Halloween, Obama, Guido & Diamond

It's all been going on, we have just had Halloween, plenty of fancy dress. I see that the US marketing boys have been at it. They have convinced everyone that its all about fancy dress and every adult and kid MUST dress up. To apply kid pressure on parents wallets they put out what they believe are enticing costume for kids. Such as - French Maid outfits. I can think of plenty of girls I would like to see decked out in this fashion, but I am not sure about 7 year old French Maids, with complete make-up, wandering the streets. Only in America, but I guess in your street, coming soon. We prepared for trick or treat, but went to Pam & Pete's loaded with sweeties. I don't think kids are allowed on their community, as no one knocked. Ah well, lots of chocs to scoff! I wonder why we are putting on weight?

The election was finally completed yesterday and Obama made it look easy. Ten out of ten for the Makreel forecast 2 years ago. Perhaps McCain was put forward as a sacrifice as a republican success after Bush looked all but impossible. Perhaps the real republican candidates will step up next time. Voting has been going on here in Florida for over a week. I guess it was to give plenty of time to get the count wrong? It was strange, the early voting booths had massive queues, 5 hour for some, maybe the US doesn't put much resource to voting. In the UK, some 60 million with approx 75% turnout is done in one day with no queues. Florida has 19 million with a similar turnout. Some funny old candidates and campaigning going on - we had a convicted, awaiting appeal, candidate for state senate. He wasn't allowed to vote himself, but got in never-the-less. I wonder what that says about suitable candidates, the voters and the legal system.

Of course, we English have a political celebration ourselves on 5th. We celebrate a guy named Guido who tried to blow up the King and all the politicians at opening of Parliament in 1605. Apparently it was an act of terrorism by a bunch of religious extremists who wanted more power - nothing new under the sun then! Anyway, the English liked it so much they celebrate it still over 400 years on. It probably had an impact on how the US is today. One of the causes of the plot was King James bashing the Puritans and Catholics in 1604 and perhaps it was a prod for the Pilgrims to look for religious freedom elsewhere

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,

I can think of no reason

Why the Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent

To blow up the King and Parli'ment.

Three-score barrels of powder below

To prove old England's overthrow;

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Went to see Neil Diamond at the Amway Arena. He still has a very strong voice and a great show. I much prefer the old classics (guess why?) and he certainly got the crowd going. There were about 10-15000 people there, so nice atmosphere. The usual problems with exiting a big stadium, but we had parked down the road at the Orange Court House, so got away fairly easily.

The Big Day - Turkey's Done a Runner

Well its here - Linda gets her state pension. Yes that's right, she finally comes of age. Lots of cards arrived, some at the wrong address, we are away on holiday and the cards have gone home. No worries, we will catch up with them. Jack sent Lin a nice animated birthday card that he had created. Eevie told Lin she was 61. When asked why, she said that she came to Linda's 60th earlier in the year in September and this is the next birthday. Its got logic, no? Linda has just been chilling out, champagne and snacks by the pool, but we are now off to the Gaylord Palms for dinner with some pals.

Dan is doing his presentation to the group of bursary students at a dinner in a hotel in Cambridge. He investigated creating dyes to tag cancer cells for cancer research. Some of his work was censored as commercially sensitive by the company he was working in, so it could be an interesting presentation.

Just been watching Arsenal do Fenerbahce, 5-2 away from home, so a pretty good first half to the first league section. The next section will be tougher.

I have been chatting to the girl renting our villa. She has the same birthday as me. Apparently you normally need 21 people in the same room for 2 to have the same birthday. Can you work that out! Anyway, apparently its a much smaller number when renting villas! She was pleased to receive the flowers from Colin, shame for her they were Linda's. Linda starred on Youtube, amazing what pensioners will do!


Linda kept the celebrations going by having the pals around for snacks and drinkies on the Sunday, We stocked up
with some nice finger food - chicken wrap enchi-buri-tosta-i'm-not-sure-adas, Mex grub anyway, shrimp(that's prawns to you)-cheese-bacon on a stick, shrimp dimsung, cooked a bacon joint, yummy Brit cheese, crackers that looked like potpourri etc etc. We bought biggish packs with the idea of using some & keeping some in the freezer. We also bought the 20lb turkey for Thanksgiving and put it in the freezer. Arose from bed on the morning of the party, took milk from fridge for brekkie - whoa! - what's all that condensation on the contents of fridge - not that humid - motor's not running. The freezer door is open, turkey has slid and pushed it open. Freezer has gone bananas trying to cool the planet and switched itself off in disgust. Turkey goes for a drive to the neighbours freezer for a vacation.(US turkey) We ditch the liquid ice cream and eat the rest.

Party went great, loads of food, I tried to stuff it down them, but we still had lots of left overs. We partied hard, Pam fell asleep while being photographed.

Kissimmee

Now back in Kissimmee at our good friend's house. Nice over-lake view. Just idling away here in good company. Went to a cocktail party over on Rolling Hills - dunno why they call it that - pancakeland would be better, not a trace of a slope, never mind a hill. There used to be a sand dune, but builders bulldozed it to make a foreclosure community, loads of happy people with no money. People at the party were great fun, lots of good chat, food and booze and one great guy had the patience to explain baseball to me. Red Sox were playing Tampa Bay - RS pulled it back to all square with one game to go.

Been keeping my hand in at gardening, did a bit of mowing - somewhat different to what I do in the UK tho'

They've got big snails here, look at these that I found in the garden - they sure do munch their way through the bedding plants.

Looking at cruises the other day. Found a cruise on Norwegian Lines, 5 days to Mexico Costa Maya - Belize - Roatan. If you could go tomorrow, you could get it for $250. Some deal huh?

Petrol (gas) prices continue to fall rapidly. 6 weeks ago it was $3.70, today the lowest was $2.34. I wonder if the utility companies will drop their prices as quickly as they put them. What do you think?

Tampa Bay won and now face Phillies in the final. We have Arsenal v Fenerbahce tonight, I'll try and pick up a SOP live broadcast.

Fort Myers

We have been sunning ourselves down on the Gulf Coast in Fort Myers. I think you need a fortress to get away from the election hype. Although both candidates have laid out their plans, their adverts are still knocking one another. It looks at the moment if Obama has it in his hands to lose, but only time will tell.

Its very nice and relaxing down on the beach at the fort. Nice beaches all the way down to Naples. We had lunch on the dock in the old fisherman's area - called Tin City, I think. We lounged around, watched the sunsets and wandered back to the cocktail bar for drinks and appetizers. Pretty relaxing - I was relaxed as a newt.

Visited the Calusa nature centre - rescued birds and animals and a planetarium. OK but pretty basic, next to no visitors. I don't know if they can keep going at $9 per adult and only 20 visitors per day. Perhaps they do better in the summer. The planetarium was very relaxing, I missed most of the moons of Jupiter as I was staring at the back of my eyelids. I wonder if I could get a planetarium projected onto my bedroom ceiling. Must be better for you than all them tablets!

Linda likes to lecture everyone in the family about the risks of tanning. Guess who got burnt on the last day? I just could not bite my tongue(who me?), so I was in the doghouse.

We seem to be getting to grips with some of the financial crisis in some shape or form, I guess someone's making money out of it. I don't really understand all the figures, but I read that about 2% are in foreclosure, lets say that's some 3-4 million homes worth, at a guess 600 to $800 billions. Is this enough to make banks in every country (except Iran) in trouble. I know other countries have bad home loan debt, but nothing like the level of the US. It doesn't feel like it to me, yet all the banks are rushing to grab tax payers money. It smells fishy to me.

I suspect we are about to run into a retail crash in the US as well. There are already loads of retail outlets in the shape of malls, yet massive new malls continue to be built. I can just see the Mall company board meetings - "We are having a downturn - spending is dropping off - malls have so few people in them. What shall we do? I know, lets build more malls" Where will it all end? Tumbleweed malls. I guess. Still, the government can buy all of these with tax dollars and house foreclosed families. Sounds like "Dawn of the Dead" with CEO's and bankers playing the parts of the zombies.

Election Special

We have finished the world trip but we are back in the US for winter. We've been here for a month nearly now and we are worn out. The TV is so, so frustrating. Everytime you switch on, the presidential election is on. You used to get some relief with the adverts, but not now. The two candidates have taken all the advertising space as well. I don't really understand it - in one camp you have Army Camp O'Bama ( he may be Irish with a name like that) and in the other you have Keith Richardson ( I know he was moving, but when he said Washington, I thought that was somewhere up in the north of England). I attach pictures so you know who I mean.

This is O'Bama


This is Keith
Anyway, Keith says you can't trust O'Bama, or anyone with a name like Army Camp and he's much too young. Keith seems to have a nice lady in tow, Sarah, I think her name is. Keith told me she is his running mate. I've never seen Keith go running anywhere, so I don't know about a running mate. I wonder if Lynda know anything about her. Dark horse, that Keith. She's quite pretty, better than John Prescott anyway. Maybe Sarah has some Red Indian blood and Running Mate is her surname.


Sarah Running Mate

I don't know what's going on at all. Someone's fixed the petrol prices, but the stock prices are all shit. Perhaps they're selling stock to buy petrol.

I am fed up with Orlando & Kissimmee, and me and the old dear are on our way to Fort Myers for a break. It will be good to get behind the ramparts with all this election nonsense going on.

Speak soon, your correspondent in Florida

Wally

Final Review - Its a wind up!

We have been back home for a couple of weeks, trying to get settled in and have had time to reflect and ponder. Its difficult to write a review after so long but here are some bullets about the whole deal.
1. Would we do it again - Definitely, we are thinking of a different route next time, perhaps China, Pacific Islands, South America, Africa
2. Where did we like best - Difficult, this is how I can best put it
#Rajahstan in India was fantastic, the places we visited were great but the historic train made it so easy. It might be harder driving around.
#Preferred Aus to NZ
#Liked E coast Aus better than W coast Aus, really enjoyed the run up the coast and swimming on the Gt Barrier
#Melbourne more than Sydney
#Uluru, Ayers Rock overrated
#There is no wild life in Australia
#Kiwis don't exist
#Pacific islands are nicer than Carribbean
#Take less clothes & more money
3. Would you do things differently next time. - If we went the same countries, we would go to Kerula in India, more far east countries, miss out W Aus, make sure you are in NZ S Island when the weather is good, tour whole NZ in one go.
4. Hotels - pre-booking first nights stay on arrival and then booking as we went worked well, no real problems. Look for deals direct with hotels, I got some better deals than were available with agents on Internet.
5. Tripadvisor was good but read between lines and who is writing - what is good for a teenage backpacker may not be good fro a silver surfer.
6. Car Hire - watch out for the rip off insurance coverage provided by hire companies to get rid of excesses. You can get it for one third the cost with reputable insurers, book before you hire.
Hope you found this enjoyable/useful - I certainly enjoyed writing it. If you want any advice Email me on wally_spooner@blueyonder.co.uk

USA: Orlando Florida

Well, we are here in the villa in Florida and our lifestyle has changed. We are no longer traipsing about, instead lying in bed 'till 10:00, swimming in the pool, lounging around, going to parties and catching up with our US pals. Well, someone has to do it! The flight from San Diego was pretty good with South West, leaving on time and arriving early at MCO. We flew over Texas, which at the time was experiencing some Tornado activity. I don't know if this disturbed the air at altitude, but even flying at 39,000 was pretty bumpy at times - you know the sudden little drops that make you grab the arm rest and squeal like a girl. Great aerial sunset.

The zoo in San Diego was pretty cool, we learnt that gorillas like to eat their own shit. That big silver back was relaxing in the sun doing just that, straight ATM. The polar bear in the picture was huge, probably 10 foot tall and quite a showman, he dived in to the pool and commenced to play in the water, savaging some canvas sacks and stuffing them into a little underwater cave, then blowing air bubbles into the cave and retrieving them from the top to play with them again. He came out of the pool to have a pee, there's training for you that some adults could do with, went over to a sandspot, peed and dug it over like a domestic cat.

The wildlife is pretty active here at the villa - the 'gator has been patrolling back and forth across the lake and growling at night when the Disney fireworks show starts, I guess he is a bit lonesome being the only one in the lake. The birds are in action also, the grackles and mocking birds all have their young and are busy showing them how to get a square meal. Unfortunatly so ar the raptors. A hawk came down, caught one of the young mocking birds and set about eating it in the tree near the pool. Not for long, - the grackles are so aggressive and mobbed the hawk in the tree, until it took off and then chased it, pecking at it in flight until it had left the lake area.

Went to Phil's 60th at the Gaylord Palms, very very nice. It is as the Yanks would say, an upscale buffet with food on mediterranean themes set in an "open air" restauarant in the enclosed atrium of the gaylord. The Gaylord is some place - under the atrium it has a swamp, complete with alligators and big catfish - a lagoon complete with dock, ship, fishing pier and more fish - a pirates castle with treasure - Neptunes grotto and nice planted gardens, plus all the usual swimming pools, spas, shops restaurants etc etc

Played some golf - rubbish after the long lay off, but did manage to win a Srixon hat off the nice lady promoting junior golf at the 5th. This round was golf with food thrown in dogs at the 9th, beer and lunch when we finished - all for $38. Getting ready for the flight back to blighty and end of the World Trip

San Diego

The move from Fiji to San Diego was not good. We thought we were doing the smart thing switching to the cab. Sami turned up for the 1 hour trip to the airport on time, so far so good. We set out, on what sounded suspiciously like 3 out of 4 cylinders so that most vehicles passed us. It got worse - darkness fell and Sami slowed down and drove down the middle of the white centre line. He said it was because the plentiful roadside, grazing cows might jump out on us. Fair enough, I thought, he'll follow the next truck that overtakes us at 40mph and we'll be on our way. Not so, 40mph was too much. It got darker an Sami slowed down. Next we picked up a hitch-hiker and Sami said 4 eyes on the road were better than 2. It then dawned on me that Sami's eyes may not be too good and this was reinforced when he said he had diabetes and when the hitch-hiker got out we slowed down still more. Linda was now pretty anxious judging by her grip on the seat back and the clench of her jaw. I guess the Delhi cab wasn't so bad after all. Anyway, we finally made the airport in 2 hours again. It didn't end there, we arrived at LAX. The jumbo parked after endless taxiing where we disembarked onto the tarmac to get on to buses, I ask you 450 people on buses. We then drove all the way back to the terminal to join the lovely US customs & border security queues. This was small beer for us after the Fiji experience. NIce run down the freeway to arrive in SD without problem.

We are staying on the corner of Balboa Park, which is the site of a major exhibition in 1915 and retains many of the buildings now as museums and theatres. It is set in the hills on the edge of a valley running into SD. We drove out to Sunset Cliffs on Point Loma for sundown. You will see from the picture that we didn't get a good rental car - I am not keen on red.

Can you name the plane behind the Union Jack?

The zoo was great, LInda got to see all the wildlife we missed in Aus; wobblies; koalas; funnel spiders; but no kiwis, we studied the nocturnal exhibit, but no kiwis. I think they are really extinct, but the NZ government are keeping it a secret because it their national emblem. Who would want to be in power and be blamed for not keeping the national emblem from becoming extinct. Linda had an encounter with a polar bear - that is some beast. Also really enjoyed the huge aviaries and the gorillas.



SD is home to the US Pacific Surface fleet, so we spent a lot of time in the navy lark. We spent the day touring the harbour and visiting the various naval museums. The Forrestal aircraft carrier is now a museum. That carrier has some history - from 1945 until 1990. How they keep launching and landing aircraft at 45 second intervals is some deal.

FIJI ; Heaven & Hell

Flew into Fiji last night. Good ANZ flight, super sunset, purple band on one side, fiery orange on the other as the sun went down. We were on an Airbus, funny that ANZ runs both Boeings & Airbuses.

Arived Nadi airport, Fiji 6:55, 3 planes had arrived, 3 immigration staff on duty, 2 customs lines operating, coach transfer over single carriageway, poorly maintained roads, police road blocks, every village has speed bumps, arrived hotel 10:45 - Result hell!

Resort runs on Fiji time (relaxed so time goes slow), resort is in lagoon with barrier reef 150m off shore, shaded by coconut palms, everyone friendly & welcoming, corner room with balcony overlooking the lagoon, food, drinks ice cream smashing - Result heaven! ......Bula. Really laid back and unwinding now, spent day on the lounger catching up with my books. About to spend hour on the balcony with Johnny Walker as sun goes down.

Lin owes me at least 100 spider removals. She had a salamander visit her in the shower, I heard the sqealing and rescued LIn (salamander?) Hero and in good books now. Lets see what it's worth.

2 man ( how sexist!) Kayak paddle with Lin over the barrier reef, Lin loved it. I snorkelled out as well, lots of fish, wrasse, angels, discos and I also saw a sea snake, about 45cm long, blackish and yellow bands. Jack can identify.

Dinner out on the Island, looked like we are in a boxing ring, but taking all into account, if Carling did dinners, this would probably be the best dinner this holiday - scenery, on the barrier reef looking back to the beach, singing waiters, smashing Mahi Mahi, fish swimming next to our table begging for food, great all round.

The people here are all realy nice, it's such a lovely island, I would return if in the vicinity. Getting ready to return to the hell of the airport, but we've ditched the coach for a cab! Just heard someones blown up the court house at our next destination, San Diego.

NZ: Christchurch

What are PROVIDORES, anything to do with steve? Well, we are back in NZ, now in Christchurch. We had a late flight last night and arrived at our motel at 1:30am. The flight was pretty bumpy, sudden big drops, eliciting screams from some passengers. The Super Shuttle to the motel worked well again. The Tuscana Lodge Motor Inn is very nice.

Our last place in Victoria was in Lorne, a nice motel overlooking the bay with Cockatoos on the balcony for breakfast. We finally found some kangaroos, apparently they all live on the golf courses. There are none on the land. They must be single figure handicap players, all the time they spend there! Some are better looking than some OFGM members I know.

Our final drive up the Great Ocean Drive was very nice from Lorne up to Geelong, it runs alongside the sea, lots of nice bays, hills on the landside, for most of the run. The road winds a bit, so progress is slow, with speed limits of 80kph or less for most of the way. A bit slower for us, with me looking out of the window, and Linda squeaking in protest at my late turns when I looked back at the road. Popped into Eddy's family restaurant for a massive stuffed Pita lunch in Geelong. F1 boat racing was running in the harbour - cool!

Been wandering around Christchurch, a small CBD on the Avon river, compact with nice restaurants and bars. The botanic garden looks great in its autumnal dressing. We drove out to Littleton on the first afternoon. Te whole of the peninsula down to Akaroa is volcanic with the harbours set in the craters and the crater walls forming a beautiful backdrop - except I had to drive over them, the roads are OK, but few crash barriers, similar to alpine roads you see on the Tour de France. It would have been Ok but my vertigo keeps jumping up at me. Never mind, I just closed my eyes.

Had another Alpine T-de-F over to Akaroa. Not far-to-go and the vertigo was a bit better. There is an interesting segue, as Akaroa is a an old French colony, well nearly anyway! A French whaling captain bought the whole peninsular from the Maoris, sailed back home and brought out settlers. In the meantime, dear old Albion negotiated a better deal for the whole of NZ and by the time they came back it was British, with a British warship, Britomart here. Ces't la vie. Anyway they decided to stay and Akaroa is a little bit of France in NZ. I bought a tank of essence there!. Its a lovely little town, well worth a days visit. Meeting with the old neighbours tonight for dinner.

Met Jan & Mick at their hotel for dinner, finally got to bed at 1:30am. Good evening, we laid in a bit but they had to be up at 5:00am for an early flight. We heard from them that the flight had technical problems and didn't go on time. We last saw tem in '87, they havn't really changed at all.





Spent the day at Hanmer Springs, a spa town in the foothills of the west coast mountains. We went to Thrill Seekers Canyon, a centre on the river that runs, rafting, jet boats, bungy, clay shooting, paintball, various driving things. We went on the jet boat. It was about 30km down the gorge. Pretty spectacular, 600hp, 60mph jobbies that need about 6inches of water once they are up on the plane. They skid right into the rocks and spin 360's, run up rapids - super! Linda was really brave, she had to go over a narrow unmade path on the side of the canyon to get in the boat. She gets the award of the CDM for that.



Winter has turned up here, snow is on its way the glaciers were closed to air traffic and it has rained all down the west coast for a couple of days. There are lovely autumn colours all around. Visitied Kakoura, an old whaing town that does whale watching in the summer. Pretty cold, there today, just wandered around took in the sights and whaling cottage. Raining back in Christchurch. Never mind, now going back to summer in Fiji and San Diego!

Victoria: Ballarat, Great Ocean Road

I see we did a better job with the Olympic Torch in Canberra than you did in London! Gordon Brown couldn't organise a piss up in a you-know-what.

Spent some time in the NGV gallery. It was the one in Fed Square, dedicated to Aus art. We both really enjoyed it. The building itself is fantastic, the floors are laid out in a geometric figure of eight and as you wander around you get views through glass sections and little cutouts of other floors and other parts of the floor you are on. You get sudden and unexpected views both of artworks and of the vistors in the gallary. A bit like a peep show. I liked " The Pioneer" and the woman being carried out in the flood disaster, Lin liked the moderist view of Melboune. Could have spent more time there. 39 Steps was great, acted by 4 people only, not the Hitchcock style, done as a comedy. Nice theatre.

We have finally got in contact with our old neigbours and we are trying to get together with them when our paths cross in Christchurch.

Drove to Ballarat through the rush hour on a day before ANZAC day, a public holiday. Nice baptism of the hooked right turns. We found a great Motel in Balarat - Sovreign Park - it was better than many so called 4* star hotels I have stayed in. It was attached to the Red Lion, a great family pub with grub and a super atmosphere. We spent the day in Sovereign Hills, a re-creation of a gold mining town in the 1870's. It had loads going on and the houses, workshops & businesses were populated with staff in costume. It was great to chat with them. I especially enjoyed talking with the wheelwright, the shopkeeper and the housewives in the houses. We went down a mine and saw the redcoats in action. I think I saw one of them making eyes at Linda. If he hadn't had such a long barrel, I would have challenged him!




We drove across country from Ballarat and we are now in Port Campbell on the Great Ocean Road. A very small town with a beautiful bay that has been the scene of ship wrecks, so many that the diving schools run tours of them.

I have heard some say that Victoria is very much like England. I can now confirm that belief. It is a bank holiday weekend - it is peeing with rain - I had to drive with my headlights on at 2pm, the fog had descended - it is 10 degrees celcius - we are both soaked through! Not really tho' there are no traffic jams, in fact no cars at all.






We have wandered along the 12 apostles, formally the sow and piglets. I think I prefer the old name. I don't like to think of apostles falling down and collapsing in public. These are a chain of pinnacle islands formed by coastal erosion. The islands are steadily collapsing, but new ones are being formed. Nice to see, but better in the sun, I think. There is one island, Mutton Island, in the chain that is host to 50,000 mutton birds (short tailed sheerwaters) It is supposed to be a great sight to see them flocking in April & May. They raise their single young and at the first storm in May, they leave for their summer grounds. The young can't fly at this time, they don't get any more feed and just have to sort themselves out and join their parents in the Aleutians. Have a look on the map to see where that is, the Aleutians are up by Alaska. Thats what I call tough love. The funny thing is we didn;t see a single sheerwater, I wonder if all the wildlife in Aus are a spoof, we drove 38km of eucalips today, smashing nose clearing perfume, but no koalas - we have seen no kangaroos, no emus, no koalas, no wallabies, no echidnas, now no mutton birds.