Sun 14th March 2010

Finally, FINALLY - we're leaving tomorrow.
That said, I definitely needed this time on land to get back in the right frame of mind and have felt that each day we were delayed was like a 'free pass', but now I'm like Stu - keen to get going and to just get to Hawaii!!

Hawaii is about 2250 nautical miles away and for those that don’t know a nautical mile is different to a road mile. A nautical mile is 1852 metres compared to the road mile at 1600 metres. Either way, it's a long haul. We're hoping to make the trip in less than 20 days, but all of that is weather dependant I guess.

Looks like I'll be celebrating my birthday at sea, too! I guess that means there won't be a wild party or a gourmet meal, but it will be pretty cool to say that I was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for my birthday (let's just hope it's on Pelon and not that freaky little orange inflatable thing...eek!!).

So - this is the last posting for a few weeks!! Can't wait to get to the warmer weather (although it is definitely improving here - it's just the wind that is cold, coming from the snow covered mountain in the distance I guess). Danielle - have a lovely 30th and indulge a bit - bump wants strawberry freddos!! Keli - have a lovely 80th (looking good for your age I must say - you don't even look 40!!) - not too much Jansz... Ash, have a wonderful 3rd birthday - I hope you get a great birthday cake (coz I know you wanted one for Christmas!!), and finally a big WELCOME to Ellie Millhouse, who was born the other day (sorry guys, my days are blurring in to one here, and the different time zone doesn't help matters!!).

We'll blog again from Hawaii (hopefully with stories from along the way). Catch you then!
(Don't forget to track us - we'll turn our tracker on again when we leave. And don't forget that there are 'black spots' sometimes where it doesn't work...)