Today my daughter was teaching all day so I had a day of shopping, cooking, loads of walking and some shopping, all alone. After 4 days of meeting so many people, trying to speak some Spanish and understanding the torrent of words around me, not committing major faux pas culturally, and speaking English but a variant to accommodate various understandings, it was nice to just do my own thing. This morning I was sent off with a note to go to the butcher to get some mince. Well basically I chickened out and bought it at the nearby supermarket. So much easier than having to mime the eventual questions I am sure the butcher would have asked such as beef? regular? premium? Grabbing a packet off the shelf is much more certain. The lady in the ... read more

Left Brisbane Australia this morning at 9-35am on Lan airlines to Beunos Aires via Auckland and Santiago Chile. The lady at check in admonished me for having 27 kgs of luggage in one bag, and told me this time she would not fine me. Must have looked like and old lady in need of TLC. Tiny tiny plane to NZ 3 and 3 seat configuration. 3 hours of flying with Qantas service. Auckland airport was a long 4 hour wait with people that talked funny and coffee and a ginger slice to remind me of how good the baking is in NZ. Flight to Chile was quite empty, great service, great food flowing wine, and very helpful bilingual staff. Almost 13 hours flying on this leg. Was a little worried that I had no time to ... read more

Come to Hawaii and relax on the beautiful beaches of Waikiki goes the advertising blurb. I have yet to lie on the sand and have swum 3 times only at Waikiki, seems like a waste of a holiday to do just that, there is so much to see and do. Today's early morning start involved a 7am out of bed, breakfast and catch the green trolley line to the Diamond Head Crater to hike to the summit. Our stop to catch the trolley was opposite the zoo and the beach where we watched one seriously good game of beach volleyball, 2 couples who looked quite professional. The green trolley takes you up to the gate where you need to pay your $1- to access this national park. It was made a national natural landmark in 1968, ... read more

Amazingly with all the noise of the next door Queen Kapiolani Hotel parking, valet and luggage areas as well as various construction work nearby we managed a sleep in and Martin slept till 9-30am. Our plan today was to take the blue Waikiki trolley on the South East corner tour of the island. We thought 11am would be great, however after a slow lazy morning we managed the 1-36pm departure. We chose to get this double decker bus at its third stop which is at the Duke statue along Waikiki beach. After some very assertive lining up we managed to get a seat on the top facing the coast. This is a 2.5 hour round trip, with informative commentary and two stops for photos. You can pay a single $20- fee or purchase a multi line ... read more

Our new roomies in the dorm beside our private room have no concept of the word share or what it entails. They were quite incensed to find us walking through "their" room to get to ours and when I mentioned they were sharing a bathroom it all seemed a little too much. They told us they were catching a cab to the USS Arizona tomorrow morningso needed the bathroom early. We are also going to Pearl harbour tomorrow early too,and said we were catching the 6-41am No42 bus. No problem with bathroom sharing they were up at 5am loudly proclaiming their intentions for the day, heaps of door slamming and an amazing amount of noise.We quietly got up at 6am, they had left by then; showered changed, grabbed a banana and drink from the nearby ABC ... read more