"Well, we're back!"

We arrived safely back in Heathrow on a reassuringly grey Sunday morning. And somehow so did our bags, ever the optimist I was convinced they would disappear on the final leg!

It's really difficult to sum up what we thought or felt.

In some ways as soon as we were back it didn't seem like ten months had pasted since we left to start our incredible journey. Then again as soon as we stopped and started to remember some of the amazing places we'd visited and the lovely people we'd met it's hard to believe we managed to fit it all in to such a short time.

It has quite definitely been the most amazing year for both Tams and I and we can't thank everyone enough for helping us to do it.

So for everyone who:

• Didn't scream and panic when we announced what we were planning for 2006;
• Suggested places that we had to go and see;
• Lent complete strangers (us) their cars, gave them a place to sleep, fed them and showed them round;
• Travelled halfway round the planet to visit us! ;
• Gave us handy travelling presents and lent us kit;
• Kept us informed what was going on back home, even the shortest e-mail/text was great!;
• Took the time to look at our photos or read our ramblings;

THANK YOU!

Liam & Tamsin xxx

P.S. Now prepare yourselves for the mother of all slideshows and photo albums, caffeine will be provided!

New York - Statue of Liberty

Our last morning in New York and away from home!!!!

To be honest Tamsin and I were finding it hard to get engaged in the days planned activities. We caught a 'Circle Line' tour on the Hudson and East rivers. It was a beautiful, if chilly, sunny day as we circumnavigated Manhatten island taking in the sights: the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge etc. There wasn't a problem with the tour or the places we were both simply distracted by looking forward to getting home. Actually 'distracted' doesn't come close we couldn't wait.

After the tour we had one last american diner experience where we were again shocked by how rude the locals can be to the waiters! Can't they imagine what will be done to their food behind closed doors. We had a nice lunch and Tamsin almost managed to coax a smile out of our waiter.

A final stroll through Manhatten took us past the beautiful Chrysler building and through a couple of Christmas markets.

We even managed to survive a terrifying high speed shuttle bus journey to the airport. And I thought gale force winds on the top of the Empire State Building was something to worry about!?!?

New York - Natural Hist. Museum

We took another walk from our hostel through Central Park. This time our destination was the Natural History Museum. It was gigantic!

We started in the planetarium where were saw an incredible 3D show entitled 'Cosmic Collisions', very good but quite worrying when planets started bouncing off one another and forming moons. We then followed a scaled walkway from the Big Bang to the present day, the path was about 200 yards long so every step you took represented a couple of million years. The Scientists really know how to make you feel insignificant when, at the very end, they had a human hair on a light box to represent the whole of human history to date. Like that famous book said "The Universe is Big. Really big. It may seem like a long way to the corner chemist, but compared to the Universe, that's peanuts".

After walking through the whole of creation Tams and I had a much deserved cup of tea followed by a look round the rest of the museum. We quickly realised that you would really need an entire week just to see all of the exhibits. There was an entire floor of dinosaurs!

New York - Empire State View

After a day exploring Greenwich, Little Italy, Chinatown and the financial district on foot we headed back to the heart of Manhatten.

We climbed the Empire State Building (well we 'climbed' into a lift) in search of giant gorillas and views of the city.

Disappointingly it was Kong's night off so we had to make do with the views and accompanying audio tour. The view over the city at night with all of the lights was incredible even if the roaring winds made it very difficult for me to relax and enjoy the view (I fear I may have left finger indentations on the metal handrails). Actually the winds did explain why we didn't see KK, apparently they did make an inflatable to stick on the top for special occasions but it only lasted for a couple of minutes before the high winds tore it to shreads!

It was a great way of seeing how all the places we had visited over the past couple of days sat next to one another.

New York - Grand Central Station

A completely different kind of 'work of art' compared to those on show in the Guggenheim. I really wanted to see the main concorse of the Grand Central Station.

It's an incredible building. The station has more of a feeling of a cathedral than a train station with huge glass windows at either end of the hall and smooth marble floors.

There was even an annex with a Christmas market so 'everyone' was happy.

Tams and I were planning on having a cocktail on the balcony bar and watching the world go but unfortunately it was closed when we tried. Maybe next time.

New York - The Guggenheim

Tamsin and I started our time in New York with a walk through Central Park and a couple of hours in the Guggenheim museum. The museum is housed in a stunning spiralling building (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) which stand on the very edge of the park.

Now Tams and I are normally the first to admit that we don't really 'get' art that much but we loved this place. You start off in the atrium and follow the walkway as it curls its way past all of the pictures on show. The exhibition was a collection of Spanish paintings and was called 'El Greco to Picasso'. Apparently exhibitions are normally organised chronologically where as this one was grouped into themes so you could see how the different artists had influenced one another. The thing that made the visit really interesting was the audio tour which explained the background to some of the key paintings.

One thing that really made me laugh was a pair of little old New York ladies who went against the flow, caught the lift to the top so they could follow gravity while they looked at the paintings. They couldn't help commenting on how stupid everyone else was to constantly walk up hill, I think they had a point!

Powell - Hyde Cale Car Ride

A cable car ride was another one of those touristy things we couldn't resist doing. And to be fair it's a far more civilised way of tackling some of those steep hills than walking.

The trams arrive at the end of their lines where their 'gripman' and conductor turn them around (by hand!!) on a huge turntable. The tram rumbles along at a very easy pace and you can sit or stand on the very edge of the carridge to watch the sights roll by. Great!

Although I was so intent on catching the 'moment' as a photo that Tams and the tram almost left without me! Then again running to jump onto the side of the tram was quite cool.

And as San Francisco we've loved it! It's such a cool, laid back place with loads to see and do. Next stop the Big Apple!

Golden Gate Bridge

Following another, long standing, recommendation Tams and I hired bikes and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a great way to see another iconic landmark. You can cycle all the way upto and over the bridge. The views back over the city were fantastic. Apparently the bridge was never intended to be the famous red colour. The red was simply an undercoat before it was painted grey, but locals took such a shine to it that they insisted it stayed.

Once on the other side of the bay we caught the ferry from the picturesque town of Sausolito, past Alkatraz and back into the city. It was a brilliany way of sight-seeing. Thanks for the tip Helen!

San Francisco - Lombard St.

Those recommendations were quite correct, the drive along the coast to San Francisco was great. We had a very unusual breakfast in a roadside mexican diner. I don't think I've ever had quite so many Jalapeno peppers for breakfast before! Ah well when in Rome, well California, you know what I mean...

We negotiated some of San Francisco's famously steep streets and discovered a couple of things. I discovered that navigation is not all that easy and managed to get us 'misplaced' in downtown SF, much to Tamsin's delight Tamsin became a fully paided up member of the automatic appreciation society when our trusty Chevvy performed some flawless hill starts on her behalf.

Once we located our hostel, the wonderfully laid back (and iMac-tastic) 'Pacific Tradewinds' we returned Chevvy and started our explorations on foot. We found Lombard St, the world's crookedest street, (pictured) and Filbert St. which allegedly pips NZ's own Baldwin St. to the title of World's steepest street. I know we're ever so slightly biased but both Tams and I think that the Kiwis have been robbed.