Happy New Year

New Years... Welcome 2007

Well after getting back from Hawaii to Japan.. we had no rest.. as the Next day we had some friends -Max and Hinekura come and to stay and check out the sights of Kyoto, as well as see in the New Year..We met them at kyoto Station and also met their mates Rangimarie and Anou..We first headed to Kinkakuji-The Golden Temple.. One of the most famous temples in Japan...it was cool just chilling and dropping back into the old Hori Lingo again and hanging out with them..after this we headed to Kiyomizu dera Temple .. they really liked the markets that lined the street towards the temple..after seeing the temple we were really lucky to spot a geisha.. so heres all these maoris running after this one Japanese lady...it was really cool and it made their day...after this we headed to the pub for a few quiets...after that we just cruised home and chilled..

New years started slow as we slept in and then headed to kyoto again.. this time Hinekura was going to dress up as a geisha.. so us fullas went and checked out Heian Temple while Hinekura got dressed up... when we went to check on her it was like a totally different person and we felt like tourists getting their photo taken with her.. after this we cruised back to our hostel that we had booked the night and chillied.. we had a Onsen/Spa to relax and got ready for the night... after that we cracked open a few beers..after a few warm ups we headed to town to enjoy the night.. it was an awesome night..well the parts that i remember anyway.. it was a great night and an awesome way to enter the New Year....

New Years Day was spent at our favourite restaurant..Stamina Taro.. basically an all you can eat BBQ place where you cook you own meat.. an awesome fed and a great way to celebrate 2007..

It was so cool chilling with the whanau and seeing in the New year with them... well we look forward to what 2007 brings us this year...
Happy New Year to all..
Chur
Paora and Chanel

Oahu

OAHU...
Well after having spent a few days in Maui we heading to Oahu for a week. We decided to rent a car for 4 days and check out the sights outside of where we were staying in waikiki.. this proved to be the best part of our trip as we could go and check out the sights at our leisure as well check out those hidden sight that you cant see without a car.
our days were spent checking out different beach parks around oahu.. One of the highlights of the trip was checking out the Northshore known for its world famous surf spots-Haliewa,Waimea Bay, Pipeline and Sunset Beach.. We were lucky that there was abit of a swell up and pipeline was pumping.. probably the most primo waves i have ever seen.. just amazing..and had me buzzing about it for a couple of days..

Also while up at the Northshore we checked out the Polynesian Cultural Center which had different villages from throughout the pacific..we checked out the Aotearoa Village.. the had abit of a powhiri for vistors and we walked on with a group.. it abit touristy though.. but sweet as.. they had abit of a whaikorero.. and they had a group preform some waiatas... heck a couple of the bros got me to jump up with them to blast out Tika Tonu..Doitz!!!! that was cool and it was like i was back home...all in all it was a cool day

On xmas eve we checked out a first American football game.. we went to watch Hawaii Uni vs Arizona State Uni.. this was an awesome day and it was abit different not really knowing the rules, but it we had a great time and soaked up the atmostsphere and the buzz of gridiron..

Xmas... well this was our 3rd xmas away from home and we had a really cool time just chilling at the beach and going surfing which was cool.. also we did abit of bodyboarding which was primo and abit easier than surfing..That night we had a our Xmas dinner just me and chanel.. at first we thought we would go to a nice place for dinner...we went to a all you can eat place..heck asked them how much it costs and hello.. the say 130 bucks.. so hello we walk and find a all you can eat place that costed only 15 dollars and was a mean fed....so i hope every had a good xmas... Mele kalikimaka

The next day we spent bodyboarding for most of the day and chilling at the beach....On our last day we hired a car and went to the Leeward side of the island and just chilled at the beach.. after awhile we decided to cruise back to te Northshore and check out Pipeline one more time.. this was an awesome way to end our holiday...
Hawaii is a Beautiful place and is a great place to relax, unwind and has some of the most Beautiful beaches in the world.. All in all it was a primo trip and it was sad to leave...
Hui hou

Paora and Chanel

Maui

chur whanau, well tiki toured to Hawaii for xmas...we spent 5 days on the island of Maui and then 7 days in Oahu..What a mean holiday...


MAUI...
Got to Maui and man was it so good to get away from the cold Japanese Winter and into some Sun, we stayed in a hostel in Lahaina..
On our first day we headed to check out the Maui swap meet in Kahului..here they had heaps of Island stuff and goods for sale.. it was a good chance to check out and meet some of the locals..after this we headed back to lahaina and sorted out doing a surf lesson..the rest of the day was spent just chillin on the beach and swimming..

The next day we had our surf lesson early in the morning, we spent about an half hour on the beach learning the basics on how to stand up and catching waves..after this we were out on the water and trying to put into action what we learnt. Well it took awhile but after a few mishaps i started to catch some waves.. what an awesome feeling..primo as.. chanel was a natural and was up and standing in no time.. we really enjoyed oursleves..after abit of a rest and chill we headed back out to try on our own..surfs up cuzzys.

the next day we spent just chilling and sunbathing...and in the afternoon we jumped back into the water for another surf..

our last day we spent up the line at the beautiful Kapalua Bay, rated one of the best beaches in the world.. it was awesome to chill, work on the old tan and going for abit of a swim..primo day.. that night we went to the Old Lahaina Luau.. this was Mean, here we were greeted with a maitai and a lei..after this we were escorted to our table and it was all you can drink..after having a few drinks we had the mean traditional hawaiian feed.after the feed we watched the Hawaiian Hula show which was really awesome to see..it was a really awesome way to cap off our time in Maui...