Brett and Cassie's World Blog

Fiji

Our last stop before hitting Aussie shores again was Fiji - where we spent about 4 days swimming, snorkelling and doing not much at all really. We had to get some kind of tan before we went home!

Yes, we always travel with Vegemite!

I want to stay here next time! These huts have glass floors to look down into the water!

The bar at Funky Fish where we stayed. Met some nice people there which was good.

San Francicso

One of our last stops in the States was San Fran. We spent a couple of days there before driving down the California coast back to LA. It's probably the most attractive city in the US that we visited.

The trams

On our second day there we did a tour of Alcatraz. It was excellent.

We hired bikes and rode from San Fran city over the Golden Gate Bridge and down to Sausalito then caught the ferry back. It was great. Wouldn't want to ride a bike around San Fran though - those hills are killer.

The famous hilly streets and up top, Lombard Street - the crookedest street in the world.

Yosemite National Park

The famous El Capitan.

This waterfall is apparently the longest in North America.

Yosemite was beautiful. It would have been nice if we had a couple of days there to walk some trails and camp and stuff, but time restrictions meant we had to keep travelling!

Death Valley and Lake Tahoe

From Vegas, we drove through Death Valley Natioanl Park. It was so hot - about 36 degrees.

We saw the lowest point in the States in Death Valley - a big salt flat. The land is so dry.

Lake Tahoe which is in northern California is so beautiful. There are quite a few ski fields around this area.

Nice weather made for some beautiful views.

Viva Las Vegas!!

From the Grand Canyon, next stop was Vegas! We didn't really know what to expect with Vegas but we both really loved it! We had such a good time - recommend it to anyone. It's so tacky and over the top but it's Vegas, so they get away with it. The casinos are open (and busy) 24 hours a day. There are heaps of free shows and entertainment, especially at night, really cheap drinks (or free if you're playing at the casino) so what's not to love?

Welcome to Las Vegas! What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.........or so they say!

This is Fremont Street. The big cover up top lights up at night for "the Fremont experience"

Inside the lobby of the famous Bellagio - no we didn't stay there. Unfortunately our budget didn't quite stretch that far.

We stayed at Circus, Circus! It was great actually - we got a great room for a great price and had an absolute ball in Vegas!

The Stratosphere Tower.

Vegas at night - lights, shows - it's brilliant!

The famous Bellagio fountains - this is truly an awesome thing to see. It's mesmerizing. We could have stayed and watched them all night. The fountains are choreographed to music and they 'dance' to the song that is playing. Genius!

Caesar's Palace at night.

The Eiffel Tower is a half size replica of the real one.

New York, New York is a casino/hotel - the building is a replica of the NYC skyline.

The "Strip"

Casino Royale

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon was a highlight - it is really an amazing site. You don't realise how big it is it's HUGE!

We did a short walk on one of the trails that leads down into the canyon, but unfortuately we didn't have the time to do a long hike. Most of them are overnight.

The Colorado River runs through the middle of the canyon - a lot of people go white water rafting down there. Would have loved to do that.

Road Trip Begins

From LA, we hired a car for 2 weeks and our road trip began. We drove from LA to Palm Springs, along Route 66 to Oatman, then onto the Grand Canyon, then to Vegas, then Death Valley, up to Tahoe, down to Yosemite, up to San Francisco and then down the west coast and back to LA. We had such a good time. Here are some pics from along the way.

First stop was Palm Springs. Stayed in a nice place with good spas and pools which was good - nice and relaxing.

The famous Joshua Tree, which, so they say, has inspired many including U2!

Route 66!

We stopped at a little town called Oatman in Arizona which is an old mining town with nice old locals.

HOLLYWOOD!

The Hollywood Walk of Fame along Hollywood Boulevard. It goes forever.

The Beatles have rightfully got a prime spot right at the start of the walk, along with Elvis.

This is Johnny Depp's famous night club and also where River Phoenix died. It's on Sunset Blvd. A lot of the well known nightclubs and bars are along Sunset Blvd.

This is outside the Kodak theatre which is where the Academy Awards are held each year. Whilst we were in LA there were a couple of pop music awards nights there. No one really exciting turned out though.