Let's zip it up!

Not being too fond of heights, and having refused to do the Treetop Adventures in Woodhill Forest back home, I did begin to query my decision to choose Treetop Ziplining as our final Hawaiian activity - but after the briefing on how it all worked, I felt somewhat reassured :-) We'd taken our raincoats because the clouds were looking a bit black and low, and sure enough the rain started falling before we even got out of the transport. We decided to 'upgrade' to their waterproofs  because they were bigger and thicker - but also way smellier! Should have just trusted my own! 

Despite the rain it was pretty fun, and we had some cosy conversations with the other participants as we huddled on the platform around the tree trunks, some 70 to 80 feet up in the air (20m to 25m). At one point we could plainly hear church bells tolling, and we all scanned the horizon with puzzled expressions. Sounds a bit like AC/DC  says I - oh it is! It's my phone! That's what happens when you put it back in your pocket before turning it off. Should have learned my lesson then - a little while later, in Steve's pocket, Safari managed to find a YouTube video following a random pocket pressing of a letter string, and it wasn't the sort of video you'd show the vicar, if you know what I mean!! Some very confused faces on the platform until Steve tracked down the source! 

The sun came out to play just in time for our longest zip line - 800ft! Holy cow! Just keep looking straight ahead, don't look down when you step off - good self- advice; it had worked so far, I hoped it would continue. By the time it got to my turn I'd got used to it, but there's still a bit of a lurch when you step off into space. A very enjoyable morning, despite the damp - well, it is a tropical island after all. And when we got back the sun was shining on the boat - we needed to be able to sit by the pool one final time. That was actually easier said than done - of course it was everyone else's idea too! 

We sailed from port at 2pm, earlier than from the others, so we could cruise up to look at the Napali coastline. Spectacular! 

A perfect end to the most amazing 4 weeks of our lives. 

Mahalo for your company, and this is the final goodbye - I really can't think there'll be anything interesting to write about 2 days of sitting in a plane! 

Jungle Kayaks Waterfall Beach

So, yesterday was such a good day I fell asleep trying to write the blog! Now it's already Friday afternoon and we left our final port 2 hours ago :-( Shouldn't be sad, it's been fab, as you know! Right, back to the blog. 

First we had a bit of a paddle in a double kayak up a river, and we didn't even fall out about who was doing what, once! Although Steve very nearly did fall out, and it would have been my fault - got out too vigorously when we got to the getting out spot! Sorry Babe! 

On the journey there we passed the spot where they shoot lots of Hollywood movies, like Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones' rope swing is still there from Raiders of the Lost Ark. 

Back on dry land we had a bit of a jungle hike, then a very short van ride and then another walk down to a private waterfall and swimming hole :-) And the weather was perfect for it. 

We also got the chance to climb it too. First we just went a little way up and sat, backs pummelled, under the powerful cascades, powerful enough to sweep aside bikini tops from unsuspecting boobs! Well, only one actually and I don't think many people noticed, although Steve was trying to attract my attention for a while, apparently! After sitting under it we also got the chance to climb half way up and walk behind it. Needless to say there are no photos of this bit, but I did get some of Steve sitting under it after I got out. 

Now you might think that being wet all morning we'd have had enough by the time we got back to the boat, but no, not us! Quick change and off out again to the local beach, via the local ice cream shop of course! Just beautiful.

 Beach and ice cream, but ice cream has to be earned, so this time the 5k run was through Nawilliwilli rather than round the boat. We did manage to find a main road, rather than a pretty one, but hey, we ran on a Hawaiian island so who cares! And that was Thursday, another day in paradise :-)

Lazy Kona

Lazy start to today (Wednesday), which just seemed to continue :-) 

first up breakfast in bed, followed a couple of hours later by a massage for us both -  part of my anniversary/birthday surprise. In between we sat on our balcony, read books, drank more coffee and watched the tenders shuttle passengers back and forth to Kona.  

Before setting off for shore we had to go for a spot of lunch ( it's all inclusive, you know!) and what did we see out of the window - dolphins! Right by the boat! Photo not great through the window, though. 

No berth in Kona for the ship, hence the tenders, but great for tourists as we could just walk right out into the town from the quayside.  

I can't do an x-marks-the-spot (well I probably could if I spent a bit of time on it, but I'm not going to!) but our cabin is:

the second row above the life rafts, directly above the white section between the life rafts 2 from the left and 3 from the right :-)

And the Ironman finals are taking place here this weekend, so the place was buzzing with fitness bods. It made a really nice change to be amongst fit, healthy, normal looking people who can walk without waddling from side to side, shifting the weight off each foot in order to move it forward a few centimetres! 

We found a little sports shop and each bought a running top with a Big Island slogan on it (had to run 10 laps of the ship just after we set sail in order to earn the right to wear it!) Missing the running - got to get back into some serious training when we get home!

Got back on board ship, settled down around the pool, Steve avoided being roped in to a Mr Sexy Legs competition, and lazed away the rest of the afternoon. 

After our run we had dinner in another one of the complimentary restaurants, cabaret band playing smooth jazz - very mellow, 

and right now we're drinking wine sitting on our balcony, waves sloshing noisily against the side of the ship. Happy as pigs in the proverbial!

Tomorrow is a kayaking morning - paddling to some waterfalls - should be fun :-)

Lava, Sugar Cane and Rain

Today, Tuesday, we should have been hiking to see flowing lava; Steve's been looking forward to this day for months and months. But not only did the US government shutdown stop us going into the national park, but the volcano, being a natural and evolving entity, has changed its eruption patterns and is not producing visible quantities of the flowing stuff. Even the ship has changed its route because there is no lava to be seen entering the sea. Normally it sails past and you can listen to a geology talk at the same time, but tonight for the first time in 6 months it's taking the shorter route. Hey ho, such is life. 

Instead of our lava hike we spent the whole day visiting lots of different volcanic areas, where the lava is young - 1950's to 1990. It was a pretty cool day, especially walking about 200m through part of a massive lava tube - and it rained for the first time since we left NZ! Very hot and humid, not at all cold. Our guide also stopped at a small roadside stall and asked the chap to cut us some sugar cane to chew on! Better than Scarborough rock! Even though we didn't hike today, I'm actually bushed, so just going to post a few photos and call it a day :-)

The Love Boat!

How many firsts can I experience and still be bowled over?! What an unforgettable morning :-) 

Up before the crack of dawn to get to breakfast as it opened at 5.30 - but only continental :-( who wants fruit and ham first thing in the morning? Obviously not a load of Indian people who had ducked under the barrier and were helping themselves to the other (good) stuff that had been put out! They did get a telling off, but I think they feigned language issues because it didn't stop them! We contented ourselves with toast and jam, and coffee, of course! 

Out at the quay by 6am to look for a taxi, of which we had been assured there would be plenty (so no need to book). Great advice - not! Anyway, to cut a long story short, we rang one, which arrived pretty sharpish and we shared it with another couple over to the other side of the island - plenty of time to get on our trip :-) I'd found this SNUBA and snorkelling outfit, Aqua Adventures, on Trip Advisor - turned out all accounts were perfectly correct in their praise :-)

SNUBA is a kind of SCUBA but instead of wearing a tank you just have the mouthpiece and the tank floats on a little raft above you, so you can go down to about 12ft - scuba on a leash! So much better than just snorkelling, although we got to to that too, and it was great. On our boat there were just 2 straight couples - Maui has had a big gay pride thing happening -  and they were also filming for a free-to-air tv programme ! Something to do with one of the guys on the trip - Bob, who's married to Ben, I think! They were such a gorgeous couple, and Ben was sooo gooey over Bob :-) He's going to send us a link to watch it, as Steve took some photos of them together under the water- oh yes, we rented an underwater camera from the boat :-) well, how could we miss out on the opportunity to photograph green sea turtles as we swam beside them!!! Take a look at what we did today:

We also met Dame Judi Dench and her wife! Even sounded like her too, just lovely :-) We were chatting to them up at the bow and Dame Judi's wife, who was actually called Judy (!) mentioned she'd seen flying fish, so be kept a close look-out, and sure enough we both saw some; they really do fly, not just leap-out- and-glide a long way before dropping back in - their little blue fins really do flap like wings! 

And I held a little baby octopus that one of the Aqua Adventures guys picked up - brilliant, brilliant morning :-)))))) 

We'd taken a light fleece and a rain jacket just in case it got cool out on the water - are we overly cautious, or just plain daft?! Even though it was a bit breezy, it was rather like being in a fan oven! 

Back on the ship we headed up to the pool area to laze and read (me to write the blog!) and the band was playing - and today they were ace! Soul, rock'n'roll, Motown, a bit of rock - real move your body stuff! 

I was dancing wildly on my sun lounger! Later, in the Pink Pussycat, as Steve called it - actually Pink's Champagne Bar - as we were drinking pink wine (well, what else and where else after such a gay day?!!!) he was laughing at me for dancing to the pianist in my chair; getting ready for the old folks' home, he thinks! 

A truly memorable day.