Zippity Doo Dah Zippity Day

Only two more Hawaii blogs to go! Unfortunately, they're not writing themselves. Neither is my PhD. Jerks! We'll get there soon enough.

On our second last day we had an early rise before we were shipped up to the north end of the island for a bit more adventure tourism: Zip Lining! (Of Flying Fox if you prefer) As we shook the sleep from our eyes, we also got harnessed up to go swinging through the trees.

Maya didn't have any shorts that came down to her knees, so she borrowed a pair of Mary's pants. And thus she was dubbed Jane Goodall.

Once we were all geared up, we were loaded into an old military vehicle and taken on a high speed, off road adventure.

The ride was super fun, and that was just the start! We made our way into the forest and were soon at the base of the first line. Now, I should probably mention that I only had a vague idea of what I'd gotten myself into. It seemed like something that would be pretty cool, but I didn't consider the possibility that it might be, oh, say, terrifying?

The first line was just a short run, not too far off the ground, to give us a feel of what we had signed ourselves up for. It seemed simple enough: walk off the platform, sit back in the harness, hold on to the rope, and glide on over to the other side.

I don't know about you, but I don't spend a lot of time suspended in mid-air. And while I trusted in the equiptment completely, the idea of being suspended in the air definitely was a freaky one for me. But that wasn't even the worst! Stopping really freaked me out! I was going so fast down the line that ever time I came to the end, it seemed like a violent collision was the only way I was going to stop. Thankfully, every time, I was wrong. And eventually, I even started to enjoy myself.

Of course, as soon as I became comfortable with stopping, they completely changed the process. For the first four runs we started on a wooden platform and landed on a wooden platform. But after that, we were landing on a gravel path! We pretty much had to hit the ground running, and continue up the hill with the momentum of our harness. The implication of this, of course, was that we'd be facing the runway when we came in for a landing...

Up until that point, steering hadn't been something I'd needed to be particularly worried about. For the record, my bum only hit the ground for a second, and then I bounced up and was on my feet and running. Pat earned the title of Butt Dragon for his landing.

Once we had gotten the 'little runs' out of the way, it was time to stop and refuel with some snacks before we conquered the longer, higher, faster runs. There was a little picnic set up for us at the 'Mac Nut Hut', where they had an old nut cracker and fresh macadamia nuts, along with the best trail mix I have ever ate! They encouraged us to take whatever was left over, so I took the remaining 3 bags of trail mix for my flight home. I only ended up eating 2 bags, and unfortunately had to surrender the 3rd to customs upon my return. I did consider just eating it in front of them whilst they took my shoes off to be sanitized.

Our guides had quite the sense of humour and did everything they could to mess with us. So as we headed out to our next challenge after our snack break, they hid in the bushes and made boar sounds as Maya and I walked past. I seriously thought that we were about to get charged by a wild boar, and judging by how high Maya leapt, so did she!

Next up was a walk across the suspension bridge. It was quite high up, on a wire frame, and involved walking across a plank of wood.

Apparently this was the thing that freaked people out the most. But for me, this was the funnest part. I love suspension bridges! And we were harnessed onto it, so it wasn't like we would have gone very far if we'd slipped. Maybe it was that I was in control of getting myself to the other side, instead of just waiting for impact. Whatever the case, it was heaps of fun and when I got to the other end I wanted to go back and do it all again. The funniest thing was that the guides were stomping on the bridge to make it shake. I didn't realize this until I got to the very end and saw a foot stomp down on the bridge. Maya came behind me, and John was behind her. Every time our guide would stomp on the bridge, she turned around and gave John a dirty look. Sibling love, ain't it grand?

The last few runs were AMAZING! We were soaring over the tops of waterfalls and looking out to the ocean. We got to walk the plank and even jump off a cliff!!! Jumping off that cliff and soaring high through the air, I finally let go of the rope and just glided. And it really sunk in for me that if I could do that, I could do anything.

So we came to the end of the runs and were all pumped beyond belief. We hopped back into the jeep and went soaring through the mud and back into town.

On the way back our guides told us about this awesome black sand beach that was a short drive and hike away from where we were, and the four of us decided this was something we must do. But first, the parents had found a cute little tiki restaurant for us to have lunch in in town.

Now, guys! Oh my god! This was so exciting!! Guess what I found when we were exploring the town, Hawi, after lunch? THE LESBIANS! I got to give them the secret hand shake and everything, it was great! I did not let the fact that I was drenched in sweat and mud hold me back one iota.

We all had an exciting time in Hawi. The shops were actually quite good, completely aside from my multiple lesbian sightings (and they weren't even together!) and I think we all came away with some souvineers. And then we badgered the parents into taking us to this black sand beach. They protested, because that's there job. But we were relentless (because that's our job) and eventually won. As I stated before, we're all glad that's the way it played out.

The hike down was a little more intensive than we had expected, but it wasn't too bad. Mary was a total champion, doing the hike with a back injury. The trail got quite steep, rocky, and muddy in more than a couple places. It was totally worth the hike though. I mean, there's beautiful and then there's freggin' breath taking!

We all had an incredible time exploring this beach and playing in the black sand. Maya caught some tiny black crab, Pat stuck his feet in the ocean, John smiled, and I made a sand angle.

It was a day full of fun filled adventure and family bonding, just like every day of this trip. But I'm sure it's a day that we'll remember for many years to come.

Something Spectacular to Start the Year

I'm not really sure what time we got back to the condo after our New Year's libations, but it was probably around 1:30am. Apparently the boys crawled into bed and fell promptly asleep. Maya and I did not do this. We stayed up talking until she passed out around 4am.

Somehow, miraculously given how jam packed our vacation schedules were, we managed to not have anything scheduled for the next morning. John and Pat were booked in to go deep sea fishing, but that wasn't until noon, so we all had a bit of recovery time. Since Maya and I didn't have to be anywhere until much later in the afternoon, we decided to spend a few hours at the beach near our condo. It was great to just lay in the sun for a bit, and stretch out in the water.

We had something pretty spectacular planned for that evening, so after the beach, a quick shower, and a snack, we packed ourselves into the van and headed back to Kona to pick up the boys. We only had a short time between picking up the boys and our next activity, so we headed to Wendy's for dinner. THANKFULLY there was a Thai place nearby where Maya and I were able to grab something of the non burger variety. Though yes, I did sneak in a Frostie from Wendy's.

What we had in store that evening was night snorkeling with Manta Rays! Yeah, I know, that's a pretty freggin' spectacular way to start off the year!

We headed back to the now very familiar docks and got geared up into our wet suits. I had never worn a wet suit before, and um, they ain't so easy to get on! Fortunately, we had THE LLAMA there to help us out. After getting into his wet suit, John got to do the rounds and zip the rest of us up. I don't remember exactly at what point of the trip Maya dubbed John the llama, but I do know it stuck. And by the end of the trip, the llama was not so happy about this.

We all boarded the boat, with the four of us kids heading right up front and centre of the boat. We got to watch the sun go down as we got geared up with snorkels and flippers and made the short trip out to out manta ray sighting spot.

On this tour there was a guy from National Geographic who was filming the manta rays for some TV program about how this was the awesomest thing to do in Hawaii. So he talked to us about the manta rays and how there was nothing to worry about with them, and not to try and touch them. He asked those of us who were taking pictures, which Pat and I were, to hold our cameras in close to us when we did so, as the electromagnetic field of the camera and of our hands reaching out could be confronting for the manta rays. And you know what he told us that probably would have saved me years of dolphin related trauma? He told us that our snorkel masks would make the manta rays look bigger than they are, and that they would likely look like they were coming straight for us. But rest assured, they are not!

***



It was early 2001 and I was on vacation in Zanzibar with my family. Zanzibar remains the most spectacularly beautiful place I have ever visited, and one day I will return there. And if my life ever turns to complete shit, I am packing up and moving there to heard cattle or fish or pick fruit or whatever. But not all my memories of Zanzibar are happy ones. Maya was big into dolphins, and swimming with the dolphins was one of the things you could do through the resort we were staying at. And so we did. We were driven out to a beach about an hour from our hotel (it might not have been that far had there been actual roads) and were packed into a rickety boat, given some snorkel gear, and off we went!

We were taken out into the ocean depths until our crew spotted the very wild dolphins. "Quickly! Quickly!" We were pushed off the boat and into the water. And what should I see when I open my eyes? Six MASSIVE dolphins swimming straight at me!!! I screamed, the dolphins laughed, it was all very humiliating. And of course, them being totally wild, they had a whole ocean to swim around in. This meant when they swam off too far, we had to haul ourselves back into the rickety boat from the water while it sped after the dolphins, where we would yet again be pushed out into the wilderness to be these evil creatures play things. Oh god! The memories!

***

Our manta ray crew had come up with this rather ingenious device to prevent us from having scaring memories of our time with the manta rays. They had made this floatational device with lights rigged up to it (the lights being to attract the food for the manta rays), and we were instructed to swim out to it, grab on, and stick a pool noodle under our ankles so that we don't kick the manta rays as they swim underneath us. This device also prevented us from creating a mosh pit in the water.

Once we had been briefed it was time to get in the water! It didn't take long for the first manta ray to show up, and rest assured, it was pretty freggin' spectacular! She seemed to be in a playful mood, doing loopdy loops and swimming right up close to us. I'm pretty sure she grazed me and John's legs at one point. We saw two manta rays, one with a wing span of 6 feet, and one with a wing span of 8 feet. We also saw lots of needle fish chomping away on all the plankton floating in the water around us. Words don't really do the experience justice, so here is my only picture!

The white spotty bits are plankton, and the rest is manta ray. Her eyes are on either side of the picture, and those flappy whiteish bits are her mouth. I had my camera right up against my body when I took this picture, so yes, she's pretty darn close!

The reason this is my only picture is because shortly after taking it, my camera decided that it had seen everything it needed to see in this life time and made it's way to the big shutter in the sky. What was really weird was that Pat's very new digital camera decided to do the same thing. The family seemed pretty convinced that this was due to the mysterious electromagnetic field emitted by the manta rays, but GUYS! That's crazy! Our cameras did not die because of the beauty or the electromagnetic fields of the manta rays. They died because they got water in the bits that aren't water resistant. I have a vague sense that when, in the heat of the moment, my camera froze up, I may have popped the battery casing open to force restart it. I, I wish I could say I know better than to do something like that. But the truth is, I probably don't.

So yes, I no longer have a digital camera. Since the camera I did have was a free one I'm not too broken up about it. I'm glad that it didn't break until I got that awesome shot of the manta ray, towards the end of my vacation. I do wish that I had brought my film camera with me. I debated taking it and honestly am not too sure why I decided not to bother with it. Oh well, live and learn. Fortunately, our memory cards were both fine and compatible with the parents' camera, so we were still able to take gazillions of pictures of the rest of the trip. Which I will tell you more about soon!

If I Had A Million Volcanos

Now that my internet is back up and running, let me return to my tails of Hawaii! There are a couple of things that confounded me for the whole trip, which I should mention. First, I'm used to traffic being on the left, so every time we'd turn a corner I'd have a little freak out, thinking we'd turned onto the wrong side of the street. Second, whenever a meal was advertised as coming with chips I was always very confused as to why there was a bag of potato chips instead of a plate of fries. Yup, apparently I have forgotten what it is like to live in North America.

Back to the trip! We left off at New Year's Eve, a day which was jam packed with activities, as this was the day we drove around the Big Island. We packed up the van with snacks, supplies, swim suits, and for Maya and I our party wear, and hit the road. We headed north, up over the top of the island, then over to the east side where we stopped to look at some waterfalls on our way in to Hilo.

The four of us wandered off to check out some path in the trees and we discovered a bunch of big banyan trees that we could climb into and onto. Pat and I were quick to run inside of one to hide from smoke monsters and polar bears, which everyone knows are quite problematic in Hawaii.

While the boys continued to play around in the trees, Maya and I headed off to explore some more of the paths and ended up at a lagoon, which I'm pretty sure did not contain any sexy sexy mermaids. Oh well!

Once the parents found us, we headed back into Hilo to have lunch at a place recommended in my guide book: Ken's House of Pancakes! It was everything you could hope for in an American diner. The menu was massive and had all sorts of bizarre choices, the decor was tacky and plentiful, the coffee was non-stop, and the waitress was very ... orange. For no other reason than because I could, I ordered the banana macadamia nut waffles with a side of vegetarian bacon.

After lunch we made our way to the volcano. Now, I'm not sure what they put in the food at Ken's House of Pancakes, but Pat, John and I had a serious case of the sillies after we left there. It all started with John announcing he had torn his shorts while climbing trees, which would not have happened if he'd had proper shorts on. This inspired Pat to start singing, to the tune of the Bare Naked Ladies song 'If I Had A Million Dollars', "If I had proper shorts on..." And once this started, it seemed pretty much impossible to stop. Pretty soon I had joined in, though mostly I was just laughing hysterically, especially whenever Maya would roll her eyes and shake her head at us. It went on for a long time. I have video footage, and it still puts me in hysterics. Especially the one where John starts singing in his Volcano Voice. Allow me to share!

I'm sure John is not happy with me for putting that online. Just be glad I didn't upload it to YouTube bud!

We made a visit to the Volcano National Park where we got some important information, watched an informative movie, and I purchased an educational coloring book. We decided to go on a walk through a lava tube. The first part of it was lit, and then there was an additional part that you could go on, if you had a flashlight. So the parents purchased one tiny little flashlight so we could further explore the lava tube. So, a pitch black cave, 6 people, 1 small flashlight. Chaos quickly ensued. At first the boys had the flashlight up the front, leaving everyone behind them in the dark. Perhaps it was a sugar crash, but they were pretty grumpy about the 4 of us behind them not being able to see anything, and everyone's patience was wearing thin. Reluctantly they agreed to pass the flashlight back so the person in the back could shine it forward, enabling everyone to see and no one to bitch at them to shine it back. I don't really have anything much to say about the actual lava tube, aside from that I was glad to get out of it and be done with the squabbling.

We then took a little hike along the volcano crater, but not the erupty part, which looked down into an old lava field. It was an overcast, rainy day so the view wasn't great. But most days up in the mountains are rainy and overcast, so I didn't exactly feel cheated by this. We wanted to go check out the actual lava flow, but this would have added an additional 3 hours of driving to our trip, plus however much time we spent at the lava. So after a bit of groaning and moping, we decided to head up to the museum where at sunset you could watch the volcano steam change from white to orange and red. The only problem was that we were a couple hours early for sunset, and we still had several hours worth of driving to do.

Eventually we settled on hitting the road again and heading into Kona for the New Year's Eve festivities. Everyone had made their way into the van except Maya, who had popped back into the museum, so I stuck around to let her know we were heading off. But it wasn't long before I went off mission! Instead of herding Maya into the car, I got distracted by the potential for an awesome novelty picture.

When Pat got sent out to heard us into the car, he also got sucked in to the novelty picture fun. Once we were finally all back in the van, we set off for Kona. I was sitting in the back with John, who had eaten half a bag of dried fruit. Needless to say, it was not smelling so good back there!

Once we got into Kona, Maya and I found a place to change and got ourselves glamorous for the night. Then we all headed for dinner at a little Italian place that had live music. We were all in the mood for some singing, so Pat found out what our karaoke options were, and after dinner we went in search of the karaoke bar. Now, I am not going to go into the details of what happened that night because those details are best left between myself and my siblings. Let's just say that much fun was had hanging out with the, as dad called them, local riff raff.

All in all, it was a pretty awesome way to wrap up 2010! And our taxi driver's accent was possibly the funnest way to start 2011.

Surrender to the Sea

I think it's very telling what kind of a year 2010 was for me when the best day of it was December 30th. It was well worth the wait though. So what made this the most awesome day of the year? Big up to my brother Patrick for that! Because on this day he paid for us kids to go on an ocean kayak safari AND THEN he did the impossible, but I'll get back to that.

I've always thought that kayaking looked like heaps of fun, but been terrified to do it. Up until I started swimming, my upper body strength was pretty much non existent. It's still nowhere near where I'd like it to be, but I'm working on that. The other reasons kayaking terrified me was because my balance is like, even more non existent than my upper body strength, so I was sure I'd be flipping the kayak ever 5 minutes. And as much as I love swimming, I love doing it in a pool, far far far away from dolphins and the like.

It was two people to a kayak, so Pat and I went in one, and Maya and John went in another. John, being the athlete that he is, had their kayak off and running in no time. Him and Maya looked like they'd been kayaking all their lives, so I can't really say I blame John for disowning Pat and I...

The strongest rower was meant to sit in the back as they are responsible for steering, so our guides told me to get in the front and Pat in the back of the kayak. Which we did, for about 1 second. As soon as I got in, I tipped us over. Suddenly our guides thought I'd be better off in the back. This did nothing to appease my fear that we would capsize in the middle of the ocean.

We were instructed to row out to the buoy, then stop and wait for instructions on how to kayak. OK, sure, except... how do we get TO THE BUOY?!?!? With John yelling instructions at us, Pat and I set off on our ocean misadventure. With no concept of steering, we completely missed the buoy, nearly got ran over by a large boat, completely missed the instructions on how to kayak, and nearly gave one of our guides a coronary. The younger, more laid back guide was instructed to "get those people under control," as Pat and I headed straight for the big rocks we were meant to stay far, far away from.

With a heroic amount of over steering, we managed to avoid the death and/or serious injury we seemed so keen on finding when we first set out. The total trip was probably about 4km, but I reckon Pat and I paddled a good 6km. It was, without a doubt, the best workout of my life! My arms were pumped and I felt like there was nothing I couldn't do if I set my mind to it (except possibly open my right hand, which was claw shaped from gripping onto the oar for dear life for about a week). Kayaking has become my motivation to kick my fitness drive into high gear this year. I'm going to get myself a full gym membership and make the rowing machine my new BFF.

Now, there was some significance to the place we kayaked to, but I have no idea what it is because the scenic route didn't come with a tour guide. Something to do with a burial ground for a big Hawaiian war over women's rights. I'm sure I would have found it all very fascinating. We stopped at a rocky ledge where the kayaks were tethered together and anchored. Here we had an hour to do some snorkeling, grab a snack, jump off a cliff, and do some exploring. All that was asked was that we not swim into the big jagged rocks where the big waves were crashing in. Fortunately, outside of a kayak, I am not completely navigation impaired. When I told this to our more serious guide he cracked a smile, and I knew all was forgiven. Our guide also taught us a signal to let him know that we were OK, a signal which I'm pretty sure the four of us will use with each other for the rest of our lives.

We put on our snorkel masks and hopped out of our kayaks and checked out the fishies. The water was a lot deeper here than where Maya and I had snorkeled a couple of days before, and the water was also a lot choppier. This meant that we got pushed around with the waves a lot more, as did the fish, which were plentiful.

After a bit of snorkeling we climbed up onto the rocks, had a snack, and wandered around. Our laid back guide took us to see an eel, and then helped Maya and Pat to jump off a cliff. When landing, you were meant to have your legs straight out beneath you. Guess who mastered that and who landed ass first? I opted for not jumping off a cliff.

Then it was time to climb back into our kayaks, which, with some help, I managed to do without tipping us over. We headed back, this time with Pat and I managing to stay far away from the dangerous rocks... so far away that we were much further out than everyone else, going over massive swells, with me completely petrified that a whale would pop up beside us to say 'Hi!' We stopped at a sea cave that normally the tour goes into, but they didn't go in this time. I'm guessing because the ocean was a bit rougher than usual. It was at the sea cave that Pat and I learned how to do a U-turn, thereby making the rest of our trip much, much easier! We even managed to nail our landing, with me paddling solo.

Once we got back to shore, we dropped the parents off at Costco and headed over to Subway for lunch, where we put the 'No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem' philosophy to test. Home Depot also did not require the wearing of clothing.

That afternoon Mary took Pat, Maya and I back to Mauna Kea Beach where there were some serious waves happening! The three of us swam out into the ocean and bobbed up and down on the massive swells for awhile, until Maya got the idea that we ride in on the waves.

It took us a few tries to get it right, but soon Maya and I were body surfing some pretty decent waves into shore. It was a ridiculous amount of fun! And completely addictive. We'd make our way out to where we thought the waves would break, then watch for the biggest swells, start paddling, and enjoy the ride. Sometimes we soar high on the top of a crest, and sometimes we got sucked under into the rip. I know I did a fair few under water somersaults and was very thankful I've mastered the art of not breathing in whilst under water. Pat came in to join us, and we rode the waves until our knees bled and we were completely exhausted.

I started out our body surfing expedition with my hat and my sunnies on. But doing underwater somersaults meant having to remember not to breath in, figure out how to get my feet on the ground so I could stand up, AND hold on to my hat and sunnies. After one particularly rough somersault I managed to grab hold of my hat before it was lost to the rip, only to surface and realize I was no longer wearing my awesome new sunnies! I shuffled around in the water for a bit in hopes of finding them, and at one point I thought I had found them, but when I reached over to pick them up, I was knocked over by an incoming wave. I figured my sunnies were lost to Davey Jones' Locker, made my peace with it, and went back out. I even saw them again as I was riding in on another big wave, but the tide was too strong for that to give me much hope of finding them again.

But then, in comes Patrick, walking through the water all looking like Jesus, when what does he step on? My sunnies! There was much hugging and high fiving when he pulled them up out of the ocean, thereby christening them my miracle sunnies. I put them safely away with the rest of our stuff on the beach before surfing any more waves. Thank goodness for Pat and his ability to find things with his feet!

Everyone Wants To Get Lei'd

Oh yeah, I went there.

You know how that first night I said I slept like a log? Well, that was the only night that happened. I'm not a good sleeper when faced with a new bed, and having Maya next to me meant I couldn't sleep in my most comfortable position, which involve contorting myself into something like an upside down G. Add to that the stuffiness of our room and the coughing, and by the fourth day I was feeling it. So when the parents said they were going to head into Kona for more shopping and exploring, I took a pass. I figured I'd stay at the condo and have a nap, though that didn't really happen either.

By the time everyone left I'd regained my energy, so instead of napping I decided to go explore around the Villa grounds. There wasn't a whole lot to see, but there was a path through a lava field beside the Villas and that seemed like as good a place as any to have a wander. I knew that if I followed the path away from the Villas I'd end up at the Queen's shopping complex, so I set out in the opposite direction. It didn't really lead me anywhere but to the grounds where more condos were being developed, but it was still nice to be out exploring, on my own, singing along to my ipod.

Later that afternoon we headed over to the Marriott for a Lu'au. As always, the hotel was stunning. We wandered around in awe, counting the pools and enjoying the open reception hall. The Marriott backs onto the beach that was nearest us, but the Lu'au wasn't on the beach. I don't think the Big Island really has the right kind of beaches for roasting pigs in the sand and wandering around in the dark. Instead, there were tables set up on the rear lawn with a buffet on one side and an open bar on the other. When we came in, there was a professional photographer ready to take a family photo, though he seemed to think we were a group of couples which is just kinda creepy and wrong.

Like any good family photo, there's some drama behind this one. Everyone kissed and made up and we got our cheesy picture, ukeleles and all. At first we thought we got to keep the lei's, but when we got in shit for taking our own picture with them on, we realized they were just for the photo. We did get shell lei's to keep after the photo though.

We ended up being a bit late to arrive, so we got a table at the back. I think this actually worked out well for us because we were able to stand when the entertainment started without worrying about blocking anyone else's view. We also made an important discovery at the open bar, where the only question asked of John's drink order was if he wanted a flower too.

As the sun went down, we were treated to a conch shell blowing competition in which the audience representative for Hilo beat the rep for Kona. Then we were directed, table by table, to the buffet. It being a buffet, I figured there would be chances to go up and get more, so I only took a little of everything. Unfortunately, us being one of the last tables served, there wasn't really anything left when we went back for seconds.

After dessert the Polynesian entertainment began. We were treated to a bit of Hawaiian cultural history in the form of dances from the different nations which first came to Hawaii. Once again this made me want to go to Tahiti. One day, one day... The performances ended with a fire dancer, which was pretty darn awesome if I do say so myself!

We all ended up having a really great time at the Lu'au, though the other family at our table said the best one they'd been to was in Maui, and I'm inclined to think that the other islands with their more sandy beaches are probably better suited for a more 'traditional' Lu'au experience.

OMG, you know what's next? My favourite day of the trip!!!

A Slice of Paradise

Our third day on the Big Island began with an early start as Pat, Maya and I dropped the parents off at this resort they were to tour. We had specific instructions to pick them up in 2 hours, to stay together while swimming, and not to swim out too far. So off to the beach we went! It wasn't much of a beach; small and rocky and only not crowded because it was still quite early. Pat had it in his head that he doesn't like snorkelling, so Maya and I rented some snorkelling gear wihle Pat enjoyed a cigar and a book on the beach.

While the beach wasn't anything to get too excited about, the snorkelling was fantastic! We saw a sea turtle as soon as we stepped into the water. Every few meters we'd swim, we'd be greated by something new. Sometimes the water was deep, and sometimes the coral was just centimeters below us.

The fish must have known that they were no longer off the menu for me, because whenever I'd try to swim up to one, it would frantically swim away. I saw a few puffer fish (my absolute favourite...not to eat) but they were especially shy and would hide on the other side of coral from me. We swam all over the place, out deep, in close to the shore, and everywhere in between. The best spot was near this big breaker by shore where the water was particularly rough. There was lots of food being churned up by the waves, and therefore lots of snacking fishies.

We really only spent about an hour in the water, but it was enough time for us to have seen heaps of fish and have really enjoyed ourselves. By the end our masks were starting to bug us and we were both coming up to dump water out more and more frequently, so it was time to go. We returned our gear and headed back to the resort to pick up the parents.

We got to the resort right on time, but the parents were nowhere to be found. Pat and Maya decided to go wander around a bit, and I stayed with the van in case they suddenly emerged. Nope. Eventually we found them, talking away with the sales team. "Uh oh... They're buying something!" Sure enough, they'd signed up for a time share. Us kids weren't sold on the decision until we got shown one of the units and had the system explained to us. Instead of having a particular time share in one place, they have access to time shares all over the world. And, we can book them and pay cash at a discounted rate instead of using their points. Hello awesome! I plan to take full advantage of this the minute I'm no longer a starving student (and possibly sooner).

All the while, John was back at the condo, watching football and nursing his sliced up foot. When we got back to the condo I realized that at some point I had sustained a gash to the underside of my foot as well. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as John's, but it did mean that I would be joining him on the sidelines for that afternoon's trip to Mauna Kea Beach.

Mauna Kea Beach was beautiful, and seriously not rocky. It's located within a private resort, and there is only a small public parking lot, which means it's not overly crowded, but if the parking lot's full, your SOL. We came later in the afternoon when people were leaving. The water looked so great that I was regretting not just bringing my surf shoes. Fortunately, we came back here later and I was able to enjoy the water.

I'm not sure why exactly, but after the beach we decided to continue driving north to check out a little town whose name I have completely forgotten. It was in the hills, so everything was this incredibly lush green. And they had an organic grocery store, where I picked up some Aloha baked tofu (which was not as good as I'd hoped) and vegan ginger cookies (which were amazing). Pat proved for not the last time this trip that he'll eat anything, paying over $5 for a bag of sea vegetable chips.

When we finally returned home, we decided to give the parents a break and cook dinner. John headed to the BBQ with our Costco bag of Mahi Mahi and a pineapple. Maya and I made some vegetables and rice, and Pat took off to have a shower, returning just in time to set the table. It was a delicious meal and we hardly had any leftovers at the end of it. After dinner we hit up the Queen's shopping complex where I picked up a hat and a rash vest, thereby saving myself from getting a sunburn during subsequent ocean activites, which was another goal I had for this trip.

Next time, the Luau!

Welcome To The Big Island

I had three goals on this vacation: 1) Not to put on any weight, 2) Not to over spend, and 3) To have a really great time. I certainly managed to have a much better time than I had ever hoped for! And I didn't over spend either. In fact, I didn't spend much at all, nor did I buy anything that I really don't need. I started off really well with the not putting on weight goal. On our second day I again went to the pool and swam laps before we headed out to Kona. But that was the last of me hitting the pool for exercise purposes. Our trip was quite physical, so I figured I'd be fine. But... at some point I declared ice cream as a calorie neutral food and allowed myself full indulgence.

I shouldn't be surprised. Ice cream is possibly the thing I miss most about North America. So I put on a bit of weight. For the record, I have no regrets.

On our second day, we headed in to Kona to do a bit of exploring and to also figure out what sort of activities we would like to do on this trip (basically, all of them). Enter Jill. Jill informed us of all the best tour companies to go with (I don't know if they are the best, but they were all very, very good) and how we could get a discount on all of them if we had a Diamond Card. How does one get a Diamond Card? One goes on a tour of a resort and listens to a sales pitch. After much hemming and hawing and showing of the discounted prices, the parents agreed to go on a tour the following morning.

As all this logistical stuff was taking a lot of time and no final decisions were going to be made on activities, it was quite boring and soon the four of us started wandering off through the little shopping village we found ourselves in. I emerged with a rather awesome t-shirt and new sunnies, miracle sunnies, but I'll get to that later. And we discovered some strange fruit. Strange fruit that bounced when the boys threw it on the ground trying to crack it open.

Once the parents had finally finished making their arrangements with Jill, we gathered the troops and headed out for lunch. This was my first time ordering fish at a restaurant (if we don't count Korea, which we won't). I had spearfish, Cajun style. It was delicious! Tasted just like chicken. And yet, the thought of eating chicken still makes me gag.

After lunch it was time to gather up supplies. I was worried that we'd be eating out at restaurants all the time on this trip, but our condo had a fully functioning kitchen, so we only ate out when we actually were out. Feeding a family of six takes a lot of food, especially when that family includes a 16 year old football player! A trip to Costco was in order. Actually, multiple trips to Costco were in order.

Once we had unloaded our groceries back at the condo, we decided to head out to the beach nearest our hotel.

Later in the trip my Dad would claim that this beach was a black sand beach, so there wasn't really any need for us kids to pester him into driving to some unknown destination with sketchy directions from a local to see a black sand beach. Everyone's glad he didn't win that argument.

The Big Island has all sorts of different kinds of beaches, but they tend to be pretty rocky. This makes them good for spotting ocean life, and not so good for bare feet. Of course, we found this out the hard way. Now, no one can claim that my baby brother John is not committed. This is a man who follows through! Off he went into the water, excited for his first ocean swim. Being under the impression that he was clear of rocks, he started to kick, and... smashed his foot right into a jagged rock.

And that was the end of John's ocean adventure, for a few days anyways. As he was gushing blood, Dad had to take him back to the condo, and then get some supplies to bandage and clean his foot, leaving the rest of us to enjoy the water as the sun set and the moon rose. This beach was cool though, because it was a favourite of sea turtles. They were mostly basking on the far edge of the beach, but every now and then you'd see one swimming in the water on the main edge. In fact, while Maya, Pat and I were goofing off in the ocean, one swam right through us!

Eventually Dad came back for us (the beach being a good 5 minute drive from the condo) and we returned to a sulky John who was positioned in front of the TV, watching college football (for the rest of the trip). The parents had an early morning tour of that resort the next day. John opted to stay home on account of his foot, but Pat, Maya and I decided to get up early and drop the parents at the resort so we could check out a nearby beach that was meant to be great for snorkelling. More on that next time!

New Year, New Energy

Happy New Year everyone! I'm sure I'm not the only one glad to see the back of 2010. I feel like my life force really got depleated last year, though the draining started earlier. But now, after an amazing vacation in Hawaii, I am feeling rested, recharged, and ready to take on whatever 2011 throws my way.

This trip was, by far, the best vacation I have ever had! We were all a bit anxious about how the trip would go; 10 days on an island with the family, it could have been a disaster. But we're all old enough and independent enough that we didn't need to be in each other's hair. If someone didn't feel like coming along to an activity, they didn't have to. The condo was big enough that if any of us needed some space, we could get it. But by the end of the trip, us four kids were all cuddled up in the parents bed together just happy to be spending time together.

The end of the trip came too soon - none of us were sick of each other yet. Because my flight back to Australia left early in the morning from Honolulu, I had to fly out of Kona the night before everyone else. It was really sad to have to say goodbye to everyone, not knowing when we'll see each other again. I haven't been particularly motivated to come back to Canada, but given how much I enjoyed spending time with my family (or this one branch of my family), I don't want to leave too big of a gap before spending time with them again. I've got the most incredible siblings ever, and seeing everyone growing up and becoming their own unique person is just the greatest thing.

I'll post some more detailed updates about all the different things we did - and holy crap did we ever do a lot! - but for now, let me start at the beginning.

I left Melbourne Boxing Day morning and flew to Sydney, where I had enough time to head into the city and see Sydney Harbour. So now I can say that I've kind of been to Sydney. I didn't really have enough time to do a lot, so after climbing up to the Opera House I wandered off in the opposite direction of where I meant to go, eventually turned myself around, and had lunch at the Contemporary Art Museum.

Then it was back to the airport, back on the plane, and 10 hours to Honolulu. When I arrived in Honolulu early Boxing Day morning, it was pouring down rain and my heart sank. I had a few hours until my next flight, which I used to nap. When I woke up, the sun had come out, though it still didn't look very promising. I grabbed a coffee and some pineapple slices at Starbucks (it being the only coffee vendor available) and headed on to Kona.

I was seated at the very back of the plane, with no hope of looking out a window, so I had no idea what I was flying in to. So it was a pretty big surprise when I got off the plane and it was hot and sunny and clear! Turns out the storms that were hitting the other islands weren't reaching the Big Island. I got in to Kona 8 minutes after leaving Melbourne, and several hours before the rest of the gang arrived. (Melbourne is 21 hours ahead of Hawaii, or, in more practical terms, Hawaii is 3 hours ahead but a day behind.) I took a taxi from the airport to the Waikaloa Colony Villas, got myself checked in and semi-settled, and headed to the pool, convinently located directly behind our condo. After a nice big swim and a warm shower, I curled up on the couch to have a nap. And as soon as I dozed off, the rest of the crew arrived.

There was much hugging and luggage and logistical coordination. Maya and I opted to share a bed so the boys could each have their own. The only down side to this was that she had a cold...and after 9 nights of being coughed on, I have a cold. In all fairness, the boys both had colds too, and Maya smells a lot better than they do so I'm happy to take the cold. After everyone got settled they headed out to the pool, while I scrounged for food, having only eatten pretzels and pineapples all day. In the evening we headed over to a nearby shopping centre for pizza.

As I missed Christmas, that evening I had presents to open. By far the best of the presents was from my Dad, who, being an avid reader of my blog and a fan of practical jokes, gave me mismatched socks. One had hearts, one had bees. He swears this pattern combination was not an intentional extra dig at my phobia of bees. Pat brought out this rather amusing game I bought 10 years ago called Zobmondo, which involves choosing between bizarre scenarios. For the rest of the trip pretty much any down time we spent in the lounge room was spent playing Zobmondo.

Everyone was pretty exhausted from a long day of travelling, and that first night I slept like a log! The next day we planned to take it easy: do some exploring in Kona, then relax on the beach nearest our condo. Little did we know how XTREME 2 DA MAX our trip was about to become! More on that later.