God Bless America...

...land of BIG things, starting of with a BIG breakfast...we made an embarrassingly pathetic attempt at eating our way through a pile of pancakes as high as the Golden Gate Bridge... we'll try again tomorrow.

Arrived yesterday after a long flight with only a few bumpy episodes, sailed through immigration in only an hour and a half ('our customer care motto... we are the welcoming face of America'..hmmm) Seems like only tomorrow we were in New Zealand. (We crossed the date line) Caught a cab to Fisherman's Wharf and shared it with an English guy who went to Horsell School and lived in Horsell Rise, and whose parents now live in Looe! Spooky. He works for Google Earth so Oli and he had a good old chat about that. Hotel adequate but we went straight out and explored Fisherman's Wharf where a representative of every race colour and culture within the human race is to be found, and quite a few in the animal kingdom too. Oliver and Sophie were taught some magic tricks and we had some supersize American food.

Managed to stay awake until 9pm and slept all night- we've got this jetlag thing nailed!

This morning caught a boat to the infamous Alcatraz Island, US State Penitentiary until the early 1960s. Lovely boat trip there with views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Apparently it is painted in 'International Orange'. Sorry, that's the only thing I can remember about it.

A surprisingly interesting tour, especially the bits about the escape attempts. Children keen to try out the cells.....

We then caught a cab to Union Square; our cab driver cracked a joke about Pres. Bush....'what phobia does Bush suffer from- 'Iraqnophobia'!! I said we didn' think we'd hear jokes like that in the States; but apparently San Franciscans are not Dubya's greatest fans. Knew there was a reason we came here.

Feeling very footsore tonight and really ready to head for home tomorrow.

See you all soon!

Last words from New Zealand

Tree Hugging at the Kauri Grove. 600 years old! We visited one of the last remaining stands of Kauri in the Coromandel. The oldest recorded was 4000 years old with a trunk diameter of 20m. These were mere babies. Captain Cook and those who came after him plundered the forests for masts and spars for the British Navy...now large scale replanting schemes are taking place.

Potukahawa- the New Zealand Christmas Tree

Very mixed feelings as we prepare to say goodbye to New Zealand. We feel we could stay longer....much longer....but also ready to return home- via San Francisco, of course, which will be a culture shock and a half! Apparently it's winter in San Fran, so maybe that will help us to acclimatise ourselves before landing at Heathrow. Trying to think positive ...

Anyway here are a few more photos that sum up our last couple of days here. Children with happy smiling faces (well I wouldn't post the pictures where they look miserable would I?!) Grown ups growing plump on Carrot Cake and Sauvignon Blanc. Oh and a few of the landscape too. Lastly, the amazing Driving Creek Villa. Hopefully we'll be back some day.

Goodbye from New Zealand, see you in San Francisco!

Coromandel views...

Well I have stirred myself from langour to write something on the blog as I know you're all waiting out there with baited breath....
Maybe it's the geography of the place- very few roads, lots of big hills and water and not much else..or maybe it's because we're so relaxed in our heavenly surroundings, but we're finding it very difficut to get aout and about and DO anything this week! We did take a trip to the eastern side of the peninsula on the infamous 309 Road , an 'unsealed' (i.e. gravel) road, as always twisting and turning and the beautiful views synonymous with sheer drops in these parts...
On the way we stopped at the 'unusual' Waiou Waterworks, a shrine to a kiwi couple's creativity (OK, they're clearly bonkers!) with some fantastic heath robinsonesque sculptures and inventions mostly involving water and mostly interactive which was great fun for big and little kids alike. We got wet= had fun! Flying foxes and big swings, brilliant.

Also a trip to a glorious beach at Whangapoua, silky sand, wide blue sky and a howling wind which meant we didn't realise we were close to burning...just about got away with it.
Lots of nice walks, fossicking in the stream, stick insect hunting, cafe visiting...one more full day then we need to rouse ourselves for the final stages of our trip.