globe roam

Today was another lazy day....not!

I woke up at 7am again. I sat around doing some of my puzzle book and ended up waking up Amanda while getting changed into my bathing suit. After breakfast Amanda headed to the beach to get some colour while mom, dad, and I went to some of the nearby shops. I got a new bathing suit, cover-up, and sunglasses (amanda sure missed out!).

The three of us returned to the hotel and dad stayed in the room while mom, Amanda, and I went snorkelling. At first the area we were snorkelling seemed like a bust.. but on the way back to the hotel mom saw a sea turtle so Amanda and I rushed back into the water to swim with it (pictures to hopefully come soon -- they're on the underwater disposable camera).

A quick shower and change and all four of us were on our way to downtown Lahaina. We checked out a few more shops, watched the sun go down, and indulged in a few cheeseburgers at "cheeseburger in paradise".

Now we're packing up for our earliest start yet.. 5:30am bags and 6:00am leave! I'll try to update from Kuai (and add pictures) but I'm not sure if we will have internet so no promises.

Hope all is well with everyone back home.. and chase away that nasty cold weather for me!
See you thursday!

Today is/was the big day... today was my 22nd birthday! (in Hawaii!!)

We're still in Maui. Today we slept in -- I say slept in but I woke up at like 7am, waited until amanda was up at 7:30ish, and called over to mom and dad's room (waking them up) at 8ish.

We spent the day on the beach tanning and snorkelling. The corals and fish still aren't as nice as the great barrier reef (no surprise there) but I was able to see an octopus! Unfortunately we left the camera on the beach so I couldn't take a picture.

After our time on the beach we showered, changed, and met up with our tour group for our Hawaiian Luau. The luau was soooooooo cool. There was hula dancing, fire dancing, and food/drink galore! In fact, I didn't like my mai tai so I gave it to dad... apparently the drink was too strong because dad is currently passed out!

All in all, it was a GREAT birthday. Thanks to everyone who has sent birthday wishes!

Today we arrived on the island of Maui.

After a tour of Iao Needle (a mountain range) and downtown Lahaina, we were taken to our hotel. The rooms here are AMAZING! So luxurious. We walked along the beach for a bit then checked out some of the shops in the centre of the collection of restorts our hotel is a part of.

We had some great steaks at this restaurant called ?Leilani's?.

Anyways... tomorrow (weather permitting) we plan on sleeping in, going snorkelling, and otherwise relaxing on the beach (not a bad way to spend your 22nd birthday in hawaii eh?). To top it off we (as a tour group) are going to a traditional hawaiian luau!!

Can't wait to see how tomorrow plays out!
Night!

Well we made it to the big island.

Our plane arrived in Hilo and we boarded a bus for a tour of the island. The highlight of the tour was definitely the volcanoes (even if they were just steaming and not spewing lava).

We had some time to ourselves after the tour and then had another tour dinner (buffet). After dinner we went for a walk around Kona (where our hotel was) and even though Kona's on the "dry" side of the island we got caught in a little rain shower.

On our second day on the big island of hawaii we took a shuttle to a good snorkelling beach and had even better snorkelling than in oahu (there were even green sea turtles!). After a quick shower and change of clothes we hit the shops and ended up at 'Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.' for dinner (yum!).

Sadly this is our last day on the big island and tomorrow we have another early start as we head off to Maui.

Well.. we leave for the big island of Hawaii tomorrow.

Today we met up with the rest of our tour (there's one other family but the kids are still older than Amanda and I). We went on a city tour of downtown Honolulu and visited the Pearl Harbour Memorial.

We also had a big "welcome" dinner with the tour group. It's funny how certain people's personalities are coming out already. Dinner was in the "neptune" restaurant at our hotel and one wall was all aquarium. During dinner this one stingray kept swimming and hovering on the glass near one of the tables. It was sooooooo funny!

Anyways.. time to pack, we're leaving early tomorrow morning for hilo/kona, big island tomorrow.