So its been ages and ages since we updated the blog, yet again!

Hawaii is the warmest place weve been to so far. We landed in Honolulu airport expeting lei's but apparently they're reserved for rich American tourists, unless you want to buy them from the shop which was closed. Major disappointment!

We left the airport on one of the many shuttle buses which took us straight to the door of The Polynesian Beach Club hostel in Waikiki. Probably one of the best hostels we"ve ever stayed at so far. Its just off Waikiki beach and is run by an awesome guy named Andy, one of the most chilled and down to earth hostel managers we've met. We arrived and Andy informed us that even though we'd booked two beds in a dorm there were none left. Not a problem, he just moved us to a private room at no extra cost! Result.

Its pretty much too hot to sleep in Hawaii at night, we did most sleeping during the afternoon when the winds picked up and cooled the whole place down. We spent our first week in Hawaii swimming in the sea, being lazy on the beach and hanging out with Karl and Beccy from Liverpool and Chris, Rea and Gary from London. As well as Gerd from Estonia, who'd spent most of his money and was living in one of the hostel hammocks.

Although Waikiki is home to some of the best surf breaks in Hawaii we only surfed once as it was just too busy. There was probably an average of 50 people at each break which doesn't make for a great time. Especially when your contending with 20 stone of Hawaiian local every time you paddle in.

We took a trip up to the North Shore to see the famous Pipeline and Waimea Beaches. We snorkled shark cove, jumped off Waimea rock and stopped on the way back to nick some pineapples from the Dole plantation fields. Take that Dole, two pineapples!

While in Waikiki we planned our trip to Kauai, the furthest north and one of the smallest islands in the Hawaiian chain. We got some flights for $50 each with a budget airline. As per budget airline operating procedures we turned up to the airport to find our flight cancelled without any prior warning. We returned the next day for the re-scheduled flight which took roughly 15 minutes after take off and landing. Pretty much the shortest flight ever. Just long enough for the stewardess to take drink orders from some of the six other passengers.

Kauai is where Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones the Temple of Doom were filmed and its a pretty breath taking place. We hired the most clapped out pick-up truck ever from a company that was recommended to us as a company that "will hire to anyone". The truck had no speedo, a cracked windscreen, no break lights and would cut out seemingly when it wanted. The radio worked however and we could pick up the local reggae station on the north side of the island and the classic rock station on the rest of it.

It takes about two hour to drive from one end of the road to the other. The road doesn't go all the way round the island due to the massive mountain range of the Na-Pali coast. The same mountains you see at the start of Jurassic Park!

We camped in Kauai instead of staying in hostels as there is only one on the east coast. Luckily our tent was waterproof as Kauai is the wettest place on earth with an average of 420 inches of rain a year. Thats wetter than England! As a result of this there is waterfalls pretty much everywhere. You can't go up a hill without there being a waterfall within walking distance. On the north shore the island is all mountains, cliff, rainforest and waterfalls. It makes for some awesome trecking and theres one 11 mile treck that takes you as far as you can go along the Na-Pali coast.

The south of the island is completely different its all sugar cane fields, rivers, and scenery that Alex assures me resembles the Grand Canyon. There is also the US missle defence program called "Star Wars" which you can sometimes see being tested at night.

After spending a week hiking, snorkleing, jumping off rocks into waterfalls and getting sunburnt we headed back to Oahu and The Polynesian Beach Club. Not much had changed, Gerd was still in a hammock. The only major news was that Michael Jackson had died which we had somehow missed on both the reggae and classic rock radio stations.

We spent another week lazing about in the Waikiki sun, attending the hostels keg parties and celebrating the 4th of July by letting off a load of fireworks and playing beer pong. The next day we had a flight to catch to Fiji!