damo & kath get lost: damo and dalbs: mexico & arizona

20 - 30 August, 2014

Why hello there again!

After making it through California without being shot, arrested or getting lost (surprising to many), we ventured down to Mexico - Tijuana, Ensenada and Rosarito, for 5 days. Here, life is incredibly different to the US, despite being only a 30 minute tram ride, and entering without anyone even asking for a passport. Their system consists of pressing a button and either a green light or a red light appears. We both got green light but the guy behind us got red light. Presumably that means an instant beating. Or a bag check. We'll never know. Ahh Mexico, back to cheap beers, taco's, pollution, being accosted by people selling nic nacs, and all other things that differentiate Mexico from the US.

Mexico was made up of beaches, getting lost, late nights, eating plenty of taco's, bus rides, and a blow hole where a full on community had built up around it!

After exhausting ourselves in Mexico, it was time for a change of pace yet again. This time we were heading off-road to the Arizona desert. We talked our way to a free SUV upgrade from a mid-size sedan, which turned out to be a terrible choice and couldn't do 100km/hr on the freeway. We drove it for an hour and it was shocking, then pulled over at another location and successfully negotiated a further upgrade. Double upgrade! The new SUV can hit 200km/hr with no problems... apparently...

Arizona consisted of over 30 hours of driving in 5 days to Phoenix, Grand Canyon, a dude ranch (being cowboys), Lake Powell, and finally Albuquerque. Limited booze, early mornings, lots of treks, and being fit and healthy, this was totally different to the previous 2 weeks!

The highlights

Dancing the night away in Mexico's finest beach bars
Spending another night in San Diego, where we enjoyed backstage passes to a liquor festival.
We climbed Camelback Mountain in Phoenix, a climb that takes 1-2 hours return and is higher than climbing the Empire State Building, in just 40 minutes round trip. Did someone say elite athletes??
We treked down Bright Angel trail on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. A 15km, 3,000 foot descending trek. This one only took us 4 hours, not that we want to brag...
We spent the night at a dude ranch. Think of the movie City Slickers. But with two gregarious Australians. We rode horses, shot guns, practiced lassoing, watched the stars and, somehow, managed to talk our way into a free helicopter ride into the Grand Canyon and back. I won't divulge how we negotiated that one, but let's just say it involved a bet, a lasso and a ham sandwich...
Lake Powell was mostly checking out the incredible views.
Then a 10 hour drive to Albuquerque for some much needed rest and enjoy labor day celebrations.

The Summary

Weather: Changing! We got as low as 6 degrees in Kaibab camping ground, up to a high of 45 degrees in the middle of the Arizona desert.
Surf: Huge surf in Mexico but unfortunately not a board rental place to be found! However whilst watching the surf, we invited to tour a penthouse property, enjoy a free lunch, and sink a couple of Corona's, just for showing interest in potential property investment. Didn't realise we looked like property investors with our thongs, no shirt and short shorts...
Food: Taco's, taco's and taco's. Then mostly home cooked/on the go food whilst driving through Arizona.

Beverages: Mexico had plenty, Captain Morgan due to the lovely people that snuck us in to the liquor festival, and then dry during Arizona.

People: Plenty of people! Including a young cowboy who believed we were strippers from Thunder Downunder.
Accommodation: Everything from hotels to a wagon to a camp ground.
Budget: Pretty good, I think we are recovering from Vegas somehow...
Overall: What an amazing experience! The US has some incredible countryside and the stars, outside of the city, are impeccable!

Mexico (Tijuana, Ensenada and Rosarito)

Smuggling handsomeness into Mexico

One of the oldest and largest nightclubs in Mexico - Papas & Beer, Ensenada

Papas & Beer beach club in Rosarito. One of the largest outdoor beach clubs in the world. That's not beer cups, that's Dalbs asking for spare change to help fund the trip!

A full tourist town calls this place home, centered around a blowhole. However we were determined to just come and see the blowhole and not buy anything.

So we saw the blowhole, was quite amazing...

And then we saw this mask. No questions necessary. Shut up and take my money!!

And of course we had to have a pina colada. Did someone say a top up for $2? How does yes sound?!

We stopped at a tiger sanctuary and got to play with this cute little guy. All money raised helps the tigers. Unfortunately he didn't fit in our backpack...

San Diego, California

Kicking back, with our backstage passes, at the spirits festival thanks to the Captain Morgan crew!

Phoenix, Arizona

Can't win em all, Dalbs won this round.

If you look closely, you can see Dalbs coming up the hill on our trek up Camelback Mountain. Naturally Damo was way up ahead to take this photo... not that we're competitive...

2,700 km's in 32 hours over 6 days. And still smiling!

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Jumping the Grand Canyon...

Practicing levitation at the Grand Canyon. This was before we started the hike. When we could still feel our legs.

This levitation thing is not so hard!

If you squint, you can see a patch of green in the middle of the shot. That's where we trekked to!

And when we got there, it was surprisingly green in this little oasis.

Doe. A deer. A female deer. Just hanging out at our little oasis.

Down wasn't so hard. Up however was another story. We searched for an hour for the lift before we gave up and ~~hitch~~hiked back. You know that moment when you realise what's lying ahead of you? Yep, that's what we were feeling right now...

We made it back to the top, with just enough energy to take this photo.

The Dude Ranch - Bar 10 - somewhere in the middle of the desert, Arizona

Just the standard petrol station, with a small selection of guns for sale. Pretty normal really.

On the way to the dude ranch, on a dirt road, we passed this friendly bloke, just shooting a target. We decided to stop and Dalbs talked shop with the guy... next thing you know...

We're shooting! This is with a Tikka .223 bolt action rifle (for all those gun enthusiasts playing at home).

Damo's first time shooting a rifle

We did ok! From about 150m, we had two shots each. Dalbs was Mr Consistent whilst Damo used his first time luck to get almost a perfect bulls eye!

We're real cowboys now. Consider our man ticket validated.

More competitiveness, this time Damo was the victor! Lassoing championships 2014.

That's one cool dog. And the puppy is cute as well.

Clay shooting with a shotgun. Definitely man time. Not to brag, but we both got 3/3.

Flag ceremony at the ranch finished off the day. I think we are now official citizens.

Our beds for the night. Just gotta watch out for rattle snakes, scorpions, coyotes, and disgruntled squirrels.

Front row seats for a free helicopter ride through the Grand Canyon! Down the bottom we skipped stones for an hour (naturally again turning competitive, which Dalbs won, this time...) whilst waiting for our return flight.