Week 9: Goodbye Australia, Hello Hawaii!

After my time in Cairns I came back to Sydney for another 3 nights/4 days. Once I arrived I just chilled out for the afternoon as I wasn't feeling great so just needed some time to recover before I flew to Hawaii.

On the Tuesday I went to Manly Beach with someone I met in the hostel which was nice as I didn't get to see Manly the first time because the weather was so bad. It was really cool seeing the Sydney skyline on the boat over as well and we had a nice time just wandering around and seeing Manly.

Sydney skyline

Cockatoos and one of the bays at Manly

That night we went down to the opera house and harbour to see the light show called vivid. It was cool seeing everything lit up, all the lights and exhibitions but I'm not too sure what the whole thing was about! We went to a couple of bars and then ended up in Pancakes on the Rocks which is a famous pancake shop and had the most amazing chocolate and orange pancakes!

On Wednesday I booked a day trip to the Blue Mountains because last time I didn't get up in time to go and see them! It was so nice to get out and about, get some fresh air, see the views and go on some walks. The Blue Mountains get their name from the blue tinge they give off, they also aren't actually mountains its a plateau that has been eroded and developed into big canyons, like the Grand Canyon but Australia's green version!

The Blue Mountains

The views were amazing and we saw the infamous Three Sisters. The story is an old Aboriginal tale of three sisters who fell in love with three brothers from another tribe but were forbade to marry which led to a big war. The three sisters got turned into stone by a witchdoctor who was due to undo the spell after the war however the witchdoctor himself got killed leaving the three sisters as stone.

The Three Sisters

I was flying out the next day but the weather was so beautiful in the morning I decided to get the bus down to Circular Quay to get my souvenirs and also take a wander past the opera house to finally get my sunny picture and walk through the botanical gardens which were beautiful in the sunshine.

Once back at the hostel I got my shuttle bus to the airport and set off on my 9 hour flight for Hawaii. The flight wasn't great, it went quick enough and I managed to sleep a bit but there wasn't a lot of room, I didn't have a meal as I didn't realise you had to pre pay so was pretty hungry and there was also a screaming child pretty much the whole journey.

I arrived in Hawaii about 7:30am Thursday morning after leaving Australia 6:30pm Thursday night which meant I got to re do my whole day again which was pretty cool... just like Groundhog Day! An added bonus was my taxi to the hostel from the airport turned out to be a limousine for 1, I didn't pay any extra I was just put in it which was fun!

Limo for 1!

Once checking in I sat down for some breakfast and started chatting to a guy who was renting a car and going up the North shore. He asked if I wanted to join him along with a couple of other girls and we all set off. Our first stop was the Kuhaka Fruit Market which sold all sorts of exotic fruits. I got some mango as its my favourite and we then set off towards Ted's Bakery which is a pretty famous bakery that sells Haupia Pie - a chocolate and cream pie cake thing that it's famous for. We had some lunch (and pie) there, I had garlic shrimp with macaroni salad and rice which was amazingggg.

Kuhaka Fruit Market

My amazing lunch

Once we'd eaten we walked over to Sunset Beach which is famous for its sunset. We relaxed there for a while and saw a lone seal just chilling on the beach which was cool!

Sunset Beach

After this beach we then went to Waimea Beach which is known for its huge waves and a big rock that everyone jumps off into the sea. I jumped off, it was quite high and pretty scary and yes the waves were huge you literally got washed up on shore!

The big rock at Waimea (on the left hand side) - sorry it's not the best picture

Waimea Beach

After Waimea we went to Turtle Bay which is known for its turtles being on the beach. We saw a couple stick their heads up but nothing worth documenting unfortunately! 

We then moved on to Kaena Point which is the most furthest Western point of Oaho. We did an hour and a half trek to the point and an hour and a half back - not my most favourite part of the day as I cut my toes on the rocks and we walked back in the dark, but was fun to see the views and all the different rock formations and we saw an albatross!

Kaena Point

We all went for drinks that night with some other people from the hostel and I met a guy who lives in Hawaii who took me to a bit further down than Waikiki the next day so I could see some of the more remote beaches which was really nice. We ended up at Waimanalo Beach which was his favourite and the scenery was beautiful!

Waimanalo Beach

On my last full day in Hawaii which was Saturday I had a day to myself, I got frozen yoghurt, relaxed on Waikiki Beach, bought a rubber ring and just had some me time which was so nice compared to how busy I'd been. That night I didn't go out, I decided to just stay in and catch up on a few things which was nice as I had another day of travelling the next day.

Waikiki Skyline

Waikiki Beach

On Sunday I travelled over to San Diego to meet my family which was so exciting. The airport was so unorganised I've never queued so much in my life and it took me the whole 2 hours just to get through everything and I made it to the gate just as they were boarding! The flight was 5 hours and was fine except yet another screaming child! I arrived about 10pm where Lucille and Heather picked me up and then we went back to Lucille's house. It's so nice to have my own comfy bed and bathroom to myself and I have definitely missed my home comforts and will enjoy these next few days!

Speak to you soon.

With love, Lauren x

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Week 8: We Like to Party!

Part 2 of the update!

I finished on Monday in Cairns where we'd been partying all weekend, we decided to have a night in that night even though it was our friend Katie's first night so we made a stir fry and had a wander around the night markets before heading off to bed.

On Tuesday I had my Great Barrier Reef tour - I set off to catch the boat at 8am and after a long very bumpy boat ride we arrived at the reef. I decided to do a scuba dive here so we all got geared up and got in the water. I've got to say I was pretty terrified and had a slight panic once we actually got under water but once my breathing was under control I relaxed and enjoyed it.

We saw a massive fish that comes up to the instructors and plays with them - you can only touch the lips as otherwise it can cause blisters on their skin so we all got to touch him which was really cool. We also saw some nemo fish in the coral and got some cool pictures with them!

We then had a massive buffet lunch and went to the next spot where I snorkelled, I actually saw more snorkelling and I saw my first shark wich was very exciting - a very small reef shark but nonetheless it was a shark and it was swimming towards my face! Again loads more beautiful fish and coral before we boarded back on the boat and set for land.

That night we went out for drinks again but the week nights always had games going on which I wasn't really interested in so ended up going to bed at a reasonable time.

The next day was my long awaited dreaded bungy jump with AJ Hacketf. Katie and Chels came for moral support which was nice and once I'd signed up and much to my embarrassment had my weight written on my hand I climbed up the stairs to the top. They didn't hang around and before I knew it I was standing on the edge with him counting down from 5. At 1 I jumped, there's no point in hesitating because you'll scare yourself out of it and once the first jump is out the way it's sooo much fun!

Once we got back to the hostel we decided to go out again so got ourselves ready and off we went.

The next day I had my Atherton Tablelands Rainforest and Waterfall tour. The tour itself was great but I didn't have a particularly great group so wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been but still good nonetheless. We started off with Josephine Falls which has a man made water slide which was fun. From there we went to another waterfall (which I can't remember the name of) where Peter Andre's mysterious girl video and the herbal essences advert is filmed! I did the classic hair flick but the water was freezing so only went in waist deep.

Josephine Falls

The Peter Andre/Herbal Essences waterfall

We went to one final waterfall where we saw a snake in the tree which was cool. This one was even colder so I just about got my feet in but you could actually swim behind the waterfall which is cool. After that we went to Lake Eachem which was the last stop. This was just a massive lake but was slightly warmer than the waterfalls so I went in for a swim then just sunbathed for the rest of the time.

Snake!

A massive tree

Lake Eachem

That night we stayed in, we cooked spaghetti bolognaise and then bought some pineapple, grapes and chocolate and melted the chocolate down to make a fondue which was amazing!

On the Friday me and the girls all went to Mission Beach for our rescheduled skydive. For those of you that don't know what happened I'll explain it now. I was so happy that the 4 of us got to be in a plane together and I felt absolutely fine till I saw the plane then the nerves kicked in! Once we were in the air and I was all strapped up that was it the door was open and we were dropping like flies. I went out third and it was amazing, the free fall was absolutely fine and then the parachute went up and I started to feel all dizzy and everything went blurry. The next thing I remember was the instructor shouting at me to wake up cause we have to land. Yes I fainted in the air, I don't think it was for long and I still remember 80% of the skydive just a bit blurry! The experience was still amazing however and I would love to do one again just maybe with not such a tight harness!

That night was a big one, for some reason we met an American guy who bought a booth for about 10 of us, hired a barmaid and mixers and we all had any cocktail we wanted which I was certainly not complaining about. I did get pretty drunk that night and woke up the next morning in my bed, fully clothed including shoes with all my stuff around me!

Luckily we didn't have much planned over the weekend. Saturday was moving day - we were going to another hostel as we had vouchers and thought we'd need a break from Gilligans. Oh how wrong we were. The second hostel was horrible, a 30 minute walk from town, the rooms were so hot, stuffy and crowded and it was just not enjoyable. Saturday night we went out for dinner and then came home for an early one and as Sunday was my last night we went for drinks. We started at the Irish bar for the ladies night which includes 5 glasses of free champagne - they did these nights 3 times a week - and we then went to Woolshed for a few more drinks and a dance before heading back.

Come Monday I checked out and had to say an emotional goodbye to everyone. I'm so sad to leave all the amazing friends I made along the way but I wish them all the best with the rest of their travels and we'll reunite in December. After a quick flight back to Sydney I'm now back in Wake Up where it all started! It goes so so quick but I've enjoyed every second of it and would 100% do it again.

On Thursday I'm off to Hawaii and my next post will be posted from San Diego so keep an eye out!

With love, Lauren x

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