Day 2 - Disneyland

Wow, what a great day. Breakfast at the hotel then headed off to Disneyland. They certainly make everything easy with parking and shuttle buses to the gates. Arrived about 11am. Beautiful sunshine today - not a cloud in the sky. Warm enough for long sleeve t-shirt and light jumper in the day, but definitely thick jacket, beanie, scarf and gloves once the sun went down. We just left our backpacks in a locker during the day - very easy.

Disneyland

Started with the Matterhorn Bobsleds, then wandered through a few of the "worlds", next ride was Big Thunder Railroad - quite a good roller coaster. Indiana Jones was pretty good then Space Mountain which was excellent - we got to about 10 people from the front when it broke down for about 10 mins, they had to reset it, but all was well and it was definitely worth the wait.


Mickey Mouse



California Screaming

 Next we headed over to California Adenture park. Started on the Soarin over California ride which was excellent, almost my favorite ride. Then onto California Screaming - a truly awesome roller coaster - even a 360 in amongst the huge drops and rises, really good fun.


Ferris Wheel



Went over to pick up our coats and had some dinner before having a look at ElecTRONica then over to watch the World of Colour laser and water display which was sensational.



World of Colour light and water show



A quick walk back to Disneyland for the fireworks then back on the shuttle to our car. Arrived home about 12 hours after we left - very sore feet and knees, but it was worth every ache and pain. I really enjoyed my day and am glad I went :-)





Day 1 - Los Angeles



Our SUV

 We did have tickets last night to go and see the taping of a tv show but jet lag caught up with us instead, so we had a nice pizza for dinner then an early night. Slept until 8am. I was woken once by a man out on the balcony near our room talking on his phone. The other time was when text messages from Mort kept coming on Sean's phone giving us the a-league and super 15 scores! Have to say though that we both woke up after close to 12 hours feeling refreshed and ready to go.
Had breakfast at the hotel then headed to a big sports store to buy golf balls and golf gloves. Set the GPS to take us to play golf at Trump National Golf Course which was right on the coast and was very scenic. The rain that was forecast failed to arrive and the skies were blue and clear. It was windy and cool which I love when playing golf.



Trump National Golf Club

 Arrived and saw a beautiful red Ferrari parked in the driveway. I was admiring it and the valet said that I might recognize the owner - as he said this, Donald Trump walked around the corner right past us and headed out to leave in his Ferrari. Cool!



One of his feature water falls



Trump National LA



Very interesting holes

 We both played fairly average golf - some good and some bad, but the scenery was spectacular and the course was extremely well manicured. Really enjoyed the round, very lucky with the weather.




Bunkers !!

  Back to the hotel for a shower then drove to Hollywood. Had a wander up Rodeo Drive then went for dinner and the show at Hollywood Improv - comedy store. My dinner was pretty ordinary but Sean enjoyed his - apparently one of the chef's had walked out half way through the night so it was a bit slow!. Saw 3 comedians first then the main show was by Harland Williams - he was EXCELLENT. Really funny. A good night.



Rodeo Drive - beautiful shops :-)

 Nearly 12:30am now so time to go to sleep - Disneyland tomorrow

Leaving Brisbane

Taxi arrived at 9.30am to take us to the airport. The taxi driver had no idea how to use his Eftpos machine so I sorted it out for him :-). We flew with V-Australia and one of the big advantages of flying premium economy is the quick check-in. All done in record time. Sean lost his boarding pass somewhere between where we were sitting (close to the outside of the qantas club so that we could take advantage of their free wifi)and the second security check!!!. No great drama got another one sorted.


First look at Los Angles



Santa Monica Pier

 Great flight. Left on time at 12md and arrived 12 hours later and nearly an hour early. Watched a few movies, slept through one whole movie, but there was turbulence half way across that went for ages and woke me up!!. The 777 aircraft is very quiet compared to the 747's. We were the first flight to try out the new menu and see their new uniforms which was pretty good. Great wide seats that reclined and the noise canceling headphones were wonderful. Definitely worth the extra $$$ to upgrade.
Arrived at 6:20am. As we were pretty well first off, we cleared immigration really fast - finger prints and iris scans. Got our bags and golf clubs and were on the shuttle to our car rental place by 7:15am. We have a huge Ford Expeditions SUV . Weather was overcast with a few light showers but at this point it was not cold.



Santa Monica Pier

 Very early so drove up to Santa Monica beach for a look. No one there except for a few homeless folk, so we had a great walk around the pier and beach area.

 Headed up to universal studios ready for opening at 10am. We did the tour first - really good, thoroughly enjoyed it. Did not get to see all of Wisteria Lane because they were filming Desperate Housewives today but we saw everything else. Did the Simpsons ride, the special effects show, the Terminator 3D show. Did not do the Jurassic Park ride because we did not want to get wet - too cold!!



Jane at Universal Studios



Had our first tasteless plastic meal and also the weather turned really cold - luckily we both had our warm jackets with us. Also still showers coming in regularly so at about 3pm we decided to call it a day and headed for our hotel.

Very nice Hyatt apartment - small kitchen, lounge area and seperate bedroom. Had a nice shower and felt a bit more alive again!!




 Forecast tomorrow is also cold and showery but after that the sun is expected to shine. Looks better than what was originally planned so fingers crossed .


Special effects

 Heading out now to get some food - had a very nice pizza from a local shop, then had a nice early night. Shopping in the morning to buy golf balls then golf in the afternoon at Trump National - yeah!!


Wisteria Lane