Viva Las Vegas!

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Las Vegas – Crikey! It’s much bigger and more crowded than it was 20 years ago, and just like then, one day was quite sufficient. We went inside one casino, just to look – the Luxor, the one like a big glass Egyptian pyramid, which had just been started when we were there last. It’s always night in the casinos, for some reason – why? The casinos are much busier, apart from the gambling, every one a full entertainment complex. From where we set off to the end of the strip is 6.7 miles (10.75Km) in a straight line and we walked the whole way, with lots of wandering around as well – there was hardly anything we recognised – to the Stratosphere, where we went up to the observation deck. Then we got the bus back! People stood up to let us sit down, which made us feel really old!

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San Francisco

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We have had such a good time here in San Francisco, our time has flown by, and today we pick up our camper van. We have decided to stay close by for a couple of days, we hope to find a camp site on the other side of the bridge. It’s surprisingly easy to escape from the city,  bus travel is very cheap, the bridge is situated in a National Park and it’s very rural. Yesterday we “hiked the trails” as they say, and walked from the bridge to Baker Beach. The vegetation is almost the same as we have at Birdlings Flat – lots of the same plants!

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Ready for a Rest!

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We have had a very busy 4 days in Sydney – yesterday we were out for 10 hours, and mainly on our feet. The day before, we had walked into town and back 3 times, 30 minutes each way, supposedly to rest in our room, but decided all the walking was negating the rest!

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The Queen Mary 2 was in Circular Quay, and looking beautiful, just like an ocean liner, and not like a floating block of flats, which most of the cruise ships do these days.  We went over to Manly on the ferry, had fish and chips at the beach and gelato at the wharf, and then came back.

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First Stop – Sydney

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Sunrise Over The Tasman
Sunrise Over The Tasman

Here we are in Sydney again, after a VERY early start. As soon as we got off the aircraft we were reminded how hot and humid it can be here.

The hotel is pretty good, quite central, so we’ve been able to walk around, trying to remember whether the buildings are the same as last time we were here. At Darling Harbour, the Convention Centre is being demolished – just like Christchurch, really.

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Chch NZ

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Hard to believe that we have been home a month already! We got home on Saturday the 26th November, and on the Monday we bought our new car.

We have been into Chch and viewed our broken city, and have been on the Red  Zone bus tour, which takes you into the CBD, Cathedral Square and so on. Like anything, it’s very shocking at first, but after a couple of visits you take it for granted. We have a new spectator sport in Chch, gawping through the fence at what’s going on. Here you can see a giant crane dismantling the Grand Chancellor hotel, has to be done slowly piece by piece for the sake of the buildings beside it.

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