Good Morning World

Thank you Qantas for taking good care of us. Never ever ever ever thought I would say that considering who we work for. Slept like a baby, partly due to a nice tablet! Can't forget the Premium Economy seats which became our home for the past 15 hours!

Thank you Vegas!

It has been a fun filled 9 days, but looking forward to being in our own surroundings, not looking forward to the washing!!

It must be said, we have no reason not to fly QF or AA again. What a lovely experience so far. However we do have one BIG flight remaining. We had different bookings, an AA one and the QF one, the lovely lady at AA checkin (american airlines) merged our bookings and checked us all the way through to BNE. Nice to be treated like a proper passenger and not some sort of standby scum.
In 18 hours this all may change, but I am doubting it.

Boarding our MD80 now.. Yay! Havent been on one of these before .

Packing is sooo over rated!!

Mission complete, it only took 3 hours. A wee bit of a hangover may also have something to do with why it took so long. Ryan's packing technique is ummm well let's say "creative".

Time to rehydrate before the 14hr jumbo trip home... One thing on our minds.....VEGETABLES! Until then...we are off to Denny's! Oh and have to take a video of the hotel and nose bleed elevator ride.

Last night in Vegas

Well here we are... 52 floors up, about to that the Batlift to ground.. Such an ear popping nose bleed distance downward.

The wind has swung around to a northerly and the view is now somewhat "exciting". Ryan is getting ignored...not on purpose, but when you have a view of McCarran International, and aircraft quizzing past during takeoff, at eye level when they get to us, it really is a major distraction.
Don't worry Dad I will video it during daylight hours before leaving tomorrow. On average there seems to be all sorts of aircraft moving past 3 or 4 every minute.

Phantom was just brilliant. The entire theatre was renovated to depict the Paris Opera House, even the ceiling. Totally awesome!!

Time for that lift ride to the mad street below x

Shopping complete

Had to Ryan to bed for an hour as he is literally shopped out. We had to buy another bag to put the new things in, our luggage allowance might be a weee bit tight!

Might need a nanna nap myself soon as we are off to Phantom this evening. Cant wait!

Large drink...

Or little head?

LV clearance outlets...

Holy Phark! We came here last time and spent $.... Not saying the exact amount, this time we have kept the wallet in the pocket and completed a reconnaissance lap first. So now 2 hours into it. Time to try things on and spend some $$.. Conscience call... We have worked hard and rarely go shopping. Right that feels better saying that. The choices are difficult...We don't often buy "labels" but when they are dirt cheap why not!! Does Ryan go for the sexy Oakley sunnies or the Ray Ban ones which we have nick named the "Beibers". By the way JB is big here, and we love him. Anyhoo... Then there are the $25 Calvin Klein jeans... And we can't forget shoes!

Tracey - wait until you see what we have found for Caitlin, out of this world shoes!

Well lunch finished... A foot high bagel Yum! Off to spend a little x

Balls of Steel?

Wasnt our balls we were thinking about today. We have just been on the worlds tallest thrill ride perched atop the Stratosphere, that was after going in the other two rises up there...1100ft above sea level. Beyond words right now!

Sunset over the desert!

If you look closely you can see the shadow of the Stratosphere tower...

A view from the top...

Keeping lunch down???

Stratosphere here we come. White knuckle rides, a long way up!
Hope We don't see our Denny's lunch twice!

Had fun shopping at Houdini's... More magic tricks for the kids at work!

So it's 0230...

Home now with a few vodkas under the belt. We put our life savings into a pokie.....well three bucks of it....last of the big spenders. With all the winning, Losing, Losing, winning, losing and losing it took all of 7 minutes to finally lose it. Somehow all of the bells, whistles, flashing lights made it entertaining and worth while.

Midnight in the desert

Ok so I am sitting here 52 floors above the madness, it's midnight and there is a traffic jam...only in Vegas. Maybe Kim Kardashian is in town stopping traffic, hang on nope that was last night by all accounts - visiting a frikkin lollipop shop on the strip.

Treated ourselves today and splashed out on tickets to Phantom Of The Opera on Monday evening.

I would say goodnight now, but this is Vegas baby, time to venture into the madness below!

Welcome to LV

...or "Lost Wages"...
Don't you just love the pokies in the main concourse of McCarran Intl!!

Welcome aboard Southwest 737-700

So far so good, didn't get our boy bits grabbed going through security, or the full body scan. Had my best on underneath just in case. Lucky though as the TSA folk aren't known for being attractive :)
Good airline, well organized and polite.
Sometimes the cheap option is the best one!

Thanks San Diego

It was s fun couple of days. San Diego is a beautiful city with welcoming people. The only shame is seeing the many homeless sleeping on the streets. Some are ex-servicemen/women some are a product of the GFC and had lost everything.

San Diego is a military city and it seems that the government doesn't do a good job of looking after those bold folk who have served. They don't stalk you for money, just sit quietly on the edge of the sidewalk.

Apart from that it was great to be in a city with a harbour, spring arrived finally too.

There is a lot of aviation history here, an old chap called Lindberg helped put the place on the map. Saw his aircraft yesterday - The Spirit of St Louis.

See you next time SD, now off to Las Vegas! Look out the 1cent pokies! Big spender yeah right, but the same can't be said for the designer factory shops. Maybe we will find Dad's elusive shoes there!

Don't know if the hotel has free WiFi but I am sure we will find Starbucks or Maccas. Funnily enough we haven't had any MacD's since being here, actually downtown SD doesn't have one!

Good place to come to drop a dress size!

Planes...old ones and outta space craft..

So a very patient Ryan was dragged about this building. A special exhibit of Apollo craft and artifacts from various Moon and space missions were on display...

Balboa Park San Diego

Well today the walking shoes went back on and we went for a hike to Balboa Park, a historic centerpiece of San Diego. Lovely Japanese gardens and serene setting, with low flying aircraft on final approach to SAN. I didn't mind :) and then there was the Aerospace Museum...

Tired now!

Big day so far, time for a cuppa tea and a nanna nap. Too buggered to go to the Aerospace Museum, might be on the cards tomorrow when we hire our bicycles!

One of these things is not like the others...

But which one??
The deck crew on a carrier wear different colours depending on what job they do on the flight deck (runway / catapult) area.

Biggles

Certainly looking the part for a day flying!

USS Midway visit

Today we visited a retired US aircraft carrier, which is berthed in San Diego harbour. We were able to view everything from the engine room, Admirals quarters to the Control Tower and hangar deck.

Mid-vacation chores

Time to wash ya knickers!

Who is he?

All I know is that he likes hanging outside our hotel door...

You can get anything at a vending machine!

Dolly Parton...

...Nuclear Power Station.
Big pointy nipples... Must be cold out there. Well it was snowing in LA!

Live from AmTrak

They have WiFi on this beast of a train

Thank god it is not a...

Plane! Such a nice change from "the office"

Bye LA

Well here we are in downtown LA at Union Station and about to depart to San Diego. God knows what to expect in San Diego as we have never been there before. Seaworld, a world famous zoo and is that it? Let's see...

Downtown LA

Universal fun day!

Yes this lil chap is real, awarded for 1973 Best Picture - The Sting.... Good year that year!

Having a fun day, best ride so far would have to be the Simpsons.

Off to play with the "Animal Actors" soon. We paid extra for VIP passes for the day and get to play with them too. Yes there are Chimps!

Santa Monica

It was decided to skip Ellen today, as we decided to spend tomorrow at Universal Studios. So a little trip to the beach happened. Damn cold it was! No swimming, not that stupid.

Only in WeHo... West Hollywood!

And the Oscar goes to...

Well we sat on Hollywood Blvd and had some good Mexican food, watching the opening of the 83rd Academy Awards for Motion Pictures,
Arts and Sciences (best to get it official). We were 500m from "the Kodak" and what a buzz. Ryans dream was realized (being in LAX) for the night of nights.
Add that to an A380 journey (never had a stiffy for 13hrs before), and it has been a PERFECT 24hrs.

Tomorrow, all going well we are off too see my favorite dyke - ELLEN! Need to call Warner Bros. in the morning to find out if our tickets are ready for tomorrows taping (tues show in Oz).

Fingers crossed!

It is lovely to be back here

X

Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Los Angeles

Wow! Hope you are sitting down for this... I Love QANTAS! However may retract that depending on the return journey. Great service, great food, personal tour of the BEST airliner in the world. No need for noise canceling headphones, we couldn't even hear the engines during take off. The A380 is a beautiful machine and we can't wait to fly her again.

Off to the hotel for a pre Oscar nap.

Settling in....

Not too sure what Santa is doing behind us? Smelling ryans hair by the looks of it!

Sexy!

Them "motors" are big!

Time to board!

150 minutes to go!

Pleased it is at the jet base being checked BEFORE our flight...good idea!

Oscars.... Here we come!

It's time for the vacation to start!.... Flying the competitor! So far so good. 15 hours to maintain that. Next stop SYD... And the A380, oh my gawd!

Busy bee!

Well there was a whole load of hotel amenities which crew had collected along the way. It was sitting in the crew room for a long time. Made a quick visit to the airport to get it. It was decided that it could be well used right now, so abracadabra.... Now they are 31 little kits for us to take to the Evac Refuge Centre at the showgrounds. Emptied out linen cupboard of all the old stuff we rarely use, we "tidied" the closet... Funny what you find in there after all these years. Plus it will be restocked next month when we are away.

A frightening find in the garage

We found her protecting her eggs!

A new lil furry friend

Thanks Daisy for keeping me company, you are too cool for school!
Very nice furry purry bedtime cuddles!

Stunning view during climb-out of WLG

Aptly named Farewell Spit (northern tip of Aotearoa's South Island).

Wellington Surprise!!

Summer Time

Sitting by the Swan River...

And what should pop by....a flying banana!

Pop

Let the games begin...

Where is bob the builder when you need him... Wonder how this coffee table / pc box thing will turn out...

Frocked up statues!

Amazing what you find during your day!! Queen Vic (bottom photo) looks a real treat!

Nine Nuns In A Scrum...

It's always nice to have enough time to leave the hotel for a walk... And there is nothing better than taking in the sea air and sights.

Talking Tom video. Bit random...

Back into it... Time to study!

But one does have to make the most of ones surroundings when completing mind numbing activities.... A B3 with a side of SPF15.