The second day in Toronto was going to Niagara Falls. It was a day trip that left in the morning and got home about 6pm. We firstly went to the observation tower near the falls, it gives great panoramic views of the whole area and it was absolutely freezing out in the open. It had snowed the night before and there was ice all over the place.

We then walked down to the falls and got some great photos before heading down the river towards Lake Ontario. We stopped off at a town called Niagara on the Lake that used to be the capital of upper Canada. Then it was time for the big trip back to the city.

On our last day we utilised the Hop on Hop off bus to get around town. We actually started the day taking the subway down to CN Tower (as the bus did not start to 10am) to get great views of the city, then we jumped on the bus to go to the St Lawrence Markets for breakfast. We then walked back to the waterfront to get on the free boat tour.

After the tour we head to the Hockey Hall of Fame and then finally caught the bus over to Chinatown. The day would not have been complete if I did not do one more bit of shopping before going home, so I am now carrying four extra pairs of shoes. I suppose that will make it one for every pair of jeans I bought. I did well, I only bought three new things in Canada, but I have a decent carry on bag on the plane with me and there was no room left in a backpack that was pretty empty when I left.

So now I am at the Toronto Airport waiting for my flight to LA, I don't board for another two hours, but Lisa had an earlier flight than me. I then have a seven hour wait at LAX, I am going to see if Qantas will let me in the lounge, I doubt it but it is worth a try.

Got to Toronto around 1pm today, after arranging tickets to go to Niagara Falls we went and found some lunch. It is getting cold here so we quickly discovered the PATH, the underground tunnels that connect all the city buildings. You can go all over town without having to go outside, but it is a bit confusing to start off with.

We also bought ticket for the hop on hop off bus, so we took the last bus of the day and just took the full trip around the city without getting out. We will do the proper sight seeing on Wednesday, off to the falls tomorrow. Bought one more bit of clothing today, it is like I can't stop at the moment.

Been a very busy time here in New York, very long days every day.

On the evening of my first night I met some other travellers in the lobby and we decided to go check out a rooftop bar call 380 on 5th, it was on the 20th floor and had fantastic views of the Empire State building.

I had two more days here by myself before Lisa arrived. The first day I caught a train downtown to near the Brooklyn Bridge and then walked down the water from to try and find a get a good picture. I continued to walk down to the Stanton Island Ferry, but by the time I got there the rain was starting to get quite heavy.

So the decision was made to make it a shopping afternoon, so I caught a train to midtown to check out Macys. After finding some good deals (I am now carrying a second bag to fit everything), I headed to a bar called “The Australian”, I heard from a guy in the hotel that they sold Coopers beer and I have missed my coopers.

I then went back to hotel to dump my latest shopping successes. I ran into the same guys from the night before (and a couple of others), so after a bit of dinner we headed back to “The Australian” so they all could be introduced to what I was spruiking as the best beer in Australia – Coopers.

The next morning the day was a lot nicer, so I attempted to finish my site seeing from the day before and caught a train straight to the Stanton Island ferry. This is a free ferry that goes very close to the Statue of Liberty. I figured if I actually went to the island I would be too close to take photos. It seems to be a very popular thing to do, with most people getting off and going straight to the return ferry. You also get really good views of the downtown buildings.

On my return I walked up through the financial district and down Wall st, struggling with the masses to get a good photo of the “bull”. I then went down to the World Trade Centre memorial, there is lots of security to get in which I can understand, but it was worth seeing. I still remember seeing it all happen live on TV all those years ago.

I then headed up to Century 21 (another big shopping centre) and am happy to say I did not spend that much money this time.

By his time the new hotel would have been ready for me, this is where I was staying with Lisa. So I head back and got settled in and waited for Lisa to arrive. She got in fairly late and after a long day of flying for her we went out and got some dinner and had an early night.

Saturday was a very big and long day. Even though we were right next to the Empire state building we never went up it. Instead we went up to the Rockefeller Plaza to do “Top of the Rock”, this has great views of the city and Central Park and the great advantage is that your city photos actually have the Empire State building in it. That is the one problem going up the Empire state build observation deck, you take photos of the city without the most iconic building in it because you are on top of it.

We then walked down to Grand Central Station before heading to Times Square to buy tickets to the Lion King. We then caught the subway down to Chinatown before doing a walk half way across the Brooklyn Bridge and then walked down to Century 21 so Lisa coud down some shopping. We had to go back to Times Square so I could go to a Lids shop to buy a baseball cap.

Last day in New York, so we caught a train up to Central Park and spent a few hours walking through there as well as checking out the zoo. It is such an impressive park and I could really have spent the day walking around.

We then headed to midtown to go to a shop Lisa wanted to go too, but before heading back to the hotel to pack and get ready for show. We figured you could not go to New York without going to see a Broadway show and the Lion King is one of the biggest at the moment. It was a very impressive show and I very happy we went.

We are now at JFK airport waiting for our flight to Toronto where we are staying for three nights. I will load up some photos soon, but I have about 800 photos of New York to work out which ones are good and which ones are rubbish.

Been a very busy three days and have not had much of a chance to do much on the blog.

After my very interesting night in Uvalde I moved onto Houston. Uvalde was very country, it main industry around the area is game hunter. They have massive farms out there with exotic animals that hunters coming all over to shoot things.

Houston was the craziest place I had to drive, I had a bit of time before I had to meet up with my frind Kevin, so I went to NASA Houston. This meant I had to go from one side of town to the other on the freeways, it really was the spagetthi roads you seen in the movies and was really hard work.

I caught up with Kevin and his friends Will at Will’s appartment, we then went out on the town going out for dinner and finding some cool pubs to drink.

The following day we drove to Nederland where Kevin lives, I had a nightmare scenario where my GPS would not start up, I knew which way I had to go, but after some searching I could not find the freeway, so I went back to Will’s and got directions and loaded up google maps on my phone as a reference. As it turns out about 10 minutes down the freeway the GPS kicked in and it was an easy drive.

After settling in at Kevin’s house his parents took us out for dinner for some Cajun food – Gumbo is very nice. Kevin and I went out after dinner in Beaumont, the bigger city near his home. We went to one of his locals and then headed to the John Wayne bar to catch up with some of his friends. I ended up doing a bit of line dancing and the two step.

After a bit of sleep in we went to the wetlands to see if we could spot an alligator, we saw a couple in the water, but had no luck finding one on the bank to get any good photos. We then went back into Beumont to see the worlds third largest fire hydrant, I can only assume that once upon a time it was the largest.

On Monday I drove to New Orleans, from Vegas to New Orleanns I covered 2500 miles, so it was quite a journey. I went for a walk aroun town during the day and then went out in Bourbon Street with some guys I met in the Hostel.

I caught a flight to New York today, getting to my Hotel around 4pm. I think I am just have a quiet night today and go for a good walk around tomorrow. I used the subway to get into town, so I have arleady had a feel of New York.

It is Wednesday night here and Lisa will arrive on Friday night, so that will be a bit of fun. It is a lot colder here than every where else I have been in the US and am wearing a jacket for the first time since being in the US.

It is funny how hard it is to sleep sometimes - I had everything going for me last night, 9.6 mile hike, the restaurant closes and 9pm and no TV in my room - yet I was still awake at 11pm. Never the less I still made it up early and packed up all my gear ready to check out by 11am. I had a quick coffee and juice, then headed out on a 3.8 mile hike so I could get back and shower before checkout.

I did the window trail today, this is to the "V" you may have seen in a lot of my photos. Where I am staying is called the basin, but it actually 1500ft above the surrounding area, it is the middle of a big mountain range. The window is a gap in this range where all the water collected in the basin falls to the ground. It is dry most of the year, but it was a must do walk to do before I leave. Still no bears or lions.

After finishing the walk I checked out and had an early lunch before hitting the road. I took one of the smaller highways to Uvalde, needing to go through border control three times, since I am was so close to the Mexican border at Big Bend and for most of my drive today it is understandable. I never actually left the US, but they are still looking for illegals.

It was quite a nice drive, going through Amistad National Recreational reserve.

I got to Uvalde about 6pm and have settled into what seems like a nice hotel. I really feel like I am Texas now, the hotels moto is "we welcome hunters". It is Halloween tonight, the hotel has a bar but I don't how crazy it will get as it seem pretty quiet so far.

Of to Houston tomorrow, first stop is NASA and then meeting up with my friend Kevin for a night out.