walking the Warrumbungles

Time to get away again - so we headed inland to the Warrumbungles NP near Coonabarabran. It's in an old shield volcano and has fabulous rock formations such as the breadknife and split rock - and famously clear night skies - the Siding Springs observatory is nearby.

No stargazing when we arrived at the campsite - it bucketed down rain while we set up the awning and found some wine and cheese, but after the storm we were treated to a bright pink sunset and a visit from some of the local kangaroos.

Saturday morning was misty but soon cleared to a spectacular day for walking - everything sparkled in the sun and plenty of recent rains have meant that there's masses of wildflowers on display. We walked the Gould's circuit track instead of the steeper Grand Tops track, but still had a fabulous 360 degree view from the top of Macha Tor.

Disturbed a small lace monitor near the summit, he climbed a tree and checked us out from a safe height - then saw his 'big brother' at the end of the track - who wasn't worried about us at all and wandered off at his own pace.

Also found a spectacular little spider orchid on a steep bank beside the track, definitely made the trek to the top worthwhile.

After lunch we decided on an easy walk up Burbie Canyon. There's plenty of water in the often dry creek bed - sighting a sacred kingfisher in the trees above the water was special, though there are plenty of birds to find - wrens, honeyeaters, silvereyes, tree creepers, currawongs, magpies, kookaburras, mynas and the very loud and cute rufous whistler.

It rained overnight and the ground was already very soft, so we needed some help from a friendly 4WD owner to get the Fiat out of the mud in the morning... the rain wasn't clearing, so we started on the drive home, hoping for some short walks on the way.

White Gum lookout had a sealed track, easy walking in the rain and a surprisingly clear view across the landscape at the end. Came home via Coolah and Merriwa, still wet but a good weekend anyway. Didn't count on next door's dog taking a liking to - and taking one of my Italian leather hiking boots as they were drying in the shed - hope that he's dropped it nearby and not chewed it to pieces...

Sunday July 11 - birds, whales and fire on the water

Up early at Diamond Head for another walk along the beach to watch the sunrise - rewarded by a spectacular fiery display reflected in the shallows as the waves receded. A visual feast and suitable compensation for such an early start. Out at the split rock sun warmed the colours of the east facing cliffs while the west was dark and cold, an interesting contrast.

Heading back to camp we found a newly constructed trail through the coastal heathlands and followed it until it ended at a part-built whale watching platform. I was surprised at the variety of wildflowers scattered amongst the grasses even though it is midwinter. A young magpie watched us carefully as we walked past the paperbark where he was perched and there was the usual cacophony of birdsong as we strolled back for breakfast. Returning to the campsite we came across wallabies chewing on the grass and scratching and stretching - much like their human counterparts who were also starting to get ready for another day.

After donating a few more $ to National Parks, we continued on, stopping at Kylie's beach for a look and then to Crowdy Bay lighthouse. As we drove along the bush tracks we seemed to be herding flocks of friar birds and lorikeets, there were dozens flying beside and in front of us for kilometres.

Crowdy Bay lighthouse crouches at the top of the headland, a squat, rounded shape rather different to the usual tall structures built to house shipping's guiding lights. A surprise sighting of whales blowing and breaching as they travelled up the coast kept us entertained for a while, until the pressure of time sent us on our way south again.

Back on highway 1 the scenery wasn't quite as interesting until we turned inland through the rural paddocks and marsh areas where I could spend time spotting waterbirds. Then the New England highway and the familiar roads back home. Gave the Fiat a quick scrub up and changed the sheets for the handover to the youngsters later this week. It's off to Tassie for the travelling holiday house and we get the 4WD and a tent if we are heading off into the bush again anytime soon.

Saturday July 10 - sunrise, sunset...

Couldn't resist an early morning walk to the point for sunrise - and it was worth the effort. The birds were waking and the banksias were full of early morning noises. We watched the dolphins play in the surf for a while and spotted an early morning fisherman as he risked a cold bath to scramble down the steep rocks to his favourite spot.

Breakfast with a view of the beach - not a bad start to the weekend. The campsite is full of surfers and anglers, most of them look as though they have been coming here since the 70s and we were hoping that we hadn't stopped in anyone's favourite campsite.

The beach offered an easy walk around the bay, so we wandered along, watching the surfers, sanderlings and dolphins and trying to identify myriad small birds that darted in and out of the coastal scrub. Fishermen had boats and nets waiting on the sand for the next school of mullet and a teenager sat huddled against the dunes, having been dropped in the water from a boat about 100m out and told to swim ashore - I can't help but wonder what the story was...

Back at the camp and after coffee and some lemon slice (homemade because we have an abundance of lemons on the tree and absolutely delish if I might say so myself :-) we went back to the headland for some more exploring.

The views were quite different further around the point and we saw lots more birds as we walked. Brown quail and grassbirds, lewins and new holland honeyeaters and little wattlebirds were everywhere. A sea eagle soared above, king parrots and rainbow and scaly breasted lorikeets looked down from the high branches. The bird list would be too long to add here, suffice to say it was hard to remember them all when we got back to camp and I relied on photos to remind me.

Too early for lunch, so we decided to go back to the Melaleuca campsite and walk the big hill track before lunch. This is a great little walk up through coastal rainforest (ugh, had a leech latch on to my leg) and then around the point just in from the cliffs. We came across a kestrel, all fluffed up and sunning him (or her) self on a lichen covered rock at the lookout area. We walked quite close before it flew away. More honeyeaters and lorikeets chatted away to us on the way back down to the camper.

The campsite was closed and we didn't fancy the idea of negotiating the potholes again, so we had lunch at Crescent Head and then drove south down the coast road from Port Macquarie to Crowdy Bay National Park and the Diamond Head campsite.

We arrived in time to set up the camper and have a soothing glass of red before we walked out to the point at split rock just on sunset. A sea eagle watched us and a sooty oystercatcher sat out on the rocks near the shore. No rain tonight so we ate outdoors and enjoyed the cool, calm winter night.

Friday July 9 - heading for the coast

we left after lunch for a trip down the Oxley highway to the coast. I had forgotten how many bends are in that road! It's not really fun once it is dark and raining and the wet weather kept up as we drove to Crescent Head and down to Limeburners Nature Reserve. The road into Point Plomer camping area has LOTS of potholes - enough said. We thought the wet weather may have made it worse than usual, but the old surfers we met the next day say it's always been that way...

Arrived, paid our dues and set up camp just as the heavens opened - thank goodness for instant housing and a pre-cooked meal. It was snug inside and we hoped the weather would improve for the morning... and it did - see above!

on the road again...

So - we've been home for almost a month - it must be time to hit the road again... a weekend away to air out the travelling apartment before the kids take it on a boat ride and a wintertime tour of Tasmania.

The coast sounds enticing as there's been record low temperatures inland, a week or so ago we woke to a front paddock with frost so thick that it looked like a ski field (no photos though, it was too warm in bed!) and there have been snowfalls in the Barrington Tops, so the plan is to head up to Limeburners NP and do some walks in the coastal scrublands. Looking forward to some beaches as well, though not for swimming. Pack camera (tick), beanie, scarf, gloves (tick, tick, tick) dust off the walking boots, find the binoculars, a jug of wine, a loaf of bread...

heading home...

Had a luxurious sleep in till 7am this morning, then went to the fresh food market for breakfast - great choice, it's an interesting deli-style eatery with fresh produce and chocolate covered everything, pots of coffee (the usual mud) and great food. Back at the hotel we packed the car and then headed downtown for a couple of hours. Walked to the capitol building - a copy of Washington's with fabulous stained glass portraits in the chambers, vaulted ceilings, lots of marble and polished brass. There's a marker on the 13th step of the entry noting one mile above sea level.

Denver is a clean and open city, with wide streets and a mall area with restaurants and shops and a free mall transport system that works beautifully. I suppose it's at its best in Summer but we are impressed anyway.

Cute squirrels in the park nearby are burying peanuts (for later consumption I guess) in the grass and clinging to trees as if they were about to leap out at us :-). Interesting Pioneer fountain has a mother with a child in one arm, a shotgun in the other... Couldn't get into doing any shopping, so picked up the car and checked out some RV dealers on the way to the airport (some of those 'trailers' are HUGE, but the USA freeways cope very well with whatever size vehicle you care to own). Thinking that it might be an interesting way to see some more of the states.

Denver airport is spread over many kilometres of the plains and looks like a row of tipis on the plains. Flew over the Grand Canyon on our way to LA - it's just as spectacular as I remember and we get a fabulous view from the left side of the plane. LA is smoggy as we start our descent and the freeways are full of cars. Still, it's a spectaular sight of its own.

'Momzilla' and her family were in the seats in front of ours during the flight. I hope they enjoy their Disneyland vacation, they certainly entertained us on the nearly 2 hour flight from Denver.

Sitting in the Qantas/AA lounge now with a soothing glass of chardonnay and some cheese and crackers. Our Sydney flight leaves later tonight. Home soon and looking forward to Aussie accents and driving on the correct side of the road :-) Have missed everyone at home, though we have had a fantastic 'vacation'. See you all soon.

Top of the world - well, almost!

Started the day well with a great breakfast at Two Brothers Deli and Yoga room in Idaho Springs, (the only decent coffee I have had in the USA) then continued on our way towards Mt Evans. Stopped for a wildflower walk and garden ramble on the way up the mountain, through amazing bristlecone pine trees which are thousands of years old - true survivors in this harsh climate. The road to the summit is the highest driving road in the USA at 14,260 feet (4346.5 metres). It is a SPECTACULAR drive up the mountain, but the temperature at the top was O degrees C with a wind speed of 27mph and a wind chill relating to that. We spent a short while at the top exploring the old buildings and reading all the altitude sickness warning signs before the relative warmth of the car beckoned and we started back down to Summit lake. Another marmot scooted across the side of the road as we drove, and there were little birds jumping around in the rocky grassland at the lake. Mad people on bicycles were ascending and descending the road, even in the cloudy/sunny/cold/windy conditions (wait a few seconds, it changes).

We stopped at picturesque Georgetown for lunch, a tiny mining village that looks like a Hollywood set for a picturesque little mining village, then took a detour through the Arahape Valley ski areas before turning back towards Denver.

Checked out a few RVs on the way back into town, managing to find some interesting side streets in the process despite having a nav-person :-)

About to go to 16th street mall for a well earned meal... Tomorrow we fly out of Denver to LA and then Sydney.

PS - eat at Earl's - great food and try the upstairs verandah for a people-watching view of the mall. Go to the rest rooms (won't tell you why :-) Have a great night.

Rocky Mountain High...

We left sunny Wyoming today to be greeted at the border by grey clouds which cleared as we got to Loveland (yep, you read that one right :-) Once the sun came out we put the top down on the Chevy and drove through to the Rocky Mountains National Park. The main road through the park winds around and up to over 12,500 feet. We did a walk out to rocky outcrops on the high tundra (through remnants of last winter's snowfall with unsuitable shoes for the job...) then down into the Colorado river valley. We spotted a big bull moose near beaver ponds and some in the distance on the coyote valley walk. Drove through the park to have luch at the Bear Inn at Grand Lake outside the national park (tried Root Beer! hmmm... awful stuff), then drove back to the Bear Lake trail. The walk around Bear Lake was picturesque, as was the next walk we did, to the falls a little further towards the park entrance. More elk took our attention on the way back to the park entrance, grazing quietly beside the roads.

Driving to Denver via Boulder there are masses of roadside wildflowers and the air is sweet with the scent of blossoms. Not so sweet smelling as we enter the interstate to go into Denver! Found our hotel easily and walked into town for a meal. Sleep will come quickly tonight!

Cody to Cheyenne - more rambling!

Left Cody this morning and stopped at Meetseeke at a quaint cafe called 'Lorraine's'. Walls covered in souvenier plates, the usual bottomless cup of mud and a constant stream of local characters having Sunday breakfast made for a memorable but slower start than usual for the day.

Driving on we passed through the beautiful Wind River Canyon, a seemingly endless descent through steep rocky walls with the railway on the other side of the river. Through several tunnels carved from the rock and finally at a dam and lake as the road heads back into scrubby plains.

Shoshoni looks like a bit of a ghost town as we pass through, but the 'Liars Club' bait and tackle shop gave us a laugh. The highway is long and straight across the prairies until we join the interstate at Casper (not a ghost town!) and eventually arrive in Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming, late on Sunday afternoon.

The place isn't exectly jumping and the storm that we had gone around on the plains soon came into town and dumped a cloud-full of rain, cutting short our exploration of the botanic gardens. We retreat to the western shop (Wrangler jeans for just $40 and every style of cowboy boot, shirt, belt or accessory you can name). After the rain stopped we walked through the historic part of town (did you know that Wyoming was the first state to give equal rights to women in 1869?) Then went to a character-filled bar and grill for a welcome meal before going to the hotel for the night.

Photos are of the storm on the prairie and a rock wall in Wind River Canyon. Tomorrow we are off to explore Rocky Mountain National Park, on the way to Denver ...

(well, just a small diversion :-)

There's a bear in there...

Yellowstone is fabulous

started the day by sighting a bald eagle chick in a nest by the road. Silhouette photos because of the sun, but easy to see the feathering as it reaches out for a stretch. There's canada geese by the river and some more bison as we take a drive along the flats.

We walked through the thermal basins we had missed yesterday and some watery sunshine starts to warm us up a bit, but the wind is straight from the snow. There's an elk and his mate grazing quietly in the paddock beside the road, drawing a crowd of photographers and excited viewers. We still haven't seen a moose, but I am hopeful.

Yellowstone lake is still frozen around the edge in many places and the ice patterns in one small bay are interesting enough to call for a short viewing stop.

Bear-jam, just up the road we stop at what the rangers name their traffic jams. Bears always draw a crowd, even from a long distance, but this one was lying sleepily under a tree in a small clearing, giving everyone a great view. Two wolves were circling and one lay down near the bear, looking out at the crowd. Thank goodness for zoom lenses! It's a fabulous grand finale to our time in Yellowstone.

The park had one more surprise though, as we leave via the eastern gate the lake at the pass is still frozen solid and the roadside has snow right onto the road. It's a small glimpse of Yellowstone in winter and very pretty although at 2 degrees C we shiver as we get out of the car to take a couple of photos.

We leave Yellowstone and head east via the Buffalo Bill dam and another tunnel through the mountains to Cody. The Buffalo Bill Museum in this friendly town is fabulous - a collection of five museums with wonderful native american, natural history, western history and art. We broke our visit with a 'trolley bus' ride through the town and out to the dam again, learning about Bill Cody and the town that has his name. Our enthusiastic hosts encouraged us to attend the 'Gunfight at the OK corral' acted nightly in town at the historic Irma's Hotel, so after seeing some more of the museums, we make our way there.

A donation to charity gets us front row seats and we watch as the good guys win (mostly), the bad guys loose and calamity Jane gets handy with a whip. The boys make a lot of noise with guns and everyone steps up for a photo call. Lots of fun in a wild west kind of way. (did you know they can buy guns and ammo at Walmart here?!)

The bus for the Cody nightly rodeo leaves from outside the hotel, so we order a plate of nachos and a budweiser and chat to a friendly local while we wait. The rodeo is entertaining, though nobody manages to stay on a bull more than about a second or two. As we leave the stands the bus pulls out without us, so a friendly local couple offer us a ride back into town. We accept with thanks and it turns out they run a cattle ranch, raising angus cattle. Our 'ranch' is much smaller, but I wonder at the chances of this encounter.

Tomorrow we drive on to Cheyenne, the capital of Wyoming - and yet again, sleep is what we need now.

Yogi and friends...

Summary for those who want one...

• wet
• bald eagle (yay!)
• mud geysers
• snow
• grizzly bears
• big horned sheep
• more bison
• swans
• geese
• pelicans
• osprey nest
• canyons
• burnt trees
• geysers
• hot springs
• and more...

Started by forgetting the memory card for my camera and having to drive back 15 minutes to the hotel :-( then joined the traffic going into the park in the rain. That $20 investment in a warm jacket in San Francisco is going to pay off today!

Just by the river about 10 minutes into the park we spot a bald eagle in a tree. He poses patiently while we soon collect a crowd of onlookers. We have found there is a good way to make a crowd in Yellowstone - stop the car and jump out with a camera - within minutes you can have a crowd of 20 cars or more with their occupants lining the roadside asking what you have spotted.

Other highlights of the day include the walks around the thermal areas of course - even in the rain these are spectacular. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was worth seeing, with a massive waterfall, a great view up the canyon and a look down into an osprey's nest, complete with nesting osprey. We had several sightings of bears including one in scrubland, two playing and wrestling in the trees beside the road, one strolling across a roadside meadow and a large bear and her cub, a distance away in the trees with a stressed mother elk waiting to see if her young one was safe, or had become bear food. Also saw some other elk, pronghorn, more bison, whistling swans, canada geese, white pelicans and several smaller birds I have yet to identify.

Missed photo opportunity of the day was a massive hairy, horned bison strolling down his own lane of the road, with a line of at least 20 cars behind, travelling at bison strolling pace. Very funny.

Today we have seen much of the driveable parts of the park, it is an impressive range of diverse landscapes - a spectacular and beautiful park. I wish we had much longer here but we only have another half day at the most before we head to Cody. Until tomorrow then...

rambling to Yellowstone

It's overcast with a forecast of rain as we leave Salt Lake City - and the promised precipitation catches us as we pass through Logan Canyon and into Idaho. So far we have been in 5 states - California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Idaho. We will pass through three more on this trip, Wyoming, Montana and Colorado.

Just into Idaho we pass through a little reminder of France - the towns of Paris and Montpellier - quite different scenery and housing to their namesakes though. We're following the famous Oregon trail that the pioneers travelled in wagon trains. The snake river winds around through the mountains and is popular for rafting adventures in the warmer months. Heading for Jackson - famous for its skifields at Jackson Hole and the Grand Teton National Park. We will pass through this park rather than exploring it, as we're trying to make the most of Yellowstone.

Afton has a huge gateway across the road made of antlers all linked together - and two bucks on top head to head - impressive but a little wierd...

We stopped at Jackson for ffod and fuel - it looks to be an interesting town and it's tempting to take up the offered rafting on the snake river trips, but we keep travelling.

As we get close to Yellowstone we see evidence of the huge fires of 1988 - the pine forest is growing back thick and healthy but some of the tall burnt trunks still stand high above the new growth.

Stopped at Lewis Falls and Lewis Lake. I am amazed at the amount of snow still on the ground here and the lake is frozen out a long way with a thick crust at the edge of glass-clear ice.

Funny, but my knowledge of Yellowstone NP are based on yogi bear and the 'pickernick basket... well, not really, but I hadn't realised just how active this area is, with hundreds of Geysers, thermal pools, vents etc.

West Thumb Basin was our next stop with many active thermal pools in unique colours (see one of the top photos). This is the one part of Yellowstone Lake that does not freeze over in winter and we can see why, with obvious warm water all along the edges. Seems the waterbirds like it too as we saw some goldeneye ducks diving for food where the warm water was bubbling up.
We went to 'Old Faithful' a large and active geyser whose erruptions can be predicted at about 90 minutes apart and sure enough, about 99 minutes from the last time, there was another erruption. That's the other photo at the top of this post. Afterwards we walked the boardwalks around the very active thermal basin watching smaller geysers and looking at the formations caused by the mud and waters over the years.

Heading for our hotel near the west entrance of the park we come across small herds of shaggy bison with their golden coloured babies nearby. Then some mule deer, a coyote and luckily - a bear, walking up through the scrub from the river and stopping traffic rather effectively as he (or she) crossed the road and disappeared into the forest on the other side. Spotted some eagles' nests near the river and a sign saying not to stop in the protection zone for the bald eagles. Would love to see one of them, but figure we are doing well, with a bear sighting on our first day.

Exhausted by the time we get to the hotel, so check in and then pick up a wild west takeaway pizza and salad and have a drink in the bar while we are waiting.

Bryce Canyon rambling on to Salt Lake City

We saw sunset point at Bryce Canyon last night (the National Parks pass is certainly paying for itself as it's $25 per park entry if we don't have it and the lines are so much shorter with the pass). This morning we had an early start, skipped breakfast at the hotel as we had fresh fruit with us and went to sunrise point at 7am. a little cloudy but some of the formations had some lovely backlighting when it popped out for a minute or two. Driving along the edge of the valley we saw deer, some little field mice, birds views, squirrels - oh, and some fabulous views over the edge! Farview, Natural bridge, Rainbow Point all absolutely amazing.

PS - just for the record we are in Garfield County - believe it or not :-)

We watched the film on how the canyon developed (actually it's not really a canyon but we'll just leave that one) The Hoodooos, the rock formations in the park are fabulous, better look at the photo rather than me trying to describe them :-)

Once we had our fill of Hoodoos, we hit the road for Salt Lake City, about 5 hours from Bryce. Through Circleville (with a sign to Butch Cassidy's hideout) and various other little towns until we reached the Interstate leading into SLC. Seems to be a Utah thing that they inscribe the city's initial in a huge letter (like the ones on US college jackets) on the hill near the town.

Salt Lake City is famous for its salt lake, the 2002 winter olympics and the HQ of the Mormon Church. A clean, pretty city with wide streets and lots of very helpful and polite people. We walked to Temple Square to look at the temple and the tabernacle (missed a performance by the tabernacle choir tomorrow night) and then found our way to the free city 'bus' (tram) to the shopping and restaurant area. Had a nice meal in a sports bar and grill and did the reverse journey to within a block of our hotel.

Sleep is important! Must get some now.

Rambling around Zion...

Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon on the plan today, but we decide to go into Zion National Park as well, just because we are driving past...

Spectacular views again on the way out of GC - then across to Cameron and north following the Colorado river. We cross at Lake Powell's Glen Canyon dam at Page. Stopped for fuel and went to Wal-Mart! Sad really - that I found it exciting - we picked up salads for lunch and some more amazing Californian strawberries for about $1.50 for a huge punnet. Then over the border to Utah, with Zion NP first on the list.

Lots of fabulous scenery, wildflowers and even hot pink cactus flowers beside the roads. The drive into the eastern entrance of Zion is amazing, through a tunnel that goes for almost 2km, with the most fantastic rock formations everywhere you look both before and after the tunnel. As usual there is a bus service from the Park information centre that runs every few minutes from one scenic view to the next. Zion is a spectacular park - see the photo if I can choose just one...

we decided to try and get to Bryce canyon's sunset lookout for sunset - easier said than done as the sun disappeared behind the clouds about an hour before sunset. The scenery is still awe inspiring. More of that tomorrow! Staying at Ruby's tonight - an old lodge near the entrance of the park. Time for sleep!!!

Vegas to Grand Canyon

Vegas to Hoover Dam and into Arizona - coyote and rattlesnake country. Then Kaibab National Forest and soon the Grand Canyon National Park. We're about 7000 feet high as we reach the edge of the canyon. We booked a helicopter tour that flew over the canyon for about 3/4 of an hour - better value buying avgas than gambling chips in Vegas we figured.

A picture speaks a thousand words, so I'll add just one - WOW!

Dinner tonight in the 'Yipee-ei-o steakhouse' with rattlesnake on the menu. We skipped that and had steak :-) probably one of the best meals we've had so far.

Viva Las Vegas

quick one today - Vegas is unique in its own special way. Estimated to have a population of a couple of million people and heaven knows how many visitors - it feels like everyone is out on the strip at night.

During the day we checked out almost all the casinos on the strip. Glass flowers on the ceilings, or mosaics, or chandeliers, or murals - anything goes in Vegas. Photo is of the water show at the Bellagio, with Paris's Eiffel Tower in the background. There's lions in the MGM foyer and a rainforest cafe where we ate lunch.

Tonight we went to see Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian. The theatre is amazing - built to resemble the Paris Opera, the costumes were perfect, the singing excellent - a fabulous night topped off by an Italian meal and a nice chianti in St Mark's square at sunset, listening to the strings trio.

Back to the hotel to watch Treasure Island's pirate cove show, then the volcano at the Mirage - sleep calls now.

Big trees to desert - rambling on...

executive summary for those who think I write too much :-)

• HUGE trees
• tiny squirrels
• deer encounter
• desert crossing
• VEGAS!
• Blue man show
• not much sleep

now... an early start for a very long trip today - about 9 hours of driving. Question - why would a hotel that asks you to turn the lights off when you're not using them have an outdoor heated pool with no covers? A winding drive now through the Yosemite trees - less snow today, just the patches left from yesterday's falls. We've been lucky with thr road closures as there were still some closed areas yesterday, which are open again this morning. Managed to get the hertz navigator working, so we put ours away which didn't have the Nevada maps loaded yet.

Mariposa Grove where we exit the park has massive sequoia trees - a mile's walk takes us up to the largest of them, named the grizzly giant. At the base of it we see tiny squirrels - a contrast to the massive tree. Walking back we come across a deer, eating something inside a hollow tree trunk. She wasn't moving far away, even for us and ran back to the tree as soon as we were past. Snow flowers were sprouting beside many of the pines, strange red growths that spring up where there is a particular fungi under the ground. There are still patches of snow near the track, but the day is warming up.

Back in the car we dropped down the mountain to a warmer morning. The landscape changed dramatically as we drive down from the mountains, from the huge trees, to scrub on the hillsides then grasslands with some cattel ranches and mesas rising from the plains. Surprisingly we find more berry farms, wine grapes, cherries and olive farms. Fresno is quite green, with masses of RV sales lots both new and used. Then on to Bakersfield - suggested for a lunch stop but we decided to press on for a while yet. Tehachapi, on the edge of the Mojhave desert is another windfarm area, with many hundreds all over the hills on the edge of the desert. Once we get past them there is less and less vegetation as we drive across the desert - past Edwards Airforce Base and a rocket site.

Once we turn onto the highway to Vegas we are just part of a long line of cars and trucks heading for the lights of the strip. We go up to 4730 feet and then down into Nevada. As soon as we cross the border there's the discount fashion mall - had to stop for the experience but only bought a few shirts - for about 1/3 of what we would pay in Aus...

Almost had a close encounter with the highway patrol - but they pulled over the black, fast looking job in front of us - whew! Found Treasure Island wiithout any trouble and after about an hour to check in, had a nice surprise to find the Venetian across the road - where we had tickets for tonight's Blue Man show. Can't describe it really - you will just have to go. A really good night. Afterwards we walked up the strip for a while, Vegas is still partying hard at 1am, but we'd had a big day and were in bed nice and early - about 2am early!

rambling around Yosemite National Park...

Up early to get out of San Fran before rush hour – good move I think as we still had lots of traffic even at 7am. Nav-person is hopeless, so we relied on written instructions for a while and got back on track for Yosemite national park.

Wind farms – California has a lot of those big windmills – at Altamount pass the hills are covered with various styles, groups, lines of wind towers. Stopped at Tracy for breakfast at a 'country Kitchen (the usual dry eggs and this time some tomato slices and fruit instead of potato and bread.) We picked up some fruit and salads at the food-mart across the street and headed out through the cherry orchards and farmland toward Yosemite NP and the Sierra Nevada.

Picked up some petrol on the way in to the vally and then, just after Groveland – SNOW! It snowed last night and the road had been closed until about 10am for vehicles without snow chains – fortunately it is open now and we made our way through the breathtaking scenery, trying to find parking space to view the half dome half covered in snow and bridal veil falls gushing down from the top of the escarpment.

As usual there is a helpful bus service around the attractions, so we used it for most of the day, stopping to view Yosemite falls and the Captain, the chapel and Mirror Lakes before heading back to the car so that we could drive around and check out the other places by car. The campsites were full, maybe because of the start of the summer holidays and the memorial day weekend , but it was interesting to drive around the campgrounds and check out the bear-proof food safes and signs warning that wildcats will take small children… don't crouch down, yell and throw rocks, never let children run ahead or lag behind on a track.

Saw some birds – crows, blue jays, some little copper bellied jobs, some with an orange/red flash on their wings and a woodpecker – they really do peck the tree trunks! Plus lots of sparrows and starlings?

We checked out Bridal Veil Falls later in the day as when we tried to go there earlier the cranky ranger had just waved us past – no chance of a park then. Later in the day the sun was shining and the falls were crashing down, helped I suspect by the melting snow from the morning. Rainbows were everywhere and so was the spray from the falls, so we were both very cold and wet and soggy on the way down the hill.

Yosemite is amazingly beautiful – awe inspiring really - with huge granite cliffs and spectacular wildlife, though we haven’t seen the talked about bears yet! You can ride bicycles through the valley – something that would be great fun as almost all the tracks are quite flat – or there are also horse riding expeditions along some of the trails. We checked out the camping areas and decided that they would be fine for a few days, though still too crowded by Aussie standards.

It was almost 6pm when we made our way out of the valley to find out hotel for the night – Yosemite View Lodge – just outside the western side of the park. Pizza and a great Californian cab sav for dinner and a sound sleep until tomorrow’s early start…

Rambling on about San Francisco

Loving San Francisco's cable cars and trolley busses today! We bought a day pass for $13 and have been hopping on and off, following the maps and having a great day - despite the typically changeable San Francisco weather, which has shown us most of its moods in the last 12 hours...
We started with a cable car ride up Russell Street and down again to have breakfast at Pat's - a funky little art cafe a few blocks from Fisherman's wharf. No coffee though - the espresso machine was broken (we've heard that story in most restaurants in the USA so far!) Then the rain came down - we had prepared with rain gear and managed to stay reasonably dry (except for soggy shoes) while we wandered along the wharf area where crab and souveniers are the order of the day. A fascinating (and free) mechanical museum holds hundreds of working antique arcade machines, have your fortune told or start a grand prix of tiny wooden racing cars - or perhaps a peep show is to your liking?
Walking on up to the maritime area we managed to find a national parks booth and buy our annual pass - at $80 for a year it's a bargain for the americans and not bad value for tourists either if you plan to see more than a few parks in the trip. A bonus was that we also got free entry to all the ships moored at the wharf for visitors.
Just as we headed for the ships we spotted a break in the weather coming (pale blue patches over near the bridge) so headed off to pier 39 to spend a few more $ and take a boat trip on the bay.
The water was great and the boat trip gave a fabulous view of the city, the bridges and Alacatraz island - bonus was an interesting commentary that we could actually hear at the back of the boat. The city is spectacular from the water and we spotted seals, dolphins and lots of sea birds around Alcatraz. Yes, I took several photos... (OK lots of photos) but that's what travel is about, yes?
Back on the pier we scored a fabulous lunch of calamari for him and I couldn't go past the clam chowder, which they claimed had been voted the best in the world. Can't argue with that and for about $10 including taxes and tips it was great value. After that we strolled around the amazing mixture of shops and entertainment - best entertainment though was the local sealion colony, sunning themselves on the floating docks beside the pier. Sleeping, scratching and swimming seems to be the order of the day, with a friendly call to the watchers on the pier every now and then.
Jumped on a tram after that and managed to get to Haight street - hippie heaven in the 70s and still pretty much that way now. A walk down the street to the golden gate park was interesting for the architecture, the people, the murals and the incense even in the take away shops. The park was a nice break from city streets, but we soon headed back to the trams to work our way back into the city and Union square.

After a change of clothes at the hotel we headed off on the cable car again - the wharf is so much better when it isn't pouring rain. Bought a jacket to keep me a bit warmer in the national parks - a reversible bargain at $20. Then we cable car'd it bac into the city and dinner at Jimmy's Bar - a San Francisco icon with live jazz and great steaks. We're learning about the USA portions though and one of us orders a steak, the other a salad and we share.
It's art month in the city and there's sculpted and painted hearts in San Francisco's Union square - so there's another song - I left my heart in San Francisco - but I haven't really; it's a beautiful and interesting city though.

Rambling from the Cliffs to the Bay

After a great night's sleep we are back on the road again today, heading for San Francisco on Highway One. We passed the huge California Polytechnic and then a place that made us scratch our heads - California Men's Colony... had to gooogle that one - it's a state male prison - aparrently minimum security and known as 'the country club' because of its innovative rehabilitation and education programs.
Moro Rock is a spectacular area with huge rocks out in the ocean - a popular surfing spot. Soon I have another of those songs running through my head - but it's 'dead skunk in the middle of the road' - anyone under 50 might need to look that one up!
We stopped at an all American diner for breakfast - eggs and bacon for me (hold the fries and bread and hash browns please) - and blueberry pancakes for him - with maple syrup - yum... then we are back in the car and heading for Hearst Castle, just a little further up the coast.
Hearst Castle is amazing - a huge holiday home for Randolph Hearst, the media baron. The woman architect managed to fit all of Hearst's 'finds' from around the world - from ancient roman mosaics to 13th century choir stalls to marble statues from florence - an incredible collection of other countries' history - and fit it into a collection of buildings known as Hearst Castle. In truth it looks more like a church - but it draws hundreds of thousands of visitors, all amazed at the opulence on display.
Check out the turkey buzzards sunning their wings at the top of the blog today - must have been their morning hangout because we didn't see it again all day. A little further along the cliffs we find a sealion colony - lots of fat sealions tucked side by side on a tiny beach area, and some inquisitive little squirrels popping in and out of the bushes looking for peanuts left by helpful(?) tourists. We took the top down on the car as the weather was nice and ... well, just because it's a little sad to drive a convertible and not convert it :-)
Stopped at Santa Lucia for a clifftop lunch - the drive is truly spectacular as it hugs the coast, over bridges and clinging to the clifffs. Spotted a blue Jay in the flower spike of the aloe vera beside the restaurant. Then we continued through masses of wildflowers on the sides of the road and the occasional pocket of redwood forest, through the Big Sur area well known for its wilderness hiking and on to Monterey.
Time was getting away from us so we skipped the drive around the famous Pebble Beach area and headed inland for the expressway and San Francisco.
SO MUCH TRAFFIC!!! - I thought LA was madness, but the traffic across the San Francisco Bay Bridge was insane. Not helped by the fact that they haven't the electronic systems for everyone, so there are still about 15 cash booths and attendants slowing the traffic as we go onto this massive bridge.
Fortunately the navigator (not me) managed to get us off the bridge and into the city to our hotel - a heritage spot right where the cable cars turn around - the room is cosy and clean and we walked down to chinatown for dinner at the top of one of the buildings there - the Empress of China - and by the photos in the lobby, another eating landmark for the likes of Jackie Chan and other famous and infamous people.
Wandering back past the famous stores such as Macys and SAKS (and yes, the Aussie icon Quicksilver) was interesting - and our hotel is just near the famous Union Square - onca a sand dune aparrently...

Pacific Coast Ramblings

A fond farewell to Los Angeles this morning (we were just getting used to all those freeways.) We headed for highway One heading north, much to the distress of our onboard navigator, who kept trying to turn us around and put us on 101. Faster the expressway might be, but Highway One is the scenic route - and scenery is what we wanted.

Down at the edge of the beach, Pacific Palisades literally has sand at the doorsteps, though I hate to think of the cleaning bills and the pricetag on the real estate :-). Further along, Malibu has 27 miles of coastline and much of it reminds me of a hippie village with a mix of architecture from the most modern concrete and glass to adobe designs straight from Mexico. As usual the coastal colours are fantastic.

Breakfast in Paradise - Paradise Cove that is, where Gidget and other movies were filmed and where breakfast at an outside table means sand between your toes - and under your table... the beach terrace is unique and the food delicious - the ultimate California beach breakfast and worth the drive from LA!

Heading further up the coast the names of places we have read about, heard of in songs or seen on TV come alive. Yesterday I was singing 'Hotel California' and cruising Sunset Strip, today it's 'Ventura Highway' that springs to mind. Strawberry farms lin the sides of the roads and the orange orchards must smell divine when the flowers take over.

We arrived in Santa Barbara in time to check out the old Mission that still functions as the local Catholic Church - beautiful architecture and handpainted borders, massive beams and long verandahs are cool and shady with a courtyard massed with flowers. I saw a tiny humming bird for a few seconds before it darted away out of my camera's view. Then we headed for the Courthouse in the centre of town - terracotta tiled floors have been worn to a high gloss over the years and painted walls and tunisian tiling gives an almost festive feel to a very serious place. The names of the presiding Judges are painted outside their chambers, with patches of slightly different colour showing that these are changed every now and then.

How can you tell you are in State Street, Santa Barbara? Because there are flags lining the street in a patriotic display of red, white and blue. It's the Rodeo Drive of Santa Barbara, with beautiful shop fronts (rip curl is there for the Aussies) arcades and cafes - I spotted a fabulous book shop - but the weight of bringing home all the books I 'need' makes ordering over the net a more attractive option.

Stearns wharf is a huge old shipping wharf that now has tourist shops and restaurants - and parking! It felt very strange driving out along the wide old boards to the parking area near the end of the wharf. We checked out the seals while we ate our fish and chips, watched carefully in return by some very large seagulls and even larger pelicans.

The until now reliable Chrysler was showing a very hot engine and a quick check revealed very little coolant. We fixed it with a plastic bag of water from the rest rooms and crossed our fingers that the leak isn't a fast one. Time will tell!

An afternoon cruise up highway 1 via Vandenberg Airforce Base and Guadalupe (always wondered where that was...) is interesting. Our hotel at Shell Beach is on a resort strip just out of Pismo. There's a cliff walk along the top of the bluff and several stairways down to the dark sands. Today the surf is small and the wetsuited surfers only get a few seconds of ride for all their effort. The seals are having a much better time. We are assured that it is different on other days when the swell is larger. Tonight Sean looks after us at the bar at the hotel and expresses his own wish to surf the Australian beaches. We fall for the clam chowder and go to bed happy and tired.

Universal ramblings...

Today started well with finding great coffee for breakfast near the beach, then discovering a Target store to buy an esky, Thermos flask, some camera batteries (very important) two dozen bottles of water and a few bottles of wine (OK - also very important!). Then we headed for the Hollywood Hills and Universal Studios. Parking was easy early in the day and then we made a great decision - buying a front-of-line pass for the shows and rides. This lets you jump the queues and stay afterwards at the shows and meet the stars. Waterworld, Terminator - even the animal stars - it was great fun and a bit different to the usual 'queue and watch and run' routine. Best part of the day - probably the waterworld show with amazing special effects including a plane landing in the lagoon just in front of our seats. Also watching the people in front of us in the 'house of horrors', cuddled together all the way through the corridors, screaming at every turn and even frightening themselves with their own reflections in the hall of mirrors. the Jurassic park ride was wet but fun and the lunchtime pizza slice was predictably chewy :-)
The Getty Museum was closed late in the afternon Mondays, so we headed back to Beverley Hills and strolled up Rodeo Drive. Beautiful shops, roses massed along the centre of the street and lots of very nice cars. Skipped dinner at Tiffanies to head out to Manhattan beach for a fabulous (and cheap) meal at OB's Grill and Bar. There we sat in a booth and soaked up the atmosphere, watching the surrounding TVs as the locals cheered and stressed over the NBL basketball game. After dinner we crunched our way across the peanut shells on the floor, made our way back to the car and once more braved the LA traffic back to the hotel. Tomorrow we head north to Shell Beach via Santa Barbera along what I have heard is a beautiful coastal drive.

Flying into LAX and rambling around Santa Monica & Hollywood

Good news, we had a leg stretching bulkhead seat on the 12 hour flight to LA - even better, no extra person in our 3 seats, so we had lots of space - better again, some decent first release movies! The only problem was a lack of sleep... Arrived safely in LA and managed to pick up the hire car from Hertz (photo for A attached) a Sebring convertible is a Chrysler and quite nice too - gold with a black soft top that folds away neatly into the boot at the touch of a button. Then we managed to find the Hilton - and even better, they had our room available at 8am, so we could have a rest and shower before we headed out onto the freeways of LA.

Sundays are fortunately quiet and thankfully forgiving of antipodean natives travelling on the 'wrong' side of the road - so we headed down to Santa Monica pier - how cool is this place? (freezing today, with a blustery wind off the ocean), but seriously... huge timber boards underfoot and interesting restaurants and a fun fair and artists and a witchdoctor and fishermen ... all right at the end of the famous Route 66 across the USA - so very cool.

Lunch was at a Mexican place right at the end of the pier, Marisol - the nachos and enchiladas were fortunately much more palatable than breakfast on the plane and served with a smile by Jesus and his mates. After that we walked kilometres up the beachfront, along with bicycles, skaters, walkers and lots of dogs who wanted to stop every 10 seconds to overrule the latest mark on the legs of everything. Then we headed inland a bit to the shopping promenade. Homely touches included the Quicksilver store (just like the one in Paris) and Cotton-On advertising Aussies in the heart of LA.

Photographed the 'Hotel California' sign - just foro all the beach boys fans - it is right down on the Ocean Drive. Hollywood was fascinating - less impressive in many ways than I expected but with some outstanding parts such as the chinese theatre forecourt with the amazing concrete slabs with hands and feet prints of some of everyone's favourite movie-folk. We couldn't find the entrance to the Hard Rock cafe afterwards, so dared to try coffee in the restaurant further along the strip. Bad move really... but we drank it anyway :-) and then headed off following the 'star map' through the Beverley Hills with the top down on the convertible. Lots of fun as we identified the LA homes of everyone from Michael Jackson to Ronald Regan. I LOVED some of those homes - such a beautiful suburb :-)

After that it was back to the hotel just on sunset for a bottle of a fabulous Californian Syrah and an almost perfect medium-rare steak for me and grilled salmon for S, paired with salad and fresh veges - yum. Now bed - we seriously need some sleep!

Sydney to Brisbane ...

Smooth travelling so far, leaving a soggy Sydney early this morning for a short stopover in the sunshine state. Check in was the usual cheerful Qantas style and our bags are LA bound - hopefully we will be able to find them at the airport there.

In Brisbane now and grateful for a comfortable seat and a glass of wine in the lounge - in our soon to be USA time zone it's after 5 in the afternoon, so we're getting in the zone a little early!

We're travelling with bigger suitcases than our usual carry-on size, planning some walking in the national parks between San Francisco and Denver - and maybe some shopping as well if we can't resist - but first we're taking the fabulous ocean drive between LA and San Francisco. I can't wait to get my camera out!

rambling away...

So - where to start? This is my travel blog, but maybe it will turn into something else as well. Rambling is how we love to travel - with a plan but finding detours on the way. Rambling is what my writing generally resembles too :-)

Tonight we are in Sydney - time to catch up with eldest son and his wife to hear about their honeymoon in Europe - what they loved about Paris, London and Prague - what they dislike about Icelandic volcanoes and civil unrest that changed their plans somewhat to include trains and cars as well as planes, lots of German villages and a relaxing massage in a Thai hotel instead of time exploring Bangkok

Tomorrow we head for Los Angeles. Right now I'm heading for the bar and a calming G&T...