Busy, busy, busy!!!

Hello once again everyone! You'll be pleased to know that there probably won't be too many more posts for you to get through now, as we only have about 11 more days of traveling to complete before we touch down in the UK once more! Crazy to think that we've been traveling for over 4 months now, it's all gone so fast, but when we try and think back to stuff when we first left home, we have a real job remembering everything we saw and did! We're getting so excited about seeing all our photos and souvenirs etc (we just hope that the boxes we've posted home haven't got lost in transit)! Anyway, we're sure you don't want to read all our waffle, so we'll jump right into the post and what we've been doing since last time (the terrifying sky dive)!

FRIDAY 27th July

We rented a couple of mountain bikes today so that we could explore the area a bit more. We headed out to Mount Bedisloe first of all, which was a pretty tough climb up hill (so we ended up having to walk instead of cycle). The views across the bay from the top were really pretty and we rested there for a while. We then made our way to the Hurua Falls, which was really pretty, so we took some nice photos before making our way back towards the wharf. At the wharf we bought a couple of ferry tickets to the town of Russell (once nick-named 'the Hell-hole of the Pacific - due to the womanising, drunken whalers and general lawlessness, but is now referred to as Romantic Russell) out on the peninsula. There wasn't a huge amount to see in Russell, we popped into the oldest building in the town, which was originally established as a book-printing, book-binding and tanning factory by Catholic Missionaries (so they could produce books to teach the word of God to the Maori with). We also cycled over to the other side of the town (over a big hill) to go to the beach, which was wonderfully secluded and there were only 2 other people there when we arrived! We didn't stay very long, as we suddenly realised there were sand-flies around, and we had to head back to Paihia to return the bikes. So we cycled back to the ferry and returned our bikes etc before spending the evening relaxing.

SATURDAY 28th July

There was a bit of a mix-up today. We'd spent the morning wandering along the beach before grabbing some food for lunch. We returned to the hostel, ate and then waited to be collected at 13.20 so that we could go for a horse-trek, which we'd booked when we'd arrived. After half an hour of waiting, no-one had collected us so we gave the booking office a call to see if they could find out what was going on. It turned out that the owner of the Horse Trek'N company had forgotten to check her books that morning and hadn't realised we needed collecting! She arranged for us to be picked-up an hour later and insisted that we had a full refund, but still went on the 2.5 hour trek! So we were collected and taken to the stables. We got given hats and then mounted our horses - Steve was on Tahi and I was on Koru. We set off on our merry way but both of our horses seemed to be unsettled, mine wanted to keep racing off all of the time and so it was a right pain when we were doing rising trot, as Koru wasn't getting into a steady rhythm and so I couldn't do my rising trot properly and just got bounced around all of the time! He'd also tried to take a short-cut home and ended up bolting off into a copse of trees. I managed to get him to stop and turn around to join the others though, but it was a bit scary when I haven't been on a horse in years! Anyway, we made our way along the track up to a volcano (which we ended up cantering up) and had beautiful views over Paihia and the bay, as well as some of the islands. On the way back we ended up switching positions so that I was at the rear of the group (instead of the middle) and Steve was vice versa. This sorted out the problems with our horses being a bit unsettled - Tahi likes to be number one and so had wanted to lead Koru and Koru was scared of Tahi, as he's a really bossy horse! So on the way back we felt much happier and I even managed to sort out my rising trot! By the time we got back to the stables we were absolutely shattered! Koru also kept stepping on my foot when we'd dismounted! We helped take the saddles back into the tack room and then found out that one of the helpers at the stables had locked the owners keys in her car! So they came back to the stables and gave Steve and I a lift back to our hostel, we also asked them to pass on some money to the owner, as we felt bad about having a completely free ride, so we ended up paying half-price. The evening was spent nursing our aching legs and bums!

SUNDAY 29th July

We did laundry this morning, which ended up taking us well over 2 hours, it was very boring! But afterwards we ended up going to the Waitangi Treaty Centre on the KiwiExperience bus for a guided tour. It was really interesting there and it was so nice that Lord and Lady Bledisloe bought the land and acknowledged it's importance in the history of New Zealand and so gifted it to the Nation. It was here that the treaty between Britain and the Maori was signed to acknowledge that they were an independent nation and listed their rights etc. We saw the home of the first British resident of New Zealand who also acted as Protector and negotiator for the Maori and other folk dwelling in New Zealand. We were taken inside a meeting house and told how the carvings represent the ancestry and history of the people of the village. The building is also based on the 'shape' of a person and so when inside the meeting house, you are inside the very first Maori to have come to New Zealand. We also saw one of the world's largest recorded Waka (Maori war canoe). After seeing the Centre we were dropped off in town and had a little potter around and then sat watching the sea for a while before heading back to the bus which was taking us back to Auckland. We finally got to the hostel just before 20.00 and so had a quick dinner of super noodles and then just flopped into bed!

MONDAY 30th July

We have to admit we were a bit lazy today. Neither of us particularly enjoy cities much and Auckland is just huge, so we weren't very inclined to do vast amounts of sightseeing! We started off at the Auckland museum, which had some displays very similar to those of Te Papa in Wellington. It was still a good way to spend the morning, although we were a little disappointed to find that we would have to pay extra to go to an exhibition about Ancient Egypt, so we didn't get to see that. Once we'd finished looking around the museum, we headed further into town to get to the Sky Tower, stopping for some lunch on the way. We got our tickets and then whizzed up in the rather scary lift (it had a see through bottom and see through doors, and it was one of those lifts that goes up the outside of the building) to the main observation gallery. The views were pretty good, although we could see a huge storm blowing in our direction! Steve managed to get me to walk over the glass plates in the floor (I'm sure my vertigo has got worse since doing my sky dive, as I'm petrified I'm going to have to jump out/off things again)! We then went up to the highest observation deck and ended up not being able to see a lot at all as we were in the thick of the storm, so we saw a lot of grey clouds and rain! On the way back down we stopped at the Sky Lounge for a drink. Once we'd left the tower, we had a little wander to find some bits for dinner and then we caught the bus back to the hostel. We spent the evening sorting ourselves out for our flight and generally not doing much else!

TUESDAY 31st July

What a bizarre day today (well, it's really been much longer than a day, as we crossed the date line, so we had a 48 hour long day almost)! We got picked up from the hostel at 09.00 and taken to the airport. We managed to get checked-in straight away, despite being early and so went and wandered around the book shops for a while to kill some time. We ended up making our way to the waiting area for the gate and sitting and reading for the next hour or so before boarding the plane. We ended up being back at Sydney airport, where we had about a 3 hour wait for our transfer flight to Hawaii. We tried to get some sleep on the second flight, but it was so uncomfortable and boiling hot, that neither of us managed to get much kip at all! Finally we landed in Hawaii at about 08.20 (before we left New Zealand we'd like to point out) and caught the shuttle into Waikiki. We were dropped off outside our hostel and were looking forward to having a nice refreshing shower (as we'd been traveling for over 21 hours), but found out we couldn't check into our room until 15.00! So we stored our bags and went to explore Waikiki and the beach for 5 hours! Finally 15.00 rolled around and we were able to have our desperately needed showers! We spent the afternoon going to the supermarket to get food for lunches and dinner etc, although we had to buy stuff that doesn't require any cooking utensils to make, as we don't have any saucepans in our kitchen! We were so tired that by 21.00 we were tucked up in bed!

WEDNESDAY 1st August

Teresa and Colin arrived in Hawaii a couple of days ago and so we arranged to all meet up today. We ended up meeting them at the Dole Plantation, which despite not being too far away from us, took over 2 hours to get to on the bus, as it stops almost every 5 feet! We finally made it and went on the Pineapple Express train around the plantation (it was a bit cheesy and there wasn't too much to see, but it was kind of informative at times) and then had some pineapple juice! We then headed up towards the North Shore and stopped to go to the Waimae waterfalls. It was a nice walk to the falls through botanical gardens and the falls themselves were pretty too. Steve and Teresa dipped their toes in the water for a while before we all headed back to the bus stop to go back to our hostel/hotel. We didn't arrive back in Waikiki until gone 20.00 and we had to grab some dinner on the way, and so didn't get to the hostel until gone 21.00! We were so tired and so after eating just went straight to bed!

THURSDAY 2nd August

We didn't do a huge amount today. After having some breakfast we hopped on the bus to visit Teresa and Colin at the Ko Olina resort. We stopped off on the way at a shopping centre to buy some more camera films and so didn't get there until lunchtime, as the bus journey took almost 3 hours! We'd also ended up being dropped off 20 minutes away from the resort, on the side of the highway! So we'd had to cross the road and then walk along a railway track to get to the start of the resort and then we had another 10 minute walk to get to the actual hotel! But we finally made it and spent the afternoon relaxing in the Sun, sitting by the pool, playing in the pool, sitting on the beach, playing in the sea and having a little 'tour' of the resort. To celebrate Teresa and Colin's wedding, we had a meal with them at the hotel that night. It was nice to have a decent meal for once that didn't consist of pasta or pizza! But, we did end up missing the last bus back into Waikiki and so ended up having to sleep on their floor on a load of sofa cushions!

FRIDAY 3rd August

What a day - it certainly got a bit hectic at times! We had Teresa and Colin's wedding to go to today, so we spent the morning getting ready and helping to sort out suitcases etc. At 10.00 we all got into a limousine and got taken to a secluded beach for the ceremony. Teresa and Colin stood in a circle of scattered rose petals and we all wore lays (apart from Teresa who had a bouquet instead). The ceremony was not long, but intimate. Teresa and Colin exchanged vows and were pronounced husband and wife. The ceremony was videoed and afterwards a photographer took some nice pictures of everyone in different 'poses' etc. The photographer showed us some of the pictures and they look really nice. After the marriage license was signed and the marriage certificate presented we got taken to the airport for Teresa and Colin to catch a flight to the next island they're visiting. On the way we stopped for a champagne toast to the happy couple. At the airport we said our farewells and we left Teresa and Colin to check-in etc, whilst we went to catch the bus back into Waikiki. We had to do some shopping on the way back to the hostel and when we got in we had some lunch. We've just been doing laundry as well and not a lot else - what an exciting life we lead at times! But we think that's about all we've been up to for now!

We can't believe we're in Hawaii already! We've got another 3 days here before we fly out to Los Angeles and then make our way to Flagstaff. We're probably not going to do a lot over the next few days apart from chill out on the beach and do a little bit of wandering around town. We might rent a couple of body boards at some point, but we won't be doing too much other than recuperating from the past 4 months of non-stop jet-setting! We're really looking forward to getting to the Grand Canyon though and can't believe how soon it will be until we come home - we're really looking forward to seeing you all again!

Mum - I knew you wouldn't have believed I'd sky dived unless you saw the photos! We are both pretty smug about having done it and Steve even wants to do it again! The free fall bit out of the plane is pretty terrifying, but once you're floating it's OK - it's the whole plummeting to earth bit that's putting me off of ever wanting to do it again! The photos make us laugh every time and the DVD is just so funny too! I imagine Steve looked pretty similar to me, although he probably looked as though he was enjoying it more than me! I really wish we'd been able to get photos and DVDs for both of us, but we couldn't afford it and Steve insisted that I had them. But, as he's so keen to do another one and I never will, then I'm hoping we'll be able to get him photos and a DVD next time he does it! My jumpmaster (and cameraman) was really impressed with how much I'd screamed and said it was the best jump he'd ever done because of it! The heat is a welcome change, nice to not have to wear thermals anymore! Glad you're enjoying Harry Potter, I've almost finished it for the second time now! Can't wait to see you either and give you and dad the hugest hugs in the world - only 11 days to go now!!!!!!! Missing you all still!

Soph - Glad you enjoyed the photos, we thought they would amuse people, we almost wet ourselves laughing every time we look at them! I'm not sure that I was brave, just a bit naive, as I'm sure I didn't really believe I was going to do it until they opened the plane door and then I just didn't have enough time to say "no", they just launched me out of the plane! Looking forward to the hug and only 11 days until we're back!!!!

Liz - It's great to hear from you, we're glad you enjoyed the photos so much! It's nice to hear you had such a lovely time in Rome, mum told me you'd gone when we spoke on the phone the other day. I take it you were there for a week and not just a long weekend, from the sounds of all the exploring you did! It sounds like you got to see a lot, I'm quite jealous that you've been back to Pompeii, was it as hot as it was when we were last there?! Sorry to hear about you all being ill, it's a good job you weren't ill whilst on holiday, or while you were traveling! We were surprised that you got it from the Peking Diner, as they're normally really good! We send our love to Emma, the purring kittens and woofing dog! Can't wait to see you when we get back - just 11 days now!!!!!!!!