New Address!!!

Aloha all!! At long last I can tell you my new address! Devon, Keith and Danielle are moving in as I write this, and I will be leaving Mililani and joining them on Thursday. OK so here it is...

602 Koko Isle Circle

Honolulu, HI

96825

United States

To complete this post, I have added some pictures of some of the animals I've spend the last couple of weeks looking after, some snaps from a night out with my homies last night and also a random one that slipped the net when I did the 'misc.' post the other day!

First I would like to introduce Snoopy the mongoose. Suzie (my boss) hand reared her and as a result, she only likes Suzie, and tries to kill everyone else (literally) which means I can't let her out of her cage while Suzie is away. This means Snoopy can't get as much exploring or exercising (environmental enrichment) as if she were let out around the house so she gets bored and paces (she actually does 3 different stereotypies; twirling, weaving and pacing- repetetive actions that stimulate the production of endorphins in her brain that make her feel nice and help her cope with being shut inside).

SO! To help alleviate some of Snoopy's boredom, what I did was make a hole in a tennis ball and put her food inside it, rather than in her food dish. The ball goes on top of her cage, so she has to reach up through the bars and roll it around to get the bits of food to drop out. She got the hang of it quite quickly but it still means she has to work for her food, and she paces a little bit less now, which is great, and it's fun watching her too. (after I took the pictures I had to make a barrier round the cage top to stop the ball from rollong right off though!)

"Oi! What's that on top of my cage?! And where's my dinner?!"

"... if only I could reach that hole..."

"...a little handy work... and finally, success!!"

This is Flora, one of the three cats ...

...and her sister, Fauna, caught in the act of licking her bits. Ha ha!

Last night we went out for Ashley's birthday, to Dave and Busters- a bar/resteraunt/pool hall/arcade. Devon and Danielle won prize tickets on the games but lamented that even between them they hardly had enough tickets to pick up a really snazzy prize at the end! Not that that stopped them fooling about in the gift prize shop...

Heh heh!

Oops, attack of the sideways picture again! Still, you can still appreciate the kitch beauty of this public taxi-phone!

Woo! Look at the cute millipede! Big, eh? I found it on the pavement after one of my friday lectures at the university a couple of weeks ago. As you can see, I was very pleased with myself!

Miscelaneous

Good news, everyone! We found a new place to live!!! It's in Hawaii Kai, on the Koko Isle (an island on an island!!!!) It's closer to work, the shops and bars and our friends. Plus Hanuma Bay, a great snorkelling spot. Anyway, the address and more details will follow. Here is a selection of random pictures... I was hoping to have time to fit a few more on but have to run now, as going back to 'Nalo for the day as we're out for a mates birthday tonight. Enjoy!

This sign is attatched to to our 'Nalo house and I think it's really funny- especially since it is positioned on the house so low down, it's only use would be in warding off peddlars that happen to also be midgets!

A tree surgeon sorting out the coconuts on this palm on a very windy day in Waimanalo. The palms have to be pruned quite a lot now the fall is coming, so the coconuts don't fall and knock anyone out! I've even see a tree surgeon climb up the trees to work on them!

A stray white trash bash pic. Check out the authentic stains down Dev's wife beater!!

Me, Danielle and Devon on a night out last Thurdsay in Hawaii Kai, very near out new house. We are so excitind about being able to have a more hassle-free social life in our new place, with being closer to our friends and places to hang out!

Ok, last week I got stung by a bee on the underneath of one of my toes, and then the following morning bitten by mosquitos on the same toe. It swelled up and my foot was paralysed for 3 days! Excruciatingly painful. Can you tell which toe it is?! I actually took this photo before it got worse! After a few days I could move it again and the pain wasn't so bad, but lots of dark purple bruising appeared. Really strange!

A very dramatic evening sky I was met with upon getting off the bus in Mililani. The sunsets and skies are very different from on the East coast- much darker and moodier, and more cloudy. Very prehistoric/apocalypitic. I love it! Last week I watched the full moon rise while floating on my back in the swimming pool here. It was huge and shone dazzling sliver white and was occationally partially obscured by dark, smokey clouds that it illuminated the edges of. All the other clouds that covered the sky were burnt red. It was incredible. Just like something off a backdrop of a budget horror movie.

No, Dev doesn't think she is at the beach- this is Keiths "work desk"- a coffee table and sun chair set up in their bedroom. He say's its the most comfotable arrangement he's managed so far. The bikini? That's how hot it is in the house most of the time. Clothes have become a thing of the past!

Me and Naomi in our rain gear during a very wet Friday in Waikiki. When I came out of the zoo and saw her in this full-length, birght yellow plastic dress I nearly peed my pants! And she cracked up over my bumble bee umbrella!

The last one's standing at Marisol and Co's tuesday night pudding party... hiking in nalo with D the following day relieved some of the guilt from pigging out!

Jess playing in the pool on pudding night... or is it Jesus walking on water?!!

So long, old friends!!

My 2CV!! That's right folks, I sold it. Very sad to see it go, but I needed the money for out here and also it wasn't beig enough or reliable enough for my life style in England anymore. That said, it will be greatly missed. Goodbye, Cecil!

This week I threw out my favourite baseball boots (minus laces- I took them out to keep)! Totally worn through and falling apart, I've been wearing these for the last 4 years or so! They had to go to make my bag lighter! Sniff!

More Birthday Pics...

Some more pictures, in random order, from the joint birthday weekend. More are sure to follow in the next week or so (whenever I can get my mitts on Keiths computer!)

Marisol being all cute in our hallway

Me and Keith dead chuffed after being presented with a giant beer each by Luna. Cheers!

Birthday babes (yeah that's us). The hand sign you've probably noticed cropping up in all the pics is called a "shaka". Its a universal friendly greeting in Hawaii, like a thumbs up, peace sign or 'OK'.

(sideways) campfire on the beach on the friday night.

Me, decorating our plumaria before the party on saturday. When Keith and Devon showed me these pics it reminded me of similar ones Daisy had taken of me on my birthday last year, rigging up fairy lights in my tree in Chester.

Army pants crew on friday night. We are too cool.

Devon, Keith, Me, Marisol and Celeste in front of Chinamans Hat (poi pounder) on the way to Hale'iwa on the friday.

Dragons Alive!!

Last thursday I had the pleasure of encounters with three different kinds of dragon(no pictures though I'm afraid!), two being the sea monster variety and the other, the heaviest living lizard on the planet...

In the morning, me, Keith and Devon headed into the city to visit the Waikiki aquarium before I started my reptile shift at 1. They had stayed over the night in Mililani with me, to keep me company, eat pizza and watch our regular Wednesday night Lost installment on TV! We had a really nice time and though small, the aquarium was excellent, with an interesting selection of animals(including all kinds of colourful fish and some unusual stuff such as ENORMOUS giant clams, weedy and leafy sea dragons- an australian fish related to seahorses, with lots of sea-weedy appendages and interesting colours- and even nautilus!), great information (that came out of a talking wand that you had to carry round with you and type in the exhibit number to get the relavent info) and immaculately maintained exhibits. They specialize in breeding corals, something not many places do, and their different species were beautiful.

An upward view into a banyan canopy (I was lying on the ground). You can actually swing, tarzan-style off these ropey branches, that are actually roots that come down from the top of the tree into the ground.

A view of Waikiki beach park from beneath a banyan tree. This is right accross the road from the zoo entrance, and something I get to enjoy most mornings with my coffee before work.

A Hawaiian Monk Seal, a threatened endemic species

How cool is this jelly?!

A Close up of the nautilus. So cool! An actual prehistoric creature... in the flesh!! The Waikiki aquarium is the first place in the world to have successfully bred these amazing sea critters. They even had some live developing eggs on show.

Thursday night I watched Disneys Atlantis while eating my tea and a scene came up that I thought bore an uncanny resemblence to the pics I had taken earlier of Keith and Devon, so I snapped the telly... what do you think?!

And my final bit:
I had such a great time at work in the afternoon!!! The take home bit was only cuddling a fully grown KOMODO DRAGON!!!! A survey found that in the wild, 10% of the Komodo Dragons diet is PEOPLE!!!! Brilliant! Her name was T.W. and unfortunately I didn't have my camera on me (dammit!!!) but Linda, her keeper promised me we would get a photo done at some point. I was so taken aback, lost for words and just in awe of this animal and being able to touch it. An unforgettable encounter. She was so beautiful and compact, really powerful but unbelievable agreeable, a captive bred, hand raised individual, 15 years old. She is one of 6 at the zoo, including the adult male, Doc theird babies. All of them are handlable, though it had taken 17 years, Linda was telling me, for Doc to trust her (and even some days he won't tolerate being petted). Now that's dedication! Later in the afternoon, Linda presented me with a komodo dragon tooth from one of the 5 year old youngsters. Needless to say, I beamed all the way home.

Bishop Museum

This cheesy picture is me and me Brazilian friend Naomi riding on her new moped! Naomi took my place at the SLP when I left, but it didn't suit her either, and she soon left too! She got a job in a resteraunt though, so is sticking around for a while. She lives in Honolulu, so we meet up sometimes. Last week she met me from work and showed me her new bike, and we went to the Bishop Museum so I could check out the new exhibition. But not before stopping for a massive DIY icecream each at Coldstone (I had a discount voucher!)!! Unfortunately by the time we managed to get there, she had to leave for work, so I did the museum solo. Good job we had loads of fun just riding there!! Here's a selection of some of the cool artifacts I saw and snapped at the museum...

This is a close up of the hilt of a dagger made from sharks teeth, coconut husk, palm wood and human hair. Scary stuff!

This helmet is covered in feathers from native Hawaiian birds. Only high-ranking male chiefs were allowed to wear helmets like this, and this particular one is thought to have belonged to Kalani'opu'u, the chief of Hawaii (the Big Island) at the time when Captain Cook visited.

This is an ear ornament made of carved whale tooth. I'm not sure of its purpose though, whether it is purely decorative or symbolises rank of importance.

A picture carved in a sperm whale tooth.

This is one of a pair of hula rattles- worn around the ankles of men during ceremonial dances. It is made of the canine teeth of 500 dogs.

This sperm whale skeleton measures 55 feet 7inches in lenth and weighs in at approximately 4300 pounds, 3000 of which is the skull alone! As a living animal, it would have weighed around 50 tons. For some perspective, I weigh 140 pounds. This whale exhibit was completed in 1902 and was the first of its kind in the world! As you can see, half is bare skeleton, and the other half has been modeled around to show how it would have looked in the flesh. Massive!

Just look at that smiling face! In the background you can see the beautiful old museum building and its galleries.

Hawaiian peoples didn't actually hunt whales, but used their teeth and bones when they washed ashore. Sperm whales were the favoured catch of Europeans in the 19th century, and the targeted catch in the 20th century. Sperm whales have the largest brain of all living animals, weighing 20 pounds.

Next I checked out the new baby dinosaur exhibition, the main thing that had attracted me to the museum, but in the end, not nearly as entertaining as the main Hawaiian exhibition hall.

One of my favourite dinosaurs, a Parasaurolophus and nest (even the cute hatchlings moved!)

A bunch of dino-lets all going nuts (please excuse the blurring on the Diplodocus- it's head was moving rather eratically!) As you can see from this picture, the quality of the modelling wasn't great- the dinos looks rather squashy and cuddly. However the designs were good and the accompanying cartoons (see below) were a nice touch.

A flying Pteranodon.

Robo-dino! One of the exhibits was an animatronic baby dinosaur many stripped down of all skin, etc. so you could see how they work. It even had controls so you could make it move!

(Half of) A huge rainbow spreading over Hololulu I saw on my walk to the bus stop from the museum. Rainbows happen nearly every day here. And sometimes it rains when there aren't even clouds! The other day I was the closest I've ever been to a rainbows end. It was a few meters away from me, and just amazing!