The 'throw those curtains wide' tour

Again we arrive in a new country without a plan but soon find ourselves on a bus heading to a hostel we'd picked at random. Auckland was just another big city really so we were keen to set off and discover the rest of New Zealand. A couple of days later we were on the road in our bright orange Spaceship camper. Our first stop was Hot Water Beach in Coromandel. We spent a great afternoon here digging holes in the sand and sitting in pools full of hot spring water (we only got scalded a couple of times!) We had no idea where we were going to camp that night so Rich (in true Richard Sanzeri style) sauntered up to another camper van with two girls in it to ask them. They looked slightly alarmed at this lad that had just appeared through their window and didn't have a plan either so we waved them off and set off again. Before sunset we fit in a walk to Cathedral Cove which is a beautiful series of beaches surrounded by limstone rock that has been eroded into arches and pillars. We then found ourselves a council run campsite in Wentworth Falls.

Our first night in the van went well and to our surprise we spotted the two girls Rich had accosted at Hot Water Beach! We spent the morning swimming at the bottom of the waterfall which was so cold we all went blue. This was the start of the four of us egging each other on to do reckless things we'd never normally do.

As we were going the same direction as the Devonshire girls we decided to travel together for the day. By the time we got to Rotorua we had to find ourselves another campsite. The sun set at around 6pm and you had to make sure you'd set yourselves up for the evening at this point - it was quite tricky cooking outside when it got too dark. This is where Jo and Kate introduced us to their great invention Nutella raisins. In sheer desperation after having run out of chocolate covered raisins they mixed their chocolate spread together with regular raisins in a plastic mug. Genius. We could tell that we'd learn a lot from each other.

Rotorua was a very small and stinky town. It's home to a lot of thermal activity so there is a lot of sulphur shooting up out of the ground. We went to see the southern hemisphere's largest geyser which was pretty impressive and then headed into the town. By this time we were starving so we decided to treat ourselves to a Pizza Hut buffet lunch. Annoyingly we got there 10 minutes late. The restaurant was empty apart from one member of staff and the buffet table was full of food. Despite our pleading and the fact the food would only be thrown away he refused to give in. While he was cooking the large pizza we ordered we managed to devour most of the buffet. Terrible I know but when you gotta eat you gotta eat. Everytime the man came back out we'd freeze with our mouths stuffed full of pizza. Well, it would have only gone to waste. We sat on the side of the lake, stared at the pizza we'd bought and came to the conclusion that we were absolutely stuffed and couldn't eat it. That would be our dinner tonight then!

After a quick wander around a real maori village we hit the road again in search of one of the rare free campsites. The campsite was in Purua forest (basically the middle of nowhere). We drove up this winding dirt track, and we drove, and we drove some more...it had gone dark and the girls were running low on petrol...we kept driving and then the sat nav told us we were at the end of the road and now just floating around in green space. Eventually, due to lack of petrol and worrying that we might end up driving off the edge of a mountain, we pulled over in a turning point and spent the night there. We were all a bit spooked and Jo kept telling us it was just like the film Wolf Creek (luckily we haven't seen this yet) so we had a mug of wine each (for medicinal purposes) and went to sleep. We were managing to get a good night's sleep until a certain someone shook Rich awake convinced that there was someone shining a torch at us through the window. Turned out to be the moon. (Rich still hasn't forgiven me for this - Catherine). The next morning we were all glad to be alive and the forest didn't look so scary anymore. Then, as we were eating our breakfast, we watched a huge campervan come driving down the hill. Knowing our luck we were probably about 10 metres away from the camp!

Our next stop was the Waitomo caves which are famous for their glow worms. It was amazing to see the pitch black caves lit up like a starry night!

In desperate need of power (for our phones and cameras) and a shower (after a scary night in the forest) we headed to Lake Taupo and forked out for a 'posh' campsite. This was well worth it as we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in a thermal swimming pool until we'd turned into prunes. This is where Kate came out with a classic - we were chatting to an older Aussie couple who were enjoying a relaxing dip and remarking on how nice the pool was when Kate said "yeah, it's great when you haven't had a shower for three days". They got out shortly afterwards.

The next day, feeling clean, refreshed and fully charged, we moved to a free campsite by the river (with the most disgusting long drop toilet in the world - it made your eyes water). This was a beautiful spot with the clearest, most turquoise river we'd ever seen. Rich and Kate went for a dip (crazy - they must love their freezing water) while Jo and Catherine sensibly watched from the bank. To be honest we were just trying to distract ourselves from our impending skydive that we'd booked an hour before. Catherine was determined she wasn't going to do it but eventually caved into peer pressure - those Devonshire girls again!!! Jo, having done one before, gave us a bit of a pep talk while we sipped on the very large vodkas we'd poured ourselves (there was no way we could do this completely sober - there's nothing wrong with the occasional midday tipple anyway, is there?) An hour later (not much chance to think about it) we were picked up and driven to our doom. Wearing ridiculous jumpsuits, hats and goggles we boarded the tiniest plane we'd ever been on. On board we sat on little metal benches whilst our instructors fastened themselves to us. This is where we need to break into two separate dialogues as we both had such different experiences...

Catherine's jump: Oh my God! What was I doing getting on this ridiculously tiny plane and then throwing myself out of it? Had I gone completely mad??! I'd sat there whilst everyone else was getting excited reading the disclaimer on the back of our suits "Even if the parachute is deployed correctly there is a risk of serious injury and death". Ok, not feeling too good about this. When I met my instructor typically I got the crazy looking one with the blue furry helmet - great. I asked "We'll be ok won't we?" and he replied "Well, we've all gotta die sometime". Seriously, you're saying this to the wrong person. Off we went in our little toy plane climbing higher and higher. We got to 2000 feet and I remember thinking how high we were and we'd got another 13000 feet to climb! I nervously watched as my instructors altitude measuring watch thingy moved through the numbers as we got higher. I was slightly alarmed that he'd gone quiet for a while and then noticed he was cluthing his head as it was bleeding. Great, I'd got a damaged instructor who might have concussion for all I knew. I watched in horror as two people did their jump at 12000 feet. They just roll up the shutter and go. The plane lurches as it stabilises again after losing some of its weight. We get to 15000 feet. This is it. I watch as Jo and Kate do their jumps and then it's my turn. My instructor does all the work so it doesn't matter that my legs have turned to jelly. He shuffles us over to the door of the plane. I hook my legs underneath the plane's belly while he tries to make me smile at the exit camera. He got a grimace. And then we fall. And it really does feel like you've fallen from a plane. My stomach lurched and then we settled into our starshaped position facing the ground and I finally opened my eyes. The view was phenomenal. I could see for miles and could see the curve of the Earth. I remember feeling very cold and struggling to breathe through my nose as the air was rushing past us so fast. I didn't feel like I was falling at this point despite dropping at 200km per hour. We'd paid for a dvd of our jump which meant I now had to pose for the cameraman who'd jumped with us. I'd like to say I did a really cool pose but I was still terrified that I might be plummeting to my death so the cameraman was treated to my 'swimming' through the air. Hmmmm. Wish I'd done a superman pose like Jo now. After a minute of freefall out came the parachute. I've never been so relieved in my life!! I was happily cheering away when I realised I was in absolutely agony with my ear. Falling that far that fast can really mess with your ear pressure. I was then treated to a guided tour of the surrounding area by my instructor (Lake Taupo is the largest lake in the southern hemisphere don't you know). He then scared me to death again by doing a load of crazy tricks as we neared the airport. Just before we landed he explained that as we hit the ground I need to walk like a rock star. Before I had time to ask how on earth a rock star walks the ground was upon us. Whatever I did worked as we landed really smoothly on our feet with me exclaiming "I'm alive!!!" Totally the best and most scary thing I've ever done. I'm glad we did it in New Zealand as we got longer freefall as they are allowed to jump from a higher altitude.

Rich's jump:

Despite promising myself I wouldn't throw myself out of a plane whilst on my travels when the opportunity came up I grabbed at it like fat kid and cake!! Jo's enthusiasm for it was infectious and from the moment I booked it I couldn't wait to get up in that toy plane and fly out of it head first! This is evidenced by the fact that I'm grinning like an idiot in every photo that was taken! Well... all bar one.. prior to the jump I'm beaming like a berk, it's the same in the air and on the ground afterwards, but if you lookn at the picutres there is one taken the second I came out of the plane where my smile has turned to a grinding of teeth and my expression clearly says "#@*^&!!! I'm falling out of a #@*%ing plane!!" A split second after though it is a pure adrenalin rush and the views from 15,000 feet are awe inspiring, you can feel the speed as you fall and the force of the air against your body. One draw back though, as a guy when they pull the parachute and the force of the upward drag hits the harness that runs between your legs it soon brings you back to reality! Inspite of this I still came down shouting "let's do it again!!!" Definately a wicked experience that I'll never forget.

We rewarded ourselves for our bravery that night by cooking up a barbeque. Our plan was stay up late drinking wine and playing cards. However, after laughing at our skydive dvds we were exhausted. Too much adreniline and midday drinking!

We decided to tone things down the next day and went for a leisurely walk to Huka Falls. We also met up with Kim who we'd met on Mana island in Fiji. The one thing we've noticed about travelling is that everyone is doing more or less the same route which gives you a great chance to meet up with people again. It also makes people in hostels look oddly familiar as you've probably seen them before! Kim had also had a scary tsunami experience. She had moved onto the mainland and managed to convince a local to give her a lift up the hill where she spent a few hours with his family. Our afternoon with Kim was over quickly and then we were off to the Tongariro national park.

The Tongariro Crossing is said to be one of the best one day walks in the world. An 8 hour walk takes you up into the alpine range, across one volcano crater and up to the summit of another complete with turquoise mineral pools and thermal vents before decending to through the valley and through fern forest to the finish line. As with any crossing the key is preparation. We decided however to not bother checking the weather report, ignoring the fact that all the guided tours had been cancelled and the girls decided to tackle the whole expidition wearing hot pants!! Needless to say there were many points at which I thought one of the girls might die, with them losing feeling in their hands, feet and faces and getting pelted with wind blown rain and hail!! We made it back though and on telling some New Zealanders about our trek they remarked that we were the type of people that they hear about on the news every year, usually being found dead and frozen to a rock!

Next we stopped off at a small town north of Wellington called Otaki. That night in the pub we got chatting to two locals whilst watching the football, one a White New Zealander called Tony and the other a half Mauri guy called Seth who turned out to be the cousin of (Sir) Trevor Brooking!! These guys were really friendly and genuinely interested to hear our stories and ask about our homeland whilst also sharing tales from New Zealand. Tony invided us to use his surf board and sea kayak the next morning and even gave us a lift down to the black sand beach. I had great fun right up to the point where I came out of the sea kayak and it hit me square in the face, I man-ed up and told them it did not hurt but I couldn't eat properly for 3 days!! On saying our farewells to our new Kiwi friends we were introduced to a younger chap Dennis. We chatted to him for a bit and when he found out we were going to Wellington he offered to let us stay at his house! We weren't too sure as we'd just met the guy but after much conferring we accepted.

We'd gotten used to New Zealand's tiny one horse towns so weren't too surprised at the small size of the capital city. After exploring the city and zooming up and down the hill on the hillside railway we ventured off to Dennis'. His house was amazing. He'd designed it himself and it was very impressive with a pool out back and a huge glass ceiling above his gym. All fears about staying with some random man soon evaporated on meeting his son Nikita. He was great fun and made us feel really welcome. He also had us in stitches when he invented a new sauce called 'Tomato-que' which was basically a mixture of Ketchup and BBQ sauce. On adding some corn he then renamed it Tomatoque Supercorn. We started to get worried then that we had some serious competition in our marketing careers. After a hearty BBQ and some beers (wine for Jo and Catherine) we dragged our mattresses out of the vans and went to bed. Rich pretty much spent the night with one eye open but we were absolutely fine and again found ourselves waking up to exclamations of "we're still alive!" Dennis was great and even went to work just telling us to lock up on our way out. How trusting is that?

We had a long day ahead of us as we had to catch the ferry that night over to the south island. After wandering around Wellington some more we got ourselves tickets to Alice in Wonderland. Cost us an arm and a leg but was worth it, especially being in 3D. We drove to the ferry terminal hours and hours too early and nodded off in the queue. The next thing you know we are being rudely awaken by people beeping their horns at us and telling us to move! You'd think they'd be more understanding at 1am. We didn't see any of the ferry crossing - which is supposed to be beautiful as you get into the South island and see Marlborough Sounds - we were all fast asleep sprawled across the chairs and floor of the boat.

We had an amazing time on the North island. We had a few close shaves but that only adds to the flavour of our trip. Let's hope the South island could live up to its reputation as being everyone's favourite.

Once again we step off the plane and into a tropical paradise. From the first moment we've had locals smiling at us and shouting out Bula (meaning hello/welcome). After our initial fear that they were trying to sell us something/rob us, we came to realise that the Fijians are just possibly the friendliest people in the world (we even got offered a cup of tea whilst waiting for the toilet on the plane - now that's service).

So, we land in Fiji with absolutely no plans. It appears we spent all of our planning time on the beach in Waikiki - oops. We manage to book a hostel and share the transfer with a lovely Dutch girl called Julie. The hostel was pretty basic - dorm room for 16 people with a couple of pathetic fans to relieve you from the oppressive heat and humidity. But what can you expect for a fiver a night each?! Well, one thing you can expect is bedbugs. We found out too late that we'd been given the bunk beds that a girl had slept in the previous night and woken up having been bitten to pieces. We did think it was strange that they were spraying stuff in a hole in the wall directly behind Catherine's head.

We took part in a kava ceremony. Kava is a narcotic drink made from the root of a pepper plant. It makes you all sleepy and relaxed! You sit around in a circle and take it in turns to down the muddy looking water from a coconut shell. There were several traditions to follow such as clapping before receiving your coconut shell and shouting bula! We had a great evening drinking gallons of kava and singing along with a Fijian playing his guitar.

We decided to go and check out a couple of Fiji's islands. So off we zoomed in a boat with no life jackets/ring (there is no health and safety in Fiji!) to an island called Mana in the Mamanuca islands which are to the west of the mainland. As soon as the boat slowed down the heat just hit you. However we were somewhat distracted by the beautiful white sands, clear blue sea and gently swaying palm trees - we could get used to this. We spent the next few days moving from one shady spot to the next, reading books, swimming and snorkelling. Catherine can't remember ever having snorkelled so was bowled over by the reef. We saw all sorts of cool marine life, it felt like we were swimming in a tropical fish tank! The trip was short lived for one of us who decided that a shark might come and eat her so swam back.

Mana was unbearably hot and humid but we were enjoying ourselves (even though Catherine brought the bedbugs with her for the ride). That is until we received that text off Catherine's Dad at 2am informing us about the eathquake in Chile and the Pacific tsunami warning. Imagine being woken up from a deep sleep to that kind of news when you're sleeping about 5 metres away from the beach on a small Pacific island?! Going back to sleep was out of the question...what with Catherine freaking out (and wanting to run down the beach to charter a plane from the posh Japanese resort next door) and Rich trying to get a straight answer out of a member of staff (all of whom were drunk - including anyone who could sail a boat). We had no TV or Internet so had to rely on updates from Catherine's Dad. The drunken Fijians didn't seem interested at all. They told us "It's not due until the morning. Come down, we'll have breakfast and then we'll go up the hill". Breakfast?! Didn't they know a huge wave was coming??! They said we might get evacuated - shouldn't we be going now?? There was one tiny boat and a whole load of people, how was that going to work?! We found Greg, one of our American friends who was still staggering about after a night of Bounty dark rum (80% proof or something ridiculous like that). Finding Greg was the best thing we did that night as he completely altered our mood. His reaction to the news was brilliant, due to the rum he found it all quite amusing! Whilst Rich was updating his Dad, Catherine and Greg thought they could hear a radio playing in the staff quarters. Greg went to knock the door and ask. Instead of asking though he just shouted out (in a brilliant posh English accent) "Excuse me! Do you have any biscuits?" We'd gone from fits of hysteria to fits of hysterics in a matter of minutes. We also got another classic quote from Greg when Rich asked "So Greg, what's worse...tsunami or biscuits?" his reply was "it depends on the biscuit". Feeling a lot calmer and after having convinced Greg not to run into his dorm screaming "TSUNAMI!" we went to try and get some rest. After about 30 minutes I spotted Greg walking past my dorm back to his with a pillow and sheet under his arm. Turned out he'd decided to go and sleep up the hill but the locals had talked him out of it!

At about 6am Catherine started to panic again after receiving a text from Tiffany (the lovely girl from Hawaii) saying "get to high ground!" It turned out that the Hawaiians had been evacuated from the coast. Here we were still about 5 metres from the beach. We woke up our friends in the other dorm (who apparently had been subject to Greg wandering around the dorm muttering about tsunamis - after I'd told him not to!) and decided we'd better have breakfast as we might not eat again for hours. After some cereal and a cup of tea (I love how us English reach for the tea bags when there is a crisis) we headed up the highest hill. Luckily Mana has a few hills in the centre unlike some other islands which are just sandbanks with a few palm trees. As we arrived on top of the hill first we made ourselves a sunshelter from a huge fallen down cross and a sarong. This was the best move we made as we were sat up there in the blistering heat for 3 hours! The locals were a lot better prepared and made themselves a huge shelter on the hill next to us. We were sat baking with no food or water (Mana doesn't have a shop). The next few hours were spent staring at the horizon and huddling around someone's mobile phone which could pick up Fiji radio. This one lone, serious voice kept repeating "A tsunami has been generated" and then read out all of the countries it was going to hit. We kept getting reports from people at home saying that the waves were going to be 15 feet tall and travelling at 700 kph. Updates were also provided by Catherine's family who called her mobile and triggered her phone's ringtone of 'the tide is high' by Blondie! Ironic huh? and as you can imagine we goty a few funny looks when that went off!

This was starting to get scary now. We were high enough to miss the waves but what would happen afterwards? We waited and waited until eventually we heard a rumour that it was safe. Having been told that you should still wait a couple of hours afterwards to make sure we moved down to a lower hill which had a bit of shade. After another hour we ventured back down to the beach. Scarily the tide was further out than we'd ever seen it so we were still a bit concerned. As this was our last day on the island we had to get a boat back to the mainland. I can't tell you how nervous we were walking down to the shore to leave the island but relieved to be leaving Mana.

Our next stop was an island closer to the mainland called Robinson Crusoe. This made us feel a bit safer as they evacuate when natural disasters occur! This was a completely different island. It was a lot greener and it was raining! After four nights sweltering on Mana the rain was a relief. We were staying in a huge dorm with screens instead of exterior walls so you felt like you were sleeping in the jungle! We also had to shower under a bucket!! This was so much fun. You had to take your bucket, fill it up, pour into the shower bucket and hoist it up on a rope. The water was cold and a little green looking but it was a great experience!

We had a great time on Robinson Crusoe. Even though it rained on two of the four days it didn't stop us. We went sea kayaking, played volleyball, had a free scuba lesson, palm tree climbing and husked coconuts. Greg and Joe were still with us so we could never get bored! The evenings were full of entertainment - fire dancing, bonfires, kava ceremonies and beatbox entertainment in the form of the winner of Finland's got talent Alex! The staff were amazing - the scuba guys Andy and Dan and all the Fijian entertainers - Reco, Seb, S, Lex, Tuk tuk, Jella and 123. They always made sure we were involved and even knew our names from the start!

Our highlight of the trip was a visit to a local school on the mainland. This was a fantastic experience. We talked to the children, sang songs with them and helped them with their work. They were so welcoming and we have a lot of photos of them - they loved seeing themselves on our cameras. Definately an experience not to forget.

It was sad to leave Robinson Crusoe but we were looking forward to the next leg of our journey - New Zealand.

Vinaka (thanks) Fiji. Sota tale (see you soon)

Who'd have thought we'd let this slip so early?! There's just so much to do and not enough internet access.

Our final few days in Hawaii were fabulous and we can't recommend it enough. Sunshine, crystal clear water, friendly locals, all the trappings of a modern US state but set in paradise.

We spent a few days chilling out on Waikiki beach until finally wrenching ourselves away from the golden sands to go and visit Pearl Harbor. It's a very sombre place with so much loss of life. It was definitely worth the trip to really understand what went on that day and to go to the Arizona memorial and see the 'black tears' of oil rising from the hull some 70 years later.

As we were contemplating more beach time, we got a call from Tiffany wanting to know if we'd like to 'take a roadie' to the North Shore. Not ones to look a gift horse in the mouth, we found ourselves back in Tiffany's company joined by her two friends Freddie and Celine. The North Shore is a world away from Waikiki. Totally unspoilt with a rugged nature. The weather was different too. Hawaii has several microclimates including rainforest, desert and snow capped mountains and the weather can change in a minutes or just by driving around the next bend. Tiffany took us to the beach where they film the American series 'LOST'. Being fans of the show we thought this was cool. It does look a lot smaller in real life though and they also use a different section of beach for the shots of the shoreline. We then took a drive around the rest of the island sampling Poke (pronounced pokey) fish on the way. This is a Hawaiian speciality and we can see why. Who'd have though raw fish could taste so good. We saw some amazing scenery on our way down the Windward coast and despite the chilly weather Rich and Tiffany insisted on a dip in the sea. The rest of us sensibly stayed on the beach!

After a jam packed day - which again we owe Tiffany big time for - we decided on an exotic night out at the...Red Lion Pub, well we say 'pub', it's pretty interesting to see the American slant on a traditional English pub! We had a great time drinking with Freddie and Celine. So much so that several hours later Rich was reaquainted with his mix of Jaigermeister, Budweiser, Tequila slammer and Poke! This all resulted in...

...the next day being a complete write off! Oops. Catherine appears to have a stronger stomach (or maybe just didn't drink as much).

The next day we met our new dorm buddy German (pronounced Herman with a South Amercian twang - imagine Tony Montana from Scarface, "Say hello to my little friend") from Uruguay. Having asked him if he wanted to trek up to the peak of the old volcano known as Diamond Head, he appeared with a football and flip flops. Easily persuaded back on to beach we put our trek off until the next day.

We finally did make it up Diamond Head (with German in tow) which had some amazing views over Waikiki and Honolulu. It was hard work getting up there though (well, it was for Catherine). To reward ourselves for all this exercise we thought we deserved just a little more beach time (well, when in Rome...) In an effort to save money, Rich and German decided they would rent a surf board (which German called a surf table) from the hostel and teach themselves how to surf. After a bit of paddling around watching other surfers and seeking advice, Rich managed to catch two waves! The rush was amazing and you can definitely see the attraction. It's definitely something Rich will be trying again throughout the rest of the journey. After that, I'll guess it will have to be Newquay?

What an amazing first leg to our journey. It was with a tear in our eyes that we headed back to the airport to catch our flight to Fiji.

Aloha Hawaii and Mahalo!

PS. This song definitely has to be the soundtrack to our Hawaii visit - played almost non-stop on the radio. Have a listen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_e-hfczXI4

Aloha!
What an amazing few days! After a day spent checking out Waikiki and sucumbing to jet lag (needed a bit of a nap!) we flew over to the big island (Hawaii). Having arrived at an airport that was basically a garden shed with a few benches we were picked up by our Hawaiian friend who was to be our personal tour guide for the next few days - how lucky can you get!? Rich and his mates pounced on the poor girl at the V festival 3 years ago and through facebook she kindly offered to meet up with us! So from a rainy field in Staffs to a bright sunny day in Hawaii, Tiffany took us to her secret beach for a swim. The 20 min trek over rubbley lava rocks wearing only flip flops was well worth it. The beach was gorgeous with deep thick White sand and crystal clear waters. To top it all off we were joined by two sea turtles who were so close to us.

After our amazing introduction the big island we picked up our hire car and off we went. Tiffany led us to the Volcanoes National Park at sunset. It was really eerie as the park was really quiet and all the radio stations disappeared apart from the lone voice of a man on some am station warning us of dangerous volcano gas and telling us the crater rim drive was closed. We drove down chain of craters road and walked up to where the lava flow had cut off the road. In the distance we could see hot lava making it's way down to the sea. What an amazing experience. It got a bit spooky then as it's so dark out there so we hurried in the pitch black back to the cars.

We spent the rest of the evening watching Tiffany's boyfriend's band playing in Hilo's only night spot! Despite being super jet lagged we had a great time.

We spent the night in a tiny village called Volcano which is right near the crater (of the world's most active volcano!) The Holoholo In was a quaint little house where we discovered what had happened to Rich's Cream Eggs. They were in his bag but now are over nearly everything we own! Brings a new meaning to "how do you eat yours?" - well, off the side of a guide book and a camera case.

We drove back to the volcano and hiked to the crater next to the one billowing smoke and gas called Kilauea Iki. It was hot down there! After a quick walk through a lava tube we met Tiffany in Hilo at her boyfriend's dad's 70th luau. A great way to see what island life is like - music and lots of food!

We then made our way back to Kona via Akaka falls which were beautiful. The round trip around the island takes a lot of driving and I'm glad to say I did none of it - what a wuss. Rich did so well I didn't want to spoil his fun! We had a few hairy moments where we had no idea what to do at junctions but Rich kep a cool head and managed the whole 500 miles with no problems.

Tiffany was again our saviour by letting us stay the night in her family's condo (apartment) virtually on the beach in Kailua-Kona. It had a pool and two bathrooms and no doubt the best accomodation we'll see during these 6 months!

After watching Tiffany surf and gazing out to sea watching two whales splashing about we flew back to Oahu. I'll try to forget the panic of losing the camera (it was 3 miles up the road) and not knowing what to do at the gas station on the way back with time ticking down 'til take off!

We plan to spend the next few days enjoying the beach and visiting parts of Oahu. Until next time...

That flight was monumental! 16 hours in total (10 hours to LA and 6 to Hawaii). The first flight with BA was long but comfortable, personal tv with on demand movies, free flight socks, blankets, pillows, toothbrush, eye mask, 2 tasty meals free drinks and plenty o'room. The American Airlines flight to Honolulu however was a different story, for a start the plane was so old I swear Orville Wright was at the helm! This coupled with a pillow made from hessian sacking compressed into a waifer and a TV monitor stolen from an early model RM Nimbus made for grim travel!

The next day however the world was a far brighter place, chilling out on Wiakiki beach, getting our bearings and trying to shake off some severe jet lag. The hostel is comfortable and there are some cool people we've met already. But this was all in preparation for one amazing day to come...