1 Adventure on Maui Haiku

Today is Sunday and we came on the ship yesterday. We are really being lazy.
After boarding the ship we started wandering around the ship. We came upon a group of people just leaving a room and we jumped into the group to take the restaurant tour and we were glad we did. Later in the day we went aback ...

Auf maui erwies sich das automieten als spielend leicht und supergünstig. Wir bezahlten gerademal 30 franken pro tag mit unbegrenzten kilometern. Wir fuhren von der autovermietung auf direktem weg zur 'strasse nach hana', meines erachtens die schönste strasse die ich je gesehen habe. Dieser abschnitt stellt sowohl den highway no 1 von kalifornien wie auch die
gemäss franklin d roosevelt malerischtens 50 meilen im osten des yellowstone ...

... the first plan, to the time we sat down in the seat for the next plane was a speed shattering 21 minutes. So much for the 75 minute connection time window. Now only if our bags made the transition as well as we did...?

Once we arrived in Kahului, Maui airport, we headed to baggage claim. Unfortunately we were not able to claim our bags, because our bags didn't make our flight. As we waited for what seemed to be a forever our bags finally arrived ...

At one point on my travels, I thought about heading to Hawai'l from the Pacific region, then going up to Alaska. I could hang out and get to know these exotic locales without having to worry about visas, and if I needed to, I could work and make some moola. However, that idea got nixed when airfare from Australia to da islands in the spring was not affordable. Instead, I headed north to Bangkok and then on to London, spending the summer in the UK, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe ...

... the Hawaiian Islands. This makes our trips that much better, being able to share the flavors and sights of Maui! Our favorite area of the island is Kapalua. This wonderful resort has an abundance of things to do like; golfing, shopping, dining, beaches, tennis and much more. It is beautiful and well worth the flight.

... go go life style. But with tea, we were served in very small portions, of multiple portions, each with fantastic conversation, culture, creativity, and inspiration. Hard to really explain just how fantastic of a time Matthew and I had, but if you have ever had the fortune of spending a moment with both, Wenying and Andrew, you could easily understand how inspiring, touching, and pure, soulfull fun they pour... and not only in a cup of tea. :)

ALOHA! and so we cross from Canada into the USof A by walking 100m through Vancouver Airport. Yes - we knew it was close, but not that close. And after some particularly challenging questions from the extremely cheerful and friendly immigration service official / bouncer, which Giles nearly failed (again), we managed to get into this particularly exclusive club. (sorry Beth - the immigration questions do my head in) 3 hours later, we reached LAX - with much singing of Rachel ...

... so many many wonderful and amazing experiences that I could go on and on forever - suffice to say that I will be back - God willing and the finances lasting! A few favourites: Franz Joeseph and Fox Glaciers The trip to Doubtful Sound The Lakes - Manapouri - Wanaka - Taupo Huka Falls Akaroa - Queenstown - Wellington The Bay of Islands Piha and surrounding area These are just a few - there are many more..... Good bye from NZ and Aloha....

... oh, the hardship!). Not much to report - the only time we left Waikiki was to take a nature trip around the island. As is often the case with these things, nature wasn't really playing ball that day - the blowhole didn't blow, the birds didn't appear etc... - but it was nice to get out of the urban areas and see some of the stunning coastline and more mountainous regions of the island (and we saw some of the places where Magnum PI was filmed - very ...

... my favorite place in Hawaii, so relaxing. The ocean was cascading down, across the black rock lava formations and the black sand beach. The white foam crests, beautiful blue waves, black lava, and greenery provided a colorful contrast, almost unimaginable. Purely incredible is all I can say.