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!