Melbourne to Washington D.C.

Day 1: wake up at 7am to get to the airport, 20hrs of plane rides & 10hrs in airports (jumping from melb to syd for a 2hr flight, then syd to LA on a 13hr flight, watched a billion movies on the way, then 5hours from LS to DC)....and then comes night time


Day 2: Peach picking, filled 3 bags in about 4mins...turns out peach fuzz makes you turn out in a rash for a little bit if it touches anywhere with any sweat

Luray Caverns, went spelunking in the largest natural cave on the east coast of the US, took 146 pictures

went back to my lodging and chilled out playing games since we were all pooped out


Day 3: 110 deg F out, we stayed inside all day playing games & enjoyed the AC all day

Passed out at about 7pm....delayed jet lag


Day 4: wake up 13hrs later & good to go

Trip to DC, went on my 1st subway trip, saw the pentagon (not as interesting as its made out to be, just drove on by) went to the Smithsonian Institute, arive there right on opening time, hop in que for museum of national history, checked out fossils, gems, rocks, bones, plants, butterflies, sea life, and some wierd out of place africa exhibit, had lunch in the Fossil Cafe & spent gizzilion dollors ona sandwich & was super tasty.

went to the air & space museum and went off exploring & left my host alone on a chair in the airconditioned area.

moved on over to the museum of art and went off yet again with my host in the chercking room by the entrance, walked around the massive gallery looking at all the pretty pictures, killed the batteries in my camera just as i took the last pic i wanted from the paintings, took 197 pics.

come back to my hosts place & type this up...in loverly air conditioning

P.S. crab cakes & sweet corn are great


Washington D.C to Orlando

Day 5: woke up and booked a hotel & transportation before my host takes me to the airport for my trip to orlando, 2hrs later and i land in orlando, i hop on my shuttle to my hotel, check in & get comfortable in my room with 2 double queen size beds

before bed i head down to the buisness center of the hotel & make bookings for the place i wish to visit

had KFC for dinner (chicken wrap & maccaroni cheese), way diff to what we have back in Australia


Day 6: i wake up & have a breakfast at ihop (strawberry pancakes, eggs, bacon & hash browns), head back to the hotel for a few hours & watch a movie on the TV in my room(Mr. Megorium's Wonder Emporium)

I get a hotel taxi down to the Ripley's Belive it or Not Museum & go through there for several hours

had lunch ar Denny's Diner (double cheeseburger[needed a knife to cut the burger in half just so you could eat it] hash browns & a banana split)

worked my way down to Wonderworks and had a look through there for a bit, was full of fun & exciting hands on activities to do (i cant land a virtual space shuttle)

then i made my way to Medieval Times, a dining & entertainment extravaganza, i was in the froont row & had a great view of all the jousting, sword play, arabian steeds & all that stuff (if u are ever in orlando this is a MUST DO)


Day 7: had breakfast at the hotel & loaded myself up with lotsa eggs, soup, muffins, danish & fruit (i didnt eat for the rest of the day)

caught the shuttle from the hotel to universal studios where i went to Marvel Island & went on all the rides there before getting tired out & coming back to the hotel before dinner & passing out at 8pm


Day 8: woke up & had another massive breakfast

got the shuttle to Seaworld & got absolutly soaked by Shamu the killer whale even though i was sitting about half way up the stadium
found me this nifty little gizmo which is a whater sprayer bottle thing with a fan attached to the top so its like a portable airconditioner
saw a show that was like a mix of ballet, circ de sole, & musical, it was fantastic

dropped my camera by accident & busted the LCD display screen, went to the florida mall & found a camera shop with a very helpful shop assistant & she found me a camera that was the same as the one i already had except it was the next model up & got a free carry bag to go with it(the camera itself was a very reasonable price too)

went to the pirate dining adventure where i had free apitisers, a pre-show where they did a little entertaining to get people prep'd for the show & hyped up, then came the main event where the pirate sang shanties & piratey songs, sword play & aireal acrobatics along with trampoline work

(at this point im up to 691 pics taken)


Orlando to Houston

Day 9: woke up & had another massive breakfast at the hotel, checked out & went off to houston, landed & got picked up by my hosts, relaxed back at their place for the rest of the day

Day 10: went for a drive around conrow & the woodlands area, went to their mall which was massive, walmart & had a look around & had a texas bbq for dinner, it was fantastic

Day 11: went to fudruckers for lunch, their claim to the worlds greatest burgers aren't unfounded, i was full for the rest of the day

Day 12: pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage for breakfast, had dairy queen for lunch, went back to my hosts place and watched movies for the rest of the day

P.S. everything is big in texas!!


Houston to St. Louis

Day 13: went to whataburger for breakfast before flying off to St. Louis.
landed & went to my hotel, went on the net and started looking at what there was to do here & got my next 3 days all planned out.

went to Bandana's Bar-B-Q & had the best nachos you could ever posibly imagine

Day 14: woke up and had breakfast in the hotel, got the shuttle to airport where i go on the metro to Forrst Park hich is bigger than new yorks central park

went to the history museum on the north side (was pretty boring, mostly about the spirit of st. louis, quilts & fur)

then i moved over to art musum located on the west side, was full of traditional art work, sculptures & even artwork done on armour & weapons

after that i ambled over to the st. louis zoo, took a bunch of pics, filled up my memory card on my camera & started on my 2nd card, in the perfin area there was a young one that was flying backwards in the water splashing everyone by the waters edge

went back to the hotel room & relaxed for the night...after eating at bandana's bar-b-q again (combo plater with beef, chicken, fries & bbq beans, was all very nice)

Day 15: had breakfast in the hotel & did the whole shuttle/metro thing down to the arch by the mississippi riverfront, went through their airport style security & went up in their tram/train/fairground ride to the top, took some pics & came back down

visited their little museum under the arch to kill some time for my next schedualed activity to start, was pretty cool, had some recreations of things

went over to the steam boat ride & spent an hour on the boat with the wind in my hair & a gided tour of the mississippi river & st. louis history

went to the old court house because it looked cool, but was pretty lame on the inside

went back to the hotel and watched some TV before going back to bandana's for some chicken (2 breasts & wings), fries, potato salad (had cheese & pineapple in it, very nice) & boiled peanuts (nice for something new & strange)

Day 16: had breakfast at the hotel, but wasnt very nice today, was some kinda gloopy bacon....thing

went to cathedral basilica with 83,000 square feet of mosaic art, absolutly amazing

walked through forrest park down to the science center, went to th planetarium for a 1hr presentation about the night sky ovr st. louis and metal moons (satalites).
after that i worked my way through the many interactive exhibits

now im back at the hotel writing this before i go to bandana's bar-b-q again & then pass out in my hotel room for my flight tomorrow to seattle


St. Louis to Seattle

Day 17: went to the airport & got my flight changed to an earlier flight rather than a night flight at no extra charge

landed in seattle & booked in at the hilton across from the airport, went to the buisness center & looked at what i could do & planned my next 3 days & went to bed

Day 18: got the bus to downtown seatle & found a crepe vendor, so i had a egg/ham/cheese crepe, was very nice

went on the monorail to the sapce needle, went to the top & stayed up there for a while, its a fantastic view, the elevator down takes you to a 2 story gift shop of all things

moved onto the Eperience Music Project & science fiction museum before taking the monorail back tot he bus stop & grabbing another crepe on the way

Day 19: took the bus back downtown and grabbed another crepe from the vendor (very adictive), went upstairs in the mall and got a 32oz smoothie before going on the monorail back to the space needle

went past the space needle & to the science center where i stayed the rest of the day looking at exhibits, & going to the plantarium & imax

Day 20: took the hotel shuttle to the pike place market which is 3 stories high & has anything you could posably want there from clothing to food to jewelry to random junk no one wants

from there i went to the aquarium & saw a massive fish tank, sea lions, sea otters & river otters (otters are adorable), and some other fishies too

went on the Argosy Locks Cruise that went around queen island & through the lock system they have, was very nice, landed in port as the sun was going down & was reflecting off the water all so pretty like

went back to my hotel & watched TV till i fell asleep


Seattle to Melbourne

Day 21: woke up, watched a movie in my hotel room, had a shower & packed my bags

writing this before i head off to the airport for about 18hrs of flights & about 5hrs of airport waiting



i miss my family & friends