Hello again everyone. We are in fact home now, but thought we should get you filled in on the last few days of our travels before we arrived back on U.K. soil on the 15th! We were so tired when we got home from the airport that we didn't feel up to finishing the blog and then we've been in demand visiting relatives and having the unfortunate task of unpacking our bags (at least it was for the last time - although at one point my room looked as though a bomb had exploded in our bags and just strewn our belongings everywhere)! Well, we'll get on and get you updated on our last few days.
SATURDAY 11th August
We had to leave the hostel by 07.30 this morning, as we had to make our way to the Grand Canyon National Park Airport in Tusyuan by 09.30 at the latest. we ended up making the journey in really good time, so popped to take a photograph by the entrance sign to the park before going to the terminal to check in for our scenic flight (thank goodness we weren't having to throw ourselves out of the plane this time)! When we arrived, we got checked in and ended up being asked to wait until about 10.30 to go up, when we would get flown around in a plane, with just the two of us in (and of course the pilot as well). Finally the time rolled around and our pilot took us out to the aircraft (which turned out to be just like the plane we sky dived from, although it had 3 extra seats in this one). We were soon up in the air for an hour long flight over the Canyon. It was absolutely amazing to see the Canyon from this perspective and you get more of an appreciation of just how big it all is! We flew over the north and south rims of the Canyon and just had the most spectacular views, it was wonderful! The only down-side, was that I didn't take any travel sickness tablets and the ride was rather turbulent and so I wasn't feeling 100% after a while, but still manages to enjoy myself (although was relieved when we got back on solid ground). After having enjoyed the Canyon from above, we decided to go into the park and go on a trek along the Bright Angel Trail, which takes you down into the Canyon itself. We decided to go to the first rest-point, which was 1.5 miles into the Canyon (as the crow flies) and then head back up, as if we went to the 3 mile rest-point, then it would have taken 4 to 6 hours to return to the car, by which point it would be around 19.00, which we felt was a bit late! It was really hot work, even going downhill, but we finally made it to the stopping area and found a nice rock to sit on whilst eating lunch. It started to pour with rain, which was welcome relief from the heat and so we had a nice cool atmosphere to start the climb back up in. We took lots of time getting up, walking at a nice slow pace and stopping to take lots of photos - so rather than dripping with sweat and being all red and worn-out (like the majority of the other walkers), we made it to the top feeling pretty good. The views from inside the Canyon were really cool and it was amazing to see how far down we had descended. Seeing the almost sheer walls rising up next to you, is very impressive. Once at the top of the Canyon again, we decided to drive to some of the viewpoints we missed last time we went to the Desert-View Rim. We'd stopped a few times before making it to Lipan Point, where we found lots of other photographers who were waiting for the sunset, so although it would mean a late night, Steve and I decided to stay and watch too and take some photos. I had to drive down the road to use the loo quickly before it all started happening, but on my return I found out that a man had fallen over (if he'd been any closer to the edge when he'd started falling, he would honestly have ended up falling down into the Canyon itself - it was a very close encounter). He'd ended up with a nasty cut on the head and a rather mangled elbow, as well he managed to completely wreck thousands of pounds worth of camera equipment. So that was all pretty shocking stuff, but he was taken back to his campsite where he could get medical assistance and we stayed to watch the sunset with the others. Unfortunately the sunset was as spectacular as it could have been, although it was still incredibly pretty. There was lots of haze in the Canyon, which caused the light to be refracted, so the red rocks didn't glow with the orange colour of the setting sun, which was a shame, but we managed to get lots of cool pictures still. By 20.00 it was all over and feeling rather hungry and weary we made our way back to Flagstaff to have a very late dinner and to get some sleep!
SUNDAY 12th August
We had a slightly disappointing day. We decided to drive to Sedona, as we were hoping to be able to do some nice walks etc. We started off at a church, which we thought had been hewn into the side of a cliff and would be quite basic and rustic etc, however it turned out that the Church was in fact made out of concrete and was rather modern in design. It was quite an unusual building, but there were some lovely views of the surrounding area. We then made our way a bit further south to Montezuma Castle. This is just amazing, it's another pueblo built into the side of a cliff, but this one seems to have almost no access to it and is built very high up - it's amazing that this construction could be achieved! There was also another larger Castle almost next to Montezuma, but this was built lower to the ground and also was burned to destruction, so that all we can see of this structure now, are some fallen walls and foundations. So after exploring this intriguing site we headed back into Sedona and found a couple of view points, but ended up not being able to go for any walks - the main reason for this being that the temperature had risen to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit! After stopping for an ice-cream we made our last scenic stop of the day and went to the viewpoint over Oak Creek Canyon, as well as finding a place to stop and paddle in the water as well! We felt a bit disappointed with the day, as we didn't see or do anything of any particular interest and we wish we'd gone to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest instead, but by the time we'd realised going to Sedona was a bit of a dud, we wouldn't have been able to make it to the Painted Desert and back again. Once we'd got back to Flagstaff we ended up popping out to dinner at the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. It was a pleasant enough meal, although compared to when I was there last time, the service is much more rushed and feels less personal, which was a little disappointing, but the food made a welcome change from pasta with sweetcorn and tuna in a tomato pasta sauce!
MONDAY 13th August
We ended up spending the day at the hostel. First thing we returned the hire car and then once back at the hostel we had to get packed-up for the last time and after preparing some food to take on our over night bus and to eat at the airport tomorrow, we had to get checked out of our room by 11.00. Once we'd got checked out we were allowed to hang around at the hostel, so we hopped on the internet to check a few things and afterwards had some lunch. We then ended up being 'trapped' at the hostel, as the most enormous thunderstorms began, so we watched a movie, but the power ended up being cut and so we had to sit around waiting for it to come back on! Soon enough though, 18.00 rolled around and we hopped into a taxi which took us to the Greyhound bus station. We got our baggage checked and then queued up and waited for the 19.50 bus to arrive. We were taken straight through to Phoenix, where we had to wait in the very sweaty bus station until 23.50 for the bus to take us to Los Angeles.
TUESDAY 14th August
What a palaver it turned out to be getting the bus to Los Angeles! More tickets than seats had been sold, so despite being told we could board, we ended up having to get off of the bus and reclaim our bags, as there weren't enough seats. So we had to wait around until gone 00.30 before another bus arrived, although this one would make local stops, rather than going straight to Los Angeles. Our bus driver was really snotty with us, which we didn't really appreciate, but there was little we could do about it, so we hopped on board and tried to get some sleep, although every couple of hours we were woken up as we made another stop en-route. We finally arrived in Los Angeles around 10.00 and were told that we could get a shuttle to the airport. However, after speaking to the shuttle firm, we found that there were apparently no shuttles available between 10.30 and 17.30, so we had to find alternative transport. So instead we made our way out onto the street and waited for the metro bus to take us to the metro station. This took some time and there were was a rather bizarre argument going on between 2 people! Finally the bus arrived and we found the metro station, where a gentleman kindly took us into the station and showed us how to buy our tickets (and which were the cheapest) and which trains to use in which direction to get ourselves to the airport. So we managed to get the first train with no problems, but then had to wait for the second train for ages, but ended up getting separated as the doors closed with Steve inside the carriage and me on the platform! We finally managed to meet up with one another again and then found the free shuttle bus which took us the remainder of the way to the airport. So we finally arrived after 13.00 (better than the expected arrival time of around 07.00) and found that we could check-in for our flight 8 hours prior to take-off. We had to queue for quite a while, as it was so busy with late check-ins for the 14.30 flight, but we finally made it to a customer services person and got checked-in and received bag tags. We also were given a free upgrade to World Traveller Plus (bigger seats, more leg room and other little perks) because of our engagement! After getting our bag tags we had to then queue up again so that our bags could be scanned and then taken away to be loaded onto the correct planes. By this time we were really hungry and so had a rather late lunch and then sat and read our books and magazines whilst waiting for boarding to begin. The flight was pretty uneventful, we watched a few movies and had some sleep!
WEDNESDAY 15th August
Before we knew it we were landing at Heathrow airport, ahead of schedule and getting very excited about finally getting home again! However, things didn't go too smoothly and we ended up having to wait for over an hour and a half for our bags to get through the baggage claim section! Finally by about 17.00 we had our bags and were making out into the arrivals section and seeing mum and dad waiting for us with big smiles and huge hugs! It was lovely to see them again and we were soon in the car and then back home, with a lovely huge roast dinner waiting for us - what a way to settle back in at home!
Well we think that's everything that we've done over the past 4.5 months! We've had an absolutely awesome time! It's so hard to choose a favourite bit, as each country was so brilliant for different reasons. We've seen so much and such a wide variety of cultures. It's been a once in a lifetime adventure that we're glad we didn't miss! Hope no-one's got too bored, or been sent into boredom induced comas, from reading all of our rather lengthy blogs! We sent the photos to get developed for today and so we'll try and get an online album sorted out A.S.A.P and we'll e-mail you all the address for it, so you can see what we've been doing (rather than just reading our ramblings). Looking forward to catching up with you all in time and glad to be home (although not so glad about going back to work)!
Friday 17 August 2007
Saturday 11 August 2007
Beach bumming and the Grand Canyon
Hi everyone, sorry it's been such a long time between posts again, we were going to post the night before last, but we ended up spending all our time looking at quotes for rental cars instead! So we've finally found a minute to update you all again on what we've been up to. Luckily it's not too long for you, as we hardly did anything on our last few days in Hawaii!
SATURDAY 4th August
This morning we had a little bit of a wander around the town to see if we could find a bookshop (as Steve is getting really bored with nothing to read) and a few other bits, like looking at yet more camera films! But to our complete surprise, after having walked around the majority of Waikiki, we didn't find a single bookshop - so Steve is still bored! So we knew when to admit defeat and ended up going to find a nice shady spot on the beach to relax in for the rest of the day. We had a few dips in the sea to cool down and try to entertain ourselves a bit. Soon enough though we found that we had been out for most of the day, so we headed back to the scraggy hostel to make some dinner and watch a bit of TV!
SUNDAY 5th August
We ended up going straight to the beach today and finding a different location to laze around in the shade. Steve ended up going swimming quite a lot, but I stayed on the beach and read Lord of the Rings. To be fair, I don't think we did anything other than sit on the beach all day today, although we didn't stay out past about 16.00, as we were both getting quite bored of not doing anything! So we ended up at the hostel and lazing around there (at least it was a change of scenery from the rest of the day)!
MONDAY 6th August
We decided we couldn't face another day of sitting on the beach and not doing anything, so we decided to rent body boards and fins so that we could catch some waves. All started off pretty well, I managed to just about get the hang of things and rode a few really good waves. The only bit I didn't like was battling against the waves to get back into position to have a go a body boarding again - it was such hard work and you were constantly being pummelled! So for a few hours we were doing well, but in the end my beginners luck failed and I got dragged under by a wave and managed to get dragged along the really sharp coral on the sea bed and got a few nasty gouges in my knee and scratches on my arms etc. So after this, we decided to pop to the hostel to have some lunch and then went back out again in the afternoon. Again, everything was seemingly going quite well and I was just catching a wave, when I ended up being literally run over by another body boarder, so my face got smashed into my board and I had a nasty knock to the back of my head where their board walloped into me! I was pretty dazed and shocked after this and so I decided to give up for the afternoon. So I took my board and fins to the hostel and then ended up sitting and reading in the shade while Steve continued to catch waves. We ended up going back to the hostel fairly late on in the afternoon, as Steve was having so much fun in the sea! But the evening was spent packing up our bags (for the penultimate time), ready for our flight to Los Angeles the next day.
TUESDAY 7th August
We got picked up by the airport shuttle at 09.00 and taken to the airport. We ended up having to use a self-service check-in machine (it seems that only first class customers are privileged enough to be able to converse with a person when checking in) and found that our seats had not been placed next to one another. Neither of us were very impressed by this, but were told someone at the gate may be able to help us. So we got our bags checked in and then had to go through security - where we even had to put out shoes through the X-ray machines! We got to our gate, but as we were so early checking in nobody was there to help us yet. So we pottered around and sat reading before somebody arrived shortly before boarding. It turned out that they had already changed our seats for us and so we just needed to collect a new boarding pass. The flight was the worst we've had yet in terms of service, comfort and so on. So we were very glad that it was only a 5.5 hour flight and were happy when we touched down in Los Angeles. We ended up waiting quite a while for our luggage and then had to find somewhere to change some travelers cheques (for which they wanted to charge $4.95 a cheque). Finally we were able to find some transport to take us to the Greyhound bus station. It turned out that we could take a shared shuttle for $15 each, so we hopped on the next available one and got dropped off. After collecting our tickets we had some dinner and then boarded the bus that was to take us to Phoenix.
WEDNESDAY 8th August
We arrived in Phoenix at about 08.30 feeling very sleepy and groggy! But luckily we didn't have to wait long before boarding the next bus which would take us into Flagstaff (although we did end up with a very up-tight and slightly bizarre female bus driver). I managed to get some intermittent sleep, but Steve got hardly a wink, so we were both pretty tired by the time we got to Flagstaff at about 12.30. Somebody from our hostel came and collected us from the station and then we were finally able to have a desperately needed shower and brush our teeth! But we weren't able to relax yet. We went to the Visitor information centre and found out that there are absolutely no public buses that run to the Grand Canyon, or any of the other attractions around Flagstaff! The only way we could get around was to get the shuttle to the Grand Canyon, which would cost $60 per person per day! So feeling rather despondent, we ended up leaving and going to the supermarket to buy bits for lunches and dinners and then once at the hostel again we signed up to go on an organised trip to the Grand Canyon, as it was only $10 more per person than the shuttle bus. In the end though, after having looked at the costs of hire cars we found that it would in fact be cheaper to rent a vehicle, so we cancelled our places on the tour and decided to go to Budget first thing in the morning, we then promptly collapsed into bed!
THURSDAY 9th August
What a blooming marvellous day?! After getting a quote of almost $400 from Budget, for 4 days hire, we nipped across the street to Enterprise and managed to get 4 days car hire and insurance, for just $225 (we even got a free upgrade to an intermediate car) - so we got to drive away in a Mazda 3! We popped back to the hostel to make some lunch and then set out for the Grand Canyon. Steve feels a bit nervous about me driving, so he's done it all so far and we got to the Canyon in 2 hours (passing by the Red Feather Lodge in Tusyuan, where I stayed last time with the family, on the way)! We ended up walking along the rim for a few hours taking in the spectacular views and taking lots of photos (of course)! It was really cool, although slightly surreal being back and Steve really enjoyed it too and was glad we'd made the effort to get there. By about 16.00 we were feeling pretty tired and so caught the shuttle bus back to the car park and then made the journey back to Flagstaff.
FRIDAY 10th August
We've done quite a lot today, as we were up really early and had left the hostel by 08.00! We started off at Walnut Canyon and walked down into the Canyon to see the cliff dwellings that were built there hundreds of years ago. It's crazy to think that people really did live in the side of the cliffs, but it also seems to make sense too - natural defenses and it would be nice and cool too etc! So after wandering around for an hour or so we left the Canyon and made our way to Sunset Crater. We weren't able to do the Lava Flow Walk, but were able to drive down the road a short way and walk out onto a roadside lava flow and then we wandered up onto the Lennox trail, which took us up a small volcano. The landscape is really odd, as there are lots of pockets of green, but then between them it's completely barren and black, it all seems so alien! We then made our way to Wupatki National Monument (I'm pretty sure this is where Liz had declared that her sweat strap was all neckie when we came last time). The Pueblos are pretty cool, but there seems even less point of living in such a barren and inhospitable region than the dwellings in Walnut Canyon! There must have been something on offer though, as the community had thrived for many generations before being abandoned. Our next stop was the Little Colorado River Gorge. This was pretty impressive, as the cliff sides are so sheer and it's so deep as well. It was like a mini Grand Canyon (and so luckily nowhere near as busy as the 'real thing') and we could hear the Colorado thundering along below us too, even though we were so high above it! Our last stop of the day was in the Grand Canyon National Park - we drove along the Desert View stretch and stopped at the Viewpoint as well, before deciding we should make a move and head back to the hostel as time was getting on and we were so tired as well!
So that's about all for now - we're off on a flight over the Canyon tomorrow, which we're pretty excited about, hopefully we'll be able to get some really cool photos as well. In the afternoon we're thinking of walking down into the Canyon a bit as well, just so we can get a perspective from every angle! But it's a pretty steep climb back up, so we're not too sure if we're up to it yet!
Mum - Steve and I were just discussing jet lag today and we both think we've managed to cope with it pretty well so far and haven't really suffered past the first day after each flight. The last bit of New Zealand was good, we really enjoyed all of it, we just wish we'd had more information about what the KiwiExperience bus was like in the first place and realised just how cheap renting a vehicle would have been! The pony trekking was quite tame, apart from when mine was trying to gallop in the wrong direction and the cantering was pretty scary up the side of the volcano, as I never did much cantering in my lessons, so never got used to it in the first place! It was a pain that getting around Hawaii was so difficult, otherwise we would have done a lot more to entertain ourselves, other than sitting on the same naff beach everyday! When we missed the bus, we were lucky that Teresa already had all of our wedding outfits at the hotel and we'd taken bits to change into as we'd been swimming etc during the day, so it wasn't too bad and we didn't have to go back to the hostel for anything on the way, which was useful. Steve got a few photos, but felt he was getting in the way of the photographer and also didn't just want duplicates of all the professional photos. My outfit was nicer than I remembered and Steve thought it looked really good on me too, which was nice to know! We're trying to find out where the glass bridge is, we have a nasty feeling it's on the north rim, or near the Las Vegas end of the Canyon, so we're not sure if we'll be able to do it, but doing the flight over the top should be pretty cool anyway! Glad you're having a fun time with all your friends, it's nice you've got some time to do it at last, hopefully you'll be able to meet up more regularly with them at some point, rather than it being so sporadic. Glad the garden is coming along nicely, I'm looking forward to seeing it. We're still having a completely awesome time, but we're looking forward to being home too to see you all (and finally get to see all the photos)! Can't wait to see you, it's just 4 days away now!!!!! All our love and hugs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SATURDAY 4th August
This morning we had a little bit of a wander around the town to see if we could find a bookshop (as Steve is getting really bored with nothing to read) and a few other bits, like looking at yet more camera films! But to our complete surprise, after having walked around the majority of Waikiki, we didn't find a single bookshop - so Steve is still bored! So we knew when to admit defeat and ended up going to find a nice shady spot on the beach to relax in for the rest of the day. We had a few dips in the sea to cool down and try to entertain ourselves a bit. Soon enough though we found that we had been out for most of the day, so we headed back to the scraggy hostel to make some dinner and watch a bit of TV!
SUNDAY 5th August
We ended up going straight to the beach today and finding a different location to laze around in the shade. Steve ended up going swimming quite a lot, but I stayed on the beach and read Lord of the Rings. To be fair, I don't think we did anything other than sit on the beach all day today, although we didn't stay out past about 16.00, as we were both getting quite bored of not doing anything! So we ended up at the hostel and lazing around there (at least it was a change of scenery from the rest of the day)!
MONDAY 6th August
We decided we couldn't face another day of sitting on the beach and not doing anything, so we decided to rent body boards and fins so that we could catch some waves. All started off pretty well, I managed to just about get the hang of things and rode a few really good waves. The only bit I didn't like was battling against the waves to get back into position to have a go a body boarding again - it was such hard work and you were constantly being pummelled! So for a few hours we were doing well, but in the end my beginners luck failed and I got dragged under by a wave and managed to get dragged along the really sharp coral on the sea bed and got a few nasty gouges in my knee and scratches on my arms etc. So after this, we decided to pop to the hostel to have some lunch and then went back out again in the afternoon. Again, everything was seemingly going quite well and I was just catching a wave, when I ended up being literally run over by another body boarder, so my face got smashed into my board and I had a nasty knock to the back of my head where their board walloped into me! I was pretty dazed and shocked after this and so I decided to give up for the afternoon. So I took my board and fins to the hostel and then ended up sitting and reading in the shade while Steve continued to catch waves. We ended up going back to the hostel fairly late on in the afternoon, as Steve was having so much fun in the sea! But the evening was spent packing up our bags (for the penultimate time), ready for our flight to Los Angeles the next day.
TUESDAY 7th August
We got picked up by the airport shuttle at 09.00 and taken to the airport. We ended up having to use a self-service check-in machine (it seems that only first class customers are privileged enough to be able to converse with a person when checking in) and found that our seats had not been placed next to one another. Neither of us were very impressed by this, but were told someone at the gate may be able to help us. So we got our bags checked in and then had to go through security - where we even had to put out shoes through the X-ray machines! We got to our gate, but as we were so early checking in nobody was there to help us yet. So we pottered around and sat reading before somebody arrived shortly before boarding. It turned out that they had already changed our seats for us and so we just needed to collect a new boarding pass. The flight was the worst we've had yet in terms of service, comfort and so on. So we were very glad that it was only a 5.5 hour flight and were happy when we touched down in Los Angeles. We ended up waiting quite a while for our luggage and then had to find somewhere to change some travelers cheques (for which they wanted to charge $4.95 a cheque). Finally we were able to find some transport to take us to the Greyhound bus station. It turned out that we could take a shared shuttle for $15 each, so we hopped on the next available one and got dropped off. After collecting our tickets we had some dinner and then boarded the bus that was to take us to Phoenix.
WEDNESDAY 8th August
We arrived in Phoenix at about 08.30 feeling very sleepy and groggy! But luckily we didn't have to wait long before boarding the next bus which would take us into Flagstaff (although we did end up with a very up-tight and slightly bizarre female bus driver). I managed to get some intermittent sleep, but Steve got hardly a wink, so we were both pretty tired by the time we got to Flagstaff at about 12.30. Somebody from our hostel came and collected us from the station and then we were finally able to have a desperately needed shower and brush our teeth! But we weren't able to relax yet. We went to the Visitor information centre and found out that there are absolutely no public buses that run to the Grand Canyon, or any of the other attractions around Flagstaff! The only way we could get around was to get the shuttle to the Grand Canyon, which would cost $60 per person per day! So feeling rather despondent, we ended up leaving and going to the supermarket to buy bits for lunches and dinners and then once at the hostel again we signed up to go on an organised trip to the Grand Canyon, as it was only $10 more per person than the shuttle bus. In the end though, after having looked at the costs of hire cars we found that it would in fact be cheaper to rent a vehicle, so we cancelled our places on the tour and decided to go to Budget first thing in the morning, we then promptly collapsed into bed!
THURSDAY 9th August
What a blooming marvellous day?! After getting a quote of almost $400 from Budget, for 4 days hire, we nipped across the street to Enterprise and managed to get 4 days car hire and insurance, for just $225 (we even got a free upgrade to an intermediate car) - so we got to drive away in a Mazda 3! We popped back to the hostel to make some lunch and then set out for the Grand Canyon. Steve feels a bit nervous about me driving, so he's done it all so far and we got to the Canyon in 2 hours (passing by the Red Feather Lodge in Tusyuan, where I stayed last time with the family, on the way)! We ended up walking along the rim for a few hours taking in the spectacular views and taking lots of photos (of course)! It was really cool, although slightly surreal being back and Steve really enjoyed it too and was glad we'd made the effort to get there. By about 16.00 we were feeling pretty tired and so caught the shuttle bus back to the car park and then made the journey back to Flagstaff.
FRIDAY 10th August
We've done quite a lot today, as we were up really early and had left the hostel by 08.00! We started off at Walnut Canyon and walked down into the Canyon to see the cliff dwellings that were built there hundreds of years ago. It's crazy to think that people really did live in the side of the cliffs, but it also seems to make sense too - natural defenses and it would be nice and cool too etc! So after wandering around for an hour or so we left the Canyon and made our way to Sunset Crater. We weren't able to do the Lava Flow Walk, but were able to drive down the road a short way and walk out onto a roadside lava flow and then we wandered up onto the Lennox trail, which took us up a small volcano. The landscape is really odd, as there are lots of pockets of green, but then between them it's completely barren and black, it all seems so alien! We then made our way to Wupatki National Monument (I'm pretty sure this is where Liz had declared that her sweat strap was all neckie when we came last time). The Pueblos are pretty cool, but there seems even less point of living in such a barren and inhospitable region than the dwellings in Walnut Canyon! There must have been something on offer though, as the community had thrived for many generations before being abandoned. Our next stop was the Little Colorado River Gorge. This was pretty impressive, as the cliff sides are so sheer and it's so deep as well. It was like a mini Grand Canyon (and so luckily nowhere near as busy as the 'real thing') and we could hear the Colorado thundering along below us too, even though we were so high above it! Our last stop of the day was in the Grand Canyon National Park - we drove along the Desert View stretch and stopped at the Viewpoint as well, before deciding we should make a move and head back to the hostel as time was getting on and we were so tired as well!
So that's about all for now - we're off on a flight over the Canyon tomorrow, which we're pretty excited about, hopefully we'll be able to get some really cool photos as well. In the afternoon we're thinking of walking down into the Canyon a bit as well, just so we can get a perspective from every angle! But it's a pretty steep climb back up, so we're not too sure if we're up to it yet!
Mum - Steve and I were just discussing jet lag today and we both think we've managed to cope with it pretty well so far and haven't really suffered past the first day after each flight. The last bit of New Zealand was good, we really enjoyed all of it, we just wish we'd had more information about what the KiwiExperience bus was like in the first place and realised just how cheap renting a vehicle would have been! The pony trekking was quite tame, apart from when mine was trying to gallop in the wrong direction and the cantering was pretty scary up the side of the volcano, as I never did much cantering in my lessons, so never got used to it in the first place! It was a pain that getting around Hawaii was so difficult, otherwise we would have done a lot more to entertain ourselves, other than sitting on the same naff beach everyday! When we missed the bus, we were lucky that Teresa already had all of our wedding outfits at the hotel and we'd taken bits to change into as we'd been swimming etc during the day, so it wasn't too bad and we didn't have to go back to the hostel for anything on the way, which was useful. Steve got a few photos, but felt he was getting in the way of the photographer and also didn't just want duplicates of all the professional photos. My outfit was nicer than I remembered and Steve thought it looked really good on me too, which was nice to know! We're trying to find out where the glass bridge is, we have a nasty feeling it's on the north rim, or near the Las Vegas end of the Canyon, so we're not sure if we'll be able to do it, but doing the flight over the top should be pretty cool anyway! Glad you're having a fun time with all your friends, it's nice you've got some time to do it at last, hopefully you'll be able to meet up more regularly with them at some point, rather than it being so sporadic. Glad the garden is coming along nicely, I'm looking forward to seeing it. We're still having a completely awesome time, but we're looking forward to being home too to see you all (and finally get to see all the photos)! Can't wait to see you, it's just 4 days away now!!!!! All our love and hugs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Saturday 4 August 2007
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!!!!!!!!
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!!!!!!!!
Thursday 26 July 2007
You won't believe it!!!!
Hello again everyone, we're trying to be a bit better with blogging more regularly so that you don't have as much to trawl through each time! We've done a few bits since we last blogged, but not too much, so we'll just jump right in, to a hopefully relatively short post for once!!
SUNDAY 22nd July
Last time we posted we were due to go to the Tamiki Maori concert and hangai (a meal where the food is actually cooked by being buried underground with white-hot rocks and lots of water to create steam - it's the traditional Maori method of cooking). We got picked up at 19.00 and driven out of Rotorua to the re-created Tamiki Maori Village. On the way, our driver gave us the low-down on Maori customs etc and explained how we would need to behave during the evening. When we arrived we all collected around the entrance to the village. We had elected 'chiefs' how stood at the front. Just after arriving our presence was acknowledged by one of the villagers sounding a conch and then the warriors came out of the village and did war-style dances and generally acted slightly intimidating towards us. One of the warriors then left a peace offering on the ground to see if the invitation would be accepted - one of the chiefs did indeed pick up the fern leaf offered and after the warriors had re-entered the village we were allowed to follow the chiefs. Once inside there were traditional Maori dwellings, although we couldn't go inside any of them, there were villagers dressed in traditional garb outside of them, doing or talking about traditional activities of the Maori people. Steve and I felt we didn't have enough time to wander around the village and ask questions etc, as we were only given about 10 minutes for this and were then being called over to the meeting house to watch the Maori concert. During the concert, we watched them play games (which were used to improve flexibility in the use of battle weapons), sing Maori songs, use battle weapons, dance and also do the Haka dance too! It was pretty good really and Steve was snapping away, so we've hopefully got some good photos to explain it all better when we get back! We then went to the dining room and had non-traditional Maori food cooked in a traditional manner (hangai)! It was really nice and we were able to eat as much as we wanted (so you can imagine that Steve made sure we got our money's worth)! We also got to see how a hangai was constructed and used, as they had a 'sample' one outside. The evening ended with some singing and also some children from Tahiti (where the Maori believe they originated from), performing some traditional Tahitian dancing.
MONDAY 23rd July
We didn't manage to get up for ages today, as we hadn't gone to bed until 00.00! So once we'd finally managed to drag ourselves out of the hostel, we walked to the tourist information centre to see about going to Te Puia - it's another Maori cultural village, but there's also geysers there and nature walks, as well as other bits and bobs. However, we had to change our plans, as the ticket price had doubled to $50 each, so we felt it was too expensive, especially as we'd already done something similar. So instead, we walked for an hour to the Skyline Gondola and Luge! It was so much better than the one in Queenstown! First of all it was cheaper and second of all the luge tracks were so much longer and we had a choice of 3, rather than just 2! So we bought 5 rides each and raced each other a bit. We were fairly ruthless at times, but Steve managed to win 3 times and I only managed 2. By the time we'd finished on the luge, we had to head back into town, as we still needed to buy dinner and go to the laundrette - both of which were at least 30 minutes walk from the hostel! So we didn't get back to start cooking dinner until about 19.00 and we were pretty tired!
TUESDAY 24th July
Today was quite cool. We were collected at 07.30 and taken to Waitomo, where we took part in black water rafting. First of all our guide took us around the back of the centre to get us fitted into wetsuits - I think he was being a bit kind to me at first, as I got stuck part way into my first wetsuit and had to get it exchanged for a slightly bigger one, but because I'd been pulling so much, I manage to wear a layer of skin of of my knuckles, which was rather painful! So when I was mostly into my second wetsuit, Steve and the guide had to literally bounce me into it by grabbing the wetsuit and then lifting me up and down! So once we were finally kitted up in wetsuits, jackets, shorts, boots, wellies, gloves and helmets we hopped in a van and got driven to the caves. Our first task here was to find a tube which we snugly fitted into and then we had to practise entering the water by jumping. To do this, we had to stand on the edge of a platform, with the river behind us, hold the inner tube around our bottoms and then jump backwards into the water and blimey that water was cold! After this we had a short walk to the entrance of the cave, where we had a safety chat and then we were off into the cave system! We did a mixture of walking, floating in our tubes and jumping to get around inside. Our guide had made me nervous, as he kept saying we were jumping off of waterfalls - but it turns out that they were just tiny little blips in the water really, so I managed to do them with no problems! So we made our way through the cave system and spent quite a lot of time without our lights on so that we could see the thousands of glow-worms on the roof of the cave, which looked like little glowing stars (even though they are actually slimy maggots and the shining in their bottoms is a result of a reaction which occurs during their digestive process - nice)! We also had lights out when it came to finding our way out of the cave. This part was pretty disorientating, as everything was just so pitch black and all you could hear were people paddling, but with no sense of direction as the sound echoed around! But we made it back out to daylight and had a short walk back to the van, which took us to the centre, where we were able to get out of our kit and have wonderfully warm showers! There was also complementary soup and bagels waiting for us inside the cafe, to help us warm up. After getting warmed up, Steve and I took a 30 minute walk down to the road to the Cave Museum (we had free entry, as we'd done a black water rafting trip). It was an OK place to look around, but between us, we already knew most of the information on display, so it wasn't the most informative of things to do! But it was nice to wander around and then we sat out in the sunshine and got surrounded by hungry finches, who seemed to be expecting food from us and were pretty brave at coming up and exploring the table etc! Soon enough the bus arrived to take us back to Rotorua, so we collected the people who were doing the longer trip from the centre and headed back for the evening.
WEDNESDAY 25th July
We got absolutely nothing done today! We got packed up etc first of all and then had to wait until 10.50 for the bus to arrive and take us to Auckland. We had a few stops on the way and finally made it to Auckland at about 14.30. We got dropped off fairly near to our hostel, so we waddled there with all our backpacks (which are getting heavier every day I'm sure) and then found out that nobody could check us in until 16.00, so we sat around chatting and having a cup of tea whilst we waited. By the time we were checked in and sorted out, it was too late to go and explore Auckland, as everywhere would be shutting and also it would have been getting dark very soon. So we sat in and got comfy by the fire playing Scrabble and Monopoly!
THURSDAY 26th July
Well, what a day today?! You will honestly not believe what you will shortly be reading (lucky we have photographic proof hey), but we''ll start off with the mundane stuff first! We had to catch the bus at 06.45 this morning, but they ended up running really late and so weren't there until 07.00 and then we didn't leave until about quarter past! But anyway, we then had 4 hours being stuck on the KiwiExperience bus with some real plonkers, so it wasn't the best journey in the world! But luckily we arrived in Paihia eventually and went to a booking office to pay for some activities we're planning to do whilst here - we'll be horse-trekking on Saturday, but the thing you won't believe is that we also got booked in for a SKYDIVE today! Yes, that's correct and about 20 minutes after arriving, we got picked up by some people from the skydiving centre, who drove us a little way out of town to the airfield. It turned out that the prices had been jacked up quite a lot more than we expected, so they gave us some extra discount off of our jumps and we decided that I should have the DVD and photo package as well! The other thing was that we could only jump one at a time, so Steve volunteered me to go first (thanks), so I got suited up and fitted into my harness, with one of the guys videoing what was going on. Then we had to go out to the plane and my jumpmaster talked me through the position I needed to use whilst in the freefall etc. By this point I wasn't feeling too bad, but was pretty scared, but we got loaded into the plane and my jumpmaster began to strap me to him. We spent ages circling around, as another plane had come in to land on the airfield so we had to wait for them and then all of a sudden they opened the door we had to leave through and the wind was rushing in and it was so scary! Panic began to flood over me, but before I could even think of protesting we had been launched out of the plane and were free falling towards the Earth!!! I just kept my eyes fixed on the cameraman, to stop me looking down, but I can say, without a word of a lie, that I in fact screamed for the entirety of my freefall (about 45 seconds), I also managed a couple of weak smiles, but it was flipping horrible - all those people that told me it wouldn't feel like you're falling are complete liars, I could blooming well tell I was plummeting at a fair rate of knots! Eventually the chute was released and that was a totally bizarre sensation for a while, but then relief swept over me as our descent slowed down considerably! My jumpmaster got a bit adventurous and tried doing some stunts etc, but I screamed for him to stop as it was freaking me out! Before I knew we were coming in to land and I was tucking my legs up and then making contact with the wonderfully stable, solid ground once again! I was in a complete daze afterwards and I still can't believe I've actually done it!!! The video is so funny, especially the exit from the plane, as you can tell I'm terrified and I'm pulling the weirdest face!
Steve's being too stubborn to write about his skydiving experience, as he feels it's the same as I felt. So I presume he was feeling pretty nervous and scared before hand, but I know he couldn't have chickened out, as the shame of him not being able to do it, when I had, would have been too great! He really enjoyed it though and felt the adrenaline pumping as it got to the point of exit. He gave a few excited cheers of delight on the way down (rather than screaming in blind fear) and was pretty chuffed when he touched down again! So we finally managed it, after thinking about it for so long and having had our plans so rudely scuppered in Taupo! Now, we know no-one will believe that I, of all people, have done a skydive, so we're including some of the digital photos from the skydive in this blog for you to all marvel (and giggle) at!
That's all for now though, there's nothing else to fill you in on for the moment. We'll try and update the blog a bit more in these last few weeks, so you don't have too much to read at once! Can you believe that it's less than 3 weeks until we're home now?! It's just crazy, it's gone so fast, but then when we think about all we've done, some of it was just so long ago! Anyway, we can't wait to catch up with you all again soon and share all our photos etc! Missing you all loads.
Sammy - Thanks for the congratulations! We're really glad things are going so smoothly as well, and we can assure you that the camera has been on override for most of the trip (we've even had to buy more films, even though we came with just over 50)! I did indeed manage to get my Harry Potter book - I got it on the 21st as soon as it went on sale and I finished it on the morning of the 22nd (I would have finished it in one day, but we were waiting around to see if we could skydive in Taupo), so I'm reading it for a second time now! We'll definitely have to meet up when we get back, Steve's really looking forward to catching up with the chinwagging you've been missing out on!~
Mum - The Maori evening was really good, I'm not sure what my expectations were, but it was certainly fun. Like I said in the post earlier, it would have been nice to have had more time to explore the village, but even so it was still worth it. Glad Teresa managed to get all my stuff, Steve called on Sunday and she said she'd be collecting things that day. Glad the garden is shaping up so nicely, it sounds as though there's been a positive hive of activity going on - I can't wait to see all the changes when we get back! Glad you're enjoying your time off of work and that you're managing to prioritise things to do etc. Thanks for collecting things for me, that's really good of you. I'm glad I have some time to get myself sorted out as well before having to get stuck into it! We've heard and seen about the awful storms, glad yóu've not been affected, sorry to hear about Liz 2's place though - hope it gets sorted out ASAP for her. Liz and Emma have gone to Rome have they, when are they back, hope they have fun. It's been a real disappointment with the KiwiExperience bus and we are certainly hoping that coming back and doing it campervan style is on the cards! Yeah the film was quite good, but I agree that they missed too much out - the movies are never as good as the books though are they?! I really enjoyed the last book, I hope you're enjoying it too (if you've not finished it already). By the way, I hope school's been rreceivingall of the postcards I've been sending from Bear and we hope you enjoy the skydiving photos! Can't wait to see you in just over 2 weeks! Missing you all so much, send my love to everyone.
SUNDAY 22nd July
Last time we posted we were due to go to the Tamiki Maori concert and hangai (a meal where the food is actually cooked by being buried underground with white-hot rocks and lots of water to create steam - it's the traditional Maori method of cooking). We got picked up at 19.00 and driven out of Rotorua to the re-created Tamiki Maori Village. On the way, our driver gave us the low-down on Maori customs etc and explained how we would need to behave during the evening. When we arrived we all collected around the entrance to the village. We had elected 'chiefs' how stood at the front. Just after arriving our presence was acknowledged by one of the villagers sounding a conch and then the warriors came out of the village and did war-style dances and generally acted slightly intimidating towards us. One of the warriors then left a peace offering on the ground to see if the invitation would be accepted - one of the chiefs did indeed pick up the fern leaf offered and after the warriors had re-entered the village we were allowed to follow the chiefs. Once inside there were traditional Maori dwellings, although we couldn't go inside any of them, there were villagers dressed in traditional garb outside of them, doing or talking about traditional activities of the Maori people. Steve and I felt we didn't have enough time to wander around the village and ask questions etc, as we were only given about 10 minutes for this and were then being called over to the meeting house to watch the Maori concert. During the concert, we watched them play games (which were used to improve flexibility in the use of battle weapons), sing Maori songs, use battle weapons, dance and also do the Haka dance too! It was pretty good really and Steve was snapping away, so we've hopefully got some good photos to explain it all better when we get back! We then went to the dining room and had non-traditional Maori food cooked in a traditional manner (hangai)! It was really nice and we were able to eat as much as we wanted (so you can imagine that Steve made sure we got our money's worth)! We also got to see how a hangai was constructed and used, as they had a 'sample' one outside. The evening ended with some singing and also some children from Tahiti (where the Maori believe they originated from), performing some traditional Tahitian dancing.
MONDAY 23rd July
We didn't manage to get up for ages today, as we hadn't gone to bed until 00.00! So once we'd finally managed to drag ourselves out of the hostel, we walked to the tourist information centre to see about going to Te Puia - it's another Maori cultural village, but there's also geysers there and nature walks, as well as other bits and bobs. However, we had to change our plans, as the ticket price had doubled to $50 each, so we felt it was too expensive, especially as we'd already done something similar. So instead, we walked for an hour to the Skyline Gondola and Luge! It was so much better than the one in Queenstown! First of all it was cheaper and second of all the luge tracks were so much longer and we had a choice of 3, rather than just 2! So we bought 5 rides each and raced each other a bit. We were fairly ruthless at times, but Steve managed to win 3 times and I only managed 2. By the time we'd finished on the luge, we had to head back into town, as we still needed to buy dinner and go to the laundrette - both of which were at least 30 minutes walk from the hostel! So we didn't get back to start cooking dinner until about 19.00 and we were pretty tired!
TUESDAY 24th July
Today was quite cool. We were collected at 07.30 and taken to Waitomo, where we took part in black water rafting. First of all our guide took us around the back of the centre to get us fitted into wetsuits - I think he was being a bit kind to me at first, as I got stuck part way into my first wetsuit and had to get it exchanged for a slightly bigger one, but because I'd been pulling so much, I manage to wear a layer of skin of of my knuckles, which was rather painful! So when I was mostly into my second wetsuit, Steve and the guide had to literally bounce me into it by grabbing the wetsuit and then lifting me up and down! So once we were finally kitted up in wetsuits, jackets, shorts, boots, wellies, gloves and helmets we hopped in a van and got driven to the caves. Our first task here was to find a tube which we snugly fitted into and then we had to practise entering the water by jumping. To do this, we had to stand on the edge of a platform, with the river behind us, hold the inner tube around our bottoms and then jump backwards into the water and blimey that water was cold! After this we had a short walk to the entrance of the cave, where we had a safety chat and then we were off into the cave system! We did a mixture of walking, floating in our tubes and jumping to get around inside. Our guide had made me nervous, as he kept saying we were jumping off of waterfalls - but it turns out that they were just tiny little blips in the water really, so I managed to do them with no problems! So we made our way through the cave system and spent quite a lot of time without our lights on so that we could see the thousands of glow-worms on the roof of the cave, which looked like little glowing stars (even though they are actually slimy maggots and the shining in their bottoms is a result of a reaction which occurs during their digestive process - nice)! We also had lights out when it came to finding our way out of the cave. This part was pretty disorientating, as everything was just so pitch black and all you could hear were people paddling, but with no sense of direction as the sound echoed around! But we made it back out to daylight and had a short walk back to the van, which took us to the centre, where we were able to get out of our kit and have wonderfully warm showers! There was also complementary soup and bagels waiting for us inside the cafe, to help us warm up. After getting warmed up, Steve and I took a 30 minute walk down to the road to the Cave Museum (we had free entry, as we'd done a black water rafting trip). It was an OK place to look around, but between us, we already knew most of the information on display, so it wasn't the most informative of things to do! But it was nice to wander around and then we sat out in the sunshine and got surrounded by hungry finches, who seemed to be expecting food from us and were pretty brave at coming up and exploring the table etc! Soon enough the bus arrived to take us back to Rotorua, so we collected the people who were doing the longer trip from the centre and headed back for the evening.
WEDNESDAY 25th July
We got absolutely nothing done today! We got packed up etc first of all and then had to wait until 10.50 for the bus to arrive and take us to Auckland. We had a few stops on the way and finally made it to Auckland at about 14.30. We got dropped off fairly near to our hostel, so we waddled there with all our backpacks (which are getting heavier every day I'm sure) and then found out that nobody could check us in until 16.00, so we sat around chatting and having a cup of tea whilst we waited. By the time we were checked in and sorted out, it was too late to go and explore Auckland, as everywhere would be shutting and also it would have been getting dark very soon. So we sat in and got comfy by the fire playing Scrabble and Monopoly!
THURSDAY 26th July
Well, what a day today?! You will honestly not believe what you will shortly be reading (lucky we have photographic proof hey), but we''ll start off with the mundane stuff first! We had to catch the bus at 06.45 this morning, but they ended up running really late and so weren't there until 07.00 and then we didn't leave until about quarter past! But anyway, we then had 4 hours being stuck on the KiwiExperience bus with some real plonkers, so it wasn't the best journey in the world! But luckily we arrived in Paihia eventually and went to a booking office to pay for some activities we're planning to do whilst here - we'll be horse-trekking on Saturday, but the thing you won't believe is that we also got booked in for a SKYDIVE today! Yes, that's correct and about 20 minutes after arriving, we got picked up by some people from the skydiving centre, who drove us a little way out of town to the airfield. It turned out that the prices had been jacked up quite a lot more than we expected, so they gave us some extra discount off of our jumps and we decided that I should have the DVD and photo package as well! The other thing was that we could only jump one at a time, so Steve volunteered me to go first (thanks), so I got suited up and fitted into my harness, with one of the guys videoing what was going on. Then we had to go out to the plane and my jumpmaster talked me through the position I needed to use whilst in the freefall etc. By this point I wasn't feeling too bad, but was pretty scared, but we got loaded into the plane and my jumpmaster began to strap me to him. We spent ages circling around, as another plane had come in to land on the airfield so we had to wait for them and then all of a sudden they opened the door we had to leave through and the wind was rushing in and it was so scary! Panic began to flood over me, but before I could even think of protesting we had been launched out of the plane and were free falling towards the Earth!!! I just kept my eyes fixed on the cameraman, to stop me looking down, but I can say, without a word of a lie, that I in fact screamed for the entirety of my freefall (about 45 seconds), I also managed a couple of weak smiles, but it was flipping horrible - all those people that told me it wouldn't feel like you're falling are complete liars, I could blooming well tell I was plummeting at a fair rate of knots! Eventually the chute was released and that was a totally bizarre sensation for a while, but then relief swept over me as our descent slowed down considerably! My jumpmaster got a bit adventurous and tried doing some stunts etc, but I screamed for him to stop as it was freaking me out! Before I knew we were coming in to land and I was tucking my legs up and then making contact with the wonderfully stable, solid ground once again! I was in a complete daze afterwards and I still can't believe I've actually done it!!! The video is so funny, especially the exit from the plane, as you can tell I'm terrified and I'm pulling the weirdest face!
Steve's being too stubborn to write about his skydiving experience, as he feels it's the same as I felt. So I presume he was feeling pretty nervous and scared before hand, but I know he couldn't have chickened out, as the shame of him not being able to do it, when I had, would have been too great! He really enjoyed it though and felt the adrenaline pumping as it got to the point of exit. He gave a few excited cheers of delight on the way down (rather than screaming in blind fear) and was pretty chuffed when he touched down again! So we finally managed it, after thinking about it for so long and having had our plans so rudely scuppered in Taupo! Now, we know no-one will believe that I, of all people, have done a skydive, so we're including some of the digital photos from the skydive in this blog for you to all marvel (and giggle) at!
That's all for now though, there's nothing else to fill you in on for the moment. We'll try and update the blog a bit more in these last few weeks, so you don't have too much to read at once! Can you believe that it's less than 3 weeks until we're home now?! It's just crazy, it's gone so fast, but then when we think about all we've done, some of it was just so long ago! Anyway, we can't wait to catch up with you all again soon and share all our photos etc! Missing you all loads.
Sammy - Thanks for the congratulations! We're really glad things are going so smoothly as well, and we can assure you that the camera has been on override for most of the trip (we've even had to buy more films, even though we came with just over 50)! I did indeed manage to get my Harry Potter book - I got it on the 21st as soon as it went on sale and I finished it on the morning of the 22nd (I would have finished it in one day, but we were waiting around to see if we could skydive in Taupo), so I'm reading it for a second time now! We'll definitely have to meet up when we get back, Steve's really looking forward to catching up with the chinwagging you've been missing out on!~
Mum - The Maori evening was really good, I'm not sure what my expectations were, but it was certainly fun. Like I said in the post earlier, it would have been nice to have had more time to explore the village, but even so it was still worth it. Glad Teresa managed to get all my stuff, Steve called on Sunday and she said she'd be collecting things that day. Glad the garden is shaping up so nicely, it sounds as though there's been a positive hive of activity going on - I can't wait to see all the changes when we get back! Glad you're enjoying your time off of work and that you're managing to prioritise things to do etc. Thanks for collecting things for me, that's really good of you. I'm glad I have some time to get myself sorted out as well before having to get stuck into it! We've heard and seen about the awful storms, glad yóu've not been affected, sorry to hear about Liz 2's place though - hope it gets sorted out ASAP for her. Liz and Emma have gone to Rome have they, when are they back, hope they have fun. It's been a real disappointment with the KiwiExperience bus and we are certainly hoping that coming back and doing it campervan style is on the cards! Yeah the film was quite good, but I agree that they missed too much out - the movies are never as good as the books though are they?! I really enjoyed the last book, I hope you're enjoying it too (if you've not finished it already). By the way, I hope school's been rreceivingall of the postcards I've been sending from Bear and we hope you enjoy the skydiving photos! Can't wait to see you in just over 2 weeks! Missing you all so much, send my love to everyone.
Click on photos for a bigger picture
"Blissful ignorance - we haven't even left the ground yet!" 
"Sitting on the edge - no fear?!?!?!?!?!"
"Freefall begins - shear terror and panic set in as I plummet to Earth!"
"What have I done?! I want to get back in the plane!!"
"Yes I'm loving this! ... Honestly?!?!"
"I have absolutely no idea what's going on, is it nearly over?!"
"OK, so am I smiling and enjoying it, or is it just the wind gushing past me, making me look as though I'm smiling?"
"Yay, I can see the ground, it's almost over, I can almost touch it!"
"Woohoo!! I survived! Now, that wasn't so bad was it?!?!" Now, just wait until you see the DVD as well - i't's so amusing, yet so toe curling to realise I really did throw myself out of the plane!!!
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