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

From the west coast we headed inland and hit the Tongariro National Park, home of the carrot! Where the majority of carrots are produced in New Zealand, the place is carrot crazy. They hold a carrot festival every year where the population of the town increases from hundreds to thousands.

The Tongariro National Park is dominated by four 2,000 metre and upwards high dormant volcanoes, the most famous of these is the conical shaped one used as Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. As we saw the bad weather staying behind us we used the opportunity to go mountain biking on the famous ‘Old Coach Road.’ The road was part of the main route from Auckland to Wellington, though in those days the journey took a few months.

For us it was an uphill struggle for around an hour to reach our target; a viaduct which spans a deep valley. This bridge was the first one AJ Hackett used for his commercial bungee before it was deemed too dangerous (jumpers had to cross four train tracks to get to it, not in the jump off go splat sense!) It was then moved to Queenstown, (incidentally the same one where did mine.)

The original rickety tracks still remained, though fortunately for us there had been some additions and a safety fence and new footpath put either side. The gruelling uphill ride turned into a 8 minute superfast downhill section and was very rewarding.

The next day all three of us decided to hit the famous Tongariro Crossing, this is a 17km walk taking an average of 6 hours. It goes up over the top of one of the smaller mountains and beside the rest. It is one of the most popular one day hikes in New Zealand. After a few scary moments reading posters in the information office; sturdy walking boots a must, first aid kit, 4 – 5 warm layers of clothing (it was 25 degrees at the bottom.) We were then told this is to stop tourists going up in jeans and flip flops, or high heeled shoes as one Chinese lady thought was a good idea.

So the next morning we got the 8am shuttle to the top and began our ascent. The crossing is so famous it was a bit like Piccadilly Circus! There were hundreds of people walking, which did give it a bit more security in case something serious did happen. We started the first ascent up the devils staircase, steps put in by the national park because of the amount of people walking the track. After a gruelling few hours we trekked up to the highest point; 1,900 metres. There were other walks to the top of the other mountains but we felt the view was good enough from where we were!
The weather was good when we started but when we reached the top it closed in very quickly so the views were a bit limited but on our decent down we saw some beautiful lakes. We set off at 8:15 and got back at 3:50 so it was a very long day but well worth the few blisters between us.

Next we headed to Taupo; the extreme capital of the world, (although I may have said that about Queenstown!) I’m pretty sure New Zealand is the extreme country of the world so it may have a few extreme towns in it!

So I would have a few extreme stories to tell if I had partaken in any such activities but unfortunately it was my comrades who did the 48m high bungee over water and 12,000 feet skydive. But I will tell their stories from my point of view.

Sophie’s day began on an overcast morning (bungees are cheaper before 11am, yes we are stingy even on our extreme sports!) After being checked in and weighed she was then taken to the end of a platform 50m over a river and VELCROED to what really is a long elastic band. They have a section of the cord in the booking office for ‘piece of mind,’ which is basically your normal office elastic bands, hundreds of them twisted together.

I’ve emphasized the velcroed part as when I did mine I had a harness on my waist and the cord was then thread through my feet so I ended up the right way, or rather the wrong way up. The only other person I’ve heard having their feet velcroed together is CJ in Thailand, not very hot on its health and safety. But Sophie came out in one piece so I can’t use Velcro as one of my bungee horror stories, on this list is naked bungees (do it naked and you get it free) and (Leanne’s) James being asked ‘what’s more scary than this?…THIS!’ [James is then pushed/rugby tacked unsuspectingly off the top.]

I was contemplating doing a bungee swing, a variation of the vertical bungee, the ‘bunger’ is dropped and then swung into oblivion. This can be done in a multiple of positions; sitting, backwards, mid flip etc, but common sense got the better of me and I declined. My final bungee horror story is from Sian doing this bungee swing, she was positioned to fall off backwards (apparently less scary!) and as she was falling off all the guys on the platform started yelling ‘NO, STOP, you’re not attached’ – not exactly the words you want to hear as you are falling off a 50m high platform. So understandably enough Sian starts praying, life flashes in front of her eyes and starts scrabbling wildly to try and save herself. She manages to grab hold of a piece of rope and then realises what it’s her bungee cod and then hears the guys above her cackling like hyenas.

Anyway, back to Sophie. Sophie performed her jump admirably, she decided against having a water landing (please see jump menu attached). She was advised on her arm position so to stop jumping straight off the platform like a frog aka. Gini, or like diving off a diving board and having your hands straight in front of your face so that when you hit the water you give yourself black eyes aka. Sally (Sorry that really is my last bungee horror story!)

Sophie did really well, no hesitation, bouncing and dangling gracefully into the rescue boat.

In the same morning we then moved straight onto the airport for Holly’s tandem skydive. She flew up to 12,000 feet, had a 45 second freefall and then glided the other 4,000 feet. Falling 8,000 feet in 45 seconds is pretty immense, followed only by Sophie’s 48 metres in 3 seconds, Cara on the other hand just walked around normal pace all day with no falling L !

Luckily we were told the out of the 8 people up in Holly’s plane only Holly had a blue jumpsuit, so from the outset we could see her and took some pretty good photos. We saw some pretty ropey landings, some landing hard straight on their bums, but Holly’s was very smooth. When asked how it was, Holly’s answer (for everything) was ‘it was alright’…!

While in Taupo we stumbled across a body painting festival and unlike another broke traveller from Preston we didn’t take part! Some of the models were pretty amazing and it made a nice change to hang out in the city with its residents.

We then moved onto Rotarua and saw a Maori concert. Although it was set in a hotel we still got a feel for the culture and friendship between the Maoris and got an amazing dinner. Even though the Haka was performed in forced circumstances it still had the desired effect and made everyone’s hairs stand on end. Maori warriors used to use poi (weighted balls on strings) to strengthen their wrists before battle, now they are used more with the women as a object for entertainment. Both me and Sophie got up on stage to have a go and they looked far harder than imagined!

A trip to Rotarua wouldn’t be complete without looking at the geysers, the town didn’t smell as bad of eggs as is advertised everywhere and we used it as a launch pad to travel up to the Coromandel.

After a brief stop and a surf at Mount Manganui on the East Coast we made it to the town of Whangamata (said Fangamatar). Here the surf was amazing and both me and Soph tried our hands at SUP ‘stand up paddle boarding.’ These giant surfboards with extra grip are stood on and paddled. It was great to cruise up the river, which was flat as a pancake, making no noise apart from the occasional splash of the paddles. Though our activity wasn’t without mishap; we moved into the sea to try and catch a few waves as our instructor said we were naturals.

We were told it was easier than surfing because standing up is the hard part, but as soon as we hit the waves we both hit the water! Unfortunately Sophie fell off and while trying to jump back on she was hit in the face with her board and as with all cuts on faces it bled ferociously. But she battled on like the Maori warrior she is and we still had a great morning. A black eye and a few steri-strips later and it’s slowly getting better.

We’ve travelled around the whole of the Coromandel region with its stunning beaches and breathtaking cliffs and now in the final few days of our beloved van. We have 4 days left of the Cocaine Mobile. We are heading to Hamilton then to the east coast surfing town of Raglan then up to Auckland to return our van.

Our adventure seems to be stepping up a gear; in a week we will be in Fiji, in two; Hawaii and in a month mainland USA. We are now looking into getting another Wicked van in America as it seems to be the cheapest way to travel around and they are pretty cool.

Talk to you soon

Kofi x x

Onwards and upwards

So we’ve hit the road! We’ve hired a 2/3 (emphasis on the slash) berth camper van. They are small vans which have been adapted to fit a “kitchen” – sink, shelves, camping stove and a table and chairs which then turns into a double bed at night. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze with three of us in, but boundaries have been broken pretty quickly and we are now all bezzie mates!

‘Wicked’ the company we hired our van from, have 300 all over the country, we did ask for a nice one and which they replied with one which says ‘sniff more coke’ and ‘enjoy cocaine’ so we’ve had a few funny looks along the way! Although on the back it does say ‘hugs not drugs’ which is always our moto! But we’ve seen quite a few more dodgy ones than that, so I think we’ve been lucky!

From Christchurch our first adventure took us to Kaikoura home of whales and dolphins. The Kaikoura coast has a large deep canyon a few miles out to sea and so it can support the resident whales and dolphins all year round and it’s the only place in New Zealand that has this.

After enquiring at the dolphin swimming centre and told they were booked up for 6 days and our only option was a 5.30am share swim in which we could only go into the water when someone else had completely finished. So kitted out with our two layers of wetsuits, hoods and snorkel gear (that we might not use!) we headed out on a search for the sometimes 500 strong pod of dolphins. These (pesky) Dusky dolphins are smaller than the more common (hence the name) Common dolphin and are very inquisitive.

Fortunately for us the water was 15 degrees and so there were drops outs early on. The swimmers were designated 40 minutes swim time and so it was highly likely that we would get in. We were instructed to make noises through our snorkels and dive down (very difficult with the temperature and buoyancy of the wetsuits,) to try and get the dolphins attention. The first few times we jumped into the water the pod of around 30 just swam on, but as we move around the coast the pods all joined together and we swam with at least 200 individuals! Making stupid noises and actually looking the dolphins in the eye you can engage them, spin around with them, make them dive down, where they will mirror image you by swimming with their belly up to yours.

An incredible experience, the water temperature forgotten within about a minute!

After Kaikoura we travelled to the northern part of South Island and travelled around the coast. Following our noses around the wine trail of Marlborough Sounds. In the Abel Tasman National Park we divided and conquered, Holly took to the seas with her kayak and me and Sophie the mountains on bikes. On a very rare blue skied day we were driven to the top and taught a few skills before being unleashed down skree and stony tracks. Apparently balancing on your pedals, off your seat, then squatting down behind your saddle is the way forward, or rather down when mountain biking downhill. Also go as fast as you can, ‘momentum is your friend’ – guide/devil woman Anna, so if you feel like you’re wobbling, go faster! Hmmm…

Well it was very enjoyable, even if I did get off and walk down a few hills. We were shown around old marble mines, which were used in the buildings in Wellington, this leads us on nicely to the next part of our journey. We crossed the three hour ferry from Picton and came to the capital city; which compared to the other smaller, one road towns we had come across was really like a metropolis.

Rugby fever has really hit the country with the 2011 world cup being held here. New Zealand are high up in the IRB rankings as well as being the top international 7s competition at the moment. We visited the rugby museum which was very small but informative, though with an extra 50,000 people are expected during the world cup it had been given a $800,000 grant for improvements. Being big sports fan’s we went and watched ‘Invictus,’ the new rugby movie set during the SA world cup at the start of Mandela’s reign. Truly a great movie but we were torn during the ending with the NZ vs SA final being surrounded by Kiwis, emotions stirred to the maximum with the Haka being performed in wide screen, Joana Lomu practically spitting at us from on screen. (Who I incidentally met in the toilets of the Rugby Museum, slightly off putting have a cardboard cut out of him leering at you on!)

So far we have covered around 2,500 kilometres and there is still Taupo upwards yet to do, our van is still in one piece and so are our friendships, though mainly due to Scrabble, Denominations and Rummy. We covered the Surf Highway of the west coast which due to poor weather and bad surf led us to no time in the water and chased us inland in search of clear skies. The summer weather here is the worst it has been in years and everyone is hoping for a change before autumn properly starts. We are now hoping for some walking tomorrow if the weather holds in Mount Doom country. We have the van until the end of the month and we hope to cover a few more miles and get a bit more sunshine.