The Land of the Free

So we arrived in San Francisco a few days ago and after spending the night in a posh hotel in the city we met up with Liam, Nicky and Tom in our hostel in the Mission District. In the evening we met up with Oli and Katie as well who are here for a wedding. It was really nice to see so many people I knew at once, after not seeing anyone I knew for about 2 months. Last night we met up with Si too so there’s quite a Devon contingency here at the moment – or Devon Brethren as Archie would say.

We’ve already toured the thrift stores and found plenty of Burning Man outfits and been to a hardware store to pick up some more essentials like goggles and masks. Everyone’s getting pretty excited now – some of us (read Thomas Oscar) a little too excited and may have to be kept on a leash to prevent anything bad happening.

Today we’re heading downtown to Haight Ashbury and then Union Square for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Tomorrow we’re going to Alcatraz.

Hot Water Beach and an almost Hot Water Game

Tom and I took a day trip out on Saturday up to the Coromandle peninsular to a beach that has hot springs running underneath it. Two hours either side of low tide one can dig a hole in the sand and sit in a home-made hot spring. And hot is the word! In some places it is very, very hot. Almost as hot as it was cool in fact.

After that we went for dinner in Katikati with Rob and Penny before watching the All Blacks almost lose to the Wallabies. Much to everyone's relief (not least the coach) the filthy Aussies gave away a penalty in the closing minutes which allowed the infamous Dan Carter to pull off a trademark kick. The highlights the following day neglected to mention his mile-wide drop kick attempt earlier on in the game. Very tactful.

Tonight Shirley and Phil are back from Melbourne and we're having our fist NZ barbecue. Tomorrow we fly to another side of the world to the land of excess. It's all go when you're on holiday you know.

Exciting job prospects in the New World.

I too am looking for a hot boning side boner. That's a sexy job, right? Oh... wait...

Underwater hockey!

Cloud bank.

Hole I made in the ice.

I stole a spanner and need to get rid of the evidence quick... Oh...

Halo on mountain.

The coolest Chinese kid in the world, Milford Sound

Tom's collection of big things.

The stupidest van ever. Dolphins!