Farewell US of A

Magical Mellow Maui, we miss you!  What a wonderful island, and wonderful 3 week holiday.  We wrapped up our last day there with a fun meal out with the crew.  What a hoot - we were all such lightweights, after 2 rum mojitos, we were giggling like a bunch of schoolgirls.  Tracey's boyfriend, Deano, was just hilarious - we haven't laughed so hard in ages!
Arrived back on the mainland late on Thursday, and are staying here for 5 nights - at our friend's house in Half Moon Bay (sth of SF).  Yay for Marika!  She has been too good to us (demonstrating, once again, that fab American hospitality).  We have
been very lucky to have a base in San Fran for sorting out our gear, cleaning bikes, and packing our bags & boxes. Might have been very difficult otherwise, so 3 cheers for Marika!  Hip hip hooray!
Just been doing a few last minute touristy things around San Fran the past few days.  We hung out with the wild crowds at a college American Footbal game...Stanford Cardinals vs Colorado Buffalos.  Phenomenal really; it was just a university game, but looking at the size of the crowd, stadium, entertainment, and general fuss & excitement;

you'd think it was a national pro league game!  Didn't have a clue what was going on in the game, although tried super hard to focus!  Seemed very drawn out to me, with lots of stops and penalties, and time outs.  Seemed like the players hardly had any run time at all!  The marching band was pretty cool, as were the cheerleaders (from a distance - the cheap seats were pretty close to the clouds!).  Ate copious amounts of popcorn whilst we were there too. :-)
It was the end of Fleet Week yesterday in San Fran, which acknowledges the military forces, and has a massive air show which draws big crowds.  Brent was super keen to go and watch the F-18s (the US Air Force fighter planes, fast, loud and totally Top Gun-stylee), so we checked it out and saw some pretty cool sights.  Not really my scene, but the people watching was fun!

So, we are now reaching the end of our time here in the US of A.  We left NZ on 1 June, and will return on 21 Oct - that's nearly 5 months away!  We have been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to go away exploring for so long.  We will have taken 17 flights by the time we get home, hired 4 different vehicles, and stayed in countless motels, campgrounds, homes and cabins.  We reckon we did about 14,500kms in Albert, although not too sure on that stat....and we went on 53 mountain bike rides.  And we had no injuries (well, no major ones anyway)!  Phew!
One of the highlights of the trip has definitely been the people we've met, who have truly made it a real American experience!  The hospitality we've enjoyed, and the welcoming & inquisitive nature of the Americans has made us feel very comfortable in this country.  Diane Foster in Park City, the LA boys we met in the Downieville pub, the Texan boys & Mel in Durango, the friendly dude in the Butte cafe, Brendan Pheasant up in Canmore, Pete & Sarah from Moab, the San Fran MTB crew we met in Santa Cruz (especially Marika!), the Harley riders we met in a bar in Moab, and the awesome bunch we met in Maui (especially Tracey!) .......All these folks (and many others) made our experience super memorable, and we thank you!  I hope we can show some NZ hospitality to you one day.
So, next stop is sunny Sydney this coming Thursday, where we are visiting my Mum, Dad, and bro, Lewis.  Plus, we are going on our own little excursions  - Brent up to Brisbane to visit his mate Gary; and me down to Melbourne to visit my friend, Franc.  Will be interesting being apart for a few days, as we have spent nearly every moment together the past 5 months!  And we're still the best of friends.  Brent has been a wonderful travelling companion, and has made me realise just how patient, caring & considerate he really is (you get to know each other pretty darned well in close confines, living in each other's pockets!!). We've had a lot of fun together, and have heaps of great memories to share.
To anyone reading this, I hope you've enjoyed our ramblings and photos over the past 5 months (I know I have a tendency to babble!).  Thanks for being interested in what we're up to!  Looking forward to catching up with our friends and family very SOON!
Em & Brent xx

Farewell Maui, we've enjoyed the stay

 Howdy y'all.  Well, we have reached the last day in sunny Maui.  We arrived here 3 weeks ago, and I think we can safely say we've explored much of this island, and done everything we wanted to do.  Has been a great hols within a hols!  Will certainly always hold very fond memories of Hawaii.
On Monday we returned our car, so got back to doing local activites, close to home!!  We visited the beach down the road, Ho'okipa, which is uber-popular amongst surfers & windsurfers.  We knew the swell was going to be a bit lower than normal, and so might be ok for us little snorkellers to do some exploring without getting squashed by a grommet (aka a talented young surfer dude)!
Wasn't the best visibility, but we saw 10 massive turtles!  Yippee!  You could see their heads popping up above the water, from the shoreline, so we knew

they were out there!  Came across 8 of them all grouped together, rolling around in the tide, so that was a pretty special experience!  They were up to a metre long, for sure.
Yesterday, we embarked upon a challenge which we had been considering doing ever since we arrived on this island.  Haleakala is the volcano which we hiked a few weeks ago  - it commands your attention all the time, as it stands proud in amongst the clouds in the centre of the island.  There is a paved road which goes all the way to the top - from

sea level up to 10,023 feet (3055 m) over a distance of 35 miles (56 kms).  Now....what do you think we had to do??  With 2 mountain bikes??  Climb the darned thing of course!  I was half dreading having to do it, as I knew it would be tough.  But Brent was determined to make it to the top.  Considering that we were on bikes with fat nobbly tyres, we knew it would take awhile (the fastest pro roadies get up there in 3 hrs on skinny tyres).  Started at 7am.  And 7 hours later, we were at the top, lying flat on our backs, exhausted, in the sheltered lookout point (funny looks from other tourists was amusing).  Took a total of 45 mins of breaks along the way, at 2500ft, 5000ft, 7000ft and 9000ft (see pic at top left - this is Brent at 9000ft, and we were both stuffed! Hardly had energy to take photo for goodness sake, haha).  And, trust me - these breaks were essential!  Was definitely a mental and physical challenge for us both.  The legs weren't too bad, but our butts suffered!!  Was going snail pace at the top - just couldn't force the legs to go any faster!  Took us an hour and a half to whizz back down the mountain - all pure downhill!  Was pretty chilly at the top, so had to carry layers up there to ensure we didn't freeze our bums off.  We are both stoked that we did it, as the mountain had been beckoning us to 'give it a go' the whole time we've been here!  Not many opportunities to ride from sea level to 3000m in 1 day.
Today we've just been packing our bags and bikes, in anticipation of our flight to San Fran tomorrow.  Out for dinner tonight with our newfound friends here in Maui too, which will be fun!  Have been fortunate to meet some top people here, and hopefully we'll see them again one day.  That's all from us now....until next time....in San Fran, back on the mainland, farewell from Maui x

Only a few more days to go!

Time is ticking along (even in Maui the clock moves the same pace forward), and we seem to slowly be approaching the end of our amazing trip...we will be in NZ in about 3 weeks and we are super looking forward to seeing all our friends and family!  Only another 3 days left in Maui for us....

We have loved our stay here in Hawaii - Maui is really is a very beautiful island, full of beautiful people and beautiful beaches, ocean water and fresh food!  For breakfast this morning, we indulged in organic cereal topped with fresh papaya, sweet pineapple, lillkoi (passionfruit) and star

fruit...YUM...what a great way to start the day!
We have spent oodles of time in the water lately.  On Friday, we visited our fave snorkelling spot on the island, called Ahihi Bay.  Got there nice and early this time, so we could get the clear water & hopefully spot the elusive turtles.  Was on a mission to see these Hawaiian green sea turtles - as we've seen heaps of them from the shoreline, but only once when we were snorkelling.  We had been told about a Turtle Cleaning Station, where turtles go to have fish pick at their shells, and clean it for them.  Had vague directions (opposite some
tree, end of some reef, near a sandy patch..etc....it's not easy to navigate!).  However, fortunately we did stumble across it after about 25 mins of searching, and saw 6 turtles!!  Woohoo!!  Pretty decent sizes too, ranging from half a metre to 3/4 metre long.  That made our day.  They are beautiful creatures, and enjoyable to watch as they gracefully manouver around in the water. Mission accomplished!
There are so many water sports here - everything imaginable...including Stand Up Paddle Boarding, which seems to have taken off as a new sport.  We wanted to give it a go, so rented a board in Lahaina, and tried it on a relatively low swell beach...was super fun!  Brent was surfing the waves before you knew it (of course), whereas I took a bit more time to feel balanced on it :-) Might have to buy a SUP board when we get home - cos we really need more toys!  haha
We visited a slice of paradise on the weekend....lucky us had the opportunity to go to Lanai - a neighbouring island with a population of 3500 people. Very slow paced and a little bit like going back in time. Hopped on the early morning ferry Sat morning along with Tracey, Dean and Shaun - and our 5 bikes.  They were just there for a day trip, but we stayed the whole weekend.  We rode the local mt bike track - Munro Trail, which took about 5 hours or so, and ended up being maybe 3500 to 4000 feet of climbing in hot, humid conditions!  Fun!  A dip in the ocean was just LUSH afterwards!  The water at the beach was crystal clear, and the sand so white - it was just like out of a postcard!  Tracey and the boys
went home that night on the last ferry, but we stayed on another day for some more snorkelling and swimming.  Camped right next to the beach for 1 night.  Did our biggest snorkel so far - a big swim out to maybe 40-50 foot depth of clear water (twice!) - was totally worth it, as we got to swim with a pod of spinner dolphins - YAY!!  We had seen 100's of them from the shore in their large pod, when we were out for a walk along the headland, and ran like the clappers to get the snorkel gear so we could get out to them in time.  Mad swim...and then saw about 30 of them close up.  They are very playful creatures; jumping (and spinning at the same time) out of the water and playing underneath.  Also saw a stingray and couple of turtles on the way out.  I have never been swimming with dolphins before, so was a whole new experience!  Also explored the 1 large hotel at the beach; Four Seasons; which was super-luxurious, and only marginally out of our price range with rooms going from $400 - $6500 a night =- EEEK!  We were happy with the camping.  Grabbed a late ferry back to Maui, and got back just in time to see a glorious sunset - see the pic - with Lanai in the background.  What a great weekend.
So just a few days left, and we have a couple of plans in the pipeline, although going to try and make the most of the sunshine whilst we can.  Be back again soon, much aloha to our friends and family, Em & Brent x