And now… the end is near…it’s time to face… the final curtain… August 22, 2008

New Jersey

Originally uploaded by chris.warn

Well, it seems appropriate to use the words of Ol’ Blue Eyes to describe what’s going on now, at least we feel like we’ve done it our way. New York, New York has been a great way to finish as well, with sunny skies, a cooling breeze and a couple of days without driving to really enjoy it. Yesterday was spent in one of the gems of any major city, Central Park. We picniced under the leafy shade of a spreading oak (ignoring the coughing tramp sat behind us) and then sunbathed on the well manicured grass, the sound of children playing drifting in and out – difficult to imagine you’re in one of the most packed cities of the world, when you’re in the middle of this green expanse. Had a beautiful relaxed day (Soph maintains it’s one of the few where I didn’t rush her around and need to get somewhere under a strict time constraint) not doing much, but seeing a lot. As you gaze above the tree line you see the towering, gothic blocks of apartments that line the park, safe in the knowledge that normal man can’t look out of their windows – unless your Donald Trump or old money. We saw a fantastic street tumbling act on the terrace, by a boating lake turned green with algae; the shouts of the performers mingling with the gush of water, that sparkled from the victorian fountain. We saw tunnels and bridges, statues and ampitheatres. NY seems to have shed it’s hard criminal image now and places like this are clean, safe and welcoming.
And here I am typing the last blog of this trip (oh no there’s a sequel I hear you shout) in our motel room in Jersey City, the smell of cat’s wee having deteriorated or we’ve got used to it! Bit sad, but also happy to be coming home after just over 10 months and 11 countries.
We stayed in Australia the longest and Canada the shortest (but wish it could have been longer).
Our worst night was in Johannesburg Airport looking for a place to sleep.
The most bug bites happened in Madagascar, it’s not just cute cartoon animals, 117 bed bug bites in one night.
Our favourite eat out meal was in the Old Port area of Hermanus in South Africa.
Our scariest moment was either driving in South Africa in the middle of the wild coast, in the middle of no-where, in the middle of the night – lost! or approaching the rhino or (for me) the bungy jump!
We’ve had loads of sociable times with lots of people and thanks goes to Fintan and Clare, Joan, Jamie and Rich, Mick and Jo, Silke and Thorsten, Debs and Steve, Tim and Robyn, Stew and Ang, Mustafa, Bart and Michelle, Sam, Murray and Harvey, Neil and Vicky (sorry about the carpet!), Sue and Arch……and, of course, my brother Phil.
Favourite natural sights list – Drakensburg Mountains, Ganges, Mount Cook over Lake Pukaki, Abel Tasman Peninsula, Whitehaven Beach and Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, 12 Apostles, Wave Rock, Yosemite Valley, Niagra Falls (ignoring the tourism).
Favourite Man made sights list – Khajuraho Temples, Kuala Lumpar Twin Towers, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House, Chicago Art, Iwo Jima Monument and Statue of Liberty.
The coldest day 1 degree C, hottest 51 degree C.
Funniest moment – aah that would be Adam the waiter in South Africa.
Favourite animal seen – Soph, Koala, Chris, African Elephant.
Longest drive 515 miles in 10 hours in camper van.
Times across the Equator – 6, all longtitudes covered, 5 continents and 89794 miles (so far with about 5000 to go, so we didn’t break the 100K mark Stewart)
We flew 56163′, we drove 29678′, we sat on trains for 2699′, we boated 797′, we walked 239′ (pitiful we know), we got tuk-tuk’d 95′, we bused 68′, we trammed 42′, we kayaked 13′ and we sat on an elephant for about 300 metres. So of the miles covered we did about 0.35% of them under our own steam – get in!
This is the 76th post in 16 categories, which have attracted 7456 views. The best viewing day ever was 102 views on 21 Jun 08 (boring day at home, or was it Debs Hill going on line 40 times to improve our stats?) the worst day was 1 view (thanks Gill or Liz) – you the audience have posted 128 comments.
We have changed a bit since we started travelling. We are perfectly happy to stand our ground in a queue situation now, we argue with waiters over poor quality food or service, we are happy to bend the rules to get our way (when called for), we try new things more readily, we are no longer daunted by long distances (Plymouth to Glasgow, pah that’s nothing!) and we realise that the world ain’t so different there are good, honest, fun people who you want to spend time with and there are rude, greedy, self-absorbed jokers you don’t want to be involved with.
Some things haven’t changed – we still like a beer, unbelievably we still laugh at each others jokes and we still love each other like crazy.

That’s it until the next world trip in 2027!

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