Day 15 ~ The Water fall in Wai Pio, our biggest adventure so far

It's sunny! SUNNY!  YES!

Again, I have freaking bad ass good luck when it comes to the wild life! Imagine this;

We camp next to the river, on grass people, ON GRASS! No jungle, no lava - GRASS! The river is coming from the huge water fall further in to the valley and right in front of us, it make it out to the ocean - beautiful. The trees are green, the sky is blue. Mmmmm! You listen to the sound of the waves and look at the beach: the sand is black! Baby, we are camping on a black sand beach!! (Fine; on the grass, next to it! but still..) Anyways, the cherry on top! Right there, Wild horses! Woooaaaaah! How awesome is that? They even let us pet them and everything!

It's a great day! I have so much energy and I am so playful! We start walking the beach, checking cool fruits, playing with the sand crabs and just try to take in how awesome our trip turned out. After some pushing Corey gives in for some tag, black sand ball fight and ocean play in these huge waves. They just curved over us before they hit and I have never felt stronger waves before. The underwater current was crazy and just knocked me of my feet! At one point  I almost lost my swimsuit and I couldn't get up to the surface. Scary. But I am here writing so, phew, I made it! ;)

Today's plan was to see the waterfall up close. Some Mexicans pulled up by our tent, so I ask them if they know anything about it (I mean, they also had cars and a BBQ going... but.. I didn't think about that. Never!) It took about 2 seconds and we had a ride to the fall and they filled plates with pitas and steak and brought out beer and sodas. What was that american word again? Oh wait, it's Awesome! It was so tasty! Corey also took the opportunity to try his luck in Spanish and then we were of to see the fall. 

When we get there we look for a road or a path. Pssshhhyyy, of course there's nothing. We ask a local and he's not very keen on us going there. He say's there is no real path and that you have to walk the river and swim. Well, that was the magic words for Miss Hansen, now I really had to do it! 

Time to start swimming

Our Mexican friends back out and we thank them for everything. We try one of the small paths next to the road. KAPU! NO TRESPASSING! And other signs with long legal threats and warnings. Uuuum, I don't think so! We cross the river and walk through the jungle, were there at least won't be any signs... It's really cool. The vegetation is one of a kind! Pretty flowers here and there, enormous elephant ear plants which would work as umbrellas for sure, and other cool looking growing things. We walk through ruins from old houses that used to be there a long long time ago. All you can see is the blocks/rocks from what the houses were made from. It's pretty cool to see how nature take back control over the area climbing, reaching out all over the place.  W hit a small path every now and then but nothing special. After a while we decide to cross the river, and there we meet a family. They didn't make it to the fall since they had their kids with them, they were also rushing back cause of the sunset. They didn't want to get trapped in the dark. We decided to keep going, I was determined to see the falls if I so had to set the jungle on fire to make it back later. We hide our stuff so we will be able to swim, climb and run later. We bring my underwater camera though it really wont do the fall justice, not the green walls either. There is not enough light and my camera didn't have a flash. Hopefully they will still give you a picture of what we saw and did. 

Now, it's here the hike really starts; 

Corey about to start swimming, while saving his shoes

We have to start off with a swim, I throw myself in with shorts and shoes. Wohooo! Well, Corey think that he'll be able to protect his poor shoes. He takes them off and start swimming with one arm. Silly Corey. Okay he made this first one... Up and down the hills and huge rocks, in and out of the jungle, criss crossing through the river - hahaha, who drops his shoes??!! ohhh good times, good times - more rock climbing, past the little bamboo forest, run through the mud, swim some more. And there finally! We reached it, before the sunset! 

Me climbing

Almost there, just a little bit more

We made it!

Corey by the fall

We are speechless, really, we couldn't explain in words what we saw. We were like; "This is... it's.... this is totally..." but we couldn't find words 'good enough' to describe. 

You can kind of get a glimpse of the mist here

The water fall over 1000 feet, into a small pond. The walls of the valley are now sharp deep V-shaped instead of wide open U-shaped. They are covered in a beautiful green and steeper then any natural mountain wall I've ever seen. The fall itself is the biggest fall I've ever seen. It's loud, and surrounded with mist. We stare straight up and it's like the mist forms clouds around the fall. Interesting small monuments, made with lava rocks, made by previous visitors make the place feel even more magic and spiritual. We hug each other for making it all the way there and just keep stare at the fall. 

Me swimming under the fall

Corey doing the shaka sign under the fall 

We swim out to the pond to touch the fall, to feel it rain down over us. It's so loud and strong. We get under parts of it, as far as we can and dare. It was amazing. At the same time as the fall is extremely loud, it's one of the most quiet places I've been too, time just stand still. 

We didn't want to leave, but had to. We made it back out in no time, finding better paths and ways, not afraid of trespassing anymore since we were heading out, trying to leave, not get in. What next? WHO do you think we meet when we get back out on the road? The hippie guy who made us camp on the lava field!! He's driving by in a freaking Jeep! We about dropped our chins to our knees, luckily he rode with a bunch of people and couldn't talk, just say hi and 'speed catch up'. Seriously, how random is it, that we keep bumping in to all these people in various places twice?! This time on a tiny muddy back road over an hour away from where we first met (I did put it out there for Corey that maybe he put trackers in the passion fruit?), It's an island, but it's called the BIG island for a reason. It's BIG and everyone do not know everyone. 

Back at the camp ground we see some people, and I decide we should make friends with our "neighbors" so we head over. They are super dirty and look really shady, but it turns out they are hunters. Listen to this; They hike 9 miles over the mountain, through the jungle, to the next valley with their dogs. They let the dogs loose and have them find boars. When the dogs find the boars, they attack and try to hold it down so that the hunters can come up close with a small knife and stab them in the heart under the arm. Crazy! We got to see videos. All dogs but one got stabbed this time and the cuts looked bad and gross! They had dogs thats been stabbed to death.. It was brutal and so.. I don't know, just so cruel and cool at the same time. Like cavemen or something. The one guy was our age and I just stared at him bombing him with all these questions...

It was a great great day. Filled with adventures. I was in my happy bubble for sure. We both were.

Day 14 ~ Making our way to "Jurassic Park Valley" (Wai Pio)

Corey started of the morning with finding a kayak paddle, which turned out being a treasure if we only would have had more time.. When returning the paddle they gave us a free days rental with the kayak, but we had already decided to hit up the bus and go to Wai Pio Valley ("Jurassic Park Valley") so we had to say Thank you but no thank you. They then made sure we got a quick hitch up to the top of the Valley instead, which maybe ended up being worth more? It would really have sucked to hike all the way up..

While waiting for the bus, we had a duty; Postcards. Just to the closest family tho, it's hard to send to everyone! I still love you tho! ;)
At the post office I finally got rid of my microwave bowl with noodles.. It need to be said in the blog, cause Corey tried to make me throw them away for about a week. But I was thinking, that maybe if we got a hold of a microwave I could have eaten it... Anyways, I gave it to an old lady, she got really happy and they lived happily ever after.

Then it was time to laugh some, down the road we saw a random bus. Corey was pessimisticabout us making it down the road, but finally take off running with all his packing and shopping bags - and little did we know; it was going our direction and we didn't have to wait hours for our bus. On the bus we met this really awesome lady and her grandkids. She was in her 60's but she didn't look a day over 40. At the mall they guide us to the food; PIZZA... to Coreys delight. It was good, but this guy seriously need to come and have a Börje Special with us in Åmål. For sure, he doesn't know what he's missing out on.

We get on the next bus and Parteeeeey! We finally get a cool bus driver! $1 for both our bags (you pay $1 for bags, if you got no bags, the bus is free) and he brings on the music! The ride goes pretty fast, nothing exciting. We get off at our stop and this random guy comes and tell us 'the joke of the day'. Funny how random people can be sometimes, anyways, funny guy.
We end up having to hitch back a little bit and we have a good flow and get a ride all the way to Wai Pio, which turns out being a place we visited during the grand tour. Excited we start hiking down the valley and it's the steepest road I've ever walked. Oh my goodness! Again; the scenery was awesome! It turns out it's the steepest road/hill in the whole Hawaii! But we made it nicely with all our packing, gear and with shaking knees! It was so funny every time we stopped and the legs shook more than on a skeleton! Phew, a nice work out ;)

Some Canadians gave us a last hint on what way to go and we made it right on time; the sun was setting.
We tried to cross the river afterwards with no success and after a while we see this bright light and just like bugs, we get drawn to it. We end up in some locals back yard. Not the greatest success either. We came in with all our packing and gear through the woods straight in to their back yard were all the kids were playing. They weren't as fun ass all other locals we've met, but however, they did show us a spot were we probably would get away with camping.

With a set campground and a blogged Corey we just laid in the grass and watched the stars (yes again, it's just the most beautiful thing you can do at night) and then Corey take the camera and the tripod and we take pictures of the sky! Imagine, a camera that can capture the stars! The camera must be one of the best inventions! (Next after the wheel, I have never appreciated the invention of the wheel as much as on this trip!!)

While watching the night sky I was in heaven!

Day 13 ~ Our first normal day

Good morning Early Bird! Started of with climbing some trees, then I sneaked passed Corey's tent and over to the kayak rentals. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining and not a cloud was to be seen on the sky. Finally! I already Love the Kona side! Hawaii - Sun Sun - Hawaii. Finally introduced to each other.

The rental harbor was very busy - not a place where I wanted to spend my morning. I headed back to start off breakfast. Sneaking by Corey again, I hear someone up in the trees; "I wondered where you went". Way to scare the crap out of me! Some more tree climbing, breakfast and off to a new snorkeling place. Not by far as good as yesterdays reef but it was fun. The overcast start coming in so we decided not to cross the bay. Also, there were no kayaks out, which usually mean no dolphins.

While hanging out at this place we meet some cool people and start jumping of the pier with them. The guy invite us for pizza and hanging out and the girl says we should go and chill at her friends place. We get to this one guys place and it was pretty cool. The first person we see when we walk in, is one of the guys that turned us down when we asked for a ride at the grocery store, don't have to mention we gave him a hard time about that? While sitting on a pick nick table in the front yard, we realize that there in the garden, clearly visible together with tomatoes, they grow marijuana. Just like that. We laugh about the fact that it's hard core jail time back home and keep chilling. For you who don't know, it's legal to have this and that many plants in Hawaii (usually 7-8)  if you have a "Doctors Note". You are also allowed to carry like 30oz. on you at any time. They are always way over and do their own thing, but it's still funny to see how open it is here comparing to the Mainland and back home in Sweden. I mean, the Mainland is still the same country and it differs so much. Hmmmm, crazy. One of the guys who live there (the guy with all the permits) answer all my silly questions while caring for his plants and later he shows us his collection inside, describing how to grow them, care for them, clone and sell. It's pretty cool actually. Haha, in a biological science teaching and learning aspect of course. We get back to the people outside. To them it's basics. It's been around them since before they were born, nothing special with weed growing with tomatoes. Noep noep noep.

We head back knowing we have to find our things we left hidden in the jungle without flash lights. We bump in to Uncle Lawrence and this man can talk too. Everyone in Hawaii can talk - even more than I do! He make up for it buy giving us food. Good ol' Uncle Lawrence! All these Hawaiians are so generous, I like it!
It's dark when we reach the beach and I send Corey in to find all our stuff. Sweet deal. (Thanks again..)
We are professionals setting camps up in the dark by now and it goes really fast.

Another great day; more snorkeling, private local music performances with rap and ukulele, free pizza and salad and a movie night on that. Our first "normal" day in Hawaii was nice.

Day 12 ~ My unexpected bonus, another dream coming true!

Out out out! I woke up hearing people and just flew out from the tent. Aoouuuutccch! Shouldn't have done that! My body was sour and aching, I looked at my hips and tried to see my back, fair enough the lava had left sweet memories for the day; I was bruised up.

The people were kind of park rangers, walking the trail making sure it was maintained. They didn't bother us, just saying good morning wishing us a good day and reminding us to not leave any trash. No problem! I would leave this place faster then lightning and I wouldn't have time to trash the place down even if I had wanted.

We start walking and immediately get a ride! Blessings! The guy, Kaloni,  is super cool and he take us all the way to Kaelekuela Bay. Turn's out we hit a jack pot meeting him. He is the son of the guy who claims he owns the place (bay) and they rent kayaks there every day. We met his dad, Uncle Lawrence, when we arrived and they told us about all the uncles and that we would have no troubles here since we were friends of them. Sweet! Not even cops would care to bother us here (not that they would have reason too) and that would make camping way easier!

They told us were to camp and we finally found Our Spot! This was a sweet place, we were right by the water, back by the animal life and we were secluded from all the roads and tourists thanks to the jungle and all the big trees. Heaven baby!

We do some snorkeling; not to much fish at the moment, but the water was amazingly blue, clear and the sand was white. I loved it! We could also hear dolphins in a far distance.

Corey decided to just relax and finally read. No time to "waste" for me though! I head over to the tourist site and check out the signs. We were by the Captain Cook Monument. I spy out again, and accross the bay I see this tiny white shape. Hmmmpf, what a monument... I keep reading the signs about the snorkeling, kayaking and there's what I had hoped for; The coral reef is across the bay (by the monument) and it's one of the best reefs on the island. My surprise (there's always one of those!) Spinner Dolphins! Wohooo! Maybe I would see some?!

I meet two guys and a girl who also plan to swim across the bay, we decide to go out together. For as much as I love swimming it does feel better to swim 2 miles with someone. Especially since I just read about the bays moray eels(!). The girl start complaining before we even start our swim and one of the guys stay with her. James and I decide to swim alone, not willing to pass up a nice adventure. Again we hear the dolphins in the far distance, soon we get out on deeper water and cant see the bottom of the ocean anymore. Everything is blue. It was a crazy feeling, back home in Sweden the water's so dark. I just enjoyed it. The feeling of just swim in all this blue, not knowing if something all of a sudden would show up, was really cool. I wished Corey would have joined us, I bet he would have loved it too.

After swimming for maybe 15 minutes we reach a crowd of kayaks. We look around. Why is it all of a sudden so crowded? We take off our goggles and check it out. SPLASH! There's a dolphin showing off with a spinning flip! I stare at James and we both put the gear back on and start swimming - Fast! When we get closer we see more dolphins jumping and gliding by. We are the only once in the water. Crazy. I look straight down trying to swim even faster. When I turn up my head to make sure theres no kayaks hitting me in the head I realize I have 3 THREE dolphins next to my face, about 2 feet (30 cm) away!!! They swim by looking at me. I freeze; "Shit, what should I do? Flipper was nice, so I should be alright. Right?" I look down and there comes 3 more dolphins swimming in a row, right under me. Amazing! I get up to the surface to see if James is close by. Sure is. I keep diving around. This is unbelievable! Turns out there is a family of 30 dolphins, swimming in groups of ten and in sets of three, and they are all around us! Again; I'm in heaven!

The dolphins keep flipping around  and swim in amazing formations. I always thought they were trained to swim next to each other so close and straight, but they do it naturally. I couldn't believe my eyes as they put on the unexpected show for us.

After a while, with chasing kayaks, they kept swimming down the bay. We caught our breath without snorkeling gear. A family shout to us from a boat. I had encouraged their son (the only other person in the water while we swam with the dolphins) to come with and swim with the dolphins, and now they asked us were our boat were. They thought it had drifted away. I laughed and said we had swam all the way and, like all other people, they looked at us like we were retarded. They offered us a ride we definitely wouldn't turn down. Wohoo it's so much faster to take a race boat then fins. We dived in again together with the family and there it was, the coral reef! The sun was out and all the beautiful fishes swam around in huge schools, not afraid at all. Everything was so calm. I dived deeper and  enjoyed myself, crossing through them. Playfully I pointed at everything with James and I almost thought for a moment that we would hear "Under the Sea" playing out loud. To my disappointment it didn't.

The family was very talkative and took us all the way back to the other side. Mmmm felt so nice not to swim. Bless "hitching" with boats as well ;)

Only bummer with this experience; I DIDN'T BRING MY UNDER WATER CAMERA! I decided it was to long of a swim to bring it and that I would use it the next day when Corey went as well (and we even might go with a kayak?). Darn it! I could have had close up photos with the freaking dolphins! And they were the beautiful kind too, they were spinner dolphins and not bottled nosed dolphins or something else. I was so bummed about that. But then, it is an experience that no pictures ever could have captured.

When I got back I found Corey sleeping with his book on the beach, I woke him up and told him all about my afternoon. Later we got a ride with Kaloni to the store and we ended up going to a Chinese restaurant, not the best but it felt good after a long day.

Back at the beach we got stalked by this high guy. He was everywhere. Oh Lord he could talk. He gave us this teary story, but since he was high, it was just fun to listen to. He taught us how to open some nuts (again; when in Hawaii, everything opens with a rock) and when he finally decided to head back to his friends, we sat up camp. The waves were really strong and loud. After showers and blogging, when it was time for bed, it really freaked me out and it took forever to fall asleep.. My iPOD even had time to die on me...

Day 11 ~ Konaside, here we come!

First morning we wake up without the turtles - so obviously not a very fun morning if you ask me ;)

Del and Jake came to pick us up and we all went in to the fresh market and to check the bus schedule. The fresh market was really cool, but it wasn't very busy at the time we were there. Later they dropped us of at the mall and nothing excited happened really. We saw some retired people entertaining with morning gymnastics/hula haha. We had an exclusive lunch; Mc Donalds and charged up all our electronic before we finally could hit up the bus to Kona. Nothing exciting about the bus drive either. The driver is really rude and no fun at all. Way to ruin my bus trip lady! We saw some cool sites through the window, but except that we just froze our butts of for about 4 hours.

When finally arriving in Kona we start walking and hitching, this lady with her kid picked us up and took us down the valley. Thanks! That was our longest walk this far! It felt amazing to be in the back of the truck, feel the wind and just watch the road disappear, happy and thankful for the ride.

When we got dropped of in the valley we realized we were back by the City of Refuge. Great, were to camp here? It's not really cool to camp on religious ground...

We met this really odd or strange (verkligen helmysko! [SE])  dude who starts talking about us getting called to the island and stuff like that.. Creeepy! And make sure to keep the convo short with him. Though he was nice giving us water, passion fruits and advice about where to camp. Happy about our new camp spot we head up the road to set camp, the sun is already setting.

At the place comes the grand big surprise; we were sent to a lava field. Awesome! This dude must have been playing us big time, no joke about that! Or he really was that retarded? For you who read my earlier posts, you know how sharp lava is. Great. Corey was not to happy and I was getting irritated as well. We had our first grouch but got over it really fast. After walking in the dark for what felt like forever, we finally found a tiny spot (not even big enough for my tent) and decided it wouldn't get any better. It wass pitch dark, the ground was midnight black as well, thanks to the lava, we set camp, and tried to get comfortable. Haha! Easier said then done! Thanks to the raid, we had to bring our gear and all the equipment in the tent for the night, and then find a way to fit to adults in there as well. It was hot, humid, and since it rained we had to close the door... oh man I just looooved camping at this very moment. I started off with getting  my shoulder stung by a branch through the tent floor and then slamming my foot on sharp rock. Awesome, this for sure would be the worst night.  I cursed my tiny junior tent, kicked the darn rock a few times (it hurt more of course) and then I decided that after all - it could have been worse and I was still happy that I was back packing. I could have been alone, robbed, camping under a magazine in a ditch somewhere waiting for a ride, right? Lava fields are at least a some what exotic thing?

Day 10 ~ Uhh-ohhh...!

Not coool! Monday - the glorious weekend had come to an end, and soon we would learn that so had our first free stay! One word: Crap!

We woke up early, and again, this time because Russel and one of his friends came and slamed their hands on the tent. Wohoow, not cool, I almost peed my pants thinking that the cops were called on us camping out. We head out and talk to them, they open a coconut since Corey missed out on that experience the first day, and that would be our breakfast that day. After they left we put our gear on to swim with the turtles. No need to explain how amazing it was since I got that covered yesterday.. hehe
Today, Corey got my pictures with the turtles and we actually had four turtles, not three - four of them! My turtle heaven had expanded!

We went back to the tent and just laied down, trying to figure out what to do next. Then all of a sudden we hear a car honking. Shiet! I almost peed my pants again! I push Corey out (I mean, he's a guy after all) and start pack some of our stuff together so we could stick to our innocent made up explanation if needed.
Turns out it's the lady who owns the house. It's 'only' her office, which would explain why she wasn't there previous days. She's not very happy (I can't blame her), Corey try to calm her down telling her 'our story'. She drives away and we start packing our things together. A little later when we gather our things outside, pick up the trash (most of it from the Hawaiian families who comes every weekend for BBQ) this guy walk up with a raised hand. Great I'm thinking.. We put on our touristy smiles and greet him. Haha good one. He screams at us before we again can tell 'our story'; that we're just there for the day snorkeling with the turtles, keeping our stuff in the tent since Hilo is the rainy side of the island. He make a 180 twist and become super cool. Phew! It's all good, and we don't get in trouble. To our defense, we kind of took the trail before the trespassing sign, so technically we could have been fine. Anyways, fairytale ends with a happily ever after.

We head back to four miles with all our packing trying to figure out where to go next. We chilled with some more new locals, got snacks and had a beer. They head home as the sun goes down and Del & CO pick us up for the Ava bar. We head down town, and see the crowd from far. The tiny calm little bar is over crowded with all kinds of people. What fascinates me the most is all the hippies! Haha, they were so cool with all their clothes (talk about mix n match girls!) and the dancing and the hula-hoops. The music was great, but tonight we didn't go for any Ava, it was enough to just watch the whole thing, besides, I don't know if we would have made it in and out with something actually still in the shells! Way to crowded, but I enjoyed it - like always! :)

After the Ava we meet Matt for the first time since arrival. He'd rent a Jeep and we guided him to the lava in exchange for a ride. Parteeeey! Second night at the lava flow! WOOOPIIIEE!
As we are heading out to the flow this time everything already look different and the flows have moved a lot! We keep on walking, it feel way further this time, when all of a sudden we feel a dramatic heat change. It doesn't come with the winds from the flow, it comes from underneath us! We all stop, freeze and look down. What we see is cracks everywhere and lava shining through!

Again the flow was amazing, and we got bunches of cool pictures, this time Corey got a cool shot with the lava flow and the moon together - I'm so curious about how they all turned out! I'll update the blog with pictures later on.
Later we learned that the cops showed up after we left to arrest/chase away people and they haven't left since. We ended up having some really good luck there, enjoying the lava two nights in a row!

We couldn't stay as long today, the winds were blowing against us and the smell was awful! You could really feel how unhealthy it was to breath in and knowing it's poisoness you don't wanna stick around. When coming back we decide to just camp out on a field, since it got to late and dark to find a new site. Tiered of all the rain and overcast in Hilo we thought it would be time for some sun - after all, we were in Hawaii, it's supposed to be sunny! With that we made plans to hit up Kona the next day.

Day 9 ~ My two dreams in Hawaii comes true!

TODAY WAS THE DAY -


Today was the day when the two things I wanted to see and do in Hawaii happened!
Just like that - without me planning and for free! (I have to add that, cause the total would have been about $200 if I had paid for it!!)

We woke up early in the morning, trying to stretch out for as long as possible, and headed out to eat breakfast on the beach. Oh, we really had a good spot people! While we are sitting there eating our Nutella sandwiches, PBJ's and chips, no less then three sea turtles swim in to our bay and crawl up on the beach. Corey grabs his camera and head over to them immediately. Finally he get's to see his first wild sea turtles up close. I grab my snorkeling gear and slowly slide in to the water praying they wont be afraid of my paparazzi friend.

Slowly they get back in to the water after posing a while for Corey and I get to swim with them!! BAM!! Dream coming true right there! No one back home who talked to me before I left, missed how I would do anything, pay anything to swim with turtles. And here I were, randomly camping by their breakfast bay in Hawaii. And there they were! I swam with them slowly. Just watched them. The sun came out and the light just glistened as the water moved above us. They were so beautiful. Just chilling there. Floating around slowly eating their breakfast - even yawning haha! Everything is so different when you snorkel. Everything is so quiet, time stand still and it's just so relaxing. You feel that you could swim there forever. I test my luck and reach out to touch her, and she let me! She is so big, what I had hoped, but still more then I had dared to imagine. I am in freaking turtle heaven just touching, staring, and touching again. Afraid to scare her, just trying to glide next to her. I finally swim with my beloved turtles! It might sound like I am having a crush here, but they really are my favorite animals! I was prepared to pay $100 to swim with them, and now, they were joining us for breakfast. And I got to approach them on my own, for free! I snap some pictures, Corey join me and I get some pictures of them together. Then he make me so jealous, I can't remember when I had that feeling before; he push his luck further and hold her shell. I snap more pictures as she take off. I never thought a turtle could move so fast. She gives him a ride and my heart beat rises to 210 miles an hour! He did it. I just looked at him, so happy, we both were. It was amazing. I can't describe what it felt like. I was finally snorkeling with turtles and I had a new best friend to share it with, someone who now was as excited as me!

The turtles took off and we snorkeled around a little more and got out of the water with the biggest smiles. Happy and excited we put all our stuff back at the camp site and headed over to see my friend Jessy at Four Miles. My, he would love this story! Jessy was hanging out with his three year old daugther Anela (which mean Angel in Hawaiian) and I finally got to meet her. He talked so much about her the past few days since I met him and his friends. She was super cute but really shy. I watched her and Jessy play and I missed my boys so much! Later when Jessy went to take Anela home I called them. I swear I lit up the beach more then the sun itself when I got to talk to Liam and Aidan! It felt like I had been gone for a 100 years, they both had so much to tell me. Hugs and kisses to the sweetest boys!


After chilling at four miles we went back to check on our stuff. We walked slowly, taking our time. We played around and walked through a swamp. It was fun. Everyday, we had the conversation how awesome it is that you can walk anywhere in your swim clothes without being scared off  alligators, snakes, spiders and other creepy, scary and most of all; DANGEROUS creatures. We enjoyed the sinking sand and the cool trees - more cool pictures. When we arrived to our spot we got a little nervous, there was several families there. Saturdays and Sundays, this place, obviously weren't very secluded. Well well, we chance it and walk up to our stuff, like we know what we're doing. One of the families end up inviting us to their BBQ. They didn't have to ask us twice, with lack of cooking supplies, we would never turn down a free hot meal! It was good! Some of us take a swim, just playing around in the water and then we talk about all different kind of things and try to nestle in our big interest to see the lava flow. In a sneaky way we manage to invite them, to take us, to see the lava! Ha! Skills! We exchange numbers, deciding to leave 2 hours later, after dark. Bingo!


We relaxed at 'our house', a house on the other side of the bay which no one seemed to use. Some people said it was empty, others said an old lady lived there. It looked like a conference house/office though. It was super nice with the ocean in the front and a beach next to it. I mean, who wouldn't like to have a beach house as an office? Anyways, the power was on with out lets outside, the water was on as well with a hose screaming for us to take showers. So that's were we were hanging out, talking, chilling and blogging, until our new friends; Tim, Beau and Shaleia. Shaleia from Guam, is Tim's pregnant girl friend. They were just visiting the island, turns out she had no idea about the lava. So with six months twins in her tummy she joins in! Crazy!


The ride to the flow ended up being very long, with several stops for no need to explain reasons. Our top though must have been the FLAT TIRE! Of course we need a flat tire on every island! (Also, I got a flat tire with the boys the day before they left for Indiana and me soon about to go to Hawaii) I mean what is up with my luck in paradise?!?


We soon realize that we don't have the tools needed; the freaking jack is missing! Tim and Beau start calling people with no luck.Well now, Sara had a plan this night; she was going to see flowing lava - LIVE! No time to lose, I needed to get there, NOW! I stepped out on the road signaling with my cell phone and soon a car pulled over. Skills ;) Then we finally got everything needed and start switching the tire. And here's for you MOM:
Just because my mom freaked out on me last time when I got a flat tire on the Jeep, I had to do this. Just to prove to her that I too, could freaking switch a tire (without putting the jack on wrong so the entire car falls down and the side mirror hit my daugthers head - MOM!)  For some reason she gave me a hard time last time, and this time there wouldn't be any room for that! Also, since I do know how to do it, I rather had my hands in the mess too, not just  letting some strangers do it. I know it was their car - but I was sitting in it too, and my new Bestie! At least I would know one tire would make it all the way to the lava. Just kidding! Corey for some reason brings out his tripod and start cracking up making it all become a photo shoot while we are three people working on the tire. These guys did have some weired ideas though, good thing there was a woman there to straighten up the situation! ;)


We keep driving with Shaleia giving her dear boyfriend a hard time about driving, it was hilarious! She burned him so good!
Anyways, we soon reach our road and since it's Hawaii we get bombed with "KAPU"-signs, trespassings and warnings. We still meet cars and pass some parked once. Dude, we really needed to get in to the flow, what's the difference between trespassing and trespassing? We keep driving. When we reach the dead end we see the flow in the distance everywhere. It lights up like fire out in the black fields. AWESOME! We step out in the drizzling rain, cussing about the cold, but happy that Hawaiian rain almost never last longer then 5-10 minutes. 


We all start climbing out on the lava field. It's crazy, we are all so excited! Imagine that we were walking on new born ground! That we were walking on ground that might not have been walked on yet. Cool stuff, very cool stuff! We get closer and closer to the red lights, everything is so quiet, except the crunshing under our shoes. Like frosty snow, or cereals haha! The rocky ground looks like it just been poured out over the landskape. Like Pele (The Volcano Godess) just got done with some of her cooking. It looks so soft and creamy, but don't be fooled, lava is super sharp! I fall and hurt my leg but I am to excited to think about it, I have to get out there - Fast! (like it would go away huh? stupid me...) Finally out by the flow, I just stare. It's amazing, more than amazing, I don't know where to begin. It's really hot, the lava is still flowing slowly on the ground. I look at Corey and I just know he is as amazed by Mother Nature as I am. We start taking pictures, just admiring and praising nature for how beautiful this is. Watching earth being born, it's way cool, way way way cool! 


After a while we loosen up a little, take some really cool jump pictures in front of the flow and just enjoy it. A lady hands us a long wooden stick and we even pick up some of the lava. It was so hot!  I tried to cover my face both when I picked up the lava and when I reached out to take close up pictures. Just being a few feet away. Again; so cool! I was afraid that the lens on my camera would damage from the heat, but I was quick and the pictures turned out fair enough good with my camera and cell phone. But I can't wait to get the pictures we took with Corey's camera. Those pictures are breath taking!


I wish we could just have stayed there, camped out, watched the lava flow, the moon and the stars. 


But it became time to leave way to soon, the air by a volcano is not very healthy to breath in, especially not for a pregnant woman who just hiked in the middle of the night!
We went back to the car and cheered with a shot or two, still up in the blue over what we just had seen. 


Back at the tent I realized that my clumsiness out at the field was a little worse then I thought, My legs were stained in blood and I see this deeper scratch. Aooouuuiii! As much as I hope not to get a scar across my leg, it's kind of cool to have it from new born ground out from a lava field :D

Day 8 ~ Big Island; The grand tour

As I mentioned earlier it was time for another Island tour. The scooter gang, now upgraded(?) in a Mustang, cruised, no wait, we rushed and raced, around the Big Island. I won't promise anything, but you might be able to read about us in Guinness World Records 2010(!).

We woke up in crack dawn and got all or things packed down and luckily it fit in Johns tiny convertible. Then we cuddled down in the back seat, or packed ourselves in? It was no leg room for what so ever, thank the gods I'm short! some of us still trying to wake up but that part didn't take too long. As soon as we hit the big road it hit us back! I'm just giving ya all one tip; IF SITTING IN THE BACK SEAT IN A CONVERTIBLE CAR, EVEN IF IN HAWAII, BUNDLE UP WITH JACKETS AND BLANKETS!!! Not to forget about wearing sunglasses! Omg, it was so freaking freezing COLD! and girls, put your hair up! (I had already done that miss once on the scooter, my poor poor hair...) Well now, we shouldn't complain tho, right Corey? We did get a free ride, with amazing company, around the whole island! We got good views and great shoots on; volcanoes, mountains, valleys, the ocean, beaches (green, white and black) and the endless lava fields. They were pretty cool actually. Nothing but black rock as long as you could see. And people had brought out white rocks to write their names and short messages. It really was awesome, but not as awesome as I thought it would be. I thought the Big Islands scenery would be more breath taking. It was great to see everything in speed once, knowing that we would have a lot more time to explore it later on. (Though, it was super de dooooper cold in the back seat guys, you all should have gotten a price cut for them not having a 'real' car for you! ;)

As the day went on the temperature changed. A LOT! To my delight! It felt so good to hit the 'Kona side', you have no idea! Finally the clouds and the overcast was gone: Aloha Sunshine! (We arrived and lived on 'Hilo side' for during our first part of our stay)

The high lights for me

• The temperature going up !!!
• Waipio Valley look out. It looked really nice, and it really made me wanna camp there. And hike! It was very green and had a black beach which looked empty.  
• The City of Refuge. It is the most famous and best preserved of Hawaii's ancient places of refuge and have a lots of old wooden statues. It is also next to the water and you have a big chance to see sea turtles - which we did! Way smaller then 'our' turtles though. A sunset here would have been really cool with all the statues.
• The black sand beach, was nice and worth a stop. The sand was like Black Russian Caviar! It was beautiful and we got some really nice shoots. Listening to the legends, of course we didn't bring any "bad-luck-black-sand" with us... though, I really wanted too. A sunset here would have been AMAZING, and amazing doesn't cut it. I wish we would have had time to swim. THAT would have been cool. 
• The Volcano Park. On our way back we paid to drive around in the volcano park. It was also nice, but we were way to rushed. We missed the lava tubes, which we learned later were really cool stuff, so that kinda sucks. 

We had to be back around 5pm, cause John and his roomie had to give back the car and catch their flight back to Oahu. Not cool that you only stayed for one night guys! The more the merrier, you should have stayed longer! But thanks for coming out and THANK YOU for taking us on the Big Island Grand Tour! I really really appreciate it! Even if it was cold in the back seat ;) Hugs!

After having Chinese  food and giving our good byes, we got dropped of at 'our spot' again. Guess? Other families trespassed our (trespassed) spot! How rude!  So we got nervous about leaving or stuff there - or putting our camp up. We decided to call Del and Jake and see what they were up to, after Corey had made som PBJ's at our new temporary spot, which would be right on the street..

Del and his friend was headed for dinner, so we joined them and had a few drinks. Ahhhh, I had a well earned mudslide and a even more well earned Strawberry Daiquiri, I can't explain how tasty they were! Unbelievable! Mmm, like a kid empty a bag of candy I made sure to get every drop of this.

Del told us about Cava (Ava in Hawaiian) and when we left the restaurant we ended up stumbling on to the bar keeper of an Ava bar. We had to try!

There is no taboo in Hawaii when it comes to all the strong beverages, tobacco, and, like Corey chose to refer to it, funny smelling cigarettes, that appears every where around you on the islands. I really mean everywhere and around everybody at any time of the day (in public, around kids, pregnant women, old people and so on). At first I was skeptic to what Ava actually was and for it's consequences, I'll try to explain what it is and our experience.

The bar keeper gave us a long, funny, interesting speech about Ava and it's history. Ava is a cold herbal drink made out of a root from a pepper plant. It numbs your mouth and your tongue and make you feel relaxed. Ava is really common and popular in Hawaii and in the Pacific. It's always been popular here, but it didn't get known to us in the 'western' world until later through Captain James Cook and his crew. It is the most sold intoxicating drink after alcohol. A big difference is that Ava doesn't really get you drunk. You can still drive etc. The bar keeper let us try a shell (coconut shell) of Ava each, then we got to try out different extracts, cause I asked if you couldn't mix it with something. He said there is different types of extracts and Ava, for example a grape extract. We tried of course and that was a little bit stronger since it wasn't 'watered' down. He said that these other extracts only were for the royalties back in the day. "No joke! Of course they would keep the better tasting stuff to themselves." I said while debating with myself whether my tongue was getting number or not. It was fun and very interesting. Ava itself, hmm, it doesnt taste good - and it doesn't taste bad. I guess, it kind of have a muddy taste to it. Like something you just pulled in your garden? I guess it sounds pretty bad.. I don't know it's hard to explain. TRY! :) We also got to try a spiky interesting fruit. It was chewy, soft, slimy and super tasty! It was so funny to chew on! I will not describe what if felt like to chew this interesting thing! I already tried to explain to Corey once and some things better just be said once. Haha, but if you see spiky fruit when you hit up an Ava bar - TRY it! While drinking the Ava we had to greet it and each other, splash it, clap our hands and stuff. It was fun! I was so in to it, so when I later asked for the rest room the bar keeper almost had me greeting the rest room as well. Silly people. Silly me.
We got invited to come back on Monday when they would have $3 shells instead of $5 and a live band. Sounded great to me. We thanked and said Aloha.

It was a great day and a great evening. We got dropped off at our old site and all the families were gone since long. And no one had destroyed or occupied our spot. That would have sucked, cause we had nowhere else to go and it was really dark outside with only the moon to guide us. We set camp in the dark and then it was time to sleep after a long eventful day.

Day 7 ~ A chill and relaxed day

I woke up pretty early in a empty tent. Matt was still missing. My first thought was; "Wtf where is he? Not again" (see Matt is a pro on falling asleep outside and not remember. Then comes my second thought; "I'm on vacation, I'm not gonna babysit a 23 year old." And boom, I started my day with tearing down my campsite and bother Corey. Who doesn't like early mornings, and he said he just had his worst night of sleep in Hawaii. Poor guy.. Well well, no time to waste, I made sure to let the sun shine in his face while blocking the fresh air in the entrance so that he would have to get out of bed to get oxygen! I'm so nice, I know.

After a tiny breakfast (a Kellogg's snack bar) I decide to do some laundry before check out. When we finally are done Matt comes along, newly awake from some random bench around the hostel. He is a bit dizzy from last night, and guess what? He decides to do laundry! Gaaah! That kid know's how to push it! I hiked off in the, determined to get to our camp site. You all know my hawaiian luck by now; I took of in the wrong freaking direction. After walking down the road, realizing I was at the complete wrong road, a car turns around and pull over. It's Russel! He gave me a ride back to the camp spot, gave me snacks, candy and Arizona ice. I arrived in good time before Corey and Matt, who had to walk all the way - without snacks. Sorry, I just felt a little bit of victory at the moment.

We hide our stuff in the jungle, and make sure that can see it from the trail.  Matt takes of with Russel to check out another camp site while Corey and I decide to just chill and relax. We meet some locals, who I immediately make friends with and we hang out around them for a while. It gave Corey a good kick and so I think he enjoyed his first day on the Big Island.

When we got back we had our first back slam when it came to food; the Hawaiian squirrel-rat had stolen our food! They ate straight through two loafs of bread! :( And to cheer us up some more, Corey saw one of them eating in front of us, like joining in for lunch kinda thing. Then all sudden he Corey took off, yeah, to what? Exactly what was the plan? To get it back? :s I laughed so bad! Anyways, it was funny, but sucked at the same time. After all the mongoose's (as their real name is) had stolen our breakfast (lunch/dinner/and night snack) just like that! 

Later that evening, Corey and I meet up with John and his room mate Matt. The two of them just flew in from Oahu and they picked us up for a night out. The car rental place were out of the car they'd booked, so they got upgraded to a mustang convertible - brand new of course! The guys were way more impressed than me, but it did feel nice to ride around in a nice car instead of standing on the side of the road hitching..!

We went back fair enough early since our friends were supposed to pick us up the following morning at 6 am (to Corey's delight) for the grand round tour of the island. Matt decided to stay at the hostel, so again, I had my luxurious  junior tent all to myself!

Day 6 ~ The first Locals and The Big Island get a new visitor

We wake up pretty early, I check out from my room saying that I will stay one more night at the camping. Said and done, all my bookings at the Big Island disappeared right there and then, from tomorrow morning I would be 'homeless'. Matt and I set up the tent and here's the next awesome surprise; we took the wrong tent out of the two, and I were now stuck in a Junior beginners tent! Imagine all the luck I have had this far on my trip?! Or just try to imagine 2 grown ups, and Matt's big freaking duffel bag in there! I had more then two weeks to go, this all better turn around - quickly!

After putting up the tent and charmed our way in to keeping our luggage in the old rooms we head out to find our own camping spots. Also debating whether we should exchange our tent or get a second one. We end up in the jungle by the beach. Perfect. I would wake up in paradise every morning! 

One of our front yard views

Ha! Beat that Arnott's! We kept walking along the beach and through the jungle just to enter a tiny fish farm. It looked old and abandoned so we walked on the old walls. And little did we know! We found two big sea turtles just laying there chilling!! Out with the camera like any other crazy tourist. Finally I got to see my beloved turtles up close! One of the major reasons I wanted to go to Hawaii was so that I could swim with sea turtles. And here they were, just waiting for Me! (At least let me believe that was the case, I'm in my happy bubble right now)

She was so beautiful!

We kept on walking after enjoying the turtles and we meet some of the locals. Now, this was the best thing that could have happened to us (except the turtles of course). We introduced ourselves and made friends with Jessy, and Russel with friends. They always come down to the beach (called 4 Miles by the locals) to fish. I saw Jessy go out in the water with a big net and I ran after in my gym shoes. No freaking way on earth that I would take off my shoes on lava rocks. That lesson I already learned earlier this morning. Lava rocks are the only thing I walked on this far that actually painfully hurt my feet. Put me on gravel or in a pine tree forest and I'll be fine, but on lava rocks - I don't think so! Anyways, I spend a good amount of time out on the cliffs learning how to throw a fishing net hawaiian style. And I made it! On my first try even! It was so much fun! The net itself was really really heavy and after a while I have to give up for the day. I swim back in together with Jessy's puppy Maka (which mean Eye in Hawaiian), she's so pretty! Back on the beach we got to try their lunch. Local raw fish in special home made sauces. I was really skeptic to try it, afraid to get food poisoned to be honest, but it was great! Even the raw tuna was good, and so you all know; I don't eat tuna! I was chocked and took another bite. And another...


Class II. we walk over to a fish farm, which is right across the street, and watch all these crazy big fishes! What caught my attention though, was the coconut tree and the Macadamia nuts. Russel taught me how to open them and Lord they were so tasty! We also brought a coconut back with us to 4 miles and we got a lesson in how to open them by hand, or Loco (local style) as they say. After opening the first part we start a new recording, so the first crack you see on the video is fake, just to make my new found friends happy. They really wanted the whole thing on the video, but trust me, Jessy was fighting with the coconut before it opened up for him. It's super hard to open, but it was really worth it! Matt stood on the side and laughed at me the whole time - pssshyyy, I would have liked to see Him open a coconut! Haha. The juice/water inside was so tasty and the fruit meat was amazing as well. I don't like coconut really, but I totally killed this one!

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After enjoying the fruit Israel, one of the local kids (you saw him in the video) taught me how to fish with his fishing pole. He's a really smart kid and I really missed my Liam and Aidan while hanging out with him and some of the other even younger kids. Usually it's them teaching me all the cool stuff. Jessy joined us and showed us a new place to find turtles, and right on, there it was. Just relaxing in the bay!

Matt had a little to much to drink, so I walked him back home when everyone were done at the beach and I dumped him in the tent. Now it was just to wait for one more hour; Corey, my new best friend, had made a last minute decision  today, to fly over to the Big Island as well! Awesome! I couldn't have been happier, especially not at this point! Also, John would be joining us Friday-Saturday with his room mate. Perfect! 

Corey arrived 1½ hour later on a hitch. He signed in quickly and we went for shopping and dinner with his new found friends Del and Jake. Del used to live on the Big Island when he was younger, but now he lives on Oahu and Jake moved out to Oahu from the Main land not too long ago. They were both very chill and laid back. We had a great evening together and Del insisted to buy us the dinner. Thank you again Del!

Back at the camping Matt was nowhere to be found, we chilled for a bit and just blogged and made short updates to our families back home. Then it was time to use the tent for the first time!!

Day 5 ~ Manoa Falls and Island hopping

Today was another early wake up, like I said earlier; a 24 hour rental is a 24 hour rental. I met up with John and Corey and we headed out to hike the Manoa Falls. Of course with our luck this far on the scooters, there is no public parking. We chain our scooters together by making a mega chain out of our locks and hope for them not to tow away the hole street sign ("Park at own risk, towing on owners expence", or something) we're using as our parking spot. It's a shorter hike up to the falls and the scenery was amazing, Mother Nature sure did a good job at this place. Stepping on to the trail, we immediately feel the heat and moister from the rain forest. I started of with climbing up in this giant rain forest tree for a quick pose before we started our hike. ´To my delight; the trail was super MUDDY! Weeeeiii! Running up in my new gym shoes, I do good keeping them white, until this dog from nowhere step on my foot.... Well well, it would have happened some how during that hike anyways, no doubt.
We reach the falls, and it was not what I expected. It was a tiny ass fall and the scenery was nothing different comparing to what we saw while hiking up. The water fall about 150 feet down to a small pool, which we to my disappointment can't enter. We snap a few fast pictures and then we head down the mud slide. I run before my friends and start sneak around in the bamboo forest. My matching skills with a blue dress and white shoes gives me away and I head back to the trail again.

Our rides are still safe at the parking lot (Like they actually would have towed the whole thing lol) and we decided to drive up along a area called Round Top. It was a nice last drive on the scooters. Every time we came to steep hills I turned my engine off and just rolled. It was so nice and quiet. And so fast! I rolled miles on my scooter, proudly saving Nature.

We got back to the scooter rental place at 11.10 am (they were supposed to be back at 11.30am) we then realized that we completely had forgotten to ride out to Walmart to buy snorkeling gear. We talked to the staff and sweet as they were they gave us an extra hour!  Now it was just one more rush; to head back from Walmart (with too much things on the scooter) to the hostel; it was time for my check out at 12.00pm...

No worries, checked out at 12.30 I continued my repacking in the lobby down stairs. I forgot to tell you all that the hostel it self was amazing. So many crazy fun people come and go there. They have a flat screen TV and a sit down lobby/chill area, outside under a roof and there is people working and moving in/out 24 / 7. Every night (except Mondays) they offer a $4 BBQ - Perfect!

Today was my last day in Oahu, I had a booked flight to the Big Island and I had totally forgotten about it while having so much fun earlier this morning. With two hours of wait before I had to leave for the air port we decided to hit up the beach. It was nice, we were super exhausted and it was the first time I could lay down at and play on the beach since my arrival. My two hours were too short - of course and I had to get back.

I met up with Matt for the first time since we arrived and we took of to the air port. You think it went smooth this time? Noep. We took a cab out and got dropped of at the wrong side of the air port. Waited for a shuttle and luckily made it right on time. While waiting for our flight we hear our names in the speaker; the gates had been changed and we had missed our boarding. Awesome. This lady takes us on a golf/luggage car and we race out to the plane. The flight it self was fast and easy. And cold, the AC steamed all the way up to the ceiling. Anyways, do I have to say that we were the last people off the plane as well?

After chitchatting with some guys from the Jehovah's Witnesses (why on earth would you stand on a tiny airport at 10 pm making 'comercial' for tiered tourists for your beliefs? ooohhh..), we jump in to this old cab car from the 60's or so and head out to Arnott's Camping and Lodging. Of course we will have more troubles this night;
After checking in for about 15 minutes the lady at the front desk says; "What color tent do you have?" I choke a laugh saying; "Tent? I don't have a tent." I start laughing and just put my hands up to my face. Great just what I needed. It said; bed and room online, not person per tent! She gives us a deal on a room for the night. We laugh and put away our stuff. No way I was going to pay 2-3 times more for my entire stay at the Big Island! Noep, 10.30 pm we walked two miles downtown for dinner and then another two miles to Walmart. Sara was buying a tent. I found a tent for $20 and a sleeping bag and pillow for another $18. Great, that was less then the amount I would have payed for 1½ night in a shared dorm. Walking out from Walmart with tent and food we notice the rain. Awesome. No way; time for the first real hitch in my life. And I did good, the second guy walking out picked us up. He also showed us some good secluded spots for free camping! What a day.. what a Night...

Day 4 ~ A crazy round trip on a green flash!

I don't think I have to describe how slow my wake up this morning was? Well well, got my clothes on and a few toasts pressed down in my tummy. Corey and John showed up and all my thoughts about sleeping in were gone. I had all energy in the world and we went next door to rent our scooters. $52 for a 24 hour scooter rental and with a full tank to start off with. I eyed the green scooter outside, sooo geeky but still so awesome! Come to Mama!

A fun side note; While signing our papers Corey and I start 'fighting' about who's copying who with last names, wasting time fooling around. I was a 110% sure that he was messing around when he wrote Corey Hansen on his rentals, but it turned out that I for the first time in years and years had walked in to someone with the same last name!

I raced out to make sure I would get the scooter I wanted. Of course I got the red one. The wrong one. Time to  put on the charm and switch keys. Ding! There I were, with my green scooter, all set to go - and Corey had the girlie red one (tho I'm sure he thought it was cool, I just had a thing for the green one). After a quick tour around the block things felt pretty cool and off we went. We caught up to John by a look out off Diamond Head. There we took some cool pictures of the gang and our rides. Then John (of course) get out a map and it was time to really start the adventure.

It was so much fun riding around on those things, we crossed lanes, raced and cruised along the coast and it was extremely beautiful. The sun was shining and the bays and cliffs we passed looked amazing. On our left side we passed mountains and valleys and on our right side we had the ocean spreading out with all its waves and the beautiful beaches. I saw so many places where I just wanted to stop and freeze forever. It was gorgeous! The cherry on top was when I looked down in on of the bays and saw my my first ginormous wild hawaiian sea turtle! I was like; Woooaahhhh LOOOOK it's a TURTLE, omg why am I up here and not down there????!!!

After a few hours ride we stopped to swim, it was super nice! But no time to relax in the water - we had a schedule; Sunset at North Shore!
North Shore was beautiful and we arrived right on time and took some really awesome jumping pictures in the sunset. I can't wait for us to get home and get all the pictures on my computer! So excited!

We decided to cut through the mountains on our way home, and silly us; we didn't check the gas before we left. Half way up the hill Corey and I realize that we are running on almost empty tanks! Woaaaa! We kept driving and finally we reached a town with houses. But for some reason there's fences everywhere. Kicker! Guess what?! We are riding through a freaking military base! And there is nowhere for outsiders to fill up gas! But they are nice enough to share every single red light they have with us..! Nervously we kept driving as the sun went down. We passed a Dolé Banana Plantation but still no gas station. Getting real nervous now, we head up past another hill, and there it is! Pushing our scooters up the hill on empty tanks, we, guess what? yep, we hit another freaking red light! After filling up the gas (me with some trouble; ended up trying different cards and spilling half a gallon on my feet) we are, again, all set to go.

It was dark on our way down hills and we rode along with a few biker guys. I looked at them and challenged with my scooter and off we went! They beat me to the next light which turned red. I cruised up on my scooter with a big smile challenging again. The guy laughs and all that echoes in my head is the car joke from back home in VA ; "How does it feel to pay so much more money for a ride, just to reach the next red light before a scooter girl?" We kept hitting a few lights and then they took off. I guess I lost that one.

Corey had been complaining about his scooter for a while. Saying it went slower and slower, and that it's all jacked up when he turns. We decided to have a race and pump up the scooters to max, to see who could go the fastest (just like kids, I know..). Of course the lady won! By far, with good music on my iPOD I just blew away and they both disappeared  in the dark behind me. I kept following the Honolulu signs but all of a sudden I realized I had taken the wrong Honolulu ramp! I was out on a four lane high way with no street lights and a speed limit over 45. Riding along for a bit trying to cross all the lanes, I finally pull over to call the guys to see where they are. Surprise; My phone is in Corey's scooter! I'm standing alone in the dark with honking cars around me. Great. I wasn't worried, thinking I'd just pull a Miss Sweden and find my way back some how. When I was about to take off and complete my, probably somewhat stupid plan, there They where! The scooter guys to my rescue! Brining out their iPhones with Google maps, and we found a new way home. The rest of the trip home was in a good spirit. I got a kick with super much energy, sang and danced my way home. Unforgettable how great it felt! When we got real close to our place Corey gave up on his bike and pulled over. I offered to try it, and it was crazy. Just jumping and hacking. I turned around laughing; "Maybe you got a flat tire?" We check and very true, Mr. have been driving from the high way on a flat tire!! lmao! phhheeew, it was so funny. We called the rental guys and they headed down with a new scooter for him (after he pushed it, I don't know how many blocks - laughing again!)

John decided to head back to his hotel, so we smuggled in his scooter at the hostel parking lot and then Corey and I took off again. If you have a 24 hour rental you have a TWENTY-FOUR HOUR rental!! You don't waste time. Now Corey got a sporty scooter as well and we headed out on the streets of Waikiki again. After cruising around some more, we reached a private beach in a distanced park and decided to check it out. We laid down under some bushes with Hawaiian flowers (God they smell so gooood!!) and just reflected over the day. We kept watching the stars (which, if anyone happen to miss that, is one of my favorite things in the world to do!) and discuss the possibilities and ways of photographing them. I have never had a camera good enough to take pictures of the stars, now my friend promised me that he would teach me on his. Guess who's getting a new camera when she get's back to DC? For sure!

Day 3 ~ Pearl Harbor and a long day in Waikiki

Today I woke up and went down stairs for a small breakfast; the hostel offers toast, tea and coffee. One by one my friends woke up and joined me. Corey showed up and had a quick free bite as well, then we took The Bus to Pearl Harbor. It's free to walk in there since it is a memorial. But if you go there, remember that you can't bring any bags, purses or camera bags. You can either leave it in the car (if you have one) or check it in for $3. Fair enough, I guess they have to collect money some how. The boat tour out to the memorial is free as well. There are other tours you can do if you want, but they charge you. I think its enough to just walk around in the harbor, watch the movie they show, and take the boat out to Arizona. There are many great places to take pictures and you still get to see everything, even though you might not be able to walk inside of it. It's cool to have been there. To have seen the ships and the missiles and put some extra thought in to the reality of Pearl Harbor. That it's not only something you read about in school or a movie you watch. We got tickets for the boat out to the Arizona monument and thats when you think a little bit deeper about where you are. That Arizona is a grave. That her crew fought for their lives in there, when time was ticking and they couldn't get out as the water filled the ship. Imagine what a cruel death. To fight for your life to get out, surrounded by your friends who are as panicked as you, and nothing helps, so you slowly drown. Some people were saying that the US let Japan attack Pearl Harbor so that they would have an excuse to declare war. I don't really believe in that. I don't want to.
To see the monument was a bit different then I had thought. I guess I didn't have to many expectations, but still. As we stood there taking pictures, just watching her laying underneath us, we could see small bubbles of oil slowly leaking out. They were giving the surface a glance of a rainbow. It's like she's been crying since December 7th 1941.

We caught The Bus and managed to get a free ride back. Skills!
At the bus stop we saw and talked to John for the first time.
While on the bus, we decided to jump off in China Town and explore the shops and the fresh market. Again we bump in to John (reading his big map at the bus stop), and this time we actually introduce ourselves. He was about to check out China Town and some historic sites, so we joined him. We checked out the last queen of Hawaii's palace and it's surroundings and then we headed in to the shopping areas after swinging like Tarzan in some cool trees. The roots of the trees were growing from the branches down to the ground. Do I have to write that it was the most fun thing that day so far?!

Then we entered ROSS, good old ROSS, which is everywhere in Hawaii! Where you find a Walmart, you find a ROSS. Actually I think we found three times more ROSS stores then Walmarts. LOVED IT! If I ever go back to Hawaii, with a bigger suitcase, I will shop like a crazy girl for dresses and shoes! But not this time, it was to early in the trip to start shopping. We got what we needed; sun screen, hats and sunglasses. All for $15! Back in Waikiki ONE hat is $15, so guess who left the store with a smile up to her ears?

Now it was snack time! We went in to a small smoothie shop and picked out our shakes. Corey's was coolest by far, a super pink dragon fruit shake. And he'll remember it forever, cause I helped him stain one of his favorite shirts! (Sorry about that.. again.) Anyways, we kept on walking with our tasty drinks and hit up a less pleasant part of China Town. We ended up in the 'Bum Park' and it was sort of creepy. 3, 2, 1 and we were outta there. To see as much as possible, we decided to walk back to Waikiki instead of taking The Bus. The walk ended up being long and pretty boring. There isn't to much to see in between C.T and Waikiki. I advice you to take The Bus! It's only $2.50 and if you wear flops, it's definitely worth it, save your poor feet! It's not worth walking the 4 miles, especially not if you're making them into 6 miles while walking in circles... (I mean, not that I ever would do that.. I'm just saying..right.)

With aching feet we decided to see the sunset from the Hilton resorts lagoon. (Girls, 6 miles in the wrong flops is worse then a night in the wrong heels!) Then all of a sudden we find ourselves in the middle of a recording for Hawaii 5.O. Awesome or what?! Instead of walking by, we join the crowed that is gathered around the up side down crashed car and we play along. The camera was rolling and we got to be in the crowd! Yay! Need to find that episode, maybe we're in it! One of the actors were the guy who play Jin-Soo Kwon from LOST! We saw him act and we even stood right next to him - snap that we didn't get a picture together! He's not really my favorite actor, but hey, actor as actor. When you just walk in to them at the street - it's cool whoever it is! A little bombed about the fact that we didn't catch that last picture, but still excited about the fact that we were there we keep walking around in the Hilton resort. Missing the sunset of course. To end our night we hit up an all you can eat buffet; Smorgy, well earned after our long day. Resting our feet and learning how to properly pronounce Smörgåsbord we filled our table with plates and drinks and just ate all we could. Did I mention that we only had 30 minutes to eat before closing? ... I am happy there are no pictures of us eating that night..

The boys called the night and I headed back to the hostel, we had decided to meet up early next morning and rent scooters! Wooopie! Did I end up going to bed early? Pssshhhy! No no no. I met up with Adam, and again, it was time for a midnight swim. It wasn't as nice as my first night in Hawaii, but oh it felt good to soak my poor little feet in the ocean. Adam is from Idaho, and he recently flew over to Honolulu to try his luck finding a job.

Benjamin and Philip at Lulu's

Second time back at the hostel I talked to the counter guy and asked him a billion questions about where to find my turtles. Booom, I stumbled in to a new group of people and zip zap, it's time to hit up the reggae and the bars! Waikiki is supposed to be Hawaii's Miami. Well, not tonight, last call at 1 am when we arrive. Outside Lulu's we end up meeting some new people (again) and we head to their hotel room for a private little party. We had some drinks and went back to the beach. It wasn't as fun anymore, I found myself missing Corey and John so I called it the night and headed back home. 5.30 am I reached my room and set the alarm for 8 am. No doubt that I sucked every moment I could out of my second day in Hawaii.

At the hotel room before the beach