Hope everyone had a nice holiday hanging out with family and friends. I finished off New Zealand in Auckland with Neill, staying with my hasher friend Rod (Goldfinger) and his wonderful wife Ronnie. They were wonderful hosts and I particularly enjoyed the parties with them and soaking in their jacuzzi tub at 1am! We did a hash run in Auckland as well and I met up with Danish Bacon, a hasher I remembered from Copenhagen! Small world, eh?
After saying good-bye to Neill and hello to Alison at the airport, Alison and I were off to Tahiti for a week where my mom joined us and took us to Bora Bora! What a great Christmas present for me! Bora Bora was beautiful. White sand beaches, warm sun and water, lots of snorkelling and sailing, and great food!
I sailed a couple of times, on a Hobie Cat. I took a lesson at first, then Seb told me I was fine to go off on my own. Amazing how the skills come back to me after 10 years!
I also did a heap of snorkelling. The coral reefs aren't quite a beautiful as the Great Barrier Reef, but the fish are just as nice. I fed a moray eel raw tuna! I also got smothered with the sting rays who thought my fingers would be fish (they don't have teeth, so it didn't hurt), but I did give one a big kiss and have a photo to prove it! I got to see the magnificent Manta rays and a token Spotted Eagle ray. The depth we were swimming at was pretty deep. The local Tahitians would dive down so far I wouldn't see them anymore! No gear, only a mask and snorkel. They are quite the fish themselves.
The place we were staying at had shows every night so I got to see the Tahitian dances and the local Hakka war dances. It was almost identical to the Maori war dance (the islanders of New Zealand), and not to far off from the Hawaiians either. I think they were all from the same genetic pool at one point in history.
Alison and I were going to get ourselves a tattoo while we were in Tahiti, but it was too expensive for us to go into town so we bagged the idea. I'm sure our mothers are grateful.
After Tahiti we flew into LA (that's in the USA!) and met up with Alison's sister, Caroline. We rented a car and drove up north to San Francisco on route 1. We took three days to do an 8 hour drive! It was so much fun. We went bowling in Lampoc, "czeched" out the Hearst Castle, and took many photos of the beautiful coastline. We're spending Christmas with my mom here in San Francisco and it's so nice to be back in our own country for a while. Thanks everyone for all the Holiday greetings! It was wonderful to hear from you all.
All my love, Carla
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