Touched down in SFO

We're back in the US after a 14 hour flight from Auckland. Here's Sunday morning and it feels kind of strange since we left Auckland Sunday evening.

Location:International Terminal Departures,Millbrae,United States

Coffee in Devonport

We're in a suburb of Auckland. Arrived this morning. Sitting on a cafe waiting for the ferry over to Auckland.

Location:N Wacker Dr,Chicago,United States

First morning

Yesterday we landed in Auckland, New Zealand. We met Markus and Åsa on the airport and together we picked up the motorhome/RV. Right now we're sitting inside having breakfast.

Today we're driving up north. The goal is to reach the nothern tip of the island.

Kramar
Jocke and Mille

Happy 2010 everyone!

The first month of the new year has almost passed. I keep wondering where it went.

During Christmas we had my family visiting for three weeks. We spent Christmas Eve in the new house with Ashley as company. We had the traditional swedish Christmas dinner with ham, herring, meat balls, gravlax (salmon) and homemade lemon snaps. Everything was so tasty.

Every day there was something new happening, either some work on the house or sightseeing, or both. We drove down to San Simeon and Hearst Castle.

I think this made us all think of what a summerhouse can look like.

The day after we left for vacation in sunny O'ahu, Hawai'i.

The first day was cloudy and perfect for us to get used to the warm weather. We drove to the East side of the island. This picture was taken on the first beach we went to. On the way back to Honolulu we stopped at a macadamia nut farm. They had all different kinds of flavored macadamia nuts; honey, onion and garlic, coffee and caramel. At this place I also got to crack a macadamia nut open. Using a rock and something to put the nut on, it wasn't hard at all.

During our stay in O'ahu we got to see almost everything on the island. We did five hikes; non-swimable waterfall, through a botanical garden to a waterfall, to a lighthouse, up the crater of Diamond head and along the Western side of the island to Kaena Point.

Everyone except Anna and Mats spent a full day (New Year's Eve) at Pearl Harbor. We got there at 6.30 in the morning and we were kicked out of the submarine museum at 17.00 (5pm) when they closed for the day.

After a long day at Pearl Harbor we were ready to celebrate the new year in Honolulu, but first a swim at the beach at sunset.

Dinner with umbrella drinks before counting down to the new year at the beach. In Hawai'i they count down the last three minutes before the the clock hits 00.00. This is done by setting of one firework every minute during the last three. We watched the fireworks on the beach in front of the pink hotel in Waikiki.

Let's finish with the animals we say during our trip.

Humpback whales playing.

Sea turtle resting on the beach.

That's all from Christmas and New Years 2009.

Tomorrow night Joakim and I leave for a 1 week trip to Sydney and New Zealand. In New Zealand we're going to meet up with Markus and Åsa (a coworker of Markus). I'll try to update, but I can't make any promises.

kramar

Camilla and Joakim