Theme Park Thrills! By al

Hi Everyone!

Well, here we are in the US of A! We have now finally found a place to upload pics - so enjoy!!! (16/05/08)

After a tedious 13.5 hour flight, we arrived at 10am Friday morning and faced the terror that was the LA Immigration Officers - seriously, after a long flight with no sleep, the last thing any of us wanted to cope with was filling out a form accurately or...'Go to the end of the line!' (this line was literally 2 kms long..!).

Anyhow, we passed immigration 'Have a nice day folks' (yay!), made it through customs (yay again!) and onto our bus connection to Anaheim. Shock number 1: it is averaging 38 degrees celsius here. My cautious packing for potentially cold conditions was tested as I rumaged through jumpers, jeans and coats for t-shirts and shorts. On the upside however, salvation awaited, as right next door to the hotel we are staying at, is a MacDonalds - with air con :-)

Cam outside our hotel, Camelot Inn and Suites, Anaheim

Recovering well from jet lag, we were up at 7am the next day for our trip to Universal Studios. High expectations saw me a little disappointed with universal and I would rate it on par if not just below that of Movie World. But the expectations were to be truly challenged the next day...





DINSEYLAND! Having waited for this day for at least 10 years now, I was bound to be disappointed. But guess what? I wasn't - in fact, it truly is the happiest place on Earth; I am even still wearing my embroied Mickey ears as I type :-)

Some quick highlights:

• The rides! Awesome and scary enough to make me feel brave; not so scary I refuse to participate. Special mention to Indiana Jones and the Thunder Mountain Railroad..and Splash Mountain....and the cups and saucers ... and Dumbo :-)





• The fireworks and Fantastic - brilliant. 'Nuff said.


• The parade - I saw this three times and still got excited when the characters waved to me :-)

• Meeting Mickey Mouse!!
  

Will sign off for now; tomorrow is another early morning start, this time to San Diego Zoo. Hope everyone is well and whilst I am missing you, and loving being on holidays and glad it is just the start! :-)

Our Tours

Here are the tours that Cam and I will be taking, starting with the Western Discovery Tour, a two-day stop over in Chicago and then onto the Great Eastern Cities Tour.

Planning the Trip

The trip of a lifetime - part 2 - is nearly here! Cam and I have been busy planning our 5 week trip to the States for four months and are set to Jet out on 25 April 2008. We will aim to use this blog to keep you across our adventures and experiences as we journey through the West Coast, across to Chicago and then finish up with a tour through the cities of the East Coast including the Big Apple itself.

What to Blog??!

It has been too long since I blogged...so here is a random selection of some pics for your viewing pleasure - enjoy!

Tha Gang at Anna's B'day Bash at theShellbourne; Pregnant sis Wendy!

Random pics of little Nicholas - now already 1 year old!

Piglets at the Sydney Royal Easter Show (so cute!!)

Dom and Tracy's Wedding

It has now officially been months since I have written a blog entry - but I blame lack of broadband connection. Now that we are connected to the superfast superinfo highway, there are no more excuses...

The end of October 2006 saw Cam and I boarding a plane to the far reaches of Western Australia and the lovely city of Perth. My first impressions of Perth were clean, neat, calm and a relaxed community. It was odd driving through the city centre in a cab only to ask 'where is the traffic?' at 5.30pm on a Thursday afternoon but that goes to show the contrast.

Soon after we arrived, we managed to collide with several relatives, all of whom were staying in the same apartment complex for my cousin, Domenic's, wedding. We were the ushered up for some good hearty Italian pasta before turning in for the night at 8pm (I blamed jet lag and the two hour time difference ;-)

The next morning, Cam and I decided to take in the sights of the city before the wedding in the afternoon. We met with Wendy and Trish for a late breakfast and strolled through the open plan shopping mall, not dissimilar to the Gold Coast. The highlight had to be the CAT bus (Central Area Transit). It took you around the heart of the city and it was FREE - you can see why Perth managed to win my heart!

Clockwise from L - Myself, Dom and Wendy post-nuptials; the Church; Tracy being walked down the aisle by her mum

The wedding of Dom and Tracy was lovely and the weather was perfect. The reception was held at the Royal Perth Yacht club and was a great evening of good food, company and entertainment. The highlight of the night was the getaway car, which was actually an ambulance (Tracy is a paramedic). Some snaps of the night below.

A variety of happy snaps at the reception featuring my cousins, Wendy, Cam and I (yes, I know I look the least Italian of them all...)

Wendy's 30th Birthday

'Twas the afternoon that marked Wendy's milestone 30th birthday and Cam and my first wedding anniversary! We spent the afternoon at a lovely Italian Restaurant in Camden called Olive - highly recommended for any locals.

Wensy also had a seperate 'no parent's' do at a Thai restaurant in Mount Annan the following week - a few cowboys later in the evening and Singstar came out...what a great night!

Nana's 80th Birthday Party

This was a lovely afternoon that we spent at the Mount Annan Botanical Gardens Restaurant for Nana's 80th birthday, 23 August.