Hawaii part 2 - the Big Island

For our final week and a bit in Hawaii, we flew out of Maui into the Big Island, in Hilo on the East coast.

Manual crosswalk haha

While we were there we stayed at a Hostel that had outdoor "glamping" - glamourous camping. We enjoyed it so much that we stayed outside for the rest of our time at that hostel. The room walls were made out of bamboo with an open ceiling and outside our window opening we were next to a little rainforest. At night we could hear frogs that sounded like crickets and it was relaxing to hear the stream of water passing by.

Checking out our gorgeous hostel!

On Sunday we went to a Baptist church nearby and they had some hymns and meaningful scriptures. And one man played a special instrument. Becky thought it was cool sounding. The people there were really friendly and welcoming. Becky felt at home there, it was a smaller church which she liked very much. That afternoon we walked through a nice scenic park and Coconut Island with beautiful palm trees and other unique looking trees.

Even trees with beards! (Banyan)

The next day we went to Walmart and picked up camping equipment and later that day we hiked to some fairly long caves. In them we found dried red lava.

As we walked to the Rainbow Falls we enjoyed looking around the area

 
and also found some pools of water called the boiling pots and another waterfall behind it that was pretty.

Above the falls! (no, we didn't look over the edge)

Then we went for a walk and bought some ice cream on our way back to the hostel. The next day we bused (almost got on the wrong one!) our way west into the south-middle of the island to Kilaueu, one of the world's most active volcanoes, in the National Volcano park. We went to the volcano and watched it illuminate the sky into an orange glow!

A better one that I didn't take

They're elusive to take pictures of!

We camped at a park that night, and shivered through an unprepared cold and damp night at 4000 feet elevation.

The following day we hiked on the Crater rim trail and along the way we saw hot steam fields rising from deep underground (They were nice to stand in)

We hiked along the forest, visited the volcano museum, watched some volcano eruption movies, and hiked alongside hot Sulphur fields - stinky and colourful!

The rural buses come once a day, and there are no bus stops, you just flag them down. We continued west to Hookena Beach Park on the West coast, watched a sunset

Can't resist those sunset pics

and set up our tent and ate dinner in the dark. It was an absolutely gorgeous, very hot park to spend a few days at with very friendly people.

The next morning we relaxed on the beach, swam in the big intense waves. While Aaron worked, Rebecca blogged and read her book. The third day we relaxed, tanned, cooked, packed. Since it was our last night we were looking to sell our camping equipment, and we actually did to a local! She was an elderly lady who also gave Aaron some traditional Tamali: corn husk wrapped beef.

We hitchhiked up the steep and long hill to the bus stop and made our way north to Kona.

Hitchhiking on the back of a truck (Becky was inside) on a roller coaster road!

The next day we hitchhiked to a down town beach area there. In case you're wondering, hitchhiking is a normal and accepted part of culture in Hawaii. We found a nice modern church there. We visited a traditional dance competition, and Aaron went for a walk through the YWAM base in Kona (University of the Nations). That night was between our 1.5 halfiversary and valentines so we had a nice dinner around the downtown beach area with an ocean view. We took the trolley back home. The following day we waited and waited at the bus stop to get to the airport...and it never came because it was Presidents day! Thankfully we managed to hitch hike with a nice young couple to the airport. The girl was from Alaska and the guy was from Poland. A pit stop in Honolulu to pick up and repack our luggage, and we said goodbye to Hawaii. Now we're headed off to New Zealand!

Enjoying Kona

Hawaii part 1

A quick and chilly goodbye and we were off to 11.5 hours in the air. (Toronto airport has some iPads to play with?!) By the time we were at the Vancouver airport, we didn't have much time to spare, we ate and boarded our next flight to Hawaii. Becky however got really sick on the plane with flu like symptoms.

 

Hawaii - Oahu

We got on a shuttle to our first "Polynesian Beach hostel" in Honolulu at what felt like 3am for us. Needless to say we slept in. Our first walk for groceries was much to long.

We've gotten pretty good at buying the exact amount of groceries so we don't have to travel with food. Becky was still not feeling well. After we were rewarded with our first afternoon at the Waikiki beach and a bbq at the hostel.

We went on a North shore tour of the island with our hostel. It included watching a practice for a surfing competition (Volcom Pro Championship)

Yea Aaron took it (the picture, that is)

eating at a shrimp farm, (but not Becky), some beautiful mountains including the set of Jurassic park

and (to Becky's delight) the Lost TV series,

The ocean and its beauty

including the "China man’s hat", one of the locations for "50 First Dates" (among others)

 

Through out our time we've enjoyed meeting some really nice people at the Hostels, and sharing advice about the places we're gonna go to.

(modern) "Buddhist" temple

We spend most of a day at Pearl Harbour, saw a submarine and a couple museums, and the war memorial.

We used the city bus to get around Honolulu a lot. Waikiki is very commercialized and touristy area with its many tourist and designer stores. Everywhere else we went to was small local shops.

Also went on a West coast tour. We drove past the beach where surfing was invented. Went on  a bird reserve hike, did some whale watch along the coast. Went to the Disney resort and swam and snorkeled there. We saw tiny little yellow and black striped fish. That night we watched the weekly fireworks from the end of the pier.

Western point of Oahu

Aaron has been working in between and during travels, and has sort of been able to keep up. Still working on it. Aaron's long time cracked-screen cell phone (from his brother Adrian), broke a few days into the trip, so he bought a used smart phone off off craigslist (without cracks!) and bused across the city to get it.

We rented some leisure bikes and biked to the Diamond Head Mountain and then climbed up. Gorgeous ocean and volcanic crater view, with an army outpost carved into the top of the mountain.

 

That night we saw a free hula show around the area on the beach.

On Sunday we extended our bike rental and biked early to Manoa Falls,

with a nice walk through a jungle kind of forest.

 

It was a very long bike ride. On the way back Rebecca was riding on the road and was switching to the curb (at Aaron's suggestion) when she caught a small edge and went flying off the bike onto the curb. Luckily she was wearing a helmet. Someone called in Emergency services who came in full force (5 police cars, ambulance and firetruck). Becky was limping for a while but did not need a trip to the hospital, but resulted in us missing church.

February 2 we packed up, stored our suitcases in Honolulu, spend a few hours at Magic Island Beach (We also saw wedding pictures taken there. It's common for lots of weddings to take place in Hawaii).

Goodbye, Waikiki

Maui

Then we bused to the airport and flew to Maui and bused to our second hostel. Aaron installed a new door lock for the hostel owner and worked a bit. Our first day was a bit rainy so just went for a walk to a nearby beach.

The owner of the hostel took us to Maalaea. There they had crafts that we looked around at, then went for icecream and walked a few kms down the beach.

When we rested Becky went for a walk around the area and stepped on thorn twigs that pierced through her flip flops!

We went to Kihei onwards to a nice beach in Wailea where we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset.

Becky gets asked a lot to be a photographer

We also went to Lahaina and went whale watching on a big boat.

We saw a lot more of their bodies then that...they're just elusive!

Also checked out a museum, historical prison and the black rock beach.

Snorkeling with Gopro at Black rock beach

Aaron bought shave ice (Hawaiian specialty) which is basically like a slushy but...shaved ice.

Our best day in Maui was a Roberts Hawaii tour bus on the Road to Hana, following it all the way around the lower part of the island.

There were only 4 other people, and the tour bus took us through cliffs, the ocean side, lots of waterfalls

Really really cold water!

lava tubes, irrigation tunnels and to a sampling winery.

There are 600+ turns, 50+ one way bridges on the Road to Hana

...and a few celebrity homes such as Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks. That night we went to a block party that was up the street from our hostel and we listened to the bands play their music.

And that concludes the first 2 weeks of Hawaii. We've been having a blast! Subscribe for more.

And then there were Two

A lot has happened since the last post on this blog. Aaron has completed his undergrad and been working in his field for a year and half, in addition to getting married his lovely wife Rebecca. After taking it easy for a year and a half, we're setting off on the adventure of our lifetimes (so far). The plans so far include a few weeks in each of Hawaii, New Zealand and Australia, with the remainder of the trip yet to be planned!

The last weeks have been very busy with with Aaron getting ahead on work, in addition to getting our accommodations and travels in order. Aaron will be continuing to work reduced hours while abroad, which is a huge blessing. Rebecca has been riveted on booking accommodations, as this is her first experience with backpacking or hosteling. Visas, international calling, paperwork and all kinds of odds and ends have all been coming together in the last week before departing. Rebecca is done packing (so she thinks), and Aaron has yet to start. Aaron's experiences travelling have made him very exacting with what will come and what will not, so that will make for an interesting final rush.

Rebecca finishes her babysitting the night before we head down to spend a day with Aaron's family. Rebecca's parents are treating us to a Marriage Retreat in Muskoka at Muskoka Bible Centre, as a time to rest and have some family time before we leave. They have a lot of fun things planned for us for the weekend, including riding in a horse drawn sleigh and visiting a sugar bush. The next day we will be heading over to the airport and saying Goodbye to Canada (and the snow!) on Janurary 26th until the end of April. And we will be on our way to the sunny Hawaiian Islands for 3 weeks.

We will be visiting Oahu (Honolulu), Maui and the Big Island. That's all for now until we write more on our adventures in Hawaii.

The Last Post

Well the trip is over, and I am safely back in Canada. And Canada is cold. It was nice for about the first few hours, especially to see the beautiful snow falling on the ground. But after that...brrrr. At least I had some time in Europe to transition to the colder temperatures.

Dusk in Paris

My experiences in Africa and even Europe seem so surreal now. Looking at pictures, it seems so far away, and it seems like I am starting to compartmentalise my time abroad into a box that I don't think about normally. But I am trying not to do that, and instead integrate my experiences and new ideas into the rest of my life, whether new music, ideas or friends.

It has been great to spend time with my family and friends at home. It strangely feels like I haven't really left, everything seems more or less the same, which I was not expecting. But I guess that's because I was not actually gone for that long.

I have to admit that over the course of this blog, I have discovered that blogging is not really my thing. And you may have noticed that by my rather brief and facts-emphasising style of writing. So you probably won't hear from me here for a while, as you probably guessed from this post's title. If you haven't seen the rest of the blog, please check it out, because I poured much of my not-enjoying-bogging sweat into it.

Farewell!
-Aaron

Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Cape Town

Europe

On Monday December 12^th I left for my Europe trip. I bought a train pass and made good use of Europe's excellent train network, which I was very impressed by. First stop was Berlin, in eastern Germany. Berlin has a fascinating history, and it was interesting to hear of everything that went on there and see the remains of the Berlin wall. I did a free walking tour of the city, which was very informative. I also went to the Pergamon museum, which has some amazing big artifacts, including the Pergamon Altar.

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin

On Tuesday I took a night train to Cologne, in western Germany. Cologne has an incredible cathedral which started construction in 1248. It is incredibly gothic and was absolutely stunning to look at. I spent a long time walking around, and also went up one of the towers. Its incredible to think of the resources to build such a structure during that time, and it took over 600 years to complete. 

Cologne at night with the 'High Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Mary'

I also visited the 4711 Cologne house, home of the perfume by the same name of course. I also visited Aachen for an afternoon, which is very close to the Dutch Belgian border.

On Friday I left for Brussels, capital of Belgium. Brussels is a very nice city. I visited the Magritte museum, which is an art gallery, along with a museum on Automobiles and one on Comics. Brussels is famous for the birthplace of the cartoon character Tintin. And I visited the peeing boy statue, 'Mannekin Pis', a famous statue in the city.

Manneken Pis, Brussels

On Saturday afternoon I went to Antwerp, which is known for its diamond sector. (I didn't buy any)

That evening I went to Paris. Paris felt so much bigger then the other cities, I think primarly because of the grand design of the city. I spent more time than the other cities there, particularly because of all of the interesting sights too see. I first visited the Notre Dame du Paris, and did another free walking tour, which was again very informative. Paris has an incredible history. I also did a tour of Montmartre, and visited the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur. That evening I visited the Eiffel tower, and went all the way to the top. Although it is perhaps somewhat over hyped, it really is a quite amazing structure.

some tower I found in Paris...forget what its called

The following day I went to the Louvre, which is one of the largest museums in the world with over 35,000 artifacts and works of art. I am not too much into visual arts, but the paintings and artifacts in that place were truly amazing. And there really was something special about looking at the Mona Lisa...

I also visited the Arc de Triomphe, which was commisioned by Napolean in the 1800's. The following day I visited the Palace at Versailles, which was the royal palace in the 16 and 1700's. It is also an incredibly beautiful place. That afternoon I went into the Catacombs, which are abaondoned stone mines running under Paris for several kilometers. Part of the tunnels were used as a burial place for human bones from Paris' overflowing cemeteries in the 18^th century. There are piles and piles of human bones and skulls piled along the sides of the caves, organized into different patterns. It was really creepy, but a unique place to see.

My final destination was Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a tiny country and with only 500 000 inhabitants, it is almost the smallest country in the European Union. But I think the city was the most beautiful city I visited in all of Europe. It is in very hilly countryside, and was a fort built on a large hill. Everything is very quaint and matches what I think of as stereotypical Europe. The country is so small that the walking tour I did sometimes gets to chat with the from the prime minister if he happens to be going for lunch when they're outside his office. No such luck this time though. I hung out with some fellow backpackers from Brazil and Germany in the evening, and spent my last day there seeing the beautiful city and surrounding countryside, before my long train ride back to Holland.

Luxembourg City

Backpacking is definitely not a relaxing experience. At this point along my whole trip, I am definitely looking forward to being back to a normal, routine life. But it is an experience that is worth it and that I will remember for a long time. The adventure and the sights, along with the people I met along the way. The small piece of Europe that I saw was amazing and interesting and definitely worth while.

Holland

I am spending December in Holland and Europe with my Dutch family. I have not been for something like 7 or 8 years, so it has been quite nice to spend some time with my family. I really like the country, and have spent some time biking on their excellent biking paths. I spent a day and half biking to my aunt's. The weather has been less than ideal, especially compared to Africa. But that is to be expected for a European winter I think.

Biking in Holland

I did a tour of Rotterdam with Eric, a family friend. The port is amazingly huge. We also went to see the dams in zeeland, used to hold back the sea from areas of land that have been created. The north sea was incredibly windy. I also went up to the Northwest of Holland, where there is an island on the sea, and to a castle called Muiderslot near Amsterdam.

Muiderslot

The that night I stayed in Amsterdam and did a tour the next day with some of my family and friends. Amsterdam is a very interesting city with many canal's and streets together and old buildings, making it very beautiful. 

Streets and Canals in Amsterdam