This is probably the 4th time that Ant and I have done New Year on the Strip, but this is most definitely the coldest!!!!Although the 30mph winds had dropped, it was still pretty much at or below freezing for most of today.

The Strip is closed to traffic from 6:00pm New Year's Eve until approximately 6am New Year's Day so you either have to get to the Strip early or walk.We decided to get to the Strip early and get some dinner before the celebrations began.Bundled up in our 4 layers of clothing, scarves, ear warmers and hats, we waited half an hour for the shuttle from our hotel to the Strip.We then baked to death in a very warm Escalade with 5 other people for the 1.5 mile drive which took about half an hour to complete!

We had booked tickets for the Blue Man Group at the Venetian Hotel so headed off there to pick up our tickets and eat.The Blue Man Group are a comedy mime act that use drums and pipes (filled with paint).There is a lot of audience participation and it is hilarious to watch people cringe as they stalk the audience looking for victims - luckily we escaped.

Tickets picked up successfully but unfortunately there is no buffet at the Venetian so we headed back over the 8 lane highway which is not an easy feat!!! (in some places, there are as many as 12 lanes!!!) for dinner at ti (Treasure Island).This left us about an hour to play the slot machines before the show.

After the show, we headed back out on the Strip where, by now, the traffic had gone and the crowds started to build.There are no glass or aluminium containers allowed on the Strip on New Year and many casinos and bars have come up with some pretty innovative ways to serve alcohol in plastic bottles.The shapes and sizes vary from plastic EiffelTowers to absolutely enormous plastic margarita glasses - we had transferred our tipples of choice into plastic water bottles.

The atmosphere on The Strip is generally good humoured and we have rarely seen any trouble and arrests are few. However, the last twice we have done this, there has been a group of religious protesters telling us all we are going to hell for our drinking and sinning and whoring. We stood and watched the crowd taunt and heckle them - it was like a scene from the Monty Python Film The Life of Brian!!!

Midnight came and Ant and I had found ourselves a spot on the bridge leading into the Bellagio, overlooking the lake as the fountains played to tunes such as Viva Las Vegas and Singing in the Rain!!! The fireworks were particularly spectacular and we could see at least 4 hotels (the fireworks are synchronised to go off from the roofs of several of the hotels along The Strip). They lasted for at least 10 minutes (continuous!!!) and the final bangs were so loud, the ground shook like an earthquake!!

It took us an hour and half to walk the mile back to our hotel as The Strip was incredibly crowded and we had to negiotiate several police barricades and barriers. As you can imagine, we had a very relaxed New Year's Day and went to bed early!!

Today we have moved hotels to the Luxor further down the Strip where we will spend our last 3 days before the drive back to LA and flight to our next destination - New Zealand