Commencing her trip in America,she visited a number of states including California, Arizona and Nevada.

While in these states she visited the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park and San Francisco.

“I was amazed that in Las Vegas people were gambling and wandering about 24 hours a day,” Tanya said.

Tanya moved on to the next leg of her journey, western Canada where she visited Vancouver, the Rocky Mountains and went on a cruise through Jasper, Banff and Lake Louise.

Next Tanya headed to eastern USA/Canada and visited Washington, New York, Boston, Montreal, Ottowa, Quebec and the Amish countryside.

Africa was her next stop, where she visited Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Chobe National Park in Botswana, Na in Kenya, Serengeti National Park, Lake Manyara and Tarangire in Tanzania.

Tanya said she especially enjoyed Africa and is grateful that she lives in Australia because the standard of living in places like Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe is very low.

A highlight for Tanya was seeing a pride of lions in Africa, which included cubs and she was lucky enough to meet a lion face to face and was able to touch and pat it.

Tanya said she enjoyed her trip immensely and would like to return in the future.

PHOTO: UP CLOSE...Tanya Hackett, left, got the chance to get up close to lions in Africa during her recent around the world trip.