Kirkstone pass

Kirkstone pass, originally uploaded by mark benger.

Had a little drive up to Kirkson Pass in the lake district last weekend - and it wasn't in the SAAB :)

New (old) car

saab_9-3001_nonum, originally uploaded by mark benger.

Yes, I've now got wheels

In Bath next weekend

I will be in Bath next weekend (29th/30th) so if anyone wants to meet up send me an e-mail

Home at last

Well its been 10 months, a few flights, most of which were under 4 hours, and a lot of train travel, 15k miles on Amtrak alone, but I'm finally back in the UK.

Miami, no Vce

worldtour_6066.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

No posts for a while, but I've been recovering from the train journeys in South Beach, Miami, which is full of Art Deco & Bronzed bodies (which being America are either extremely thin or grossly fat).

Tomorrow evening I fly down to Brazil to see Rod, so I should be back home on the 12th, making approximately 10 months on the road.

Monuments & Aerospace

worldtour_5995.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

As you can see from the above pic, I'm now in Washington DC, home of many fine monuments, a certain pale residence, and most importantly the Smithsonian Air & Space museum.
Two complaints though - it's bitterly cold, and the only food option at the Air & Space museum is Macdonald's. Still they did have Spaceship One and a spitfire, and unlike most US museums were prepared to note & credit when something wasn't invented in the good old USA.

Austin Texas

First off many thanks to Ray and Ryan, who I met up with in the Bay of Islads in New Zealand, for putting up with me for the past couple of days.

So what have I been up to since my last entry? From Seattle I headed down to Portland on the shortest US rail trip so far at only 4 hours, before hading back east to Chicago where I bounced back west to LA via the Grand Canyon (snowy but uncrowded). I then headed straight east to Texas and Austin. The train stopped overnight in San Antonio, so I wandered off to see the Alamo at midnight.

Next stop is back to Chicago (all rails lead to Chicago) and then onto Washington DC.

Home of Starbucks

worldtour_5840.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

I'm in Seattle, home of Starbucks, Boeing and Microsoft for a flying visit - just one night before heading to Portland, then back to Chicago before heading south to the Grand Canyon and a bit of warmth (its cold here).

I seem to be loosing things on this trip, the latest count is:
1 Mobile phone (plus 1 broken)
1 Compact camera
4 or 5 hats
1 t shirt

Ps I will be arriving back home in early march

San Francisco to Denver

worldtour_5780.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

I've survived the two day trip on Amtrak from San Francisco to Denver, not without a few delays. The train was over two hours late leaving, and was held up by snow in the mountains so was about six hours late into Denver, which meant arriving at 2am.

Denver itself is cold (had 2 inches+ of snow this afternoon) but I've managed to get some shopping done.

Napa Valley Wine train

worldtour_5773.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

Trains & wine tasting in one day, a hard combination to beat, pity its still raing non stop though.

Cycling in the rain

worldtour_5766.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

Its cold & wet here - so cold I've even had to buy a pair of gloves (and a lightsaber, but for different reasons) so obviously the thing to do was to rent a bike for a nice ride over a certain iconic bridge for a late lunch on the other side of the harbour?
I think I managed to pull off the drowned rat impersination quite well.

A video I found

Something to do if your bored, but have access to a lot of rubber bands, some wood and a couple of motors.

San Francisco

worldtour_5755.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

Hello from a cold wet SF - home of cable cars and a certain rock (pictured above).

Jumping jack ... humpback

worldtour_5654.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

Any guesses as to what I've been watching today?
Just a little boat trip. First off was some spinner dolphins for a quick swim (sorry no underwater pics) then off to look at one humpback doing tail lifts, followed by two complete showoffs, breaching multiple times over about half an hour period.
Pics are in the usual place - enjoy.
PS My last day in Hawaii - next stop San Francisco

Aloha from Hawaii

worldtour_5590.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

I've survived the longest flight of my trip so far - 9 hours from Sydney to Honolulu (why I couldn't fly direct from Auckland I don't know) which together with crossing the international date line made Sunday a very long day - 47 hours of which almost 24 hours was spent traveling.
After the peace and quiet of New Zealand Hawaii seems big, loud and American (apart from all the signs in japenese for the tourists) so I'm having to get used to crowds again, as well as bing back in the northern hemisphere.
Did the main tourist thing today - Pearl harbor with its various monuments and museums. It's strange that only Japan and America appeared to take part in the Pacific war, since there was virtually no mention of any other of the allies.

Last day in Kiwi land

worldtour_5586.JPG, originally uploaded by mark benger.

I'm back in Auckland, and I've got less than 24 hours remaining in New Zealand but I've at least found a cheap wireless connection so I've been able to update all my photos onto Flickr - just as well since the DVD writer on the macbook seems to have packed in, so I couldn't send the parents back with a complete backup as I wanted to - wo said macs were reliable?

Overall I think New Zealand has been the best country so far in my travels, mainly since I had virtually noting planned before I arrived, and was able to easily make my way around just planning a couple of days (or sometimes hours) ahead. I hope it will be as easy in the US.

Next stop Hawaii

Happy (belated) new year

So its 2008 and despite seeing it in 13 hours before the UK I'm late posting this - I always was a bit late.

New years eve was spent in Napier on the east side of North island, with a small concert and fireworks at midnight. Dad was even persuaded to do without tablecloths for supper and try a Mongolian bbq. Unfortunately I forgot to check, and all the wineries were closed on new years day, so the expected tasting session was off.

Flickr has also been updated up to Rotorua & the Maori Hangi