Written by Chris: Today we packed up our stuff and left the Emperor's Crown backpackers - still the best one I've stayed at to date.Shane and I made our way over to the Traveller's Autobarn to pick up our campervan.It's a Toyota Hi-Top - extra high so that the third lucky person (Shane in our case) can sleep in a coffin like environment, inches from the ceiling.After forty five minutes of paperwork, signing our lives away, we got ready to get in it and I reali...

Monday July 27-Sunday Aug 2 Perth - lovely city about the size of Calgary (1. 5 million) and about the same feel - people come here to seek their fortunes in the mineral business.The last few years saw a major housing boom and the prices skyrocketed.Most people work in the downtown core (CBD) and then retreat to the suburbs in the evening, so the shops all close at 6 pm and it is a ghost town. Our friend Gina, an Aussie who used to live in Calgary, ...

Today we wandered around several subdivisions of San Fran - mostly the Castro and Mission areas - which are both very interesting and have many beautiful murals.We found a comic book shop with great toys and spent a lot of time there then stopped for lunch in Mission park and watched people play with their dogs, picnic and even do push-ups, which made us feel lazy and out of shape.After lunch we visited the oldest building in SF - Delores Mission - then wandered ...

Arrived in Melbourne after being pinned under a large lady - obese would probably be the better term - during our lovely long flight.She had to ask for seatbelt extension - I didn't even know that a seatbelt extension existed! To Do List: -Go to the bank and activate our EFPOS cards (debit) -Get our mobile phones activated -Check out areas to live -Meet up with old friends -Eat meat pies! We're only in Melbourne for a couple of days, and it's really ju...

Blog by Chris: So, it's confirmed, LAX is the worst airport in the world.I've decided.We're sitting here in the dark (they actually have very few lights on), waiting for our flight, with three restaurants of our choosing available to us.Fortunately, OneWorld (the alliance between Qantas, American Airlines and a few others) doesn't seem to protect their Wi-Fi, so we're able to surf the internet to pass the time.Looking forward to our 16 hour and 10 minute flight!...