BIG WHITE

We're at Big White at the moment, we caught a Greyhound bus here from Vancouver which was about 6 hours. It was way cheaper than flying and we got to see a fair bit of countryside which was really beautiful.

Had our first full day of snowboarding today and it was heaps of fun. I didnt get any lessons, so I was falling over a bit at the start of the day but i got the hang of it eventually. Its more different to surfing than what i expected. Leah was shredding.

Ate out at the restraunt below the hotel tonight which was a nice change from 2 minute noodles and baked beans.

Anyway here is a video and a few pictures:

trip to big white from sam johnston on Vimeo.

The view out the window of our hotel!



Sam on the slopes



Leah on the slopes

ICE HOCKEY

We went and watched the Vancouver Giants vs. the Kamloops Blazers the other night. It was awesome, The Giants won 6 to 3 and there were heaps of fights (which is why everyone goes, im sure). Here are a few pics.

Extra awesome macho fighting hockey machines.



Mondo hockey players




Extreme cool buggy firing tshirts through a bazooka into the crowd

SOME PICS

Disclaimer: my inconsistent punctuation is usually due to laziness

Hi, weve just been cruising round the last few days checking out the city and what not. Our first impressions of Vancouver werent that great ( because it seemed deserted (for Xmas), apart from the homeless asking for change), but we have really warmed to it since then, and its a pretty cool place.

There are shitloads of people in the city for all the boxing day sales, most shops have lines out the door.pretty crazy. We went into some big shopping centre and couldnt find our way back out haha.

We went and got ourselves new snowboards yesterday which was an expensive exercise. but we got some badass gear and i cant wait to get up a mountain and try it out. We ran into Shaun Allen at the snowboard shop which was weird.

Probably wont post anything else until we are at Big White.

here are a few pics of the city:

Leah with the always beautiful Gastown Steam Clock - it announces the quarter hours with a whistle chime that plays the Westminster Quarters.



Leah with the ever enchanting Canadian flag.



A nice building with a clock on it.

MADE IT TO VANCOUVER.

Made it safely to Vancouver, got in early in the morning, i had two sleeping pills on the plane that decided to kick in when we landed. we checked our bags in at the hostel as the sun came up and had to wait to check in and sleep until 2pm, longest wait ever. Vancouver is pretty cool, everything is shut for the christmas so there arent many people around, lots of homeless people begging though, one dude asked for a dollar and we declined, so he said 'just give me a razor then, and ill slit my throat' which was very merry of him. checked out Stanley Park today which was awesome, below are some photos and a video that is so creative, i think i'll send it in to David Attenbrough.

stanley park from sam johnston on Vimeo.

Leah in a tree



Sam - Stanley park to the left, Vancouver city to the right



Some sort of toothpick thing



A whole bunch of toothpick things



Massive boat and an even massiver mountain

FOOD THAT IS FAST

Well im feeling fat at the moment, over the last 12 days i have eaten some of the unhealthiest and shittest food on the planet, but jeez it was good!. Burger King, McDonalds, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, KFC, kai'una burgers and more that i cant think of. I am starting to develop a little bit of a food baby. Even the nicer restraunts put 10 different types of cheese on everything you order. With Hawaii behind us now, all the fast food has passed through our round tummies, we look forward to a more staple based diet when we reach Vancouver. Carrots and water should be just fine.

We have been in Waikiki for two days, we leave tomorrow night for Vancouver. Waikiki is very different to the North Shore, it is very busy and commercial. Sort of like Surfers Paradise. We didn't do much today as we are both feeling a bit sick. We will post again when we get to Canada.
Bye.

WAKIKI + WIAMEA

Waimea Bay - The day we left the North Shore



Amber and Glen



Waikiki



Waikiki Beach



The "Duke" Statue



Sam - Diamond Head crater in the background

Mele Kalikimaka

After lunch today we hired Stand Up Paddle boards. It was lots of fun. We took them down the creek where there were 4 massive green turtles (Approx 70cm shell diameter) swimming next to us. Here is some totally insane footage of me on the SUP.

Leah Stand Up Paddle from sam johnston on Vimeo.

Diamond Head Crater - 2km hike to the top which was steep. Leah felt like she was going to faint because of dehydration and hunger. Someone had a heart attack and had to get airlifted from the top by helicopter.





These Hotdogs tasted like bigfoots arsehole! I took one bite and threw them out. Bummer dude...

Best day today.

Had the best day today, Went and surfed Rocky Point this morning which was about 4ft and fun, went a bit onshore though.

Then bit the bullet and decided to play golf at Turtle Bay, nicest greenest golfcourse i have ever seen by a mile. about $140 US for a round but really worth it. forgot to take the camera though.

Went and had dinner at Haliewa Joes Grill which was really good, Glen got a full rack of ribs which looked like something Fred Flinstone would eat. loving the food over here, can see why some of the people over here are so big.

Just relaxing at home now with a beer.

-night all
sam

Hawai'i

Sunset Beach




Pearl Harbour

Some more Hawaii

Hanauma Bay





Velzyland






Waimea Falls (Amber and Leah)

Pipeline Masters

ALOHA, first holiday post!

We Made it safely to Hawaii, our flight from Sydney got delayed by 2 hours which was annoying but once in the air, the flight was fine. We hired a Suzuki Vitara which is good to drive, but its hard to get used to driving on the opposite side of the road, havent wiped out anything yet. fingers crossed!


We went to check out pipe, and the Pipe Masters were on, we got a spot to sit and this is pretty much the first wave we saw surfed at Backdoor. dont know who the surfer is though. The semi finals and finals are going to be on once the swell picks up a bit, should be good to watch.

hope the first post works, will post more later

bye for now
Sam + Leah

wave at backdoor from sam johnston on Vimeo.