Hawaii

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Hi there,

I have landed in Auckland, NZ, and have just finalised my itinerary for the next two weeks. Hawaii was great. I would love to have spent more time there, but I guess I¡¯ve said that about pretty much all of my destinations.

Got to get within inches of some Humpback whales off the island of Maui, an idyllic tropical island. The boat was required to stop 100 yds from the whales, but the female took a shine to the boat and 3-4 males were in hot pursuit. Each of them weighed about 40 tonnes.

On the main island, I checked out some active volcanoes. One is 14,000 ft high, and it is a further 16,000 ft deep in the Pacific. A couple of days before I arrived, there was a small earthquake, (4 on the richtor scale) which led to a fresh lava flow over land. I enjoyed a hike at dusk out to the site, and got quite close to where the lava flowed into the ocean, causing a fire work display between 1000¡¯C lava and the cool ocean. Here I met an oceanographer who I enjoyed some sea kayaking and snorkeling with over the next couple of days. Got to swim alongside some giant turtles and coral reef in warm ocean, next to the burial place of Capt Cook!

On the last day I took a chopper over the flowing lava. The option was to have the helicopter with or without doors, I opted for without and enjoyed the heat of the lava on my face while the pilot tilted each side down J

Good ol¡¯Eire: More than a few tourists I met commented that Ireland was their favorite holiday ever, and they were being quite sincere J

Aloha,

-Adrian.

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