San Fran Chinatown

After seeing so many Chinese Restaurants during the day we took advice on returning at night and chose the Brandy Hi at the bottom of Columbus Avenue. This turned out to be an absolute treat with 6 live chefs cooking in front of the tables and fantastic food. I can honestly say the it was best Won Ton Soup I had ever had and the whole bill with 2 beers, starters and mains and china tea was only $56!!!

Tomorrow night we are going to the Mona Lisa Italian restaurant we checked out on Friday, recommended to us by two NZ friends we met on the tour. Today we are off to the California Beer Festival in Fort Mason, Fisherman's Wharf! Today might be a through event!!!

San Francisco

I knew, before we landed, that we would want to stay longer than the meagre 3 days we had here and at once that was proved true!

Arriving at around 10pm last night at The Golden Gate Hotel, a boutique establishment near Union Square on Bush Street, we dropped our bags and ran for Geary Street, reputed to be hottest for live music and cheap beer. At Leftys we had two marvellous pints, a huge hot roast beef sandwich and met several great people, some from Italy, some the USA. The latter bought us a San Fran Slammer comprising Guiness into which you added a shot of Baileys and Irish Whisky and downed the lot in one. Marvellous,

Some hours later we returned to our hotel much pleased with our first night.

After breakfast next day, we set off on foot down to Union Square to get a 3 day bus/trolley/cable car pass for $18 and off we went up Grant Avenue through fantastic China Town for window shopping and tea tasting. Then on on to see a few restaurants recommended to us and the amazingly twisted Lombard Street with great views of the harbour and Golden Gate Bridge from the top. We actually did this the hard way by climbing up it instead of down! Only we could have done this!

Down the last hill we rode the cable car clinging on for dear life with one hand and taking video with the other! On to Fishermans Wharf where we took a one hour cruise around Alcatraz and Golden Gate and Bay Bridges - great fun.

Back on terra firma we ate Clam Chouder at a pavement cafe before finally returning to base for a cup of tea. A rest now before tonight's festivities.

Hawaii

Hawaii was an immense culture shock after the peace and utter tranquility of Fiji! It took us at least 2 days to get used to the hustle and bustle of Waikiki Beach but once we had bought a bus pass for $20 we soon zoomed around the island visiting Diamond Head where we walked to the very top and witnessed a coastguard helicopter rescue of an ailing gentleman.

During our Pearl Harbour visit we felt immense sadness when seeing the submerged wreck of the Arizona, as many thousands of visitors before us will also have felt.

To cheer ourselves up, we took a round the island bus trip calling at Sunset Beach on the North of the Island where we chilled out for an hour or two. Leaving now for San Francisco.

Pictures from Castaway Island, Fiji - Can you spot the 2 meter shark?!

Sunset, Pelican and Mezza at her best

Boat and Barbecue trip - Castaway Island

This morning we went on a speed boat trip to visit 3 islands off Castaway. On the boat were an English family from Chelmsford , Rob and Brenda, who live about 5 mins away from Terri's cousin Jen! A small world. They said when we are next in Chelmsford we must meet up.

It was a wonderfully sunny day and the boat went so fast the breeze was a relief from the hot sun. The islands we visited were very small but it made a change to see other resorts. The best part was the barbecue and free champagne we had on the beach on our return to Castaway - 3 bottles amongst 10 people and as 3 were kids we had more to go round!

Castaway Island, Fiji

What a paradise this is! Only been here since Wednesday night but sand in every crack!!! Flew in by seaplane and been on an island hopping trip today.

Dived yesterday and doing 2 more tomorrow.

Sunset here is fantastic - got some great photos yesterday.

This is the life. Fantastic food and a hammock whenerver you want to chill out...Marvellous.

Another 6 days to go then on to Hawaii.

Meeting new friends at Castaway Island

We arrived at Castaway shortly after 5.00 p.m. by seaplane from Nadi Airport so we had very little time to change for the party which is held every Wednesday from 6.00 pm - we actually got there around 6.30 but after a few glasses of free champagne things seemed to look up! We met two really nice couples. There was Crissy and Mark from Sydney who were on their honeymoon and Andy and Jo from Auckland. We all got on so well that we decided to have dinner together. We invited them all back to our bure the following evening for pre-dinner drinks - very good idea as we are around 20 ft from the sea and they are all bringing drinks round!

Near the end of our holiday we also met the Sales Manager of Castaway together with a group of invited travel agents who were good enough to buy us bubbly and cocktails on our special Anniversary night. We were also very grateful to the Castaway Family too for giving us a special table and an enormous chocolate cake and a bottle of bubbly and singers to serenade our night! Well done!