Eugene

Today was cold and damp, the coldest I think it's felt since leaving Heathrow! I had some of the free pancake breakfast in the hostel then walked down 'towards' the downtown area. I say towards as I don't think I actually found the 'town centre', there were lots of art shops and service industry buildings but nothing you could actually pinpoint as a town centre. The rain was still coming down and a could swear it started sleet at one point. A time/temperature sign on a bank said it was 6 degrees C and I could believe it. I wandered aimlessly around the streets and eventually made my way back to the hostel past lots of very bohemian houses with strange art works in the gardens and attached to the fronts of houses, I now realised the hostel didn't look too out of place after all!

Sacramento to Eugene

I was aware that I needed to get some miles under my belt so today I set of on the long drive northwards, I fact I was on the road for about 9 hours up Interstate 5. I could have cut west and then up the coast but I've had enough of coast roads and it would also have added about another 5 hours to the run. The freeway ran for the first couple of hours through endless flat land of olive and fruit trees then started to climb up into the Klamath State forest as the road climbed up towards the Oregon State border. The weather also changes from being clear skies and rain started to come down. The sun went down just as I passed over the highest point on the freeway (4,310ft) which was just into Oregon and it became a little hairy on the road for the last hour or so but I had a load of BBC podcasts playing on the radio so that kept me going. ( BBC 4 Friday Night Comedy and Toby Foster's Bigger at Breakfast). Eventually I pulled up at the hostel which sort of stuck out like a sore thumb with it's bright neon 'Open' sign and tibeten prayer flags strung with fairy lights in an otherwise quiet residential street.

Sacramento

On leaving the hostel I could hear music just around the next building. On walking around it I found a festival of somekind going on. I'm not sure what the celebration/protest was as everything was in spanish but there was a circle of classic and 'pimped' American cars around the square. As things were starting to wind up I made my way down to Old Sacramento. It's is at the end of the town and went down there today to wander around the wooden board walks along the shop fronts. The whole area was a tourist trap with shops and cafés. There was a 'chip shop' which sold chips from around the world, apparently English chips come with curry, but not salt and vinegar, I did ask! On the side of the old town is the Sacramento River not much was moving on it apart from a turtle I saw near the edge trying in vein to climb over a round steel flood barrier, unfortunately it had given up and swam away before I could get my camera out. At the end of the board walk area was the Railway Museum so I went in to have a look. The museum shows a video to explain the beginnings of rail and its developments (surprisingly for the US acknowledging Stephenson and the Rocket) at the end of the video which was shown in a full size cinema the screen rose at the end of the room and cleverly the last shot on the screen had been recreated with the actual steam engine in a display in the museum. We went down the steps and out through the 'back of the cinema' and there was a guy there who took us on a tour of the most important parts of the museum before letting you wander at will. The museum it's self was about a third the size of the one at York but had some interesting trains and carriages to look at, One carriage cleverly fitted out with piston rams under it, and the windows were 'blacked out'. Once on it with the sound effects played through it, it actually felt like you were on a moving train, every so often a level crossing would 'wizz by'. The train rocked and lights flashed passed the windows. A number of museum staff were 'in character' on the carriage an they explained the layout of the sleeper and what it was like to travel in it. I also came across an usual oil burning train which had been built with the drivers cab at the front of the loco, this was because of the smoke and fumes which were coming out of the chimney tended to choke (and suffocate!) the drivers if they were on 'normal' loco's when they went through the long tunnels over the Sierra Nevada. The other thing that caught my eye about this train was that it was No.4294 ( I can't explain this one but if you recognise it you'll understand!)
On the walk back to the Hostel I found another Brew pub and found they had a real hand pulled beer engine – AT LAST REAL BEER! The beer was called Irish Red and tasted excellent , it was a ruby read colour and not too hoppy or rich, however at over 6% it was rather potent Two pints was all I could dare manage having not had a decent meal all day! Walking back to the hostel I walked through the Capital Gardens at the back of the Capital Building (Sacramento is the Capital of California). The gardens are meticulosly kept and supposedly have one of every native of tree in Calefornia.It was also full of of couples having their wedding photo's taken!

Marin Head to Sacramento

I had decided it was time to start heading north again and so I got back onto the interstate and drove around the top end of 'the bay and out north west to Sacramento. The drive was along a fairly flat straight divided highway, but luckily I had cruise control on the car (Ford Focus) 'cos 'CHiPs' (Does any one else remember that?) were hiding behind every bridge with speed guns!
Sacramento suddenly loomed up on me and I drove into the centre to find the hostel. This proved to be a little tricky as the tall buildings made the sat nav a little slow in updating and I must have gone around the one way streets a dozen times before I got in the correct lane to turn down the right street to find it. The hostel is a beautiful Victorian town house right in the centre of Sacramento surrounded by huge concrete buildings and seems sort of out of place. I wandered down into the town centre and just happened to come a cross a brew pub, Pyramid. I tied a couple of the brews; Pyramid IPA 6.7% Very hoppy with a lemon finish. Fling; tasted like a standard bitter but 5.7% and Amber Ale, unfiltered so slightly cloudy, fairly malty in taste, gassy but not too noticeable, 4.9%. They didn't have any porters or stouts but thing went quite well as I sat at the bar and chatted to two locals and they ended up paying for my beer – nice!

San Francisco to Marin Hostel

Took a walk out this morning to go and see the Exploritorium, this is one of those hands on science museums, lots of buttons to press and things to play with, I should have realised it was a weekday and the place was full of primary school kids when I got there.
The outside of the building which appears to be huge hanger is surrounded by a small lake and Greco-Roman columns -very similar to the surrounds of the Trafford Centre. The place is also referred to the Centre for Fine Arts, but there were none of these in evidence and I've no idea where they've gone. I spent a number of enjoyable hours in the Exploritorium – you have to be patient with loads of kids about, fiddling and playing with the exhibits. Walking back to the Hostel to get the car I called in at Safeway on the way to get some food as I had been warned there was not much available at the next hostel.
Back in the car I jumped back into the San Francisco traffic and joined Route 101 North which runs through the town and out onto the Golden Gate Bridge over the entrance to the Bay. The Bridge is certainly iconic but it's a trifle hard to look at it when your doing 45 in heavy traffic! Just after the bridge I peeled of the main road and hooked down and under the road into a tunnel which passed through the hill and out into a valley. This is the Malin State park and is also still used by various government agencies (Coast Guard, NOAA, etc.) All of the buildings are of a wooden 'blockhouse' style but many are privately used now. The hostel was about a mile down the road and tucked away in one of these old army barrack blocks. I checked in and dropped the bags and then continued down to the pebble beach at the end of the valley. The wind was howling in and there were loads of nutters out in surf – it was freezing in the wind! Back at the hostel I had some tea and settled in for the night, and the first hostel I'd had with no internet connection – in fact no mobile coverage either, and the strange thing was I was less than 40 minutes from the centre of San Francisco.

San Francisco Day 2

Easy start to day a relaxing Breakfast in the cafe watching a man from the parks service cut a grassed area outside the hostel with the most inappropriate mower ever. He has to change the grass box after doing just over 1 length of the grass each time and he is desperately trying to get straight lines when the ground isn't flat. To cap it all he has bright blue fluffy earmuffs and a white paper dust mask on (to go with the wellies and overalls) I was quite impressed he had left his hi-viz jacket and hard hat on the van; He'd never get a job at Middlewood!
Back out into the big city and I walked down through the park towards Fisherman's Wharf which is at Pier 39 (the piers are odd numbered at this end of The Embarcadero and number downwards to the Ferry Buildings where they start to number evenly away from it)
The strip along here is full of the usual restaurants and tack shops but hidden amongst them was the Maritime Museum – a pier with a load of boats tied up to it, you had to pay to go onto the boats but it was free to walk up and down and look at them. The pier they are on actually used to be the 'southern' end of the ferry which ran across the bay to connect Route 101 to the north before the Golden Gate Bridge was built and there is a ship here which contains old cars parked on it as a tribute to that era. Somehow putting priceless cars on an old boat, in a bay, subject to bad storms, seems a bit daft to me but they must know better. Back on 'dry land' I came across a 'Musee Mecanique' – their spelling not mine! It was a museum of amusement arcade games and entertainments the majority of which were still working (as log as you introduced a 25cent coin! They ranged from the flip card type 'zoe-o-scopes' from the Edwardian and Victorian era to Bally Pinballs and Video games, similar to the ones I saw in Santa Cruz the other day.
I walked down the front to Pier 39, the home of the Sea-lions, yes they were here, though not many, the pier itself if is a gourdy money making machine and I went back out onto the main drag to find a tram. The trams which run along this stretch are proper trams (as against the 'cable cars' which run up and down the hills pulled by cables under the road.) The trams are also all historical trams and have been brought in from all over the world, each one is from a different country or state and each is painted in the original colours. There is even a Blackpool Tram here, but I didn't see it. I rode the tram line down to Union Square and then took the Cable Car up to The Cable Car museum Near the top of Nob Hill. This is where the 3 lines of the Cable Cars are run from and it houses the central power house and winding gear for the cables which pull the cars along. The 'museum' is simply a mezzanine floor over the winding shed and an underground viewing area of the underground cable entry point but it explains well enough how the system works and I found it fascinating. Back out on to the street and I walked up two bloks to get on the California line cable car and rtook it back down to the Embarcadero where I had a coffee then took the tram back up to the end of the Embarcadero to walk back to the Hostel. On the way I did come across a bar with 68 beers on tap and it was Happy Hour.... Ok so I only had one this time – Ambers Porter and it was very good, not ice cold and full of flavour and body. I didn't stay for more as a, It was a cash only bar and I was out of cash (for today) and b, they actually counted keg Boddingtons as on of the 68!

San Francisco Day 1

I had to swap the car today so off down to the Airport to swap it over. I dropped off the Pontiac (on which the Central Locking doesn't work) and picked up a Ford Focus (on which it does!) I also found out I didn't need to fill the tank and should have brought it back empty (I hadn't grr) but I think I got a refund for the fuel I'd put in. So I must remember to take this one back with an empty tank. Back to the hostel to drop of the car – Free parking included (I bet you cant get bed and breakfast any where else in the city with free wifi, parking, and parkland location for about $27/night) Out on the street I walked down to the end of one of the Cable Car lines and got a 3 day ticket for the local transport network. I then jumped on the next Cable car an road it up to Lombard Street. This is the Crooked Street that is often shown in films with cars zig zaging down the steep road between the neatly trimmed hedges. I stopped off for a Coffee then took another cable car line up and over Nob Hill and down to the end of the line at Powell Station. From here I walked a couple of blocks to try and find a sandwich shop which was listed in the Lonely Planet as being the best in town. The thing it failed to mention was you have to walk through a fairly salubrious part of the town to get to it. It was right though it was small and you did have to queue for the sandwich but it was damn good; Vietnamese Pork Ball with salad. I walked back to Union Square (trying to look as local as possible!) and then up to Chinatown and followed the walking tour in the Lonley Planet, whilst these are really good and useful, I hate walking round with a 'house-brick' sized tourist guide in my hand. (I must try and get a copy of the relevant pages next time) The walk was good though an took in many sights you just don't see or notice walking down the main drags, including a park where a brothel once stood?!?, The shop that makes fortune cookies (as featured in Karate Kid et. al.!) The Book-store made famous by/for, the beat poets of the 60's (I don't remember them either!). I was only halfway along the route but already it was 4pm and there was a sign on a door way 'Happy Hour - $2 beers', The tour can wait. I just had to try the Black Butte Porter which was very rich and had a chocolate hint to it. Also the Old #38 Stout was heavy with barley and had a coffee finish. Finally back to the hostel for some tea, typing,and bed.

Santa Cruz to San Francisco

Set off this morning with the 2 German Girls (didn't get their names, only just occurred to me!) up the coast on Highway 1, this stretch was actually better than the 'Big Sur' run as the road was wider and easier to pull off to see the coastline. We did this at a number of places, on top of sheer cliffs looking down to rocky outcrops and sea bridges and down onto bays with the surf breaking over jagged rocky outcrops. Eventually I dropped them at the hostel they had booked which was about ¾ of the way to San Francisco. Driving further up the road I came to Daly City (Joe they even named it after your dad!) just out side of the main city. Back onto crazy Freeways the satnav took me in to the city following Route 101 now (Which eventually goes over the Golden Gate Bridge) Off the Freeway the route dropped onto a main road through into the heart of the city to the tip of the peninsular. And then into a park area. The Youth Hostel I'd booked is located in probably some of the most valued land in the city. The US Parks Service owns the park as it used to be an Army Camp and the Hostel is one of the converted buildings on the site. From my bedroom you can see Fisherman's Wharf, and from the Café you can see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Santa Cruz

I had a full day to explore today but ended up not going far. A read of the Lonely Planet had mentioned 'The Mystery Spot' a quirky attraction not far from the hostel and just out of the town. I drove up there and nearly turned back at the sign which read $5 for parking and a $5 entrance fee.
I didn't and I paid. Essentially the who thing is a series of optical illusions but is wrapped up in a series of elaborate stories and clever design. The place is in a narrow red cedar valley just outside the town and allegedly was found by some surveyors working through the land. Compasses fail to work properly and there are places where people appear to grow or shrink just by changing places, also balls and objects can roll up seemingly downhill or flat planks of wood. There is a wooden shed halfway up the hill through which you pass to see most of these 'mysteries' which apparently slid down the hill by 'the forces' to rest here and is now at a ridiculous angle that you have to hold onto rails to walk through. It's all done with cheesy suave and very quickly so you are in and out of the tour within 30minutes. On the opposite valley side there was a track leading gently up which was an Interpretative Nature Trail so I started to follow this not intending to go too far however it was really interesting and every so often small wooden plaques would explain about the varied flora and fauna along the way. Eventually the track topped out on the ridge above the valley but still in the red cedars which towered overhead, then the path doubled back and ran along the ridge. I walked on and suddenly in front of me in a small clearing was a young deer. At first we both looked at each other and then it decided to go down the hillside but I had only been about 15ft from it. I carried on the path for about another mile or so until it came to a fence and a private property sign, so I started to retrace my steps. Back near the clearing I slowed as I could hear the deer was back (there was a good covering of low bushes here that it was munching on) I crept forward and tried in vein to get a good shot of it with my camera and for about 4 minutes it stopped and stared right at me through the shrubs, however I don't think I could get the camera to focus on the deer and not the bushes.
Back in the hostel that evening sat chatting to the other guests and agreed to give two German girls a ride up to their next hostel as it was on my way the next day.

Monterey to Santa Cruz

This morning I returned to the Hamfest as it was on the way out of the town and stayed for a couple of hours before driving on and up to Santa Cruz. I arrived here late afternoon and checked into the Hostel which is in some restored tiny wooden houses on top of 'the hill'. Each 'house' has a couple of bunk rooms and it's own lounge and wash rooms with the communal kitchen and office in another. The only downside with this hostel is that it has a strict 11pm curfew, so much that the electronic door lock will not open the door from the outside after 11pm so you have to been in your dorm building by then. The sun was still up – just, so took a stroll out and down to the beach front which is very Blackpool'esque with a promenade, pier, amusements and a small pleasure beach. I wandered into the amusements arcade and was amazed to see a mechanical shove penny machine, alas you had yo use tokens and you only won tickets exchangeable for prizes ( this make it a skill game and not gambling, so that's OK here)
There were loads of Pinball machines and I had a play on a couple and then wandered round to the 'retro' videogame area; Pacman, Space Invaders, Track & Field, Glaxian's they were all there! Out on the promenade I wandered down to the 'pleasure beach' but it was all closing up at 4pm on a Sunday, I assume as it's out of season. So back to the hostel to type up some blog entries!

Monterey

One of the reasons I'd decided to stay in Monterey for 2 nights was because I had found on the 'net that there was to be an Amateur Radio Rally or HamFest as they call them here. It was billed as a 2 day even so I assumed it would be a rather large affair. Actually it was very small but there was lots to do and see. Every hour there was a talk or demo by one or another area of interest (some more interesting than others). Outside a 'Mission Control' (They like grand names over here) was set up for a couple of radio amateurs who are also parachutists. They got in a plane and jumped out at 18,000ft and made radio contacts with people on the ground – not easy apparently as you're supposed to need oxygen when you get near this height, and they didn't just free-fall but actually opened their chutes which add's complications because they were on a flight path for a local airport! They had permission to do this and they had GPS plotters connected to them so 'misssion control' and the 'ground op's' could monitor their progress, all of which was relayed to a large screen in the main hall of the event. I did actually make contact with one of the jumper's - AF6IM and I await my card to confirm this! The other interesting event was 'fox-hunting' where a low power radio is hidden and you have to use a direction finding aerial to find it. The guys that were running it were having difficulty getting the low tech gaffer tape and pen top to keep the hidden radio on 'transmit'. After a bit of fiddling I found a way to get a special beacon mode to work on one of the radios they had, and also meant they were operating legally by sending their call sign (which seemed to impress them – RTFM!)

Big Sur to Monterey

Today I drove up the Highway 1 – The Big Sur. This is one of the 'classic routes' of road you arr supposed to do in the states and the scenery was certainly rugged. The road tightly clings onto the side of steep mountains twisting in and out of ravines and then runs high up along cliffs above the sea. The road surface is no where near as good at the Great Ocean Road I drove in Australia on becomes quite narrow in places, even down to a single lane where repair are being done to the roadway. It's also not as long as the Great Ocean Road and before I knew it I'd dropped into the outskirts of Monterey. I drove on down to the Fisherman's Wharf here which is little more than a string of restaurants and tacky tourist shops on what was once a thriving fishing port. Next to the Wharf is the Customs House which is said to be the place where the American Flag was first raised when California became a part of the USA, it used to be a part of Mexico)
After checking into the hostel I went out in search of Peter B's the first on my new found list of Micro Breweries. Here's the tasting notes;
Scotch Ale; Very Like a Scottish 80s, slightly nutty with a little caramel, but cold.
Porter; Slightly Gassy, a good bitterness, with burnt hops and a dry finish – best of the lot!
Russian Imperial Stout; hmm not very dark, ruby red in colour and no real taste, ice cold
Seven Malt Stout; Malts came through once I warmed it up but red not black in colour and very foamy with gas.
So the Porter was the best of the ones I tried there was a wheat beer as well but it didn't come back on tap until later and I only had a small taste but it was again too cold to get the flavour from.

Cambria

Today I had breakfast of waffles and syrup in the hostel before leaving to drive to the Hostel in Cambria just up the road and at the south end of the 'Big Sur' Drive. The town it's self is split in two for some reason by a small rise in the road but I wandered around the very touristy (and expensive) gift shops and then went down to the beachhead to have a late lunch. Just as I got there a heavy sea fog rolled in and at times it seemed like I was the only one in the car park as you couldn't see more than about 20ft in the fog. Just as I was about to leave the beach the fog cleared but I wanted to get to the hostel as it opened to get a good bed. As it turned out I was the only one staying in the particular dorm which was a small room with four bunks at the front of what was originally the parson's house for the neighbouring church. The whole house was beautifully restored and laid out in turn of the century décor and I wished I had booked 2 night here. The staff were really friendly and I chatted till late into the night with Phil about beer, he was also a real ale fanatic and he gave me a really good local guide to micro-brewerys all the way up the West Coast of the US.

San Luis Obispo

I had a chill out day today, and went down to Avila Beach which is just down the road from the Hostel and relaxed on the Beach Front for a bit then drove onto Prismo Beach which is a huge 11 mile sandy bay. It was great to do nothing for a day and I think I needed it after driving for so many days. Back in the town in the evening I called back into the town centre to get some photo's of 'Bubblegum Alley'. This quirky tourist attraction apparently started years ago when someone stuck a piece of gum on a wall in a small narrow alley just off the main street, it was never removed and the tradition has continues and both walls down either side of the ally are covered in pieces of gum, it even smells of gum! And is now registered as a tourist attraction with the local council. It was also getting quite raucous in the town centre even though it was only early evening. It is St. Patrick's Day and the American's go slightly crazy at the pub on this day. Many of the revellers seemed to have been out since lunch time and were now getting quite lively so I headed back to the Hostel for some tea.

Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo

I'd done a bit of Internet digging the night before and found there was a Scout Camp not far from Santa Barbara; Rancho Alegro, so I set off up Highway 154 to find it. After about 40minutes of winding up a mountain road and over a pass the road started to drop down into a wide valley. I passed a wooden sign at the side of the road with a fleur-de-lys on it but my sat nav still said I had 5 miles to go so I continued on. 5 miles down the road I realised the sign must have been the entrance as I was now in huge rolling fields and not a camp site in sight. I turned round and went back (Sorry Dad! I know you should never turn round!) and headed back to where the sign was however I came across another on on the same side but before the first so I turned off the main road and up the dirt track, I passed numerous signs about 'no trespassing', 'private land' and 'no hunting' that I was a little nervous about being here and I eventually pulled up at what looked like a farm house. It turned out to be the home of the Camp Warden and I explained where I was looking for he explained that the Camp Entrance was actually the next track off the main road further up. His house was still on the Camp Site land (They have over 220 acres)
I backtracked down the gravel road and back up the original turning I had seen and followed the directions he had given me to the Office. The Camp is used by the Schools for most of the year as an Outdoor School and it seems that the Scouts only really make use of it for about 2 or 3 months of the year even though they own it. I was met at the Office by 'Lizzard' the Office Administrator (who evidently had been forewarned of my arrival) She was very welcoming and insisted I have some lunch of Pizza and fruit and a drink whilst we chatted which came from the huge Dining hall across the corridor. Then we went for a wander around the site. They have about 6 large bunk rooms about the size of Cunliffe Lodge at Middlewood and the Huge Dining Hall where all the meals are cooked for all on site. There is also a Heath Lodge (Sick Bay), Craft Rooms (another building twice the size of Cunliffe Lodge) and a small lake and Swimming Pool. The lake apparently is man-made but dries up in the summer (it was over 6ft deep now). There was camping available but most people tend to use the buildings and only a couple of the groups that use the site camp during the year apart from one or two big activity weeks they have a year. I swapped some badges and said my goodbyes. Back on the road I drove on down passing through a small one horse town called Santa Ynes where I stopped for an Iced coffee and then through Solvang, which was first settled by the Danish and has taken it seems the idea through the Disney make believe machine. I didn't stop here it just seemed all too kitsch. A short drive further on and I came to San Luis Obispo which is a small town but has a Hostel here so I called in to the converted Victorian Clapperboard style house and thankfully go a room for the night, I actually booked 2 as I had time to spare before getting to San Fransisco. I had some food and chatted with the otheres in the hostel and it transpired that everyone was going down to the local BrewPub for Tuesday Night $1 specials (Beer for just $1 a pint!) How could I resist?!? The pub, which I cant remember the name of, was in the town centre. They had a Pale Ale, a lager of some sort and a Porter which was about the best of the bunch. Not that this was a 'beer tasting' session more a sort of buy it and down it session. The music was loud and the pool tables were busy but the beer was cheep! Finally I got back into the hostel at around 1:30am and went online to Skype the old BT Team back in the UK and found out that Mr Birch hadn't told me of the change of date. (and he still hasn't mailed me the new date/time yet!) still I got to chat with a couple of you and it was nice hear you all again.

Oxnard to Santa Barbara

I was glad to be getting away from Oxnard in the morning, grabbing a quick coffee from a Diner next door and then trying to get some call price information from a T-Mobile shop across the road (the usual poor Customer Service as Frys Electronics). I had taken the use of the Internet the night before to book a night ahead for tonight in a Motel6 which is a national chain and a lot cheaper than the Ripoff Regal (almost ½ the price) but would be at least a better standard. I drove on, out of Oxnard back onto the Freeway and headed to Santa Barbara. I pulled into the Tourist Info office and got a map of things to do, The main thing here is to see the County Court Building, which, not only being the place where Michael Jackson's trial was held is a beautiful cool building. The building is still a working court but you can wander the corridors and look in on the Mural Room which is painted on all four walls with the ornate murals of the history of California. There is also a staircase which takes you up to the tower where you can look over the whole of Santa Barbara and it too is decorated with tile mosaics in a Spanish/Moorish style in fact many of tiles actually came from Tunisia. I wandered down the main street and found a full size Borders Bookshop and managed to get a copy of the Lonely Planet, the Frommer's turned out to be bad buy (unless you are travelling on a budget of about $200 a day – and I'm not!
Walking back up the Main street I found a small coffee shop and went in for an Iced Latte to cool of; it was in the high 70's today and to browse the net for the next couple of night accommodation, that sorted I headed back down the Freeway to Carpinteria to the Motel6 for the night. The Motel had recently been refurbished and had rally good rooms complete with huge flat screen TV's which I could connect my media player and excellent showers. Next door was a shopping precinct so I nipped round there to the supermarket to get some tea to take back to the room.

Barstow to Oxnard via LA

Last night I after checking in I realised I had left my Power Supply for my laptop at the hotel in Williams, I was really annoyed but there was no way I was doing a 14hr round trip to get it! Les whom I had me it LA the other day had told me about a huge Electronics store in LA so I decided to head down there and see if I could get a new one. It turned out the store in LA was still another 3 hours away – I was glad I had stopover. I found the store in Burbank, next to the Bob Hope Airport; I don't know if that's a good name or not – 'Bob Hope' reminds me of 'No Hope'! The Store was huge, really huge and has a spaceship which has crashed into the entrance and appears outside and inside the store. Once inside the Customer Services is laid out as an old time Gas Station, Huge models of 50's Sci-Fi caricatures are spread all over the store. The store sells everything electrical and electronic from a resistor to a washing machine. I had good look round but the computer department couldn't help me. Wandering the store I found some universal power supplies and one of them looked like it would do the trick, however I wanted to try it. I asked at the Customer Service desk if I could test it, and was told you have buy the thing first, then bring it to customer services to test it. Rather annoying as the queue for the checkouts was huge. I asked the 'Customer Care Colleague' if I would have to do the same if I wanted to test a media player with the huge 6ft TV behind him but all I got was a blank look. So I queued up and paid for the lead then went out of the store (signing out my laptop I had brought in to test), to return into the store again (signing my laptop in again) to queue up for the Customer Service desk. Bloody ridiculous – and I told the Manager there, not that he seemed fully aware of what I my issue was. They say the UK follows USA in Customer Care; I'm not so sure. OK off the soap box, the power supply worked so I was sort of happy again, I also bought a window mount for my PDA (only to find that they are illegal in California, Arrg! I needed some food so drove around the corner to a Denny's and had the Steak Breakfast which comprised a Huge T-Bone steak, two eggs and hash browns all for about a fiver. Suitably fed and calmed down I decided to go and try and see the Hollywood Sign, which I found just off Sunset Boulevard, Photo done, I drove around and ended up passing through Beverley Hills and realised it was getting late afternoon and I really needed to find somewhere to stay. I decided to head North'ish and picked on Oxnard on the sat nav as being in the general direction to go. I didn't realise it was as fas as it was and ended up getting there around 9ish. I looked through a hotel listing mag I had and It only listed one – the Regal Motel. I pulled up and it was the quintessential looking Motel owner operated. I knocked on the door and was first met with a huge bull dog at the glass then the owner came out and unlocked the door. The 'voucher' I had had apparently expired and it was only ever valid for days without a Y in them or some strange condition like that. I wasn't in the mood for hunting any more so paid the rather exorbitant room rate and got the key to the room. The room was basic and the walls were thin I could watch TV and listen to the sound from the TV in the room next door no problem! I had a quick chat with my mum and dad on Skype and then went to bed . About Midnight I was aware of talking outside the window of the room and then I could here what sounded like walkie-talkies. I took a quick peep out the side of the curtain and saw about 4 police about to bang on the door next to me. Not only that but it was guns drawn! The one nearest my room saw me at the edge of the window and signalled for me to be quiet -I wasn't going to argue with him. Next minute they were in the room and shouting at a woman to get up and show them where the 'stuff' was. It took about 20minutes for them to eventually take her out (in handcuffs) to the police cars, and then it all went quiet again. I have no Idea what 'stuff' was there as when I checked out in the morning I just left the key in a drop box. Nice Place!

The Grand Canyon and back towards LA

Toast and coffee in the hotel breakfast room and then out into the freezing car park surrounded by snow (sorry I've not seen this much all 'winter' it's been mostly t-shirt weather for me.) It took me about 45minutes to drive to the Grand Canyon Park Entrance and paid the $25 dollars to get in and park the car. The wind was howling across the car park and it was bitterly cold, there was huge piles of snow piled up at the sides where it had been piled up to clear the car park. I had to put on not only a jumper but a windproof jacket as well, I'm not used to this! I walked through to Mather Point which is one of the lookout points on the edge of the Canyon, and took a few photo's. I don't know whether I'm getting 'tourism weary' but I just felt like it was just a bloody big hole in the ground, and I just couldn't get over excited about it (and I was getting cold) I looked into the visitors centre and then went back to the car and decided to head off back towards LA. I called in at a Coffee Shop just outside the park for a warming coffee then back onto the road. The drive to LA took me back down the same Interstate Freeway as I had driven the other day and I suddenly realised that I was getting low on fuel, eventually I came across an exit with a fuel and restaurant after doing the last 20miles when I must have been running on fumes. Fueled up, both car and me I carried on and on along the Freeway eventually I got to Barstow and pulled off for a coffee, It was now dark again and I realised I had been driving for about 6 hours. I had a coffee at a McDonalds but just felt knackered so I booked into the Days Inn next door, It wasn't that cheep but I was too tired to start driving round to find somewhere else.

Las Vegas to Williams

Had breakfast with Mum and Dad this morning before saying Goodbye and heading off towards the Grand Canyon. It was fantastic to see Mum and Dad and spend sometime with them just a pity it was only for a short time. I left Vegas and set the SatNav for Williams which is a town not far from the Grand Canyon. Onto the Freeway and I got stuck on the outside lane and ended up doing an unintended tour of Las Vegas Airport to get back onto the Freeway. Driving here is not for the faint hearted the SatNav is a big help but trying to work out the correct lane whilst people pass you on both sides and read the road signs can be quite a challenge. After about 45 minutes I got to the Hoover Dam and parked up in an extortionately priced car park ( which was even more gnawing when I found out there was free parking on the far side of the dam on the way out). I walked out onto the Dam which controls the flow of the Colorado River. It was built in the '30's and you can see this in the art deco styling used. The dam is huge and looking over the edge you can feel the cold air blowing up from the water on the lake side. There are two huge sluice towers on the lake side of the dam which the water drops down to a hydro-electic plant at the bottom of the river side. Each of the towers has a clock on it to show the 'local time' of that side of the river. The river is actually the border between Nevada and Arizona and there is 1hr difference between them as Nevada is in the Pacific Time Zone and Arizona is in the Mountain Time Zone. Looking over the other side you can see down the 700 odd feet to the power plant at the bottom. Strangely there are two 'restrooms' located halfway round the edge of the dam which seem to be the oddest places to put a toilet – perched on the edge of a 700ft high dam. Having wandered round for a bit I jumped back in the car and drove out over the dam and up the Arizona side (and past the free parking areas!) The traffic going in the opposite direction was queueing for miles to cross into Nevada (I assume the weekend rush up to Vegas) glad I wasn't going that way. I drove for about another 3 hours initially through wide flat valleys with dry scrub and tumble weed, then the road turned and started to climb up to over 5000ft through rugged mountains and eventually into the snow line... Snow! The first time I've seen it since last winter. I finally got into Williams around 7pm and booking into the Howard Johnson Motel for which I had a voucher for cheap rooms. I nipped to the Supermarket down the road for some snacks and settled in for the night.

Las Vegas

Up nice and early at 8:30 and met my Mum and Dad down in the 'food court' (aka, Starbucks, McDonalds, Subway, etc.) Opted for a McD's breakfast and it seemed the only 'normal' thing available, Iy was huge and came with pancakes & syrup, a sausage and egg muffin, hash browns and scrambled egg, Was way too much (not that it seems to bother the locals!) Feeling well stuffed and in need of a walk to get rid of the umpteen million calories we'd just ingested we set off down The Strip. It was a clear blue sky but was still a little chilly in the shade, but pleasant in the sun. We walked down though the Mandarin and on to the Bellagio with its ornate decoration, which is one of the places the high rollers go. We walked out to the front of the complex so see the fountains alas they weren't working in the morning whilst we were there. We continued down to the past Caesar's Palace to Treasure Island Casino where we had a cup of tea in Starbucks of all places. Next door was the Forum shopping centre where I found a Borders Books and bought a copy of Frommer's USA travel guide (Which is not as good as the Lonely Planet guide). After this we crossed over to the Huge Wynn Casino Complex which has a escalator which actually goes round a curve, weird. We seemed to walk for miles in here trying to find the way out and eventually came out at the side on Sands Road. Back on The Strip we went into the Venetian Complex were they have the Gondola rides through the shopping mall. It was a surreal sight to see a gondola with a singing boat man on a mock canal in the middle of Vegas. We had a snack here and then returned to the Monte Carlo by taxi to chill out for the afternoon. Back in the hotel I used my mum's laptop to program my Amateur Radio hand-held with the data lead I had bought in LA. In the evening we went down to the all you can eat buffet. The food was good and there was loads of choice and I went for a few different 'small' plates of different dishes. The fact that you can eat as much as you want and go back as many times as you want amazed me as to why so many people were loading their plates like it was the last ever meal time. Suitably stuffed we went out onto the Casino floor to have a dabble. We wandered around the various tables where some people were really getting into the spirit (or the spirits we getting to them) loud cheers and whoops flying around the Craps tables. The Roulette tables were a little pricey at $10 a chip so we headed to the Slots. The funniest thing was that you put your notes in a slot and then the lights on the buttons light up, only thing is the one my mum sat at only lit up the 'Cash Out' button, so she pressed it, and thought she'd won a Fiver (exactly what she'd put in!). I managed to draw even but my dad cashed out up enough to cover for the meal we'd had earlier. I also found you can get 'free' drinks when playing in the casino – it costs you a minimum of a dollar tip and you can get any thing you want from the casino bar – nice, but dangerous!

LA

After a good nights sleep, I was up about 8:30 and down for breakfast, with Mum and Dad, We went and packed bags and then drove round to pick up my car from Allamo, rather than be assigned a specific car you are given your documentation then go out into a huge car park and just choose the one you want from the group you have booked, all the cars are open and they all have the keys in them so you can try them all for size, I picked a Pontiac G6 as it has a closed boot, but I could have had a rather racy looking Pontiac (but everything was on show) or a huge people carrier but I figured for just me and nobody else it was a bit over the top (and probably was heavy on juice). Once you've decided on your car of choice you drive to the exit and it's checked off and you leave, simple. First stop in LA was to the Boy Scout's of America HQ in California, They have a huge Office/Training/Store complex jest to the west of Down town LA. I picked up a Scout Shirt and some badges and then back into the mad LA traffic to an Amateur Radio Shop not far away to buy a roof top aerial for my Amateur Radio Walkie Talkie. I also ended up buying a hand-held mic. and a data cable to program the radio and it worked out cheaper than they would be in the UK. Next I tried in vain to get a SIM card for my mobile – I even went to Verizon Mobile phone store and got blank looks of bewilderment at why I just wanted a SIM card and was told that it would not work in my phone. This even when I showed the Sales Assistant that I could use the Verizon Network with my New Zealand SIM in my phone. That threw him and his colleagues completely; how could I be using a New Zealand number on their network when I was from the UK? I gave up! I then had to find a phone box to give Les a ring(not enough credit left on the NZ number) . Les was on the 2nd (South India) tour with me and I had mailed him in advance to meet up for lunch. Eventually I found one outside a Seven Eleven in Burbank and found that Les wasn't that far away so I drove over to his office. We met up and walked down the road to a Mexican restaurant to have a burrito and a horchita drink. The burrito was huge and very spicy, so much I couldn't eat it all but the horchita; which is a drink made from rice was really refreshing and cooled down the spicy-ness of the burrito. After lunch we walked back up to Les' office where he is the Chief Technology Officer for a company which restores films. The kit is the rooms there was definitely not you average PC with a video player plugged in, However they did have and AV room where they could transfer virtually any legacy film to digital format. The even have their own cinema to view and test the films which they restore frame by frame. Interesting place. By now it was getting on for 3:30pm and I still had to drive up to Las Vegas to meet up with my Mum and Dad who had booked us into the Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino there. The SatNav – which was a boon whilst trying to navigate 6 lane motorways in LA – said it was going to be about 4 ½ hours but because of the traffic and stopping halfway for a break I didn't actually get there until around 11pm. I booked in OK to the Hotel. And dropped my bags in the room and just managed to make last orders in one of the Bars (I didn't realise that there we 2 more that were open 24hrs till the next night!) Anyway after all the travelling the day before and the road trip tonight to Vegas after 2 beers I was knackered and went up to my room on the 18th! Floor.

Auckland to Los Angeles – My 'Longest Day'

Today I left New Zealand,I had a lazy morning getting up about 10am packing my bags and then I drove down to the Airport and dropped the car off and checked in. My flight was due to leave at 3:40pm but I was at the Airport for about 1pm. Check in was OK and I went through Security to the Departure area, grabbing a quick meal at Burger King. I was aware that there was extra security checks for US flights and the PA was also constantly advising to go straight to the gate so I joined the queue for the gate. First we had all boarding cards and passports rechecked then we had to queue to have a full pat down check including removing shoes and checking though wallets, then queue again to have all hand carrys checked by hand finally I was able to get to the gate. I was glad I had had the Burger King meal as there was nothing to do but sit and wait for about an hour at the gate with no access back to the main part of the Departure Lounge. Finally we boarded the plane and took off for the 12 hour flight to Los Angeles. I only dozed for about 20 minutes on the flight and watched a couple of the movies. Even though I had a window seat there wasn't much to see over the Pacific in the the dark. We finally flew over the US coast at around 6am just as it was becoming dawn, however this was 6am n the same day as I had left New Zealand as we had crossed the International Date Line and it was Tuesday all over again. I filled in the now usual immigration and customs forms just before we landed. Once on the ground it was a now standard trek from the gate to the Passport Control which was reasonably quick, The bags seemed to take ages to get through. I'd ticked the usual boxes on the Customs Form regarding tents and soil etc. expecting to get everything checked before bringing them into the States, however the Customs guy just waved me through. I made my way around to the 'Exit to Street' sign and walked up the ramp to look for the Hotel Transfer Buses only to be confronted by a person looking just like my Dad waving at me... It was my Dad, and my Mum, they had flown out a couple of days before to surprise me... and it did! I was totally gobsmacked. I had called them the other day and got no answer and had called my Sister who told me they had gone to France to get some wine (That didn't surprise me in the least) In fact they were in Southern California (buying wine!) I was really pleased to see them and I really had no Idea. We loaded the bags into their car ( a convertible Volvo no less) and we headed over to the Hotel I had booked (they were in the same one) We had breakfast (again - 3rd time today) and then took a drive down to Venice Beach and walked along the Beach to the Pier and back again. It was bitterly cold and a strong wind got up so we stopped for a coffee to warm up. As it was still early in the morning there were a number of rather strange people on the promenade, many of whom were openly begging for money for weed, there are now 'doctor's' surgery's along the beach who will prescribe cannabis as a 'pain reliever'...hmmm. On the way back to the Hotel we stopped at a Supermarket and got a deli counter lunch – which was huge, all I wanted was the Hot Beef Sandwich but had to also have the 'side of pasta' and 'gherkin strips' which was another meal in it self. Back at the Hotel to chill for a bit and I managed to stay awake to save walking up in the middle of the night, We called in the Seven Eleven store around the corner at around pm and then finally went to bed at about 9pm on the 9th which according to my body-clock was 6PM on the 10th! Note to my friends in BT – Don't let Mr Birch know there is actually a way to get at least 32 hours into a day! :)

Auckland Day 3

As it was Monday, Phil and Wendy were back in work so I took a drive down to Devonport which is a small village like area across the water from Central Auckland. I had a wander around the small shops here and had a browse around a huge secondhand book shop. On the Water front is the ferry terminal and I took the small ferry across the harbor to Auckland it self. I wandered around the shops here and found a Borders Book shop – I was looking for a Lonely Planet for the USA and I found one but it worked out it would be 10 pounds dearer than buying it in the US so I decided to wait.
I grabbed a coffee and went back down to the ferry terminal and back over to Devonport and called in a 'British Shop' I had seen earlier selling all the traditional sweets, toffees and lollies you get back in the UK to get some reminders of home!
Adjacent to Devenport is North Head which is is a defunct volcano, it was used by the New Zealand Navy as a Defence Observation post for many years and it is riddled with tunnels and gun emplacements.

Auckland Day 2

Was woken at around 10am by a phone call from the party in my house back home celebrating my birthday (well it was still the 6th there!) I'm not sure who was under the influence more; them just getting going; or me feeling the effect of last nights Whisky, but trying to blow candles out on a mobile phone to a cake 12,000 miles away is a little tricky! Thanks for the wake up call though! After a brunch of bacon and egg sarnies (which Phil made) we went out to another local creek about 15minutes away and followed a tiny path through the forest and came across a rock pool where we went for a swim – my god it was cold!

Auckland Day 1 – My Birthday!

Spent some time in the morning uploading Pics to Flickr and then we took a drive in the afternoon over to Piha on the Western Beaches and then took a walk up into the rain forest following a small river to a waterfall. In the evening we went out to Gengy's Mongolian Restaurant. This is a buffet style all-you-can-eat restaurant where you choose what you want and then the chefs cook it for you on a huge circular hot-plate. The food was great and I went back for a 3rd plate full! Back at Phil's house we celebrated my birthday with a couple of drinks and all I can say is the Whisky bottle came out – and ended up in the bin, and it wasn't me that was pouring the drinks!

Rotorua to Auckland

I left the hostel this morning and headed out onto the road towards Auckland to meet Phil Duckett, whom I used to work with as a Broadband Engineer. The road to Auckland was fairly busy and got busier the closer I got to Auckland. Finally I was on the motorway and hit the Friday afternoon traffic, this is the most traffic I have seen since navigating round Melbourne! After a couple of disjointed calls to Phil he eventually met me at the exit of the Motorway and led me to his house in Waitakere. That evening we went for an evening meal at Juan Kelly's house, who also used to work on the same Broadband Engineering Team as me and completely independently decided to move out to New Zealand at the same time as Phil and they both ended up living about ½ a mile from each other and working on the same Telecom NZ team, uncanny.

Taupo to Rotorua

I had a wander around Taupo in the morning. The town was filling up with athletes for the Ironman Challenge, so I had to constantly dodge bikes and runners on the roads (luckily they only did the swimming in the lake).I called in at McDonald's for a coffee, this must be the only McDonald's with a Plane half parked on the roof which you can go and sit in and eat your meal. I filled up with fuel and headed out of town towards Rotorua. After about an hour I came to the Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland. The name sounds a bit naff but the walk around the area wasn't. The area is home to a load of thermal springs and hot mud pools. Sulfurous steam pours out of cracks in the rocks and grounds everywhere and strange coloured water bubbles in pools. The walk took me about 2 hours around the various pools, rock formations and streams, and was very impressive. Back in the car I drove the final 45 minutes into Rotorua and booked into a 'boutique' hostel for the night although I think it was really a refurbished old one.

Welington to Taupo

The drive up to Taupo was longer than I thought and took about 6 hours most of it on 2 lane roads. The last part was up on the 'The Desert Road' which is a high tundra like area. The NZ Army has a big base up here and for a large part of the drive there were warning signs along the road stating that it was a live testing and training area and not to leave the highway. Eventually the road dropped into rolling bush and strange rock formations finally dropping onto Lake Taupo itself. Driving into Taupo I pulled up and flicked through the Lonely Planet for a hostel. I chose the Berkenhoff Lodge which was on the outskirts of town. They had beds so I booked in then went back to town to get some food for tea from the supermarket. The hostel had it's own bar so I savored a few beers before heading off to bed.

Wellington

Got up late this morning as I didn't have to rush off anywhere. I took a walk around the site then went down to see Ian, one of the staff on site. He actually hails from Yorkshire many years ago but has spent most of his life in New Zealand, and most of that in Scouts New Zealand. Ian gave me some details of Scouting contacts around the North Island and then I went into Wellington to have a look around. Getting into the central area of Wellington took about 40 minutes from the Campsite driving in I passed the 'Beehive' the rather strangely built New Zealand Parliament which ironically looks like a beehive but I've no idea why. I made my way to Te Papa which is the National Museum of New Zealand. I ended up spending about 4 hours in here, and I didn't see it all. This museum was much better than the Australian one. It seemed to have more respect for the indigenous peoples and was just a lot more interesting. By the time I got out it was going dark so I never saw much more of Wellington apart from the traffic as I drove back to the Campsite.

Picton to Wellington

My ferry out this was not till 2:15pm so I took my time this morning, making use of the free hostel breakfast and then I went up to a view point above the town and watched the comings and goings in the harbour until about noon when I had to return the car. Dropping the car was no problem and then I checked in the bags for the ferry then wandered back into the town to get a snack before boarding the ferry at 2pm
The ferry left on time and sailed down the fjord at time the steep sides of the mountains either side really towered over the ferry. Eventually the ferry was out in open water and headed over to the North Island. The unusual thing about this journey is that it takes 3hrs on the ferry but is only 'in open sea' for about 40minutes and even though you travel from the South Island to the North Island you actually go West to get from Picton to Wellington.
Whilst on the ferry I got a call from a Scout Camp I had emailed and they said I could stay at the site for the night – so that was tonight's accommodation sorted. Off the ferry and I picked up the hire care -this time a Mazda 626 (better than the Toyota Corolla I had in the South) and headed out to Brookfield Scout Camp which is about 40minutes out of the City.
The Camp Warden Met me there and told me there was no need to camp as I could have the Rover Crew Hut which was empty. The building was about the size of the wardens cabin at Middlewood. And I settled in for the night.

Nelosn to Picton

Gave a lift to a German lad called Han to Picton today as he was traveling the same way from the hostel. We took the scenic route around Queen Charlotte Drive which winds it's way along the coast instead of the faster road I had come in on the other day. The views across the waters were amazing and we pulled in at a little bay are about halfway along the road and went down to the small bay. The sun was blazing down but there was also a cool breeze of the water. Around the bay was a small campsite and I wish I had found this the other night when I camped – it was Idyllic. Back on the road we soon dropped down into Picton and I dropped Han at the hostel he had booked and I went on to the hostel I had booked. I checked in and then went for a walk down by the water front and just watched the world go by as the big ferries constantly came and went. Today was the day theyy were broadcasting Tsunami Alerts on national and local radio here but strangely nobody saw it fit to let the hundred odd people (including me!) that were down at the waterfront know. In the end there was apparently a 0,5m wave that came in – not that you could tell, every time a ferry came in the waves were almost that big.

Havelock to Nelson

I slept really well last night until about 6am. And then it got really cold enough to wake me up, however having the trusty spare-jumper-in-the-sleeping-bag I was soon warm again! I planned to pack the kit up and drive up the site to the toilet block and have a shower and be off, unfortunately, I must have left the interior light on in the car overnight and had flattened the battery. Lucky it wasn't too flat and a chap with an RV near to me had jump leads and I got a start off him but by now it was 10:30 and not wanting to get charged for another night for not clearing the site by 10am I set off straight away without a shower. The road to Nelson wound it's way up a long pass surrounded by pine forests and then dropped down onto the bay at Nelson. I parked up in the central car park, went for some cash and then phoned around a couple of hostels for a bed for the night. The first 2 were full but the 3rd; The Green Monkey had a bed so I drove the short distance round to it. It was a typical New Zealand bungalow style house on the edge of town and the owner showed me around and gave me a map of the area with some local walks on it. I had a quick shower and then decided to take a look at 'The Center of NZ walk'.
The start for this was just up the road from the hostel on the local park and then it steeply zig-zagged up a hill through bushland, and the noise from the crickets was intense. Eventually it broke out onto the top of the hill where a marker post and plaque marked the 'official geographic' centre of New Zealand – which seemed quite handy that this hill was there! I sat at the top for a while and regained my breath as it was fairly hot and a clear day. The views were good all around the viewpoint and I took a set of panoramic pictures. Wondering what to do next I had a look on my PDA for some geocaches figuring there had to be one near, there was, and I was right on top of it, sort of. The clues to it required you to decipher some clues from the legend boards at the summit to create a new Latitude and Longitude which then would reveal the location of the cache itself. The coordinates I calculated were about 300m away from the summit but to get off the top you had to follow the path around the summit fully around the hill before I could get going in the right direction. I got to a point where the path split and I followed the right had track which took me to within about 38m of the cache but it was up a steep hill covered in dense bush and behind a barbed wire fence. Back to the split in the path and I followed the other trail which lead up and onto an open field and then up to another highpoint with a transmitter mast at the summit, now I was above the cache and descended down to it still in gorse bushes but easier going and after a few minutes rooting around I found the Tupperware box and recorded my find. Making my way back to the hostel I realised it was time for another shower! The owner has earlier pointed out that there was a rather good brew-pub across the road and I felt I deserved a pint or two so popped over to take a look. The place was only small but had over 20 different beers on tap from wheat beers to pale ales and bitters and porters. I plumped for the 'Bitter' which actually wasn't too bad but as it's kegged and not cask it still had that gassy-ness that all beers here seem to have. I had also been told about the Chippy next door which I was told delivered you order to the pub, so after the first pint I went and ordered some fish and chips and sure enough was asked if I was 'in the pub' and was presented with a plastic toy cow to take back as a table maker – things are getting good. Back in the pub the head barman took me through a selection of the ales including a Scottish Ale which was fantastic but a little strong at 6.8% before tea! so I took a pint of the summer pale ale which he said went really well with the fish and chips I had ordered. No sooner had I sat down with beer and what I can only say are the best fish and chips I've had since leaving home arrived; real chips at last - not frozen ones! I rounded off the evening with a couple of pints of the excellent porter before retiring the 20 odd paces across the road to the hostel; it would be heaven if I didn't have to drive tomorrow.

Kaikoura to Havelock

Back on the road North the road now tightly hugged the mountains on the left and was squeezed in between the sea on the right. Every so often there were huge dry fords where I assume the winter rains would flood the roads. Along side each of them are single lane bridges for when they're in spate. Eventually the road turned away from the coast inland through strange undulating mounds that were bright yellow because of the dryness of the grasses,on further and the vineyards started again massive plantations of them as the land flattened out into the Blenheim Plain. I drove on through Blenheim, deciding to go further round the top of the island and headed towards Nelson. Having been driving for nearly 2 hours I decided to stop at Havelock a small town at the point where the Pelorus and Kaiuma rivers meet. I parked up next to the marina and had a wander round. The sun was out, it was a warm still day and it was beautifully quiet. Noting that there was a campsite just behind the marina I drove round and booked in. In the evening I went up to the Clansman pub as it seemed to be the only place with an y life in the town, once in there it was obvious this was the life of the town. It was packed with locals and tourists and the food looked good so I stayed for tea of locally caught green shell mussels (which are only found in this part of the world and have an amazing greenish/blue iridescent shell), followed by rump steak served on a hot stone. A couple of beers and I was well stuffed. Back at the campsite, which surrounds the local rugby pitch, I looked up at the near clear sky but because of the near full moon, I could make out the Southern Cross and a few other stars but not much else. A pity really as there was hardly any light pollution from the town.

Waipara to Kaikoura

I filled up with fuel in Waipara and chatting to the Guy in the Petrol Station he told me that the preserved railway line at Waipara was only operating at the weekends but to go to the engine sheds and have a look if the volunteers were in, as they usually show people around if they are there. Unfortunatly they weren't but I took a couple of photo's then headed north. I have until Monday to get to Picton for the ferry so there was no rush. I only drove for about an hour when I came across Kaikora, this is a small town on the east Coast and is now famous for Whale Watching. Not wanting to rush, I found a hostel in town, complete with spa, pool, and en suite rooms for only $29. I drove back into the town and got some cash and then Fish and Chips and drove onto the sea front to look for Whales. No Whales spotted but a lot of dolphins out in the bay. I chilled out back at the hostel later, glad to be taking it easy.