Day 2 -Chalfont St Giles

The flight was on time and even faster than I remember from the past. 8hrs 20 ministers. Are planes getting faster? We did go on a Boeing 777 which is massive. While watching the entertainment you can click on a button at any time to get flight speed, altitude and progress. The meal was adequate. I should never have checked on line to see what economy plus and business class passengers were getting. Oh we'll it's not like I don't eat we'll every other day!
Lisa and Paul picked us up in the Bentley. How can I describe it? It's like a Bond car. I think we actually went faster than the Boeing 777. If it wasn't for traffic we could have made the 30 minute drive in about 5 mins. Paul said in can go up to 200mph. Seriously that's got to be getting close to the sound barrier!
Rhys, Jake, Raif , Gabe and grandad were waiting fir us at the 17th Century barn they call home. I will post photos once I future out how to get them off the camera and in to the iPad. The kids are great. Rhys is over 6ft tall. He's  nursing an athletics injury right now so off his usual rigorous trading schedule. Jake has grown tons too and is quite quiet. He's probably just a little shy because I haven't seen him in almost 5 years. A lifetime for a 14 yr old. raif is also doing great. Again, much taller and not drawing any more. Gabe. We'll if the other kids are a bit quiet Gabe makes up for all of them put together! He's lovely. It's just like being at home with Ryan.
We visited Grandad's new house. Saw Raif and Gabe's school, and even popped over to Tescos with the kids to buy some marmite. Seriously, Lisa and Paul ran out and needed some. When I run out of Marmite it's like an Indiana Jones expedition to find some. Is it banned in Canada or not? Can I buy some on the black market? What British Shops are still in business and closer than 50km?
I will bring back 5-10 litres of kg or whatever to make sure I don't run out again. It's not like it ever goes off! What is it anyway? A kind of beef stock? No, there's no animal product in it. It's made from yeast extract. That makes it much more appealing....
Anyhoo, jet lag is a bummer. Jems and I slept a bit on the plane. Note to self about watching the movie Gravity, while on a plane. The exciting crash scene at the end of the movie while the plane is coming down through the clouds to land kind of blends into one in your mind! A bit stressful.
We managed to keep awake till 10;00pm and collapsed into bed. It's now 4:30am and I feel well rested. No problem sleeping last night. The barbecue is today. I will try to get the photos from my camera to a laptop and on to the blog today.

 Jemma and Gabe

 The entrance in to Loudhams Barn (built 1647)

Grandad's New House

Day 1 - travel day

We are officially checked in. It's only 8:00 am and we don't fly till 6:30pm but why wait?
I have been scouring the internet for upgrade options but it looks like its $2,000 per person for a wider seat and fancy meal. Oh, and the tv is larger. I don't know what difference that makes when you are only 6 inches from the screen.
We are packed. I'm a little concerned about the 4 litres of Maple Syrup in my suitcase. I'm only taking a small case so they kind of dominate the case, and could look a little weird on the x-ray. Oh we'll. we will see. I don't even know if my family like maple syrup. From our trip to Quebec in 2012 I know that it takes about 40 litres to make one litre of syrup so they had better like it! That's like 160 litres of maple tree sap. A shame to waste.
Next blog will be from the UK.

Day 25 - Road trip to Hanalei, Ke’e Beach and Tunnels Beach

“Puff the Magic dragon lived by the sea and frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Hanalei”  That is where we went today leaving Koloa town at 7:35am with coffees, hot chocolates and various baked goods in hand.  (Coffee is 1/2 price from 7am - 9am)  It takes about 2 hours to get all the way up North to where the road ends at Ke’e beach and that is what we did. We did stop at Walua Falls en route but then straight up to Ke’e.  It is a beautiful coastal/jungle drive past really nice little towns.  This is also the area where Bethany Hamilton (of Soul Surfer fame) is from.  In 2003 she was surfing and was attacked by a shark which took off her right arm.  She was 17 I think and she later overcame her fear of the ocean and used this terrible event to help other kids overcome their  fears and hardships.  Anywho, I really should not have read that newspaper article on line.  It kinda freaked me out but we are all back safe and sound so don’t worry.  So Ke’e Beach was the best snorkellng since I don’t know when.  Really calm and protected, crystal clear and lots of nice fish.  Ryan is now using his goggles as we lost his mask in Maui.

Items lost to date

-2 hats (Ryan’s)

-1 mask (Ryan’s)

-2 diver things (Ryan’s)

-1 leather bracelet (Jemma’s)

-1 Puka shell anklet (Jenny’s)

Items broken to date

-1 underwater camera

Homework Complete to date

-nothing

Okay so back to the story.  Ryan, Jemma and I decided to do the first leg of the Kalalau trail to an overlook where you get a great view of the Napili coastline.  It is basically along the lines of the West Coast trail - 11 miles of switchbacks, hills and beautiful scenery.  We did the first 1/2 mile.  Eww ahh!!!!! It was hard, I broke a sweat.  Barry hiked into the first beach when he was here 20 years ago so he stayed/slept on the beach while the kids and I went.  ( He saw a Monk seal so that is cool!)  We returned to the last remains of our picnic lunch and snorkeled away the morning.  No pics, broken camera!  We drove back to Hanalei, had a very lovely lunch at Calypso with a nice little Mai Tai to boot.  We backtracked to a beach called Tunnels where you snorkel along these sandy paths to reefs teeming with fish.  Again, great snorkeling.  Calm, saw fish and turtles and it was awesome.  Headed home after a full day with a stop in at Lydgate Beach Park and then back to Poipu for a chicken curry!  

Tree tunnel on the way to Poipu

Walua Falls after a rain

One lane bridges all along the way

Ryan chillin' in the back seat

Holy roots Batman!  Ke'e beach

Ke'e beach.  It's like a postcard!

View of Ke'e beach from lookout

The view of Napili Coast!

Napili Coast from Ke'e beach

Barry made a friend while we were on our hike!

Hanalei after lunch.  We look like locals!

Taro fields in valley

Day 24 - Kiahuna Tennis and Swim Club and Kiahuna Beach, Kauai

Ahi tuna from Bart's brother-in-law!

Jenny on the blog.  I’ll try and keep it short.  Ryan was dying to play tennis so off him and I toddled around 9am.  Very fancy, nice racquets and a whole bucket of balls.  So about 10 minutes into our session Ryan was complaining of the heat.  (I did tell him that!) so I made him finish our bucket and then we slid right on into the pool via the slide.  By that time Jemma and Barry showed up with the usual Starbucks beverage and we spent a lovely morning meetin’ some peeps and hanging out in the pool.  We came back at lunch and Barry BBQed another round of burgers.  This time with Brie.  We hung out at the beach for the afternoon and got totally "Poi pounded" which means getting pounded by huge crashing waves.  And then we bought some Ahi tuna from Bart for 18 bucks.  Bart is my stalker, I mean our “Activities representative”.  It’s kinda weird but he is always giving me free stuff: boogie boards, his surf board, and then he told Jemma to tell me he had this fish.  We had it Sashimi  style (RAW) and I have to say I was a bit nervous.  “Did he say it was Sashimi grade?” “What exactly did he say?”  "Who caught it and when?"  Is he sure it is Sashimi grade?"  So we ate half of it and well I am still a little dubious.  We ended our evening over at the Sheraton fire circles watching the waves crash on shore (Southerly swells baby!!!!)  Wow, I am such a  sea dog now!  And as you have figured out we did not die of  some sort of raw fish disease!

Ahi tuna in sun.  I am getting more nervous by the second!

Day 22 and 23 - Kaloa Zip Line and Poipu Beach, Kauai

Day 22 - Poipu Beach, Kauai.
Jen and I got up early to go snorkeling over at Poipu Beach Park (just 10 min walk from our condo). There are some monk seals that come up to sleep during the day. The snorkeling was OK. I think we have been quite spoiled. After snorkeling we went over and grabbed a couple of Americanos at Starbucks. A perfect morning!

A thousand pound mammal - and a monk seal!

A fish

Another fish

Three fish

A bunch of fish!

We hung out close to home all day. There is a place just up the beach where the water funnels through a hole making a spout. This one is called spouting horn. It was a bit of a dud the day we went. Did I mention that there are chickens everywhere here? A hurricane about 20 years ago sent chickens literally flying all over the island. The ones that survived got together and there are now free range chickens all over the place.

We popped over to another snorkeling spot by the Beach House at about 5:00pm but the waves were so big we were jossled all over the place. 

A nice look'n chick'n

Surfers in front of the Beach House

Wedding photos in front of the Beach House

This is how I think I look when surfing

Ho hum - another perfect evening...

We hung around for the sunset but the kids were getting restless for dinner so we took off and grabbed an awesome thin crust pizza in Kaloa Town. 

Day 23 - Kaloa Zip Line and Poipu Beach, Kauai
Today we got up early to go zip-lining. The course was just a few kilometers up the road, set back in the jungle. The waterproof camera is not doing very well. We found some moisture in the battery compartment and had to let it dry out. Now it won’t come on. We are going to get some new batteries but I have a feeling we pushed it too far. We took the big camera (Canon SLR) but couldn’t use it as we needed our hands and well, what I am saying is - no photos.

Apart from these ons that I copied off the web-site.

There were 8 lines in total ranging from 250ft to 2,500ft (that’s half a mile!). Ryan was a little scared at first but he soon got his confidence and was cheering at the end.

We were done by 11:00am and grabbed some fish tacos from a stand right outside the zip-line office. We spent the rest of the day back at the Plantation, had a good long nap. Then Jemma decided to take her surf lesson. The cool thing was the other people didn't show up so Jemma had the instructor to herself. 

Jemma is a natural!

Perfect waves!

The guy with the hat is the instructor. He lines you up and pushes you into the good waves. 

I thought I would have another go

I dug the nose in and that was it for that wave!

A crazy boogie boarder further down the beach!

He offered to let Jenny and me take out a board too. Hmm. Not much improvement. Jemma did great!
Later on we barbecued some burgers. Yummy

Day 21 - Waimea Canyon - Poipu Beach, Kauai

We got up reasonably early today for a roadtrip to Waimea Canyon. This is really special for me because 22 years ago I visited Hawaii on my way back from a year in Australia and on my way to Canada to meet Jenny (I didn’t know her then). I landed in Oahu and stayed in a hostel for a couple of days before heading over to the big Island to see the volcano. I then headed back over to Kauai for a few days camping up at Waimea Canyon. I had hitchhiked from Hobart in southernmost Tasmania to Darwin in the North so I was confident I could hitchhike out to the canyon. It took all day but I made it and was set up with enough food for a week.So today’s trip was a touch of nostalgia. I saw the old campsite and saw Waimea Canyon again but the clouds rolled in and we were unable to see the Napali coast.On our way back we went to a place called glass beach. The lava formation makes great swimming holes and blow holes. There were also a bunch of old engine parts that had been dumped. The salt water and sea erosion make these iron parts look like they have melted.We popped over to Poipu Beach in the evening to watch the sunset.

A shower station next to the beach

Lunch on the lawn at Kiahuna Plantation

The lookout at Waimea Canyon

The lookout

The lookout in the clouds - hence nothing to see but white

Seriously foggy