I'm back. We've arrived into Auckland last night losing a day of our lives which we shall never again be able to get back when we crossed the international date line.

Since my last email we saw the sights in San Francisco and Hawaii. San Francisco is a beautiful but bizzare city. We meet some of the craziest people we are ever likely to meet and seen things which i could not possibly start to describe here. The dance festival, Love Fest, was good but i thought it would be bigger and in the end we left early and went to the pub instead (how sad are we). To all those people who replied to my last email suggesting that it was the managers bed we shared on the first night in the hostel, i can assure you all that it was NOT. The hostel was brilliant, one of the best to date, a real international mix and a real eye opener in terms of realising how little of the world we have yet seen. Stayed there for a few days seeing all the touristy stuff, Alcatraz and cycling across the Golden Gate bridge were highlights. My fitness levels are slowly but surely getting better; at this rate i might even be able to make my big comeback to the footie when i get home!

Arrived into Hawaii (Oah'u to be exact) not knowing what to expect. First thing to hit us was the heat, 90 plus every day. Waikiki was good but way too touristy for my liking. The beach was packed every day and not being a sunworshiper i found the city rather boring; ended up watching American Football most of the time which Trish was so delighted with. Climbed Diamond Head which overlooks the beach and nearly collapsed halfway up; without doubt it has been the toughest thing we have yet done. I'm sure if the budget had permitted we would have had a brilliant time but in the end we were rather glad to leave and head for the North Shore to all the real beaches and the surfer dudes.

Got to the north shore and found the beaches, the dudes but no waves so no surf. We stayed in a cabin sharing with 4 others. First impressions were not good but the people in the cabin were brilliant, just chilling in the sun drinking and having the craic. We were awoking EVERY morning by the cockerels, there were about 20 of the b***ards and would start at 4am through to about 11am. Finally the waves arrived on our last day there, 5-6 foot waves, small in Hawaiian terms but i found them more than impressive. We didnt venture in, left it to the experts and admired their tricks. We finished our north shore experience with drinks on the beach around a fire under a full moon, nice to say the least.

Left there and flew to the Big Island. This was the hawaii we had been looking for and in the end we were sorry not to have stayed longer. We "climbed" the highest mountain in Polynesia, Manua Kea 13,796 feet. Technically we only climed the last 100 or so feet but at that altitude it wasnt easy. Out of our group, only Trish and I made it to the summit, the "tough Irish" as the driver stated. Manua Kea is famous for it's observatories, millions of dollars on top of this volcanic mountain. The sunset and the stargazing were amazing.

Went to the Volcano park and hiked for nearly 2 miles up, down and around an old lava field to try and see some lava. In the end all we could see was the plumes of steam as the lava hit the sea (which we could see from miles away) but good to do the hike all the same. As the sun set we headed back and in the distance we did eventually see the red of lava but by then we all the way back at the start of the hike surrounded by hundreds of tourist all fighting to get the perfect picture. We shall return some day and get closer to the lava.

The flight out was to Sydney and then a connection to Auckland. Got to the airport to find our flight had been put back by 45 minutes. We had originally only an hour between landing in Sydney and getting the connection so this left us with only 15 minutes which left us rather concerned. After the same conversation with numerous Quantas staff we were assured there would be no problem and when we got into Sydney as scheduled we thought it was all good. Unfortunately, we then found out that although our luggage had been booked into the Auckland connection, we ourselves had not and as they had taken our tickets for the Auckland connection in Honolulu we had a "fun" 20 minutes trying to get it all sorted. We eventually made it to the flight with about 5 mins to spare so it was all good in the end i suppose.

So here we are in Auckland trying to sort out where we are going to go over the next month. Here's hoping New Zealand is as good as everyone says.

Paul.

P.S. Sorry these emails are soooo long, i will cut them down in future, honest!