Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty, originally uploaded by Frickley.

Today we took the metro from 'Grand Central Station' to the south of Manhattan so that we could get the 'Staten Island Ferry.' The ferry had some fantastic views of Manhattan and the surrounding area.

We fly out tomorrow evening and will be back in the UK hopefully around 8am.

We've had an amazing once in a life time journey. Coming home is full of mixed emotions, sadness for the end of the trip, tempered by looking forward to seeing friends and family. But enough of all that... how are you guys going to cope without our scintillating blog entries!! :-) J&Fx

Times Square

Times Square, originally uploaded by Frickley.

First priority upon arriving in New York was to buy some warm clothing - it is absolutely freezing here (at least minus 3 degrees daily). We headed to Bloomingdale's department store where we picked up some bargain coats - mine cost just 15 quid! Add on to that some woolly hats, gloves and scarves bought from a market stall, and we were good to go. We spent the first day exploring the city by foot - and the city certainly has a buzz. There are a few things we swiftly learnt about New Yorkers: they are all in a hurry, whatever they're doing. Everything seems to happen at twice the pace. And they like their tips! 20% gets added to cafe/restaurant bills, and they expect a tip for the smallest reason. In fact we learnt that as soon as we arrived - as the taxi driver dropped us off at the hotel we handed him his fare plus a couple of dollars, only to have him look at the money and us in pure disgust before saying 'that's it?!?'......

On the second day we looked at shops along 5th Avenue and Times Square - there are certainly loads of bargains to be had..if only we had some money left! In the evening we headed up the Empire State Building. At 40 quid (just to take an elevator up to the 86th floor) it was a bit of a rip-off, but the views from the top were amazing and we felt it had to be done - check out our photos on Flickr!

The following day we took the 'Big Red Bus' tour which enabled us to explore a little further beyond mid-town. Ground Zero was a bizarre sight - among the high rise buildings and general hussle & bussle there is a massive gap in the landscape. Marking the spot was a display of photos taken on 9/11 - it was a really emotional and humbling experience.

We went to Carnigie Deli for lunch, where James ordered the infamous 'pastrami on rye sandwich' - an unbelievably huge mountain of meat, with a couple of almost redundant pieces of bread. He managed to polish it off though, so I gathered it was good!

Today we walked to Central Park and had a wander around, however we didn't make it the whole way round the park as it's twice the size of Monaco (I think about 66 acres)! We did want to go open air ice-skating but unfortunately the rink was shut. We did consider the frozen-over duck pond instead but decided the ice may not be quite thick enough!

On the way home we went into Tiffany's - six floors of amazingly beautiful (and expensive) jewellery. As a surprise, James whipped out his credit card and bought me.......no, not a ring.....a Tiffany heart necklace! It is lovely and something I will treasure forever.

Tomorrow is our last full day. We both can't believe we only have one full day left of our trip. Our flight is at 8pm on Thursday - BA have been threatening to strike for several days, so we are praying it doesn't happen and our flight goes ahead ok. If it does, we will be back 8am Friday - looking forward to seeing you all very soon! F&J.x.

PS We've got some fantastic New York photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/frickley/ Click on New York on right of screen.

'YouTube' Maori Dance

Better late than never... I recorded this short video on my camera when we were watching a Maori Dance in Rotorua (New Zealand). Only just got around to creating a 'YouTube' account so that I can show it here. Cool huh?! Just click on the play button botttom left. If you are interested in 'YouTube' or want to comment on this video - go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Uc_noLS-s

James

PS Richard & Jane - welcome to the world of Broadband! Mum & Michael... you'll never look back...

Los Angeles

Hollywood Sign, originally uploaded by Frickley.

We arrived in LA at 6pm local time after an extremely long and tedious journey. Feeling tired, we decided to go out straight away and get some lunch/breakfast/dinner (our body clocks were so confused by the traveling and time differences, we weren't sure what it was!). Just over the road from the hotel is an 'all American' diner called 'Jan's' - with booth seats and a menu with the greatest choice of food we have ever seen. Needless to say the portions sizes were also 'all American' - our table looked as though we'd had an absolute feast by the time we'd finished! They certainly know how to feed a couple of weary jet-lagged travellers!

After a very early night, we got up the following day early as we wanted to make the most of our time in Los Angeles (we're only here for 1 full day before going on to New York) and booked a full day-tour of sight-seeing. The tour took us to all the key places - Hollywood Bowl, Kodak Theatre (where the Oscars are held each year), Walk of Fame and the Chinese Theatre (where there are hand & footprints of lots of stars). Did you know that the infamous stars that adorn the walk of fame (all 3000+ of them) are actually paid for by the stars themselves. They actually cost $15,000 each - once we found that out, it took some of the glamour from them. Apparently the hand & footprints are regarded as the real sign that you've made it as a star in Hollywood!

In the afternoon, we boarded a smaller mini bus to go see the 'homes of the rich and famous'. Driving up into the Hollywood Hills, we got a good view of the famous white sign (apparently it used to read 'Hollywoodland' until an avalanche knocked down the 'land' bit) and passed by the homes of Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner, Ben Stiller, Leonardo Di Caprio and Sean Penn. We then drove on to Beverly Hills and Bel Air - where the most exclusive houses are. There, we saw houses where Madonna, Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes, Sean Connery and Paris Hilton all live. Perhaps the most impressive was the home of the late Aaron Spelling - his estate covers 55 acres (including a 159 room house with 30 maids and a private 9-hole golf course!) - all right in the heart of Beverly Hills. It was certainly impressive...

Tonight we are currently enjoying a complimentary glass of wine and a cheese selection laid on by the hotel manager before going out to get some dinner. We leave for New York tomorrow - fingers crossed the plane won't be delayed this time! F&J.x.

Quan-toss....are we nearly there yet???

Stuck in Auckland..., originally uploaded by Frickley.

NO!!!

We checked out of our cabin at 10am this morning, hanging about until 2pm for our flight from Christchurch to Auckland. So far, so good. Upon arriving at Auckland airport, we found out that our flight, due to leave for LA at 7.40pm is now delayed until 1.30 am...but never mind! Qantas have given us each a $10 (approx. 3 pound) voucher each to spend whilst whiling away the hours - hurrah!

We are therefore currently waiting patiently for our flight and praying that it is not further delayed (our plane has not yet left Melbourne due to technical difficulties). Oh well...better safe than sorry eh?

Only 7 more hour to go until our departure time - then it's only a 13 hour flight....can't wait...!

Franz Josef Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier, originally uploaded by Frickley.

We booked our trip for the glacier as soon as we arrived in the Franz Josef Glacier township. Our drive down had been quite treacherous due to torrential rain and windy mountainous roads, so we were praying that tomorrow would be fine. Franz Josef Glacier claims to be the most spectacular and challenging glacier environment available to the general public anywhere in the world. Its also the world's steepest and fastest flowing commercially guided glacier. The Maori's call it, "Ka Roimata o Hine Huhatere," which translates to "Tears of the Avalanche Girl."

Fortunately the next day started off with fine weather. We got togged up (coat, hat, gloves, 2 pairs of socks, army boots and ice talons) and drove the short distance to the bottom of the glacier. We then set off on foot for the 2.5km walk to the base of the ice flow. As the glacier got closer it was an amazing sight. The sheer scale of the thing! It wasn't white as expected but had a light blue tinge to it and a fair bit of dirt making it look slightly grey in places. We put the talon's onto the bottom of our boots to give us a better grip on the ice and started to climb up the glacier. In total, we spent 2 hours on the ice, climbing steep inclines before descending steps carved out of the ice by our guide. It was quite slippery so the ice talons were essential. Unfortunately Fran's left talon broke (she thought it might have been caused by gripping to the ice with the fear of death!) but the guide took his off and gave it to her. Upon descending the glacier, it started to rain increasingly heavily. By the time we got to the bottom and started the 2.5km trek back to the tour coach, everyone was pretty exhausted, getting steadily drenched by the now torrential rain. I have to say that we didn't envy the group approaching the glacier to do their walk as we left!

Overall it was a great experience - a little more challenging than we had expected - but great fun. One thing's for sure...we certainly enjoyed a hot shower and a glass or two of vino when we got back to our cabin!

Tomorrow it's off to Christchurch for our flight to LA! J&F.

Exploring the South Island

Picton, originally uploaded by Frickley.

On 16th Jan we caught the ferry to the South Island. Unfortunately, we unknowingly booked the Bluebridge ferry (the cheapest), but turns out the car rental drop off/pick up points on the North and South Islands are a distance away from the car hire places at a different ferry terminal. This meant that we had to drop off the car and then lug our stuff to a different ferry terminal before boarding. The 3.5 hour journey went smoothly (though we got surrounded by shouting kids, much to James' annoyance as one spilt their drink on him!). Once we got to the South Island, we faced a further trek from the arrival terminal to collect our next hire car. Nevertheless, we got there safely and spent our first night in Picton, a pretty port. The following day we drove to Kaikoura, staying only for one night before driving to Greymouth. Although the driving distances in NZ are a lot less than those we drove in Oz, the roads here are very winding so speeding along is not an option. The roads are so wiggly-waggly in fact, that both J and I have suffered travel sickness (though I think J's may also be linked to a small hangover!).

Tomorrow we are going for a long walk to explore the scenery, before driving to the Franz Josef glacier on 20th.....

Wellington - New Zealand's Capital

P1140025, originally uploaded by Frickley.

We left Napier and headed for our final destination on the North Island - Wellington. The drive was reasonably long so we stopped on the way for lunch, happening upon a really good cafe. Re-energised by food and the exciting news that my new nephew had just been born, we headed on to our destination.

The following day, we drove into the city (our campsite is located just outside in a place called Lower Hutt) and went on the cable car. It took us high up to an excellent city lookout spot and a Botanical Garden. We decided to walk the route back as the rain had gone and the sun had come out (one of the rare occasions it has done so since we arived!).

Tomorrow we are catching the ferry to the South Island - apparently the crossing takes 3 hours. First stop - Picton. Just 18 days left of our travels now...F&J.x.