Whistler, Canada (7 days)
A 10 hour flight came and went with The Simpsons Movie being the highlight. We arrived at Vancouver airport and after a quick check in, we were greeted by our transfer.
The journey from Vancouver to Whistler was amazing with the Sea to Sky road...surely one of the best scenic roads in the world.
We arrived at the Fairmont Whistler at dusk and loved our room overlooking Blackcomb mountain. There were even some chocolate covered strawberries for us. We were nackered after the long journey but tried to stay awake until 9pm.
Fell asleep fully clothed at 8pm.
Hitting the slopes
After a good long nights sleep, we had breakfast and picked up our ski and snowboard hire and hit the slopes. Below are a few photos from the slopes.
On the first day, Mark took a few tumbles on the snowboard - see knee below, looks worse than it was! Got the hang of it towards the end of the day. The skiing was amazing with loads of snow and the views from the top of Blackcomb mountain were simply awesome. Our hotel being at the bottom of the mountain was great as we could simply ski straight in.
We sometimes found ourselves on parts of the mountain where we were completely on our own!
We got loads of snow throughout the week, about 35cm fell.
Whistler village at night was equally as nice as in the day with all the Christmas lights.
The breakfast at the hotel was amazing with so much choice. Marks favorite was the steak and egg sandwich which always hit the spot! We grabbed a few extra donuts, muffins etc so we could eat throughout the day....get our money worth!
Oahu, Hawaii (7 days)
Landed in Honalulu at 9pm. No suprises that it was much warmer here than in Vancouver! Having got through customs etc we picked up our hire car (jeep). Although we thought we might stick out in this vehicle we came to realise that everyone had nice big jeeps on the island, including loads of Hummers so we were fine. Because it was pitch dark, left hand drive and automatic - therefore everything was opposite topped with driving on the right hand side of sometime a 7 lane freeway was an experience I recommend only to those with good health. After a hairy moments going down a road the wrong way we finally figured out everything, it took 1 hour to travel from the airport and across the island to the north shore where Santas by the sea was. We couldn't see any scenery because of the dark so we had no idea until the morning where we were. All we could hear from our room was the crashing waves. Here are a few shots of our jeep, Santas by the sea etc
The Billabong Pipeline Masters surfing competition was on the first few days on the same beach we were staying which was cool seeing the professional surfers. Can't believe they earn a living from being beachbums!
Managed to capture some good photos of some surfing action. The waves we thought we big were actually the small ones. We didn't manage to see any big swells which can get up to 50ft.
The famous Hawaii sunsets did not disappoint and being on sunset beach, they were superb.
Because of the rain showers during the winter...82 degrees everyday and thats winter? there were lots of stunning rainbows and managed to capture a few on camera.
Kayaking - This was a great trip where we hired a kayak and headed out to a small island. On the way we saw two Giant Green Turtles which words cannot explain how amazing it was. They were massive, easily 2 meters long, looked like floating seaweed at first. They popped their heads out and looked at us. Unfortunately we could not get the camera in time but that memory will stay with us.This is China Mans hat...no idea why it gets that name
We also came across David Hasslehoff at a ranch where Lost and Jurrasic Park was filmed. Here are a few shots of him and the ranch:
Went to Waikiki and hiked Diamond Head for the amazing panaramic views. This area is Pearl Harbour and Waikik (south of the island) which is built up compared to the lush non developed north of the island where we were staying. The coastal road from the north to the south is difficult to explain how amazing it is but picture being in all the movies jurrasic park, castaway, lost and you are somewhere near. Here are a few shots of the south of the island including pearl harbour and waikiki:
Went to loads of Lost locations which was cool, here are a few shots:
Christmas in Vancouver (3 days)
Our room in Vancouver was on the 21st floor and the views were fantastic with the floor to ceiling windows. Spending Christmas here was amazing and went to Grouse mountain on Christmas day which gave us a white christmas as the snow as falling on top of the mountain whereas Vancouver was dry and sunny.
