Update

Hi all,

We arrived safely in Hawaii earlier today after a 5.5 hr flight that landed 30 mins before scheduled; something appreciated by all on board. The day itself started very efficiently with the boys packing down from the slumber party at Saint Ignatius within 25 mins of being woken at 6am. This allowed us to be at Oakland Int Airport by 7:15am to process through security, have a quick breakfast and depart at 9am. We linked with the students of Punahou High School at 1pm local time, with most of the billets being girls. In a big shock the hosts were again rapt to see our boys and spent the afternoon showing them around the school campus. At 4pm today the boys had a quick 1 mile run to loosen up before a much needed stretch session after what has been a very physically demanding run schedule of late. Then it was off to the billets at approx 5:30pm, before rejoining us as staff at 9am tomorrow at which point we will head to the North Shore of the island for the day.

Points of note:
1. R Lockhart must get a mention today as the birthday boy! Roddy awoke this morning to a birthday hug from Captain A Meltzer who also sang him the 'Barney' song- "I love you, you love me, we're best friends . . ."
2. R Martin without a word of a lie was already in several Facebook conversations with his Punahou billet prior to his arrival. Apparently the Punahou billets sought out our boys on Facebook prior to our arrival, with many establishing links (thus making the need for staff involvement in the process redundant). J Kenrick has been uncovered as the creator of a Facebook site 'Kiwi Hunks on Tour' to continue to improve US-NZ relations.
3. M Wallace and J Ellis broke out into what could only be described as a verbal duel today. It appears Matt said Josh looked fat in his board shorts, with Josh inferring Matt had no friends. Before long P Carter, another disgraceful member of the Rat Pack, was adding fuel to the fire by saying both Matt and Josh sounded like Coach Gordon when they sleep (not a positive thing!). The wheels are falling off the 'unity Tram'.
4. M Pogson and H Watt both stole the show at Punahou this afternoon performing a duet haka when Coach Jones challenged them to do so for a quarter each (it is clear the boys wallets are starting to struggle to handle the big spending as there were many volunteers for this dare)
5. Coach Gordon has loved his first 4 hours in Hawaii. He is sporting a specific 'unnamed' good that has resulted in many locals looking in his direction stating "Cool man". Coach Gordon was heard to say "look at this, I've now got credibility and friends".
6. Finally, the editor is saddened to note that Coach Skeen is experiencing much distress over connotations written by an anonymous blogger going under the title 'C Batts' (Coach Skeen can not accept someone like Campbell would infer such negative themes about Coach Skeen's contribution). The at risk Coach Skeen has decided not to enter into a game of circumstantial evidence- instead through his lawyer he has simply released a statement that said "I have run 500miles and I will run 500 more. To my avid supporters, the boys, who will confirm my running participation and prowess on Tour when they return to NZ, thank you for your unwavering loyalty."


So, a reasonably low key day with no real photos of note, however I am anticipating that the first full day of relaxation in Hawaii tomorrow will most definitely bring a large collection of photos to highlight the unique individuals we have on tour.

As always we are loving the blogs being sent back in our direction. Coach Jordan has noted his favourite part of the tour has been watching the boys take in deep breaths whenever their name is read out as part of an update or when the reader begins with the statement "we have a lovely blog from the . . . family this morning"

Enjoy your weekend ahead in NZ.