Monday, May 29, 2006

Bermuda

My pink eye and I flew to Bermuda on Friday morning (only 2 hours from New York). Our host for the 10 days, Gareth (from Cape Town) met us at the airport and shoved us into a taxi with directions to his house!! That night we went out for sundowners and a hockey do and more drinks and I met loads of people who were all extremely friendly and happy. I started to notice a trend with these Bermuda people - they're all extremely happy to be living here! No guesses why... it's just awesome! Sorry folks but I will be sending my CV to a company here (via an SA girl I met) just to see what the options are... he he!
Gareth in his work kit (yip, no jokes) outside his house.

Saturday we spent the day on the ocean, chilling out with the odd bit of wakeboarding...



Me testing out Gareth's Vespa...

On Sunday I went to watch the Bermuda ladies play a friendly game against "The Rest of the World" and somehow they managed to talk me into playing (with one eye). I played the last 10 of the first half, and then the last 15 of the 2nd, and LOVED it! What I didn't realise is that right link in SA terms means right STRIKER in Bermuda, so that's where I was put - right out in the front! I didn't quite know what I was doing, but I made a few good passes and generally ran around just enjoying the opportunity!


Anyone who wants to get hold of me here, call me on +14412365962 - I'm here till Sunday, then it's off to London for 4 weeks!

New York, New York

Somehow in Chicago's HOTEL I managed to pick up conjunctivitis in my right eye, so my sight-seeing in New York was severely hindered. Just going outside in the sun was excruciating, so I had to limit the sights quite severely! I went to see the World Trade Centres site which is just a big building site, with buildings towering around the outside, which are less than half the height of the original Twin Towers!

I did a cruise to Staten Island with a group from the hostel, and managed to make some new friends regardless of my red eye! It was a gorgeous evening so when we left Manhatten on the ferry the sun was setting behind the Statue of Liberty, and on the way back we saw fireworks amongst the Manhatten skyscrapers.
This is a memorial dedicated to the Island's residents that were killed in 9-11.
Exploring Times Square with my new "friends"!

Monday, May 22, 2006

Partying in Chicago!

I was the luckiest backpacker ever, getting picked up from Chicago's O'Hare Airport at 9pm on Friday night, by Jen and Derek! They'd driven in for the weekend, and Jen and I checked into our HOTEL (yes folks, there's no 'S' like in hoStel!) for the next two nights. That night we went to listen to some goold old Chicago Blues and Jazz at a place called Kingston Mines. Derek and Matt insisted on buying us tequilas, so the night flew by with some dancing, meeting random people, eating random birthday cake... and of course Jen losing her ID! [For once I was responsible and didn't take my camera out with me, hence the lack of photos]

Sat was a bit of a late start (I blame it on still being on California time, 2 hours "earlier") but ut was a gorgeous day so our open top bus tour was really really pleasant, and interesting. Chicago hit me as a very clean, neat and tidy city, with the CBD's buildings all seeming to outdo each other in new styles/ideas.

We went to the top of the 2nd highest building to check out the observation deck. North America's tallest building (Sears) is in Chicago and it actually didn't look that tall??

Sat night we went to see the Blueman Group show. Don't ask me to describe it cos it's impossible! But you HAVE to go see it!!
With Jen and some of her friends at a graduation party.

Matt, Jen, Derek and I having a farewell breakfast on Sunday morning.


Jen and Derek's huge house in South Bend. We drove back and spent Sunday night there, chilling, catching up on old movies and letters etc!

Friday, May 19, 2006

If you're going to San Francisco...

... be sure to wear a flower in your hair!
And headphones so you can't hear the rubbish that the people talk to themselves, just walking down the street! The thousands of homeless people speak PERFECT english, but the normal-looking ones talk some strange language to themselves??
I spent two days riding the cable cars up and down the hills (like in the movies - the really steep hills in San Fran!),

walking the whole of Golden Gate Park (tip: you only need to do half at the most!), walking down the crookedest street,

checking out the financial district, Union Square etc etc.

At the end of Tourist Day 1, all I wanted to do was get back to my hostel to rest my feet, but I bumped into some demonstration which closed off all the streets and buses to my hostel! Typical!!


Tourist Day 2 included a visit to Fisherman's Wharf, a crab sandwich specially for Sue, and for the Turds in NZ - I found Joe's Crab Shack!!!

I also did a boat trip to Alcatraz, even though I wasn't sooo keen on doing ANOTHER prison tour, but it was actually interesting and almost fun (not like the genocial and torture prisons of the last 2 years' travels). The scariest thing I saw was an old man who didn't have the front of his nose. There were just two red canals going up into his head. Eeeooooww!
<-- Bay Bridge

Ricardo (Sylvia's friend from Brazil that was in Hawaii with us for the last weekend) kindly offered to take me out for dinner, and hit the nail on the jackpot by taking me to a Brazilian restaurant where they brought cooked animals to your table and carved them onto your plate!!!!!!! I was in HEAVEN! Yes, it was mostly steak, and all varieties and styles, with a bit of lamb, pork, chicken and prawns. I almost ate enough steak to make up for 6 weeks in Asia without! Then he drove us over the Golden Gate Bridge which was obediantly shrouded in a layer of fog, as it is mostly in summer.


Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Polo, sky-diving, gliding and kite-surfing in Hawaii????

Sylvia and I met John and Jamie one day whilst hitching a ride back to our backpackers from our short shopping stint in the nearest town. John just happened to be a sky-diver, so we made plans to go back the next day for Sylvia to have her first jump!!
Jamie and John

Don't ever trust Scandinavians to make a beach fire. They just don't have a clue!!
Saturday Ricardo (Sylvia's friend from Brazil), Sylvia and I took a trip around the island. First stop Turtle Bay Resort for a sneaky swim!













We met up with Craig and some other surfers from the backpackers, and had a chilled dusk longboarding session in Waikiki, with lots of switchfoots by me! Lloydie that one's for you - look closely!
Sunday we headed out west to go watch POLO! The club's field is right on the beach, where the kiters are! I was in heaven! The sky-divers did a bit of a show, and then the gliders all glided by, low over the field in between chukkas.










Our roomies!!

Monday (my last day) I took a bike and went to check out Pipeline and Sunset beaches, cos the swell had picked up but the wind was pumping.