we waited there for our flight which was delayed an hour. We had an interesting time at Airport Security as were randomly selected for a thorough search. The security ladies were really good about it and chatted and joked with the kids the whole time - it was pretty painless and Adam and Reid thought it was a bit special. When we got to LA we saw that our check-in luggage had been searched too.
On arriving in LA we grabbed a shuttle to Anaheim and were dropped off at our hotel. After dinner we all had a spa. At 9.30 we could hear the Disney fireworks booming across the sky. On top of that they set off three car alarms outside our room so we had quite the musical chorus going for a while.

Completeing the loop back to Las Vegas

FRIDAY 30th
Much to our surprise we heard rain on the roof of the RV last night. Unfortunately it was still going in the morning so we took a quick look over the side of the Canyon to see what it looked like in the rain but really only saw cloud! So, we needed to make a decision about whether or not to visit the Hualapai Sky Walk later in the day on our way back to Vegas – and the weather kind of made the decision for us. Plus the fact that it was going to cost us $NZ400 and it was about a 2 hour drive off the main road to get there. So we decided to flag it and head for Hoover Dam. Our vehicle was stopped just short of the dam for a security check and then we headed down to Hoover for a look. The place is a mad house! It was mid-week, off-season and raining and it was teaming with people – it’s just a dam for goodness sake! They’ve built a huge visitor centre there and really made the place a major tourist attraction.
We decided to head straight for Vegas after the Dam and got there about 3. It was still raining so we checked into Sam’s RV Park which is right across the road from where we have to drop the RV back to tomorrow.
I have to say that the RV experience in the USA was the best we’ve done – the great roads, infrastructure and wide open spaces make it a very fun experience. And the kids loved it.
Mark

Grand Canyon hike

THURSDAY 29th
We had the heater going all night so it was a pretty warm night and a lot easier to get out of bed. We had a morning of chores – I emptied the grey and black water from the RV (oh joy) and we did a heap of washing. We decided to take the Bright Angel Trail down into the Canyon mid-morning. It was a three mile hike (and we dropped about 2000ft) from the top to the second rest station which had a great lookout point. We had a snack at the bottom and then headed back up. The kids just trundled along without complaint and we overtook heaps of people on the way up. Reid started to flag a wee bit near the top – but he’d run most of the way down so it wasn’t surprising.
Back at the summit we saw a family of deer grazing in the bush near our RV. We took the shuttle bus to the east after a recharge snack and stopped at a few overlooks to check the view. We took a one mile hike along the canyon rim from the “Abyss” to Hopi Point as our final deed for the day. We’d walked a total of seven miles during the day and it was fair to saw were all a bit knackered but we’d had a great day and really felt like we’d seen plenty of the Grand Canyon. We decided to stay another night at the Canyon and head off early tomorrow to find the Hualapai Skywalk.
Mark

Thanks Walmart

WEDNESDAY 28th
After a good night’s sleep in the Walmart carpark we drove back to the Glen Canyon Dam for a brief look then headed off to Antelope Canyon. The whole Page area is on a Navajo reservation so there are lots of native American Indians around the place – the Navajo have run tours into Antelope Canyon, you can’t hike it independently. So we took the tour – with Mary, out Indian tour guide – and she took us on the back of her pickup up a dry river wash to the slot canyon called Antelope Canyon. This is one of the most spectacular and photogenic canyons in the region when the light is right. Unfortunately mid summer is the best time, not mid Autumn but it was still awesome and we managed to get some OK photographs. We were the only group there which was wonderful, in the summer there are hundreds of people in the canyon at any one time – it must be hideous!
After Antelope we drove off south to Vermilion Cliffs for lunch and Sharon bought some authentic Navajo jewellery at a roadside stall at Cliff Dwellings.
We arrived at Grand Canyon at about 4pm and stopped at a couple of vista points but it was very hazy although Adam and Reid were overawed by the immensity of the canyon. We checked into a trailer park and discovered that the temperature was predicted to drop to -7 Deg C overnight…
Mark

Bryce - 8000ft up!

TUESDAY 27th
Brrrrr – the outside temperature plunged to a chilly –13 deg. C last night. It caught us by surprise because the day had been quite mild, but we’d climbed 4000 ft from Zion to be nearly 8000 ft above sea level at River View RV Park in Hatch, Utah where we stayed the night. It was hard to prise everyone out of bed but once the sun came up it was quite nice again. We headed on up towards Bryce Canyon after breakfast and out first stop was Red Canyon which lived up to its name especially in the early morning light.
Bryce was a further 15km east and we arrived about 10am at the visitor centre to work out our plan for the day. We drove south into the park and stopped at some stunning view points. We saw a chipmunk and a Stellar’s Jay at our second stop which was quite a treat. It was fantastic to be at a special place like Bryce Canyon at this time of year when there are hardly any people and you can walk the trails in peace, especially if you get off to an early start like we try and do.
We ventured into Bryce Canyon proper from Sunset Point and walked the Navajo and Queen’s Garden Trails tp pop back out of the Canyon two hours later at Sunrise Point.
The walk was just stunning – one of the best we’ve ever been on and would rank up there with Milford Track (although the scenery is a complete contrast) with the backlit hoodoos and cypress trees providing a spectacular scene. The kids thought it looked like a Star Wars movie set – in certainly was surreal.
We trucked off back south to find a place to stay later in the afternoon, passing through Kanab and crossing the Colorado River near Page (Lake Powell) and found that US wide you can stay at Walmart carparks for free (Walmart is “The Warehouse” of the USA – but with a bit more class). They have no services but you can pull up and stay the night – no problem. So that worked out well for us as we were able to stock up on essentials for the rest of the trip.
Mark

Zion National Park - Peace...

MONDAY 26th
A fresh start to the day with the temperature around zero and the sky clear and blue. We drove north up to the head of the Zion Canyon to take the riverside walk. It was a beautiful half hour stroll up the banks of the Virgin River, which has cut a deep, sheer chasm in the colourful sandstone. There were still autumn leaves on the trees in the valley floor and the low sun angle gave some spectacular shows of colour. After the riverside walk we headed back south and walked the more strenuous Hidden Canyon Trail. The trail climbed in a zig-zag, about 1000ft up the main canyon wall, then branched off to the hidden Canyon. At times we were holding a chain as we traversed the cliff track cut into the canyon wall – there was no safety rail. The boys did really well and the views from the top were outstanding and well worth the walk. The light in the canyon was just amazing – the low sun strikes one wall while the other is in complete shadow except for the red coloured reflected light bouncing off the light side of the canyon. Great for photography if you can time your visit right.
After the walk we had to head to the Zion Lodge to arrange an escort through a tunnel. The initial section of road that took us east toward Bryce Canyon is an incredible drive but the one mile tunnel was built in the 30s for far smaller cars than those that use it today. The park service close the tunnel to allow large vehicles like our RV to drive through right on the centreline avoiding hitting the roof or walls.
Once out of Zion Park we drove off toward Bryce Canyon stopping for gas and then finally at an RV park in a town called Patch. The towns all look very dodgy out here – I’m sure you can hear the banjos as you pass through – but Patch looked reasonably OK and the camp was very basic but had electrical hookup which was a bonus.
Mark

Gettin' away from it all

SUNDAY 25th
After checking out of Excalibur we had to venture out on the freeway in the RV this morning! It’s a bit of a beast with a V8 engine that’s very scary on fuel. The speed limit is 75 mph on a lot of the roads in Utah and Nevada but 75 (that’s 124 km/h) in a camper is a bit frightening so we’ve been cruising at 65 and getting overtaken by everyone. We saw two car crashes today too which were quite sobering and made me decide to stay at 65. So we headed north from Vegas on the I15 toward Salt Lake City but turned off the freeway, east to Zion National Park. Shari and I missed Zion on our 1994 trip so we’re quite keen to check it out this time. We arrived at about 3.30 and checked into the National Park campground and got our permits organised for some hiking tomorrow. The drive in was quite spectacular – it’s great to be away from the crowded city!
Mark

Gettin' to the bottom of the Canyon

SATURDAY 24th
Another early start (at the hotel buffet) to get ready to be picked up for our flight in to the Grand Canyon. The bus took us 25 minutes out to Boulder City where Papillon Tours are based. After a short briefing we took off toward the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Canyon. It was a spectacularly scenic 25 minute flight that also took us past the Hualapai Skywalk – we actually flew below it. We stopped for about 30 minutes for a picnic at the bottom of the Canyon before heading back to Boulder. It was a great trip – Shari and the boys had front seats so they got a wonderful view and it was a gorgeous day.
When we got back to Vegas I had to dash away and pick up the RV. This took a wee while but was pretty easy. Shari and the boys visited the Shark Bay aquarium at Mandalay Bay Hotel and reckoned it was pretty good. We had dinner at the Luxor Hotel buffet which is right next door to Excalibur – Reid fell asleep at the dinner table.
It’s interesting that every hotel seems to be staffed by Mexicans. I guess it’s a similar situation to the eastern Europeans staffing the hotels in England? There were also heaps of Mexican tourists.
Mark

Viva Las Vegas

Our flight from Chicago was at 7.10am, meaning a very early start from Milwaukee. The alarm went at 3am and we drove the rental car back to Chicago. The flight to Las Vegas gave interesting views of the continent and it was easy to see the extent of the recent snow.
We gained 2 hours by switching to Pacific Time in Las Vegas. It was easy to get a shuttle to Excalibur Hotel where we were staying. After checking in we took a walk along the Strip to investigate the other themed hotels. New York New York, Venice and Caesar’s Palace stood out. It was interesting that all of the Casinos were very easy to get in to but it was really tricky to find your way out – no coincidence I’m sure!
There have been many changes since we were here in 1994 and the place is still growing at a rapid rate. It felt really busy to us, but a taxi driver commented to me that “Thanksgiving weekend was really slow for Las Vegas” – I’d hate to be there when it was crowded then!
Mark

Back to Las Vegas.

Today we woke up really warm and toasty for once. We soon discovered that it was RAINING IN THE GRAND CANYON!!!!!!!! Apparently it only rains 5 times a year in Arizona and we were there for one of those days!!! Once we were done we drove for 2 hours and a stop for lunch until we stopped at the Hoover dam. we then drove across and parked the R.V on the Navada side, thats right, the dam separate Arizona and Navada!!!!!! Then we walked across and back in the rain. halfway across I jumped from Navada to Arizona and back again yelling the name of each state as I landed in that area. Then we drove all the way back to Las Vegas and stayed in 1 of many R.V parks.

Adam

Hiking Bright Angel Trail.

Today we walked halfway down the Grand Canyon, 3 miles zigzagging down the slope!!! The walk was very easy going down but not so easy going up as the track was very bumpy and in some spots steep. It was very exhausting but we managed it easier than we would have 5 years ago. After the walk I felt like a nice cold chocolate milkshake but got a sprite instead. Once we were ready to leave for some lookouts, we saw some Deer! There was 1 female, 1 male and 1 Fawn, a baby Deer. We got to the lookouts easily enough and were stunned by the wonderful views.

Adam

Grand canyon! (again.)

First off today we went into Navajo (Nav-a-ho) land where we saw a place called antelope canyon. (A slot canyon.) Our tour guide pointed out all of the interesting rocks one looked like Sid from Ice Age, one looked like King Kong, there was also a nose, a foot and a bear. Once we had done there we left for the most significant and enormous crack ever seen by mankind, the Grand Canyon!!! (Again.) Once there we looked at the view from a tower and settled in for the night in one of the R.V parks scattered around the Grand Canyon.

27/11/07
last night it reached negative 13 deg C, so cold that the water in R.V’s tanks froze solid, it hurt to stand on the lino and when I woke up I counted my toes and fingers to make sure that they hadn’t fallen off. Once it had warmed up a few degrees we left for a place called Bryce Canyon. Once we reached there we discovered that it was around 8000 feet above sea level, hard to believe when we found out it used it to be an ocean in prehistoric times. The rock formations (Hoodoos.) were Amazing!!! In fact they were too awesome to explain so look at the photos at left for an idea of how awed I was. That night we stayed in a Wal-mart car park for free!!!!!

Canyon Country.

Howdy everybody,
24/11/07
Today I did something that I have always wanted to do, go to the Grand Canyon!!!!!!! Wait let me start at the beginning. We woke up at 5:30am and got up around 6. once we were ready we went to the round table buffet for a brilliant breakfast. Afterwards we took a bus to the Boulder city airport were we where weighed for our helicopter. After half an hour we where taken to our helicopter and took of. On the way to the Grand Canyon we passed over an extinct volcano, Colorado river, Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. Once we reached the Grand Canyon our pilot told us that the Hualapai Indians owned the area that we were landing in and had given us permission to set down on their land. Once we got out of the chopper we all went to a picnic table and had a picnic. Once we had eaten we wandered around and took photos for 15 minutes. When it was time to leave we flew straight back to Boulder city. Once we returned to Excalibur Dad left to get the campervan or as it is called here, the R.V. Meanwhile Mum, Reid and I Went to The Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay Casino via Luxor, the Egyptian Casino. When we returned to our Casino and found Dad in our room, Dad let us go to a 4-D movie. Reid and I got tickets for both Spongebob and the Polar Express. 4-D is a 3-D movie with special effects like Bubble blower, Snow machine, Water gun and a wire for whacking your legs.
25/11/07
This morning we woke in the Excalibur, Ate in the Excalibur and then drove for the rest of the
Day. We found a R.V park where we froze our butts off during the night.
26/11/07
This morning we took a walk inside a canyon, a walk up to a rock with water pouring out the sides. We also took a walk up to a really small but long canyon called The Hidden Canyon. We drove for the rest of the day.

Adam.

Turkey time.

Hello everyone.
Our last day in Milwaukee was a Thursday, which just so happened to be Thanksgiving. Kev and Kathy took us to a city called Madison, where Kathy’s Uncle was hosting a Thanksgiving lunch. And as a bonus there was snow three inches deep! For lunch there was a large buffet containing fruit salad, mash potato, squash soup, pumpkin pie, sweet potato, artichoke dip, and the all important Turkey (sliced). While I ate I watched some American football. After the feast I had a snow ball fight with Kev, Dad and a boy called Elliot, once I hit dad in the back of the head with a snowball and it went down the back of his shirt. The next day we woke up at 3:00am and drove for 1 and a half hours south, towards Chicago and flew down to Las Vegas we spent the remainder of the day looking at all the casinos such as Excalibur where we were staying, New York New York, Caeser’s Palace and Treasure Island. At night the lights where AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Adam

Hangin' in Milwaukee

THURSDAY 22nd
Thanksgiving Day in the USA. We drove west about an an hour and a half to Mt Horeb with Kev and Kathy to Kathy's family's traditional Thanksgiving lunch. It was fantastic to be in the USA for such an American tradition. We had turkey, pumpkin pie and pecan pie which is all as American as Uncle Sam and apple pie - we had apple pie too!
We packed up in the evening and got ready to go to Las Vegas in the wee small hours of tomorrow morning.

WEDNESDAY 21st
Milwaukee is the training centre for the US Winter Olympic skating squad. They have an amazing skating rink with a 400m speed skating track and two hockey rinks. They do public skating sessions twice a day. We took the kids along for an ice-skate and a bit of exercise. Reid just jumped on and away he went – after his season of roller hockey he found the ice skating relatively easy. Adam hadn’t done it before so was a bit shaky to start with but got the hang of it quite quickly and was doing well when the incredibly uncomfortable skates just got too much. It was a good couple of hours though – Shari is a bit of a whiz!
We ventured downtown to the Grand Avenue Mall after skating and bought a few warm clothes and had a late lunch.
In the evening we went along to the Milwaukee Bucks vs Los Angeles Lakers pro basketball game. 2008 is the 40th year of the Bucks franchise and to help celebrate they invited Kareem Abdul Jabaar to the game and retired his jersey. He was with the Bucks for his first six years in the league and helped them to win their only Championship in 1971. It was a great honour to see Kareem in the flesh and also good to see Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant for the Lakers. The Bucks won however and Aussie Andrew Bogut played an integral part especially toward the end.
The kids loved the game and all the razzmatazz and they got given a free tee-shirt as well.

TUESDAY 20th
The City of Milwaukee has recently built a large interactive science discovery world and an art gallery down on its re-developed lake-front. We spent most of Tuesday at the Discovery World exploring all sorts of hands-on exhibits that demonstrated everything from the great lakes hydrology to lying on a bed of nails. It was pretty interesting although as with a lot of these things they really suffer when stuff is “out of order”. The things that were working though were very well done and interesting. There was also a small aquarium which was very well done too. It managed to occupy the kids for a bout four ours so it must have been reasonably well put together.
The art gallery is a very interesting building with a large winged roof that opens and closes to flood the atrium with natural light. We went over and had a look through the public part but didn’t venture into the galleries.
We had an excellent dinner at a Mexican restaurant in the evening.

First day in the USA

After a bit of a slow start we decided to go into town to the Museum and Imax Theatre. Both were excellent and we spent all afternoon there. I also managed to find a spare battery for my camera which should save me running out at awkward times as has been happening up till now. We went to a mall in the evening because the shops don’t close till about 10pm.

Moving on to the USA

Our flight was delayed by an hour but that was no problem – we arrived in Chicago after a bumpy flight across the Atlantic at about 4.30pm local time. We picked up the rental car and drove North to Milwaukee to be at Kev and Kath’s by 6.30.

Last day in Paris

Sauturday was slightly warmer as we wandered the streets toward Notre Dame. We walked around inside and also down a side street and around the back. Notre Dame is far more intriguing architecturally on its “back” side than the front where the crowds gather. We then too a boat ride on the Batobus downstream to he Eiffel Tower and back up to the Louvre before walking back to our Hotel. We had the taxi ride from hell back to Gare du Nord to catch the train – I’m sure the Beijing and Paris taxi drivers go to the same taxi driving school!
The train trip back to the UK was seamless and quite pretty as we travelled through another perfect sunset. Wayne was there to greet us at Slough station and he took us back to their house for a wonderful home cooked meal and New Zealand wine – superb! We staggered back to our hotel quite late excited to be about to start the USA leg of our big adventure the next day.

First day of Paris.

We all slept in this morning, then took advantage of the Hotel breakfast before venturing out to take in the sites of Paris. We managed to catch the weather forecast first which was for a beautiful blue sky with a low of 1 and a high of 3 degrees. So we wandered of to the Eiffel Tower via the riverside walk and arrived at the Tower with the crowds about 11am. The que was about an hour long as we waited for elevator tickets to the top. It probably took about 2 hours to check out each level and then have a snack at level 1 before we walked down the steps to ground level again and then made our way toward the Arc de Triomphe. We battled the traffic into the centre of the Arc and then headed back down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre. It was really busy because the tube strike was still on and it was rush hour by now too. We managed to get inside the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa as well as catch fleeting glimpses of lots of other amazing artworks as we sped through the place at “Reid” pace.
We covered a lot today and it was very rewarding despite the bitter temperature. We’re finding the French people extremely friendly and helpful and a delight to deal with.

Bye, bye campervan.

Last night was our coldest yet – a minus 3 degree frost! We got the campervan back on time – as I turned off the engine, Shari said “thank God for that” – I couldn’t have summed it up better myself!
Paris here we come… We got dropped at Harpenden Station by a young South African bloke who works for “JustGo”. He was a nice bloke who resisted the temptation to skite about the Springboks and proceeded to knock England. He described living here as like being in prison and he couldn’t wait to get back to the wide open spaces of SA but a single Pound buys 19 Rand at the moment so he was busy saving his money.
St Pancras Station was still being worked on but we managed to get away on time at 2:05pm. There’s an hour time difference between the UK and France so we lost an hour but the trip was only 2.5 hours and smooth and seamless. Unfortunately there was a Metropolitain (tube) strike on so we had to wait in a que for an hour and a half in the freezing cold for a taxi to our hotel. It then took another 45 minutes to negotiate the traffic – it was worse than Beijing! We finally arrived at the hotel and then went down the road to dinner.

Last full campervan day

We faced a day of mainly driving today to get us back near to our campervan drop-off point. We had about 150 miles to cover, mostly on dual carriageway road and motorway thank goodness. The M25 was chocka but moving well – I can’t imagine what it would be like on a summer weekend or during rush hours? We got back to our original campground about 2pm and immediately started doing laundry! About 4, we headed into London to see the Christmas lights on Oxford Street and also look at Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Circus. It was incredibly crowded and very cold but the lights were very nice.Today was our last full day in the UK, tomorrow we’re off to Paris on the Eurostar at 189mph under the English Channel. Today was its first day of operation from St. Pancras Station which has completed the new high speed connection to Europe.

The day we went to geevor

Juliet had recommended that we visit the Geevor Tin Mine just over on the Atlantic coast from Penzance. It’s a mine that has been operated for about 300 years, for copper originally, then tin. It closed in the early eighties when the (controlled) tin price dropped from 10,000 pounds/ton to 3,000. Prior to that supply exceeded demand. With the boom in China at the moment, world demand has increased by about 50% and the price is apparently at about 8,000 pounds/ton and a nearby closed tin mine is about to re-open at a cost of about 50 million pounds.
A group of ex-miners have formed a trust and raised money to restore the old mill and mine buildings. They’ve converted the offices into museum space. They also do an underground tour which was reasonably interesting. To be honest, it was good to see from a research point of view but wasn’t particularly interesting and the kids got bored pretty quickly.
There are lots of Pumphouse-like buildings along the coast in various states of repair which would make an interesting place to walk and explore in the summer.
We did a runner back toward London in the afternoon and made it about half way back before dark. The roads are really crowded and narrow and difficult to drive in the daylight – and they’re just downright dangerous in a camper after dark.

Eden Project Day 2

I met with Georgina and Juliet from the Eden Project in the morning to discuss the Post Mining Alliance and the case study they are drafting about Waihi and the closure of Martha. We also discussed the development of tourism projects as an alternative economic driver for a mining region.
We finally got a good wifi connection at Eden so spent a chunk of the afternoon in the café catching up with banking and emails. We then headed south to Penzance to look for a place to stay. We were all feeling pretty weary and cold so decided to indulge ourselves in a room at the nearest hotel. We all had hot baths and Shari got a weeks worth of washing done.

Arriving in Eden

We managed to get away relatively early so decided just to head directly for the Eden Project at St. Austell. We managed to stay on good roads all the way so progress was far better than yesterday. We found a wee Inn about a kilometre from Eden so checked in and then proceeded to the attraction. We spent the whole afternoon there looking through the biomes and in the interactive shelter. Afterwards the kids said they weren’t that impressed but they stayed occupied and engaged for about four hours so it must have been OK. I thought it was pretty good, and certainly a novel and courageous way to rehabilitate an old china clay mine.
Today was much better day in terms of getting to accommodation in good time without getting lost.

West to Cornwall

We had no cash and no food on Saturday morning so we spent the first part of the day finding a cash machine and supermarket. Dinosaur Isle was just down the road in Sandown so after breakfast we navigated the narrow streets to find the attraction. Adam was quite “underwhelmed” by it but Reid thought it as pretty cool. It certainly pushed all the right buttons as far as modern interpretation and interactivity went. It was reasonably small but only thirteen pounds for a family pass so pretty good value for money – it’s a pity that the ferry ride to the Isle cost fifty four pounds return!

After a late lunch we headed back to Yarmouth to catch the return ferry via the south coast road – the road quickly deteriorated into a very narrow “track” and were forced to re-think our route and return via Newport where the roads are at least nearly one normal lane wide. After the half hour ferry ride to Lymington we tried to find our way to a campground in a forest near Wareham. Unfortunately it got dark sooner than we expected because it took so long to pick our way through the traffic and tiny roads and we lost our way. Luckily a kind gentleman set us on the right track to another campground and after an hour of shagging about in the dark we finally settled in for dinner. The drive was a shocker – and we’ve concluded that England is no place for a campervan unless you know exactly where you’re going and you intend to stay put for a decent length of time.

Heading south to the Isle of White

We had an even slower start to Friday – we all slept in till 9.30 but managed to get away by 10.30. The temperature had plummeted overnight and it was still only 5 degrees as we pulled out. The bloke managing the campground has a bother living in Rotorua who rides motorcycle trials, and his 9 year old son does too – I suspect Gazza knows him? What a small world. We also discovered that the bloke we hired our campervan off has a sister-in-law who is Principal of Pahoia School and she lives in Katikati.
It was good to be heading away from London and away from the crowds. We arrived at Stonehenge about noon and had a wander around in the freezing wind. It hasn’t changed at all since were there in 1994 – I guess if something’s been there 3000 years then it’s probably not going to alter much in just 13 years.
We needed to get to The Isle of Wight for the night so we could get to Dinosaur isle on Saturday, which meant scampering down through Salisbury and on to Lymington to catch the Ferry. It was just a half hour ferry ride and then half hour drive on to Apse Heath to a campground. Shari asked the question “I wonder if it would be possible to live on the Island your whole life and never go to the mainland – after meeting the “good old boys” managing the campground it appeared that it certainly would be possible. We could hear the banjos playing as we approached and we’re locking the doors good and tight tonight!
We started to notice a bit of a knock in the front-right wheel assembly of the camper late this afternoon.

England is a big, big place...

Hi there everyone.
Adam and Mr Fuzzles here, we've had a very good time here in England. Sorry we haven't been in touch, its just that we haven't had very good internet connexions, we've only found it twice! After the london eye day we went to Trafalgar square, tower of london, tower bridge and the london dungeons. Next day we went to the science museum and later that night we went to the lion king show. The costumes were amazing!!!!! The next day we drove down to the Isle of Wight stopping at Stonehenge on the way. At the Isle of Wight we went to a place called Dinosaur Isle which is a small museum all about the dinosaurs found on the Isle of Wight and their ancestors. We then took a ferry back to the mainland and found a campground, we stayed there the night. Yesterday morning we and drove and drove. We found another campground and then went to Eden Project which is where they are growing lots of different types of plants from all over the world in an old closed mine. Today we have returned to the Eden Project where dad has a meeting and Mum, Reid and I are going to walk around and do the entire thing again.

More of London

Wednesday we hit the city again with another full schedule; Trafalgar Square, Tower of London, London Bridge and the London Dungeons. There aren’t any pigeons in Trafalgar Square any more – in fact there was a Falconer there chasing them away. The Tower of London was pretty cool with lots of good stories and the Crown Jewels were especially impressive. Some of the gold items were amazing. We walked across Tower Bridge and hunted out the London Dungeons quite late in the afternoon. The Dungeons are more of a “theme park” but there’s some history learning to be had too. The comparison between the way the Royals lived and the way the commoners lived was very interesting.

After a couple of pretty full-on days in London, Thursday called for a slow start. We trained into town about 10am and headed for South Kensington Station to the Science Museum. The kids had a ball. It’s probably half as big again as Te Papa and really hard to navigate around. We could probably have spent two days there and still not seen it all but I think we picked up the highlights. The IMAX Theatre was really good – the best I’ve ever seen. After dinner at South Kensington we headed back to Charing Cross Station and walked to the Lyceum Theatre to see Lion King. It was a stunning production with great sets and characters. The kids loved it, and so did Shari and I. It was late night though and both Adam and Reid crashed on the train the way home.

Mark

Exploring London City

Tuesday was our first day exploring London City. We decided to take in Hyde Park, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye and the Star Wars exhibition then walk back across the Millennium Bridge to the city for dinner. It was a huge day and we must have walked about 10km all told. The kids did great though and the Star Wars exhibition was a real hit.

Mark

Sunday was spent heading back downstream towards Aldermaston. The day was wonderful again, with blue sky and vapour trails. We arrived at the dreaded Woolhampton lock about 3pm and discovered that the lock was even more tricky going downstream as the current is pretty strong and things happen pretty quick. There’s a lovely old pub there called the Rowbarge where it seems crowds gather on a Sunday afternoon for a warm pint and to watch the canal boat carnage. We managed to only scrape the port side quite gently on the way under the traffic bridge so probably disappointed the crowd.

Monday we delivered the boat back to the hire company and headed for London so we could catch the train out to Hemperdon to pick up the camper. That all went without incident except that taking a family on trains and tubes is outrageously expensive when you convert it to NZ dollars (I must stop doing that).

Mark

Canal boating on the Avon and Kennett canal

Our canal boat needed to be picked up early on Friday afternoon so Wayne and Fiona very kindly dropped us down to Aldermaston Wharf. After a quick briefing and instruction on how to pass through a lock, we were on our way. Unfortunately the very first lock – at Woolhampton – is the trickiest one on the canal, involving a swing bridge that stops traffic, a narrow channel, a side current, a sweeping curve and dodging other moored boats. The worst part though is that it’s very public and you’ve always got an audience and canal boats handle like supermarket trolleys! We survived it without hitting anything though, so settled in for our first night afloat fealing reasonably chuffed.

Saturday was cool and clear and we headed off for Newbury. Our body clocks were still messed up so we were up pretty early again, which worked out fine because we got a head start on other boats and found all the locks empty as we headed upstream, a real time-saver. We got to Newbury at about three and explored the streets and discovered a good place to moor for the night, just a few meters from an olde English pub called “Lock, Stock and Barrel”.

Mark