Pebbly Beach

Vancouver to LA via mid USA National parks, Las Vegas.

Part 1. Prince Edward Island to Vancouver. Driving in our new car.

We have left the Eastern states of the USA and have arrived in Canada, Toronto. This begins our drive accross Canada

Banf. It was snowing and very cold so we had to take a ski lodge. Great price too, it included a hot buffet breakfast. We cooked a buffalo spaghetti and had some red wine as it snowed all night.

The hot breakfast, would you like some more coffee sir? Tried to image the snow falling softly outside but it didnt work well.

This is Edward after several steep hills from Liloeet to Pemberton.

His auto transmission started to spew fluid. We had been keeping an eye on the fluid levels as it was leeking from Toronto. These spectacular mountains were too much. Luckily no damage was done by us as we did not run him dry.

Grizzly we think, on the road south of fort vermillion. This fella came all round our car, we were very excited.

Showing off some Canadian Bison.
We bought from a meat shop. Oh yeah were in Banf here.

Typical Drumheller scenery.
We camped here and had a great time.



Everyones favourite dinosaur, Triceratops.

This is real. The whole royal Tyrell museum was very in your face.

Nice campsite on the shore of lake Huron, I think it was another awsome spaghetti bolognaise that night.

The female camper has strong nesting instints.
Thats a queen size fitted sheet there!

This is the Chi Chi mon ferry.
It is very similar to the inter island ferrys NZ.
It took us North from Owen Sound to Manitoulan island. About 2 hours and saved us driving 300k .

Frances best next door neighbour, Rose.

Rose cooking hot dogs at her farm. Owen Sound.

We had a lovley visit.

Kats Deli and Corned Beef Emporium.
These corned beef on rye were a local speciality.


Leaving PEI. This is the Federation Bridge. 13 Kilometres over ocean.

Meet Edward, Complete with paperwork.

PEI was cold. The Harbour behind the MTA was frozen.



We have driven back to Toronto from PEI and have returned to Kats corned Beef Emporium.

This caddie was one we found online from Australia. We drove her around Toronto. What a beast. It was strange to actually see and drive a car we had been watching from Australia.

This is the view as we flew into Toronto International. We drove on this expressway many times. The 401

From the plane we could see Canada was going to be cold. This is the half frozen lake Erie.

Part 3 Cape Caneveral and Kennedy Space Center

This is the end of The East coast USA part of our holiday.

Next is part 1 Canada.

Frances touching Moon rock

Brett under The awsome Saturn 5 Engine

Brett inside a Space Station Module

This is the entrance to the space centre

Part 2 New York 2009

Top of the Rock.

Yes we are up on the observation deck of the Rockerfeller Building. This where the letterman show is done amongst others.

Ground Zero. From a Burger King.

The Famous Hot Dog Capital of the World, Coney Island

Times Square. New York City Center.

Florida, Part 1 - Key West

Key West 1st stop. April 2009

Driving the Florida Keys is one of the prettiest ocean drives weve done. The drive is about 300 Kilometres skipping from island to island over hundreds of bridges. On one side is the Gulf of Mexico, on the other is Atlantic ocean.

This was a nice little Cuban eatery near our hote in Key West. We had Conch fritters one day and came back for a Cuban feast the next.

This is us on a jet ski. That thing was the fastest. No kidding it was scarry to hold on full throttle. It went up to 45mph very quickly. The ride was smooth too, we went in and out of islands, under the Key bridges, all over the place we went. One particular channel was very rough, we got out of sink with the waves and nose dived into a low point. water came up over us. I asked Frances how was that? She replied "my eyes were closed"

Wiruna January 2009

On Saturday 31 January 2009 Frances and drove out to Wiruna. We left home at about 4pm of a very hot Saturday afternoon. It was pleasant driving in the Air conditioned Subaru.

At Wiruna we met 2 nice ASNSW members Michael and Peter who were the only people out there. They were using their own equipment so we did not stay fore any Supernovae Searches.
End

Australia Day 2009

A very excited Brett and Frances left the mountains early in search of a beach.
Big mistake, Thousands of others had the same idea.
We tried the Wollongong beaches but many roads were barricaded. We tried Shell Harbour and couldn't get a park even close. We went to Bass Point and squeezed into a tight park. We went for a walk on the rocks. We read a memorial plaque about a Wreck off the rocks at Bass Point.
We went home and had a nice BBQ.
Next Australia day were going West.
Its always nice to go for a drive in our new Subaru.

Christmas and New Year 2008-2009

Frances and I have had a great time this season.

December started with 5 days in Parkes. We were there for a Lunar Graze and to join up with CWAS at their Christmas party at the dish. We also toured the control rooms of the dish and met some working astronomers.

Next was a weekend in the City.
A workmates Harbour cruise in the afternoon followed by a swim at the hotel then a steak at
Im Angus.
The next day we went to the StarWars Exhibit at the PowerHouse.
We stayed at the Amora on Jamieson, a 5 Star hotel and yes just the same a sthe Hilton and all the others. We bought it as a mystery buy on where is for only $175.


At Christmas we camped at Treachery camp Seal Rocks NSW.
We wanted to have a nice day on the beach (Lighthouse Beach) in our new Subaru. We walked down the beach access and it looked quite easy. The sand was hard and in good driving condition. We decided to go the next day though. that was a major mistake. When we drove down the beach access road it was quickly clear we would get stuck as the sand was very soft and churned up by more capable 4wds as they were having difficulty leaving the sand dune at the back of the beach. Fully stuck we let almost all the air from our tyres, down to 7 PSI . A nice man pulled us out of the bog with a snatch strap. Once we were free the Subaru actually drove quite well, very well, despite the sand being soft and churned and in terrible condition for driving.
We drove straight off the beach and went touring around Forster and area.


Over New Year we camped at Ulladulla.
Frances surfed on a surf mat for the first time. She was also dumped for the first time. I quickly picked her up to find her in good spirits. I managed to go fishing but caught no fish.
The weather didnt allow anymore surfing but we had a great time anyway. We did buy some fresh local Kingfish and we battered it at our camp. It was easily up there with the best fish that you can possibly buy.