Wales - Chepstow

A classic Chepstow Street

One the way to Cardiff from Bristol I had a day in Chepstow. I had heard that it was a classic welsh town, with its old castle and village it lived up to the hype.

The old Chepstow Castle


The part ruins of Chepstow Castle

I spent a few hours checking out the old Chepstow Castle which was built in 1067, nearly 1000 years ago... It was built by the Normans and has survived countless wars and sieges.

Chepstow town from the battlements of the Castle

It was sunny one minute and pouring down the next so I spent the day dodging showers. I went to an old pub and had a Jacket potato for lunch. Nice.

The muddy water of the lower Wye River

England - Bristol

Bristols Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge

I jumped on the bus from London and headed to my town of birth, Bristol. I stayed with Sue and Ron who were friends from when we lived hear 20 years ago. It was great to catch up with them and enjoy the fine home cooked meals, good stuff ron. Sue used to look after me a lot when I was a kid and she had plenty of stories about how much of a horror I was then, good to see things don't change.

Family friends: Sue, Ron and Erica


The Clifton Suspension Bridge


Walking along the Downs, Hmmm nice trees

I went for a good walk around from the Bristol docks and up to the Clifton Suspension Bridge. This was the design of the famous and daring civil engineer Isembard Brunel, and I actually remember studying this guy at University. It is an awesome bridge and a real asset to bistol. I then walked along the Downs and back through the bustling town.

Bristol docks over the bow of the SS Great Britain


The propeller of SS Great Britain

I also checked out one of Brunels other creations, the SS Great Britain. It was revolutionary for its time as it was the worlds first iron hulled vessel and the first to have a propeller. It was also largest vessel in the world at its time of construction.

Pigeons enjoying the British summer

The brilliant weather I had in London was short lived. We had a few cold wet days which were great for giving me time to stay in and catch up on emails.

Dinner with Selby, Julie and Kerry

I went out for dinner with some family friends, Selby, Julie and Kerry. It was great to catch up and after dinner we went for a drive around Bristol. We checked out our old house on Harcourt Rd, it was fun to see the cabbage tree planted by dad 20+ years ago now a big tree..

England - London, May 06

Tulips in Russell Square GardenI had a great flight from LA to Heathrow. I sat next to a kiwi couple who were returning to London after a brief trip to NZ for a wedding. They gave me a run down of the do's and dont's of London. I checked into the largest hostel I have ever been too, The Generator had 800 beds! The British Museum was just round the corner so I made that my goal for the day. It was a massive museum and after an hour of reading, jet lag set in and I was in deep need of a caffeine shot. A double expresso hit the spot. The Egyptian mummies were cool. I walked back to the hostel via Russell Square garden which was packed with people enjoying the tulips and evening sunshine.

Central London from the top of St Pauls CathedralAfter a good night sleep and armed with my oyster card (tube and bus pass), I was ready to take on London. My fist destination was St Pauls Cathedral. I thought it would be a good place to start as you can climb to the top of the spire (150m) and get some great views of downtown London.

The millennium Bridge and St Pauls Cathedral in the distance
I walked from St Pauls down to the famous millennium Bridge. When it was first constructed it had a major problem of vibrating under foot traffic, making some people motion sick. After a bit of sweating from the designing engineers and the addition of some dampeners, I can confirm it was rock solid.

Tower Bridge

I walked down the Thames towards Tower Bridge. The early haze had burned off and it was a scorcher. Great Ice cream weather! When crossing tower bridge I was stoked when the deck was raised to let a tall ship pass through. The bridge also came complete with "dead mans hole" where they used to fish bodies out of the Thames. Its funny to think that the bodies would have drifted all the way through downtown London before reaching the Tower Bridge, Nice!

Tower of London

One of the residents of the Tower
The guys with the funny hats guarding the crown jewels

Next to Tower Bridge is the Tower of London which was the founding castle of London. It was the site of many high profile executions including Guy Forks and Anne Berlin. I also wandered if that was where Mel Gibson got hung, drawn and quartered in the movie brave heart?? I went on a free guided tour which was great as the guide was full of gruesome facts and stories. I also checked out the crown jewels, which would be good if gold and diamonds were your thing.

Big Ben and the Houses of parliamentI jumped on the Tube and headed over to Westminster to check out the houses of parliament. It was real busy there and hard to get a photo without all the other tourists in the way. I found a nice quiet park in the middle of busy roundabout to get this shot.

Cabinet Buildings and the London Eye from St James Park

The thing which really surprised me about London was the number of awesome parks. They are all over the place, well kept and popular. St James Park was a 2 minute walk from parliament and great place for a stroll.

Canary Wharf CBD and the Maritime Museum from Greenwich ObservatoryGreenwich was a cool place to spend a day. I started off with a walk through the old cobble streets and checked out the famous markets. After that I went to the maritime museum before heading up to "the centre of the earth". Greenwich Observatory is the prime meridian of the earth, 0 degrees longitude. There was another fantastic park here, I lounged around in the sun reading my book. Nice!

Andy, Nadia and I at the Pub in Covent GardenFriday was the big Kiwiana Night. I met up with Rob, Andy, Nadia, Barry and Shearer who were kiwi mates of mine currently working in London. We started the night at the Walkabout Bar in Temple, which had everything from Stienlager on tap to Super 14 Rugby on the big screen.. After that we headed off to Covent Garden and took in some more of the London pub scene and a few long island ice tea's. We left there around midnight and headed off on a mission to find one of Robs mates at another pub, unfortunately Robs navigation of the tube is not quite there yet and we ended up on the wrong bank of the Thames. We called it a night and jumped on a bus for home, unfortunately it was the wrong bus. We realized this was not the correct route and we jumped off the bus in a strange place. We walked back in the direction we thought was right and amazingly made it back home within an hour. Good times!

Rob and I on the bus to nowhereThe next day I went to the pub with Rob, Erin, Shearer and Barry to watch the cup final between Barcelona and Arsenal. The pub was packed and it was fun to soak up some of the famous british soccer atmosphere. I had a great few days in London and I was stoked with the hot sunny weather, it was expensive but worth it.

Hawaii

Honokohau Beach

We left for Hawaii after a day back in LA from San Francisco. We went to the big island which is the more quiet of the Hawaiian islands. It is known for volcanic lava flows, black sand beaches and +4000m peaks (bigger than Mt Cook) which you can ski on in winter. The airport in Kona is awesome, it is just a collection of huts with thatched roofs. It could be straight off a Just Juice advert -Primo!!

Hawaiian Frangipanii


Sunset from the holiday house on the fist day (note the sunburn)


Black sand and a sea turtle on Punalu Beach

During the trip we checked out many different beaches, from white to black sand to rocky and everything in between. This was the best black sand beach we visited and it was a great place to see sun bathing turtles. It was also a good place to climb coconut trees...

Me climbing a Coconut Palm on Punalu Beach


Bet Keith Richards can't do this


Cruising around the island in our van

We hired a large 7 seater van and missioned around the island. The biggest trip we made was down to the Volcanoes National Park where we saw large creaters of active volcanoes and walked through lava tubes. We even saw red hot lava flows pouring in to the pacific ocean in a spectacular steamey finale.

Nicholas above a volcanic crater


Walking across a solidified lava lake


Sea kayaking to Kealakekua Bay

Our next adventure was to sea kayak across Kealakekua Bay to the isolated north shore where there is spectacular coral reef to snorkel and the Captain James Cook memorial to check out. The reef was awesome with the 20m visability and heaps of cool fish. There were also some deep rocky archways/tunnels to dive through and test our breath holding skills. We pulled our Kayaks up next to the spot where captain cook got speird by the native Hawaiians during a fight over a stolen row boat (see below)

The Captain Cook Memorial at Kealakekua Bay


Criffer in the lagoon at the Hilton

We had a good day at the Hilton where we met up with Gen (Joko's bro) and Wendy. We rode the water slides and bummed around at the lagoon where we could rent all manner of water craft. Paddling our kayak into the artificial waterfall and rolling it was a highlight.

Swimming with turtles at Mauna Kea Reef


Tropical Fish

The last day we had was at Mona Kea beach, supposedly the best beach on the island. It had nice white coral sand and snorkelling reef. Its reputation was just and it was a great way to finish the holiday.

Mauna Kia white sand beach

US - San Francisco

Frisbee on Morro Breach

The week after my return to LA from Canada stig had to travel up to San Francisco for a week long meeting. It was also school break for Nicholas so we all seized the opportunity and came along for the ride. We drove up the coastal highway to our first desination, the town of Morro Bay. We spent a couple of hours running round on the beach and sand dunes.

Lunch at Lucia Point

The next day we carried on up the coast and stopped for lunch at Lucia Point for lunch.

The Whanau: Stig, Joko, Nicholas and Criffer at Lucia Point

China Town, San Francisco

Joko, me and the boys spent a couple of days touring in and around San Francisco. The weather was good half the time.

Alcatraz
I went out to Alcatraz the famous island prison in the middle of San Francisco Bay. It is one of the major sights to see in the town and consequently it was packed, even when I went which was off peak tourist season and a rainey gloomy day. The weather could have been better, but then what better way to see the classic icon of dispair.

Alcatraz

Golden Gate Bridge from Marin County
Luckily the sun came out the next day when we went to see the Golden Gate Bridge, it is a massive monument and great asset to the city. It was not far behind Alcatraz in the tourist popularity steaks and the footpath that ran across it was heaving. I am guessing it must be one of the busiest bridges in the world with both commuter and tourist traffic.

Nike Missle Site walk in LA

Back in LA we had an afternoon fee before we headed off on our next excursion, Hawaii. So we thought we would get some excercise and head up in the Santa Monica mountains to see the Nike Missle Site.

Canada - Kicking Horse and Banff, Apr 06

Main Road, Cranbrook

We caught the Greyhound from Rossland to Golden, it was a long trip which started at 4am and did not arrive untill 9pm. Getting up was a real bugger but Kaylene showed her champion spirit and agreed to drive us to the bus depot. We had about 8hrs transit in an uninspiring town called Cranbrook. We passed the day by visiting the shopping mall and train museum.

Terminator Ridge, Kicking Horse

We decided to go to Kicking Horse alpine resort because it was rated as an up and coming Whistler. We also got a great deal where we payed $120 for 2 days skiing plus 2 nights accommodation (a normal day pass cost $60), so we basically got free hotel accomodation on the mountain.

Our hotel next to the gondola, Kicking Horse

Kicking Horse was a good resort, unfortunately the snow was quite variable with only a trace of new stuff while we were there. We did a lot of hiking up to the Terminator ridge as there were some cool shutes up there.

Avalanches into superbowl, Kicking Horse

Base Lodge, Lake Louise

After Kicking Horse we caught the greyhound to Banff, a nice little town in the middle of the spectacular rocky mountains. We stayed at the backpackers which was bursting at the seams. We did our last day of skiing at Lake Louise, one of the most famous resorts of the rockies.

Top of Mt Whitehorn, Lake Louise

Lake louise had some cool terrian and we were loving the treeless pistes after the masses of tree skiing in previous resorts. The snow was variable again but the clear blue sky and spectacular views made up for it.

Me finding some good powder, Lake Louise

Backbowl Bliss, Lake Louise

Andy could not get enough of the air, Lake Louise

We had one day in banff where we walked around and checked out the sights. We saw the Banff Springs Hotel which was an awesome Chateu style building. After that we caught the bus to Calgary, had dinner, and then I went on to the airport where I slept the night. I flew out to LA at 7am the next day. We had a great time in canada and got to see most of the resorts we had hoped to. The thought of getting back to the Los Angeles sunshine was very good though =)

Banff Springs Hotel