Today we had a 1000km drive ahead of us to get over the mountains and into Colorado. For one part we were driving through open plains with cacti all around in 35 degree heat, and the next we were climbing through the snow-capped Rocky Mountains higher than Mt. Kosciosko - the change in landscape blew us away. Oh, while I am thinking of it, the Interstates are awesome! All the interstates (the main highways that link each state) are all dual lane each way, the wh...

In the morning we took to the road again and headed south-east from Vegas out to Hoover Dam - once the world's largestelectric-power generating station.As you drive down towards the dam the first thing you notice is the massive new bridge bypass they are building across it. I'm not sure when they plan on completing construction, but it's going to be pretty epic once they are done. You can, however, still drive across the dam wall, and that forms the border betwee...

Left LA for Vegas. We got into Las Vegas around noon and checked in to a place called the Stratosphere Hotel, which is a few miles north of the main Las Vegas Boulevard, or the "strip". Not only is the Stratosphere the tallest observation tower in the USA, but it also has 3 sweet rides on top of the tower, which we just had to do, especially cause we were staying right there. Big Shot shoots you straight up 160 feet at 45 mph (over 4 Gs) 1,081 feet abov...

We were up at 6am 'cause Will had organized for us to go to school with him. The LA County Fair was on and we were summoned to be chaperones for his Grade 7 students at the fair. We had an awesome time at the fair getting a taste of a good 'ol county fair! We learnt how to lasso a steer, make rope, tried cheese fries, and we even got fresh choc milk from a chocolate milk cow. Amazin'. The fair took up the best part of the day, but in the evening we decided we wo...

We arrived in Los Angeles from Sydney around 3pm after a scheduled 4hr stop-over in New Zealand. The 4hr wait in Auckland airport was fairly dull, but it made the rest of the trip pretty sweet as it was only a 10hr flight on thru to LA from there. As we disembarked the jumbo we prepared for questioning at immigration and customs. The 42 boxes of Avondale pens that were spread throughout our luggage sparked a bit of interest from the customs officials, but after a...