Firstly a belated thanks to all who came along to the leaving sessions in Shellys and The Sun, two excellent nights out which Beth has uploaded some pics on facebook earlier. Great craic also had by myself and Beth separately in our homesteads… The sight of Pamela pulling her own pints behind the bar in Horans at 5am will live long in my memory!After that monsterous session in the Sun followed by the shenanigans in the one only Swan we made it to heathrow the following afternoon to catch the 11 hr flight to LA.We picked up "Hank" our mustang convertible the following morning and headed north up along the coast stopping in Santa Monica, Santa Barbara and Cambria before we hit Big Sur 3 days later. Great drive and even better wine which we picked up in the wine district.This was the first time we were driving off the main roads where the cautious speed limit of 65 was not letting us enjoy Hank.. so we went for it on the country roads… reminded me of when I used to snatch my mom's vw jetta (the virus) when I was 15 and tear along the tralee backroads. So on from there we drove along Big Sur.. class is every way… stopping to check out the elephant seals. All was going to plan until we parked up in a nice small town called Carmel.. got some 'hang sangwiches" and went to the beach. That's when i had a run in with a shifty eyed local who took it upon himself to be the biggest w***er I've even met… I fought with him for a good 20 min and we left only to later realise I had lost me wallet… damn seagull! Ended up getting it back from the feds the next day, wet and full of sand.. money gone, .probally being spent on bird food.Anyway from there santa cruz (great spot) and then san fran where we bid farewell to Hank and spent 3 days enjoying a great city and catching up with Alan and Oonagh.. well actually we got completely twisted in Oonaghs bar on fishermans whaft. Did Alcatraz, golden gate and stuff.. loved it.From there it was Vegas via Lake Tahoe.. where the peole were brilliant.. they even named a beach in honour of us. Drove through Death Valley desert… glad it was November and not july! And then Vegas. Well Vegas is Vegas.. do not go there on a budget.From there we headed back to LA in 'Hilda" .. our s***ty Toyota corolla which was compensating the cost of Hank the previous week. Went via Joshua tree.. full of hippies who still haven't found what they're looking for!LA was on fire when we returned… that seagull probably bought matches and firelighters with my cash and decided to take his issue global.So we left for the Cook Islands. Simply the Cook Islands are amazing… we stayed in a hostel where we got a beachut 10 metres from the water. Met some great people and had a few good sessions along with great snorkelling. 5 days is not long enough in paradise.So that's it so far we're now in New Zealand… it was cold and wet for the first few days and we were stuck in a campervan fighting with each other!it has cleared up since and we done loads which Beth will fill you all in on next time