After spending two nights at a secluded rest area just west of Walpole, Linda and I began the second week of our West Coast road-trip (Monday 4thMay) by taking a scenic detour through more of the South-West's famous towering forests (along the aptly-named Valley of the Giants Road) before venturing back to the coast to visit the small but spectacular William Bay NP. On a sunny day this might have been the highlight of our trip so far, as we first encountered the delightful Green's Pool - where a scattering of huge granite boulders encloses a picturesque lagoon, perfectly sheltered from the Southern Ocean swells that batter most other parts of the coast – before rounding a headland, descending a flight of steps and squeezing through a narrow gap in the rock to see the Elephant ... read more

Having spent the previous day hiking on the Na Pali Coast with my new friends Stefanie and Marisa, it was unanimously agreed that on friday (17th May) we would let their rental car do most of the work. So off we headed once again along Kaua'i's one-and-only coastal road, though this time we were headed in the opposite direction to the day before - first heading to the small town of Waimea (the third town of that name I had encountered on three different islands, with the name appropriately meaning 'reddish-brown water') before turning mauka (inland) and beginning the prolonged climb up to the rim of Waimea Canyon. From a couple of roadside lookouts we were treated to the amazing spectacle of Waimea Canyon winding it's way towards the sea up to three thousand feet (almost ... read more

Having recovered from our exhausting hike to the lava flow along the coast the previous day, Yann and I had resolved to hike to the top of Mauna Loa on wednesday (8th May). Thankfully - with the summit of Mauna Loa being almost 14,000 feet (over 4000 metres) above sea level - we would be able to tackle the first 11,000 feet of ascent by car, meaning we would only have to climb the remaining 2000-plus feet on foot! Hoping to beat the clouds that inevitably build up around both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in the afternoon, we were up early and on our way to Hilo for a quick breakfast, before turning mauka (inland) and linking up with the previously notorious, but now almost flawless, Saddle Road. Before long we were six thousand feet ... read more

Flying from O'ahu to the Big Island of Hawai'i on a monday morning (29th April), I wasn't the slightest bit surprised to see the entire island buried under a blanket of clouds - except for the tops of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, both of which are over 4000 metres above sea level - as the town we were landing in, Hilo, is officially the wettest town in the whole of the United States! And though I was content to save myself an unnecessary cab fare by walking from the airport to my hostel, I had only made it five minutes down the road when I was offered a ride by a friendly local! Having checked into my hostel - housed in a beautifully restored old wooden building right in the centre of Hilo - I ... read more

Thirty-six hours after finishing work at Steamworks - and fresh from having spent a great final day in Vancouver drinking beers with my ex-workmates, watching an Australian finally win the US Masters golf, and then retiring to my luxury hotel suite for the night - I was making my way across the Canada-U.S. border bound for the small airport at Bellingham, from where my ridiculously cheap ($112 US) flight to Honolulu would depart. Six hours after taking off we were touching down in the Hawai'ian capital on the island of O'ahu, where despite the fact that it was already after ten o'clock at night the temperature was a balmy twenty-plus degrees, with the high humidity and jungle-like trees surrounding the airport instantly announcing the tropical nature of the islands - something I had not experienced since ... read more