Full Circle

After being back in Sydney a couple of weeks, it's still interesting to reflect on the differences between this "Europe in the South Seas" city and the heartlands of The Industrialised World in which we spent the past few months.

Sydney is awash with sunshine in summertime, insects abound, the mangos and cherries are really amazing, and the beach is a daily paradise.

Sydney is beautiful in spite of the best intentions of all the generations of urban designers that have tried to bury the environment beneath endless strips of poorly laid, buckling concrete and a transport system that fails, in fact, to transport anyone anywhere.

Sydney has a small-town feel that I hadn't previously noticed. It seems strange to see large groups of men standing around in parks, by the roadside, drinking, talking, fighting. People seem to have a higher sense of individuality, fashion is more diverse, people move quickly but without urgency.

We are looking at Sydney with different eyes from the ones we left with. Both the limitations and charms of Sydney are more apparant.

Travel Stats

• Plane: 42,000 km


• Train: 1,000 km


• Automobile: 7,000 km


• Hotels: 24


• Hostels: 3

NYE in Vegas

Due to a late start, we didn't get a chance to go through Death Valley on the way to Vegas, but the traffic out through the Mojave desert was terrible anyway, so this turned out to be okay. Accidents and heavy traffic choked the freeways and we inched along for a lot of the way.

But as soon as we arrived to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, all was forgotten and forgiven. We're not gamblers, and we still aren't, however hard the Vegas system tries to get into your head the message that gambling is fun, sexy and rewarding. Hard Rock Casino spoke strongly along these lines, the game floor is the best looking casino we saw, filled with young sexy people dressed to kill. Our room in the hotel was by far the coolest room we had stayed at (it was up high, and had a rock-star's casual pad kind of vibe).

Therein lies the only obvious charm of Vegas. The message is this: You, the common schlob, can come here and we will treat you like a star. You can dress in your tracksuits and walk around with your plastic pitchers of beer and vomit on our streets and our police will protect you and our waitresses will pretend you are a celebrity and you will believe in the absurdity of this desert city that is somehow, at night, stunningly beautiful, and charming (and surreal) and the memories you will take away are ones of the buzz of participation in a sexed up, crowded hyper-reality that is more dream than reality.

The deals we had on our hotel at least were great. $40 bucks for the Hard Rock and a mere $160 a night (not including the NYE surcharge) for the MGM Signature Suite. $160 is by far the most we payed in America, but it was the absolute best hotel I have ever stayed in. Compulsory valet parking is a good start, followed by an intense effort at achieving "stylish luxury" throughout the entire hotel. The staff are under orders to strike up friendly conversations at every opportunity, which they manage to do without being obsequious. The room was up high and had a marble/stainless steel kitchen, the bathroom had a jacuzzi and it's own tv, there was quiet air-con and a fridge and the entire room was huge, new and tastefully decorated.

NYE was about as much fun as it could be under the circumstances. The crowd in Vegas is generally drunken, but surprisingly friendly. One gets the impression that the typical Vegas tourist can hold their alcohol (the casinos have perfected the art of pouring alcohol down the throats of their visitors).

New year's day we spent further luxuriating, followed by the buffet dinner at Paris (casino) which proved to be delicious. We were both really hungry, and the deal at Paris is that there are five food sections that have excellent quality and well cooked food from various regions of France. There was a lot of seafood on offer, and we had a lot of fun eating crab, trying the regional highlights, and I personally enjoyed the prime rub, which was quite rare and melt in the mouth good.

Further touring of the casinos helped us to walk off dinner and we drove out of Vegas
the next day well satisfied with our time here.

Coming back from Vegas to a slightly worn-out LAX hotel seemed a major step down. That's the problem with inhabiting dream worlds - there's the letdown when you wake up.

Christmas week in LA

We found ourselves back in LA for our last week of this amazing trip and decided that this is where we would be spending Christmas. We had originally planned to have a white Christmas in Tahoe but since that wasn't to be it was left to me to be the 'Christmas coordinator'. Christmas Eve went off without a hitch and we spent the afternoon at the Getty museum which is an amazing space set high up in the LA hills. Although it houses some beautiful 19th and early 20th century art my favourite thing about this place was the unique architecture, gardens, and view (overlooking Los Angeles). In the evening we went to see a movie in the pretty town of Westwood at the The Village Theater which opened in 1931 and is often used for movie premiers. We watched the movie 'Yes Man' which was really quite funny and much better than I was expecting. After the movie we headed to Church for the 10pm service (much better than waiting for midnight mass in my opinion). It was quite strange to be at a church where the priest had an American accent and the service was so formal, not what I'm used to at all. It was a lovely service though complete with a pipe organ and choir.


Christmas day was a little less organised unfortunately. I had planned a day of ice skating and movie watching but after waking up on Christmas morning to grey sky's and rainy weather my plans were foiled. Instead we spent the day driving around the abnormally deserted streets of LA. At night we visited the Grove with the intention of watching another movie, however it was sold out by the time we got there, so again my plans were foiled....I think Jack was beginning to wonder why he put me in charge by this point. We stood around watching the fountain and the Christmas tree trying to think of something to improve this day, when a Christmas miracle appeared, It began to snow! Snow in the middle of LA...could this be possible? I got my white Christmas after all, what a great way to end the day. OK so it was fake snow coming out of the roof tops but who cares!

After several attempts we finally spent one day skiing at Mount High. It took us ages to get there due to all the holiday traffic but it was well worth the wait. I hadn't been skiing for 12 years and it had been five years for Jack. While he was full of confidence I was a little more apprehensive. After my lesson though I remembered just how much fun skiing can be and I'm proud to say that I only fell over once it sux that it had to be in front of Jack but it was my first time on the chair lift so I can't complain. We both were feeling pretty tired by the end of the day and happy to head back to the hotel for some R&R.

The rest of the week was spent exploring Venice beach, catching up with Jack's friend Harry and his wife, and watching more movies.

LA is a pretty crazy city, its strange to me to see so much going on that the people just seem to ignore. Everyone just seems to go about their business with minimal interaction with the people around them. In the week we have been here we have seen some weird and crazy stuff. A man collapsed in Whole foods and people just ignored him and continued to shop and eat their dinner (paramedics were called). We saw one of the most outrageous car crashes where the front section of the car was completely cut off right up to the windscreen. Luckily no one was injured, however the guy in the car was in a bit of a daze. He managed to stop three lanes of traffic (including us) to pick up the scattered pieces of his car. I guess he figured if he survived that crash he must be invincible. We also walked passed a person lying face down in the bushes on the side of the road, again no one seemed to take any notice!

Aside from all the craziness LA does have a lot to offer and I'm glad that I got to spend some more time here and get to know what this city is all about. I think a lot of people come here and only see Hollywood and downtown and then decide they don't like it much. I guess it would be like coming to Sydney and only seeing Redfern and Kings Cross, and missing all the great things the city has to offer.

With only a few days left to go of this Vacation I'm starting to hear the warm Sydney weather call my name, don't let me down Sydney I need a tan!

Southland Redux

After bidding a fond farewell to Northern California we drove back the way we had come, dropping in again to San Jose (like moths to the flame) for some serious outlet mall shopping.

Decked out in new threads we thus continued to Santa Barbara where we got ridiculously drunk from one single winery tasting (they push you to buy wine at the end - go figure) followed by an Irish pub experience that exceeded all the pubs in Ireland we had been to with the quality of food and music - again go figure.

We love Santa Barbara! The air is one of inverted cinema verite - one of leaving aside the real for the imagined and styled, which is then decidedly realised. I don't see the problem with rendering an image of perfection, of declaring that the imperfect is made obsolete with one perfectly realised airbrushed smile. Baudrillard declares that Santa Barbara is paradise, albeit one in which meaning has been discarded. But Australian culture has never made much pretense to grandeur in the European tradition, and so Santa Barbara appears as just a wealthier and classier version of our own native hedonism.

After checking out the local university (the one with it's own freeway and palm lined beach) we hit the road again bound for San Diego. Total distance from Santa Rosa to San Diego was 1000 km, and the difference is really significant. Jumper and coat weather to t-shirts again, and beachy sea-breezes rather than frosty mountain air. The sun seems to de-saturate the colours in Southern California compared to the north and everyone drives faster the closer you get to Los Angeles, as if it was the source of boundless light and energy.

Freak snowfalls had closed three of the north-south freeways that lead to LA and we could see the snow on the far off mountains as we stood on the beach in San Diego in blazing sun. The night before in San Diego we had had the most amazing American meal since leaving Manhattan - Phil's BBQ which takes the American delight in slow cooked barbecue to the next level with it's amazingly decadent and delicious goodness. Our hotel was across the road from this place and there was no escaping the scent of roasting meat anywhere in the vicinity during the day. Come night and the place is a feeding frenzy, with the line stretching well out the door into the chilly evening air by 5:30PM. We ordered mesquite chicken, giant beef and baby back ribs - the portions were massive and the only way to eat is with your hands, and the meat is delicious and the sauce goes beyond good. Just as amazing are the sides - "best ever" declared Jannie of the coleslaw and potato salad.

It seems to me that barbecue is THE American cuisine. Intoxicatingly deadly but unmissable and best served along with unlimited quantities of soda.

More beaches followed, La Jolla, Laguna and Newport as we made our way back north to "the" OC. A full day of rain allowed us to catch our breath and actually enjoy not leaving the hotel all day, meanwhile planning our next adventure...

Lake Tahoe - Sacramento - Santa Rosa

Our trip to Lake Tahoe was a little shorter than we had hoped but still just as magnificent. We left San Jose on Wednesday with the intention of staying in Truckee (named after the river not the Truckers that drive through) over night and making the 1/2hr journey to the lake the next morning. We got to Truckee after driving for about 3 hours only to find that there really were no good places to stay. It was about 5pm and getting dark so we found some wifi and a really cute cafe and paid a visit to our favourite website for this trip (hotwire.com). The best place we could find was a casino hotel in Reno, it was only 1/2hrs drive away and cheap as chips naturally being in a casino. Although Reno is a bit of a grotesque kind of place (a down market version of Vegas) the hotel was big and comfy and our view was amazing. We could see out the the sierra Nevada complete with snow capped mountains. So while I hate gambling I can't help but be grateful for the cheap accommodation and food it provided for us.

We were up bright and early for our drive around lake Tahoe. Now I should explain that we had planned on spending 10days in Tahoe skiing over Christmas but cancelled it for a couple of reasons. 1. Hertz does not allow you to put chains on rental cars, and if it snows you can't drive to Tahoe without them. 2. We are not too sure we want to be driving in the snow and 3. Our dollar dying in the last few months had made the trip way more expensive than we had hoped. So anyway we had decided that we should at least get there for the day before the snow starts so we can at least see what we were missing. Lake Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. It is one of the cleanest, deepest most scenic lakes in the world. The photos we took really just don't do it justice. Should anyone ever be in this area this is a must see destination.

We left Tahoe after completing the drive around the lake and drove on to Sacramento. Apart from being the state capital and kind of pretty it really isn't very interesting. It was an old gold mining town and has kept some of the original buildings, but I was glad we only spent one night there.

Now at this point I am beginning to feel like a bit of a gypsy moving from place to place but we are on the home stretch and really want to squeeze as much as we can into this adventure. From Sacramento we drove back to San Jose as we didn't quite get to do everything we had planned the last time we were there. One of the things on our list was to let out our inner geek and visit the Computer History Museum. It was quite amusing to see just how many geeks there were visiting that day, you know the tall lanky long hair and glasses kind, I just couldn't help but chuckle to myself. We had a tour guide to show us around and explain to us the workings of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine (made from brass and able to add numbers up to 30 digits long) and walk us through all the old machines from the abacus to the modern day computers. It was quite fascinating to see just how far technology has come in such a short amount of time. I thoroughly enjoyed our visit....well except for being called a house wife in an example of a census question!

So Now we have arrived in Santa Rosa and the temperature has dropped to about 4 degrees. We arrived last night at John Tarrant's house (a good friend of Jack's Mother) who was gracious enough to let us stay for a few days. We have felt so welcomed by everyone we have stayed with thus far and this was no exception. John cooked us a fantastic meal of whole fresh crab and fresh baked Tuna (delicious), then we woke to fresh tamales care of Brian (a friend of Johns) whom we met last night. Apparently the tamales are sold on the side of the road by a family of Mexicans who make them fresh each night. I have never had them before coming to California and I have to say they are my favourite Mexican cuisine.

We spent today driving around the Sonoma wine country all the way to Armstrong woods to take a walk in the rain forest and see some of the tallest trees I have ever seen. We also had lunch at the gorgeous town of Healdsburg before we got too cold and called it a night. We are now just relaxing at Johns house and trying to decide where our next stop will be!

PCH - Monterey - San Jose

Driving up Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Barbara we found elephant seals, roads covered in rockfalls from the sheer cliffs, and expansive views of the coast. It was a great drive.

Even though it's a "highway" you can't do more than 40MPH due to the continual curves and sheer drops on the other side. The road is basically cut into the cliff and follows the contours of the mountains around the coast. Every turn revealed something new and amazing - "ohhh, wow" we kept saying.

Eventually the road turns into the forests of "Big Sur" but it still feels remote and curvaceous until you pop out at Carmel ("a dream place" according to Jannie, due to it's pretty tree lined main street that slopes down to a lovely beach).

It's then a short drive to Monterey where we spent the night. Monterey is always lovely, with pretty houses and seaside. The next morning we saw butterflies and deer at the butterly sanctuary and continued the drive to Santa Cruz, which although pretty is definitely a part of Northern California as the wind was icy cold. Definitely not shorts weather up here.

Deciding to give it a miss, we headed over the mountain to San Jose where we both enjoyed being back in the city, in the heart of "Silicone Valley". I never knew that San Jose is the 10th largest city in the US. It feels so much like a small town. Everything seems to be a ten minute drive from wherever you are.

The way we found the hotel was totally appropriate. We dropped into the Holiday Inn Express to go to the bathroom and to find out their rates only to be told it was $160. That's $240 AUD! Totally outrageous. (Walk in rates always suck - we paid $60 at another hi express and the person ahead was paying $16 on some corporate rate). Anyway, we asked if there was free wifi around. They looked at us and said they had no idea.

So we went out to the car and checked - it turned out there was free wifi from the hotel across the street, so we drove around with the laptop to find the strongest signal, then booked a room with hotwire.com for another holiday inn for the much more acceptable rate of $60.

San Jose is business town - everyone here is geeky or business like, tapping away on laptops or PDAs but it's still kind of fun. It has nice mountains on each side and is 45 minutes to San Francisco and 45 minutes to Santa Cruz.

Jannie finished buying her ski clothes here - total cost for funky warm waterproof jacket, pants and gloves is $100 (the jacket is last season's style - oh the shame).

We also went to the IMAX dome for Adrenaline Rush and saw the Tech Museum of Innovation.

So now we are all set for an adventure to Lake Tahoe - and skiing if there is any snow to be found.