Everyone needs a hobby and mine is a tiny little Italian. I have a 1960 Fiat 500 that I am very slowly restoring (or destroying if you talk to those in the Fiat club as I’m not really going original). I love cars and I love working on them. I’m not sure I’m actually any good or know anything that I’m doing at all but I play around, take nuts and bolts off and hope they all go back on.

After getting a couple of quotes on welding work required that resembled Linda Evangelista’s weekly pay packet (google it for the young ones), I thought my Fiat dream was dead, until I met a lovely man who was a sucker for a lady into her car. Nick agreed to complete the welding on my little beauty for a reasonable price but wanted a year to fit it in around other projects. We fast forward to a year later and my husband is smiling again as he had been able to use the garage for 12 months and I’m smiling because I got my car back. When it left, the panels resembled a colander but now they are hole free and smooth.

Now that it looks more like a car, I’m getting more and more excited. I have most of the parts, including an upgraded engine but I’ve now got to spend the time getting everything right as I put it back together. As much as I want it done yesterday and want to be able to drive it, I also want to do a good job.

I want to do as much as possible on the car myself. I’ve even sewn my own seat covers from leather and I stripped the car when I originally got it. The last thing I did on the car was get the seam seal out and cover all the welds. I’ve unfortunately found a broken bolt that’s welded to the car, so more welding, more parts, and more money.

Next I’ll stoneguard the bottom, then undercoat, rub back and reap before taking it to a mate’s to paint. I’m going mat black but with a gloss realistic flame over the front (see, not so original).

It’s coming along, especially since I bought it from a lady who had driven into her paddock 15 years earlier and never touched it again. The cows had eaten the interior and rust replaced pretty much everything else.

My biggest challenge now is the engine conversion. I have the newer engine (650cc instead of the 500cc, so I might hit 100 kms on a downward slope with the wind) but I need to somehow work out how to connect it to the old gearbox. It seems that it’s not as easy as the 2 page instruction sheet I downloaded off the net. So if anyone knows how I do this, I’d love the help because I really need it!

There I was on the 18th of August looking out the window at the big Qantas A380 about to take me on my journey to America! After about 14 hours in the air we landed in LA, and made our way to our first stop, Anaheim.

Of course the only reason we’d be in Anaheim is to go to Disneyland. For the next 3 days we toured around Disneyland and Disneyland California Adventure Park, and believe me you need the full 3 days. Now I’m not a big fan of rides, I went on a couple, so while my mate was checking out the rides I walked around to discover what Disneyland had to offer. If you’re not a big fan of rides like me, there’s still plenty to do and see! My two highlights from Disneyland were the fireworks show and the magical light show at the California adventure park (a must see!).

After our three days of Disneyland, it was time to head off to the other side of the country to see the big city, New York. Staying right at Time Square, which is really great to see at night, and always packed! This is where we were to spend the next 6 days. While my mate went and saw the Broadway shows, I trekked around the city all day! There is plenty to see in New York, and well I saw most of it. From the 9/11 memorial, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Central Park (man it’s huge) and grand central station. And believe me there’s plenty more to see and do, you even see places here and there by just randomly walking around (I even saw the famous 5th Avenue Apple Store, I’m a huge fan)! And of course, I did go and see one Broadway show, being a big Disney fan it had to be Aladdin. If it ever comes to Australia, I recommend you go and see it.

After New York we set off to Chicago, unfortunately we didn’t do our research on Chicago so there’s plenty more we could have seen in our short time there, but we made the most of what we had. If you ever go to Chicago I highly recommend the Tommy Guns dinner show, great entertainment and very friendly staff. On top of this we couldn’t go to Chicago and not go on a mob tour. Apparently Al Capones millions are still hiding somewhere, so I may have to go back and explore. And my mate and I are quite fond of burgers, so we checked out The Cheesecake Factory, not only do they have awesome cheesecakes but they have a massive menu and awesome burgers, just wish they had one in Melbourne!

After Chicago it was back to the other side of the country to visit San Francisco, where in our few short days there we took advantage of as many tours as possible. Day trip to Muir woods, one of many national parks you can visit, and finished off by the city night lights tour, awesome tour. And of course we got to see the Golden Gate Bridge. Now we couldn’t go to San Francisco and not see Fisherman’s Wharf (we stayed right around the corner), and see the absolute highlight of my trip, Alcatraz! My friend and I are both horror fans we saw Alcatraz at night. Unfortunately there were no ghost stories (the hospital ward was a bit freaky though), but it was one amazing tour. At first I was sceptical of an audio tour, but it did not disappoint and was very interactive. If you go to San Francisco just make sure you see Alcatraz.

Now we’re off to our final destination, after about 3 weeks of travelling, and it’s time to relax and I couldn’t wait. This was my favourite destination I must admit, but I prefer the tropics and beaches over cities, so I was a bit biased. We couldn’t go to America and not visit Hawaii! While in Hawaii we did two tours, one was Pearl Harbour, an awesome tour where we saw the USS Arizona memorial and got to check out the USS Missouri. The other tour, well that was a huge day, up at 4am and didn’t get back to our hotel until after 10pm. It was the Volcano national park tour. We had to fly across to the big island where we were taken around the volcano national park, and toured a bit of Hilo (the main city). Our guide was awesome and showed us some cool spots. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see lava and we missed out on seeing the glow from the volcano at night, but it was still a must do tour!

After getting the tours out the way, it was time to relax on the beach and get a tan! I just couldn’t get enough of the sun and beach. After 7 days in Hawaii and an awesome 3 and a half weeks of holidays in America, it was time to head home! I definitely want to go back and check out America again, so much more to see and do.

Coming from 40 degrees to being woken by the pilot announcing it was 4 degrees almost made me do a U-turn in customs. However, I am slowly settling back into the routine after an amazing 4 week break in Europe. I saw some amazing things and met heaps of intriguing people. I spent the majority of my break in Hungary and Malta and thought I would share some of the highlights.

We began in Budapest, the capitol of Hungary. It is an amazing and charming city, full of great food, awesome rooftop bars, Mongolian architecture and dainty markets. The city is small enough to walk if you are staying centrally or alternatively the public transport is cheap.

They have the amazing Szechenyi Public Baths (see photo below) which are frequented by both locals and tourists. There are an array of pools, spas, sauna’s and steam rooms all varying in temperature. You can also book yourself a massage with a fully trained physiotherapist for a few dollars!

We also visited the old synagogue which is the most amazing and intricate building of its type I have ever seen in the world (photo below)

After we had eaten enough goulash we ventured into the Mediterranean Sea to visit Malta. It is a tiny island measuring 28km across and is almost 100km directly below Sicily. Malta quickly became one of my favourite places that I have visited in Europe. You can spend between 7 and 10 euro per meal and be absolutely stuffed with fresh and tasty produce.

They have amazing architecture and history there, including both pebble and sand beaches which makes it the perfect place to do a little bit of touristy stuff and also completely relax. The island has an intricate network of busses; tickets cost 1.50 Euro for the entire day which makes it easy to get around. We did a day trip to the neighboring island of Gozo, where they have the oldest monolithic structure in the world (5500 BC) and also film scenes for Game of Thrones.   You can catch a ferry there from the main island which delivers you to this port (see photo).

On the way back from Gozo, you can detour via the Island of Camino which has the bluest water I have ever seen in the world, even clearer than the blue grotto in Capri. The fast boats cost about 10 Euro and run from 10 in the morning until 6 in the evening, they also take you on a quick tour of the caves around the island of Camino.

The trip was amazing and I have come back truly relaxed. I can definitely recommend visiting both Hungary and Malta, if you are considering a holiday there, send me an email at amckenzie@jbsfinancial.com.au and I will reply with some more detailed notes and tips.