Aloha! This entry is written more diary style as that's how I wrote it; every or every second day documenting what had happened. I'm having issues with some of the photos I took so I'll either add them to this post later or I'll add them in a separate post. Either way I will let you know when they are up.
Well, it's 21:03 on June 4th. What a time we've had and we've only been here a day and a bit.
I traveled from Banff at 9:30 to Vancouver on the 2nd via bus which was long, but seeing as it didn't get dark until I arrived in Vancouver at 10pm it didn't seem too drastically long, more like a normal day really but one spent sitting down the whole time. I was picked up by Adam, Becky, Maria, Elly and Axel, then we went to a car park and walked to a tavern for a drink before heading to the Airport to park the car. We weren't allowed to enter the parking lot until after 1am so that was a little disappointing having to stay up so late before we could try get some sleep but that's life. There was a shuttle bus that we caught from the parking lot to the Airport and once in the Airport we found some seats and tried to catch some shuteye. I got maybe an hour if that and as I hardly slept the night before and got probably the same amount of sleep on the bus I was wrecked before we even started flying. The first flight was to San Francisco, departing at 6:15am and about two and a half hours long. There was almost no one on the flight so we got to stretch out and have a three seater row to ourselves and get a little more sleep. The flight to Maui was a little longer, departing at 9:45am five hours and completely packed. We were down the end and surrounded by children. Needless to say no sleep was achieved.But once we gained Hawai'i, it was all worth it. The warm breeze, the ocean (which I haven't seen in seven months, was a very welcome sight-and having the salty smell in the air was heavenly), the laid back atmosphere, the beautiful resort we're staying in, the sun..everything is amazing. We went for a wander and found some food and then decided a swim was called for. Sunset is around eight here so that's a bit different from home in Banff where it sets at ten-thirtyish. I swear before my head hit the pillow last night I was asleep.Today we went out for groceries and to book a surfing lesson. I got fruit for smoothies as I've been craving a real homemade one for months; by the way it was amazing. Our lesson was at half twelve with a (as Elly put it) gorgeous brown-as-a-nut-with-green-eyes-and-dreadlocks guy called Justin. It was girls first and Becky didn't want to so I had to be the first one. But I got up my first time! He used to date a Maori girl he told us and he likes Weet-Bix and TimTams, but has never tried Marmite as his ex was part Australian so she feed him on Vegemite. Honestly, the amount of people who think New Zealand is just about the food.. One time I paddled out to him to catch a wave he asked me what 'padu' meant, but he said it 'paddoo' so I was confused until he mentioned watching the 'nek minit' videos. (If you haven't seen the videos it's a grown white guy who talks about his push scooter being stollen from outside the dairy. It's really bad as it makes us look like we're a retarded nation. Maybe we are, seeing as we can't seem to pronounce our words right and all. So save yourself the horror and don't bother watching.) (And padu (I don't think I spelt it right) if you didn't know is a word that's used to describe something dirty, or yucky; if someone calls you that it's not nice.) After the lesson we got a free hat and a certificate that 'surftifies' that we've completed a beginners surfing course. That part was a little lame but oh my it was so much fun! We went and got food and after that came back to the hotel and blobbed. Becky and Adam went out for dinner as it is his 31st birthday and then we went out for a drink before coming back to bed.
June 5
I got up at six thirty this morning as that's when I woke up. I went for a walk and a quiet sit but the ocean for an hour and then came back and watched telly while having breakfast. We then went to the pool and then the beach where we sunbathed and swum for most of the day. After getting geleto and realising I was burnt I decided to come home where I am now, listening to YouTube 2014 songs and attending to emails that I have been long avoiding. We are having a BBQ dinner tonight which I'm looking forward to. You're not a true Kiwi if you don't enjoy a good BBQ. (I had shrimp for the first time-they're quite nice.)
June 6
Today we went for a wander up the beach to Baby Beach. I was quite burnt from the day before so I placed my towel under one of the trees. I didn't like Baby Beach so much as there were screaming children and people close by; I much rather prefer 'our' beach where we went surfing.We walked back to town to have lunch and Elly, Marie and I chose to have it at the Hard Rock cafe while Becky, Adam and Axel decided to have it somewhere that did sea food. I had a massive pile of nachos and then decided I wasn't up to going back to the beach so went back to the hotel. I went to bed early as I was feeling gross so I missed out on going out to dinner with everyone else. They all got dressed up for it too so I was a little disappointed but I seriously couldn't make myself feel up for it.
June 7
We went snorkelling today! We spent the whole day on a boat; at the start when we were looking at booking the trip we were a little apprehensive about spending 7 hours on this trip but it flew and felt like only one, if that. Elly lent me one of her t-shirts to cover my burn which was lovely of her. We caught the bus from out the back of the cinema and arrived just in time to check in and then head to the boat. Adam forgot the boarding passes but remembered he'd left them on the counter when we got to the dock so he ran back for them and it was our turn to board (we waited so we'd be last) just as he came back, good timing. We headed to our first snorkel site and muched on some pineapple, orange, banana and coffee bread. I thought it was going to be a big island but it was really little; I'd say less then half a kilometre long. We used the built-in slide to enter the water and were the only group to do so because we're oh so brave. There were other boats mored there so we had to stick within a parameter but we saw a small white tipped reef shark, Bubbles, the Captain and the psycho kid fish off Nemo and a ton of other beautiful tropical fish. Maria even saw Nemo but we weren't that lucky. The hour seemed to drag just a little as there wasn't a lot of space to wander but the corral was beautiful and there were sea urchins to see; it was gorgeous. Lunch was served heading to our next site which was a privately owned island with one or two small settlements on it. The site we were going to go to was too rough so we headed around the island 20 minutes more to another site; Shark Fin Cove, named so because of a rock there that looks like a sharks fin. The ocean was so, so blue heading there, and at this site we were in 55 or so feet, whereas the last one we had mored at 40. We used the slide again; the water was quite blue and the same kinds of fish were there as well, but as the water was deeper we didn't get so close. There was another reef shark, just sitting on the bottom on the ocean for a bit so that was exciting, and then just as we were about to leave we turned around and there was a sea turtle just cruising along. They haven't been seen there for over a year, and it was magical. It moved so effortlessly. We also say a flat fish the blended in really well with the sea floor, some goat fish and a few other colourful fish that hadn't been at the other site. The corral wasn't as beautiful but it had a more rugged feel. It was still amazing though.On the way back to dock we hit some roughish waters and a few people were sick, including Elly, Axel and Becky; half our group. But we made it back and got a free poster each; mines of a sea turtle which I'm pleased with. We did a little souvenir shopping and I got a surf board keyring for either me or Mr P and a shark keyring for Matthew. I wished he'd been there to share the experience with me as he would've loved it even more then I did.We missed the first bus back to Lahaina so we sat around at the general store for an hour until the next one came along and used the wifi. I learnt that Wellington is the windiest port whereas the one we were in in Hawai'i is the second. Also, our first site was used for bomb practice after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, and when we headed to our second site we passed an island that was used for practice as well, but all the bombs haven't been removed so all vessels have to stay 2 nautical miles away from it. (During lunch we had a little history lesson so that was cool; I love history.)We headed out to a new place for dinner, a pizza place. It was quite nice but we were worn out from our day so headed home to bed soon after finishing.
June 8
Today we didn't go to the beach for the first time. We chilled by the pool most of the day and I decided to take myself for a walk. I found the cafe that Justin the hot surf teacher works at, but it was closed. On my way back to the hotel I found some outlet stores and inside Calvin Klein I found a strapless bra; the one thing that I have been looking for since arriving in Canada. Life just simply isn't complete without a strapless bra. There was 25% off that already and they were on the last day of a 30% off your sale price deal. Panties were 3 for $25 too so I decided to walk back to the hotel and get money for them. I also decided to get the maxi I'd seen in Honolulu Surf Co., and to complete my shopping mission I went into the souvenir store for Bubba Gump and found a keyring that I'm going to give to Dad. There was nothing there that said the line he quotes most though: "Me and Jenny go together like peas and carrots" which was a little disappointing. But that's life. When I got back finally I took a dip in the pool with the others and adopted a black tube crop top that had been sitting around on one of the walls all day-score! We all got our own dinners and just blobbed.
June 9
Today while Adam and Axel went scootering around the island and Maria sat by the pool, Becky, Elly and myself took the bus up the island to Black Rock. It's by a resort so we got to see the more glamorous side of Hawai'i; I still prefer our beach that's a little run down and full of character. We didn't leap off the rock until after lunch (we had panini's; I mention this because Becky had been hungering after one since and then it was only Becky and myself as Elly didn't feel like doing it. She instead stayed on the beach and captured the moment we took the leap and when we saw the..but wait. I'm getting ahead of myself.We took the bus at 11am to the next bean up, Ka'almapai or something like that. It was spread in front a massive building complex compromising of high apartment blocks, shopping centre, restaurants and rental shacks. We had a nosey around the craft fair that was set up in the courtyard of one of the hotel buildings and there, if you haven't realised already, confirmed something that I became aware of just the other day; Maui is named after the same dude in the Māori legend that fished up the North Island of New Zealand and whose canoe is the South Island. I thought that was really cool as it made Hawai'i feel like it had a tie to home. Speaking of ties, there was a Shaw Street two blocks over from where we were staying. I'm not saying it's a sign but… Also at the fair was a stand that sold wood sunglasses. They are honestly the most comfortable thing I have ever worn and they were super comfy too. The price we didn't even enquire about as we knew they'd be out of our league but if I was rich I most certainly would have bought a pair.We finally made it to the beach and it was beautiful. Light sands and blue sea lined by palm trees; it was everything the postcards show you. There was no surf break like at our beach but where the waves crashed on the beach it was quite strong and once you were in there was a steep drop off after about only two metres. It was quite fun bobbing in the water and having your head higher then the lowest point of the beach. I'm not sure if I'm describing this beach very well but I hope the photos I took will explain it better.After lunch as Becky and I were waist deep in the surf just about to swim out to Black Rock I saw an object right by us. What at first glance through the water looked like a rock turned out to be a grown sea turtle. It poked it's head out and blew water at us and the others that were around it. Thankfully no one crowded it as I thought it looked a little stressed as it surfaced and puffed water a few times more before it found a way out to deeper water. Seeing a second turtle so close was really cool, but it kind of unsettled us a bit as we didn't really fancy swimming above turtles and not being able to see them to avoid them, but we headed out anyway. Just as we got to the rock I had this weird sense that there was something in the water next to me, and the first thought was: reef shark. But I told myself I was being stupid and just because we'd seen the white tipped reef sharks while snorkelling didn't mean they were here at this busy beach so I calmed the rising panic and clambered up the rock. As we got to the top two guys who'd been sitting there as we approached turned to us and asked: "Did you know you almost touched a turtle as you swum up?" That kind of freaked me out seeing as I'd somehow known there was something near me, and didn't really make me super eager to leap into the sea again. But we did leap, twice in fact and the adrenaline was pretty cool. There's a horrid-yet-thrilling moment after you jump when you feel like you're not getting any closer to the surface of the ocean but yet you still have that loosing-your-stomach feeling that accompanies a fall.. So all in all it was a great girls day. We headed back to the hotel at six a little burnt and rather tired, it's great how fresh air and adventures make you sleep soundly. Again we all got our own dinners, it's nice not going out every night.
June 10/11
Boo-hoo, last day! My, how time has flown. After packing everything up we headed to the beach for a few hours then trooped back to the hotel where we had some BBQ shrimp before heading out for a late lunch-I think every time I have shrimp from now on I'll think of Hawai'i. Captain Jack's has been our 'local' since day one and we had the same waitress as our first day there; she practically knew our order. One last dip in the pool after Jack's and then we were picked up by the Airport shuttle and carted off. We got to watch the sunset on the drive and someone mooned us out their pickup window while we were on the highway..Hawai'i can be so glamorous at times.Going through security was quick and easy this time. I forgot to tell you but while we were going through Vancouver's Airport security we had a few bags that got pulled aside. One was for too large a containers of shampoo and conditioner (Maria), another for not taking the laptop out of it's sleeve (Elly) and mine was pulled aside because I'd forgotten that there was water in my bottle still. I was also told off before going through the metal detector as I had my beanie in my back pocket and needed to remove it. What criminals we are, trying to destroy the safety and wellbeing of everyone on board!! Jokes, I know that there are rules for a reason, but it was certainly an interesting way to start our trip. Oh, there was a little hiccup going through in Hawai'i, one of my bracelets set the detector off so I had to do the walk twice, but that was it. Seasoned travellers are we now.Our flights went like this; departing Maui at 9:05pm for San Fran-5 hours. Departing San Fran at 6:37am for Denver-2 and 1/2 hours. Departing at 11:20am Denver to Vancouver was meant to be just under 3 hours but the co-pilots seat for some reason was broken so we were delayed for around an hour while a new one was found and attached to our plane. That flight seemed the longest out of all; I think because we were so tired by that stage and sitting in the plane waiting for the seat to be fitted seemed to take forever. Also jumping through all those time-zones does something to you, but we made it to Vancouver and once we got to the car we headed to Granville Island for some much needed lunch as we were all famished. Our delay got us in at half past three in the afternoon and we hadn't eaten since breakfast in San Fran. Those samosas were pure heaven.The girls went shopping for a MacBook for Maria (she has three more flights tomorrow as she's heading back home to England) so the boys dropped me off at the bus station. They're planning on heading back through Banff at some point in their travels of Canada so it wasn't goodbye just yet. Which is good; I despise goodbyes. I'm on the bus now typing this up and we're just about left the greater Vancouver area. Facing 12 hours in this seat isn't terribly appealing but it's been totally worth it.
Mahalo for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoyed it. I view it as your supporting me even if you're just reading it to be nosey and see what I'm up too. ;)
