Another installment of Olis round-the-world emails:

Here I go again, same me, different place

Just had a pretty hot curry in a recommended curry house in the capital of
Fiji, Suva. Had Ben sweating, but it was oh so good. Since I wrote to you
lot last time, I was just about to leave Maui. Decided to go Pearl Harbour
the next day, as it was our last full day in the Hawaiian islands- quite
intresting to see the USS arizona memorial and view the short cinematic of
the events that made this place so famous. It’s one of those places you
have to see, but isn’t that special (in my opinion anyways). Blagged
ourselves onto the Marriot Hotel roof, using their pool for the afternoon
and went to the doc to confirm that I’ve screwed my ear…antibiotics are
lovely.

Jetted off to Fiji on the 24th, finding a nice hostel which feels more like
a resort than a dive, makes a nice change from some of the places we’ve been
in. Checked out the local town of Nadi, its temple, the beach etc….We
decided to hire another car, a toyota starlet? Whatever it is, it’s well
small, like Dave’s suburu but without 4wd!! Convinced Ben that we should
take it up a jungle trail suitable for 4×4’s only, giving the shocks/exhaust
system and sump a run for their monet\y. We got loads of funny looks
tanking this little shed of a car up into the hills. Did a jungle trail in
flip-flops and board shorts, found a nice waterfall and ate with the
villagers. We then drove around the north of the island, down on the coast
road from the mountains and stopped in some colonial hotel in some
agricultural town for a night.

Next up was a place on the ne of the island callled Rakiraki, where there’s
awesome scuba diving off the penisula. We checked in for a night there,
done some sea kayaking, snorkelled the reef and did a two-tank dive on a
couple of dive sights, one aptly called “breathtaker”- saw some black-tipped
reef sharks!! Spent this afternoon driving east, then south to the capital
(we’re gonna do a complete loop of Fiji’s main island). The load was gravel
and mud with so many ditches, pot holes and huge gaping rifts that we beat
the sh*t out of our car- again this road is only recommended for high
clearance vehicles, so every local in a passing car or on foot would give us
this smile, like “what the hell do you guys think your doing? Bloody
tourists have no idea….”. Yep, they were probably thinking that. Great
fun to drive thorugh the forested hills, dairy pastures and rivers, but it
was a relief to finally get to the capital.

Food’s great, weather’s great and from what I’ve seen, this place feels more
natural and has more culture that Hawaii. The people are so friendly- I
managed to get half the village to pose for a picture, while they were
waiting for a bus!!

All the best,

Oli

Another installment of Olis round-the-world emails:

Oloha from Maui!!

I’m writing this before I HAVE to catch the bus to the airport, the
weather’s 25oC, sunshine and I’m surrounded by the beautiful landscape that
Maui has to offer, coupled with some great swell to surf!!

From when I last emailed, I went to the north shore of Ohau (or however you
pronounce the main island of Hawaii, poor memory!!). The North shore is so
beautiful, driving with pinapple and coffee plantations everywhere you look.
As I drove away from the south (where Honolulu and Waikiki are), the
buildings fade out, and all that you’re left with are fields of vegetation
and little to no people/ road traffic. The north shore is so laid-back and
peaceful, as well as green and kinda makes you think how Hawaii was before
tourism took over. Here, we found a cool hostel village where we rented out
a couple of bunks in a wooden bungalow, with kitchen, bathroom, living room
etc…it was basic but at the same time, it was all we needed. Checked out
Waimea bay and spent the rest of the day there, snorkeling, playing frisby
and chatting to a couple of guys from Surrey that we met on the bus. For our
last day on the north shore, I hired a bike and cycled the whole north
shore, stopping at a few secluded beaches as well as the world famous
“Banzai Pipeline” and “sunset beach”. @ banzai, I just watched pro surfers
do their thing for a couple of hours, with a few pro photographers taking
some snaps. The pipe waves that are produced were so big and amazing, I
couldn’t even imagine most surfers having the guts to go in the sea there!!
Put it this way, swimming was banned, and there were no bodyboarders, just
the best surfers I’ve ever seen. Sunset beach was also banned from
swimming, due to the collosal 10-12ft waves at Banzai, so I didn’t swim at
all that day. Yep, the north shore’s tranquility, the laid-back surfers I
was staying with in the house, the beaches…my favourite part of Hawaii…

…which moves me on to our stay in Maui. We flew out to here 3 days ago
and couldnt believe the bus runs 3 times a day to the airport- the
international airport of the island!! We stayed in a town called Wailuku
which is one of the strangest places I’ve ever seen in my life. It felt
like some crazy dead western cowboy town that you’de only enter if your car
broke down and needed to make a call. It felt really eerie, where the only
place to get groceries is the fuel station. The hostel we stayed at is run
by an alleged drugie, who seemed cool enough. Our stay at that hostel felt
like we were in someone’s home, where there were domestic arguements over
the phone, us reminded of common-sense things like washing up and a bunch of
characters that all basically live there and commute to work, rather than
passing through tourists. I was thinking “did you guys get stuck here!!?”.
Oh yeah, and a haunted house was on the floor below us, so we could hear
screaming through the floorboards. Got outa there sharpish the next day and
spent our last two nights on Maui in the Whaling town of Lahaina. Beautiful
whaling town with period buildings, it is full of tourists and associated
shops, bars, restaurants…but it was a welcome change from out last place!
During our stay here, I did some bodyboarding all afternoon with some hot
dutch girl, sunbathed and cycled 38 miles down Hawaii’s biggest volcano.
For that, we had to get up at 2am, get to the summit for 0530 and see the
sunrise at gone 6. The starry night sky I saw from the summit is something
my dad would’ve loved to have seen, as it was incredibly clear (10,000ft
above sea level!!), so the whole sky was full of stars, like someone had put
a firework is a tub of white paint and let it explode onto a black sheet of
paper. Saw loads of shooting stars too. Anyways, the bikeride down was
very touristic (something I dont normally do) but was great to see the
panoramic views, the valleys below us, the clouds below us and the
cornifer/ Eucaliptus forests. For $110, it was not worth it, but I know I
would have only regretted it if I didn’t do it. It’s like going to Paris
and saying that you didnt see the Eiffel tower, people would think that
you’re crazy, it’s a must.

So, that’s my diary to you guys up to date for now. Maui is definately a
place worth going to in Hawaii, once you have had enough of the craziness of
the south shore bars that make Waikiki. Hawaii is a very beautiful place of
surf, beaches, towns and plantations, but be prepared to travel around to
appreciate just how nice these islands are, don’t be fooled by Honolulu!!

Write in a week!

Oli.

Another installment of Olis round-the-world emails:

Hi again,

I’m gonna try and email you guys every week or so…

Ended San Francisco fine, cycling the golden gate bridge and going to China
town again (i’m obsessed with it ’cause of the amazing good, cheap grub).
Been in Hawaii for 5 days now, and the pace of my journey has gone down a
couple of notches, it feels weird to be in one place for more than a night!!
The weather’s been a mixed bag, had 3 really great sunny days of swimming on
Wakiki beach (my hostel is 100 metres from it!!), climbing 200ft up to an
extinct volcano “diamond head”, hiking to Manoa waterfall in the forest
(little fish biting me in the plunge pool tickled a bit), and checking out
Honolulu. In my opinion, the city feels a bit lost amongst the island’s
greenery and water, not having much atmosphere, a bit sterile….

Also Snorkelled in some of the most beautiful turqoise water i’ve ever swam
in, packed with marine life like angelfish, butterfly fish, a sea turtle,
trumpet fish…if only I had my spear gun!! The outer reef was really far
out, but I thought I’d swim out anyway, although no-one else did…..maybe
they knew something I didn’t? As it was a marine reserve, I had to pay 5
bucks to get in the bloody place- just to swim in a natural place?!!
bastards.

The last two days consisted of rain, going to a pinapple plantation,
and…..a fuc*ing earthquake measuring 7.5 on the richter scale. As a
result the whole south part of the island had no power all day. That meant
that 99% shops were closed, no-one went to work, no road traffic and loads
of people standing around like spares at a wedding. I knew I was in the
sh*t when I was using a can of petrol with a rag in for a light source
(great idea!! burnt for almost 3 hours!!), you’re playing cards with ben and
all you have to eat is SPAM and crisps. I tell you, it was the highlight of
the trip, I just looked at the spam and then ben and said “let’s get this
over with” (eating it). Not quite a serloin steak with all the trimmings.
Today was a lot better weather-wise, along with power!! Finally the place
didn’r feel like a post-apocolypic world and had life again. We went to
sandy beach, where there were 7-9ft waves that made it a favourite spot for
surfers/ body surfers. The lifeguard actually warned me that this beach had
the highest rate of dislocations, deaths, spinal injuries and broken necks
in Hawaii…,oh joy. The best part of the day for me was being tombstoned
by a 9ft wave, just like the guard warned me.

You know that exhilirating feeling when you’re riding the crest of some huge
wave, feeling your body glide over the top of the water like a bullet where
everything is a blur? Well, that was me, going stupidly fast on a huge wave.
It then dawned on me that I would have to end this amazing rush and
somehow figure out how to land safely…..too late. I suddenly inverted and
went from stupidly fast to stationary, going head first into the ground.
I’ve walked into a lamp post before, and this was worse than that. My whole
back felt like it had been hit my a sledge hammer and I think I might have
mild concussion, plus a perferated ear drum? I’m still alive, but my body
is broken. These waves are the most incredible I’ve surfed, but break
badly, as the beach is really steep. You have to weigh off not catching a
wave further out to sea or going for a short wave that you know will break
onto the shore verically coupled with a collosal undercurrent. fun.

Still happy, and i’ll recover in a couple of days for
sure….er…..hopefully

Miss you guys and girls!!

Oli

The first installment of Oli’s emails from his round-the-world travels:

Hi guys & girls…

Finally get a bloody chance to use the internet for more than 7 minutes, and
actually settle down to write about the start to my trip; New York was an
awesome place to see, with me staying there for 4 nights. Done the usual
tourist stuff like the Empire State building, Statue of Liberty, Central
Park, Wall St, Guggenheim art gallery- Thea knows what I mean! (probably
Jackie and Poppy too). Managed to stay in a 4* hotel (on the floor of Ben’s
sister’s room for a couple of nights). New Yorkers love their Bagels,
mobile phones and a shit load of fast food, as it’s so cheap. My highlight
of New York was the view from the ESB- a carpet of sky scrappers.

Flew over to San Francisco on Friday, with the rental company letting me
have a car…the fools!! hahaha…I got my money’s worth as I took the trip
on a bit of a spin for four days. When I say “spin”, imagine driving 900
miles to the Grand Canyon in the next state of Arizona, south east of San
Francisco in California, only stopping for fuel and food, as well as a 4
hour sleep on the roadside. The journey took me 15 hours (not counting the
stops). I averaged 100mph on the interstate freeways- why break a habit?!!
(joke parents…) and drove through mountains, deserts, open stretches of
fields and nothing overtook me for the entire journey. The Grand Canyon was
cool to see, so expansive and beautiful- you have to see it first hand to
appreciate this huge whole in the ground. Did two treks there- a 20 km walk
of the rim and then a 10km trek into the canyon itself- Dan Hill would be
proud of the fact that I hiked 2000ft down into the canyon and back again in
2 1/2 hours, when the guides say it should take 4-6 hours. Camped a night
there, and froze my arse off as the GC is elevated, and we were essentially
in the middle of the Arizonan desert.

After the Grand Canyon, I drove to Las Vegas, stopping ay the Hoover Dam,
which ain’t that special in my opinion. Vegas is so tacky, fake, surreal
and bright that it feels like the American dream, or a part of it.
Something so loud in the middle of the Nevada desert that people are drawn
like a moth to a light. Didn’t gamble (sorry), but checked out around 5
casinos along “the strip”, some of which were in Oceans 11.

After a night in Vegas, I blitzed it to the Californian coast (taking 6 1/2
hours of driving around an average speed of 100mph). Once on the coast I
drove north to San Francisco along a famous coast road called “the Big Sur”,
which was very twisty and narrow, but contained some beautiful beaches and
some famous bridges and viewing points- the stereotype Californian coastal
drive!! Now in San Francisco, having completed the mammouth road trip of
1850 miles, $180 worth of fuel, 3 states, and jack sh*t sleep. Today me
and Ben walked around central San Francisco- china town for grub tonight!!

I reckon the best part of my trip so far was the driving through the diverse
landscapes of the west coast- vast expanses of land listening to American
Classic rock on the radio and my own trance CD’s- I have Jason to thank for
that!!

Write to you when we’re in Hawaii, as well as buzzing out personal emails
rather than this one.

Laters,

Oli