Epic Round The World Trip Adventures! Stunning Photos & Articles - A fascinating gap year travel journal covering every stop of their journey.

Long Beach - California
Round The World Trip Journal

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(18th Aug - 4th Sept) Long Beach
We flew into LA from Honolulu and were met at the airport by Jo's Fairy Godmother, Sue. This was well appreciated since it was at such an unreasonably early hour in the morning! Sue drove us about an hour south of LA to Long Beach where she lives with her husband Lou. They live just off the main Belmont Shore high street and about a 10 minute walk from the beach - a fantastic location. We were pleasantly surprised by the area - Jo had expected it all to be high rise condos - but it was a pretty residential area with lovely houses and quiet residential streets (see photo of a typical street). And such lovely deep and long beaches that seem to go on for miles and miles - think Baywatch beaches and you'll be there! See the aerial shot to see just how long Long Beach is! There is so much water around this area - what with the sea and the inland canals. Lots of brown pelicans and lots of sealions. All in all it is a beautiful area with so much to see and do and truly exceeded our expectations. We stayed with Sue and Lou for a couple of weeks (with our trip to Las Vegas in the middle - see later posting) and really appreciated their amazing hospitality. We also spent some time with their daughter and her family: Tracey, her husband Chris and their children Cole and Grace-Anna. What fantastic tour guides they all were - we saw lots of stuff we never would have found on our own so this really made the most of our time here. Thank you so much guys for making our trip so memorable!

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The highlights of our round the world trip:

Stop 1 - Capetown---> The City | Simonstown Penguins | Table Mountain Cable Car | The Waterfront Seals | Windsurf Action.
Stop 2 - West Australia---> Perth City | Perth Zoo | Cohunu Animal Park | Rottnest Island | Rockingham Penguins | Yanchep Park Koalas | Cervantes Pinnacles | Geraldton Windsurfing | Kalbarri Gorge | The Pink Lake | Coronation Beach Windsurfing | Gero Road to Cervantes | Carnarvon Jetty & Quobba Snorkel | Denham Lagoon | Monkey Mia Dolphins | Coral Bay Termite Hills | Coral Bay Quad Biking The Dunes | Exmouth Kangaroos | Mandurah Canals | Margaret River | Margaret River Wine Tour | Margs Windsurfing | Bunbury Windsurf | Bussleton Pier | Towns near Bussleton | Augusta Nature | Pemberton Camping | Pemberton Tall Trees | Cape D'Entrecasteaux | Walpole Tall Trees.
Stop 3 - East Australia---> Cairns Sky Rail Cable Car Over The Rainforest | Mossman Gorge | Cape Tribulation Rainforest | Port Douglas | Daintree Crocodiles | Captain Cook Highway | Beaches Near Cairns | Atherton Tablelands Fig Trees | Bowen Beaches | Airlie Beach | Whitsunday Islands Boat Tour | Great Barrier Reef Snorkel | Whitsunday Snorkelling | Town of 1770 History | Fraser Island Beach Driving | Tin Can Bay Dolphins | Noosa River | Australia Zoo Wombats | Sunshine Coast | Nanango Bush | Gold Coast Beaches | Byron Bay Beaches | Woolgoolga Beaches | Coffs Harbour | Port Macquarie Cafes | Forster Pelicans | Great Lakes | Nelson Bay Dolphins | Sydney By Day | Sydney By Night | Sydney's Manly Beach.
Stop 4 - New Zealand---> Auckland Revolving Restaurant | Rotorua Volcanic National Park | Lake Taupo & Waitomo Glow Worms.
Stop 5 - French Polynesia---> Tahiti Island Waterfalls | Moorea Island Water Bungalows | Moorea Shark Feeding | Bora Bora Island Buggying.
Stop 6 - Hawaii, Maui---> Maui Snorkel Videos | Maui Snorkel Photography | Maui Windsurfing | Maui East Coast Hana Highway | Maui North Beaches 1 | Maui North Beaches 2 | Maui West Coast Surfing | Maui South West Lava Fields | Haleakala Volcano.
Stop 7 - Hawaii, Oahu---> Kailua Beaches | Round Oahu Island Drive | Honolulu Pearl Harbour | Oahu Snorkel Videos.
Stop 8 - West USA---> Los Angeles City Tour | Venice Beach | Long Beach | Queen Mary Tour | San Onofre Surfing | Route 66 Drive | Las Vegas Casinos | Grand Canyon.
Stop 9 - East USA---> Miami Beach Art Deco.
Stop 10 - UK, HOME---> Back To Heathrow, Bringing To A Close Our Amazing Round The World Trip.