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World Tour 06
Hello, and sorry! we realise that its been some time since we have entered anything in the journal but we hope that the photos have given you a good idea of what we've been up to.
Since we left NZ we have come halfway round the world with a few exciting stops on the way. We began in Fiji, although our arrival was a little bit scary as we saw the tsunami warning that was issued for Fiji whilst we were waiting to board the flight! Fiji was one of the most relaxed places you could ever hope to go and so our diaries werent exactly packed but we spent a lot of time relaxing by the pool. A few competitve games of volleyball and some late night poker was about as far as we got on the first few days. Mike and Emily made the colossal journey to visit us and we wasted no time heading to the more deserted and beautiful parts of Fiji which came as a bit of a culture shock to them. we spent the next 5 days snorkelling, suntanning, eating and sleeping. that was about it! we stayed in Fijian style huts which were pretty sparce, the fly net was the full extent of the luxury. we made a couple of friends with the local Fijians during the kava ceremony and 'el captiano' taking us out on his little boat. we all had a great time though. in what seemed like no time at all it was time for them to make the 30+ hour journey home again and the awesome foursome was left alone again! we had a few more days of relaxation before heading to Raratonga, which is probably the only place you could go following Fiji to be more chilled out!
We had booked ourselves a 'beach house' at Raratonga backpackers which sounded hopefull but we weren't overly optimistic bearing in mind the price. However when we got there we were pleasantly surprised. we had our own two bedroom detatched pad with a kitchen, spacious living room and a swanky bathroom. the highlight of the beach house was the fact that it literally was, on the beach! we made a visit to the local market on saturday morning and wandered round the town which we were surprised to find was a lot cleaner and better developed than Fiji, despite its size. the runway of the airport is almost a third of the length of the country. we accidently went anti clockwise on the bus and went all the way round the island, but were still back within the hour. we had a quiet week, taking it easy watching some local telly, which was hilarious, reading, poker etcetc. we shortened our stay in Cook Isl. to just one week because we were getting itchy feet and were eager to get back on the road and see some civilisation.
On the 27th May we hopped on our flight to LA stopping in Tahiti for an hour, another nice stamp for the passport. Sam's cousins Evan and Kendall met us at the airport and took us back to Grandma and Poppa Phelan's for a bit of a party. We ate and drank better than we had in months! Our speciality dish of tuna and pasta was no match for the abundance of family cooking that met us on our arrival. The family were really friendly and welcoming of these four shabby looking english hooligans turning up which was greatly appreciated! We awoke to pancakes, sausages, bacon and eggs, happy to be in America! The first couple of weeks went very quickly but we managed to fit a whole load in. We dotted between families, BBQ'ing, beaching, surfing, swimming, shopping, eating and much more. we spent a lot of time in Huntington Beach, eating on the pier at Rubys, cycling along the promenade, kayaking round the harbour, playing basball and generally having a great time. we met some cool people via Evan, went to see a band at the Roxy in Hollwood which was a lot of fun. Grandma and Poppa P. took us on a whistle stop tour of LA which was good fun and we saw the big sights such as Hollywood Bvd, Kodak theatre, Graumans chinese theatre and of course the Hollywood sign. We went to downtown Disney and had dinner at the 'ESPNzone' and caught some of the fireworks which was a lot of fun!
On the 10th June we began the day at 6am, watching Englands opening game in our pj's with a cup of coffee which was a new experience! Fortunately the result made it worth the wake up! Later that day the boys(including Evan) headed off for a little road trip. We drove up the pacific coast highway to Santa Barbera to visit some friends of Evans at college for a bit of a party. We had a good laugh but decided that we didnt want to sleep on the floor so made the 6hour journey to San Francisco at 4am! Ali got some highway miles under his belt and gave Evan a break from driving, which was much appreciated! We arrived and found ourselves a swanky little hotel in fishermans wharf which was very reasonably priced, always good for the budget! We went back into tourist mode for two days and did all the typical sights, Golden gate, lombard street, pier 39, fishermans wharf etc etc. We ate clam chowder from a bread bowl which was all agreed was fantastic, particularly dipping the big bit they cut out of the middle. We went on the original tram line to union square and had a look round the shops, saw the fog roll in and then drove home, happy that we had done all we could. A top weekend overall!
Today we spent the day in Laguna beach, which looks exactly like it does on the telly, which is brilliant! We topped up the tans, played some frisbee, checked out the talent, had some lunch in a cool diner which a 5c dukebox and had a cracking day.
We went to a local bonfire and subsequent party the other night which was pretty hilarious and provided some memories which im sure you will find out eventually.
Seems like its all going too fast but were loving the californian surfy lifestyle so were not wishing it away too quickly. hope all is well at home keep posting the messages, keeps us grounded to know that people actually have to work and do normal things. hehe.
lots of love
Adam, Ali, James and Sam
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