Hiking

Below are pictures from my eventually successfull hike upto Manoa Falls. It was messy to say the least. I got muddy, i got wet..and abit sweaty. I got bitten like never before, one bit has turned to the size of a large apple. Nice. Although i was quite contented with the forest and my audiobook, although im starting to feel like im on a hiker beginers course lol.

SUPRIIIISE.. its a rainforest!

So yesterday i had my day planned ..i was going to take the rather frustratingly long bus journey to manoa and take the 1andhalf hour hike to see manoa falls. I had my audio book on my ipod...a selection of playlists tailored to fit hiking and masses of water. Did i see the falls??.. No i did not. And this was not due to my lifestyle induced lack of fitness (apparently alcohol and pot noodles are not the new water and lettuce). As i arrived at what might be called the entrance to the path which i noticed, although i am no expert on the subject, largly resembled a large forest. I wasnt too shocked. The shock came when i stepped through the entrance and within minutes found myself arse deep in mud, extremely wet and bitten more in minutes than i had been my stay so far. I had also had the audacity to wear flip flops, as a slipped and slided everywhere i decided this was not over.


Which brings me to today. Im going back ..with trainers, a towel and insect repellent. I also decided to wear jeans and it feels strange wearing clothes that consist of more than a bum cover and a pair of straps. So wish me luck, and this waterfall best be bloody good lol.


Aloha!
x

Catch up

Soooo a few days to catch up on...

I did a cleaning job the other day with steves sister and some other guy.. the guy was way cool and had suprisingly good music taste.. so we did a maaaasssive house on the beach and then two apartments..

the guy that owned the apartments wife died a few weeks ago and their were pictures of her funeral... apparently they all went canoeing and a helecopter came over and dropped pettles while they scatterd the ashes .. by the sounds of it she was a pretty cool lady.. shed never surfed before and started two years ago when shes like 60 or something and she won awards n stuff.

The view from one of the flats

Rainbooooowwww... honestly their everywhere..i guess thats why some people call it the rainbow state :)

So .. i had to get up at like 6 but i felt pretty good and the pay is well goood soo fingers crossed i get some more work.

lol me a cleaner lmao .. was fun though they both had a way good sense of humour.

I'v also noticed how people seem to use what they would concider english slang and swearing when their near me .. the number of times iv heard "bloody hell" lol

Theeeen..yesterday i climbed the diamond head crater ..i keep calling it a mountain but apparently it is technically a "tuff" lol.. i know i thought it was a funny word too.

If i remember correctly a tuff is when the lava of a volcano is cooled by water and turnes into ash.. the volcano then releases the ash on to the surface which over time becomes solid and forms a tuff. :)

So ..my journey

This was the entrance .. not the most exciting picture in the world but it might be usefull to anyone who fancies climbing the crater so they know what it looks like for future reference ha

So when i was going for my interview at the US embassy in London the guy who interviewed me asked where i was going in America..so i told him and he said "you have to try the shaved ice their". So here it is, shaved ice in coconut, rasberry and passion fruit flavour .. it was yummy.

Anywho .. the climb wasnt as bad as i thought it would be although i climbed at least 200 stairs. I was right near the top when my camera dyed ..: typical ..the view was amazing too ..but hey i guess im here for a while so i can always do it again.

Map of the route

The start of the path

100 steps..

The view from the diamond head which i robbed off google as i forgot to charge my camera battery :)

Aaaaaaaaaaand the view from the flat last night .. it was way pretty

So iv tried to cram a bit this post .. its getting harder keeping it updated ..but ill do my best :)

Bye for now

x

In an emoticon ... :D

Okay so its 2.20 am and i should probably be either sleeping, planning my day tomorow or updating n uploading pics onto here. Know what im doin??..
Iv been listening to The Cure all night and am feeling pretty darn good..

i assumed that being in a different country everything would change ..like my normal habbits would diminish a bit .. but noope .. im in Hawaii and still doing the exact same thing as i would be on a sunday night in England

Im not sure whether thats good or bad .. and to be frank i dont really care .. im happy.

Sooo i can only hope that everyone else is feelin as good as me ..and if not .. "things can only get better".. in the wise words of D:ream

Tata for now and ill update this properly when im not feeling so damn fabulous :)

x

WAWTAA!!

So i was under one of those beach shower thingies tryna make sure i did wake up the next morning with sand everywhere (i seem to have a nack for that, in corfu rach kept making jokes about how the cleaner would have changed the sheets and id just have to stand near the bed and theird be sand in it ..before if even got on it lol) anyway.. heres how it went

Little tanned Hispanic looking but American sounding boy: Your shoes are odd ... and small
Me: haha i know i did it on purpose
Boy: you speak funny
Me: :D ha thanks, you speak funnier
Boy: Say Wah-derrr
Me: Waw-turrr
Boy: *giggles lots* again again
Me: Waw-tur
Boy: Say it my way
Me:Wah-durr
Boy: why do you say it the other way if you can say it that way
Me: you say it my way ..
Boy: WAWWTAAA

i cannot describe the cuteness of this :)

x

A good day :)

so... i had a well good day today:)

realised last night when trying to ring the banks in england to continue sorting out my card jazz that my free week contract thingie had run out and i had to go pay for the rest of the month grr ..so didnt get through bummer..

so anyway that was my plan for today ..go pay for the phone and job hunt..i had an early night because iv been sooo tired lately. But this morning about 8.45 i heard a knock on the window, it was steve from upstairs. Id totally forgotten id said we'd go drive round half the island, but at least it got me up early. Btw steve is the retired guy who helped me with my suitcase, he's from Michigan but moved here after his divorce and his 25 yr old son lives here too. So he invited me up for breakfast and showed me around the rest of the building. Okay so first .. he made corned beef hash omelet with cheese ...i was like woooah this is random..but it tasted pretty good. secondly the building was coooool....they had this japanese style bathroom with some walk in square bath thing .. and the views were awesome. Sooo we set off round the island.. we stopped off at a few of the more secluded beaches and the famous Hanauma bay which was beautiful. It was also pretty amazing when we went deeper into the island, everything was green and foresty.

Hanuama Bay



Me a bit wind sweapt and Steve

Oooh yeah, before that steve took me to where he works. The Waikiki Yacht club, he introduced me to everyone and we bumped into the owner.. he said he had a meeting but hed chat to me after. Anyway i got an application form and true to his word we sat and had a chat afterwards, he was super friendly and had masses of silver hair. He said that hed ask around and find me some work and told me to give steve my application when its done. So fingers crossed, everythings sorta difficult with the job thing as im still waiting for my bloomin Social Security number. But yeah hopefully in a few weeks ill be working at cold stone creamery and the Yacht club..it was so cool their too full of expensive boats and rich (but extremely friendly) people.

Sooo after going round the Island we headed back, Steve said his sister owns a cleaning business and hed mention me to her to see if he could get me a few hours. To be honest i didnt expect anything to come of it but a later that night one of Steves flatmates came down and asked me to ring Steve.. so i did. He then gave me his sisters number because she was going to try and sort me out with some work ..so i did. And shes coming to pic me up at 7:30 on friday to sort out what ill be doing. So that should be some pocket money, again fingers crossed shes cool about the whole social security thing... i soooooo need the money right now.

I know iv put a lot of the foresty photos up but it was sooo pretty

Ooooh aand when i went to get my phone sorted i started talking to the guy and he said if i give out these flyers and put my name at the bottom... every person that goes in with one that has my name on ill get 5 dollars..so gna go do that tomorow before going to the beach.

Sooo i had a good day today, although i have an insect bite on my bum and its reeeaaaaally annoying lol.

And already i cant help but think.. i want to come back and visit all the people iv met here again.. i want to live here for the summer again (although ill this may be a bit premature..i could end up hating it here pah) but then i want to go all these other places and have other experiences.. i dont wana get attached to the first place i properly visit..even if it is Hawaii. So not really sure what ill do.. but i think ill be having a hard decision on my hands next year. Hmmm.. well all i can say is..if anyones reading this and you've ever even remotely conciderd coming Hawaii...do it ... its amazing in so many expected and unexpected ways..and more importantly..i have never been ANYWHERE where the people are as friendly and helpfull and kind as they are here..ever lol

Anywho less of the ranting... i hope your all good and your all having a good summer... keep me updated with stuff from back home too ..id like that :)

So Mahalo for now and hope ya like the piccies

x

Before i forget

okay so in no particular order ..the past two days...

Iv chuckled at a lot of birds their funny here, iv moved into the flat, some dude helped me with my case up the hefty amount of stairs (in other words carried)..i felt bad when i found out he was retired lmao, a girl from Alaska kipped in the hostel..we got chatting and went for a swim lol, some guy said my accent was hot and said we should go beach sometime.. he looked nice too.. till i saw his name was Clayton ahahaha, the woman who moved into the hostel and scared me turned out to be hilarious and when i left she didnt want me to go..

Oh My God!!! i forgot about this one... i had waited a good half hour for a bus with my suitcase ready to go to the flat. i then found out buses wont take suitcases. I ordered a taxi and asked how much it would cost, around $10 they said. So i waited the 5 minutes and from around the corner appeared a white Limousine. "well this shouldn't be down here" i thought. From it appeared a hench tattoed chinese man .. with a pony tail hahaha. He looked at me super confused as i creased my body in hysterics. I got so excited someone asked if i wanted a picture..

Anyway it was independence day and it was amazing here ..everyone i spoke to was all happy july 4th and the Fireworks were awesome. I ended up watching the fireworks on the river in ala moana and it was so pretty.. he pictures didnt come out very clear tho so heres some i took before the fireworks...

This picture made me laugh

The view from my room at night

The cool wall bit

Graffiti of the streets of Honolulu

I went to the beach

The flat is hidden away in those trees... its like living in a tree house :)

Me before i went sunbathin ... you should see the tan now muahaha

So anyway what else... i met a proffeser of San fransisco University and he took me round the markets and i went his for food .. he was really interesting .. i met this brother and sister at the bus stop and we were chatting for ages, they dont live far away so maybe ill meet up with them again ...and i met this man .. he was dark skinned white haired and wearing a top hat with a cane ... he was soo sweet and was telling me about how he left hawaii when he was 13 and lived in Germany for 40 years... he even walked me to the bus stop i was supposed to be at lol ... iv met sooooo many more cool people and had sooo many more interesting conversations i cant keep up or write them down fast enough..but ill do my best

anywayz iv done a fair bit of typing today so tataaa for now aaand

mahalo

:) x

Sserd Der

Stuck in the middle of Salt Lake, wherever that was. She had drank her 3rd ltr bottle of water and untucked her dress from her knickers for the 6th time from sitting at inconveniently signless bus stops. Every now and then a small Polynesian, either man or woman, would ask where she was looking for. She replied,"Here", Whilst pointing to the name on the piece of paper. Both the men and the woman would lift their shoulders and turn their palms skywards in a gesture not of 'raise the roof' but that they hadnt a bloody clue either, and they were the locals. In a bid to turn the trip into something not completely pointless she decided to take a detour to the Mall. On the bus she typed "hey on my way just got a little lost :)". As she ventured towards the rather perculiar looking shopping center she noticed that this was deffinately not what she had expected. The humid air was making the curls of her hair stick to everything while little Asian people outnumbered every other possible ethnic group by a mile. Every now and then she would see another misplaced looking caucasian float by, so tanned they could probably get away with denying it. She walked past the shops, cookie shops, bag shops, Ferrari shops. "Dont look, just ignore them you can make it" she said to herself while racing to the end in hope of something fascinatingly free. As she briefly let her eyes wander it was not the couture which caught her attention. In the windows she could see a modest, allbeit lovely, looking red dress. As she focused in it was quite clear that the red dress was not as it probably should be but had been hindered by another garment. "Oh balls", she muttered under her breath while she jiggled and wiggled untucking every potential suspecting area. Not only had the red dress commited a terrible offence again it had gotten away with it for longer than shed have liked. She decided, as punishment, to try on a nicer more expensive dress but soon rememberd her dash to the other end in avoidance of such a situation. Both dresses back in their rightful places, she was able to continue her rather disasterous trip.
"Aha bus times" after picking up a total of 16 bus pamflets she attempted to open them all while decifering each one. Slowly engulfed by a dduvet of numbers she decided to get on the first bus that appeared. Bus... bus... BUS!!! She was sat their seeing how man Haagan Dazs vans she could spot whilst listening intently listening to the voice of the bus. "Koko Head", the voice boomed. Whilst haphazardly checking the contents of her moon shaped straw bag she shuffled her way to the front of the bus. She thanked the driver and merrily hopped of the bus. Regardless of the fact that she had got their a good 4 hours later than intended she felt rather 'chuffed' with herself. As she fiished reading the directions she had kindly written for herself she looked up, the mass of land that stood before her made her jump. Their was mountain with layers of housing rippling up it and one impressive looking rain cloud- even by her standard. She walked towards these masses aware that where she was headed was going to be some effort. As she marched though the streets she slowed down and smiled. On one side a skyline lined with tall buildings and white lights while the sun shot one last red tinted ray of light. On the other, a mountain laced in cloud so dark it could be worlds apart from that other side. She began to recognise the street names and noticed the steep hill that lay ahead of her, she plodded up the slope to then be confronted by a good 50 steps. She sat on the first step, partly to enjoy the scenery partly to prepare herself for the mass of stairs.
She turned at the top of the stairs to see the whole city looking up at her. Tower blocks, the sun, the moon, the mountain, the sea, it was all their. She laughed at herself in amazement, a month ago she had been stuck her tiny room in the middle of somewhere she didn't really want to be. She knew that other people found that place fascinating, she had heard it lots since she'd left, but she knew that their had to be somewhere better than that, surely. So as she turned she was confronted by two doors, on a whim she took the left. The room she saw was quirky and artistic, one wall being the face of the exposed mountain it had been built on. She walked around the flat and was overcome with giddyness. She couldn't have wished for this if she tried. The sky had turned dark and she thought it best to start heading back. feeling brave she decided to walk the hour journey. She wanted sleep.



She began to walk along the coast, trying to brush the sand off the back of her legs everytime her flip floppes (or slippers as they called them their) flipped. As she was walking she realised she was completely alone on an Island in the middle of nowhere, nowhere being the pacific ocean. She had been walking for nearly 2 hours but she realised that she was quite content with what she had and what she was doing. She had everything she needed right their. She heard a man shouting something and curiously turned around..

"Hey Lady, your dress is tucked in your pants"

I am going..

Sunbathing .. :)
i have a busy day tomorow so im going to spend today sunbathing and in the sea as iv not done so yet :D

traaa ..oh yeah iv missed loadsa posts so got loads to tell but ill update it soon
:)

Im leavin' im leavin' im leavin'..



stuff liking the hostel some crazy drunk woman came in last night spent a lot of time patting me on the head while saying ' sometimes i say F*** the English', with regards to Iraq and whatnot.



Anyway today im gurna go see the house/flat whatever it is so wish me luck ... im off to the zoo too :D



aaaaand got my first blog comment tother day..nearly had a frenzy..cheers vicky :)

Traaaaaaa :)

Ode To A Sunset...

Chased a bird

Down the beach

Kicked the sand

With my feet

Walked around

Saw some stars

F'i wern't so blind

I might see Mars

Yukalaylees and grass skirts

Hula girls are dancing

Ala Moana Boulevard

Honestly, im just glancing

I spent the day

Roaming the beach

And i have to say

Its quite a treat

But just as my day had begun

I watched

The daytime sky had been undone.

In a word..i watched the sunset :p..

also not entirely sure of the gramatical correctness of calling this an ode... and im not sure researching it would be classed as a wise use of time ..and it just sounds good :)

Not too sure what my obsession with birds is atm lol




P.S



.. dont forget that every cloud has a silver lining ... :)

This actually looked amazing and was minutes before the sunset

Byeeeee x

If music be the food of joy..

Was feeling tired sweaty and a bit bummed out ..(i know im in Hawaii i really shouldnt) anyway..
then someone sent me a youtube link for Calvin Harris song... i havent listend to music in what feels like aaages

so im dancing around the room now feeling super happy :)

oh how i love music.. it makes everything better

so i am now going to go for a walk on waikiki beach ..with nothing but my ipod and my smile :)

P.S.. Bill oddie moment... the birds are awesome here ..and i dont mean the women ha

Mahalo x

My first mornin' explorin'

So iv lost my purse, i currently have no useable phone and im on my own thousands of miles away from where iv spent my life... and even im suprised at how unscared i am. I'v been walking around and its amazing here, people are so friendly. Or maybe i just look a little lost.

I went into some cafe because i was feeling a tad parched...and they were actually playing the song from 50 First dates ..everything is such a cliche here..i love it

Anyway this could all either end, the first of many to come, memorable adventures or it could be one massive disaster where all thats left is me and my odd shoes.:)

Anyway this is the hostel im staying in for the night.. not the best looking place in the world but i suprisingly dont want to leave... the people here are so nice and the woman here is mental..in the good sence... she knows "stuff"..you know, one of those people who just seems to know something about everything. AND she listend to UB40 .. whoda thought

And i think ill end with this random bird... it had a neon head..

I was well impressed :D

Any who im gurna go have a gander,

Toodles