This update is dedicated to Hannah Gatland. Hanzy, thanks for showing me how cool a blog can really be (errr you suck!!). I'm worried for newspaper columnists of the future. Worried, when, if they ever have to comment on the reason for Australia's remarkably close relationship with the US they will get the answer wrong. Some will say that it's because of the 'Free/Fair Trade Agreement' that came into force last year. Others may argue that it's due to a long legacy of military cooperation deriving from the ANZUS Alliance. The third (and slightly more accurate) columnist may comment that it' [View Full Entry]

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After 2 months of boot camp and a little visit home I'm off on my own to the island of Oahu. I'm Stationed on the Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis, and its broken. Were just kinda sitting around at the pier waiting for the engines to be replaced. So I'm off to meet the locals. I wasted no time and every day after one if not sooner me and the guy’s grabbed are boards and were off. Now when I say are boards I’m talking about lots of things. there is the skate board, long board skate board, the surf board, the [View Full Entry]

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Slept in, had a swim, shopped at Ala Moana shopping centre. Went to a bar for a quiet drink, then to a club to party it up before sitting down on Waikiki beach with hundreds of other people for some fireworks. Great fun - awesome new years eve. Is currently 3:30am on the 1st Jan, and the Shuttle will be here to pick us up in 1 hour (no sleep for me tonight), we are jetting off to LA soon and we are planning on going to Crystal Cathedral tonight. Busy busy! [View Full Entry]

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Today we bussed it over to Pearl Harbour, but missed out on getting a ticket for a tour (we were too busy eating our turkey sandwiches). We did at least however see the place and take photos of a few ships. We also saw the heart of Honolulu city on the way which I liken to Brisbane, sort of spread out, and nicely kept. After bussing back from Pearl Harbour we had another go at Diamond Head now that we knew exactly where we had to go. We bumped into a Kiwi guy and his Canadian wife who were also doing [View Full Entry]

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Today we went on a bus tour around the entire island of Oahu. We started by travelling north straight up through the centre of the island and making a stop by the Dole Plantation - where all the Dole pineapples and other such things come from. We then motered up to the North Shore beaches of Oahu where all the big surf is. The beaches looked fantastic, golden sand - nice clean waves.. We then went to the "Polynesian Culture Centre" where we went on a canoe ride and saw the culture of all the various polynesian cultures, including Aotearoa which [View Full Entry]

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We actually woke up early enough today to be in time for the free breakfast at our hostel. We helped ourselves to a fully fledged serving of dry toast and some coffee Shannon thought tasted more like mud - but any form of caffeine was better than nothing for me.. Lack of sleep is bad - coffee is good. Attached is a photo of our unit and an outside shot of the hostel with a few randoms from around the world hanging over the side. We haven’t socialised much with the other people here (apart from kiwi Peter and co) - [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone! Well, here I am in Maui with 20 members of my family! The life here moves pretty slow here on 'island time' but we're sure enjoying it. We've spent a ton of time on the beach, and finally yesterday we ventured up above the clouds to the magestic Haleakala. Fully enjoyed the 'moonscape' of the crater and Andrew and I took turns biking down the volcano on a rented bike. The highlight of my day was finding some nice hiking trails quite far off the beaten tourist track and having a really beautiful (though short) hike in the eucalyptus [View Full Entry]

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This morning Amanda was still a bit ill and were about to go down to the “local clinic”, but she seemed to come right eventually - not quite 100% but just about. Due to our late night we didn’t manage to get up in time for the free breakfast our Hostel puts on between 9 and 10am - so we ate Sunita’s oreo cookies and got a burger from McDonalds just to make sure that we were entering American culture in the upmost of true American style. Attached you will see a photo of Shannon standing half dead in front of [View Full Entry]

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So that's it! Finally I had to say goodbye to my new home Hawaii. Right now I'm writing you from Phoenix,AZ where my aunt lives. It's strange. On the one hand you're looking forward to see your family for the holidays and later all your friends back home, but on the other hand you have to leave behind your new family and friends that you made.... somehow for me, my roommates and the people around were like a second family even though I never mentioned it to them. I just hope to see them all again! Man, I think I will [View Full Entry]

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Hi everybody... I hope everybody had a nice christmas soo far, and that you will joy your weekation. We had a awsome christmas dinner her. I wil make a blogg and show you that too. I don't have the real christmas feeling sice we have 30 C and summer, but I like it...Beach and surfing all day long.. I wish you; Merry Christmas and a Happy new year... I still love hawaii...:) See you... Look and read under the pictures... Love Katrin Ulricke [View Full Entry]

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