Aloha, aloha, aloha, mahola! – roughly translated; Hello, I love you, goodbye, thankyou!

Our short time in Hawaii is over and we are now on the move to mainland USA.
Sophie had her first introduction to the land of the fatties, where fast food is not only the norm but convenient and cheaper. (See parade picture and following her a man on a trombone aka Family Guy). We stayed at hostels where we could cook our own food but never did. Our attempt at a cheap sandwich buying in bread and ham from the supermarket cost $12 but going down to Subway you can get a foot long sarnie for $5! Lunch specials are usually half price and with portion sizes big enough to feed an entire army we’ve eaten well (usually sharing one meal).

One amazing invention, which hopefully isn’t just from Hawaii; we found a DVD vending machine, for only $1/day ($1.05 inc tax…grrr) you can hire a movie. These vending machines are in most supermarkets, just pick, pay, receive watch and return….AMAZING!!! Anything to make it easy to sit on your bum all day!

Another amazing company is Yoghurt Land! They sell frozen yoghurt by weight for 42c/ounce! Chuck in as much fruit and M&M’s you can eat and you have a meal!

We landed in Honolulu on one of the larger islands of Oahu and stayed in the famous surf resort of Waikiki. Still being in Hawaii, Waikiki does have a beautiful shoreline but being a main tourist resort it does look a lot like a large Spanish resort with skyscrapers dominating the skyline and bodies on the beach sweating side-by-side, but the sunsets were still beautiful. The metropolitan feel didn’t wear thin on us since we had come from Fiji. Hot water running freely and as much shopping as Sophie could manage!

As being occasional surfers we thought we would try our hand at it on the Hawaiian seas, but being such a popular resort there were hundreds of people in the water in Waikiki and battling for waves rather than catching them seemed a bit too much like hard work.

We did the ultimate tourist trip and went to Pearl Harbour, where all Americans get a bit misty eyed and weepy over the only war ever fought on US soil. The remaining submarines and torpedoes are fairly impressive, though I think our time in Vietnam has left us very sceptical. 2000 men died that day which is a disaster but in Vietnam over two million died and are still dying from the ‘American war’ so apologies for us not weeping profusely and saluting the stars and stripes like the other Yanks visiting.

Highlight of the day was Sophie chatting/getting chatted up by a 84 year old war veteran. When he heard where we were from replied, “well that can’t be right where’s your umbrella and pleated skirt, chuckle chuckle, have you got a boyfriend?” A very cool guy who spent his youth surfing the waves in Waikiki and was there that fateful day, close enough to see the eyes of the Japanese flying the planes.

Apart from all the massive amounts of food and American patriotism being rammed down our throats Hawaii really is a beautiful country so much so it’s used for many film locations. We went on a film tour around the north east side of Oahu and one road is used for Jurassic Park, Pearl Harbour, Lost, Godzilla, You me and Dupree, 50 First Dates, South Pacific, unbelievable that nobody has noticed it’s all filmed in the same place. The never ending TV series Lost is filmed on the ranch we visited and was being filmed that very day!

It’s the iconic scene in Jurassic park where the characters go over a hill and see all the dinosaurs for the first time, there’s lush green grass (a benefit from the rain that falls even when its blistering sunshine), and majestic mountains which is why directors keep coming back.

The log from Jurassic park is still there, though because of the cyclones over the past few years it’s not quite the dinosaur saving trampling device it was before. The Godzilla footprints are still there from the film, though they did used to be a few metres deep but since a few wandering cows in the night fell to their deaths they are now pretty shallow!

We enjoyed St. Patricks Day American style, where everyone actually does thinks they’re Irish! All the beers had green dye in and everyone got their Irish dancing on.

After a spat with a Go Airlines Service Manager we travelled over to Kauaii one of the smaller islands the last in the chain of islands that makes up Hawaii. Apparently when the Service Manager says "final call, one minute remaining" and we were stood by the gate, that actually means flight closed. Bit of a nightmare but we made it on with the other 5 passengers, after ranting and raving, how they didn’t know we weren’t on it….?!

So we made it to the pretty island of Kauaii, (said like Hawaii with a K.) We hired a car and found a pretty B&B and struck a deal with Dominic the owner. Instead of paying the $100 extra a night over our budget we told him we would be great houseguests/friends for the next 4 nights, luckily he agreed. Dominic was a Californian who moved to the islands to escape, a trained pilot, scuba diving instructor and accomplished musician he was a lot of fun to hang around with and showed us how the locals see the island.

When asked why he chose Kauaii, his answer was that the island chose him. Our journey to the island was a nightmare and then the extortionate car hire costs it seemed like the island was against us but it did win us over.

We hired coaster bikes for a morning, which are deep seat, laid back comfort bikes made for the ladies! They were a breeze to ride though they didn’t have hand brakes, to stop them you have to pedal backwards…?! Luckily we never had to stop in a hurry because it could have been crash number two!

The last thing we want in this country is any trip to the hospital, to see a doctor is $450 and an ambulance is $600 all have to be paid upfront. Our little dally with the Vietnam roads seems like nothing in comparison. Obama’s ‘healthcare for everyone’ debate has hit full pelt here with it just being voted in. But now 20 states are now suing the president, not good news when nearly 50% of the country are against the new bill.

Enough of politics and back to travelling! Our last stop on Hawaii was back on Oahu and onto the North Shore which is the place for surfing in the world. Waves here reach 50ft in the winter and even in summer they were bloody massive! The frequent warnings on the beach from the lifeguards is only experienced boarders allowed in the water and on rough days the police are brought in to enforce keeping newbies out.

We know that good surfers are a mix of fitness, skill and sheer stupidity and that came to head on the North Shore. We watched a guy bodysurfing in the shallows one sunset evening. Bodysurfing is basically getting smashed about and trying not to drown without any buoyancy equipment. This particular gentleman had obliviously done it for so long his brains had been washed out, you can see by the picture the waves are about 15 times the size of him.

We are currently on the flight onto LA, quick travelling note for all you wanna-be Sophie and Cara’s; never travel with American Airlines or Air Pacific, what current airlines on 6 hour flights don’t provide food or films? Cannot wait for the BA flight home, the British know how to fly, we created Concorde! Luckily with all our travelling we have enough points to fly free from Las Vegas to Orlando and now every flight we are at least bumped up to exit rows, I think the hoodies mean we aren’t quite first class material.

We found some cheap flights and so our USA itinerary has grown and now slightly resembled the ambitious plan we had before we left. After Florida we fly to Washington and then travel that coast up to New York and onto Boston where we then fly back down to San Diego, dip into Mexico and then track back up to LA for our flight back home. Even though we have two months left of the trip it does seem like the beginning of the end, home, family and jobs are finally being discussed.

It will be good to see the families very soon, can't wait!!!

Bula from Fiji

It has been a while since I last wrote a blog and it feels a bit trickier to get back into it. Since Sophie has had her ‘bad eye’ from the paddleboard incident we stayed and played in Auckland for a week and then moved onto pastures and countries new.

In Auckland we moved into our new home away from home and had a holiday away from our holiday and lived it up with the mighty Thomsons. Their amazing house came with beautiful hospitality from possible the best Kiwis in the world. A big thank you from them for giving us 5 star luxury to crash in and the hot chocolates on tap.

We saw the sights in the City of Sails and climbed up the harbour bridge (in between lying by our pool that is!) It took us back to our leaving party at the Church as aviators and hard hats were part of our safety gear.

In month 5/7, our journey then took us onto Fiji. We spent one night on the mainland; Viti Levu in one of the main towns Nadi before heading off to the Yasawas – a large stretch of island supposedly the most beautiful in Fiji. We were not disappointed; our resort was called Manta Ray and had amazing coral a few metres off the beach.

We saw a 2m long reef shark in the shallows and finally Sophie saw her angel fish (Nemo). Our days were spent snorkelling, lazing around and focused all around the delicious meals. One day on Manta ray was spent making a coconut bracelet. When we saw ‘bracelet making’ on the list of activities we thought of idle chit-chat around a table with some beads. What we got was; a trek into the jungle, a climb up a coconut tree, sawing a coconut then sanding it for countless hours until Si (slave driver/activity man) was happy with the finished product, which incidentally was too big for our wrists and ended up being an ‘upper-arm piece of jewellery’. ‘Sanding’ involved a rock, some sand and some water, stir all together and rub coconut frantically until sweating profusely. Anyways the finished product probably wouldn’t be sold in the gift shop but it worked very well for our tribal costumes on Robinson Crusoe.

After 3 nights on Manta Ray it was time to move onto another island off the south west coast of the mainland called Robinson Crusoe. This island was entirely different from the sparkling water and calm nature of our previous island. The moment we stepped onto the island we were greeted by a fire show and 80 other guests.

These guests left the resort later that night leaving only us islanders; the overnight stayers and the staff with whom we became great friends and a large family. Many a fun night was had. One night in question was Tribal Night which was our initiation into our island family. In the day we scoured the jungle in search of vines, coconut leaves and flowers to make our costumes. The rest of the day was put into preparing our outfits for the nights activities. Me and Sophie being costume experts (comes with being in a hockey squad) set about with great enthusiasm.

Of course as with every single country we’ve been too we had a little accident! Whilst making Sophie’s coconut bikini, yes everything we put our minds to is given 100%, the Swiss Army knife she was using slipped and she took a chunk out of her finger. So even with a large bandaged finger, Sophie still won first prize (I think it was a sympathy vote!)

I think Sophie’s accident was punishment for me bringing in my penknife into the country; I used my Swiss Army knife in our campervan as a tin opener and then forgot to stow it in my hold luggage when taking our flight to Fiji. In customs after being x-rayed I was pulled to the side and asked if I had any dangerous weapons on me. After some rummaging I found the offending article in my hand luggage, I profusely apologised and somehow hoped I could get it posted home as I knew it would be confiscated. But oh, no… the security woman simply whipped out the largest blade, held it up to a ruler and stated that as it was under 6cm it would be fine to take onto the plane!!! We have defiantly have had a fork taken of us on our travels, but a 6cm long penknife is fine…

As we were staying in cheaper resorts we had fairly rustic facilities, dorm rooms with 35 others and cold showers but really, that just added to the charm of the islands. Our favourite was the bucket showers at Robinson Crusoe; due to Cyclone Mick who hit their shores a few years ago the island no longer had running water from the mainland. So they had to ship fresh water everyday so water was rationed to a bucket per day each. The bucket shower had to be pulled down and then filled then hoisted back up and there was a tap welded on the underside. This was perfectly enough water for a shower and I realised how much could be wasted by not turning off the shower in between lathering etc.

Our discoveries from Fiji are; Fijians are all amazing singers we were serenaded when we arrived and when we left the islands. Also all Fijians are built naturally like tanks. Old traditions of cannibalism gave the eaters the power that was stored in their enemies’ body, so it was fight or be eaten so only the fittest survived. Bringing now a nation of giants and coincidentally a coconut looks a lot like a rugby ball which is why they have such a talent in that sport!

We are now in Hawaii living the American dream, Saint Paddy’s day tomorrow which the Americans are going crazy for so hopefully should have plenty of craic to report back on.

Love from Cara Magoolagan-Thomson and Sophie Acarnley-Thomson