Well we covered all the usual suspects …..

Central station

The Rockerfellar Centre

Fifth Avenue and a stroll along the Highline trail capturing Hudson’s Walk

Also captured Trump on the top of a balcony …….hope he is not going to fall ? Only kidding he is over in El Paso promoting his campaign regardless of tragedy 😱 God American TV is so annoying ! Even James Cordon seems to be morphing into a wooden performer.

Some beautiful murals along the way

And some bizarre art displays……yes they are doors by Lubaina Himid to signify “stylish women having a conversation ” I thought that had been done before !!

And finally Freedom Tower which we haven’t been up before but I would highly recommend. The views were 360 degrees with an interactive iPad that told you which buildings were which and even included features like celebrity chefs giving restaurant visits and recommendations. Also included was an information presentation of events happening throughout the city for free, such as a concert the next day featuring songs performed live from the Broadway Shows at Bryant Park ……..you know Iain ” owt for nowt give me a shout ” 😂 It was really lovely to be fair nice and sunny with tables and chairs available to have a picnic on the grass.

To finish the evening we managed to squeeze in a Broadway Show ” Ain’t too Proud” the story of The Temptations last minute tickets purchased on 47th Street

Next day was a trip over to Radio City and a general enquiry on what shows were being shown at the NBC studios that evening ? Apparently the Seth Meyers Late Night Show was being filmed to go out on NBC channel that evening requiring a live audience.Ok we will sign up with no guarantees blah….blah ….blah to cut a long story short we are in. Iain whooping and a-hollering alongside the Yanks we hadn’t got a clue who the guests were apart from Will Ferrell doing the Anchorman character …..I would need to google the rest …..somebody for the new film ” Where’d you go, Bernadette ” but all very funny

Final day the weather is changeable so we head to the shops where Iain meets a new friend hanging around outside Trump Towers alongside the armed Police patrols and road closures for his protection.

New York appeared to be covered in scaffolding and building work going on everywhere we were staying in an apartment just of Lexington and 3rd which was lovely but was so noisy that Iain complained and had us moved from our suite …..3 times ! We were only there 4 nights …..Clara I thought you were one to kick off when you weren’t happen but Iain took his grievance to a whole new level. On the third night at 3:33am he went into meltdown he rang the duty manager and made him come up to the room and listen to the noise. This wouldn’t have been too bad if he had just asked him to sit in the lounge area but no he made the man come into the bedroom and sit on the bed to listen ….the man sat on my feet talk about mortified ! We got upgraded and ended up having all our breakfasts free …..a small compensation for no sleep 😴 definitely time for home now …….I need a decent cup of tea ☕️

Goodbye to America we are on our way home 🏠

San Francisco and back to the hotel life thank goodness ! Only here 3 nights so lots to pack in starting with the night bus tour literally 3 hours after arriving. Temps up in the high 20s but it’s really windy and cool out of the sun.

The streets are like roller coasters so nobody really walks they all just hop on the trolley bus hanging on for dear life. I have never been to a City and seen the tourist buses so full all of the time !

Early start next day to catch the rest of the City tour and a trip over to Alcatraz. Travel tip always book this excursion before you get here as you couldn’t buy a ticket for two weeks ahead it was already booked up for every slot.

Again this was an excursion that Iain wanted to do and it was ok. Maybe it was the whole out on an Island thing or the films, a little underwhelming really but you have to go if you are visiting the City

The City was really foggy when we visited the Golden Gate Bridge and really windy ….it’s not Golden though it’s red ! Or burnt orange apparently 😳

9There are over 3000 restaurants in San Francisco and apparently you could eat 3 meals a day for 3 years without ever visiting the same restaurant twice ! So the food was good. However one little gem was called” House of Nanking”

Not the most attractive signage I know but the best Chinese I have ever had the soup, noodles , rice and dumplings were to die for. Half way through the meal we notice Jamie Oliver on the wall posing outside with an excellent review ……Iain’s judgement was it’s packed we are going in ……

Onwards to take in the district and it’s hustle and bustle

To finish up in little Italy for coffee and pastries……lovely atmosphere all round.

Our last evening in town a visit to the cinema next door to the hotel followed by a late visit to ” Mel’s Diner” I am sure that this is the same chain Clare and I visited in LA. Felt like it was the 50’s

Onwards now to our final destination NYC

First up Magnetic Island just a short ferry trip over from Townsville very serene with some beautiful beaches and surprisedly quiet once off the beaten track. A nice peaceful relaxing day drinking coffee and watching the world go by.

Our next planned trip was to swim with the sharks / marine life in the Barrier Reef though we quickly establish that the amenities nearer to Cairns are better so we take to the road again and book an early start.

This was Iain’s dream excursion and I wasn’t really bothered about going into the water however once we got out to sea it just had to be done. This has been the biggest highlight of the trip in fact I would say that it is one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life ! 5 hours has never gone so quickly !! Apologies for some of the poor quality photos but we were under water. The fish could not have cared that you were present and just swam directly at you, which is fine when they are small. The guys had a pet fish ” Wallie ” who was so tame he would come and pose for photos with the tourists …..scary as hell as he measured 2 metres by 1 metre !! If was like swimming in a giant tropical fish tank but the size of the Pacific Ocean.

We also had a treat of seeing the hump back whales jumping out of the sea on our way out. Not a great picture but they were not for posing 😂

Definitely one of the most memorable days of our trip …..onwards we go next stop San Francisco

First stop Noosa a beautiful resort area on the Sunshine Coast. Known for its expert surfers you could watch for hours. The Sunshine Beach is a lovely stroll and appears to be very popular with the retired ! We are out of season remember! We walked the coastal trail that runs north past the beaches of Noosa National Park, home to koalas around Tea Tree Bay, unfortunately we didn’t manage to get a sighting of the Koalas or the hump backed whales despite our trek up to the viewing point binoculars in hand. South of the Noosa Everglades are the waters of Lake Cootharaba and inland Lake MacDonald has the Noosa Botanic Gardens. This place was recommended by Grant, Leah and Clare and was a worthy stop ……unfortunately no room at the Inn for our big RV ! So we had to move on and start planning

In search of accommodation for the evening we had to travel onwards and ended up in a smaller town, Maryborough birthplace of the author of Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers

They had a whole museum dedicated to her …..this was about all it had going for it ! Darkness had now fallen so weended up in a public RV stop with all the die hard campers ….a ghost town after dark with one bar at the very end of the main stretch and a definite feel of a hill billie town. The film ” Hot Fuzz” would be suitable analogy of the surroundings !

Daylight we were out of there this time up to Mackay only 600 k away ! Off the coast is a section of the Great Barrier Reef. Closer to shore are the islands of St. Bees, with reefs, rainforest and koalas, still the only Koalas we saw were on the side of the roads victims of road kill. Mackay itself is known for its Harbour Beach, marina and Bluewater Lagoon, a city water park. Inland from Mackay, Eungella National Park, too big for us to cover in our short visit.

Driving through the towns of Rockhampton, Hervey Bay etc really did put you in mind of America only much, much cleaner practically no litter whatsoever. We Brits could do with a bit of education on this culture!

A quick stopover in Mackay and on to Townsville a real highlight of the trip. They had an arts festival being held all along the coast and beach areas with lots of activity and shows throughout the day and into the evening ….a welcome change from our last two stops. Apparently this festival is held only once every two years and we just happened to arrive just in time.

A beautiful place to stroll along The Strand esplanade with a lovely war memorial ” Kissing Point” at the end full of life, with great restaurants and families just getting together in the evenings for Barbecues just as you imagine the Aussies would do.

The views from the esplanade were off Magnetic Island so time to book a visit …..and why not

Picked up the motor home which is enormous so first stop a visit to Grant ( Leah’s Brother) for an overnight stay which was literally 20 k up the road and a great chance to get used to the controls and manoeuvring required. I am glad that Iain’s driving not me ! Anyway a lovely evening spent with the boys cooking dinner together whilst I just watch and have a glass of fizz 😀

I have a lovely friend to keep me company though ” Abbie” who was just the cutest, softest and worse guard dog on the planet

A lovely home with beautiful views thank you Grant for your hospitality and your hand drawn maps !

Now the real adventure starts ….with serious miles to drive

😎🇦🇺👍🏻

First up a meet up with Dean ….”The Golden Child ” yes Gaby there is another one ! Dean just popped into the City for dinner ….a four hour round trip ! So lovely to see him and the final piece of the family jigsaw.

Beautiful city we loved the botanical gardens, Queen Street’s food markets then a glorious trip over to the Southbank. Leah Davis remind me again why you are in the UK ? We stopped for coffee !! On the board walks under the story bridge. We finally get the Aussie coffee thing !

After three days in a lovely studio apartment with lovely gym, rooftop pool ,jacuzzi, barbecue area etc it’s time to go and pick up the dreaded motor home for the next leg of our trip the drive from Brisbane to Cairns, my thoughts 🥵and Iain’s 😀👍🏻🇦🇺 I will keep you all posted ……..

Second match of the trip is here in Sydney and an opportunity to catch up with nephew Cory.

Only 4 nights here but we still managed to squeeze it all in. The iconic sites, beautiful views, great food and some great laughs with the build up to the match. We stayed in the centre of the City which made it really easy getting around especially to the game which was 40 mins away

Cory joined us not just for one night but for two. I would like to say that he showed us around the City but he was fairly clueless, the Pommes lead the way ……that is not always advisable !

The night of the game was relatively calm, the facilities once again were great with a much better atmosphere as the grounds were actually built for football so the pitch was really close and not so hyped up and of course Leeds won.

Final day out in the City taking in the culture of street markets for food and of course a trip up to Bondi Beach ( you were right Leah not so impressive) very commercial, very busy and it’s winter and not as big as I thought it was going to be

Next stop Brisbane ……

Good to all our family and hosts who have all been great, very hospitable really looking after us ……you all know that he will come back now 😂😂

My friend Kiera holding Ranger the Chuck ……keep playing the card game I taught you x

The resident teenager Nichole …….hope you enjoyed the movies !

Rory ,Renae and Brew ( Iain’s Bessie)

And all the other animals both pets and wild wandering about the place. We certainly didn’t need a zoo they were all in the garden !

Next stop Sydney.

At last match day arrives Iain is totally geared up. The whole city is covered in black and red ….United everywhere quite annoying for the real fans who have travelled. A bit of a reshuffle on who is attending the game. Due to injuries Lorraine is out and Pauric is in, though he claims to have a big presentation the next day, no mercy was shown.

The pre match banter was great all the pubs a mixture of both sides of fans all chatting and drinking together. John once again stepped up with his hand made artwork providing all with banners which we distributed to other fans

He is a star ……I hope his boss doesn’t read this ! We had a good laugh at Rory photobombing the United fans with our banners.

Off to the game, the Optus Stadium is about 2 years old and pretty impressive, much to Iain’s annoyance amenities were really good which meant people were up and down all the time 😡 “not proper football this ” he grumbled

Still he made some friends on the way. This guy was from Argentina

The game build up was like the opening ceremony for the Olympics very impressive. We were surrounded by United fans all from everywhere but Manchester, as Iain points out when he chants ” clap your hands if you are from Singapore ” a good job they couldn’t understand his accent !

Well you all know how the score went, even ” Fred the Red” United’s mascot goaded the Leeds fans much to his peril ( check it out on Twitter it’s quite funny ) never mind Iain managed to convert one little girl behind us to the white side.

Off to drown our sorrows Iain led the way in singing and chanting getting everyone in the pub to join in much to everyones amusement, he must be all over social media as all the locals were filming

What better way to end the evening than with an Uber and a kebab

One game down and one to go

Margaret River is a small town south of Perth in western Australia, known for its craft breweries, boutiques and surrounding wineries.The beaches and surf breaks are all along the nearby coast, whose waters host migratory whales stretching between 2 lighthouses north and south of the town, the long-distance walk, the Cape to Cape Track, fringes the limestone caves and sea cliffs of Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park.

That’s the tourist spec we spent our time eating, drinking and taking in the obligatory wine tasting day. When I say day I mean day ! a full eight hours being quite calmly with a coffee tour ……the Aussies certainly know their coffee to me they were all hideous nothing wrong with a bit of Nescafé Gold !

The wine tasting was a whole different story. Now any other wine tasting I have ever done has been taste 3 wines then have a look at the process and so on. This was a whole new ball game we turned up had a menu of about 30 wines including fizz, each we were given to taste only to be told to turn over the page for the reds yes another full menu ! The day consisted of three vineyards, one brewery, olives and cheese makers and a chocolate factory Pip and Clare you would have been in heaven !

Even Iain. Struggled with a few of them

The settings were beautiful but it was a long old day.

Next day we went on to visit the underground caves which were sacred grounds of the Aboriginal people, 360 steps down and not for the faint hearted we were told ….conclusion was that it was just really hot but fascinating. Pip this definitely would have been one for Brad

If you can see the name of the caves Ngilgi apparently you drop the first ” G” the tour guide a very serious eco warrior was asking the group how you pronounce the name to which Iain shouts out ” Nigel” much to the amusement of Rory who later informs Iain that using that name in reference to aborigine culture is a huge insult……seriously you could have heard a pin drop, she was not amused.

A long drive home but a beautiful sunset