Today's programme was brought to you by the letter 'L'...

After a mere 5 hours sleep, followed by bedlam in the hotel breakfast room (too many people in too small a space),we headed back to the airport by shuttle, to get our rental car. We then drove into Portland and had a look around. Quite a nice city, lots going on, but no public loo's we could find - only portaloo's (makes it interesting in the 30+ heat...).
After having the mandatory Cappa with Cinnamon, and a Pecan Cinnamon roll, we headed north.

Inside the cafe we had our cappa's

Our first stop was Freeport, to see the original L.L. Bean store (outdoor gear), amongst other "outlets".

We then headed further north and east to Pemaquid Point to see the light-house there. We like light-houses.

Ahhhhh....

Why, hello!...

No, not an ICBM being launched overhead..

  

Nice strata...

Looking South

 The drive up was a beaut, often following the coastline so we got views of bays, coves and beaches.
The speed limits were a bit confusing, though; 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 65, 70 MPH and any combo of the above along any given stretch of highway. Lucky our car had a nav-man thingy.

On the way back we stopped to sample Maine's main dish - rock lobster! (aka crayfish, bro)

Today's episode of Sesame Street was brought to you by the letter "L" - as in Long and late flight, LL Bean, Lighthouses, Lobster, Lemonade & Love.

Go East!

After surviving the desert heat, we headed back to LA to catch our flight to the East Coast - Portland, Maine.
Just getting there on the LA freeway was much more entertaining than watching an episode of "CHIPS" when I was a young lad.  Apart from the manic driving  where no-one indicates in advance so others don't get an idea you are intending to change lanes until you do....there were some interesting people driving or riding the roads. For instance, one chap riding one-handed on his large motorcycle, weaving in and out of traffic at 120kph.  In shorts, jandals and a  t-shirt. Not slowing down at 120, just weaving in and out of lanes. Blokes like him need to be removed from the gene pool before he can breed, I reckon.
Smog. Filthy smog. Hanging over the city like a dirty blanket. You can actually taste it if you drive along with the windows open (not us, but lots did), or have the A/C vent open, not on re-circ.
Final observation on the LA freeway - a $341 fine for riding in a carpool lane with only one driver. My question is - why the $1 on the end? Why not $340 or $345 etc? Seemed odd to me.

Once we got through the assault on our senses with our wits intact, we got on a Delta flight and did like the Germans - headed East! A 3 hour flight to Atlanta, a 1 hour or so stop-over, then a 2 hour-ish flight to Portland, Maine, arriving at zero dark 30.


Famous for their Lobster but quite a bit bigger than Kaikoura, the sights had to wait for a few hours as we got a shuttle to our hotel. Due to the time zone being 3 hours ahead of California, we weren't immediately tired, so did some trip planning. I think we went to bed around 0230 Local.

Fan-baked nuts at 118 degrees Fahrenheit

After checking out coastal Southern California, we moved inland to Palm Springs. Just one of nine cities out in the desert. Problem was, we are experiencing a "heat dome" (read: heatwave)! I shudder to think how much the power bills cost round here, with all the air-con going flat-tack 24/7.
We did have plans to visit some local canyons, go for a hike and maybe see some Indian relics etc, but my risk management head kicked in and decided we shouldn't really be hiking round the desert in 115+ (thats about 42 degrees C, by the way).
So today we drove up a mountain to 2500 ft ASL, jumped on a cable-car that took us up to 8500 ft ASL in about 12 mins. Impressive. And about 30 degrees F cooler up there! Ha!

Going up a mountain the easy way!

Where Eagles Dare, anyone?

We did a 5 mile loop track through pines and alpine meadows and BF boulders! Reminded me of the scenery in the movie " Lone Survivor" (shot in New Mexico I think). Saw a heap of squirrels and a few Chipmunks, but no Mountain Lions or Bears, or deer (the hunter in me kept stopping to glass for bigger animals in all the usual places. Quite handy to help get the heart-rate back down, too, I hear).

Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel, chipmunk, squirrel, squirrel, squirrel that looks like a chipmunk....

(on the drive out, I did see one Big-horn sheep grazing not far off the road, but thats about it).

That's in metres, by the way...

Checking out the local hazards.........here kitty kitty....

Ha! Made it! (and that's in feet, this time)

The old Ranger station at 9100'. Built around 1920's, so no helo's to bring in the parts - only man or mule.

Ahhhhh....

That's either a very small person, or a very large tree...oh, wait - it's both!

After our hike, we had a bite to eat and a cold drink while we waited for our cable car (they call it a tram). The views from the top down to the desert floor were something else, as you can see from these photos:

We weren't looking forward to going back down into the fan-bake oven, but had to. On the way back, our outside thermometer on the car hit 118 degrees F! I think the F stands for something other than Fahrenheit! Works out to be about 48 degrees C or something ridiculous I haven't experienced for a long time, in another life.
Lucky our hotel has A/C and a pool! (note: it is still too hot to use the pool at 1755L, as it feels like a warm bath. We will give it a go about 2200L I reckon....

Fishing for salmon in Patagonia

Day two in the land of bacon and hash tags. We just happened to be down the road from the Patagonia outdoor clothing company, so popped in for a visit. Man, I tell you all you NZ retailers, you need to take a look at how these guys do business.....they had free food tasting of alaskan salmon, and free cups of a local craft beer. Loved the salmon and crackers, not so much the IPA wanna-be though. Lots of happy shoppers wandering the store with a beer in hand, the amount they spent depending on how many refills they had had! And yes, I did walk away with a few goodies myself :-)

We then hit another outdoor gear chain store called REI. Sort of like a Bivouac, really. Got some good deals anyway. Then Carmen wanted to go to a Target store (no, not Figure 11's - more like a Ware whare). Just to give you an idea of why the west is the way it is, take a look at the 80 inch TV I saw. Yes, you read that right, a mere 80" of coloured splendor for a mere $3699.99US. Sigh.

It was also here that I witnessed the height of idleness - an escalator for your shopping trolley! So when you exited the shop, you didn't even need to push your trolley (down hill!) yourself. Just place it on the escalator and grab it at the bottom. Boggled the mind.

We then went to a picnic at a beach, to spend some more time with Carmen's sister and her neice. Didn't think I would need trousers and a warm jacket, but I did! Lots of food and a good time had by all. Got back to the hotel looking forward to a quiet night. But guess what? Yes, another party. Sigh.

The following day we hit some more stores. This time the biggest damn outdoor store I have ever been in - Bass Pro Shop at Rancho Cucamonga. The name rolls off the tongue, too!
This shop is like Hunting & Fishing stores on steroids. Complete with indoor trout pool, boats, ATVs, guns, gear, food, restaurant, you name it. Heaven under one roof. A very, very, very large roof.

Wow!

There is even a class on outdoor gear for the kids, going on in the fore-ground.....

In order to preserve some funds for the rest of our trip, I refrained from buying large amounts of kit, only some bits-and-bobs. Believe it, or not....

Shaken, not stirred...

Nothing like a 3 hour flight west (to Sydney), just to fly for 13 hours north-east (to LA). Especially when over an hour of turbulence had to be put up with. The Qantas pilot was pretty good, taking us from 30,000 ft up to almost 38,000 in order to get above the band of turbulence in the Tasman. A bloke a couple of rows behind us brought up the previous meal in spectacular surround-sound fashion. Carmen's seat was broken so wouldn't recline. Although we are both warrior sized, reclining seats are still helpful.
So, after a marathon effort, we arrived at LAX on the same day we left. Everything went relatively smoothly after that; picked up rental car, drove up the coast to Ventura beach and checked into our hotel. A bit tired (the building and us), but Spanish-inspired architecture, as you would expect in the former Mexico....

By this time I hadn't slept in 26 hours, so I managed to get in 4 hours before we had to go meet Carmen's sister for dinner. An early night after some chili-cheese fries and something else I cant remember. At least we were feet dry in the land of bacon and hash-tags.

Chili-cheese fries.....heart tick? Don't think so.

A healthier option we shared. The portions are so big two can easily share a meal.

Not so healthy, but this monstrosity was shared by all four of us, so the guilt was spread 4-ways!

That night there was a wedding reception at the hotel. I love my ear-plugs and I was so tired I slept through it all. Couldn't think why Carmen was a bit ratty the next morning, though...:-)

A Dress Rehearsal.....

Like all well-planned activities, a "dress rehearsal" is conducted to iron out any potential problems, or to test the plan (and participants!) to see if it will work....
So, over the weekend we headed south to Christchurch and Akaroa. It was a wet, cold Friday night in Akaroa; the streets were almost deserted. No problems finding a park, that's for sure. We went out for dinner - no, not French cuisine as you would expect from New Zealand's only French settlement - but Thai. And it was velly good! Big helpings too. I can highly recommend their green curry and pad thai.

On Saturday we picked up my boys, did a bit of retail therapy in CHCH, then back to Akaroa for dinner. This time it was their famous Fish & Chips. Not-so-large servings this time, but scrumptious nonetheless. Sunday we needed to work off all this food, so went for a hike to Akaroa heads - no, not toilets in naval speak - the headlands to the harbour.

The site of the old lighthouse (1880-1977), to be exact. Plenty of old foundations to the keepers' houses etc. Whilst having lunch on the cliff tops, we watched a pod of 3 whales (species unknown) make their way east, followed by a "whale watching" boat and a random speed boat that turned up late. Great stuff.

After lunch of salami and cheese sammies, we followed a track down to the cove where supplies used to be unloaded. Sam and I descended the very steep steel ladder down to the rocks, to clamber along and take some happy snaps of sunbathing fur seals. Jimmy and Carmen remained up top, watching our back. Good teamwork!
Later on that day we left Akaroa, and had smoko with a couple of mates on the way back to dropping the boys off at their place, as son #1 had work Monday morning. A long drive back to Akaroa meant we didn't hit the scratcher until midnight. A pleasant flight back home today concluded our dress rehearsal for the real thing coming up. So far, so good!

Taking a Pause

Part of taking a break is doing some of those things that you really want to do for yourself and never get around to doing.  In my case (Carmen), this involved a yoga workshop at the beautiful Pause Yoga.

I've been wanting to try out this studio for quite some time.  The studio is set in the trees overlooking Days Bay.  The sun streams into the space through a wall of windows facing the bay.  Just beautiful, peaceful and a special space.

The workshop was about pushing through whatever it is that keeps us procrastinating, and therefore, keeps us from moving forward.  A big thank you to Kathleen Filo of LiveWellRetreats for the great workshop and calming voice.

Meanwhile, Jim took his pause by doing HEAPS of laundry.  Thank you sweetie!

Day 1: Decelerate

As all smoko's do, this one started with a cup of coffee.  After a big sleep-in, of course.

This first day was planned to have no plan except for an afternoon at a local spa.  Thank you to Annie and her team at My Day Spa for the spa pool, wine, chocolates and couple's massage.  The perfect way to decelerate.

The Great Escape

Sometimes we all just need a break, whether it is at work or in our busy social lives.  If you work in an office you know how it is - you have had enough of staring at a computer screen, so at 10 o'clock, you head off to the break room for a cup of coffee, then join the rest of your workmates for the "five-minute quiz" (Pick your newspaper of choice here). Sometimes, you stretch this five minute quiz during your 10 minute smoko, out for a bit longer......Maybe the job is unappealing, too hard, too full-on, or just boring & repetitive. You just don't want to go back. You need the weekend to come so you can rest and reset.  And sometimes a long weekend, or even a few weeks' holiday, just doesn't seem enough.......you need to escape what ails you.

We're not sure from where and when the idea came from, but an idea is just an idea until action is taken.  So one day last year when Qantas Airlines announced a huge airfare sale to North America, it took one 15 minute conversation to decide ... we're ready to make a great escape ... to take an extended break.  So off we go ... on our three month smoko! :-)

Follow us over the next three months to see what we get up to. We hope you enjoy it.