Going Down Under

Hello, it's me Jera, again. And, in this blog post I am going to tell you about our adventure as we headed to Australia. It all started when we left Hawai'i.
Thank you Rudy and Dora for inviting us. Rudy, my dad's friend, is reason we came to Hawai'i in the first place.
We woke up, finished packing, said our good byes and headed for Hilo International Airport, which is a 3 minute drive from his house. We checked in our bags at the check in counter and headed for our plane.

This is our plane it is a Hawaiian airlines Boeing 717.

When we boarded and went from this....



to this in five minutes

 

We then flew 210 miles from Hilo, Hawaii, to Honolulu, Oahu.

Here is Honolulu!

The crater is an old volcano called Diamond Head.

We stayed in Honolulu for 3 days, or so we thought...
On Wed, Feb, 2 we headed for Honolulu International Airport.

We went through check in fine. Security, a breeze. We boarded our plane on time too!

Here is our plane. It's a Jetstar airways Airbus A330.

 Five minutes before we where scheduled to leave, the PA came on. It said," Attention passengers, I am afraid that we can't go any where due to technical problems in the communication  unit, you are free to move around now and we will get back to you as soon as possible." About 1 hour later the PA came on again," Hello passengers, said the Captain, we are unable to fix the problem and we think it might just be some interference from the hills, so we are going to be taxing to each runway to see if we can get a better connection."

So we taxied out to each of the runways to see if we could get a better a connection. 

We couldn't!

Everyone disembarked from the plane and we were all bused to the Hilton Hotel for the night.

        

Here's the view from our balcony at the Hilton

The next day when we arrived at the airport. The plane had been fixed and we where ready to fly!

We the flew 5,071miles to Sydney, Aus. Then we had to get a connecting flight from Sydney to Brisbane. Here is the lovely sunset as we approached the airport.

 

Sorry for the lack of pictures in the post. They will come, as soon as I get Wi-Fi on my Ipad.

EDIT NOW COMPLETE

 

See you soon, Jera.

In the Land Of Oz (or Aus)

In the Land Of Oz (or Aus)

Hello and welcome back to my blog post. In this blog post I am going to be showing you some

pictures of me in Australia!

The first picture is Sienna and I at the beach! We are about to go boogie boarding!

Here I am catching a wave!

The one problem with boarding is when my hair gets in my face. I can't see a thing!

The wind down by the beach is usually really strong. It was so strong, I could hold my board completely vertical! 

And here I am looking so cool as I head back into the water!

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This picture is of me and my friend Bodhi. We have been friends for over 9 years! Unfortunately, we haven't seen each other since we were 6 1/2. 

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And this is the big pineapple! I think it's not quiet ripe yet.

It's funny, in Canada we have the big peach!

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I just had to take a picture of this sign!

Thank you for reading my blog post cya soon!

The old days

Well we're in Australia! Yes you heard me right!
My family and I packed up our things from Hilo, Hawaii and flew on a ten and a half hour fight, here to Australia. (I will be doing another blog post on our trip here.) In this post I am going to be showing you some places that I have memories of from my early days.

The first place on my list is my old house!
Doesn't our car look so out of place?

We came back to sell our house. And last week it sold!

My sister and I were just babies when we grew up here, but I still know it from the floor to roof 

***

Peregian Beach Community College

This is my old school. It's funny, it seemed a lot larger when I was smaller. 

Well I guess I was a lot smaller then too. So it would have seemed bigger!

The school has changed a lot too! Instead of going from preschool to grade 6. It now goes from pre school all the way up to grade 12. They have also 

put in a swimming pool, and lots of new classrooms!

And here is my REALLY old school! We went here we were really little! And again, it seemed bigger.

  Noosa Pengari Steiner School
This is a game we played with our friends when we were young. I guess back then it seemed SO fun to jump from log to log.

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Last photo here is the old climbing frame that I used to climb on when I was little. I was petrified of going further than half way up when I was 5. But today, I can climb up and down in minutes.

See even the "elderly" can to it to!

Thank you for reading my blog post! Stay close to that computer! C ya!

Honolulu - Visit to Pearl Harbor

PEARL HARBOR

 Hello there and welcome back to my blog!

 

In this post I'm going to be showing you my trip around Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor is located on the island of Oahu and is one of the most famous army bases in the world! The base became famous because of the Japanese attack that brought America into WW2. The attack was based on the element of surprise, the Americans did know they where coming but they did not know where or how they would strike.

This is a memorial to honor the soldiers who died during the attack. 

Above is a diorama of the Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway happened at the Midway Islands. The battle began just 6 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. If you would like to learn more on the battle here is a link.

****http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/midway/midway.htm
I found it fascinating.
 

PACIFIC AVIATION MUSEUM

We also went to the Pacific Aviation museum in Pearl Harbor. They have TONS of exhibits!
All of their planes are from the war, or at least were in the WW2!
See the plane behind me? That's called the Ruptured Duck and is my fav WW2 aircraft.

This is an a Doglas DC-3 aircraft. It is currently being restored.

Here I am in front a B-23 Dragon Bomber.

 Here is a better angle of the Ruptured Duck.

This George. H . Bush's aircraft. He flew this plane before he became the US president.

This is an old Hawaiian coast guard aircraft. Doesn't it look like it's smiling?

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USS BOWFIN

 The USS Bowfin was an active submarine during World War 11.

The ship was lunched on Dec 7 1942, exactly one year after the attack of Pearl Harbor. 

The ship is now in dry dock and is open to the public.

 

Do you see that torpedo below? That is a nuclear torpedo which destroys anything in its path!

 The Bowfin can carry 12 of these.

Here I am in front of the Bowfin's observation deck, where the crew would look out for enemy aircraft. 

 

I am crouching through one of the water tight hatches.  

This is the galley where the crew would have eaten their meals. They were rostered every half hour. So the cook was busy cooking day and night.
Doesn't it kind of remind you of Mary Celeste?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Celeste

This is the Bowfin's main periscope.

*****
USS MISSOURI


The last vessel we visited at Pearl Harbour was the USS Missouri.
This ship was launched on January 29, 1941. It is one of the only ships to survive the Pearl Harbor attack.

 

THANK YOU for reading my blog post! Keep that computer turned on!

'n Hilo

Hello! It's me again, Jera. In this blog post I am going to show you a few interesting things we did in Hilo.
I FINALLY got to have some passionfruit!
If you didn't know passionfruit (or passion fruit) or lilikoi, which is the Hawaiian name, is my favourite fruit of all times!

As you see below I am enjoying it a lot!

 Everyday in  Hilo, Hawaii you will find a gecko on your deck. They're very common and usually  appear when crumbs are laying around.  

We also went to the famous Thurston Lava Tube in Hawaii's National Park. It's an old lava tube where magma would have rushed from Mauna Loa to the ocean. Unfortunately, over half the tube has collapsed due to heavy rain fall.

   On the way back, we visited the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory, where they make the best, over priced, macadamia nuts. My fav are the chocolate covered ones.
We were able to see how they make, sort, and package the nuts! 

A Visit to Mauna Loa

What are Sienna and I looking at?

This...

This is Mauna Loa where the lava tube once joined up to.
Do u see that red smoke? That is where the boiling hot magma is!
The island of Hawai'i is still growing because of this active volcano.

      Here is a better view of it.

A Visit to Mauna Kea

Climbing above the clouds.

Sienna with our friends Zoe and Nanook and me.
It was so cold the top, Mauna Kea had snow.
Imagine snow in Hawai'i!

Here a view of the snow on Mauna Kea from Hilo.
Some of the local Hawaiian were filling the back of their trucks with snow and taking it down the mountain to have snowball fights on the beach.



The 4,200 meter high summit of Mauna Kea has the world's largest observatory for optical, infrared, and submillimeter astronomy.

Being at this outstanding height, astronomers have a crystal clear image of the night sky. At 4,200 meters high, there isn't a cloud in the sky. With the latest technology, scientists have developed the largest telescope in the world. At a cost of 1.4 billion, it will be 5 times larger than any telescope before! This scope will be the newest edition to the Mauna Kea family.

We had a chance to catch a glimpse of our solar system too! There were telescopes aimed at some of our neighboring planets and space bodies such as Jupiter and the Earth's moon.

Thank you for reading my blog report! C ya soon!