tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-184117392011-04-21T12:07:05.138-07:00Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.comBlogger251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-76875712663949193742009-05-06T11:38:00.000-07:002009-05-09T08:28:50.928-07:00

GeneralFor those of you who do not know I am eternal private pilot student. I have been doing flying lessons now for about 18 months, between here and Australia I have now had 3 schools in 2 countries. Since being in the US I have given the whole flying fly a good nudge to try to get it finished off, I am now one regulated flight away from getting my license (the actual final test) -  although I

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-51785957931159469922008-12-31T14:15:00.000-08:002009-01-08T07:52:06.676-08:00

A friend of mine recently taunted me about the lack of activity on this blog (thanks Evo) so I thought I would extract a digit and do a post.I recently started working for Google out of Mountain View, California. I been there 3 months now and I may make my Google experience/our California experience part of another post but the relevant part of that segway is that I ended up getting about 10 days

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-28011740314507243002008-07-18T23:45:00.000-07:002008-07-19T18:20:39.430-07:00

After our trip to Chicago we were feeling all Oprah'ed out so we went and visited our friends, Stan and Jan, in Lodi California. That is about 2 hours east of San Francisco. We rented what could best be described as a boat from Hertz, it was a very large and comfortable car.We stayed at Steve and Jan's for three days and visited the local wineries, the local Mexican restaurants and a lovely place

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-76490936695246690932008-07-18T22:30:00.000-07:002008-07-18T23:22:16.259-07:00

We stayed in Chicago for four days and really enjoyed our time there. It is a beautiful city at a lovely time of year. The yards full of idle snow ploughs though told us that it must be different in the winter. We stayed at the W Hotel right on the lake and near the Navy Pier tourist attraction. They have fireworks on the Pier every Wednesday and Saturday night.Bike RideWe did a guide bike tour

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-88845456693046075902008-07-18T21:57:00.000-07:002008-07-18T23:42:43.795-07:00

Emily and I left for Arizona on Qantas out of Brisbane. In what is becoming for us true Qantas style the aircraft was late to depart and we got various conflicting stories from staff who we soon figured out had no idea why it was late. It turned out to be a water problem, the water heaters on the aircraft were broken and at altitude the water tends to freeze - getting things fixed on planes is

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-5196643144793617232008-07-13T01:15:00.000-07:002008-12-12T01:55:02.483-08:00

Ever since I was a young lad I had been regaled with stories about the mythical Swains Reefs - about 150km off shore of Gladstone (NE ish) . This location was held up as the last great bastion of the big manly fish killing trip - and they are sort of spot on.Where is it ?It is a large systems of reefs, the blue dot sort of indicates where it is. It is part of the Great Barrier reef.We drove from

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-20470116648529682122007-05-16T16:11:00.000-07:002007-05-16T16:18:57.620-07:00

Toronto, CanadaArrived in Toronto Friday night after a 4am start. Thank goodness again for the Tomtom, although it does get a bit confused amongst the tall city buildings. Hotel is right on Lake Ontario and we have an awesome view from our window. Sat we walked along the beautiful harbour front and up to CN Tower. It’s a bit like Centrepoint in Sydney only the elevators are glass and go up on

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-26073107246565105322007-05-07T15:11:00.000-07:002007-05-07T15:26:57.438-07:00

Louisiana 1 May to 4 MayWe arrived in Monroe, Louisiana and picked up our hire car from the airport. We went for a drive around the East and North parts of Monroe. Living standards are quite diverse, some streets looked a lot like the Caribbean while others looked a lot like Australia. There are vast areas of Bayou and hence lots of woodlands and national parks, it’s very beautiful. Wed we

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-39635365443739782682007-05-03T13:08:00.000-07:002007-05-03T13:25:21.050-07:00

Dominica 27 April 07Quiet day, day a lovely walk through Roseau which was closed last time we visited. There were lots of stalls and a great produce market open. We tried some plantain which looks like a cross between a banana and a corn cob and tastes a bit like a sweet potato. They cook them slowly over coals. We had some local fish and chicken with fresh vegetables for lunch, very nice.

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-61261417758248254452007-04-27T08:37:00.000-07:002007-04-29T14:01:16.073-07:00

Barbados 21/4/07West Indies vs EnglandAbsolutely an awesome day of cricket, the best yet!!!!! Apparently Steve was on TV, we were in the second row from the field. It was great to see Brian Lara’s last game but we were disappointed he didn’t bat for long.Day at SeaWe attended an AST dinner where Dickie Bird was guest speaker, he told some great stories of his cricket and umpiring career and also

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-69951233473615863752007-04-20T17:23:00.000-07:002007-04-20T17:37:36.691-07:00

BarbadosIreland vs BangladeshWe don’t have tickets to this game so we organized a half day fishing charter instead. It was big boat and a great crew. Unfortunately I spent the entire time throwing up, usually I make burly once them I’m OK, not today. Steve and the other guys caught quite a few fish. It’s trawling method so all you really do is reel them in. One guy was reeling in a barracuda

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-13022987185111385762007-04-14T14:12:00.000-07:002007-04-16T15:46:06.177-07:00

Grenada South Africa vs West IndiesHad an awesome day at the cricket, the South Africans were fired up and we had a fun time giving them grief. They were quite upset that all the Australians were supporting the West Indies and not them. We had to explain to them that if they weren’t so arrogant and if they were playing against the English then we would consider supporting them. It was a

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-11926172351209688682007-04-10T15:35:00.000-07:002007-04-10T16:02:18.070-07:00

Hello Everyone We love receiving your messages so keep them coming. Our final few days in Paris were wonderful. We toured the Catacombs, underground quarry which the French turned into a mass grave actually storing their loved ones bones in neat piles all through the tunnels. During WWII the French Resistance also used the caves although disappointingly there wasn’t any real information

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-17445742940401008202007-04-03T00:28:00.000-07:002008-12-12T01:55:03.030-08:00

We traveled by train to Amiens from Paris from Guard du Nord Station which is the same station as where the Eurostar travels to/from. The train only took a little over one hour and was a very good trip.In summary of the trip to these areas I was staggered by how flat the land was, when you hear of battles over ridges and hills you have to travel a long way to find a really decent hill that would

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-9568243926544500752007-04-02T23:59:00.001-07:002007-04-03T00:56:20.750-07:00

We have been having a great time in Paris. The weather has been fair with some rain and cold days - if the sun is out then the 16 deg C temperatures are quite bearable. We have both had to purchase some extra clothing to cope with the weather - I have done my best to dress like a wanker French personWe have however had no issues with the renouned French arrogance at this point. Everybody we have

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-61742735314184851242007-03-27T23:59:00.000-07:002007-04-03T00:57:26.150-07:00

We have started our World trip in Singapore for 4 days. Flying from Brisbane on Qantas we had a good flight despite the fact that I got the time wrong for departure (somehow) so we had an extra 2 hours at Brisbane airport.We stayed at the Le Merridien in Singapore, it had a very nice lobby and the rooms were very nice. It was on Orchard Road which is a great shopping area in Singapore.

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-1145665328715206952006-04-21T17:13:00.000-07:002007-04-03T00:57:32.564-07:00

For Easter this year we went to Stanage Bay.It is about 800km north of Brisbane and takes about 9 to 10 hours to get there.From Brisbane to Rockhampton it is about 630km, then it is about 80km on the bitument north to the turnoff then 100km on the dirt to the bay. The dirt road was is ordinary condition when we drove in due to all of the rain, on the way back it was better due to the local

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-1132256649199364732005-11-17T11:28:00.000-08:002007-04-03T00:58:00.105-07:00

Piraeus is a bustling port with over 40 ships in dock. We set off in the morning to Cape Souvion to see the Temple of Posiden. It’s amazing to see the old marble columns and read about the legends. It was a smaller tour than usual so we were able to move quickly and see a lot. This is a shot about 10 minutes out from the Temple. The drive there was along the coast and it is spectacular, it

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-1132255412278648642005-11-17T11:19:00.000-08:002007-04-03T00:58:06.768-07:00

Well our dinner last night was spectacular, it really was an honour to be invited. Apparently we are quite infamous onboard. We were with another Aussie couple from Melbourne and a South African couple who now live in Canada. The Percer, Jason is a Canadian who lives in Perth and the entertainment hostess, Amanda lives in California. She has a very interesting job, she was employed to sing and

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-1131974461194832282005-11-14T05:19:00.000-08:002007-04-03T00:58:20.996-07:00

The Etruscans tour was great, we sampled some lovely Italian wine and olive oil and learnt was wonderful history about the ancient civilization. Then to Naples, the armpit of Italy. The buildings and streets were beautiful except for the graffiti and rubbish. It looked like the place could use a good wash. Unfortunately also due to our days delay in Civitavecchia we arrived on a Sunday and

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-1131897923684419992005-11-13T08:02:00.000-08:002007-04-03T00:59:01.878-07:00

(text only update as the Internet link toth boat is really slow and really expensive, images will follow later) We set off from London to Barcelona flying EasyJet, the flight cost less than $50 for both of us, unfortunately the baggage limit is 30 pounds so our excess baggage fee was $90 !. We arrived on time and had the idea of spending 50 Euro and doing a quick tour of the city in a taxi.

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-1130964898285486192005-11-02T12:30:00.000-08:002007-04-03T01:01:04.052-07:00

We arrived in Manchester on Monday morning and amazingly getting through customs and immigration was a breeze. We picked up the car and headed off to York. Fortunately the SatNav was great and we arrived without too much bother. Homelea B&B was lovely although a little small. York is absolutely stunning, really really beautiful. We visited the Shambles which is very old (1400s), you'll notice the

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-1130706182205141482005-10-30T12:49:00.000-08:002007-04-03T01:01:16.824-07:00

A few things we forgot to post on the previous articles were that we rode the SegWay scooter in Las Vegas. I am going to buy one for Christmas . If you do not know what a SegWay is then have a look at :http://www.segway.com/They rock ! We did not take any pictures which was a real shame as it was great fun to do.We went and saw 'The Producers'last night on Broadway - it was really quite good -

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-1130559035183124292005-10-28T20:45:00.000-07:002007-04-03T00:59:37.616-07:00

Hi everyone, we arrived in the US safe and well, however quite jetlagged. Las Vegas was great, as to be expected. The Follies show was gorgeous, lots of Vegas showgirls showing their bits :) There were even guys in the show but that wasn't so exciting as they were probably gay, and didn't show their bits. Penn and Teller was great, they do an amazing magical show and really take the micky out of

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18411739.post-1130538360558094122005-10-28T15:21:00.000-07:002005-10-28T15:57:06.780-07:00

Hello from Emily and Stephen whilst we are travelling overseas.These pictures here were taken while we were in New York. Emily's was taken whilst on the Staten Island Ferry and mine in front of Central Park while waiting for the tour bus.Check out the car we hired in LA below. We were after a real USA experience so I figure we would hire a real yank tank - well they come no bigger than the Hummer

Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09318232705358296992noreply@blogger.com8