28
June
2009
Jacqueline and I landed back in (cold) Sydney yesterday morning, and can’t believe that the wonderful holiday is over and we are both back to work tomorrow! It really has been so much fun!
Our last few days in LA were sunny and relaxing. We spent some time by the pool at the Altadena Country Club relaxing and working on our tans for a final few days before heading back to cold and wintery Sydney, as well as heading to Manhattan Beach which was beautiful.
On Tuesday night we had some friends over for a final ‘party’ before heading home to catch up with everyone once more. I even got a keg to make it feel like an American party to me 
and a friend of ours, Eddie, brought over some delicious home made Hummus.
On Wednesday night, we had our ‘last supper’ with the Fisher Fam at Mc Cormick and Schmick in Old Town where we had some delicious seafood and wine, before going for a stroll through Pasadena City Hall. Bonnie and Lou treated us to a delicious bottle of wine – one that Allee was even served but Jacqueline nearly missed out on by having her wine glass removed as we sat down!
To everyone that we caught up with on the trip, it was so great to see you! To everyone that we didn’t get a chance to see, hopefully we can catch up sometime soon – We’re going to be back in LA for Christmas.
I just want to say thanks one more time to Bonnie and Lou for taking us to Maui – it really exceeded my expectations and was heaps and heaps of fun!
Love to all
Ben and Jacqueline
Posted: Travel
24
June
2009
We’ve had quite an exciting couple of days here in Maui since our last update – we’ve snorkelled, went scuba diving on Molokini and Lanai, drove up to Haleakala crater and got stranded on the east side of the island for the night!
As Ben mentioned, we had a delightful day of fun in the sun at Honolua and snorkelling here in our cove with tons of turtles! The next day (Wednesday) we headed down to Maalea to catch the ‘Pride of Maui’ out to Molokini for our first two dives. About half way through our first dive, we spotted a giant manta ray swimming about ten feet above us! Honestly, its wing span was about 8 to 10 feet! It was giant! Mom and Vikkee were a little spooked but as you probably guessed Dad and Ben were off to get a look up close and personal. We swam with it for about 3 minutes before it unfortunately left us for other waters. The next dive was a bit uneventful after the manta spotting and the visibility was only about 20 feet and quite murky.
Thursday, Allee and I took Ben up to the top of the ‘active’ volcano here on the east side of Maui called Haleakala. Its last eruption was in 1790 which formed Makena beach on the south side of the island. The crater at the top (elevation 10,000 feet) looks like the surface of another planet! The temperature at the top was 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) colder and the winds were pretty intense, but we walked around for a while. I even got kicked out of the visitors centre for eating an apple…oops! We headed back home for the afternoon and snorkelled with the incredible turtles here in the cove.
That night we took Ben to his first original Hawaiian Luau where he and Allee were forced on stage to perform the Hula. Don’t worry – I took video! The food was delicious, the drinks were abundant and the dancing impressive.
The next day we were up to hit the surf just south of Lahaina. Allee was a natural and stood up on the very first wave she caught. We lasted two hours surfing the waves at the base of a gorgeous valley (unfortunately we can’t say the same for our sun block!). It was an extraordinary setting – the island of Molokai in the distance and the sharp cliffs and deep valley on the Maui shore. Check out the photos – words just don’t do it justice. We had a picnic on the beach and then strolled along Front Street in Lahaina for the afternoon. We also went to Mom’s favourite bar – the Mai Tai lounge for one of their famous Mai Tai’s on the water. it was a gorgeous afternoon. That night we headed up to a family friend, Mike’s, house which is just in the hills above Lahaina. We had a swim in the pool and took in the incredible views over a few drinks, and a dinner of absolutely delicious smoked ribs! We also kept their 2 kids busy because Bubba started a game of calling them ‘Smoochface’ which turned in to an all out battle of name calling! They were also impressed by Ben’s ability to eat anything, including 2 kinds of cheese on 1 cracker!!
Saturday morning was an early wake up call for a dive off the coast of Lanai – another island about a hour from Maui. The island is slowly being built up and currently only has a population of 2,500 and is owned by a member of the Murdoch family. The shore of Lanai is absolutely breathtaking. The black volcanic cliffs dramatically drop into the water to create a rough coastline where the powerful surf pounds into the rocks. Aside from the manta spotting, the diving at Lanai was a cut above that of Molokini and definitely made Hawaiian diving compete with that of Belize and Bali. Our first dive was gorgeous and you could see for miles! We checked out a new species of lobster that had only recently been spotted in Hawaii, and has only been seen at Lanai, living in this specific lava flow. For our second dive we dove what is known as ‘Cathedrals’ because the lava flow actually created a mini cathedral underwater – complete with an alter! It is essentially a cavern where the sunshine beamed in through a hole in the ‘roof’ like the sun shining in through stained glass windows in a cathedral. As we entered the cathedral, we were greeted by three friendly white tipped reef sharks who seemed to follow us throughout the dive. It was an incredible experience (thanks Dad for setting that up!). We’d worked up quite the appetite by the time we got back to shore so we headed to Cheeseburger in Paradise for some…ok a ton…of food.
Our last day we went to breakfast for father’s day in Napili Bay and then rented boards again and hit the somewhat non-existent surf at Puamana beach. After about an hour we decided to head to the north of the island to show Ben yet another beach and for a change of scenery. After a few hours there we started the journey back home but unfortunately for the island and for us, there was a huge brushfire (or bushfire for the aussies) engulfing the southern tip of West Maui (Maui is made up of two large mountains with an isthmus in between connecting east and west Maui) and all roads to Lahaina, Kaanapali, Napili and our place were blocked! This was about 3:30 in the afternoon and the authorities said to try again in 2-4 hours. So to kill some time we went to Iao canyon and hiked up to the lookout and back down to the waterfall. We then decided to head down to Kihei which is on the southern bit of East Maui for a sunset swim. With the roads still closed (it was 7:30 by now) we went to dinner at a local Japanese place. The fire at this stage was meant to be under control by 9PM. After a nice long dinner we called the information line and found out that the road would not be opening until morning! We jumped in the car and drove to the first hotel we could find with vacancy and luckily got two rooms for the seven of us. Our phone rang at 3:30 am and Dad was rallying the troops to get a head start on the drive back before the other stranded tourists hit the road to get back to West Maui. Without any traffic and the road freshly opened we made it back to our house.
That about sums it up – which is fitting as I’m sitting on the plane on our way back to LA. It was tough to leave the relaxing, stress free island lifestyle knowing that our tans and care free attitude will soon be replaced by the winter rain and office dwelling in Sydney. At least we have Spice Temple to look forward to upon our return!
We have a few more days in LA before we head back down under – throwing a small get together at my parent’s place and hitting the beach to soak in the summer sun just once more.
That’s all for now!
Aloha!
Jacqueline and Ben
Posted: Travel
18
June
2009
I’m sitting in Maui at a place called Honokeana cove (in Napili on the west coast), having a beer and nursing a bit of a sunburn. It’s been a great first day in Hawaii, and we’ve had a wonderful trip so far!
We landed in LA last Saturday and were met at the airport by Jacqueline’s family who we were both really excited to see. By lunchtime we were enjoying ourselves in Old Town Pasadena, where Bubba (Jacqueline’s brother) and I were ’sampling’ some delicious beers in half-yard glasses. That evening we had Jacqueline’s grandparents, as well as some friends over for dinner whilst we tried to overcome jet lag. Jacqueline succeeded better than I did, since I decided I had to have an afternoon nap (probably in part due to the 80oz of beer at lunch) and then woke up at 3am.
The next day I was a little tired but had a great day, since we all headed to Olvera St in downtown LA where I hadn’t been before. It’s kind of like ‘little Mexico’ and it doesn’t feel like you’re in the US at all! I had some delicious chicken mole tacos, and a beer with lime and tomato juice to get the day going (Bubba is pretty much mexican and also made me try menudo which is tripe soup and I wouldn’t really recommend!)
That evening it was time for my next ‘first’ in the US – going to a Dodgers (baseball) game. We had great seats and the time flew by – in large part due to the Dodger dog and garlic fries that you have to have at a game. Allee and Jacqueline were all dressed up in the Dodgers merchandise but somehow we never made it onto the big screen, and Bubba even got accused of being Canadian for talking during the national anthem! Despite all our support, the Dodgers unfortunately lost to the Phillies, but at least it meant we were home in time to head out to meet some of Jacqueline’s friends at the Yard House (again!).
Monday morning Jacqueline and I headed off on our road trip – first stop Lake Tahoe to visit my storm parents, John and Shirley. We arrived at 2 and Shirley took us straight out for a lovely afternoon hike to whale beach where I got in the water but Jacqueline was a bit of a wimp and stayed dry – to be fair, we could see snow in the background and the water was a little cold. We then had a delicious home cooked meal, and John gave us some lessons in wine appreciation over a few bottles of wonderful wine!
In the morning the road trip continued at our usual hectic pace and we headed off to Berkeley to visit Jacqueline’s grandparents that live there. On the way, I decided that I was well overdue for my first double double animal style from In’n'Out Burger – yum yum!! We had a nice relaxing afternoon in Berkeley, and had a great catchup with Lou and Gita, before a delicious beef bourginon dinner and an early night which we were both in need of. We were however up at 6.15 the following morning to join Gita for her morning walk around Berkeley which really is a very nice area! The show had to go on after that, and Jacqueline and I were back on the road, although this time only a relatively short drive down to Palo Alto where we had breakfast with Susie, an old family friend, and had a quick look around the Stanford campus. It was really good to catchup with Susie (and for Jacqueline to meet her) since I hadn’t seen her in a few years.
After breakfast, We headed over to Sami’s place in Palo Alto. She is one of Jacqueline’s really close friends who is living in Palo Alto with her boyfriend Alex and they had invited us to stay. Sami took us for a drive to Los Gatos to see where she grew up, before we headed back to her’s for a celebratory glass of Champagne. We then headed into to San Francisco for some shopping, before dinner with Alex (at the Cheesecake Factory overlooking Union Square). Jacqueline had arranged a bit of a reunion with her triathlon friends at a cool little bar called the Tipsy Pig, near the Marina. Elliot, a friend Jacqueline met while studying at Cambridge joined too. We had a great evening, and really enjoyed catching up with everyone.
Jacqueline and I both love the Bay Area and would have loved to spend some more time there, but in keeping with our road trip, we were off first thing in the morning for breakfast in Santa Cruz, and then lunch in Isla Vista to reminisce about UCSB. Lunch was at Silvergreens where we had our first date, and we strolled around and saw the Bagel Cafe, and all the other places we used to frequent. We then headed to downtown Santa Barbara for a stroll and some more shopping, and then dinner at the beer cafe whilst we watched the LA Lakers play Orlando Magic and win to bring them closer to the NBA title, which was fun since I’ve never really watched a whole basketball game, and it was very close and went to overtime and was won in the last few seconds! After dinner, we met up with Morgan, a good friend of mine from Bali who is at UCSB, as well as his Dad who was visiting. We’d decided we wanted to get back to LA though, so we just had a margarita and a quick catchup before getting on the road back to LA. It was nice to get home!
Back in LA we just had a few nights before heading to Hawaii. Our first day, Friday, we headed up to the Camarillo outlets with Jacqueline’s mum, Bonnie, and sister, Allee, for some serious shopping before lunch at In’n'Out (I really love the burgers!), and then dinner at one of the Fisher’s favourites – a mexican restaurant that they affectionately call ‘Peter’s’ after the guy running it. We (and especially Jacqueline) got stuck in to some delicious Margaritas before heading out to Glendale to meet Jacqueline’s friends Nadia and Julia for some cocktails at Katsuya which were very yummy indeed. It was a fun night and we were both feeling like I needed some extra rest in the morning.
Despite how I was feeling, Jacqueline, Allee, Vikkee and I headed to the Getty Museum in Santa Monica in the morning which was really cool. We then headed to Old Town for lunch and some shopping before heading home for a rest. Jacqueline and I then had dinner with Amy and her boyfriend Brian at P F Changs for some Chinese food. Amy is a good friend from Singapore who lives in Pasadena, and we had a great time catching up. After dinner we met Allee, Vikkee and Ashley at the movies to see’the Hangover’ on Vikkee’s recommendation and it lived up to it! We laughed the whole way through!! 
I haven’t mentioned it yet, but since arriving in California we had experienced the dreaded June Gloom and barely seen any sunshine, so in the morning, we decided it was time to take action. Vikkee was heading to Newport beach where she is at uni, and had heard that it was sunny so Jacqueline and I decided to go too. It was great to get a little sun, and have a wander around Balboa Island by the water. After a couple of hours there however, we headed to the Airport, because a friend of mine from Sydney, Kieran, was flying in to spend one night on his way to Business School in Chicago. As always, LAX was a madhouse, but we managed to find Kieran, and head home for a quick turn around before heading to one of Jacqueline’s good friend’s, Caitlin’s, birthday party. We had a great time and the party continued after we got home. We had to be up at 6 am the next morning to finish packing and head to Maui (and Kieran to Chicago).
That about brings me back to where I started – we flew in to Maui yesterday afternoon, and stopped in Lahaina (the biggest town on the west coast) for a yummy lunch, before getting to our Condo in a cute little cove called Honokeana. We just relaxed for the afternoon and did a grocery shop before Jacqueline, Bubba and I produced a delicious dinner of chargrilled Tuna Sashimi salad and bbq’d mango curry prawns. Today, we had a morning snorkel in our cove where there are lots of turtles – at one point we were swimming with at least 5 in 2 metre deep water – before heading to another bay (Honolua) for some more sun bathing and snorkelling and even more turtles. It’s so wonderful to be in the sun relaxing!
We’ll write another blog at the end of the trip to tell you about the rest of our time here, but we have an exciting few days ahead starting with diving at Molokini tomorrow, and hopefully some surfing.
Hope you’re all well. Check out the photos that we’ve put up so far!!
Ben and Jacqueline
xx
Posted: Travel
6
June
2009
We’re just about to head to Sydney airport for our flight to LA!
Can’t wait to see everyone over in California!
Ben and Jackie
Posted: Travel
