Hiya!

If you're reading this then Ive made it back to civilization and the all important lifeblood of a traveling iPhone user ... Free WiFi :0)

Right now I'm on the bus bound for SF or San Francisco as it's known to the rest of the world.

Apart from the kip on the bus earlier Ive had 4 hours sleep and have decided Im way too old for Contiki!!!

Tanya & I have made a bit more effort the last few nights after behaving like nannas for the first half of the trip.

Vegas was amazing!

Will be honest when I first saw it didn't think much of it ... Yes there's fluro & huge buildings everywhere but to me it just looked like Surfers Paradise on steroids ...

After dinner & our cruise around town in the Contiki bus (which included a visit to a wedding chapel to have a faux marriage of one of our couples!), we met up with Kara & Matt accross the road from our accommodation at the MGM Grand.

Having been there one night already Kara & Matt showed us around Vegas, checking out New York, Paris, the Venetian, and a few others along the way ... All were awesome and there's always that sense of excitement in the air!

After watching "The Hangover" on the plane over I was expecting it to be a huge party town but with so much to see & only 2 nights there - we remained relatively sober and got heaps of exercise!

The one full day we had there we spent at the outlet shops - just like DFO in Brissy (I can't bring myself to say BrisVegas anymore as that's just an insult to Vegas!), it had some average priced items but when you had a dig around there was some real bargains to be had ...

I usually pride myself on not buying into the commercialism & wearing labels but with $40 Guess hand bags I couldn't help myself?!?!

The second night we got tickets to Zumanity "the sensual side of Cirque Du Soleil".

I have to say it was one of the best performances Ive been to and loved it!

It still had all the usual amazing performances but performed by bare breasted men & women wearing racy costumes or even flesh coloured gstrings. It was hosted by a drag queen who injected lots of amusing adult humour and there was something in there for everyone with acts featuring 2 gals (seemingly naked) swimming and diving gracefully and sensually in a giant champagne glass filled with water. A mock battle scene where the men face off at the end, looking each other in the eye and then pash! And a bit of bondage with a women doing an act on those 2 long strips of material that hang from the ceiling tying herself up in them and moaning in ecstacy the whole time!

There was lots more and not sure how Im portraying it but it was all done very professionally but was basically a very classy erotic show with some amazing displays of strength & flexibility ... Very hot!!!   ;0)

From Vegas we headed to the serenity of the picturesque Bass Lake. The movie "The Great Outdoors" with Dan Akroyd & John Candy was centered around this community and even filmed scenes in the bar we went to last night.

First night we had Pizza by the pool and then onto a room party.

Tanya and I had stocked up at the supermarket with a gallon (1.75L) of this awesome premixed Bacardi Mojito stuff - best pre mix I've ever had - so good we drank the whole lot, stayed up til late and bonded more with the group ...

Realized the next morning when looking back with a hazy memory of the evening that it was 15% alcohol - pretty god dam strong and probably the reason you're supposed to mix & blend with lots of ice!!!

I still made it to Yosemite (Tanya didn't!!!) with surprisingly little hang over, and hired bikes to ride around the National Park and take pics of the beautiful forest, meadows & granite formations.

Last night our tour leader volunteered our room as it adjoined to his, to host a bring a plate room party and shirt signing night.

Was lots of fun and ended up at the bar after where a few of the local young red necks tried their best to pick up the Contiki gals!

I got chatting to one who kept buzzing round ... Apparently he was there with his mates on a hunting trip (those cute fluffy deer I mentioned last blog) and actually lives 300 miles away. (Not because contiki comes to town every Thursday of course ... no ma'am not that reason).

He was 25, said he works in construction which actually equated to him being in a road crew laying ashphalt.

Has never left America, very religious (but seemed pretty loose on some of those values!), and lacked social skills ... I tell you this as I want you to realise THOSE PEOPLE ON BORAT/BRUNO DO EXIST!!!

Anyway managed to get away when he got thrown out of the bar - loser :0)

Almost to SF now where we have a huge weekend planned with so many festivals on, and will be catching up with Max and Tanyas other cousin Catherine to show us how it's done.

Next blog should be VERY interesting :0)

Love to you all - Im going to need a holiday when I get back (and a liver transplant)!
xoxo