“Into The Valley”

(Mile – 2,079)

After a days drive from San Francisco we made a late arrival into Mariposa Ca, a tiny “wild west cowboy” kinda town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Mariposa consists of what appears to be a single main street and a local sheriff (we think it’s that guy out of the village people) who patrols the town on horseback, complete with a Stetson and a silver sheriffs star pinned to his shirt.

The whole point of this stop was to be in close proximity to Yosemite National Park, and although the Yosemite landscape was as beautiful as we expected, we couldn’t wait to get out of there due to the ridiculous number of fellow visitors. This reminded us of our policy to “Only travel off peak… when possible”.

We lasted for a few more hours before heading off the beaten path to hike to the base of “El Capitan” and then we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in a quiet secluded part of the Merced River.

“El Capitan” on the left and “Half Dome” on the right. I’m talking abut the granite mountains in the background. Not us!

The next day we took a long drive through the less populated parts of the park on our way to Mono Lake with its stunning Tufa towers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tufa. This area is a nesting habitat for over two million annual migratory birds and the fading sunlight on the tufa towers made the whole place look like one of Roger Deans tripped out album covers.

♪ Down at the edge, round by the corner,
Close to the edge, down by a river ♬

Ever since I first heard of Death Valley as a kid I have always wanted to go there, so we stocked up with cold water, filled up “Vlad the Impala” with gas and headed off into the heat. The only way to describe it is that it feels like you are standing in front of a giant hairdryer set to its highest setting; the desert is literally breathtaking and certainly unforgettable.

A flower in the desert

At 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in the USA, we hit a temperature high of 113ºf (45ºc). The odometer display does not lie.

Yea, though I drive through the valley of the shadow of death

We were also lucky enough to be there during the insanity that is the “Badwater race”. Recognized globally as “the world’s toughest foot race,” it covers 135 miles (217km) non-stop from Death Valley to Mt. Whitney, and in some years the temperatures have reached up to 130F (55c).  Accompanying the runners were huge dust devils in the desert basin as well as an ariel acrobatic display laid on by two U.S.A.F. jet fighters

Fighter jets showing off to the dust devils

On route to our next destination we dropped in to Las Vegas to witness the madness, glitter and lights. Twenty two years ago, Lura and I first visited this city for one night only to attempt to make our fortune on the nickel slots. Much has changed since then.

As we were in Vegas we couldn’t resist a show, and as I am vehemently opposed to Celine Dion or any form of musical theatre we decided to splurge on Cirque Du Soleil. We have had the good fortune to catch a number of Cirque shows before and every one is without doubt worth every penny. Although Mystere is the oldest of their running shows it was still absolutely amazing, and if you ever get the chance to see them please take our advice and GO!

Two nights in Sin City were enough for us and the next day we left Vegas and headed out across the Mojave Desert on the remains of Route 66 to Flagstaff, Arizona.

We obviously kept an eye out for alien activity on the way but apart from some tumbleweed, a few trailers and some otherworldly mullet hairdo’s we only got photographic evidence of one grounded U.F.O.

“The truth is out there”

 

 

“Everywhere you go (you always take the weather with you)”

It’s so easy to let things slip when you are having fun, it’s now early July and over 15,000 miles since our blog was last updated in April! So get ready for some compressed details.

It seems like a lifetime ago that we were in South East Asia and although we had a great time there, by the end of it we were ready to move on to new pastures and cooler weather.

Rather than doing “the overland thing” from Laos we all voted for a quick two hour flight to Cambodia rather than spending a week of bumpy and dusty “overlanding” by bus. Trust me, you would understand our decision if you saw the state of the Laotian roads.

The temples in the Cambodian jungle are magical beyond description in both, beauty, workmanship and location. You really have to see them for yourselves! Given the location and the size of the undertaking it is almost impossible to imagine how the original builders achieved this. It is truly one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Sunrise over the lake next to Angkor Wat

Many people have seen photos of the most famous temple, Angkhor Wat, but our favorite experience was an early morning visit to Angkhor Thom, with it’s hundreds of giant Bhudda faces carved into the walls

Early morning at Angkhor Thom

After sweating it our in Cambodia we travelled back to Thailand to stay with Graeme Orr, an old friend of ours who now lives on the island of Koh Tao.

One of the beautiful beaches in Koh Tao

We spent a lovely week diving, swimming and relaxing at his palatal home in a location which strangely reminded me of Jeff Tracey’s paradise island, home of the Thunderbirds.

The view from our deckchair on Tracey Island while waiting for Thunderbird Three to launch from under the pool

From there we took a bus followed by an overnight boat with “scum class” accommodation to the west coast island of Koh Lanta for a final week of island life before we returned to Bangkok and flew to New Zealand.

What can I say about New Zealand except that it exceeded our expectations by hundred times.

Over the two months that we were there we travelled from Auckland to tiny Stewart Island in the far south and back again http://goo.gl/maps/Vrd5 

We bathed in hot pools that we dug in the sand on unspoiled beaches, we hiked across glaciers, we mountain biked through temperate rain forests, we sailed down fjords, we learned to fish (and had many successful catches I might add) and thanks to the amazing New Zealand wines I finally got a taste for alcohol.

Digging our own private hot pool at the world renowned Hot Water Beach

All I can say is don’t let the distance put you off visiting, you won’t be disappointed as it’s one of the most beautiful and unspoiled places on earth (and they make great fish ‘n chips).

The amazingly beautiful beaches of Wharaki

Finally we did a quick hop over the Tasman Sea to Australia to spend six weeks “chillaxing” with our extended family in Australia. The Cooper family were instrumental in the process of my wife and I meeting, so we couldn’t turn down a rare chance to visit them at their home in Brisbane.

Stevie and Jule fishing at Byron bay

It was more a chance to regroup and catch up with years and years of news, then it was to explore the vast continent of Oz. We got to discover Brisbane, spend a week at the beach in beautiful Byron Bay, visit my cousins in Noosa and celebrate two birthdays. After almost year on the road it was fantastic to see old friends, put the slippers on and relax in a home from home.

Byron Beach with a milky way star display that stretches from horizon to horizon

Almost a year to the day since we left New York, we finished our Australia leg with a few days in the wonderful city of Sydney, and to celebrate our time there we spent our last night at the Sydney Opera House watching a performance of “The Pearl Fishers”

Sydney Opera House (in case you couldn’t tell)

 

“Chocolate and Cheese”

Feeling stretched with our budget we decided to stay for just two nights in Venice, so we had to make the most of our one full day in the “City of Water” We found a great little apartment in the old Jewish Quarter which was centrally located, quiet and very atmospheric.

On the way from the flat to our local coffee shop

Blessed with low-season tourist levels and gorgeous weather, we spent the day walking the city and getting slightly lost as usual. We managed to hit some of the big tourist spots like the Rialto Bridge and the Piazza San Marco (decidedly low on the pigeon front) but the lack of tourists meant that we were able to walk right into St. Mark’s. We marveled at the millions of Byzantine mosaics that adorned the Basilica as well as the horde of oriental objects that were bought to Venice after the conquest of Constantinople.

A Venitian gondola - look closely and you'll see that we are not on it

Our budget limited us to avoiding certain indulgences, so instead of a traditional gondola ride we opted for a vaporetto trip down the Grand Canal at sunset. Although the vaporetto was crowded, it was as beautiful and romantic (well, almost) as any gondola!

Sunset over Venice with hints of Istanbul thrown in for effect

November is the beginning of Venice’s “high water” time, and on the morning that we left town, the water was splashing over the sides of the canal onto the sidewalks. Everywhere we walked we saw the raised walkways ready to be called into action at the first sniff of a flood. We loved our brief moment in Venice and would definitely return one day – the architecture, the water, the decay – stunning in all its faded glory.

As we were on our way back to England there was really no way to avoid mountains, unless we followed the coast back through the South of France again. We figured that if we were going to risk life and limb by driving the camper over the Alps we might as well stay for a while!

So it was up and over the Grand St. Bernard Pass to spent five glorious days in Leysin, Switzerland. Leysin is a small village situated at 1,200 meters with fields and misty mountain views in all directions; we visited in the low season but in the winter the village comes alive with skiers.

Leysin - It's prettier than Hackensack. Some seriously beautiful sights served up on a daily basis.

The views from our chalet alone were just incredible, and it was so quiet that the only noise the locals complain about is the sound of the cow bells! The snows had not yet arrived so one day we hiked down a very steep and treacherous valley path to the medieval town of Aigle, stopping for a delicious picnic lunch in one of the pastures on the way. Our knees thanked us when we took the cog railway all the way back up to Leysin and thanks to Swiss efficiency the train arrived and departed bang on time.

The cog railway back home - thank you Switzerland for not making us walk back up the valley

The next day we decided to get a pre-season feel for winter sports by taking a family curling lesson at the local ice rink. At the start of the lesson we were warned in French that “Curling may not look like a dangerous sport but it is….you can easily slip on the ice and hurt yourselves really badly”. We only had one fall and a few minor bruises here and there but it was so much fun, and much harder than it looks (just staying upright on the ice was a major challenge in itself – click below to see how it should be done).

To celebrate our new found sporting talent, the curling lesson was followed by another local tradition…..our first delicious fondue at La Fromagerie.

This is Leysins’ local cheese making restaurant and as we didn’t really know how much to order and how the whole fondue thing worked it was a bit nerve racking to start with. However, once we were full of bread and melted cheese we all decided afterwards that it was just another reason to totally fall in love with Switzerland

Fondue at La Fromagerie - whoever drops the bread in the cheese pays the bill