Travelling the World - 2011

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA

jennifermuller — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:01:00 GMT

After flying into Miami on the 5th October, we caught the tri-rail train North to Fort Lauderdale to place ourselves in a good position for the biggest boat show in the world! - To be held at the end of the month. 99% of the yachts here are MONSTROUS motor cruises, looking for deck hands to polish all day and stewardesses to serve beverages - not quite what we are after, however still interesting to see how big a 'small' boat can be (120ft is considered to be a very small boat).

It is now the 17th October. For the past 2 weeks, all I have done is edit my resume 100 times, buy some clothes for job interviews (I look very smart!), go to job interviews, and walk around the town for hours each day purely for exercise and to keep my mind stimulated. Fort Lauderdale is just another city.

There are lots of weird people here, and I cant even fill up a rental car with fuel without needing help... Sam read a Bill Bryson book a few months ago. He said that travelling was like being a toddler again... you cant communicate with people and have no idea how things work, or why!!

Strange things:

- When it rains, everyone drives with their emergency lights flashing.

- EVERYONE is texting when driving, even when driving a semi trailer, reaching for a clipboard, changing the radio station and talking on the phone..... ahh! Its almost scary to walk along the main road.

- Chocolate... hhmmmm.....

- The fire truck sirens sound like dying cats.

There are lots of funny or scary things that have happened in the past couple of weeks, I just cant think of them right now (its 3am).

We have also made a lot of good friends, had some fun nights out, walked along the beachfront with ice-cream, walked for hours along man-made inlets and enjoyed cocktails on the beach.

We have hired a rental car for a few days to start exploring further afield - this is why I am awake at 3am - ITS EXCITING!!

The plan is to head to Antigua at the end of the month, in the hope of finding work. Antigua looks like a great place for us, and I really cant wait! It is more relaxed, less people, and lots of sailing boats.

How is everyone going at home? Please feel free to send an email (jenny_muller@hotmail.com) :-)

Lots and lots of love xoxoxox Jenny.

Volcano National Park, THE BIG ISLAND

jennifermuller — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 20:34:00 GMT

DAY 4: Today we entered the Volcano National Park ($10 entry / week, camping included). After sussing out the main camping site (more amenities, full, school groups on day-trips), we drove down the 'Chain of Craters Road', stopping off to walk the 1.6km Kipaku Puaulu trail, apparently a 4000 year old rain forest (perhaps going through a not so rain forest stage?). We then stopped for the 'Lava Tube' loop trail where about 40% of the trail leads you through an old lava tube, very cool! *A lava tube is where the lava flowing down the mountain begins to cool on the surface, and in sections, leaving a straw for the hot lava to flow through beneath the surface. When the lava eventually stops flowing, the straw is drained at the bottom, leaving a hollow tube.*

The secondary campground was great - it was in the centre of the VNP, with only 1 other small group of friendly campers. THERE WERE SO MANY STARS!

DAY 5: Today we walked along the Kilauea Iki Trail (A 6km loop walk, through lush rain forest on the craters rim, down and over its still steaming crater floor, 1,180m above sea level).

This was defiantly the most amazing walk so far!

This Volcano last erupted on 14th November 1959 and began when a "curtain" of lava burst from a 0.8km long crack in the crater wall. Within a day, multiple vents along the crack consolidated into one main vent, erupting!! The eruption lasted for 5 weeks.

During the eruption, blobs of molten rock up to 1 meter diameter shot across the crater and landed where we were walking along the path on the edge of the rain forest, where a whole section of the path has slightly different trail surface - lumpy black volcanic rock.

Walking across the crater, past the steam vents was amazing!

Photos might help describe...

Photos: OAHU, HAWAII

jennifermuller — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 08:41:00 GMT

Hilo, THE BIG ISLAND

jennifermuller — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:30:00 GMT

WE LOVED 'THE BIG ISLAND'!!

The Big Island is not that big, and 2 weeks was the perfect amount of time to drive, hike, camp and snorkel our way around the island.

DAY 1: On the 14th September, we flew into Hilo Airport on the East coast, and stayed at the Hilo Backpackers Hostel. It was a nice short flight, followed by a long walk through my favorite airport yet (open air, hall lined with beautiful tropical plants). After arriving at the hostel, where we had our own private room with beautiful furniture and a very comfortable mattress, I spent the first day finding information on the Volcano National Park and hiking tracks on the island.

DAY 3: Today we spent the entire day hiring a car for the next 2 weeks.

Photos: THE BIG ISLAND, HAWAII

jennifermuller — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:08:00 GMT

THE BIG ISLAND, HAWAII

Sand Island, OAHU

jennifermuller — Sat, 3 Sep 2011 10:06:00 GMT

We caught TheBus #19 to the Sand Island Access Road, then walked for 1.5hrs through a massive industrial estate containing a poo farm, waste management centre, scrap yards - you get the idea - to our camp ground.

It was like camping on the Port Adelaide River, only instead of pubs and dolphins there was rubbish and the smell of poo.

The campsite was full of massive tents - you could call them mar-quays - accompanied by a flag and a huge generator to run their sound systems, lights and fridges. Our little 2 man tent was hard to spot.

With only rice to cook, but no cooking device, we walked for an hour back into town for the cheapest dinner we could find. It was a nice evening for walking, around 25deg.c with a light breeze.

We were kept up until around 3am with the parents celebrating the first day of their Labor Day Weekend, and woken at sunrise with the kids throwing balls over our tent. I was still in a very good frame of mind, and enjoying being on holiday.

Waikiki, OAHU

jennifermuller — Fri, 2 Sep 2011 09:49:00 GMT

DAY 1:

We caught a $9 bus from the airport and managed to drive around each block atleast twice, taking about 2 hrs to get to where we were staying. Think of it as a long and thorough tour of Waikiki.

All of the backpackers appeared to be booked out, until we found Pacific Ohana, so we grabbed the non-refundable room, only to discover it was completely infested with bed bugs! Ahh!!! Neither of us put our bags down.

We walked out, and down the road to White Sands Hotel.. no other backpackers were available. You would think, being the only place almost completely vacant we might have been suspicious, but.. no. We learnt the hard way on day 1. The hotel was very nice.

DAY 2:

Today we hired out surf boards at Waikiki Beach and surfed to 2 hrs. The small, gentle waves were perfect for a long board. For the second hour we had 1 board between us, and managed to catch a wave together.. it was so much fun!

After returning to the hotel in the afternoon, we both discovered we were incredibly SUN BURNT! :O

4pm the Farmers Markets opened, where we bought lots of fresh fruit and veg - all of the vegetables are different shapes here, the eggplants are long and as thick as a finger.

Beers & pasta for dinner on our hotel balcony, followed by an icy cold shower to nurse the sun burn.. ouch!