All ready for Contiki

hi all,

finally got those pics up of bridge and UN. so im starting to get a bearing on things over here, have used the tube a lot and discovered that it is slow and unreliable but covers a lot of london. have walked around Richmond and central London a bit. I've been shopping, bought some work shoes (ankle high boots actually to keep my ankles warm), a new down feather waterproof jacket (that fits unlike the jacket i was using) and the essential beanie, gloves and scarf.

i met up with a guy who is a comon friend of Renee's last night. nice to meet some new faces, got home at 5 though (as it took a while to catch 2 buses home). so got to see a bit of the nightlife of Londan (Fulham actually). Also had lunch with my other cousin Charmaine. She has completely lost her auzzie accent in 2 years, very amusing.

during the week, I signed up with 2 recruitment agencies online. within 10mins i got a call from one! have had meetings with both of them and have 3 job interview lined up on Monday. i heard it was easy getting a job but geez! lucky i brought my suit with me

anyway that will do for the moment, no pics to post as i haven't taken any. i'm starting to look forward to Contiki now, only 3 days!

see ya

I'm in London!

Hi all,

sorry its been a while. but have enjoyed lazing around for a few days. i'm at my cousin's now, though he doesn't have internet so i have to use the library (but its free).

so anyway, the last time i sent a post was actually my last day. didn't realise until i couldn't get into my room. lucky i had a late flight!

that day i walked across brooklyn bridge and had lunch at a small park on the brooklyn side that i heard has the best views of the bridge.

guess they were right

then i did a tour of the UN building. it was pretty good. got to go inside the general assembly but not the security coucil (as they were holding a meeting about haiti)



and thats about it for NY. had a great time in USA, highly recommend it, even travelling alone was fine. best to stay in smaller hostels though - easier to meet people.

so now i am in London, Richmond is a very lovely place, plenty of parks. pretty cold though. am about to do some shopping for clothes at Oxford St (the green one in monopoly!)

see ya

p.s. am having problems uploading pics. will try again later

Middle days of NY

hi all,

it was really cold yesterday, like just above freezing and really windy. i love thermal layers

this is the toy store from the movie BIG. remember chopsticks...

2 days ago...
so, i have seen quite a lot of NY by bus now, definateley worth it.


we walked through central park in the afternoon, quite spectacular

and then up the empire state building, it was a really clear day (and was pretty warm compared to yesterday). the view was spectacular!

then yesterday...
went to go to 'late show' but got there too late, bummer. caught staten island ferry and saw statue of liberty - statue is smaller than in thought.



had a mexican lunch in lower east side. walked to the aircraft carrier museum' but they would let you go on deck as it was too windy, so we didn't bother. then walked to time square and bought tickets to the broardway show, 'dirty rotten scoundrels' for 50% off (still 60 though). that was amazing! had a blast

so thats it so far. btw, i missed gospel tour as my watch was out by an hour. NY york has been pretty much like i thought it would be (i had high expectations). what has impressed me is that i have not yet met one local who hasn't been very friendly and helpful, not one. i have felt very safe the whole time unlike LA. in fact i'm actually staying in Harlem which i have been told is one of the safest places in NY (dont believe the movies). today i am going to brooklyn bridge and maybe a museum. we'll see

bye for now.

Firts days of NY

hi all,

so after i wrote my last blog, i met this english girl at the lobby. she was travelling alone as well so we began site seeing together.

At night the rain had cleared and we headed to time square for a beer but decided instead to do a tour. the tour (unlimited use of the bus for 48 hrs + that night) is on a red double decker bus with no top roof, perfect for seeing the city. it was fantastic! the lights of time square are amazing! dont have thos pics handy yet but will post some soon. this night tour tokk us through midtown and brooklyn via the manhatten bridge. it was bloody cold across that bridge.

next day we did a tour of midtown. we got off at soho for lunch and had soup for lunch in this cool cafe (but the coffee was crap as usual). then saw battery park, walked through canal st where i could have bought a rolex knock-off for $25 and then wall st. we split up when i had to go to the knicks game. the game was pretty cool (though i was tired), the knicks got thrashed.
anyway this will do for now. it is raining today!

lunch at soho, had a great atmosphere


Rebecca and I on the tour bus

in wall st, some of the bldgs are so tall and so close, it looks like they almost touch!

at the knick game. i was closer than expected, pity the shot is out of focus

last days in DC

so i'm in NY atm. has been raining all day which kinda screwed up my plans. i went to WTC site (not much) and time square. didn't take any pics as it was raining. then i missed a tour of the bronx... argh!!


anyway, last few days in DC

saw most of the monuments. it was about 24 degrees and perfect. this obviously is the washington monument.

this i from the steps of the lincoln memorial (at the end of the mall/park)

so i met up with some new friends for dinner (10 of us) and went out again starting at a irish pub and finished at a niteclub. i bought some drinks at the niteclub and then went for more but the bar chick wouldn't serve me as i didn't tip her. this was not table service. f#cking stupid tipping sh#t). but the worse part of the night was i had my camera in my pocket and was knocked into a handrail (not that hard) and smashed the screen! i was not happy. still works though just can't see anything. anyway walked home at 5 for a 20min stroll that took over an hour due to bad directions (say aust embassy though).

the next day i was pretty tired and spent an hour mustering the will to see the whitehouse (30min walk) before heading to NY. evntually i did and everyone else came too even though they had already seen it. here is the pic...

so the caught the bus to NY. it was $40 cheaper and i have been spending more money than expected (and no it wasn't all on drinks!). bus was fine, watched movies and slept anyway.

so that's it for now

DC

hi there,

almost sorted out a way to post pics but i'm in too much of a rush atm.
so i'm in the middle of my second day in DC. yesterday i did the tour of Capitol Hill and checked out the spece museum. capitol hill was really cool but space museum was OK. a lot of the city is undergoing renovations for some reason. after that i was so buggered, i went back to the hostel for a nap. then the hostel organized a tour of georgetown at night which eventually turned into a pubcrawl. that was good fun (got home at 3am). met heaps of people there. georgetown is the poshest suburb in DC, full of politicians, millionaires and lots of pubs/clubs. went inside georgetown uni, saw JFK's house, the poshest restaurant in DC, then began the pubcrawl...

so today i walked through the monuments (the tall tower, reflecting pool, war memorials, and lincoln memorial). it has been unusually warm here, atm it is about 23 degrees. anyway got to go, seeing whitehouse now.

see ya

here are some pics finally!

capitol hill, the tour was pretty good

after the georgetown tour we headed to a bar. pubcrawl's are an easy way to meet new friends!

LA visit

Hello everyone!!

well i made it! i'm in washington atm in the hostel. the internet is cheap but there doesn't appear to be a place to plug in my camera - so no pics atm.

well i arrived in LA after about 18hrs of travelling of which i got no sleep. checked into the hotel straight away, the room was better than expected (i had my own double bed and bathroom). i was feeling pretty good, so i had a shower and headed for Venice beach. after 3 buses and 1.5 hours i made it. LA looks just like the movies, big cars, big roads, a thousand take-away stores and everyone dresses like a punk (but that is how everyone dresess). It was about 18 degress and windy but i wasn't cold in my jumper. i walked along venice beach for about an hour. not many people there (cos it was windy) so it wasn't that great. however, while walking i saw a crowd of people so i went to have a look and turns out they were filming a movie there. there was 2 actors sitting on a bench, one was jeff goldblum! (from jurrasic park, the fly, independance day). i took a few pics which i will post when i get a chance to. anyway started to feel tired so i went home, i managed to stay up till 5 pm, then crashed (was up for about 29 hours). i slept for 14 hours.

so today, i got up, had breakfast in a diner (had 3 cups of their endless coffee) and headed to the airport. i arrived in DC at bout 830pm and headed for the hostel. on the way i met 3 travellers from denmark who were also staying at the hostel (but are leaving tom) so we all checked in to the hostel and headed out for dinner (at 11pm). we were pretty hungary so were wandewring around for any place that served food. the only place open that we found... was hooters! food was crap, had a few beers and am back at the hostel.

so thats it! tom i'll see all the monuments. until then...

1st Blog

Hi all,

This is my first test blog which i'm posting in order to learn how all this stuff works. Have spent a lot of time getting the car prepped for sale and it is now in the trading post and carsguide. Here are some of the pics i posted.

This is the front



This is the back

This is inside, can you see Dave's MP3 player?

This is a pic of City Hall that i took this week. Stupid image rotation...

OK this will do for now

Chau