A very brief catch up.

Ok, so we may have let the Blog slip a little bit. I guess that is what happens when people come to visit&you get caught up trying 2fit as much as possible in.
In the past month (It sounds long but compaired to the US writers strike that effected a number of your fav tv shows two years ago...my strike was somewhat shorter)...anyway.
In the past month we have managed to do an aweful lot. 11more people flew out 2join us&we played a big frisbee tourney called Kaimana. It was v.fast paced&sadly the pastey white boys...&gal admitted defeat........2the weather anyway. Man was it hot...tho...i don't believe any1 got burnt. Well done team!
We also won an award 4being the most Spirited team (Fairminded&Sportsmanly...is that a word...it is now). It may sound a little naff to those who don't play Ultimate but its a huge part of the game&a real honour...esp in Hawai'i.
Anyway...we moved on to Maui after that and took a very quick tour around the island before moving on to Hilo on the Big Island for yet more Ultimate. I shall skip on as the only people reading this who are interested in ultimate where there...or are bored to death after hearing it from someone who was.
So we start back on the monday after the tourney...
The rent-a-car company had offered 2rent us jeeps 4minimal upgrade cost (brand new wrangler jeeps...sub 200miles on the clock) but they had informed us in no uncertain terms that there were parts of the island you could not take them. (the only parts of the island you need a 4x4 to visit).
At this point, i would like to note that rental companies are idiots. Why would a group of guys...&girl (sorry Lou)...who are travelling on a budget agree 2pay more money for a 4x4, with worse fuel consumption than a regular car, if they wer only planning on driving to locations regular cars can go.
Thus my conclusions...idiots. And wer wern't going on 4x4 roads with regular cars...again.
With this in mind we set off...to the top of Mauna Kea :-p We had to wait for an hour at basecamp (9000ft) to acclamate. Bags of chrisps were either burst or sevearly swollen.
Some people handled the altitude better than others. The most common symptom was nausia&a strange dizzyness.
In tough conditions like this you have to keep an eye out for your travelling buddies...and mess with them when possible.
Marco was taking it a little worse than the rest of us so when he eventually returned from the visitor centre we had a wee chat...and whilst talking, slowely, one by one started 2walk until we wer all spinning round him. Sadly this had the opposite effect than we where hoping for. It induced laughter in him&increased dizzyness in us. Altitude effects different people in different ways. Turns out it brings out my immaturity :-p
After a few overheating engines due to lack of oxygen in the air (they shouldn't allow rental cars on this road...haha) we reached the top. The view of the obsevatories,13000ft up...above the blanket of clouds. Scenery was more breathtaking than the lack of oxygen. We wil put up a few photos but yet again neither words nor photos could ever do justice to the experience of watching the sun set from this location. The only land visible was Mauna Loa&the top of Haleakala Crater (Maui).
For our last few days with the guys we hit a few more cool locations...hot springs complete with fish that actually bite you...Volcano National Park with bizzare Pagan ceramonies deap underground in lava tubes (we didn't partake...we stumbled across it, 30people, lit only by candlelight who appeared out of the park as we turned a corner of this underground tunnel...pretty scary)...black&green sand beaches...and lots more. Sadly when we reached Kona is was time for the guys to leave so we said our goodbyes&booked into a hotel (you need it after 5weeks of camping). This was fairly fortunate as we were awoke just after midnight with the word that there had been a massive earthquake in Chile&there may be a series of Tsunami on their way across the Pacific. 45mins later this was upgraded from 'may be' to 'definatly' which is always good to hear when you are sleeping less than 50m from the sea in a Tsunami Evacuation Area. We were told that it wouldnt hit for hours&we should get some sleep as the evac alarms would sound a 6am....and that they did. I will be v.happy never to hear that sound again. It sounded on the hour...every hour... up to the arrival. We wer collected by bus around 9am&taken to higher ground. We could only bring 1small bag with us so there rest of our gear had been moved to a higher floor of our hotel.
We waited...and waited...and watched...and waited. The waters rose&dropped by a foot or two repeatedly but that was it. Hawaiis first statewide Tsunami warning had been for 2ft (3ft in Hilo). Better safe than sorry i guess.
Since that excitement we have been back in the water! Swimming with Green Sea Turtles, Puffer fish, Manta Rays...you know...the usual.
We hav just made our way back over to Hilo.
Plans for today is a hair cut and read my book in the Park. A day away from Tsunami&Lava Flows&minor earthquakes would be nice..tho in Hawai'i there are no guarentees. Haha.
Stil having a great time in Paradise, miss you all&look forward to seeing every1 again...it a little while. Not quite ready for home yet! Haha.

A few pics of our travels so far...

This is a photo of our friends Jonathan & Deboragh at Hanalei Bay Campsite.



This photo is a photo of me on the Kalalau Trail. The view along the Na Pali Coast was almost as breathtaking as the path. Pun intended!



The sunset along the Na Pali Coast.



This is dave admiring the view!!!



This is me snorkelling at Anini.


Finally, here is a shot of our lovely Friends,

Bob, Judy, Chuck & Dorothy

On our way South.

Hey again,
Sorry that we have been out of touch for so long but alas internet doesn't grow on trees out here. Though wifi does appear to grow in shopping centers :-)
(Jeramie you would love it, great coffee&free wifi)
Since our last post we have done so much. After escaping the Trail of death we enjoyed a well earned night in a hotel...trash tv&outdoor jacuzzi. Perfect. Unfortunatly a bit of a storm kicked up for our return to tent city&the entire North Shore was a washout. So after we met up with Bob, Judy, Chuck&Dorothy (sorry 4the spelling) to 'Talk Story' (Hawaiian catch up after a period of absence) they decided that there was no way they were going to let us camp so took us back 2their beautiful house in Princeville for the night. We had a great nite, great food and most of all great hospitality. B,J,C&D (i am sure you will be reading this) Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the astonishing levels of kindness you have shown us! We hope we can repay you somewhere down the line!
After an almost tearful goodbye...man i am terrible at goodbyes...we got dropped down to Anini Beach (one of the beaches used in South Pacific). Though, it would appear that most beaches here have featured in some Hollywood Movie.
Anini was beautiful with some good snorkelling but it took us a few days 2find spots that you were actually swimming in rather than crawling over the coral. (most parts were less than 2m deep).
After a few more days we moved on to Anahola which is a beautiful beach that doubles up as a wind tunnel. After one day away we returned 2find the tent cowering in a little crumpled pile as our poles had broken in 3places (Naturally the tent only comes with 2spares).
After a quick fix (dropping the porch&using the spare poles) we settled in for the nite. After an hr or so i had that leg tickle every1 gets when camping out in a sleeping bag. I gave it a quick brush but this didn't stop the tickling sensation. I decided that it was just the hairs of my leg escaping the aftersun gel so i lay back relaxed that i had solved the mystery until...i got the horrible realisation...i didn't put aftersun on my legs. I pulled back my sleeping bag 2reveal a Hawaiian Centiped crawling up my leg...these r poisonous (naturally...and come under the same warnings as scorpions&black widow spiders). I shreeked like a little girl&flicked it off me. I felt better...it landed by dave...he then began 2shreek like a little girl. We then conducted a civil conversation to determine how best 2get the local wildlife out of the tent.
Now, i can't remember specifics of the conversation, or the exact selection of words used but both of our vocabularies had been sevearly stunted in the incident! We got around the lack of words by repeating a few more than once...so much so that i had to apologise to the young family camped next to us the following morning (thankfully the noise of the wind had stopped us from corrupting their daughter)
We eventually got it out...still fighting...to the death. It was close but the two big girls brandishing oversized dive knives won this time. We returned to the tent content in the knowledge we were both complete sissies!
Each nite since we hav conducted a tent clensing exercise.
Thankfully the local town of Kapa'a, just south of the campsite made the whole experience totally worthwhile. Great wee (small-for our american friends) shops, lovely people&our favourite 'Happy Hour' on the island. (Hawaiian Guiness...not ideal...stick with local beers)
We took a boat cruise up the Wailua River&saw the spot Harrison Fort runs away from the locals at the start of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and Dave even got to do the Hooky Lau Shuffle (its been a while since i laughed so hard). Don't worry...i have the video so you too can share the magic!
We returned to find our tent in one piece&insect free.
That was last nite! We have since packed up camp, at got as far south as Lihue (Lee-who-A) for lunch and now we are heading for salt ponds which will be our home for the next 5days or so.
Chris is joining the excitement that is the Dave&Adam Hawaiian adventure as of 10am tomorrow morning.
I guess all that is left for now is to assure you all that we are both in good health, definately in better shape than we left, and having a great time.
Aloha,
Adam&Dave

Kalalau Trail - Na Pali Coast

Sorry for the lack of posting but a day or so after arriving Dave and I decided that it would be a good idea to take the Kalalau Trip to Kalalau Beach.
We thought...I fancy a nice relaxed 11mile dander to a quite remote beach. Perfect...
...or so it sounded on Paper. In reality it was the hardest 11miles either of us have ever walked. It was 11miles of a path that was less than a foot wide, that went up and down, and up and down...did I mention that it went up and down???? It was honestly horrific. The drop off the side of the path where huge but the scenery was incredible. Unfortunately we cannot upload any pics just yet as we have left some of our technology with Bob and Judy, our lovely retiree friends who have really taken us under their wing.
The generosity of people out here is staggering and we could have never made it along the tail with all our stuff had Bob and Judy not offer to look after our gear. Beautiful people.
Anyway, the weather was horrific at the beach and the porch of our tent blew down. This was at 4:30am and when we got out to fix the porch we soon discovered that the only thing holding the tent down was our body weight....so once we got out the tent took off. We decided to hike the entire 11miles in one day (normally a two day hike) just to get away.
Needless to say we are pleased to be back in civilization and we are heading to get a hotel in Kapa'a tonight. (East Coast of Kauai)
Time to go now as Dave is getting Bored and taking a minor Huff.

Lots of Love,

Adam

We have arrived!

Hey All,

After being awake for some stupid numbers of hours, most of which where spent on a plane...we have now arrived.

The temp on arrival was a chilly 22degrees but don't feel sorry for us just yet. This morning it it back to a more civilized 27 :-)

It is a huge shock to the system to have local people great you whilst you walk down the street.

Already, it is fair to say that we love it.

Much love,

Adam and Dave