The Final Countdown and Big Trip Begins!

Leaving Australia 

(2nd March 2012 - 16th December 2015)

The countdown was on as we prepared to vacate the wonderful country that is Australia! We have resigned from jobs and ended contracts (Friday 11th December 2015) and began the full scale preparation that is decluttering our lives from the almost four years spent here!

Over the month of November, we had been selling things off and organising our travels! So the house was looking a bit bare, and the pantry and fridge was pretty empty and looking sad.

 This was the house set up in Ipswich for a good month, maybe longer! Comfortable and practical though.

Poor little Hugo sold the week before we left, he went to a lovely 18 year old guy that insisted that he would continue to call the Echo - Hugo! So many kilometres traveled safely and such a good little car - though sad to see him go, the bloody car cost us more to get a roadworthy certificate than the Landcruiser!!!

We had a farewell bash on the Friday night after finishing work in Australia, saw all the workmates from both Powerlink Qld and SouthernX Radiology.  So that was nice to see everyone we could before we left Australia for good.  Drove the Landcruiser up to Rockhampton (due to it not selling before we left, storing at brother Richard's place and then flew down back to Brisbane the following day, to wrap up our last day in Qld and had a lovely dinner with some of our good friends in Nundah.  Lovely way to end our almost four years in Oz.

Back in New Zealand for Xmas & New Year

We were back in New Zealand for a month (16th Dec 2015 - 12th Jan 2016), we caught up with the family down in Southland which was busy and a vast temperature change from sunny Qld but so enjoyable.  After a very quick visit, we went to Taranaki to see more family and friends - it was very busy catching up with them and so good to see everyone (Michael had not been in Taranaki for 2 years).  

Out in the Urenui Boat Club Fishing Competition, we went out the day before this and got absolutely nothing.  The day of the competition we caught a huge amount! A couple of sharks as well, it was a good day out! Josh and Eak are in the back, Darryl is driving and Shahn & Emma are hiding at the front of the boat.

Urenui Beach, Taranaki.  We spent a bit of time chilling out and fishing with Dad.  This is where Shahn spent her childhood Christmas holidays with the family, so it was quite good to recharge the batteries while frantically visiting the hoards of people in New Plymouth.

Emma with her beautiful Snapper, I think it was around 3kgs maybe more....  She was really stoked!

We were so busy visiting people that we didn't plan our USA leg as extensively as we should have. We booked flights to LA easily and did the ESTA visa online application with no troubles but we failed to notice that we were required by the US Government to have outward tickets booked as well.  So a very frantic google at the Auckland Airport organising exiting tickets to satisfy our visa requirements.  Gahh, such a balls up! 

          **** The first leg of the travel Extravaganza ****

Los Angeles, California (12th – 17th January 2016) and Flight from Auckland, NZ to LA, USA

Arriving at LAX was a breeze after the colossal nightmare leaving NZ, long story short we weren't allowed to leave NZ for the US until we had exiting tickets. We weren't aware that we required to have a return ticket, we just thought you could 100% wing it – so that was a fun way to spend an hour before we flew out. Mum and Nana Corbett drove us up to Auckland from New Plymouth, so that was excellent but also I imagine they found it a bit stressful watching us flap around trying to suss out a flight. But we have booked onward flights to Lima, Peru for 25th February, which will be just in time for Michael’s 30th birthday so that should be amazing!


We used Air BnB for the duration of our stay in LA, first night was in Inglewood, CA which was close to LAX so that was helpful.  We actually stayed in Air BnB's all through LA, mainly due to convenience and cost. They were excellent, and would definitely recommend them to anyone looking to get a nice place to stay at which is genuinely nicer and cheaper than a hotel - especially in a big city! We spent the arriving afternoon in Venice Beach and walked along the beach to Santa Monica, which was beautiful. Managed to get a SIM card as well so that helped us sort ourselves out!

Santa Monica Beach, we went for a lovely walk to stretch our legs after the long flight.  Beautiful evening to be strolling along the beach.

Palm Trees, classic view along the Venice - Santa Monica Strip.

Break Dancers along the Venice to Santa Monica Sunset Strip

We were soon to realise how prevalent these shops were.  Medical Marijuana is legal in California and apparently you wander on in and see a "doctor" and they give you a prescription for whatever ails you. Haha!

At the Santa Monica Pier on the look out for Forest Gump

During our time in LA, we went to the La Brea Tar Pits, which were well worth going to.  The bulk of the fossils are all real with minimal casting, they are very distinctive and we enjoyed the time there.  The tar must make excavation such a mission and incredibly dirty work but it is incredible how many animals and fossils they have got there. Lots of extinct species as well as beautiful exhibits! Quite interactive and very interesting.

Tar pits outside with a representation sculpture of a Colombian Mammoth getting stuck in the tar.

Michael having a go with the tar, it was sticky stuff.  It definitely shows how viscous it is and how it was a death sentence for animals getting stuck in it and subsequently dying.

The La Brea Fossils, beautifully preserved by the tar the destinctive caramel colour and found in museums all over North America (we found La Brea fossils in Salt Lake City Natural Museum as well).  There were also a huge amount of Saber Toothed Cat located in the tar pits.

Woolly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) fossil found in La Brea Tar Pits, pretty cool! The interesting thing about Rancho La Brea (it was a huge ranch covering downtown LA and surrounding suburbs) was that Museum uses on real fossils and that there is very very minimal castings done so a very unique place.

The very small collection of Dire Wolf (Canis dirus) skulls found in the tar pits, they think that there is a huge amount of Dire Wolves there because the were trying to eat/scavenge the animals stuck in the tar.

We spent two nights in Hollywood, and was very close to Hollywood Boulevard so we wandered up and down a couple of times.  We actually found that we didn't know many of the names on the stars, so we stopped with one of the ones we did know!

We also visited the Space and Science Museum, it was very interesting and far more extensive than we were expecting.  The Endeavour Space Shuttle was there, along with its very impressive history.  We were both quite shocked by how large it is up close and in person.  This is a purpose built facility to house the Endeavour and really it was pretty cool.

Shahn loving the Space Shuttle! 

Checking it all out, the underside is made of ceramic tiles to protect the shuttle during re-entry back to earth.

We also went to the Natural History Museum, it was pretty amazing too. Literally thousands and thousands of exhibits to view, the standard was very high and they did a very good job of presenting everything well.  The architecture was beautiful as well, very stunning building.

T-rex and a Triceratops fossils, very well done and pretty cool

Michael admiring the dinosaurs, I like this picture primarily because it shows just how massive the fossils are.  If we had have lived alongside dinosaurs, that would have been some crazy stuff to deal with!

Bloody loving the dinosaurs, pretty cool!

Stegosaurus, Shahn's favourite dinosaur!

Shahn always checking out the gemstones, such a magpie!

Griffith Observatory was next on the agenda items, we spent hours there.  Such an beautiful view from up the top and the walk up was lovely, we met some siblings who were from Mexico and they walked up with us.  They thought they would go the direct route but we went on a missive mission up to the observatory via the park.  This philanthropist, Mr Griffith decided that Los Angeles needed a nature park conserved for the generations so there is the Hollywood hills and this epic observatory on top of the hill.  Pretty amazing story and history for a natural park within this giant city.

Michael and Shahn with Hollywood sign in the background, walking up to the top of the hill to see the observatory.

Shahn in the underground section of the observatory and touching the scale model of Pluto, very interactive place and incredibly interesting.

We stayed so long up at the Observatory that we got to see the sunset and all the lights of LA,  this city is huge.

We also visited Universal Studios, we were a bit apprehensive to spend the money to go but it was a really good day out.  Mission to get there on the train and buses but we were lucky to miss the lines and generally walked straight into all of the rides with no queues - excellent.

"Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart..."

Unfortunately for us the Harry Potter at Hogwarts doesn't open until April, but they have built most of it.  Think it will be a very popular section for people to visit.

Shahn really wanting to go to Hogwarts!

A Krusty Burger and an amazing thick shake.  Eak also wanted to get a Duff Beer or a Flamin' Moe drink but they were US$20 and no themed beverage is worth that! 

We picked up our monster rental car (a 2016 GMC Yukon) on Sunday 17th Jan, and were motoring out of LA, Eak negotiated the highways 5 lanes wide and intersecting all over the show like a champion.  We were cruising down the road and made it about two hours away from LA and we realised that we had be lead astray, the SUV we rented didn't have 4wd like we had been told it had. So we negotiated over the phone with Vegas and they told us we could swap it out – Michael was so mad for not double checking it himself but we were so delighted to have our own way around rather than relying on Uber’s (even though they are awesome and a way better deal than the taxi or shuttle situation!).

Embedded Map for further information - The awesome road trip we are currently embarking on.  Daunting that 5,000km await us and 50+ hrs of driving are going to occur! This is the game plan we set out to achieve.  See to the very end of the post to see what we actually managed to see!

The Yukon we got to drive for two days before we exchanged it in Vegas. We really liked driving these big vehicles, they are somewhat reasonable on fuel for the size i think we were using between 10-12L per 100km. They are a bit large when getting parking spots and also on tight roads but overall very nice.

We stopped at a random diner on the way to Vegas and it was really good - the staff were very attentive, food was excellent and it was crazy cheap!

Las Vegas, Nevada (17th – 19th January 2016)

Arriving in Vegas after dark was definitely the best way to arrive, the lights were insanely bright the noise was crazy! I guess we found Las Vegas pretty full on, the majority of people obviously go to Vegas to drink, smoke, gamble and see sexy shows so it probably wasn't the most amazing place we've been to! Though don't get me wrong it was still thoroughly enjoyable!! We went to see a Cirque de Soli show, which was amazing - they are incredibly talented as well as strong! 

The crazy lights of Las Vegas, it was insanely busy and very overwhelming.

Being a bit inappropriate in the Bellagio after being cornered by a salesman trying to get us to buy a timeshare in Vegas, seriously they were very pushy and every corner we turned was someone trying to scam us!

We also visited Red Rock Canyon to do some hiking, that was well worth the visit. The National Conservation Area covers 308 square miles or 78,000 hectares. It was huge and had some pretty amazing geology.  There was a huge scenic loop road that we and walked  two different hikes.  

On top of a huge red rock mound that we climbed up.  The flat valley below nestled among the  hills in the back ground.  I look pretty angelic, fairly good representation I feel! Haha

Michael standing on top of the Red Rock Hill as well, showing in the background the very different geology, quite distinctive. The sun was shining but it was mildly chilly.

We did another hike to a waterfall as well, the sun was setting and it was getting quite cold.  There were deer spotted nearby and we tried to help a guy whom had lost his friend (all worked out okay in the end!).

Last night in Vegas!

Hoover Dam, Nevada (19th January 2016)

We left Las Vegas and headed South East towards Grand Canyon via Hoover Dam. That place is incredible, we couldn't believe how little water I was there though that is due to the two years of drought that California has seen.  Started to be built in the early 1900s and was completed in 1932, the world's longest and continuous, concrete pour and required the worlds largest refrigerator to cool the concrete so that it would harden evenly.

The dam walls are huge and the overflows are off the charts massive.  The Colorado River is aiding to power three states (California, Nevada and Arizona).

You also get to drive over that bridge, pretty amazing engineering and development of the canyon and Colorado River.

Flagstaff, Arizona (19th January 2016)

We spent too long looking at Hoover Dam so we were late getting towards the Canyon so decided to stay overnight in Flagstaff.  Michael was incredibly sick and was running a massive fever and he was basically a hot mess and not in a very good space. Managed to find a cheap but nice motel to stay especially since we arrived it started snowing significantly, though the main reason to get the rental truck was because it was big enough to sleep in the back (maybe not at -2°C). We also had some delicious Indian which really helped warm the cockles!!

Grand Canyon, Arizona (19th – 20th January 2016)

We also visited the Grand Canyon, what a beautiful sight to behold! Absolutely stunning scenery, and definitely worth a visit to anyone that is thinking of going – pictures can not portray the enormity of the canyon.  The Grand Canyon has been carved out by the Colorado River over the past 6 million years.  The river has maintained roughly the same size the entire time as it worked its way through the canyon - approximately 1 mile in width (considering how did the canyon is that incredibly impressive).

The Grand Canyon in all its glory.  Truly a sight to see - no picture can ever do it justice but we tried!!

Yes, Michael is very close to the edge, but it was mildly safe and no one was harmed or injured! He was determined to climb out there, so that happened!

All wrapped up, it was sunny but a lot of snow about.  Beautiful scenery. 

Fun Fact: We found out from a Park Ranger at Sequoia NP that ALL of the squirrels at the Grand Canyon have diabetes because of tourists feeding the animals.  That says a couple of things in my opinion, that the American food has way too much sugar & synthetics in it and/or people have no idea about feeding wild animals let alone giving them doughnuts etc.

Shahn looking down into the Canyon.

The sunsetting and casting shadows into the canyons, she is pretty big.

The full moon in the background and the sun setting as we were leaving the Grand Canyon National Park.

We stopped at a historical tower built with traditional Indian paintings.  

Moab, Canyon Lands, Utah (20th – 21st January 2016)

Onwards we went, after staying in the middle of nowhere overnight.  I was very sick, as I  had caught Michaels bug and wasn't up to much but fortunately it was really only one full day and two nights of being really sick and then the rest was residual.  Michael had recovered on the most part so he was keen to push on and explore more!

Impressive rocky outcrops, I think this might be called El Capitan (different to the Yosemite one!)

Very clear morning to be driving.  The random rock monoliths were quite impressive.

We started to ascend into higher altitude and therefore the snow cover was visible.

Balancing Rock! 'Mexican hat'

Long and straight roads with a lot of snow cover.  Driving towards Moab, Utah.

We visited Dead Horse Point, which got its name from a group of cowboys/horse wranglers whom left over 50 wild mustang horses at this point assuming relative safety and enough food and water for the horses. Upon their return they found all the horses had died of dehydration as they couldn't get to the Colorado river.  Very nice spot, similar to the Grand Canyon in formation and very cold this time of year as it was over 8,000ft (2,500m) high, so a lot of snow around and 28deg F (-2 Celsius during the day and -6 deg Centigrade overnight!)

Dead Horse Point - See the Colorado River is greeny brown in colour and there is a flat topped cliff on the right? That is where the mustang horses were kept and subsequently died. Plus it was really high and we were right on the edge!

We also hiked to Island in the Sky at an altitude of 6500ft, which was different geologically to the bulk of the Canyonlands National Park  which were also incredibly old.  There was a giant crater in the ground which they believe could have been created by an asteroid or from a fault line collapse.  It was quite cold again below zero, but we were well equipped in our warm gears.

Island in the Sky - in the distance you can see the "floating island" 

Enjoying the sunset at Dead Horse National Park, about to head to Moab.

Stayed overnight in Moab, at the Inca Inn – which was quite cheap but very good.  So we rested up and tried to recover from our sickness as much as we could while it was well below freezing weather otherwise we would have slept in the truck, though luckily for me - Michael was taking good care of me and got me through the worst of the cold.

Arches National Park was beautiful, and the world’s largest concentration of natural sandstone arches – with over 2,000 arches there is a lot to see! The arches are formed by the weather and harsh elements exposing the sandstone to make the arches and the mudstone or clay beneath is washed and crumbled away. Very cold still and icy, so that made it quite slippery.  

Delicate Arch - the most famous Moab Arch (some people to the left as well).

Original petroglyphs being protected by the Arches NP

Shahn in an arch - they are beautiful and enormous

Eak decided he wanted to climb up this large rock wall to stand in this arch, it was insanely high, he also ripped his pant pocket. Perspective....

A crazy big arch when Eak is standing in it!

Incredible landscape and rock formations, we really enjoyed it but didn't have anywhere near enough time there to explore it properly.  Would love to go back in the spring time and explore more.

Petrified Sand Dunes

We drove about 30 minutes down the road to go in search of some fossils and we managed to find two sections - one was fossilised bones and the other was fossilised footsteps.  We only found these because the information centre told us about them and drew us a map, very fortunate that she gave us the info.

 Michael really examining the fossils, we wandered around this area for about an hour and found a great deal of fossils (some had been labelled and identified already) but others were just poking out of the rock.  Pretty cool!

Dinosaur Femur fossilised in the sandstone - often the bones get compressed and deformed over time due to the weight of the sediment above

Dinosaur Footprint Fossils and the snow.

Dinosaur footprints fossilised in the mud

We had a little stuff up as well, with some of the images we had been recording and all of the GoPro footage got deleted.... we were really gutted especially the hiking bits in Moab, but thats life - no big deal.

Salt Lake City, Utah (21st – 28th January 2016)

Michael’s second cousin, Jill currently lives in SLC (though she has lived in LA for most of her time in the US) – she kindly housed us for the 6 days we were there. She spoiled us rotten!!  making us dinner, packed lunches and telling us stories about the family history we really enjoyed out time with Jill. We had no real plans for our time there but managed to be quite busy there, visiting the local sights etc.

Jill and Shahn at the Salt Lake Winter Olympic Park - still very much in use all year round

Some casual arial jumping practice - they are amazing to watch, they jump over and over.  In summer they have a pool which they land into, so they are very lucky to have such a facility to train on all year round.

Soldiers Hollow - a frozen lake

High up among the mountains there was quite bit of snow after a recent snow fall, we had just had a lovely Mexican dinner and were off down the road to the Ice Castles.

Man made ice castles - we weren't really sure what this would be like but it was absolutely worth the visit, it was insanely cold and we were well prepared with gloves, jackets and boots.  The time limit to visit there is 30minutes but we ended up staying an hour, its really too cold to stay much longer!

They also put some LED lights behind the ice and once the sun set, it was stunning

Jill and Michael - all rugged up and enjoying the Ice Castles

Can't take him anywhere...

We also went to Antelope Island, which is a state park for the conservation of American Bison (of which there were 600-700 on the island, alongside the Muledeer and local bird population).  It was quite cold due to the snowfall we got overnight, which we were stoked for as it meant we would have a better time up the mountains. They had a ranch on the island which operated for over 80 years in very primitive conditions, now it is a tourist spot to show how they worked.

The Great Salt Lake looking quite snowy

There is a controlled population of America Bison/Buffalo (Bison Bison) which are said to be the most genetically pure American Bison in the country. 

Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)

We visited the Tabernacle choir on their weekly Sunday TV broadcast, apparently it is the worlds longest continuing network broadcast.  They were very good though! Afterward we went to the LDS Convention Centre which was quite large and full of paintings.

We also had two full snow days, we skied at Brighton-which is one of the ski resorts located in the Salt Lake area.  Overnight there had been a large-ish snowfall, so we were excited to ski especially since we had not been boarding in over a year!! Our first real go at excessive powder snowboarding as well as dodging trees - we had an absolute ball!!

LOVING THE POWDER!!! 

On the last day skiing we decided to do a night ski as well, it was quite different but they have it set up well, with big spot lights and limited chair lifts - it got very cold quickly though and after a whole day we were quite tired.

A yarn from the first day we went snowboarding at Brighton, we had spent the morning LOVING the powder and we were using the lower lifts and trails to get warmed up and get the body a bit loose (especially since it had been a while since we had done any excessive exercise!).  We decided we would do the highest chairlift on the western ridge (10,750ft or 3,270 metres) to try out the high and longer trails.  We were about to head down for lunch and this dude named, Nicholas wandered up to us and told us he was a local with 35 years skiing in the area.  We were asking information about the avalanche risks and he told us he would show us the area and the safe way down.... we were on the same trail for FOUR HOURS! He took us on a massive mission out of the park, off-piste and away from ski patrols.  We were at 3,000 meters and the altitude along with the insane trail he took us on, we were destroyed!!! I have never worked so hard in my life!! Out of breath and struggling with the demanding physical activity especially at such high altitude! - Sorry Nicholas, you were a nice guy but WOAH, I thought I was going to die about ten times and was not at all prepared for what he was laying down, though I suppose in hindsight it was an adventure we would not have had if not for meeting this crazy cat.

Driving West for Salt Lake to Yosemite (28th January 2016) 

Our original game plan was to head to Yellowstone NP as well, but much of it is closed  due to the winter and we really ran out of time (mainly because we had two full snow days as well as seeing the sights with Jill. So we scratched Yellowstone from the agenda and decided we will need to come back in the future, maybe in summer!

We left Jill's and were embarking on the massive stretch across two states and almost 12hrs of driving west, which doesn't sound like a heap of fun.  We took the driving in shifts as it was huge expanses of desert, salt flats, snow covered hills – basically a whole lot of not much!

We stopped off at Bonniville Salt Flats, where they have high speed racing in the summer.  It's such a huge expanse of salt flats, can't even comprehend how huge the area must cover.  We also spent the following three nights in the truck, staying and truckstops around the north western area. We found the truckstops to be versatile, good facilities, hot showers have a quiet enough to sleep at without being disturbed. The truck itself was comfortable enough and we were warm inside our sleeping bags.

Michael out on the Salt Flats

Large expansive spaces of desert and pastures, speckled by mountain ranges - 12 hours....

Yosemite National Park  (29th January 2016)

The road to Yosemite was quite long and winding, but we arrived to spectacular views of the Half Dome, many waterfalls and El Capitan.  Due to the high elevation it was still quite snowy, but we found that it wasn't too cold though we still wrapped up warm enough.  We didn't have any hiking shoes so we made do with our running shoes, which we found to be very slippery on the ice and also made for wet socks - on the to buy list is some good hiking shoes (NB: we ending up buying hiking shoes as we left LA to go to Miami in preparation for some good hikes!)

Being judged for trying to smile nicely so you get a laugh instead! Half Dome tucked in the back there with snow on it.

Should be a model this guy!

El Capitan

Lovely waterfalls with this crazy fog that was happening, bit creepy

We saw a bob cat (Lynx Rufus) eating a grey squirrel (Sciurus griseus) - that was pretty awesome!! We were keeping a keen eye out for bears, though sadly they were hiding and/or hibernating.

Half Dome - close up

Shahn and Half Dome

I don't think that you can fully be the scale at Yosemite, but we both think that visiting these parks when the weather dryer and warmer the tracks would be open and we could get out and explore, unfortunately we had to leave due to the snow storm that was coming that evening.  Though before we left a lovely lady at the campground gave us some clean towels and offered us free hot showers - oh sooooo good!! Especially since we had spent the night at the truck stop the night before and also meant we were squeaky clean for another night at a truck stop without having to pay US$12pp for a shower!

We will return to Yosemite in the summer at some point, it has wonderful hiking and a lot to offer. We just simply did not have enough time to spend at these parks - could easily spend a month just retracing our steps and spending longer as it was incredible scenery to be seen.

Sequoia National Park (30th January 2016)

The giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) trees in the giant forest. I don't think that our photos do a margin of justice for how large is trees genuinely are! Incredible to see the General Sherman tree which is the largest (in volume) tree in the world.  It was raining heavily due to low that was hitting the West Coast (but wasn't cold enough to snow) so unfortunately we got very wet feet due to not having our hiking boots!

Shahn being dwarfed by the Giant Sequoia trees, truly beautiful

The General Sherman - the largest volumed single stemmed tree in the world, with a height of 83.8 meters (275 ft), a diameter of 7.7 m (25 ft), an estimated bole volume of 1,487 m³, and an estimated age of 2,300–2,700 years.  Also named after General William Sherman in 1879 by naturalistJames Wolverton, who had served as a lieutenant in the 9th Indiana Cavalry under Sherman.

As of 31st January 2016, we have completed:

• 5 nights in Los Angeles, CA
• Driven from LA to Vegas 
• Two nights in Las Vegas, NV
• Driven from Vegas, NV to Flagstaff, AZ via Hoover Dam
• Visited Grand Canyon, Arizona
• Driven from Grand Canyon to Moab Desert, UT
• Visited the Canyon Lands NP, Dead Horse Point, the Arches NP near Moab, Utah
• Visited Jill in Salt Lake City, Utah for 5 nights 
• Drove for 12+ hrs across three states in one day
• Yosemite National Park, CA
• Slept three nights in the truck!
• Sequoia National Park, CA
• Bought hiking boots from REI :)... almost missed our flight as we were trying to get the best deal on the boots.
• Drove back to LA to fly out to Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Total driving over two weeks = 2,800 miles or 4,500 kms

The route we ended up taking over a fortnight. Well over 2,800 miles or 4,500kms, travelled (280 miles in first rental car before we swapped for actual 4wd in Vegas). NB: The top part from Salt Lake City west to Sacramento, we drove in one full day (it took 12 hours!) The main reason was that we were trying to beat a cold front coming from the north west.

Off now to Miami, Florida and then onward to the Caribbean for more adventures!!

xxxx Shahn & Eak