After that we went to see Les Miserable and got the best seats - 9th row from the front. It was awesome. Mikey even shed a tear...but that is not really surprising! We met Kylie after that and went back to Planet Hollywood for something to eat and drink.

The day after was pretty much getting packed up and ready to go to the airport. It is such a mission lugging so much luggage up and down the underground station - especially when one is not well!! But we made it.

The flights themselves were not as tortuous as the last ones as we got some awesome seats - up the front behind a wall, not seats, to we got the biggest leg room and no one in front moving their seat up and down. It was the first flight EVER that I actually managed to sleep on!!

We landed in Auckland yesterday morning and then went exploring the city. There really isn't much to see in the city so we were pretty bored. We went out for dinner on Bartercard and then came back to the room. I tell ya, it is so nice being warm again, although we are not looking forward to the heat of Queensland.

We are just waiting on our airport shuttle now to take us to the airport so we will sign off now.

We luv you all and thank you for reading our blogs!!

Luv Karen & Mikey

On our way home remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Where did we leave you last time? Thats right, we just made it to London. Before New Years we made the most of our time exploring and discovered Covent Garden and the Aussie Pub. We have been there a couple of times now and the second time we happened to be in there for your New Years which was very cool!!

New Years here was very cool (and different). We went to this club right in Leicester Square with uninterrupted views of the London Eye and Big Ben, so we got to see the fireworks very clearly - well we would have done if some stupid girl hadn't knocked over both of our drinks completely 10 minutes before midnight and we thought we might have enough time to get more before the clock struck new year - well little did we know!! So unfortunately we were both stuck at the bar when new years hit so by the time we got the drinks we got to see the final bit of the fireworks - mike was actually good enough to let me go back to say happy new years to everyone and see the fireworks, so poor thing didn't get to see them at all!!! But he did get 5 kisses from girls so he was very happy!!

The club was absolutely packed and before midnight we couldn't sit down anywhere because all the seats were reserved, but after midnight Kylie (in true Kylie style)and with Mikey's help, ousted some v.i.p's out of their area and we stayed there all night!!! We left the club at around 2.30 coz we were a bit over it (and a little hammered) and made our way back home but the streets were so busy (and the fact that there was free tube transport home) the police were out in force blocking off a lot of streets. Unfortunately Kylie and I lost Mikey and the two other girls with us - which I hear was a good thing because we have video footage of mikey chatting up everyone around him on the train!!!!

Yesterday was recovery day. We sat on the couches watched the Star Wars Marathon from the time we got up to the time we went to bed!! A good thing really because once again I am sick! Got a stupid head cold and feeling like utter crap. We are off to the chemist after this to get some serious drugs happening because i do not want to be feeling like this tomorrow on the plane. We fly out at 9.15pm tomorrow night and our flight totals around 22 hours!! YUKKY!!! Then we have one night in Auckland and we land back at 1pm on Saturday. By the way Jean, our flight number is NZ 035 (we think) and it definitely comes into Brisbane at 1pm. Make sure you put Mikey's computer in the car as he is missing his baby terribly!!!

As for a bbq, if its okay with Jean, Sunday afternoon is good for us - the day after we get back! We have pressies for everyone!

We are off to Les Miserable tonight and then out for dinner with Kylie on the banks of the Thames right next to Tower Bridge - all on Bartercard. We haven't spent much Bartercard but now we are with Kylie we are trying to spend as much as we can. We went to Planet Hollywood for lunch on trade today so its a start - and we are going to spend up big tonight - plus the fact that i need plenty of alcohol to kill these stupid germs!!

We can't wait to get back home - we have been overseas for long enough now and we are very ready to be back with our things! We are even missing our little car!!!

That is really it for now. I don't think we will be adding anymore before we get back home. We can't wait to see everyone, but we will try and check our messages on here so please keep sending them!!!

Luv you all
Karen & Mikey

NYE - London Style remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Yesterday we had to go and drop our car back off in Manchester where we decided to do a bit of shopping. Not such a good idea as every man and his dog was out shopping!! Mikey went off to buy some more records while I was left to explore the shops. It was that packed that I was too scared to leave the shopping mall and there is only so much you can do in one shopping mall for 2 and half hours!!! But all is good and we got some great pressies.

Last night we settled down to a game of cards with the rellies and had a merry old time. We all got pretty hammered but it was all in the name of fun.

Today we made our way back down to London. The train journey was very uneventful but the price of the tickets was a lot more than we expected - around $130 each for a single ticket.

We are now sitting in an internet cafe in Leicester Square with Kylie. It is great catching up with her and she says to say hello to everyone out there in cyber land!

We are off to Covent Garden to have something to eat and then investigate the british interpretation of an Australian bar! Then some serious drinking is in order.

Tomorrow night we are off to a very groovy bar called The View Lounge for New Years - check it out if you can. We will be there to watch all the fireworks and the good stuff going on in London - we even get a free breakfast with the tickets (which cost around $120 each - but well worth it)

Tomorrow we are also going exploring, try and buy some theatre tickets for next week and then more shopping - its a hard life!!

We will see you all in one week's time and looking forward to it. So until then we will love you and leave you and try and hop on one more time before we head home. Have a great new years everyone and see you soon.

Luv Karen & Mikey (and Kylie)

Back to Ye Old London remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Yesterday we went to Castleton which is in the english countryside with lotsa rolling hills and green things. There are caves up there where they used to mine semi-precious stones but too cold for that, We had a really nice Pub Lunch at a place called Ye Olde Naggs Head (where do they think this stuff up??) And we went to the Dam where the Dambusters from WWII practiced the Barrel Bombs it was a really cool dam really old and cold & green. We then proceeded to go to Karens Cousins Pub (Diane). She is a darl and the pub was really a "MANS PUB" needless to say we got pretty toasted (well i did anyways ;-)) She can almost talk as much as Karen,(what.. No it is possible trust me) loves a good gossip and a the place really had good freindly atmosphere. We finally got some english rain for the first time yesterday it was not even what we in Qld would call drizzle, (I would call it spittle) not too bad though.

Susan & Nick (Karens Aunt & Uncle) drove us out to Blackpool today, it really is Englands version of Surfers Paradise, but no waves..... or sun for that matter.(would be nice in the summer though) The beach is about 1km from the boardwalk, we took a walk down the boardwalk and every two metres there was shops selling Blackpool Rock (Like thick candy canes but straight).
It was quite an experience and i would definitely like to come back to stay for a nights clubbing, it seems thay have more clubs than anywhere else i've seen, oh another thing all along the seashore they have these amusement houses that have claw mahcines and the like for Kids and Pokie machines for adults kinda weird seeing them together in the same room. If you want a comparision the closest place that it reminds me of is Luna Park in Melbourne but the whole strip is like that for 4Km.

All in all a very interesting two days and tommorrow it's off to drop off the rent-a-skid (car) to Manchester and finally i get to go record shopping WooHoo!!!! Anyways we're leaving to go to a Pub Quiz tonight.

Keep those comments and emails coming and if you want to check out the photos we've posted go to our blog and click on Authors,

Love Mikey & Karen

Dianes Pub & Blackpool Day Trip remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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It has been great catching up with the relatives and we have been made so welcome. It will be also nice to relax and not have to repack our gear in two days time!!

The drive from Glasgow was pretty uneventful. We left the hotel at about 6.45am and in our usual style got pretty lost leaving the city!! So by the time we left the city of Glasgow it was around 7.30 - it should have really taken us 10 minutes!!! But ah well, we have finally arrived. It is so nice not to need a map anymore and know where I am driving to!!!

Today we went out for lunch at the local pub with my aunt and uncle. When we got back from lunch and the local tour we went to visit my other uncle and aunty who only live 3 doors down. it is really strange not being here and my gran not being here - the first time EVER that she has not been around to see....not sure I am liking it!

Tomorrow is going to be a lazy day - sleeping in and then off to lunch to meet up with cousins, then not sure what we are doing tomorrow night. I think the day after we are going to see my other cousin who owns a pub not far from here then off to a local trivia night at another pub with another uncle and aunty! It is so good to be back here (have I said that already!!!)

Anyway we are about to sign off as we are just about to upload some photos for you all. "About time" I hear you all say!!! Well, lets see if we can figure it out first!!!

Talk to you all really soon, and miss you heaps!

Luv Karen & Mikey

Glossop.....home at last! remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We made the family phone calls last night (early,early morning Australian time) and needless to say we woke everyone up - to their chagrin!! For that we do apologise (actually, no we don't! Can't get away from us that easily!)

At around 1pm on the way back we were starving and try as we might we could not find anything open so we thought we were screwed!! We did ask the hotel the previous night what our chances were of finding something open for lunch and they said we would only find Chinese restaurants open - we actually thought they were kidding! But lo and behold they weren't kidding and after walking around town in search of something the only thing we found open was a Chinese Buffet; so that is what we had! We stuffed ourselves silly and are now feeling like stuffed turkeys ready to burst open! Oh and they gave us a free bottle of champagne!

We have only just got back from lunch and wanted to say a quick g'day before we retired for the afternoon and evening with our bottle of champers and choccies!

Hope you all had a great day and got lots of greedy pressies!

We are off to Glossop first thing in the morning (around 6am) so we can get there before lunch!

Take care and we love you all lots.

Luv Karen & Mikey

Xmas Day in Scotland remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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But first let us tell you about our adventures in Salisbury. When we left you we were on our way to Stonehenge. A really mystical place BUT so friggin cold. We got a free audio guide to go round the site, but after about 2 minutes of listening to it, decided it was way to freezing and speed walked around the rest of it. We know there is some history to it and something happened to a particular stone in a particular year.....but who cares....it was too *bleep* cold!!!! After the visit we went to for a pub lunch which was not too bad (but not too good) and we had to laugh (and don't think too bad of us for this) but there was this deaf couple sitting next to us, and the poor guy couldn't get a word (or sign) in edgeways...the woman just couldn't stop talking - we have never seen a deaf person talk to friggin much!!

On the way back to the car Mike found a record shop, so we had to spend the obligatory 20 minutes in there while he was selecting his records. He ended up buying 4 of them while I looked and relooked at their crappy cd collection!

The Grassmere Hotel in Salisbury is the most beautiful B&B we have stayed in (second to the Awaroa Lodge) and well worth the money. We recommend anyone stay there. And it is on the outskirts of the town centre. Anyway, we went back to the hotel and read books while sitting next to an open fire drinking wine - absolute heaven!!!

After a great nights sleep and breakfast, we left Salisbury for our long drive to Glasgow. There is nothing really of interest to report from our drive. It took us about 7.5 hours and only in the last stages was there fog (there wasn't even any scenery of note in any of the drive). It made us laugh that while we were driving in the fog there were flashing lights on the road telling us there was fog (as if we couldn't see it for ourselves!) We even took a photo of these signs surrounded by fog to send into 'What The' on Rove Live!!!

Petrol here is (as well as everything else) is so expensive - about 93p a litre (which is about $2.50 a litre) We must have spent about £100 pounds just getting up here with fuel and food (Burger King, aka Hungry Jacks, cost us around $25 for 2 small meals!!!)

We finally made it here without getting lost! The accommodation at the Argylle Hotel is about the same quality as France...so about a 3 star small room with ensuite. As soon as we got here we headed straight for the bar where we met the Bar Manager; a really cool guy who has just come back from a year in Melbourne. He really looked after us and in fact gave us our very first 'honeymoon freebie' - a glass of cognac each!! We have swapped email addresses and we will definitely be keeping in touch with him. He is planning on moving to the Gold Coast in about a year, but in the meantime will be a great person to have as a friend - probably the nicest person we have met on our travels!

Tomorrow is Xmas Day so nothing much will be open, so we are thinking of going for a drive around Scotland, but considering the amount we have drunk tonight I won't be surprised if we stay in bed all day!!

The next day we are travelling down to Glossop which I am so much looking forward to; meeting up with family and taking Mike round everywhere I grew up - you know the obligatory school, home, playground etc!!

Well this is it for now...so we will bid you adieu and hope you all have a great Xmas day and, if we don't hear from you, a great new years. You will be hearing from us in a day or two. Please send us messages, we love to hear from you!

All our love

Karen & Mikey

Bonnie Scotland remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We finally got here at about 8pm last night after a LLOOONNNGGG day of travelling. We left Amsterdam at about 8am and, unlike Paris, didn't take us long to navigate out of the city (apart from the cyclist Mikey nearly sent to an early grave)! Amsterdam is a very cool city and we would love to go back there another time. One thing we did forget to mention in the last blog was the quality of the buskers in Amsterdam! We saw one lady who must have been at least 90 years old playing the same two notes (badly at that) on an old recorder - quite sad actually. Then the next day we think we saw her father in the town centre playing the same two notes on a harmonica. The funny thing was he was sitting on a very expensive old people scooter; don't think he was making much money - but good on him sitting out in the cold being 130 years old (he had to have been that at least!!!)

Anyway back to the journey. We thought we would be smart and print off some directions to go back to Calais, but a word of advice for anyone that does that - do not take them at face value. For example it states to take a certain exit for a certain town, but when there are 3 different exits for the same town it can get rather confusing. As a result we got a little lost in Belgium and added a good hour on to our journey. As soon as we made it to Calais, in good French style, we got friggin lost again finding the Ferry Port. What should have been a straight through 10 minute drive must have taken us at least 40 minutes!! But now we are in the land of normal people and have not got lost once (but that was a fluke!!)

When we got into Dover we went straight to hire our car (but first a side point - at customs on both ends Mike must have had his drug baron face on because we kept getting stopped and asked questions!!!) Anyway, back to it, we were hiring our car and didn't even think to check if we had enough on the credit card for the deposit which they need to hold. Needless to say we didn't and frustration and running around ensued. We ended up having to ring Jean (Mike's mum - keep in mind it was about 2am in Australia at this time) to get the funds transferred. It was a test of our nerves and sanity after such a long day so far - and we hadn't even started the long drive to Salisbury!

Anyway we obviously made it on the road and decided to take the coastal road. It was such a sketchy drive because of the fog and the roads are all country lanes. The 200 mile drive took us about 5.5 hours to do. When we finally made it to Salisbury we had no idea where we needed to go, we had no map, it was dark and foggy so we couldn't see any road signs. We were taking wrong turn after wrong turn to try and get into town and after about 15 minutes of doing this, lo and behold we stumbled across the hotel! Such a fluke, and we were thankful as we could have been stuck in a continual motion of being lost!

The hotel (or B&B) is absolutely gorgeous. It is very much like Bungunyah Manor where we had the wedding, but so much older and nicer. Log fires everywhere, a cozy lounge to smoke and read in, the food is out of this world, but it isn't cheap. The dinner we had last night cost us around £50 ($130 Australian) but well worth it, thank god it is all on Bartercard, thats all we can say about that.

This morning, after a scrumptious breakfast, we went to the markets and bought gloves and beanies (not that they are making much of a difference). After we finish here we are off to Stonehenge so Mikey can do his ritual sacrifice! (I think i'll stay in the car!!!)

We are off to Glasgow tomorrow and looking forward to spending a couple of nights in a scottish castle!

We will be back on line in Glasgow hopefully, if not it will be when we get to Glossop in a few days. We are really looking forward to staying with family there and totally kicking back!

We look forward to your messages and if you have sent us one of those comments, we haven't figured out how to reply to it so please don't think that we don't love you!! When we get more time on the net we will figure it out.

Anyway we will sign off now. We love you all. Talk soon.

Have a great Xmas everyone!

Karen & Mikey

Salisbury - its so *beep* cold remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Well here we are in Amsterdam! It is a most interesting place with a lot of strange happenings! But let me start from the beginning:

Yesterday morning we attempted to leave Paris for our long drive up to Holland - what is supposed to be a 10 minute drive took us 45 minutes because of that stupid traffic. Mike is now of the same opinion as myself....we won't be going back there in a hurry. The drive itself was very uneventful except for the fog...that bloody fog - we didn't get to see any of the country side as we passed through France, Belgium and going into Holland. It would have taken us 4 hours to drive it but we decided (in our stupid wisdom) to go via Brussels which is rather out of the way of the main highway, adding on a further 1 hour. Nevertheless we made it in one piece. We found our hotel very easily and the drivers here are normal and sane.

The hotel is actually very nice (apart from the 2 single beds - which aren't really conducive to a honeymoon!) and the breakfast is actually really nice and this time includes hot foods so Mikey is a happy camper.

Last night we decided to go on a guided tour of the red light district. Now that is not as seedy as it sounds - it was a very intersting tour on how prostitution is legalised and the history of it. We started the tour at the Prostitution Information Centre (only in Amsterdam would they have such a place). After going through the tour you really understand why it is legalised - it is extremely regulated and safe and Holland has the lowest std transmission rate in the sex industry anywhere in the world. Now the lesson is over down to the nitty gritty. Street walking and pimping is against the law so they have windows where girls will stand in their underwear under red lights. If someone wanted to use their services they open the door and the curtains are drawn - very civilised, until we saw the fattest chick on earth sitting in a window wearing white! Eewww!! Probably the most entertaining (if not extremely annoying) part of the tour was this American family from Texas and this fat guy from New York. Sorry to say but these people fit the typical stereotype of annoying yanks - everything is about them, and they asked the most stupidest questions known to man. The guy from New York was only on the tour (we think) to get free porn and did nothing but complain when he found out what it was actually all about. Thankfully these people wandered off about a quarter of the way through and we couldn't find them again, but unfortunately they took with them a south african couple and a really strange couple from Spain (where the guy could easily have been the chick's grandfather!) who actually shoplifted from the Prostitute Information Centre (so we found out later). The tour guide was so upset that she was going to get fired for losing them that this Australian couple on the tour organised a petition with the remaining few of us to help her out. All in all it was a very entertaining night.

After the tour we went to this cool bar getting absolutely hammered on cocktails - well actually mikey only got hammered on one so had to go home!!!!!

Today we went shopping - the centre of town is huge and in the three hours of shopping we didn't even cover a quarter of the shops! Hows this - we went to McDonalds for a quick lunch before shopping and needed to use the bathroom, but you have to pay for the privilege - approx 50cents. Thats right, you read correctly - they charge for the use of the Maccas toilets!!! Unbelievable!

We are having another quiet night tonight as we can't be bothered walking all that way to go to a bar which serves bourbon and coke for 9 euros ($18) each. Thats right folks it is 6 euros for the bourbon and 3 euros if you want coke with it! Absolutely ridiculous!! It was actually cheaper to buy cocktails. Plus we really can't afford it if we want to make the most of the UK over the next couple of weeks.

There are so many pot cafes here the whole place practically stinks of the stuff, but the government wanted to try these cafes out before thinking about legalising marijuana, a good idea as soft drug use here is really under control - actually not many people do it as it isn't forbidden fruit anymore (if that makes sense).

There are also more sex shops than souvenir shops by more than double and they are not covered windows so I am also getting a very good education while I am here!

Tomorrow we head back off to Calais to catch the ferry back to Dover. We are then hiring another car to go to Salisbury on the south west coast of England (near Stonehenge). It is now my turn to drive but that is fine considering I will be on the correct side of the car and road and the english drivers are totally different (aka totally better) than european drivers.

We will try and make contact again in Salisbury, but considering it is only a small place we don't know if they will have an internet cafe. But hopefully we will - we want to keep you all updated!

Take care and luv you all

Karen & Mikey

Amsterdam.....very interesting place remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Where do we start? The drive in would be good. We got a nice little Ford Focus from Calais and drove the 3 hours down to Paris. Mike was so good getting the hang of driving on the other side of the car and road. The rules on the highway are great here, the trucks all stay in the slow lane - in fact everyone stays in the slow lane and only goes in the fast lane when they overtake - unlike Australia where any lane goes. However there is no speed limits which was quite sketchy when we had little cars speeding past us at the speed of light through really thick fog, so we couldn't see them coming up or going past for that matter!!! We thought we had the driving and navigation thing cracked....well we were wrong!!

As soon as we got to Paris it became a living nightmare. It took us another hour and a half once hitting the city to find our hotel. (thats because the map of Paris streets looks more like a children's crayon drawing; no reason or logic behind the design of the city) The Paris drivers are absolute madmen hell bent on killing their garden variety tourist. How we made it out alive is beyond me. There are no road lines and what you would consider a one lane road would turn into 7 lanes just because the Paris drivers decided to take up the whole road. They don't drive one behind the other like normal people do, it is every man for himself and if you aren't aggressive enough then you get pushed into lanes you don't want to go into - just like what happened to us for the first 45 minutes before Mikey decided to get just as aggressive!!! I am so proud of him, even though I must have inherited a few extra grey hairs - i have never screamed so much or closed my eyes. Forget indicating here, just go where you feel like it - that seems to be the only road rule. And that is just the start of it - you have the scooters who zip in and out of the cars and up the wrong way just to get ahead (actually the cars do that too), we have dubbed them the kamikaze bunch because they definitely must have a death wish!! And we haven't even touched on the cyclists! Watching them on the road is like watching a child balancing on a high wall...just can't look at it - you just know they are going to get killed! We are shocked we have not seen one accident, but we haven't left the city yet! I am sure there are so many more adjectives and examples we could use to describe the driving here, but we just don't have time!!

On to our adventures. We got into the hotel finally at about 8pm last night (after leaving London at 7am - very LONG day!!) We got to the hotel to find that the lift was broken and we had to lug 50kgs worth of luggage up to the 3rd floor. Now when we say 3rd floor, the stairs aren't like normal stairs - straight - they are spiral staircases consisiting of about 25-30 steps per level. Actually that seems to be the norm here and in London. We haven't seen a straight set of stairs since we left the States - and that is no joke!!

This morning we braved the traffic to drive out to Palace of Versailles. We are so proud of ourselves for not only navigating successfully but actually surviving the trip!! The Palace was awesome.....it was like stepping into one of the many books that i read. We got audio guides which were such a huge help and in some parts it really felt that you were there back in the day...but the asian tour groups really took away that feeling now and again! Mum, you would have been in absolute heaven - before we went into the Palace we went to this little cafe overlooking the Palace for breakfast and as we are eating an old Wham song came on - a true you and me experience: eating, listening to Wham, drinking coffee while overlooking the Palace of Versailles - you should have been there!!

We left Versailles to head back towards Paris as we really wanted to go the Louvre. Again we made it successfully and while we were patting ourselves on the back for another job well done we discovered that the Louvre closes on Tuesdays!! BUGGER!! So a lazy afternoon is on the cards - playing cards of course.

Tomorrow we drive up to Amsterdam and we are just about to get travel directions on the net once we finish this blog. We are very much looking forwards to getting out of this very dirty and cold city!

Keep in touch, we miss you all

Luv Mikey & Karen

PS. We haven't been able to share any photos because the internet places we find don't allow us to do that - but never fear we are always on the look out to be able to do it. If not you are all in for a treat: a night long looking through the photos and videos - after Mikey has edited out all his rude bits!!!!

Paris....the City of....(well its not romance anyway) remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Well as you know we are in London and have spent the last couple of days touring. Yesterday we went round the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge Tour and the HMAS Belfast Tour (which to be honest was really boring!! and not the best place to be when feeling rather ill - and get seasick normally anyway!!)

Today we went to the British Museum, we were there for about 3 hours and only covered one small part of it. We then we to Madame Tussauds which was very, very cool indeed! Then off to the Sherlock Holmes Museum which would have been good if not for the hundreds of french school kids, and you all know how much I love the french!!

It has amazed me that in every single British Exhibition/museum/tourist attraction the staff have not been able to speak English properly!!! Ah well, this is London.

We are off to Dover first thing in the morning to sail out to France, so a very early start indeed! It will be interesting driving on the wrong side of the road ourselves when it freaked us out so much other people driving in the States, Mike and I are currently fighting over who is not going to start the driving - I think I am winning, but that could change tomorrow.

It will be nice to be out of this hotel we are staying in. For the location we are paying quite a good price, but the room is about the size of our bedroom at home with a TV that is too old to have a remote (can you believe that??!!!), a portable shower unit in the actual room (that is blocked and if it is overflowed we have to pay a £100 fine!! So you can imagine how quick our showers have to be!) The toilet is a shared one for the floor, and with what ive had over the last day or so i feel sorry the other guests!!! And we have a bed that is like sleeping on concrete with pillows made out of stone. Our backs have never been so sore; we are literally walking around like old people who need canes. We have taken advantage of our free breakfast once and won't have it again - you get a choice of cornflakes and/or toast! Not even worth it - and the coffee is disgusting. Oh, thats right,in the room we are provided with coffee sachets, sugar sachets, a cup and a kettle but no milk! In fact the hotel doesn't even supply milk, so if you wanted to buy some at the shop down the road you will have to drink it quick because there is no fridge in the room! Well, that is the french for you I suppose!!! Sorry, i'll shut up about them now!

I think that is it for now....we will try and log in while we are in France or Amsterdam!

Take care of yourselves and we look forward to seeing you all in less than 3 weeks!

Luv Karen & Mikey

Karen back here again!!! remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Well we are finally in UK... bit sad to see the end to the Vegas part of our trip, as you can all imagine I was having a blast.
On the way through the airport i finally found some WPT (World Poker Tour) gear. I spent the whole week looking for somewhere that sold the authetic stuff and found it fifty metres from the gate.

The trip over wasn't too bad for me (Thank God british customs are a little easier than US) but Kaz is having a bit of a poor time, she ate something i don't think agreed with her and had gastro on the plane, she's asleep in the room already, but has been promising me all day that she'll be right tommorrow.
We're staying in a dinky little hotel just outside the city centre and everything is kinda close, the management to the hotel are french (yay .... not) but i don't think we'll be spend much time there over the next few days anyways.

I can't get over how old everything is.... We rode the London Underground here and first thing i noticed is that there is a really musty smell to the air, kinda made me think of old tombs would love to exploring down there but Kaz won't let me i'm sure.
It's about the same temprature as Las Vegas about 12C so not too bad yet. Glad to be back somewhere where they drive on the left hand side of the road again (never freaked out so bad as USA drivers turning left wide through intersections, was worse than going on the tower of terror in the dark in the rain)

Our plan of attack is to go get our London passes (kinda like an all access pass to all touristy stuff) and hit Liecester Square and go to Tower of london and that kinda thing.

Well gotta go put more british pounds on my cash passport,
Keep those messages coming,

Love to you all,

Mikey & Kaz

Ye in Olde London Town remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Where did we leave you last? Thats right - on the Tuesday we were desperate to do some laundry otherwise we would have looked similar to all the homeless people around here. We were advised that the nearest laundromat was near Hard Rock Cafe and on the map it is only 2 blocks away, so in our wisdom we decided to walk!! Two blocks turned into 3 miles passing the most dodgiest and scariest people ever, carrying our suitcase full of dirty clothes. Not the best experience. So after our long, long, long, long walk we treated ourselves to Hard Rock Cafe lunch and couldn't resist getting the souvenir martini glass - had to start my collection again!

After the laundromat we caught a cab back but not before getting asked for some powder if we want some by a drug dealer. You have never seen us move so fast!!!

That night we went to see the Stage show we suffered through the timeshare presentation for! In one word, it was actually quite crap!! Very amateur and wouldn't pay any cash to see it. There was one chick in it who just couldn't dance to save her self and was always out of time with the others - she was the best thing about the show!!!! Sorry, there were 3 drum guys who came on as an interlude who were fantastic! Yes, the Jubilee Show was full of boobies.....so Mike was in heaven!!

Yesterday we met up with Angie and Laura (Mike's aunty and cousin) for the afternoon. It was really cool meeting them. We went through the Fremont Experience, the Star Trek Experience and even the M&M Experience - yes you read that correct - the have an M&M Experience (4 levels of it!! - with even a museum)

Anyway, we have to sign off now as our shuttle is arriving. We will finish off our Las Vegas Experience hopefully at LAX Airport!

Speak to you all then

Luv Karen & Mikey

Vegas Go Bye By remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Well we are well and truly in the Vegas atmosphere. After the arduous flight and terrible US customs (which suck big time) we have settled in and visited many casinos. We have had great fun playing all the crappy out of date pokies and even did really well on the roulette table. Tomorrow we are visiting all the other ones we missed!! Even the Palms Casino to do a bit of celebrity spotting (apparently that is where they all stay!)

Today we went to the Las Vegas Outlet Centre and did a huge shopping spree for waqrm winter clothes. The best place on earth for cheap stuff.......craps all over Harbour Town etc. I have discovered that Mike is a much more fussy shopper than I am!! Was getting excrutiating in the end but it was worth it - he looks rather hot in his new get up!!!

It is really hard to get used to the fact that everyone smokes inside here - even in the restaurants. Really plays havoc on our sinuses that we had to buy special nasal spray for it! We really do appreciate the non-smoking laws in Australia now!!

Funny quote for the day - we saw a homeless guy with a sign that said "Why lie, I need beer"!!!! It was hilarious!!!

We have done so much walking today! The Strip is HUGE! A lot longer than you realise and the weather is freezing for the middle of the desert - about average 15 degrees. People aren't really understanding our accent either - we have to talk slow like they are all dummies - which we have to say that most Americans are! Couldn't live in this country if we were paid!!! Sorry Guy!

We had to do a Time Share thing today to get free show and dinner tomorrow night for the both of us. We got caught by the salesman as soon as we arrived at the hotel (not good after 32 hours of flying!!) We must have looked like right suckers!! But we went for it - and believe it or not it isn't a bad deal! Too expensive for us though. But we do get tickets the oldest and best show in town. Mike is really happy as they describe the show as "Rhinestones covering practically nothing" So we will let you know all about it when we are next on line.

It is 2am in the morning here and we have been walking all day so we are about to call it a night (well me anyway, mikey still has a date with another pokie! - on limited resources mind you)

There isn't much more to update you guys on, but will definitely have lots more stories next time we are on line.

We love you all, and talk to you soon.

Keep sending those messages!!

Luv Karen and Mikey

Las Vegas - the 2nd episode remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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VegasBsby remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The drive down from Awaroa Lodge went quite fast apart from getting caught in a huge hail storm while travelling down the side of the mountain - needless to say Mikey was a bit of a wuss and did not trust my driving at all (Karen was hell bent on killing us, i'm sure) He doesn't know what he is talking about ;-) Mike actually was not much better in the driving department - collecting a little tropical bird in the front fender and not realising it was slowly getting sucked into the engine. When we found it we both nearly retched!! It was disgusting! Then Mikey hit a huge rock while trying to park!! Only a little scratch but I am enjoying teasing him about it!!

As soon as we got back we went out on the town and feeling extremely sorry for myself this morning! Caught up with some old friends which was awesome! So much for making sure we were in bed by 11!!

Next stop - Vegas Baby!!!! We are very excited and Mike is bouncing around like Tigger!!

We love getting all your messages, so please keep them coming. When we get to Vegas we will try and find a place that we can upload the photos on the website. We have some beautiful shots - and some very interesting ones!! (No, not that kind!!!)

We love you all and think about you often. Anyway we better go and check out of the hotel and have some breakfast before we pass out. We will write another message to you all and reply to the messages we have received so far when we get to the States.

Ciao for now!

Luv
Karen & Mikey

Last day in NZ remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We are currently sunning ourselves in the most beautiful Awaroa Lodge. We have never been anywhere that is so remote, relaxing, peaceful. And we are getting completely spoiled; we even had dinner personally made for us by the General Manager (aka my stepbrother Allan). This place is so remote that we had to take an hour and a half boat ride just to get here - but well worth it - going through the Marlborough Sounds, exploring the seal colonies etc. You would all love it up here!

We did have a bit of drama driving up here. It is a 6 hour drive and about 3 hours before we hit the lodge we stopped to get something to eat. I then proceeded to leave my purse (with all our NZ money in it) on the table of the cafe and drove off!!! We didn't realise it was missing until we got here. Thankfully, after nearly throwing up with fear etc, we found out that someone handed it in, with cash and all!! We will pick it up on Saturday!! Not a great way to start the trip!!! We will just have to drink to take away our worries (what a shame!!)

It is only 1pm here and the most exercise we have done is get out of bed!! Our plans for the rest of the day are go have lunch, walk around one of the trails here, go back and take a nap, have a glass of wine with our books, take another nap, have dinner, play some poker, go back read our books with another glass of wine and then sleep - personally we could really get used to all this!

Believe it or not we do miss everyone over there, and think of you often while we are being luxurious and relaxed (and yes, quite tiddly from the copious amounts of wine we are drinking!!)

We are back to Christchurch tomorrow morning and then have plans to go out on the town with Michelle Barrow - which we are really looking forward to!

We will update again when we get to Vegas - which is on Sunday!!

Take care, and please drop us a line when you can! We would love to hear from you!!

Luv
Karen & Mikey

In beautiful Awaroa Lodge remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The start of our journey remains copyright of the author Kaz-Mikey, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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