Death in the Family

Nik and Liane mourn the death of a close family member...Ugly Albino Poo Eater, our catfish!! He will be missed!!! Don't worry...the photo was taken pre-upside down floating!!!

08/08/08

I'm just writing because I remember this day, 20 years ago (that's so scary sounding!!!!). My teacher, Mrs Anderson, asked, "does anyone know what's special about today?". I was thinking, "it's Thursday, the day before Friday...which means it's almost the weekend", but Tim Williams secured his status as the smartest boy in the class (which he held for 10 years, until we graduated high school), by saying, "it's the 8th of the 8th, '88". "WOW", I thought, "he's right!!"......and I've never forgotten it!!! So, Happy 8th of the 8th, '08!!!!

Stairway to Heaven

A couple of weeks ago, Ryan Tolley, a mate of mine from my mission (Brett Tolley's brother), his sister Alissa and I woke up at 4am and hiked the illegal Stairway to Heaven (Haiku Stairs)... 3,922 steps up the Koolau Pali to the 2800-foot summit of Puu Keahiakahoe overlooking Haiku Valley. It was unreal. We had a little trouble finding the trail head in the dark, but eventually found it and started our gruelling climb.

We all felt sick by the time we had our first break, so we slowed the pace a little. As we climbed into the clouds, it got mental-windy...so windy in fact, that they rain was falling UP. It was the weirdest thing I've seen. It was hard going, but well worth it (even though we couldn't see anything from the top cos we were in the clouds). Coming down was a little hair-raising too -- Ryan and I even resorted to sitting down and sliding from step to step at one point, for fear of dying!!! :)

Kayaking in Haleiwa

Because Rob was leaving, we wanted to spend some extra time with him and so on the 28th of June we went kayaking up at Haleiwa. He met us up there with his friend Jessie (Shelley Watts' sister). We went into Surf 'n' Sea to rent kayaks. A kid offered to help us, but we ended up waiting forever, only to find out that he didn't even go to help us. He was just in another part of the store doing other stuff. Anyway, we rented 2 double kayaks and went up the river to play on the random rope swings that are hanging from different trees up there. It was all fun and games...and then Jessie dropped our underwater camera in the water.

It sunk immediately to bottom of the river. We dove repeatedly but without goggles, it was impossible to see anything. I found it hard diving that deep and holding my breath long enough to feel along the bottom of the river to search for it. We decided to go for help....Rob paddled back to the car to get snorkel gear and Liane and I paddled back to Surf 'n' Sea to see if Jess Sarsfield was working or see if i could get some scuba gear (without my certification proof). I failed, but as Liane and I were getting close to where we had left Jessie and Rob, we heard a scream, "WE FOUND THE CAMERA!!!!!!" Rob had found it!! We were over the moon! We played a little more till Jessie forgot to let go of the rope and almost swung into a rock wall, cutting her finger open. We ate lunch at some Grass Skirt place in Haleiwa and then went with Rob to see Manoa Falls.