Rotorua - 27th Jan

After a brilliant sleep in a comfy bed, and some toast, we set off for the Zorb! The start of our massive activity day in the adventure sports capital of North New Zealand! Woohoo! Jenny kindly helped us get an itinerary together, sharing her knowledge of the things worth doing here; many activities were invented, tried and tested in Rotorua! The day was rainy so it was an all go for wet activities!

Zorbing is when you get zipped in to a massive inflatable ball (either on your own, or with people you’re comfortable falling on top off) and pushed down a steep hill, which can be a zig zag or straight path down.  You can choose if you have water in the ball with you (which we said yes to, because it helps you slide around) and you can either slide around loosely or be tied in to a seat.  We decided not to be tied in to the seat because this meant that you had to spin as the ball was moving – and people tended to feel ill after this one.  Although you’re only in the ball for a short time, you laughed and screamed all the way down, not knowing where you were or what direction you were going to be thrown in to next.  Once we reached the bottom, it was no surprise to hear that Gav kept arms and legs up in the air, to maximise his speed and movement in the ball! Crazy man!

Our next activity started straight after lunch...Whitewater Rafting!  We headed to the office of the company where we met the other people who would be rafting at the same time, were given our kit and met our instructor. The best way to describe the instructor was a surfer dude with a huge ginger beard. He was called Raana and had a great laid back sense of humour and loved his job! After a safety talk and Mauri prayer to bless the water and ask the gods to make our trip a safe one, we were in the boat and bounding down the grade 5 river (Grade 5 is pretty intense white water – Amanda is used to talking about water at grade 3 max). We kept being reminded to sit on the outside of the raft and not in the ‘chicken seats’ in the middle. The idea was to support yourself with your feet enough top lean back and being able to lie out over the water without using your hands to help! We headed to our first test – a 2.5 meter waterfall, followed straight away by a 1 meter drop.  This really got the adrenaline pumping! The river soon took us to our next test – the biggest drop – a 7 meter fall (imagine the middle diving board in a swimming pool!). We stopped just before and said another prayer to the Mauri gods and our leader – Raana – reminded us to trust him, even though we only just met him. The group to go over before us was a stag do and asked for something a little more extreme. Their instructor took them over quickly and it took us a while to see them pop out the bottom – luckily they survived. It was out turn next. We paddled towards the drop and jumped in to the ‘Get Down’ position for safety and we were heading vertically towards the swell at the bottom. We went in nose first and someone all stayed in the boat. What an amazing feeling!  Raana celebrated by getting us to stick our ores in the area and shout ‘Sweet-as-cuzi-bro’ (an affectionate mauri saying which means that it was good and that it had made us all friends – even family). We both loved and now can’t stop saying it!

The last group to come over got their timing a bit wrong and disappeared under the waterfall for a few seconds. The boat popped out upside down and the group floated their way to us, spluttering and coughing. They said they loved it though. The last part of the trip was over some rapids and through a Mauri grave site. The king would have buried behind the biggest fall and the lower you got down the pecking order, the lower down the stream you were buried! By the time we carried the rafts back to the van; we had used all our adrenaline and were ready for a rest. After getting back to the office we headed to Jenny and Neil’s for a well deserved brew.

A very pleasant surprise awaited us on our return – Jenny had booked us all in for a Mauri Cultural Experience that evening, so after a short rest we headed to the Mauri site eager anticipating what was ahead. There was about 200 people and the host went around the room to analyse where people were from and say hello to them in their own language – which was impressive as 22 nations were represented! The main event of the evening was a talk from one of the Mauri tribe which lead to us watching the Mauri Warriors arrive in their hand carved wooded Canoe, chanting their songs and demonstrating their strengths. Following this was an insight in to Mauri culture, including the various dances, songs, weapons and tattoos that they have.  We learned that the Mauri face tattoos were made up of 4 birds – The Bat, Parrot, Kiwi and Owl, with one side of the face designed by the mother, and the other the father. We all got the chance to practice some Mauri words and even had a demonstration of the Haka – which was tailored to that specific tribe. It is amazing to see the passion in the culture and the desire to educate others about it. We were then taken to a large marquee where we were served a banquette which was traditionally cooked how the Mauri’s would have done it – an open pit over hot stones for around 3 hours. It was delicious and you could taste the flavours infused by the pit. Before we left, we had a walk through the forest where we saw some more glow worms and a natural cold water spring in action, which was very impressive!

We were very grateful to Jenny and Neil for sharing this with us and didn’t look forward to saying goodbye in the morning.

Waitomo and Lake Taupo – 25th and 26th January

Te Awamutu had a few shops in the town centre near the beach.  Amanda bought a top as clothes aren’t drying as fast as we thought they would!  We had a little panic too because we left the fridge and phone charger plugged in whilst we looked around the shops – so the battery was drained a bit and it took two tries to get the car started again.

We made it to Waitomo (pronounced White-tor-mor) which was a small town and had many caves that you could explore – we booked a trip with ‘The Legendary Blackwater Rafting’ company to go to a cave called Ruakuri Cave. The guides were local, very experienced and told some great stories about the area to get the group engaged.  The trainee instructor (student) kept saying ‘Sweet as’ which we found funny, and when we said that we were from the Lake District, he knew that there was great Mountain Biking there – everyone in the group liked the sound of gorge walking too – so you never know, we may get some new visitors!  The name of the cave means ‘2 dogs’. It was given this name by a Mauri king that had 2 dogs killed at the entrance to the cave to feed himself and his warriors, before using their skin to make his ‘lucky’ cloak; he never lost a battle (pronounced ‘biddle – bit confused at the time) since wearing it. We wore wetsuits and funny boots in the caves, whilst we climbed, squeezed and tubed our way around to 65 meters below ground level.  

We all turned our head torches off whilst floating in a long line through tunnels – where we saw hundreds of glow worms lighting our way above us – it was stunning! We learnt that glow worms are actually maggots which secrete a net to fish for 9 months, before turning in to flies.  Their rudey-bits are a third of their body weight, and they spend 12-48 hours making sweeeeet lurve – which kills the male immediately – impressive eh?!! Looking at them up close, they are see through, shining at one end – an electric blue colour.  It was a great tour doing something we won’t have the chance to do again.  The warm soup and bagels after the amazing hot shower definitely got our thumbs up!  Photos are on their way from an American couple and Essex couple (girl called Amanda! - rude) that we made friends with.

We headed South East passing the Rangitoto Ranges, heading for Taupo (Toe-Poo), before long we reached Whakamaru (pronounced Faka-maru) where there was a huge Dam creating electricity from the Waikato River.  We decided to find camp and stumbled across a free campsite with beautiful views over Whakamaru.  

The camp was in a forest (and so lots of bugs!) and the toilet was a hole in the ground – nice!!  Gav met a local couple who had been camping there for 3 weeks – the old man was only wearing a sarong, which was flapping around in the wind a little too much.  They were a lovely couple all the same, and had a very cute puppy called Honey.  We had our pasta and cheese, washed the pots in the river (avoided a swim because it was a bit dirty) and were both asleep in minutes again!

26^th Jan

We woke early, got changed and fled to avoid getting eaten anymore by the bugs (itching like hell even now!).  After a short drive we arrived at Huka falls, and decided to boost our adrenaline with a jet boat ride.  After scoffing a cereal bar, before we knew it we were being sped at 50 miles an hour, inches from the cliffs and reeds, and being thrown in to a 360 degrees spin every few minutes! It was awesome!! £50 for a half hour trip was a bit extortionate so we would have preferred it to be cheaper! Our guide ‘Steve’ had a dry sense of humour and kept us entertained for the trip.  The climax of the experience, was reaching Huka falls themselves – very powerful water over the fall (enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool in 5 seconds!).  Afterwards we went to the viewing spot above the falls and got some snaps of another group doing the same thing.....(saved us £30 anyway!!)

After a bit more driving, we reached Lake Taupo – with our first views of the lake from Acacia Bay, eventually brushing our teeth in the sink of a public loo (again!).  

From here we had excellent views over the lake (felt very much at home) and watched ducks and children fishing, as well as people taking part in bungee jumps and parasailing.  

The lake is 30km long and 20km wide.  We spent the rest of the afternoon in Taupo looking in the shops (Amanda bought a piece of the local shell so that she can put it on a necklace, and a t-shirt that says ‘Sweet as’ on it – great NZ saying that means ‘I agree with what you’re saying).  We cooked a three course meal by the lake consisting of Tuna Pasta (Yes, Gav ate tuna and enjoyed it!) Satay chicken skewers and chocolate chip cookies (posh nosh or what?!) We also saw the first van that looked the same as ours today! Didn’t catch what its name was on the side, but we did get a beep and wave – smiley faces all round!

After finding wifi, we contacted Gav’s relative (second cousin once removed!!) called Jenny, to ask if we could pull up at her house that night in Rotorua (around 60 minutes away).  It was handy that she was online, and told us to ‘head on up’.  Not only were Jenny and Neil really friendly people, but they cooked us an amazing meal with Lamb and vegges and washed the pots! Felt spoilt!

New Zealand Far North – 23/24th January

The day had arrived to pick up our camper – how exciting! We are both treating this period as a test as we fancy owning a VW Transporter camper at home. We packed our bags and said good-bye to the Jucy hostel. The camper pick up was only 10 minutes walk so it wouldn’t be long before we got the keys and hit the road! Our mood soon changed when we got to the depot and they told us they had no booking in our name!! They searched their PCs and found that our booking was due to be collected from the airport – not what we had booked! Our exciting van was waiting for us.... 20 minutes car journey away! So we had to get a taxi (paid for by the van company) to collect it.  The taxi driver had a great philosophy in saying that ‘all humans make mistakes sometimes’ – we’re loving how laid back and friendly everyone is.  Makes you feel more relaxed.

The airport branch was heaving so it took over an hour to get our keys. Our van is a ‘Roto-Vegas’ named after the main street in the famous Rotorua (where we will be heading soon!) It’s a Toyota Grand-HiAce 3.0 V6 - that will mean something to the boys. To the girls it has a big engine and is shiny and black! It’s a 2 berth with a camping stove, storage, bed.... and that’s about it! It is a bit battered and has covered 232,283 Kms! It’s great to drive and doesn’t feel anywhere as near big as it is! Amanda also loves driving it. Each van has a name, ours is ‘The Postman’ so we have named him Percy. We haven’t had him long but we have already both fallen in love with it a little bit! 

The decision about where to drive first was difficult. There is so much to see in New Zealand that you could spend a year in a camper... not 3 weeks! It was about 10 minutes before we left that we decided to head to The Bay of Islands in the Northlands. We had been told it was beautiful up there, even though it is far away.

We hit the road and drove back to Auckland city, where we found a maze of roadworks and no way to get on the motorway that we needed! Amanda navigated us through (get me!)and we eventually got on the move. Within minutes we were driving over the Auckland Harbour Bridge – it is beautiful to drive over and the back drop of the city makes it stunning. 

We headed north and after a short while left the motorway for a coastal road, passing through Silverdale (so far from home!) and Orewa, before heading over a huge twisting gorge and stopping at Ruckawa Beech (Bream Bay). This place was like a picture postcard with golden sands, mysterious and intriguing islands just out of reach and perfect blue water. 

Unfortunately we didn’t have long, as we still had a few hundred KMs ahead of us! We made a quick stop off at Whangerei (pronounced Fan-ger-eye) at tourist info and a local supermarket to stock the van before ploughing on. A boy about 18 years old served us and asked “Are you from Whangerei?” Amanda said that we were from England. You should have seen his face, God bless him – he was so shocked that we were from so far away! The best thing is that his name was Roger – what a legend.

Around 30 minutes later we stopped in Kawakawa as we had heard about some toilets designed by a German artist called Hundertwasser so we had to take a look.... and a leak...! They were fascinating, with mosaics, imprinted glass work and artistic twists. It was worth the stop. We also had a quick look around a museum by the same artist (it was actually somebody’s garden!)

We headed for a town named Russell, which has views of the Bay of Islands. We reached a town roughly 8 KMs from Russell named Opue where we realised that 3 of those 8 KMs where water!! Amanda says the map wasn’t very clear... Luckily there was a ferry service running so we drove aboard. Russell is a very picturesque fishing town that reminded us of a 1960’s American small town high street. By this time it was after 6pm so we decided to find camp. We headed to the next village – Tapeka. There were some really impressive houses and beautiful beaches. We pulled onto a beach but there was a ‘No Camping’ sign so we headed back to a lay-by that we had spotted just outside the village. As we pulled up another car joined us, and the man said he lived in the village and that we should ignore the signs and camp on the beach! So that’s exactly what we did. There was no better place to spend our first night in Percy. That sounds a bit odd, but go with it!! While we were cooking our super-noodles on our stove and setting up the bed at least 4 groups of locals stopped to talk to us and wish us well on our trip – they were just as excited as we were! The Kiwi’s are such lovely people! 

We had a walk on the beach then watched the sunset over the dramatic scenery and settled in for the night, a little anxious but happy to be there. It didn’t take long to sleep – the excitement does drain you, and listening to the waves as we drifted off to sleep was nice too.

We woke early – around 6.30am as there were a few fishermen arriving for an early start. The beach had a launch ramp so was popular with the local fishermen. We didn’t mind as they had been so kind to let us camp there and also we had to get on the road. We wanted to make a few stops on route and camp south of Hamilton (around 5 hours drive south). Rather than take the ferry back to the main road, we decided to take the scenic coastal route. On the map it was only about 10KM longer but followed the coast. It turned out to be a sweet and sour decision. The road was one of the most beautiful drives that either of us had done, twisting its way through the forests and passing hidden coves that not many people get to see. It was Amazing. On the other hand it took frigging ages and nearly emptied Percy’s tank! There were a few worried moments when we hadn’t seen a petrol station for 30 minutes or so and the tank was reading nearly empty... turns out that the needle moves when you go uphill! We had enough juice to make it back to Whangerei un-scathed! We filled him up and went to the info centre to see what we could do. We found there was a Marine with some Water Front Shops and also Waterfalls.

We headed to the Marine first – it was called ‘The Basin’. There were a few souvenir shops, cafes and a Fudge Shop. We had a look around, Amanda bought a necklace. The Marina was very clean and pretty and attracted tourist and locals. There were some beautiful gifts for sale; we could have spent a fortune if we had the money or the capacity to carry anything! We even resisted ice- cream!! We jumped back in the van and headed for the waterfall.

We thought it may be a small water feature but were amazed to find a huge waterfall plummeting to the ground around 100 feet or so below. Nature at its finest. We took some pictures from the top and took the path to the bottom. 

There were people gathering so we jostled for position to get a good shot. We then took it in turns to scramble to the base of the waterfall for a photo; Gav first and then Amanda. When Amanda returned Gav was talking to a young Irish couple who were in the processes of moving to NZ. How exciting for them. Gav had offered to take a photo with their camera and in the process stumbled back over a ledge, went A over T and grazed his leg. Luckily not damaging the expensive camera of the Irish couple! Silly boy! It was around 2pm by now so we needed to get on the road to hit our target. 


We headed out of Whangerie and stopped in the next town to get Wi-Fi so we could book an activity for the next day. We went to the McDonalds but couldn’t get it to worked, when we got back to the van we realised we had parked outside a library that had free Wi-Fi. Sure enough we could pick it up in the van so we were sorted. After a short while we hit the road again. It was a long drive back to Auckland where the beautiful backdrop of the city was spoiled by the rush hour traffic! It probably delayed us by 30 minutes or so. Amanda took over the controls of Percy and we had 130km to Hamilton. We were hoping to camp 40km south of that! Amanda was driving at this point and got a bit over excited around a roundabout and everything went flying inside the van! Oops! 

This turned out to be The Roadrunner Motel in Te Awamutu. A quiet camp site that looked a little run down. By the time we neared Hamilton we both were shattered so decided to stop at the next proper camp site.. We were given a friendly welcome by the owner – Faye who told us to park “where ever we wanted”. We grabbed a spot near to the amenities block which had toilets, showers and a kitcken – Perfect! We made some savoury rice for our tea (which was as exciting as it sounds) and set up the van. The plan was to watch a movie before sleeping. It is 9pm and Amanda is fast asleep while Gav writes the blog! Better call it a night I suppose!

Tomorrow we head to Waitomo Caves for Glow Worm Black Water rafting, about 40km south of where we are now – much easier than the 400+km we did over each of the past 2 days!

Auckland, New Zealand, 20 - 22 Jan

After a short delay in LA we were finally on the plane heading to New Zealand. Although excited, LA had drained us and we wanted some much needed ZZZ’s! We both managed around 8 hours sleep on the plane which helped to pass the mighty 13 hour drag. Amanda got sat next to a huge American guy who should really have paid for 3 seats so it was not the most comfortable journey for her!

Our first impression after we landed was how similar the landscape and feel of the place was to the UK. There are European countries on the doorstep of the UK with little commonalities between them, how can this land on the other side of the world be so similar?! It is clear where their influences are from.

We cleared customs (after the scare of a $200 fine for carrying an apple!) and jumped on the bus to the centre of Auckland. 40 minutes later we were on the pavement – 2 backpacks each, a vague map of how to find our hostel and little idea of what time of day it was, or even what day! We managed to find the hostel after a few minutes walking and checked in. This hostel is very different from the one in the US - In a quiet location next to a park. It is more like a hotel in that all the rooms seem to be the same and have a uniform feel. Saying that they are a funky green and purple colour. 

We had a shared bathroom on our corridor so grabbed a shower in preparation to head out to investigate the surroundings.

Auckland is built around the docks and actually covers a greater land mass than London, however there are only a million or so residents, so it feels very spread out and comfortable. There's no bustling traffic jams!  Our first stop was a sports bar for some lunch (yummy steak, egg and chips before we have to live off pasta and cheese!) and then we decided that we should hit a big tourist attraction and go to Sky city – the tallest building in the southern hemisphere.  On our way we noticed something unusual on the side of one of the skyscrapers. On closer inspection it was a group of window cleaners! These guys were mad, abseiling hundreds of feet from the ground, swinging from window to window with a squeegee!

The Sky Tower dominates the skyline from everywhere and is pretty impressive. 

Neither of us are scared of heights so thought it would be a doddle. We bought our tickets and jumped into the lift to go to the first viewing platform – 186 meters above ground level. The lift has a partial glass bottom and a glass wall facing over the city so as you shoot up it is like taking off – like the scene from the end of Vanilla Sky, if you have seen it! We both regretted looking down because as we stepped out of the lift our stomachs were turning and the ground felt like sponge! We had to steady ourselves for a minute. The windows in the observatory tilted out at an angle so that you could see out and down at the tiny ant like people and cars below. 

From here you can see the nutters completing the base jump from the top of the tower. It is line controlled but still crazy! The views were stunning, but it was time to go to the next viewing level – The Sky Deck @ 220m. We thought that the views would not be much better from there but they actually were. Amanda felt really dizzy so headed back to the ground and I stayed to look around.

We left the Sky Tower and headed for Victoria Park a short walk out of the city centre. We found our spot and laid on the grass for an hour or so watching the world go by. There were locals playing football and dog walkers. It was just what we needed after the huge flight and wobbly legs in the sky tower.  

On our way back to the hostel we did our first backpackers shop - Cereal, Milk, Bread, Pasta and Cheese. Enough to last for a few days! The prices are very similar to London - the cheapest beer we could fine was around £8 for 12 bottles.  The pints in the local bar were £4 each though - bit more expensive than Barrow!

Sat 21st

We decided to have a cheaper day and head for the National Museum in Auckland’s Domain Park. A very impressive building on the top of the hill. It was very interesting and told us about the history of New Zealand and the Maori culture / settlements. 

To get to the park, we had to walk through a trail called Lover's Walk. It was full of wildlife, trees and flowers and was a beautiful walk.

On our way to the museum we could hear bagpipes playing which was very strange. It turned out to be the Scottish cultural day in the park and there was a big celebration going on. 

After the museum we sat in the park for half an hour and ate our (sweaty) cheese sandwiches – yummy! Amanda managed to get burnt in that short time! Oops! (and read somewhere afterwards that the sun is so much stronger here because the ozone layer is much thinner - we are going to be a bit careful there - especially with Amanda's reflective white skin haha!) We walked back to the hostel via a supermarket to get some well deserved beers. Our first drink since the plane to LA! We thought it would be a good idea to watch Lord of the Rings for research on the trip – we lasted 20 minutes before nodding off!

Sun 22nd

We wanted to get out the city so headed to the harbour to get a ferry to some of the surrounding areas. We left the hostel in a shorts and t-shirts and discovered it was raining! How dare it! Back in to the hostel to get our rain macs and we were on our way undeterred! Our first stop was a small town called Devonport - much like the UK it was a shipbuilding town and still the Port for the New Zealand Navy (not sure why they need one really?). We had booked an hour bus tour of the area to save our legs and the bus was waiting for us when we got off the ferry. To our surprise we were the only people on the bus! The driver was a guy in his mid 70s who knew a lot about the area and enjoyed chatting to us. The tour took us around some of the bays and local areas such as North Head, Cheltenham and MT. Victoria. The views were supposed to be spectacular, however because of the rain we couldn’t see much at all! We looked around the old war barracks and guns before heading back to the main street and saying our goodbyes with the bus driver! 

We then grabbed a coffee (smoothie for Amanda!) and some yummy Carrot cake in a local cafe and had a wander around the arty shops and boutiques - some amazing glassworks and lovely jewellery (but very expensive - around £400 for a necklace!) and a really yummy smelling chocolate shop - we resisted because of the shocking prices (as the bus driver said, "they're not cheap mate!") We also saw some of the indigenous trees of the area - very impressive trees with huge root structures extending above the surface of the soil.

 After jumping back on the ferry we headed to Rangitoto Island – a volcano about 10 minutes up the gulf. We called it Rongatootoo by accident half the time hehe!

 The island does not have any shops and is pretty uninhabited. We headed off on the climb to the top of volcano, a walk which took around 45 minutes and was quite intensive. It was impressive to see all the formations left by the volcanic black rocks. When we reached the top it was well worth the trek. The sky had cleared and the views were just amazing. You could see for miles over Auckland and the northlands in the opposite directions. 

 We asked a guy to take a photo of us and got chatting to him. He was a teacher in North Head but was originally from Wales. He told us that he had researched his family tree and had family from a small town in Cumbria called Millom!! How strange! This is the town where Gav’s maternal family is from (but everyone likes to tease him saying he is from Millom!). It is a small town on the coast of Cumbria so really strange to be talking about it on top of Rangitoto Volcano!! 

We headed back to the Ferry Jetty to get back to the city, both shattered and ready to rest our feet! The rest of the day we spent planning our first day in our campervan. Gav is really excited to pick it up and get on the road!

Los Angeles 16th - 18th Jan

As we write this we are sat in Los Angeles airport waiting for our flight to Auckland to start the first big leg of our trip. Our laptop says its 04:15am... that is UK time which makes it 20:15pm here in LA. We thought that we had conquered the Jet Lag, turns out we have not. We were awake for most of the flight to LA and when we got to bed it was about 4am UK time (8pm LA time)... we were suitably battered! We popped in our ear plugs and slept through until around 3.30am and then we were both wide awake. We had a midnight snack and then nodded back off until around 6.30am... not bad really! We thought that this would have cured the jet lag, however by 8pm that evening we were struggling to keep our eyes open so called it a night again. This early night meant that Gav was awake at 4.30 am this morning and Amanda woke up at 7am. Let’s just say that our body clocks are working overtime and by the time we get to Auckland in around 17 hours time we are going to be completely screwed! Anyway, about out trip....

We were super excited to leave the UK. Gav said fairwell to his parents on Sunday after they kindly brought us to Amanda’s mums. We were joined at Manchester airport by Amanda’s mum, sister, dad, auntie and cousin for a final fairwell on the Monday morning. Our bags were checked in and we were through security before we knew it. The time had finally arrived and we were setting off on our adventure, more than 2 years in planning and it was finally here!  There was just the little diversion of London Heathrow before we could finally get on our way. Heathrow Terminal 5 was a fantastic airport lounge, although it was more like a shopping mall with Harrods, Gucci, Burberry etc. and one of Gordon ‘Effing Ramsey’s restaurants. We would have rather been on our way to LA. The flight from Heathrow went well although it lasted forever... it is daunting that this flight to Auckland is 2 hours longer than the LA flight! Bring on the sleeping tablets!

We landed in LA rather blurry eyed but running on adrenaline. This was soon beaten out of us by the queue for customs and immigration and the pedantic security checks... our entry in to the US was finally granted... by a Russian man incidentally!  Our next task was to find a taxi. This turned out to be relatively easy and it turned out to be our first experience of a US Yellow Cab. The driver was useless and didn’t know where our hotel was, or even the street it was on. Luckily Gav recognised the hostel from the picture on the internet. We jumped out the cab and were a little concerned. There were some dodgy people hanging around and loud music playing. We got in to the hotel... all was well! The room was OK and even had its own bathroom – a nice surprise as we had not booked one! Our room was inbetween the communal kitchen and lounge which meant that there was lots of noise and banging doors. That didn’t bother us - We crashed.

The next morning we were awake early so decided to explore the hostel. We went to the kitchen and made a brew. It must have been obvious that we were new to the hostel set up but everyone has to have a first time I guess! We packed a day bag and headed out the door. In the daylight we could tell the hostel was right on the Beach front of Venice. The boardwalk runs alongside the huge golden beach and all the way to Santa Monica (about 3 miles away) so we headed in that direction. 

It was around 9am but was still quiet. The boardwalk was full of homeless people on both sides, who all had shopping trolleys full of their belongings. Some had not yet woken and lay motionless in tatty sleeping bags. A bit of a shock for us! We marched along a little apprehensive and we passed by many runners, bikers, dog walkers and roller bladders – all after their morning fix of exercise. Not one of the homeless people spoke to us. An argument broke out in front of us between a homeless person and a passer by. We were not sure what was going on so kept our heads down and marched on. Another homeless person ranted a racist slur about the guy involved in the argument, we walked on. Not the best welcome to LA but all part of the character. 

As we got near to Santa Monica the boardwalk cleared of trolleys and the homeless, the buildings went from graffiti covered metal huts to big modern hotels/apartments and the huge pier came in to sight. We explored it by walking right to the end, and thought we were the only tourists up in LA. The only other people who were there were traders setting up their stands. There’s a massive Ferris wheel, that we later found out, was solar powered! Interesting fact for you there! 

Once we reached the end we noticed a line of fishermen and a fisherwoman, looking for an early morning catch. We sat on one of the benches and watched them for a while. The woman reeled in a catch and took great pleasure telling the guys it was her second catch of the morning. They obviously didn’t have the same luck! It was nice to see a glimpse of the locals. We headed back to the start of the pier and looked over the beach at the lifeguard huts which were made famous by Baywatch, David Hasslehoff and Pamela Anderson.  

We bought some tickets for a sightseeing tour of LA. Our first tour was to Malibu to look at the beach houses of the rich and famous. Before we got the bus, the lady at the info kiosk told us of a little cafe up the road that did good breakfast buns so we headed there and got a breakfast muffin. It was made in front of us in this little deli and was delicious! It is surprising it had survived as it was right next to a Burger chain restaurant. We headed back to get the bus.

We jumped in to a large people carrier which had no roof with 3 other families and whizzed off, headphones in listening to our tour guide.

We had a quick scoot around Santa Monica looking at some landmarks, such as the start of Route 66, and a couple of properties – one of which was Arnold Schwarznegger’s apartment. 

We then headed north to Malibu – a beach town for the rich and famous and the start point of Sunset Boulevard. The driver stopped every so often to point out a celebrity house and tell a tale of once when we saw the celeb and they waved at him. Although the houses were impressive it was not until the bus stopped and we dropped on to the beach that we realised how huge these houses were. One of the families on the bus were from Sydney, Oz. The mum went around telling everybody that the tour would be much better if we walked down the beach rather than just looking at the rear of the houses from the bus. Her two sons coward in the bus with embarrassment and once finally said “Mum, why don’t you just not speak for the rest of the day!” It seems that embarrassing parents are present all over the world!

Most of the properties we saw sell for between 8 and 13 million USD. Amanda’s favourite house was that of Eva Lingoria (Desperate Housewives actress) it was glossy black with silver chrome detailing. It looked more suited to a big city than a beach front. 

Other houses included The Osbournes, Jennifer Aniston, Janet Jackson, Cher, Leonardo De Caprio, Mathew Perry, Demi Moore, and Britney Spears. We headed back to Santa Monica suitably impressed and a bit jealous.

We jumped on a hop-on, hop-off bus for a city tour. It took us all around Santa Monica, Brentwood and Westwood, before arriving in Beverly Hills. We have all heard lots about the place and it is as you would imagine. Pristine lawns and trees in perfect lines – Mercs, Audis and Porches line the streets and funniest of all, loads of skinny blondes walking their rat-looking dogs. They paint their fire hydrants silver here as they believe yellow is too common! The bus took us down Rodeo drive – the most famous shopping street in LA (and maybe the US). Some of the shops demand an appointment just to get through the door and have an average suit price of 15,000 USD (£10k). We didn’t get off the bus!

A quick change of bus and we were heading to Hollywood passing some iconic film studios along the way. It is weird to think that some of the most famous actors and movies were born there! Before we knew it, the famous Hollywood sign was in our sights. It does look like it does on the TV, although much smaller. 

We jumped off the bus on Hollywood Boulevard  - also known as the Walk of Fame – hundreds of names we have never heard of and a few we have! It was good to see the iconic stars. It is slightly dangerous walking down a busy street while constantly looking at the floor though!

We grabbed some food at a Mexican restaurant and walked to the Chinese theatre. This is where many celebs have their hands and feet imprinted in cement. Amanda had no choice but to put her hands into Marilyn Monroe's handprints...

It was now going dark so we jumped back on the bus and headed for Santa Monica. Although the winter weather in LA is similar to that of the UK in summer, it is ultimately dessert so once the sun dissappears the temperature plummets. It was not the time be on an open top bus! A long journey back to Santa Monica followed and we shivered our way to the pier to grab a taxi to the hostel. We felt satisfied that we had seen what we planned to and it was amazing to see that these things are not just props in a movie – that actually exist! We got back to the hostel, there was plenty of activity with the other travellers – we crashed... again!

After the very early start this morning... stupid jet lag... we again headed out to the beach front, this time going right down to the seaside for a paddle. It was ruddy freezing!! We walked along the front dipping our toes in the sand, watched someone failing to surf and also looking at the various birds (of the avian variety!). Gav found a Hermit crab and picked it up for a closer look. It crawled out of its shell to investigate what had rudely plucked it from the sea and it resembled something from an alien film. After suitably freaking out Amanda he put it back. It was just pleased that we were not a hungry seagull looking for breakfast!

We wandered back to the boardwalk and stopped to watch a ladies volleyball team practice their stuff. Gav said that he was interested in the skill and athleticism of the ladies... but Amanda’s not that easily fooled, skimpy bikins on really toned tanned girls, what guy wouldn’t want to watch that?!

We headed on to Santa Monica again, the sun was blazing so we stopped to get an ice cream. Without thinking we asked for 2 scooped in a cone. When it came it was nearly the size of our head. Still haven’t got the hang of these American portions!! It cooled us down in the midday sun. 

We headed downtown where there was a farmers market. The streets were closed and traders tried to get you to their stalls. It was similar to a UK farmers market, however there was a lot of fruit which looked like it had been picked that morning. We bought a punnet of strawberries and nibbled away. They were delicious and just what we needed! 

We then made out way to a brand new shopping centre which resembled Cabbot Circus in Bristol, although there were less TOPSHOPS and more Bloomingdales, Prada and Gucci. We had a look around the Disney store and headed to get some food. Chinese was our choice and we were presented with a mountain of food that we could not finish. It was delicious though! We wandered back to the seafront and decided to drop into the Aquarium. This was a small building which showcased species which are found on the coast of California. Some small sharks (and developing shark eggs! Where you can see the embryo feeding off the egg) , Jelly fish, Stingray, loads of species of Starfish that you could stroke and other creatures. It was very informative and the volunteer staff were enthusiastic about answering questions and educating everyone there. It was amazing to see tiny sharks at such an early stage of life – before they turn into evil killers! The amount we learnt in such a small aquarium (entry was £2 each!) just showed how you don’t need a big aquarium to make it worthwhile – totally different experience.

At this point we were wrecked so headed to a local restaurant named.... McDonalds, for a coffee. Everything seemed familiar, almost like we had been there before! We passed an hour or so using their free WIFI and then went back to the hostel, not before watching the sunset over the pier and the Hollywood hills – simply stunning.

We checked we had all our stuff and jumped in a taxi to the airport. Seems like a long time since we left the UK. Not 72 hours!!

The lasting thoughts of LA will be that it is a city with some beautiful areas with plenty to offer. It is like one huge movie set. It is great to admire the handfuls that have made it. It is easy to forget the millions that have tried and failed who now serve breakfast muffins in the local take out. The contrast of super rich and famous with penniless homeless seems unnecessary and is very strange. Most are very polite and interested in you, however this is because they are after one thing.... your cash!