Florida!

Tampa

After our Californian adventures, we flew over to the East Coast to experience the hot and humid weather of Florida. Our first stop was Tampa, the lightning capital of the USA.

Tampa, the lightning capital. It stormed every day we were there.

Briefly on getting there

It took a full day to fly from LA to Tampa as we had to stop-over in Denver, Colorado, despite the fact that Denver is nowhere near the direction of Tampa. We discovered that this is because is Denver the hub for United Airlines, so it was pretty much impossible to find a direct flight.

Denver Airport is a massive airport with tornado shelters in the toilets.

Airlines in the USA have the reputation for being some of the worst in the world and true to the rumour, they are terrible. Firstly, they have a practice of overbooking. They will sell as many tickets as possible, regardless of the capacity of the plane. Of course, when everybody turns up they have a problem. Flights are delayed and people get angry. Sure enough, this is exactly what happened. Our flight from LA to Denver was overbooked by 54 passengers and was delayed! Even though we checked in 2 hours beforehand, we were still placed on the standby list. Fortunately we were able to get seats. Pretty much everybody else missed out, even a guy who was almost in tears because his brother was dying in hospital in Denver.

The plane was so full that a Chinese man had to sit on one of the seats that the flight attendants usually sit in, facing backward! The planes are old and dilapidated and look like they haven't had a decor change since the 1980s (they don't even have personal screens and didn't have enough headphones). The flight attendants were unprofessional, curt and were all over 40. Food is not available (even to purchase) on flights for less than 3 hours. On the flight from Denver to Tampa, the flight attendants started the inflight movie too late and had to stop it before it finished (they were very candid about it).

We stayed with our friends Scott and Fiona Custer in Tampa who used to go to our church in Melbourne. Scott is studying at Tampa University and lived for a year in Melbourne. Fiona is Australian. We had good times hanging out and they gave us a great taste of Tampa. Tampa is a quaint little city that sits in Tampa Bay, nestled next to St Petersburg. There is not really much to Tampa except the thunderstorms which are really a show to behold. It rained every day we were there and the lightning strikes really close.

We were impressed with the beautiful mansions that line the bay. The oldest part of Tampa is Ybor city, full of rich culture and nightlife that still stirs with the bygone days of the Cuban mafia and pirates. Other than that, Tampa seems to be a quiet city with some dangerous areas - there's a ghetto not far from the city centre.

Coming from Australia we just had to try the Outback Steakhouse, a supposedly Australian restaurant that has a chain all over the USA. The very first Outback Steakhouse was started in Tampa in 1988 by a group of Americans who liked Australia and who rode the wave of popularity created by the Crocodile Dundee movies around that time. Fiona happened to work there so we went there for lunch and a visit. The food was excellent but not very Australian - they have "made up" dishes like the "Bloomin Onion" which is a deep-fried onion - and the only Australian beer they have is Fosters (which as any Aussie knows, cannot be found anywhere in Australia as it's merely a cheap export beer). This was the first time we had ever tasted Fosters and it was terrible! We made sure we stuck to Budweiser in the US after this.

Us outside the very first Outback Steakhouse

Tampa has a small tram network

Candice, Nat and Scott pose on the bay

One of the little gems we discovered in Tampa was Wal Mart. Now for those of you who like a good bargain, Wal Mart is the place to go. If you think K-Mart in Australia is cheap, you'll be amazed at the price of things at Wal Mart. We saw jeans for as low as 8 bucks (and not too bad either), dickies for $10, chucks for $20 and a whole bunch of stuff for less than half the price you'd pay in Australia.

Fiona and Candice are happy to be at Wal Mart

On Tuesday evening, we got a real taste of American sport when we went to a minor league baseball game. Baseball is one of the 3 most popular sports in the US, along with American Football and Basketball. Baseball is to Americans like Cricket is to Australians - very important. Scott explained the rules to us before the game began and we soon got the hang of how the game works. This particular match was between the Tampa Yankees and the Daytona Cubs in the Florida State Baseball League. The Tampa Yankees are owned by the New York Yankees (America's richest baseball team) and in the pre-season the New York Yankees will actually come down and play exhibition games at this stadium. The stadium was fairly empty that night due to rain but could probably hold about 5,000 people at capacity. The Tampa Yankees won the match by 3 runs.

We ate hotdogs and pretzels and tried to sing baseball songs. Here are some shots of the action.

This is the nearby American Football stadium for the Tampa Bay Buckaneers NFL team.

On Wednesday, with the help of one of Scott and Fiona's friends, Sally (who is engaged to a US air-force officer), we managed to sneak into MacDill Air-force Base. The original goal was to use the swimming pool at the base which apparently has an amazing water slide, but when we arrived the pool was closed due to lightning danger. As you can imagine, being in Tampa this happens almost on a daily basis. The base was like a mini-town with its own tax-free supermarket, shops, bank and even Burger King.

Some shots of the base

It was in Tampa that we discovered another great fast food restaurant - Chipotle! This is a Mexican food chain which is owned by McDonalds but beats the pants of Taco Bell. The food was well-priced, relatively healthy and delicious. We stole a menu as a souvenir!

Nat trying his hand at driving left hand drive on the right hand side of the road!! We almost died, several times - it goes against nature to be on the wrong side of the road!

McDonalds in Tampa - puts a smile on my face

Orlando

That weekend we headed North to the central Floridan city of Orlando. We were joined by Scott and Whitney Waechter, friends of Scott and Fiona. Scott W is originally from Orlando so we had a local in our midst. Because Scott C works for Sheraton, we were able to score some amazing discounts at the two different Sheraton hotels we stayed at that weekend. It was refreshing to sit back and relax in luxury even if only for a couple of days!

A snippet of Orlando as we enter on the freeway

Orlando is a city not much bigger than Tampa. Most people go there for the theme parks like Disneyworld and Universal Studios (the US West Coast counterparts to the ones in California). The only reason we had heard of it was because of the Orlando Magic NBA team. Other than that there is not much to it.

On the Friday night we went to see "The Marriage Show" at Summit Church, Scott and Whitney's old church when they were living in Orlando. The show was sort of a Christian Letterman-style comedy show, hosted by a guy named John Raffenaud which centers around the theme of marriage. Quite entertaining actually. Oh and there was loads of free food which didn't hurt.

Shots from The Marriage Show

The crew at The Marriage Show

The Sheraton Safari claimed to have the longest "Python Slide" in the world. Whatever, it was fun

On the Saturday we went to Downtown Disney. Since we had already been to Disneyland in California, we didn't need to see Disneyworld here in Florida. Downtown Disney is a park unto itself though and it's free to enter.

Us on "Pleasure Island".

We saw the best magic show ever. This dude has skills.

Our favourite bit of Downtown Disney was Legoland! One of Nat's favourite things ever when he was a kid was lego so we went crazy. We will definitely be visiting the real Legoland in Denmark when we are there.

A lego dogsleigh

A lego version of the Millenium Falcon, we pose with a lego transformer.

We spent Saturday night at the SAK comedy show. SAK does live improv comedy all week and the weekends are usually packed. Apparently Wayne Brady got his start here so it has a good reputation. The show involved two teams of comedians battling it out for points in various comic games - sort of like "Who's Line Is It Anyway?".

One team of comedians in action

We ventured into the suburbs of Orlando to visit Scott W's family on the Sunday. Picturesque houses lined the streets reminiscent of "Leave It To Beaver". We ate good food and watched the Spain win the European Cup on a bigscreen.

Whitney, Scott, Scott and Fiona

Our very busy weekend in Orlando came to an end with a nice dinner at Pei Wei, a Chinese restaurant. We were joined by Brian and Hannah. Brian plays guitar in Copeland, a band we really dig, especially Candice (we had one of their songs at our wedding).

The crew at Pei Wei pose for one final pic

Thanks to both Scotts, Fiona and Whitney for a great week in the lovely US state of Florida. We had really wanted to make it to a small city called Melbourne just because it shares the name of our home city in Australia - but that will have to wait for next time. Maybe then we'll do Miami as well.

We then flew out of Orlando up the East Coast into Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia to make our way to Washington DC, the capital of the USA.

California and the US of A

Downtown LA Skyline

We arrived in LA on Saturday the 14th of June, one of our most anticipated destinations. It felt so good to fly into the beginning of Summer from chilly Auckland and we had an amazing time. California has a population of around 36 million people which is only a few million people shy of doubling the entire population of Australia.

There is a suprising number of Mexican migrants (both legal and illegal) and LA itself is a network of never-ending freeways. It was a full-on week of activity in California for us and so we've summarised our trip in stages below:

Los Angeles and Orange County

We stayed in Orange County, just south of LA County with our friend Chelsea Davis and her lovely family (including her dog Baxter, which Nat is deeply missing). Chelsea and her boyfriend Steve picked us up from the airport.

Chelsea and Steve

So LA X International Airport while really, really big, was a bit of a let-down. Being LA, we expected something swish like Singapore or Melbourne but the closest airport we could compare it to was Bali, Indonesia. It was quite run-down and had no toilets until after immigration (Nat was literally dying in line). The Australian dollar is worth about the same as the US dollar at the moment but we made the mistake of changing some money at the airport and got ripped off about 10 cents in the dollar. We lost about $60.

The arrival area for Air New Zealand at LAX

Although we arrived around about 12.30pm, we managed to get a heck of a lot of sight seeing in on our first day. Chelsea and Steve took us to Hollywood where we drove down Sunset Boulevard and did the obligatory walk down Hollywood Drive which is where we got our first glimpse of the famous Hollywood sign. We went to the Wax Museum, the Guinness Book of Rocords Museum, Beverly Hills and Kodak Theatre (where they host the Grammy Awards every year).

The famous Hollywood sign.

Sunset Boulevard. These palm trees are all over LA.

Nat laughing at the fact Rod Stewart has a star on the Walk of Fame.

Nat, Jason, Freddy and Steve at the Hollywood Wax Musem

Howzit goin, Darth?

Candice seeing what it's like to have the world's widest waist at the Guinness Museum of Records

Chelsea and Steve have been so amazingly helpful and have really gone out of their way to show us around. Los Angeles is a sprawling city. Downtown LA is probably smaller than the Melbourne CBD but the suburbs go on and on and spread into other counties and cities. Everybody drives because public transport is so bad so without Chelsea and Steve, we would have had no chance!

Food, CDs and clothing are all SO CHEAP IN AMERICA!! Nat is in fast-food heaven. Apart from pricey restaurants, there don't seem to be many restaurants apart from fast-food restaurants. Our new favourite is "In n Out", they make amazing burgers. Unfortunately the number of fast-food outlets directly correllates to the number of fat people. We've never seen so many of those, either! American television is is full of ads for ads for weight loss pills, diabetes, and medical help for all kinds of problems. It's crazy! We never knew that there were so many pills a person could take to try and lose weight.

Us on Huntington beach.

The beach

Random people playing drums on the beach

Nat devouring a double quarter pounder at Hollywood McDonalds. Just as good as Australia.

On Thursday night we went to our first US gig at Detroit Bar where our friend Stacy Clark was playing with some rad bands. Awesome show. Here are some pics:

Stacy in action with her band at the Detroit Bar in Orange County

Universal Studios and Disneyland

If there's one thing LA is famous for, it's entertainment. Thousands of wannabe actors and musicians move to Southern California to pursue the dream, including many Aussies. Nat randomly bumped into his old friend Ben Estler at the airport, an Aussie actor who is now living in LA and who recently finished filming the new US series, The Pacific.

So naturally, we had to experience Universal Studios and Disneyland. Universal Studios in Hollywood is very similar to Warner Brothers Movieworld back in Australia on the Gold Coast but has some very cool rides (the new Simpsons Ride and the Mummy) and a tour you won't get anywhere else. Recently, several outdoor sets burnt down including the original Back To The Future set but we still managed to see some pretty cool stuff.

We pose with Dracula after the Haunted House

A recent fire destroyed the "Back To The Future" set and "New York" set at Universal. The Clock Tower is still visible though (minus the clock and pillars)

Candice, Steve and Chelsea outside the new Simpsons Ride (it's awesome).

The set of "War Of The Worlds"

"Wisteria Lane" set used on "Desperate Housewives"

Pigs

Nat takes on the Hulk

Disneyland, ahhh Disneyland. Now this is an experience every Californian takes for granted. There really is magic in the air here. If you ever make it to Disneyland, be prepared for long, long lines. In summer the park is open from 9am to midnight, but even though we arrived before 1pm, we still couldn't fit in all the rides. Top rides are Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean and the Haunted Mansion. At 9.30pm every night, they have an amazing fireworks display above Sleeping Beauty's castle (you know the one you see at the begining of every Disney movie?). We felt like kids again!

Candice outside Sleeping Beauty's castle.

Us enjoying the Pirates of the Carribean ride

Every night the fireworks light up the sky

The Disneyland crew. Chelsea's cousin Amy and her husband Tim joined us for the fun.

San Diego

If we had to describe San Diego in reference to Australian cities, we would say it's a combination of Adelaide and Perth. California's most Southern city is a beautiful coastal town with friendly people and clean streets. We ventured down to San Diego for a couple of days - but we wish we could have spent more time here.

Downtown San Diego

We stayed at a hostel in the Gaslamp district of town which came alive at night with cute bars and restaurants. San Diego never seemed to be crowded and unlike LA has an excellent public transport system. The metropolitan train system consists of electrically-powered light rail carriages they call the "Trolley" which is not unlike our trams back in Melbourne.

The San Diego Trolley

On a bicycle taxi in San Diego.

Tijuana, Mexico

The San Diego Trolley goes all the way to the Mexican border city of Tijuana. Tijuana was a spontaneous and unplanned visit. On Wednesday the 18th of June we decided to go on a day trip to Tijuana with a group from our hostel. Officially with a population of 2 million, Tijuana is a sprawling city that appears to consist mainly of pharmacies. Evidently this is because medicine is much cheaper in Mexico than in the US. Strangely enough as we near the Mexican border more and more signs seem to be in Spanish but as we cross the border suddenly all the shop signs are in English - obviously aimed at the tourists.

Border control into Mexico is non-existent. Mexicans seemed not to care that we were walking into their country. It was only when we were leaving that we had to present our passports to the US officials. Nat was disappointed that he didn't get a stamp in his passport for Mexico though.

We had lunch at a restaurant on Revolucion Ave. which was delicious! We visited the Millennium Arch which appears to be a massive stainless steel structure with no apparent use other than to serve as a waste of money; the TV screen in the middle broke down 4 years ago and has still not been repaired. We visited many street vendors, and much like many other 3rd world countries the locals tried to rip us off. Nevertheless we had an awesome time and as usual the McDonalds tasted exactly the same as in Australia.

No one could care less if you drive in to Mexico but be prepared to wait for hours to get back into the US. This is the busiest border crossing in the world

A view of Tijuana

Pharmacies are as numerous in Tijuana as fast-food is in LA. A market for American tourists looking for cheaper medicines.

Of course you need one for the other so why not buy both?

The markets in Tijuana sold lots of interesting things.


The Cathedral in downtown Tijuana

The McDonalds in Mexico did not dissapoint.

Warped Tour

Thanks to Chelsea and Stacy, we were lucky enough to get on the guest list for the first leg of the Vans Warped Tour in Pomona, California. It was the hottest day ever but thankfully Steve was running a tent for his clothing label, Level 27 and we could retreat into the shade every now and then.

Nat has always wanted to check out Warped Tour but he was disappointed that Dillinger Escape Plan were not playing this date. Warped was pretty similar to the music festivals we have in Australia, only smaller as it is spread out as a tour across the country. We saw some really good bands but also many atrocious ones which really gave us an appreciation of how good music is in Australia.

Upside: The Agrollites, Norma Jean, The Bronx, cheap CDs, friendly people, lots of music, our shady tent
Downside: The heat, bad mixing, The Academy Is, Pennywise drunk on stage, a heap of terrible "up and coming" bands.


Us at Warped Tour in Pomona

The Aggrolites were an awesome band playing dirty reggae / two-tone ska.


Pennywise were drunk on stage like apes while Norma Jean ripped up the stage.

Boy, we're tired

Our final weekend was a pretty lazy one spent relaxing and chilling on Corona del Mar beach with Chelsea, Stacy and one of Stacy's friends, Teddy. We swum to our little hearts' content and were also lucky enough to check out the Balboa peninsula and Newport beach. Sunday was an absolute beautiful day.

It turns out we're going to be able to hang out with Stacy and her family in Buffalo in July when we do the Canadian leg of our trip. Woo hoo! Buffalo is an American city in New York State on the Canadian border.

It's been an amazing 10 days spent in the most populous state of the US. Everyone we've met has been so friendly and helpful. On Monday we spent the whole day catching flights across the county to our next stop, Tampa, Florida (which will be in our next instalment).

Thanks so much to our friends in California, especially the Davises! We miss little Baxter already!

The Land of the Long White Pig

Our first stop is a place not-so-far from home, Auckland, New Zealand's lovely capital city. We arrived on Monday the 9th of June with no hitches whatsoever. Apart from the need for sleep, we felt fine.

Auckland from the Harbour Bridge


The thing about Auckland is, we don't really feel like we've left Australia. Everything here is so similar, from the lingo to the brands to the shops and the food - Auckland could be any Aussie city (but don't tell the Kiwis that).

We've also noticed that they're quite defensive about being Kiwis. This even comes through in their advertising on billboards and on TV. While relatively similar to Aussies, they do take the "puss" (piss) at us, their trans-tasman cousins. They think we've stolen every Kiwi icon imaginable (even Phar Lap and Russell Crowe) and they love the fact that Auckland's Skytower is the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere (even though the actual observation deck is way lower than Sydney's AMP tower). But we can't help but love these crazy Kiwis anyway!

We've seen some cool sites around Auckland and even visited the wonderful Waiheke island (where we've decided we HAVE TO buy a holiday house one day).

One of the good things about being a backpacker is the amount of cheap and free stuff on offer through the various hostels and backpacker networks to young travellers. If you're ever in Auckland sign up for a free tour of the city with Stray or Magic (tour companies), it's well worth it. Not only did we get to climb Auckland Harbour bridge for free (with a discounted bungee jump offer which we didn't take up) but we got to see some of the extinct volcanoes that Auckland is actually built on. One of the guys on our tour bus scored a free skyjump from the Sky Tower as well.

What's with backpackers accomodation always being in the red-light district?? We must say it adds some interesting flavour though. Almost every backpacker here is British (probably because there's a rugby match on tomorrow between England and the All Blacks) and we've already made friends we can look up when we hit the UK.

Here are some snapshots from Auckland:-

A Kiwi Big Mac Meal tastes exactly the same as in Australia.

A loaded pig near the waterfront.

Jetstar jumps on Waiheke Island.

Us on Waiheke.

We leave tomorrow for Los Angeles. Our American Summer is about to begin.