NEWSFLASH

There is a new BLOG in process for Pete and Di and baby Ella.

www.hobbslife.blogspot.com

New Arrival - Ella Brooklyn Hobbs

Hi we are soooooooooo sorry.... Ella is now 2 1/2 weeks old and we have been so slack and havent even sent emails or photos... finally they are here... better late than never.

Birth details

Name: Ella Brooklyn Hobbs

Weight: 7 pounds 4 ounces... 3 kgs

Time of birth: 7:04 pm

Date of birth: 10th August 2007

Labour: 12 hours

Pete and I are both great. Ella is adorable. We LOVE being parents. Even though I can spend all day with her it is just not enough.... did I mention that she is adorable.

She is soooooooooooooo cute and we fell in love with her the second we met her... she is such a precious gift and we are so blessed. She is such a great baby and if you know anyone who has the secret recipe for snap freezing, so we can keep her this small forever then we are eager to hear.

We hope that you are ok. Once again sorry for disappearing somewhat off the planet but we are getting established now as an extended family.....we are still getting used to being in Adelaide, catching up with friends here as much as possible and yay friends are coming this weekend from Sydney to visit us... well Ella.... she cant wait. Life is great. I have pretty much recovered from the birth.... and yes to everyone at Menai.... GO THE EPIDURAL.... I made 5 hours without pain relief and all i can say is aaaaaaagh..... but i wont go into it.

I cant believe how much something so small can fill you with so much love that you could easily take on the world to protect her.... now thats soppy...so this is where we say goodbye and we hope to hear from you soon.

Once again hope things are ok with you. thanks again for presents, cards, phone calls and most of all LOVE. We never take it for granted.Luv Pete, Di and baby Ella xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Latest Update

Hello all...

As you can tell it's been a few weeks since we last blogged and since then we have been back to Sydney and Di had a baby shower. We had a fantastic time with Andrew and Amanda Herring and all of our mates from Menai.

We came back to Adelaide and caught up with our family and our cute little neice Amaya. I have started work at a local sales company and bringing in some money and Di is enjoying the pregnancy. We have started antenatal appointments and been to visit the Womens and Childrens Hospital to see where we're going to have the baby.

So stay tuned as we'll update out blog with photos and latest news, just been really busy.

God Bless and lots of love

Pete and Di

Tuesday 29 May

Today is really our last in terms of a travelling holiday, as tomorrow we head back to Sydney, then onto Adelaide. With that in mind we thought we'd make the most of our trip and enjoy every moment of this final overseas adventure, including an amazing breakfast.



After breakfast Di and I headed out on a luxury cruise to Castaway Island, once again it was a very relaxing and extremely peaceful day. Actually, Castaway Island is about 10 miles from the actual Castaway Island used in the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks. Like the Island Molikini it is exremely remote and beautiful. For all those living in England, this is a proper beach...

We spent the morning lounging around on the beach and then we went snorkling around the island as there is a natural coral reef about 50 metres off shore.
After a relaxing snorkel we went for lunch and got two of the best seats in the place on the balcony over the beach.. delicious food and an amazing view, check it out.

Then in the mid afternoon we checked out the pool and walked around the island, here's Di with an update.

Then we returned back to the beach for another rest as we waited for the ship to pick us up.
On the way back to the mainland God was showing off and created on one of the best sunsets we'd ever seen. We thanked him for a great holiday, for looking after us, his love and for a magnifient performance. Then after a quick snack we headed off to bed to get ready for our trip back to Sydney.

Monday 28 May

Today was meant to be taken up with a 9 hour cruise, but late last night we decided neither of us could hand;e being on a cruise for 9 hours so we decided to cancel it. So instead of getting up at 7am this morning we slept in til 9 then went and had a delicious buffet breakfast.

After breakfast we hired a Catamaran for an hour from the Sheraton, which is free to guests, and we went sailing... it was fantastic, but unfortunately we didn't take the camera... but don't worry as we were booked to go again later on today. After sailing we decided to take some Kayaks out for a paddle around the bay before heading to the pool for a relaxing swim.
Then from the pool we had a quick snack before heading back to the beach to take the Cat out for another sail. It was so relaxing and so much fun.

After the sail we headed back to our room to freshen up and change then we headed back to our favourite restaurant for dinner..

Saturday 26/Sunday 27 May

Today was really a continuation of Friday as we arrived at the airport at 9pm for our flight to Nadi, Fiji only to discover our scheduled flight of 12:05am had been pushed back to 3:30am... so we had to spend half the night sleeping on the floor.. here's us dog tired in the airport.



We eventually got on our way only to learn we had to make an additional stop at Christmas Island... Not the Australian Christmas Island, the Christmas Island directly south of Fiji. We had to go and pick up 1 passanger who was stranded as the runway doesn't have lights and a previous flight had bypassed the island, meaning we had to go and pick him up but we had to wait until it got light, hence the late departure... However the flight was empty so pretty much everyone got a row to themselves. Lucky us so we got to go to another country too... Moses is up to 23 countris now!!

We soon arrived at Christmas island where we spent an hour before taking off again for Fiji, just look at some of the beautiful reefs and islands we flew over. Eventually we arrived in Fiji.

On our arrival we were met by our transfer and quickly taken to our Sheraton Hotel. Where a bus was waiting for us to take us to our boat cruise around some of the islands of Fiji... including the island where Tom Hanks filmed the movie Castaway. We had a really nice afternoon just cruising around the islands and then headed back to our hotel for light refreshments, including fresh coconut juice which was delicious... Then we went to one the many Sheraton restaurants for a delicious Italian meal..

Then Back to our room for sleep... zzzzzzzzz

Friday 25 May

Today was our last day in Waikiki and after a long sleep in and relaxing morning Di and I headed down to China Town for lunch.

We know real Chinese food can only be found in the heart of any China Town.. So we went on a hunt and we found the best Chinese place around, I was able to get Gowzers.... yay!! and Di was able to get her favourite fried rice... and both dishes were delicious.



The Chinese we met were all mothering around Di and each gave a prediction of what sex the baby was... all I can say is they all said independently without hearing what each other said that it was the one gender... so it's getting very exciting... although very confusing...

After a quick rest by the pool Di and I headed back downtown for our final meal and to watch the sunset on Waikiki beach.

Here's our final Piece to Camera from Hawaii.


Soon we will be boarding our plane for Fiji where we have three days sailing around the islands... ahh... can't wait... Di loves being pregnant and being able to rest and relax before the birth... Travelling home has been great because we've had a series of short flights, so it has been comfortable for Di and also we haven't suffered from jet lag.

Thursday 24 May

Today we simply headed back to Kuilphali and borded our plane to Waikiki where we stayed at the Waikiki Sands Hotel...

After cleaning ourselves up we headed out to a buffet restaurant... Smorgys...

It was so cheap and we had sufficient food to be satisfied, plus drinks and dessert were included...Then it was back to bed to watch Grey's Anatomy then off to sleep...

Wednesday 23 May

Today was another lazy day, we got up and drove to Hana early so we could visit the Sites of Hana before all the tourists arrived. Here's Di and I at the famous Black beach in Hana.

From here we went to the famous Blow Hole...

Then from here we went and checked out a Lava Tube which obviously was formed from a lava Flow at one time.

It's a really nice part of the world. Soafter our stressless morning we went back to our camp site for lunch.. fresh mango which we picked off the side of the roads... yum... then once again we were back on our lilos having an afternoon nap for a few hours... heaven... After a long nap we decided to head back to hana for a proper meal.. so what did we have?? Cheeseburgers... yum... we were like homeless people by the beach... festy maggots.. Then you guessed it, we headed back to the seven sacred pools for a swim, then as a tropical storm headed in we hit the tents and fell asleep to the sound of falling rain... heaven...

Tuesday 22 May

Well first of all Happy Birthday Dad!! Sorry we can't be with you today! We hope you had a great birthday and enjoy the day! We must also say happy birthday to our God child Mia. Happy Birthday Mia!!

This morning was awesome we slowly got up and had our breakfast... go the Shreadded Wheat... but first we had to drive into Hana to get some Milk as there are no facilities at our camp site, accept a long drop... gross.. So on the way to get milk we stopped at some great water falls to take some more pictures.


Today was a really lazy day and we spent the morning lounging around back at the Seven Sacred pools. I met up with a local called Shannon and he thought he'd take me on the best cliff jumps. Here's a clip of my first jump at the bottom pool.

From here we waded up the pools to the next pool where Shannon took me to the lower level jump, stopping on the way for a happy snap and a shower.

Then after this jump Shannon took me to the top of the two falls for the scarest and most death defying jump.

Of course with Di being pregnant no climbing was allowed so she was camera woman... After all this fun and excitement we went back for lunch (Pringles and banana snadwiches)and an afternoon nap on our lilos.

After a refreshing nap we headed on a hike which took us up to the Waikomi Falls. A magnificent water fall which was at least 200 metres tall.. Di and I took a swim and sat under the falls althought the water was really cold.

Then after another long day we had more dinner then it wasn't long before we were back to sleep... before Di woke up to the sounds of cows grazing next to our tent...

we weren't sure if it was a bull and our verandah area was open... for a little while we were worried the bull/cow would enter our tents verandah get freaked out then trample us.. but thanks to the security mechanism on our car we were able to lure him away from our tent.. and minxy was saved...

Monday 21 May

Today we began our journey to the other side of the Island, Hana.

We got up real early, packed up our tent and left Olawahu and hit the 40 mile windey road. Our first stop was at the Twin Falls, after a bit of a hike to get there we enjoyed the cool refreshing waters of this beautiful place.

Along the road there were so many beautiful places to stop and take in the scenery. Here's us at one of the many lookouts.

After a 4 hour drive of beautiful views and tropical rainforest we eventually made it to our campsite in the beautiful Haleakila National Park. It was one of the best campsites we've ever stayed in.

The best apart about this camp site is that it is just minutes away from one of the most scenic wonders of Maui - the Seven Sacred Falls. Of course it didn't take us long to get down to them.. it's so beautiful here.

After our excursion to the falls we headed back to our camp site for dinner where we had an interesting cuisine... check out this clip.


Then before long we were tucked up in our tent enjoying the sites and sounds as we drifted off to sleep.. another great day in paradise.

Sunday 20 May

Pete and I woke up at the crack of dawn again today... funny how we seem to do that when we're camping- but at other times I need a bomb to get me out of bed in the morning.
Today we were off to explore the north coast of the island in our sparkling white car. We had breakfast on the road again next to another beach.














Our parents especially will kill us for this but we were driving along and saw this older man hitchiking on the side of the road. We of course felt sorry for him, it was so hot and he looked like a sweet old man... so we stopped and offered him a lift...

He was an 80 year old man- his name was Bob, nicknamed "King of the Road". Originally from California he had moved over to Maui 9 years ago and had taken up hitchiking daily to different parts of the island. He didnt own a car- coz he likes hitchiking so much. It is his way of meeting new people and seeing the sites in a creative way. He was fun...and he was safe, he didnt hurt us. We're not really into picking up hitch hikers but he looked sweet and innocent enough.... and he was.

He took us to some great places along the way. I think he liked us so much he decided to stay with us...for the whole trip lol lol lol. I dont think it really mattered where we wanted to go...he wanted to come to...Bless his heart, he made our trip that much more interesting. Bob took us to Lorraines for some shaved ice and Pete had a chocolate coated banana....mmm. We also purchased a loaf of freshly baked banana bread.....scrumptious.

Lorraines husband Guy took us on a tour of their land and showed us their banana trees and their water system that Guy had built himself... etc they were really great, friendly, welcoming people... unlike some of the other locals we had met..not personally but some of the hawaiians arent too keen on tourists, lol.
We explored the whole north of the island and then stopped in at Costco (Uncle Paul and Aunty Chris you would be so proud of us- but this time we didnt have your card to steal) Bob took us there so that we could buy a bbq chicken that was in his words " the best on the island", to have for our dinner.

Bob liked his photo taken too lol lol...and he has made up his own little signs that he can hold up in the photos. He also has made his own bumper stickers "Bob King of the Road" (the bumper sticker in the picture mentions Hana - this is a town we will visit tomorrow) which he gives as gifts to the people who pick him up so we will remember him....lol lol. What a legend.


From here we hit the beach, where we had lunch.
I get messages from concerned friends and family.... making sure I am not overdoing it.... just for proof......
Then from here we headed to another beach near our campsite at Olawahu.




















The chicken lasted us all day- we had it for lunch and dinner and it was truly delicious. We sat by the beach and watched the sunset and the surfers..... this is the life. Man... I look like a pig- I guess we did eat like pigs lol lol. It was worth it. MMMMM. Go Bob!

Saturday 19 May

This morning we woke early and went to the shops to grab some breakfast and supplies. Then we went and sat by the beach and ate our breakfast, what a view.



Today we wanted to just chill and take in the beaches...and thats exactly what we did. We bought matching lilo's because temporarily I had to give up the boarding because at nearly 30 weeks pregnant boarding isnt as easy as it once was...so quieter waters and softer surfaces seem to be the better option....Pete thought the lilo was a good option too lol lol..... he didnt quite feel like a man.... in his words "what man uses a lilo" but he looked cute none the less.... and I was so proud of him- he still managed to hold his chin up high.


To top it all off we went to a luau on the beach- to get into the true hawaiian spirit. The food was fantastic, not to mention the performance... Pete especially liked- no LOVED some elements more than others.
You will get the picture, lol.