Honolulu Oahu Hawaii

Here we are in Tropical Hawaii.  Most everyone you talk to these days has visited Hawaii and or is familiar with the city of Honolulu as it is the most visited place in all the Hawaiian Islands.   I have not been here and spent any amount of time in 30 plus years so to say it has changed would be an understatement.  Either that or due to the time that has passed I really can't remember much of the time spent here in the past.  For Kyle and Kaelyn though it was brand new.  In all honesty if it were just me I would have gone to one of the other islands and avoided Honolulu all together.  Very busy but not as busy as Sydney.
We had a late night flight out of Nadi Fiji and managed to get a little sleep on the plane as it was the first flight in the entire trip that wasn't full.  When we got to the hotel we had to find something to do for a few hours as the room was not ready yet and check in time was in the afternoon.  Although tired we walked around to check out the shops, beach, and restaurants for something to eat.  Once we got into the room all of us crashed other then Betty who went shopping.  Me I was done like dinner I slept until late afternoon and then we went out for late night dinner.
Monday we went to Diamond head and hiked along the road into the caldron but discovered that the hiking trail was closed for repairs so we couldn't get up to the edge to take photos of Waikiki.  After that we went to the beach and swam for an hour or so.  No Betty didn't go in the ocean even though she was sporting new swim wear!  The kids and I rented some wave boards but the beach area we were on had a lot of rocks under the surface which made the wave riding a little sketchy.  Both Betty and I remarked that it seems the beach has changed significantly.  There are several man made break waters put up that I don't remember being here before and the area of the beach seems smaller.
Tuesday we did a tour of Pearl Harbour and saw the Arizona Memorial and went and toured the battleship Missouri.  For me the most interesting part of the day was the Missouri and the deck of the ship where the Surrender of Japan was signed in Tokyo Bay in Sept 1945.  To stand in that spot on the ship was humbling for me.  In a glass case 2 Unconditional Surrender documents signed that day (a copy for Japan and a copy for the United States were displayed).  Also little known fact a Colonel Lawrence COSGRAVE signed the Surrender documents in the wrong spot so they had to fix all the signatures that came after because he screwed it up!  This was Japan's copy.  Oh by the way this COSGRAVE guy signed for the Dominion of Canada.  Have another beer Eh!!
Tomorrow we are going to a Luau, then a boat cruise and snorkelling on Thursday.

A view from the north side of Diamond Head looking north.

White people trying to body surf.  Looks nice but nothing but rocks below the surface.

 USS Missouri with Kyle in front.  Those green things are some of the shells it fires from 16" guns on the rear and front decks up to 23 miles away. " God bless America and pass the ammunition"!!

Standing in one of the bridge decks looking out over the bow.  This thing is huge!!  Picture doesn't quite capture it but its almost 900' long and 108' wide.  One of the reasons it was used as the meeting place for the signing was that the allies wanted to intimidate the Japanese leaders so much to ensure they would not reneg.

The USS Arizona Memorial.  1,177 sailors entombed on the ship below.  A very somber place to visit.












Well here it is Thursday night we leave tomorrow to head back to LA then Vancouver.  We went to a Luau last night west of Honolulu on the beach.  It was good but I felt it came up short and was a little bit cheezie.  The problem is everything here is so Americanized that most traditional things seem and look like a Vegas side show.  Maybe that's just me.
 Tonight we went on a dinner cruise which was good lots of food and a good look at the shore line along Waikiki and beyond Diamond Head.   Typical holiday that came to an end quickly and now we are packing getting ready for an early flight home tomorrow.  The kids are ready to go home and frankly so am I.  It has been an awesome trip but now it's time to get back to reality and a routine.  If I were to do this all over again I would forgo most of the booked tours.  I say this because in some cases they were so busy it felt like we were being herded along and unable to look at things at our own pace.  I would definitely spend more time in Western Australia.  There is so much to do and see!  I would spend time on another island other then Oahu where it is less busy and less like main stream USA.
My only regret was that we missed Ningaloo reef and Coral Bay in WA and as a result we also missed going snorkeling here  due to recent rain fall that made the water murky so poor Kaelyn was disappointed that we didn't get to do this.  But she made up for her disappointment by shopping.   Betty has created a monster!  A few last pics and we're outta here..............

Sunset at the Luau.

A dark skinned lovely at the Luau.  Looks pretty good after a few drinks.........

She's not looking so hot the next day after the Mai Tai's wear off!!

 Honolulu from the cruise.












Here's a little something special for all that followed the blog.  Warning you may want to have young children and elderly with heart conditions leave the room.................

 

                                                                                                                                                                                 

Payback!!!!

Hey it's Kaelyn, and Dad made a huge mistake by that puppet comment. Just so everyone knows the koala was real and extremely soft and non smelly. The smelly one was dad with his fungus feet standing off in the corner blaming the koalas. Take that dad!!!!! since I have nothing against him with animals I do have a awesome picture of him trying to be funny. Hope you enjoy. THE KIDS RULE YEA!!!!!!! but seriously the koala was real my hand was not up it's butt and dad the WAR IS ON!!!!!

Christmas in Australia!!

We are in Sydney now and having a great time.  Before I go into detail I will back up a bit and cover our last few days in Busselton.  Christmas day came and went just like it does everywhere else in the world.  It was hot and sunny here with the usual gift opening taking place in the morning.  Glen and Nat made us all feel at home this day and we all sat around the Christmas tree opening presents.  Prior to that we had a light breakfast and then later in the day we went to the beach for a swim.  Yeah that's right swimming in the Indian Ocean.  When you have a look at the video we are the white people in the middle.  After the swim we went back to the house and everyone kind of veg'd out after then having the full blown breakfast.  I've never eaten so much in one day and it wasn't over yet.  We later headed to Nat's sisters place in a small town near Busselton and met some of Glen and Nat's extended family.  More and more food!!!  Hospitality beyond compare and another 10 lbs on my belly.  It was a great day.
The last couple of days in Busselton we spent hanging out in town and around the house.  We had to leave on the Monday to head back to Perth to get our flight out to Sydney and we went out for lunch at the Saracen Wineries by Margaret River.  It was a beautiful place with great food and company.  Like all holidays it was over to fast and it was time to say goodbye to Glen and family.  Despite not having seen each other in 30 years it was an emotional goodbye which surprised us both.  Now the Bird family will have to plan their trip to Canada!!

 Video at the Jetty in Busselton. Yes that's Betty jumping in the Ocean.  All around the Jetty there are nets to keep the stingers out (Jellyfish).  Betty thought the nets were for sharks and that they went down to the bottom.  You should have seen her swim for shore when she found out they only went down about 2'.   Sharks can get in no problem.  A tiger shark was spotted swimming around a couple of weeks prior to this video.

Pic outside Saracen's prior to our flight back to Sydney.

Sydney Down Under

The flight to Sydney was good very quiet and uneventful which is a good thing.  We got there early morning on the 28th and got to our hotel around 7AM.  Considering the time change and little sleep on the plane we all crashed for 4-5 hours and then got up around noon.  Now it was time to explore!!  The weather was a little cooler here then in the west but still very nice.  It was cloudy the first day and then after that nothing but blue sky.  We were a 5 minute walk to Darling Harbour and about 20 minutes to the Opera House and Circular Quay which is where the ferries go in and out of.  To sum this place up in one word SPECTACULAR!!  I will say this though if you come here bring money and don't count up your purchases or you will crap yourself until you get home.  Very pricey but worth it.
We got to the Opera House via Hyde Park and the Botanical Gardens and all I can say the Opera House was worth the trip by itself!!  To try and describe it would be pointless on paper so all I will say is if you ever come here make it a must.  We couldn't go inside but just to stand outside and take it all in was enough.
On day 2 we went on a bus tour of Sydney to the north shores of Manly to the famous Bondi  Beach in the south.  We also had a 2 hour lunch cruise on a huge yacht with tons of food and a tour all around Sidney Harbour.  Stunning!!
Day 3 we went again by bus out to the Blue Mountains and walked on the trails down to the valley floor via the steepest cable train cars.  Very cool.  On the way back we stopped at the Featherdale wild life park and got up close and personal with the Koala, Kangaroo, and Tasmanian Devil.  Did you know that the word Kangaroo in Aboriginal language means ”I don't understand“ . When the European's came to Australia they asked the Aborigines what the strange animals were.  They didn't understand and said "Kangaroo"  The European's thought that was the name of the animals!  Little bit of trivia.
Day 4 was New Year's eve.  Kaelyn and Betty went shopping , Kyle and I went to an IMAX movie and the Maritime museum.  The New Years show at the Opera House and Harbour were unbelievable and the people, holy F&%#@.  Almost 2 million around the waterfront!
New Years day we went to the TARONGA zoo across the harbour.  I've been to several zoo's and this had to be one of the best.  Another must do when here not just for the park itself but the views of the harbour are also excellent.
Sydney is amazing but it is extremely busy and expensive.  Makes Vancouver look cheap!!  Here are some pics. 

Pyrmont bridge over Darling Harbour.  Only open to foot traffic now to access both sides without having to walk around.

Botanical Gardens.

That's me, Kyle, and Kaelyn in front of one of the sails to give you an idea of the size of the place.

This is from the other side of the harbour.  The above picture is us in front of that little sail to the far right.  That should give you an idea how big this structure is.  All  I can say is awesome.

Cruising the harbour!!

World famous Bondi Beach!  Believe it or not this is a relatively average day. Not that busy according to the locals.  All I can say at the end of the day my neck was extremely sore!

The 3 sisters in the Blue Mountains about 2 hours west of Sidney.  The scenery is spectacular and a very cool area to explore but it was so busy it was hard to get the full scope of the place.  My suggestion would be to rent a car and go on your own and take your time.  Lots of cool little towns to stop in along the way.

Koala's are cute but they smell.  Betty and Kaelyn didn't mind though.  Actually its fake and Kaelyn has her hand up the rear of a puppet..............

New Years eve festivities!!

The zoo with the view.

Landing in Fiji on our way to Honolulu.  More to come from Hawaii.

Busselton and area (wine country)

 Here we are on December 24th the day before Christmas, oh and by the way Merry Christmas to everyone and hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year.   I'll back up a bit today and go back to the 20th when we drove down from Perth to Busselton in our new rental car!!  Yup same as the last one hopefully we won't have to leave it behind or Hertz will run out of cars for the holiday season.  So far so good.

 We got down to Busso around 1:30 PM and had no problems finding Glen and Nat's place.  The scenery south of Perth is dramatically different from the northern side.  Beautiful farmland and more rolling hills that stretch on and on.  The town of Busselton is right on the coast with beautiful beaches that boast white sand and summer fun all year long.  The town itself is about 15000 people and like most coastal tourist spots is becoming more and more popular as time goes on.  In fact as we discovered over the week the entire south west corner is filled with sun seekers and the area is truly a picture.  It's easy to see why people flock to the area in the summer.  Today it is 36c and a bit humid so the rain we have encountered earlier in our trip is becoming a distant memory.  Although for the Canucks from the north it is odd to be walking around in shorts and a T shirt doing Christmas shopping.  Christmas day it is suppose to be 38c!!  We are going to Nat's sisters where they have a pool so the day will be spent burning steaks swimming and drinking beer and wine.  Doesn't that just suck!!  Don't fret we will be thinking of everyone.......NOT.
 On Tuesday Nat was kind enough to take us on a tour of the area and we visited Cape Naturaliste  light house and went to a giant maze where Riley and Zali (Glen and Nat's) kids and us spent an hour testing our skills.  Great fun.  Kaelyn and Zali won the day beating the rest of us to our objectives 3 out of 4 times.
On Wednesday we struck out on our own and visited Smith beach where world class waves attract surfers from around the globe.  On this day though the waves weren't terribly large but the beach was pristine, and beaches like this are everywhere!
  We then went to Ngilgi (pronounced Nil Ge) caves along the coast and the four of us toured the cave for over an hour.  Anyone that comes to this area an absolute must see.  One of the most interesting caves I have ever seen and huge.  The pics don't do it justice.
 Thursday we drove inland a little bit and popped out along the southern coast to a town called Warpole where we went to the valley of the giants.  This is an area of old growth forest of Jarra and Tingle a type of Eucalyptus trees.  There we did a walk in the canopy about 130' off the ground  on a steel suspended walkway.  Very cool.  The area in some ways reminded me of driving in BC in the Provincial parks with the winding roads and huge trees.  Again the drive was filled with amazing scenery and rolling forests and farmland intermixed. 
That brings us to today where it is hot and the beer is cold.  This morning Kyle and Betty went back to the Ngilgi caves and did a 4 hour cave crawl to an ancient river bed, the crystal crawl.  Absolutely awesome!!  Kaelyn and I went shopping in Margaret River a small town south of Busselton which is Australia's version of Nelson instead here the hippies carry surf boards instead of back packs.  Very cool little town.  Oh and I should mention this area has more wineries then you can count.  Sue you would love it.  Enjoy the pics and Merry Christmas.  We will continue after the holidays.

Lots of Kangaroos here in Busso.  Like deer in BC they are considered a nuisance so they are dead on the side of the road all the time from being hit.  Kyle and I are still looking for our first Roo steak!  Yeah that's right I'm going to eat Kangaroo!!

This is the Jetty on the beach in Busselton.  2 KM long out into the water.  Currently it is under restoration so we can't walk out to the end.  Very cool gift shop in the blue buildings.

Cape Naturaliste light house the second most westerly point of Australia. 

The maze where we were schooled by Kaelyn and Zali.  Very cool.

Part of Ngilgi cave during the trail walk.  Too many pictures to put on the blog and to be honest the photos don't do the cave justice.  You can tell by the look on Kaelyn's face she is spell bound!









The cool kids just hangin in the trees in the valley of the giants.  Hot humid and flies,  always the flies............

Kyle in the cave crawl this morning.  Tight fit eh Harry!











So far an awesome trip with much to see and much to do and not enough time.  We are headed to the beach to swim eat fish and chips and basically get fat!!  More to come in the new year.

Payback!!!!

Okay so if you are all keeping up on my dads blog (this is kaelyn by the way) you might have noticed the horrible picture of me sleeping in the plane. they put that picture on against my will so here is a brutal pic of my mom. Haha take that, you guys better think twice before messing with me again. Oh and i hacked your account.
THE WAR IS ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carnarvon (To hell and back again)

To all who have been following our blog I must apologize for the lack of postings the past several days.  There has been a very good reason for the gap between stories.  I will attempt to give all a clear picture of what has happened so bear with us.  Here goes....................

The day we left Monkey Mia was Dec 16th in the morning.  We drove back down the long lonely stretch of road towards the Northern Highway and it was an overcast day with a bit of drizzle but still warm.  On the way out we stopped at a couple of places prior to getting to the highway.  Once back on the highway we had about a 2 hour drive to Carnarvon which was to be a one night stop over on our way to Exmouth.  Or so we thought............

That's when  the proverbial shit hit the fan.  Little did we know there was a tropical storm out in the Indian Ocean for the last week and it decided to come to land and center itself over Carnarvon on the same day we arrived.  This storm dumped almost 400ml of rain on the area in 3 days which is more then double the area gets in a year on average.  All the roads were closed the next morning on the 17th and we could not leave town due to flooding of the coastal highway.  So we spent the next 3 days wondering if the highway was ever going to open.  It never did.  This then sent us into a phone calling frenzy to our travel agent, a travel agent here in Australia, the local airlines, and our insurance company for our trip coverage.  We also had a great deal of help from Glen and his wife who worked the phones here in Busselton trying to come up with options to get us out of the area.  Finally on Sunday afternoon we managed to get a flight by sheer luck with a local air line called Shine air an hour before the plane was scheduled to leave.  We had to dump our rental car at the motel and get a cab to the airport.  Even then as we pulled around the corner onto the road to the airport we were met with a 100m wide river of water across the road the only way to and from the airport.  Several other people were waiting as well to get last minute flights and all had to jump into trucks and Ute's as they are called over here to get across the water to the airport.  Needless to say it was one of the most tense frantic days of our lives.  Here are some pics to help tell the story.

The long lonely road coming down the peninnsula from Monkey Mia.  As you can see it had already started raining a bit.

I forgot to mention that although Australia is stunningly beautiful the flies are absolutely miserable.  They are relentless and the fly nets are a necessity unless you want to go absolutely mad from the constant bombardment.

This is getting close to Carnarvon and you can see the sky is getting more grey all the time.  We are still oblivious to what is in store for us.  Stupid pale people from Canada!!!!









Thursday night when we arrived in Carnarvon Betty and I went for a drive to check out a Mangrove but all we found was wind and torrential rain.  It only got worse from here..................

Downtown Carnarvon Friday the 17th.  We went to get groceries and there were countless areas like this that were covered in water.

Complete boredom in the motel room.  As you can see Kaelyn came prepared with a book. 

Saturday downtown and the water is still rising.  For the most part it stayed relatively the same in town but unknown to us still at this point was the fact that in the outlying areas around the town things were fast disappearing under water and it was all headed our way.  We are now starting to realize that we are not getting out of here anytime soon unless we create our own fate.

This is on a road near the airport which is just to the left.  Can't really tell from this shot but as far as you could see it was covered in water.  This was Sunday morning and the phone calls were fast and frantic by now trying to find a way out!!

This is the only road to the airport.  We were here an hour before this picture was taken and there was no water!!  Kyle and I are in the vehicle in the picture foreground and Betty took this picture from the vehicle she and Kaelyn were in.  Can you say goat rodeo!!







This was our plane out a Navajo Chieftain 8 seater. The other 2 in the picture are 2 other guys who were looking to get the hell out.  Kyle's thinking we are not going to fit in this tin can.  I think the other guys are thinking the same thing.

I'm not sure but I think Kaelyn was checking out the pattern on the ceiling of the plane, or she was thanking the powers that be.   Lots of stress and worry over the past couple of days, perhaps exhaustion.  She's gonna kill me when she sees this.  We were all feeling this way she just expresses it better.












Well we got out of Carnarvon and made it to Geraldton then caught another flight from there to Perth and got another rental car at the airport.  Funny the guy at the rental company never even batted an eye when I told him our first rental was under water!!  We made our way back to Natalie's parents house in Perth.  (Nat is Glen's wife).  Spent the night there and then drove down to Busselton the next day on Monday.  Since arriving in Busselton the news here has been all over the flooding in Carnarvon and the area has been deemed a natural disaster site.  It is the worst flood on record for the area.  Google it and you will see lots more about the area and the flooding.  Front page news down here.  Glad to be back to civilization so on with the holiday!!