The Bears at Interhash 2008

The Bears
Originally uploaded by Henry Root

Red Dress Run, Perth

No - we don't always dress up in red clothes to be a Hash House Harrier! Only on those occasions when we have a Red Dress Run for charity. Sorry!

If you live in or near to Yorkshire, England, click the image for more details of hashing with the Yorkshire Hash House Harriers (YH3.)

Runs are held weekly either on Sunday mornings at 11.00 or Monday evenings at 19.30 and usually start and finish at a pub.

FOR DETAILS OF HASHING WORLDWIDE CLICK HERE http://www.gthhh.com/

New York, starting with a very moving visit to Ground Zero

So much to do, so little time comes to mind as we only had 5 nights to see so much!

At first, we had to readjust to a frantically active city. Not an easy task as our first encounter with the locals at JFK almost resulted in us being ripped off by a taxi spiv. Only use yellow cabs and regular transfer outfits in New York. The rest are crooks.

Still reeling from this we arrived at The Herald Square Hotel only to find that the rooms were far too small for RTW travellers and the whole place resembled an overpriced hostel. Although evidently popular with those on a lower budget with one suitcase, unfortunately it did not fit our needs. Luckily, help was at hand and we checked in at the Hotel Wolcott across the road - a much nicer place where our large 11th floor room looked on to the Empire State Building.

Having recovered somewhat from this ordeal, the first trip we made was to Ground Zero. We both found this very moving, especially seeing the Church exhibits. The photo's also show the site under excavation - it will be years yet until the foul extremist blot is finally cleansed.

The days that followed could only be described as frantic and full! Our memories of Manhattan, going to see Hairspray on Broadway, jazz bands and Beatles memorabilia in Central Park, Grand Central Station, walking Brooklyn Bridge and Greenwich Village and the free trip around the Statue of Liberty on the Staten Island Ferry dominate the end of our trip. Towards the end of our stay visibility cleared - we had experienced some rain - and we made the trip up the Empire State Building. We timed it right (helped by my forgetting my camera, hopping over aisles and returning fast routed) and got some great photos at day and night. Last but not least, the pending birth of our twin grand-daughters prompted a visit to Macy's in Times Square. See the Macy Bears photograph!

Finally returning home was somewhat of a relief, much enhanced by a wonderful British Airways check-in girl who saved us about 6 hours traveling by changing our flight to one direct to Manchester. We also experienced our first - and probably last as new American regulations take effect soon - experience of flexible weight limits on checked in baggage. Our strictly 2 x 23kg each limit prior to this was no longer a problem! Thank you BA.

Back home to review about 16 GB of pictures and video should keep me occupied for a while!

San Fran Chinatown

After seeing so many Chinese Restaurants during the day we took advice on returning at night and chose the Brandy Hi at the bottom of Columbus Avenue. This turned out to be an absolute treat with 6 live chefs cooking in front of the tables and fantastic food. I can honestly say the it was best Won Ton Soup I had ever had and the whole bill with 2 beers, starters and mains and china tea was only $56!!!

Tomorrow night we are going to the Mona Lisa Italian restaurant we checked out on Friday, recommended to us by two NZ friends we met on the tour. Today we are off to the California Beer Festival in Fort Mason, Fisherman's Wharf! Today might be a through event!!!

San Francisco

I knew, before we landed, that we would want to stay longer than the meagre 3 days we had here and at once that was proved true!

Arriving at around 10pm last night at The Golden Gate Hotel, a boutique establishment near Union Square on Bush Street, we dropped our bags and ran for Geary Street, reputed to be hottest for live music and cheap beer. At Leftys we had two marvellous pints, a huge hot roast beef sandwich and met several great people, some from Italy, some the USA. The latter bought us a San Fran Slammer comprising Guiness into which you added a shot of Baileys and Irish Whisky and downed the lot in one. Marvellous,

Some hours later we returned to our hotel much pleased with our first night.

After breakfast next day, we set off on foot down to Union Square to get a 3 day bus/trolley/cable car pass for $18 and off we went up Grant Avenue through fantastic China Town for window shopping and tea tasting. Then on on to see a few restaurants recommended to us and the amazingly twisted Lombard Street with great views of the harbour and Golden Gate Bridge from the top. We actually did this the hard way by climbing up it instead of down! Only we could have done this!

Down the last hill we rode the cable car clinging on for dear life with one hand and taking video with the other! On to Fishermans Wharf where we took a one hour cruise around Alcatraz and Golden Gate and Bay Bridges - great fun.

Back on terra firma we ate Clam Chouder at a pavement cafe before finally returning to base for a cup of tea. A rest now before tonight's festivities.

Hawaii

Hawaii was an immense culture shock after the peace and utter tranquility of Fiji! It took us at least 2 days to get used to the hustle and bustle of Waikiki Beach but once we had bought a bus pass for $20 we soon zoomed around the island visiting Diamond Head where we walked to the very top and witnessed a coastguard helicopter rescue of an ailing gentleman.

During our Pearl Harbour visit we felt immense sadness when seeing the submerged wreck of the Arizona, as many thousands of visitors before us will also have felt.

To cheer ourselves up, we took a round the island bus trip calling at Sunset Beach on the North of the Island where we chilled out for an hour or two. Leaving now for San Francisco.

Pictures from Castaway Island, Fiji - Can you spot the 2 meter shark?!

Sunset, Pelican and Mezza at her best