Farewell Canada, Hello UK

Now that our Canadian adventure has ended (although there's still two months on our visas!) please tootle on over to my new blog  www.ukappreciation.blogspot.co.uk. I'm aiming for it to be an appreciation of being at home in the UK. My Big White staff badge said my name, and that I was from 'Birmingham, England'. I was always tempted to say that I was from the UK - it just seems more natural, as I am a UK, ok, British, citizen. All a bit complicated. Anyway, I just fancied writing some stuff about being at home, as I quite like it, really. 

So - new blog here: CLICK.

Some photos of Hawaii? Ok then!

Akaka Falls 300ft approx

Sacred Waipio Valley (a bit misty)

Sunset between Kona and Waikoloa

Crater rim path at Kilauea

Kilauea crater - smoking since the 80s

Kilauea crater - it's quite big

Plumeria flower

Paddleboarder extraordinaire 

He saw dolphins at this point

Surfer dude

The park at Kona's old airport

Plumeria tree at the old airport park

More plants at the park - overrun with mongoose by the way

And stray cats

Nature's curious at times, isn't it?

Lovely beach

Adam as King Canute

Speed-knitting on the beach

A lovely spot for sunset

Nobody at all

Showing off

Almost three weeks home

Hello all,
Yes, we made it back. Adam has been super busy flitting around the west midlands like a super-sparky. Work done for a commercial refurbishment company, and for a residential electrical installation company. What a champ. I've had a few interviews (shows that my application-writing has improved!) but no hire yet. We are very much enjoying being at home, catching up with people, and slipping back into UK life. We have been to tesco, maison mayci, enjoyed samosas, and enjoyed a few cheap plonk nights out. I had a deeply satisfying birthday (not) with a job interview and an appointment at the benefits office! Puh! We made up for it with lots and lots of cake.
At some point soon, I will put some more Hawaii photos on here. You may well be waiting until the summer though! While I have your attention, give www.tractiontraining.co.uk a look. This is Adam's parents' new business, providing various training and leisure activities.

• First Aid at Work qualifications? Yup. 
• Accredited Residential Visit courses? Yup. 
• Catering, camping and fieldcraft? Yup. 
• Knotwork, knife-making and rag-rugging? Yup. 

The best bit? They operate from their canal boat! Give www.tractiontraining.co.uk a look.

Almost there!

Just thought I'd pop by to let you know that we continued to have a great time in Hawaii. We'll add more photos in a few days. We made it back to Vancouver after two sleepless 'red-eye' flights, and have now bid the place (and some of it's people) a very fond farewell. Just an hour left to go before our taxi arrives to take us to the airport, for the trip back to the UK!
We've had an absolutely brilliant time here, and I feel quite sad to be going. It is a lot of effort to get here after all! However, we're really looking forward to being back in the UK. Family, friends and more daft little things than you can imagine. (Tesco, samosas, good electrics, better plumbing, maison mayci and other such things...)
Well, I'll be off for the moment, but will be back for more updates going back to our Hawaii time. See you in eight hours time travel!

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