Hot hot hot

Hello all, we're very very warm. We've done lots this week. We went to try and snorkel at Captain Cook - one of the best spots on the big island - but the current was very strong, so we had trouble even trying to get to the best place. (Aside from the difficulties of getting in and out of the water!) We've also visited the top of the Waipio valley - a sacred place with crazy huge cliffs leading to a flat valley a mile across, ending in a black sand beach. We also went and visited Akaka waterfall - very big and splashy. 442 feet tall, and there's a fish that climbs it! (It uses suckers on wet rocks adjacent, apparently.) Yesterday we went to the Volcanoes National Park and visited the caldera of Kilauea - which has been erupting since the early 1980s! Huuuuuge crater and lots of sulphur dioxide being spewed out. And the world's most hilarious tour guide. She had cowboy boots on, a hawaiian shirt with pictures of tourbuses on it, and a rather loud way of telling people to "say Alo-HA!" when posing for photographs. Crackers.
We drove across to Hilo on the other side of the island earlier in the week, and didn't do a whole lot when we got there! It was rainy on that side of the island, and as we drove across the middle of the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, the landscape changes hugely. On our way back we stopped in at super-posh Waikoloa village - where you'll find Hilton and Marriott and Sheraton hotels, and Louis Vuitton and Tiffany at the local shops! And many, many golf courses. Funny thing about it is that it is completely false, as it is right on top of a huge lava flow, so surrounded by bare rock, and is incredibly windy! We definitely are in the right place. We did stop for a very nice sunset in a scenic viewing spot just before we got back - very nice. The most amazing thing we've done though, is go to the cinema! Neither of us has been to one in over 8 months!
Ok, the spotted list continues:
Turtles
Dolphins
Zebra
Donkeys
Goats
Chickens
Turkey
Many many fishes

Hawaii 5 0

Beachboy

Oldest church on Hawaii

Helllllllo tropical

The hire car and the chauffeuse

Testing the new gear

FISH!

Just some holidaymakers

By the temple bay

Spot the TURTLE!

The bay at the state park

Petroglyphs at the temple

Lava tidepools

Canoooooe

Sploosher

Even the barriers are carved here

Gecko

Jealous yet?

Aloha hidden underwater

Reef

Fishies

Mongooses / Mongeeses!

Big White to Vancouver to Whistler-Blackcomb

Kelowna - the start of the road trip (just after we reinsured the car)

Too much redbull make Adam go crazy for snowboarding

Just by chance, the glass-bottomed gondola on the peak to peak ride between Whistler and Blackcomb

See that stripe? That's the gondola route!

Adam and our pals at the top of Whistler, near an Inukshuk

Olympic rings!

On the aquabus in Vancouver

Testing the Granville Island brewery drinks

Commemorative coin for 100 years of Parks Canada

HAIRCUT REQUIRED - STAT!

Dr Sun Yat Sen garden - less sunny this time, and where are the terrapins?

Vancouver weather in a nutshell

HEATWAVE! This is my island in the sun oi oi!

Title of blog post courtesy of the Muppet Christmas Carol movie! We are LOVING the heat, here in Kailua Bay on the west coast of the big island of HAWAII! (Nernernernerner). We have aloha'd and mahalo'd a few people now, seen plumeria, hibiscus, bourgainvillea, tropical fish, petroglyphs, safeway, walmart, driven our snazzy ride - a nissan altia (?), and now we're quite tired as we're three hours ahead of everyone else here. (Loads and loads of Americans in their hawaiian style shirts. We even had company at breakfast, with a ferret/mongoose, a cat and loads of birds. (And I've seen a lizard, distantly.)
My favourite bit of tourist tat has to be this: http://www.abcstores.com/prodimg/OBAMA.UKULELE.JPG
A bobblehead Barack Obama playing a ukulele!
Plan for tomorrow is to drive out and find one of the better snorkeling sites - easier now that we ahve invested in a waterproof bag to store the hire car and hotel keys in! Wht a way to treat ourselves after a sometimes difficult winter. We're really looking forward to seeing everyone at home, and it is all I can do to refrain from getting bagloads of hawaiian printed clothing for absolutely everyone I know! (There will be a few purchases, but not just yet!)
Aloha, friends!
By the way, Adam got his hair cut by Hawaii's most bizarre lady today. Absolutely and completely crackers. Zodiac signs, the aging process and Jesus as a capricorn were discussed. Bizarre.
Aloha again! (Photos later.)

Raindrops

Well, after last minute rearrangement and mechanic-fixing, we made it back from Big White to Vancouver on Monday. We stayed with our friend Emma - lots of people in a little apartment! Tuesday we headed up to Whistler. WOW. HUGE. MA-HOO-SIVE. Terrible snow at this point in the season though. We spent most of our time on the lifts (many many lifts - one of which had a rubber ducky party - too cold to take a picture!) We went on the peak to peak gondola - the one with the glass bottom - totally by happy accident! Apparently you can see bears from it during the summer, as the valley it crosses is out of bounds, so they are abundant there. Long drive later, we headed to North Vancouver and our old stamping grounds. Nice quiet morning on Wednesday, then tax returns done and printed in the soggy afternoon. Today we headed back downtown, dropping off yet more of our stuff with our friend, so it is ready for when we come back from Hawaii. We saw the Dr Sun Yat Sen garden again (and the nearby iffy streets) and went on an aquabus (not really worth the money, but fun nonetheless) and stopped by Granville Island. We definitely had a case of 'Vancouver foot'. (A dreadful condition gained through days spent trudging along city streets!) We are now resting up at our North Van residence in readiness for our trip out tomorrow. It will be a long day, but we're really looking forward to our holiday! Snorkels are packed, cameras are ready to go and we're definitely ready for two weeks of relaxation on a tropical island.
We do have some photos to add, but we're on a super slow connection, so we'll add them at a later date, along with some Hawaii pics, hopefully!
By the way, do NOT give Adam energy drinks while he is confined to the passenger seat of the car. He WILL be irritating! (No red bull allowed on the flights tomorrow!)
Over and out, D n A.

Our last week at Big White

Well, Easter weekend treated us well with a visit from a Vancouver friend resulting in sore heads, a snow cave, snowboarding, tubing and cross-country skiing. Oh, and a few silly snaps involving the giant chair in the village. And some prancing about in mascot outfits! And a little bit of chocolate too. Cadbury's dairy milk buttons - yum!
The weather has improved in the sense of being really quite sunny. There are rivers of snowmelt every afternoon, and the snow is a bit slushy. Maybe we'll have one more big dump before we depart on Monday! Our plans for the weeks after we finish here and before we come home are starting and ending in Vancouver again, with a two week trip to the Big Island of Hawaii! Volcanoes, snorkelling and luaus and leis are on the agenda!
We're starting to daydream about the comforts of home... fish n chips on a friday, Milan's samosas and Brummie curry, the prices at tesco, cheaper plonk, being close to other places, not having to wear waterproof shoes, available cars to drive, and a change of scenery. (And those other comforts of friends and family in close vicinity!)
Well, here's the bit you all come for...

Adam and Laura as Boomer and Moose go for a ride

One of the weirder culinary delights here - gunbarrel coffee

Daisy as partial Moose

Adam as Boomer

Even Moose do ballet!

A n D as Boomer and Loose Moose

The mascots and their weekend handler!

Emma n Adam

Emma as Loose Moose checking out Marie Claire

Construction of the snow cave begins

The cave that became a hole

Just Catalogue Man, out for a walk

Weather is still confused

Snow, sun, fog, wind, we've had it all. Yesterday, Adam went out for the 'Employee of the month' party in Kelowna - many pats on the back to him - very well deserved. We went out for a bit of a play in the Gem Lake area of the mountain today - had it mostly to ourselves. Adam and I both on skis.

Ski bums

Top of the t-bar lift

Most amount of skiers we saw all day

Empty slope, fluffy snow, sunny afternoon

A few days ago, Adam snowboarded down a super-scary bit of slope called the cliff, down towards the (out of bounds) east peak, to get knee-deep fresh tracks in the powder. After this triumph, he took me up to see the route he'd taken - yikes! Braver than me for sure.

Looking down towards east peak

Bottom of the cliff