Back at home

That's right, I'm back in Melbourne and even though the trip is over I thought I would write one final post and also show you some photos from San Francisco and Hawaii. The photos below are of the two English girls I told you about who I met in San Francisco, me in front of Lombard Street (the famous crooked street), a Christmas tree in Union Square and then me on my last day of my trip in Hawaii.

Should I say something significant or sentimental about my trip? I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity and while it has been lovely to see friends and family I was not really ready to come home. The trip exceeded my expectations and was one the most fabulous things I have ever done but I am sure I will travel again soon. Thank you to all the wonderful people who I met in my travels and to the wonderful people who welcomed me into their homes. I appreciate your friendship and I look forward to keeping in touch - you are always welcome in Melbourne!

Bye!

 

Aloha!

Yes I am in Hawaii and the weather is beautiful. I have not been doing any sightseeing but have simply been going for walks along the beach and around the streets of Waikiki and relaxing. I have discovered that I am unable to sleep in but this hasn't stopped me from having a couple of very lazy days. It is a lovely way to end my trip. The hotel has been great. I decided to stay in a nice hotel as a final treat and it has been worth it. It is not on the beach but it has a balcony with great views and I have enjoyed not packing everything each morning. In fact, because it is my last stop I have been throwing things out. My shoes didn't make it out of San Francisco. I was in a dilemma as to whether to keep them out of nostalgia and there would be absolutely no other reason to keep them as they had gone well beyond the point of respectability but when I was showing them to some friends in the hostel at San Francisco we discovered a huge hole in one of them (this would explain why one of my feet was always getting more wet than the other one!). The hole sealed the deal and they went in the bin but not before I took a photo of them! I didn't need them anyway because the weather is really warm (funny how that happens in a tropical climate!!) and very relaxed.
I can't believe five months has gone by so quickly. I leave for home early tomorrow but I won't get into final blog mode because I will probably post some photos of San Francisco and Hawaii when I get home. I am now going for my last walk along the beach. I have been told that I need to try a fish taco while I am here so I might do that as well.
See you all soon!

San Francisco - is there a song about it??

Hi all, I am at the last night of a five day stopover in sunny San Francisco. In this time I have walked up and down all the hills and my feet are feeling the pain! The hostel has been great and there are some lovely English girls in my room and most nights we have met up for dinner and chatted about what we have done. The weather has been great here. The only day that was cold and really foggy was when I went to Alcatraz so it added to the atmosphere. Actually Alcatraz would have been creepy enough without the added ambience. There were all sorts of awful people who were at the prison (which I guess happens at a maximum security prison) and awful things happened so I felt quite uncomfortable walking around. People were taking photos of themselves in the cells but I couldn't quite bring myself to do that.
The other days have been sunny and I have been able to visit Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Park, Haight Street (centre of the sixties hippy movement), the Museum of Modern Art, Berkeley, Lombard Street (the crooked street), Golden Gate Bridge, Sausolito and the list goes on! It is so compact compared to LA so I have been taking advantage of walking everywhere and only catching the bus if absolutely necesssary.
It is a beautiful city but I think if I lived in America it would only be the climate that would keep me on the west coast because I felt more at home in places like New York and DC. Despite this it has been great having a good amount of time to explore the city. It has gone by too quickly though and I can't believe I leave for Hawaii tomorrow.
See you in Hawaii!!

Happy Thanksgiving from the entertainment capital

Hello from Hollywood! Well, not technically Hollywood because I am spending Thanksgiving in Ojai (pronounced Oh-Hi) but I have been to Hollywood! I had three days in LA and with some fabulous help from Matt and Kristine I was able to set out a great itinerary. I visited the Getty Centre which had great paintings and a fantastic special photography exhibition. The next day was a walk around downtown. The architecture was really interesting and as a special treat the doorman at the Oviat building (a fabulous art deco building) let me go up to see the penthouse which has all the art deco furniture and is now used for functions or films. I only had one day left and as tempting as it was to visit Rodeo drive or Santa Monica, i couldn't go to the Hollywood capital and not visit Hollywood. Hollywood was actually not as exciting as I had hoped but I did see the sign on the hill, Mann's Chinese Theatre and the stars. If I had more time it would have been fun to do a tour but I wanted to visit Universal Studios. I did not think I was much of a ride person but I was so very wrong. The rides were so ace. The Simpson's ride was incredible closely followed by the Jurassic Park ride. I could have done so much more in LA but I felt like I got a good snapshot of the city. I didn't get discovered for a major Hollywood blockbuster and I also didn't get some facetime with a top director to discuss my movie ideas but I feel like I laid some good groundwork for my next visit...

I am now enjoying the relaxed environment of Ojai and it is nice to be spending Thanksgiving with friends. Thanksgiving is huge here. People make more of an effort to get home for Thanksgiving than even Christmas. They also have huge post Thanksgiving sales and the shops open at 5.00am on the following day. 

Anyway, the weather is beautiful today and we are about to go for a walk so Happy Thanksgiving everyone and see you soon!

Journey to the political centre of America

Washington DC is a place I have wanted to visit for many years. Unfortunately their law about citizenship requirements for presidency have cut short my political aspirations but this is also the law that stands between the Terminator and the White House so I won't complain. Instead I do the next best thing and stand outside with the other members of the public. DC is fabulous. It is a city that pulsates with the energy of being the political centre as well as having so many galleries and museums. I was there for three full days and despite having very tightly packed days I barely scratched the surface. Some of the political highlights are below: the White House, the Hill (I don't call it Capitol Hill because in the West Wing it is called the Hill), the Washington Monument and Lincoln's Memorial. Lincoln's Memorial was very moving and I found his speeches which were printed on the walls incredible and I found myself rereading the phrases because of the sheer poetry. 

The musuems here are amazing. The Museum of American History reopened on my last day so I saw the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, the Gettysburg Address, an amazing section about the American Presidents and R2D2! If this wasn't enough I also saw Seinfeld's puffy shirt, Dorothy's ruby slippers and Kermit. The Air and Space Museum was brilliant and basically so were all the museums. One of the museums that slipped off the list was the International Spy Museum. It was partly a time issue, partly a cost issue and really I already know all there is to know about the life of an international spy!

It was a lovely part of the holiday and it was also one of the coldest parts. DC is COLD and what I experienced was only November weather. I am not quite sure how they manage in winter even though their heating is very good. I am not saying I have decided against being a senior adviser to the President but the cold weather is something to consider.

I flew to LA on Saturday and that is the end of east coast part of my US holiday. LA is certainly milder and it is fun to go from the political centre (or center if I am being faithful to the country I am staying in!) to the entertainment center but more of that in the next blog...

Photos of Yosemite...

Hi all, Here are some photos from Yosemite in order of appearance...
On one of my walks I was very close to some deer, one of the waterfalls, my climb up to Nevada Falls, Mirror Lake and the historic climb to the top of Glacier Point!

And hello Yosemite!

WOW - Yosemite was amazing! I arrived Thursday afternoon and left Monday morning so I had three full days to explore and I could have done so much more. I was going to visit Yosemite later in my trip but at the last minute had to swap things around. The timing could not have been better. There had been quite a bit of rain so the colours were vibrant and the waterfalls going strong. I will definitely post photos soon so you can see what it was like. I was staying in the park in what is called a tent cabin. Which is like a canvas covered cabin. They gave me very strict instructions when I arrived about not having any food, liquid or scented toiletries (such as soap) in the cabin but instead to keep them in the allocated bear proof locker outside. I obediently followed their instructions and went to bed happy that I had done my duty. I woke up in the middle of the night (and I should warn you that what follows might upset some nieces...) to hear a distant roar of a bear. This turned to panic when I soon heard it snuffling outside my cabin! Rational Kim stayed asleep during the entire episode while irrational Kim decided that playing dead was the best option. So here I am playing dead in a tent cabin which afforded no obvious defence against a hungry bear. Well the moment (which felt like hours) passed and the next morning I discovered that someone had left some rubbish outside. I disposed of the rubbish and meticulously followed the anti-bear instructions from then on!!
The next day the new and braver Kim (after the bear encounter) ventured out on one of the harder walks to Nevada Falls. This was an 11.3 km walk climbing 570 metres. Thankfully I met some nice americans on the way up who became my walking companions for most of the ascent and descent. It was nice to chat as we walked. One of them visited Yosemite regularly and said that the weather was the best he had seen so that was nice to hear. The following day I took things a little easier. I went on a free photography walk in the morning where I found out what all the features on my camera actually do! I wish I had known about them at the start of the trip but I guess that at least I knew about them to take some good shots at Yosemite and especially before visiting Mirror Lake which I did that afternoon.
Sunday was my very exciting day. After church in the morning I headed off toward Glacier Point which is over 15 kms and a climb of 960 metres. It took me over three hours to get to the top and I was so proud of myself for making it. I did stop quite a bit because it seemed like every step was another photo opportunity but I got there just in time for my turnaround deadline. I had decided in advance that at 2.30 pm I would have to head back because once it gets dark here it really gets dark and I didn't want to meet another bear! Anyway, I made it to the top (photos to come) and after a short rest got down just as the light was fading. It was quite slippery coming down so I am pleased I didn't leave any later. I was so happy I did it. I was almost going to do something else but someone at breakfast said it was THE walk to do because of the fabulous views of Half DOme. Yosemite has probably been the most challenging part of the trip physically but also I have found it to be quite challenging because the place is so awe inspiring that I felt a little overwhelmed at times.
Yosemite is like the natural Manhatten but instead of being surrounded by buildings you are surrounded by these amazing cliff faces that change minute by minute as the light shifts. I will definitely post some photos but they don't really capture the magnificence of the place. It is like the ultimate outdoor cathedral!!
Again, the people here are very friendly so there is always someone to chat to. People think I am English when they meet me. I think my accent has dropped but also alot of Americans can't tell the difference between the accents. When I remember I say G'day instead of hello to avoid the confusion. I stayed overnight in San Francisco on the way to Yosemite and then on the way back on the way to Washington DC. On the way back I went on a free tour of San Francisco that was run by the hostel. It was run by a friendly but somewhat eccentric economics teacher who used the tours as a way to convert people to the Henry George approach to taxation. I guess everyone has their passions and this was obviously his but he meant well. At the start of the tour he said the tour would change our lives. I immediately was worried he would use it to try and convert us to some sort of Californian new age fern religion and started formulating an exit strategy but it turned out to be a fun way of seeing the city and a few of us went out for dinner afterwards. It is late here in Washington so I should go but I will post photos soon and tell you all about Washington DC when I see it in daylight!