AT MY BEST...: adventures

Returning to Reality - Missing Hawaii

6:00 PM

If any of you follow me on Instagram you will know that we took a long needed holiday and headed back to the tropics of beautiful Hawaii for 3.5 weeks. It was a great holiday, allowing us to see and do things that have been on our Hawaii bucket list for a while, and take in the differences between the different islands.

I will do a separate blog post for each place we stayed, but this post is more to let you all know that I am still alive. Although coming back to reality has not been easy!

Our first stop was Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. What a great place to have spent time. The people are amazing here and oh so helpful (Its not everyday you get a hug from the lady who saved us hours at AT&T!). They love sharing their part of the world with you and there was always someone to talk to. Its also the gateway to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park which is a sight to behold!

Stop 2 was Napili on the island of Maui. Maui is a very different island to the Big Island, and had plenty of things to do. We saw Honu (sea turtles) in the wild on an uncrowded beach, touched the sky from the top of a Volcano and took the narrow, windy road to Hana to see the real Hawaii. This was our first ever AirBnB experience, we shopped and lived like locals, ate some amazing food and explored the historic town of Lahaina.

Our third stop was on the island of Oahu, but away from the main tourist area. We lived like locals in Hale'iwa on the stunning North Shore. I love the island of Oahu so so much, and having the chance to stay on the North Shore, rather than just a day trip was on that bucket list. It is the most laid back town, where everyone is so friendly and happy to have a laugh. This place was my relaxation place and I will be back (hopefully next time in their winter to catch placed like Pipeline pumping).

And if you are after shopping and hitting up placed to see and be seen, there is not going past Waikiki (even if it is just to eat at The Cheesecake Factory). After spending time away from here, my love for Waikiki is fading, but seeing Diamond Head always makes me smile. It is my reminder that I am in the Hawaiian Islands - my favorite place on earth.

For those of you thinking of heading to the islands, please leave your questions for me and I will answer them when I do the more in depth blog posts. I love these places, and would love to pass on this love and knowledge so that others can fall in love too.

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Biking the Golden Gate Bridge - Video

7:30 AM

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First outing with OSMO

12:00 PM

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Life Right Now

6:30 AM

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Riding Cable Cars in San Francisco

1:24 PM

adventures

Travel Review - New Zealand: White Island with Frontier Helicopters

7:00 AM

There is a reason for this post coming up first in the run down from our recent New Zealand holiday. Visiting an active volcano has been on my bucket list forever. Seriously, I wanted to be a volcanologist when I was growing up. I have been close to places with volcanoes in the past, both Vanuatu and Hawaii, but both weren't on the doorstep to where we were staying.

White Island was different. It is 50km directly off shore from Whakatane on the East coast of New Zealands North Island and can be seen with the naked eye on a clear day, steaming away towards the horizon.

After doing our research we had a few alternatives to see this fascinating island. There is a light plane that fly's over, the good ship PeeJay that operates out of Whakatane and docks at the island, and the option we took, a 2 hour helicopter flight and tour with Frontier Helicopters. As there are different means to viewing the island, they are also different price ranges, so check your budget prior to picking how you see this wonderful marvel.

Frontier Helicopters operate out of Whakatane Airport and run 2 different helicopters out to the island, at a cost of $650 NZD per person. By taking this option, which is by far the most expensive of the three, you are getting the best of both worlds in terms of seeing the island from the air and being able to walk the surface.

The safety briefing was concise and we were on our way. The flight time one way being around 20 minutes, this leaves about an hour on the volcano floor with your tour guide (also your pilot).

You don't have to be super fit to do this tour. The hills are rolling and it is a slow paced tour. There are a couple of little streams that you need to step across (and in my case stop and test the water temp with my fingers).

You will encounter bubbling mud pools, sulfur yellowing the ground in places, steam coming from everywhere you can see, and the smell (which isn't anywhere as bad as you would think). The land is baron with only a few trees growing on the Eastern side of the volcano. You can imagine a film set looking like the surface of Mars.

There has been several attempts to mine the sulfur on this site over the years, all failing, but leaving behind a glimpse of the past for you to see. Your tour will take you to the last standing building and the machinery left behind from these days. Viewing these items up close where you can touch them, will give you a good sense of why sulfur mining was not viable.

The safety equipment issued includes a life jacket to be worn only for the flights, and a hard hat and gas mask while on the ground on White Island. These are all legal requirements, but the gas mask is not necessarily worn the whole time, only when you feel the smell is too much. We did out trip with someone that insisted on wearing it the whole time. Personally, I only wore it to take a couple of photos before I had to hand it back (seriously, how often to you get the chance to wear a gas mask). The sulfur can catch you in the back of the throat, and it will help with that, but it is not dangerous to be inhaled. All flights are GPS tracked and monitored while you are out there.

If you are in it for the photos, because lets face it, in this day of digital recording and social media, who isn't, there is nothing that you cant snap a picture of. Between two of us, we had a DSLR, iphone 5C and a GoPro Hero 3. All of which were used for our documenting process. We had both of the middle back seats on the way out to the island, yet we still got decent photos. I will advise if you are given a seat on the window, please be respectful of the people in the middle seats as they will be trying to get photos around you.

Scientists are always monitoring this island and the team at Frontier are constantly in contact with them, being their eyes on the ground and reporting things that look a little different. If there are issues with weather, or the island, flights will be cancelled and re-scheduled where possible. The staff are super helpful and willing to answer any questions you have, including putting your mind at ease if you are a little uncertain about flying.

We booked our flight through the Frontier Helicopters website, which was easy to use. And don't forget to follow their facebook page as your guide will be taking photos out there on the ground, just in case they pop up.

This trip was one of the best 2 hours of my life, putting a big fat tick in that bucket list box for both the Volcano and helicopter flight (and getting hubby to agree to doing more things like this when travelling). The team from Frontier were fantastic, the tour was relaxed and one that I highly recommend.