Amanda didn't come in until roughly 5am.

Arrangements had been made with Monique and Rachel and some others to meet for breakfast at 8.30am. The spread was immense!!! It took me 12 photos to get the entire breakfast counter. There were specific counters for Chinese and Mexican breakfasts! I had cereal, fruit, a piece of sausage and eggs benedict.

It was so stiflingly hot, even at that time of the day, Monique, Rachel and I took a taxi to the Luxor to collect our show tickets for that night.

We then hopped on the free monorail that runs between the Mandalay Bay, Luxor and Excalibur to head to Excalibur. Monique had been to Vegas the week before on another Contiki and said that you can't really see any of the attractions at Mandalay Bay (gold hotel) unless you're a guest or pay for the aquarium. We didn't really have time to hang about and take full advantage of paid attractions. The monorail took us to Excalibur (medieval castle built when Vegas was trying to attract more families). We walked to New York, New York and Monique and I rode the roller coaster, which was a bit rickety and sore on the shoulders and head but thrilling none the less. We ate Krispy Kreme's, my first experience, very nice indeed and bought Ty some San Diego Super Charger beads to make up for having to pay someone's bar bill the night before. We then walked the scaled down Brooklin Bridge.

Next stop was the MGM grand, which is massive, we walked for miles through this hotel. We looked at the rainforest cafe. There was a massive pool party at the hotel, but we never found it. We did some shopping and Monique bought a pair of boots to add to her collection for sending home. Aussies do a lot of shopping, it seems that everything is much more expensive in Oz.

Time was getting on, it was about lunchtime, so we headed to a souvenir shop where I bought some casino chips (G-man in mind!). We then visited the 4 story M&M shop. Free samples were enjoyed and I promptly bought and ate a quarter of M&M's, coconut being a particular favourite. We walked through the coca-cola shop where I got an aqua massage...the weirdest experience of my life! Being clamped into a machine which resembled a sunbed with my head sticking out of the end, in the middle of a mall being watched by a crowd. It was the strangest sensation being blasted with jets of water, I was screaming my head off! Rachel was having a good laugh!

The plan for the afternoon was to go book dinner at the Eiffel Tower restaurant early so we could make the Criss Angel show at 7pm. So we walked to Paris, booked dinner and had a wander around, beautiful streets and stores of Paris and amazing decor with giant chandeliers.

It was about 2.30pm and time was running short. So we ditched our plan to go to the Bellagio conservatory next and then Caesar's Palace. We'd been in Caesar's the night before and we planned to try and catch Bellagio at night for the fountains. We had also picked up VIP passes for Bank nightclub, Tao and wanted to visit Marquee in the Cosmopolitan and XS in Encore after going to Rain in the Palms with the tour group.

So we picked up a cab at Paris and headed out to the stratosphere at 2.30pm, needing to be back at 4pm to be out for dinner by 5pm.

We were so nervous about the 3 thrill rides on top of the Stratosphere. Big Shot shoots you vertically in the air and then drops you in free fall on the spike atop the 1000ft tower. Scream?? Fires you off the edge of the top of the tower and Xtreme?? hangs you off the edge of the top of the tower at the end of a claw facing downwards in a chair and spins you round. All three of us signed up for Scream, I also signed up for Big Shot but we all agreed that if they weren't too bad we'd try and do the others when we got to the top. The queue for the elevator was long. I did the Big Shot after the three of us had done the other ride. Big Shot was definitely worse. None of them bad for being the height they were. Unfortunately, with the delay, we didn't have time to do anything else. It was 3.45pm and the race was on to get back down and to the hotel in the heart of the strip to get ready for dinner.

It was after 4pm when we got back. Reservations for dinner were at 5.15pm, we were late and left the hotel at 5.15pm. What we didn't account for was that it was Friday night and traffic was horrific for the weekend. Although we'd phoned ahead to tell of the delay and a change to table numbers, they had said that they'd only hold the table for 10 minutes. The taxi driver was with us, he cut across a garage forecourt like we were on the run, drove like a maniac for us. When we got out, we noticed that there were blue flashing lights behind us. We ran off...hope the poor taxi driver wasn't fined!

We made it to the restaurant up the Eiffel Tower in Paris! We were seated at a table booth over looking the Bellagio! It was stunning and very surreal! The table swivelled out of the booth so us ladies could sit gracefully! We ordered cocktails, I had a classic mojito. I ordered quail as a starter and raw beef. Monique ordered rabbit and Rachel ordered duck. We arrived just after 5.30pm and needed to be away by 6.30pm to make the show. The restaurant worked hard to ensure this happened. We saw the Bellagio water fountain show from our table. We jumped in a taxi to the Luxor and had some professional photos taken before the show. The show was spectacular, kinda like a Las Vegas version of Derren Brown.

Once finished, we jumped on the monorail to Excalibur to catch a cab as there was a big queue for taxi's at the Luxor. We headed to the Miracle Mile Mall to catch up with the rest of the tour who had been to see a variety show at the V-theatre! We went to the Body Shop, where the Aussie girls stocked up and caught the Internet at Coffee Bean while waiting. There was a really drunk guy being held up by two mates, feet dragging behind, who I saw later cuddling a mate, comatosed, on a bench. When the tour came out, we gave Ty his beads.

Ty then took the tour downstairs where we all got into 3 stretch Hummers. Champagne was opened and an hour long tour of Vegas started. The limo's dropped us at the Palms, where we got VIP bands and free drinks for Rain nightclub. And so the party started. Drinks and dancing, some interesting moves from Amanda... There was fire and DJ Jazzy Jeff, that's right, from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air! At some point Jenny came up and said they were heading to the Bellagio, but I'd just joined a private batchelor party in a booth who'd given me a drink. After a few minutes I had a second thought about ditching my mates, so I ran out of the club and called them, they were at the taxi rank outside, I ran and ran but could I find a bloody door to get out!! It was like a dream! Once out, the weren't at the rank! I called, they were in a can but would wait for me at the Bellagio, I jumped a cab and got them at the door. We went in and showed the person at the door Monique, Rachel and I's tickets, but there were 6 of us. She then gave us a ticket for 6 and we heard to The Bank, we stood in the line and I said to Monique 'Ram this, I'm not standing in line'. We walked up to the rope, where a number of people were trying to sweet talk the guy in posh suit. I just interrupted with a smile and he said 'are you looking to get in', I said 'yes, there are 6 of us', he walked away and was speak to a couple of people at the desk, I thought 'oh no, we're not getting in', I turned to Monique and said 'get that smile and sexiness working'. Next, he came over lifted the rope and we strutted in leaving the other chancers at the other side of the rope! Havannah Brown was playing and the club was jumping, much better than the black based Rain. Strutting my stuff, feeling like I was the best person in the joint, we headed down the stairs to the dance floor, where I prompted fell!! Thank god I make the most awesome fast footed recovery right to the bottom of the stairs. When I turned round, Rachel and Elise were ceasing themselves laughing! Serves me right for being such an arse! We danced the night away and decided to head to XS in Encore.

Once we were out of the club, it was obvious spirits were flagging, we headed to our usual early morning haunt, Macca's, for some food and Internet. We walked through the Venetian and saw the canal and met some hot guy up a side street tp Harrah's who offered to come back to ours for a party...eh, no!

Everyone headed to bed after that, except me, I headed for the tables, I couldn't leave Vegas without losing some money. I sat at a table near the door at Harrah's and played my usual, blackjack. There were 3 guys at the table, a guy from Mexico, called Ricardo, although he didn't look Mexican. And two Naval officers. They were trying to chat but after a few drinks, chatting just distracts me from play. I was instantly up, but never enough to leave the table. Ricardo leaned over and said 'you are the luckiest conservative player I've ever met'. The dealer then changed, I should know better than to stay on a table when the dealer changes, but I did and lost my money...night over at after 5am????

Amanda was asleep in bed when I got in, she'd had an early night!