DH gets a job on Oahu - WOW!?!?! Help?

[Lileigh]

Aloha! I guess I better get used to saying that huh?
My dh was offered a job on Oahu and now we are just digging in to learn as much as we can since we don't know the area and it was a total fluke that he got that job. We applied for it thinking "Hey, there's a job in your field in Hawaii, let's try for THAT!" As we laughed...
So - it looks like we are headed there. Dh will be there in about 10 days for a month of work to figure out where to live and if the job is something he likes well enough to move us there.
We have 3 daughters moving with us and we homeschool.
I have a list of questions I'm sort of posting all over the place to get a better idea of what to expect and prepare for... If someone could help me out with these I would REALLY appreciate it! :

~Clothing - What will I need? Should I just ditch/sell all of the long sleeve and warm weather things?
~Travel - Where do you find the best deals? What about island hopping? Is that expensive/worth it?
~Any chance for holistic medicine/dentistry?
~Homeschooling - any good info there? I have found the Hawaii Homeschool Association's website so I will learn more soon but any tips, hints, ideas or advice?
~Groceries, is it really twice the food budget? I looked at online weekly ads for FoodLand and for another local one and it seemed higher yes, but also pretty reasonable. Will I be able to pick fruit to help out (and YUMMY)? Will dh be able to fish for free/cheap? He loves to fish and we are trying to go to more of a raw food diet including seafood though, eliminating as much meat and dairy as possible.
~Any particularly bad areas? Dh will most likely be working in Honolulu most of the time
~Any particularly good areas?
~Should we ditch our car here or pay to have it shipped? We drive a suburban because of the family size and I would honestly like to keep it but I'm unsure of how much we will need it.
~I have heard good things about the public transportation so far, is it doable to use it as the main form of transportation?
~Immunizations - I think I've figured out this one, religious exemption works fine for me
~Pet info & Quarantine... crap I wish I had more time to prepare. It's either keep the dog here for the rabies regimen of 120 days or else she gets quarantined for 120 days? Am I understanding that correctly?
~Hopefully/ideally I will home with the girls during the days while dh works, what shall I do? In Florida we only actually made it to the beach like 4 times maybe because it was a pain to get to and there were only a couple that were NICE and close, and they were tourist infested... any hints?
~workIf I should need to work, do you think that finding something in retail or restaurants would be hard?
~Bugs - how bad ARE they really? I hated the fire ants in Florida, Oriana always managed to find a hidden hill and would get bitten/stung a LOT... to the point where she didn't want to go outside anymore! lol

Really, just help me out with whatever pops out at you. At this point I'm just learning as much as I can about this new land as possible. I think our choice is already made.

[PlayaMama]

oh boy. i might not be the best person to ask since we moved to maui for a job and left a year later.

first off, the cost of living is HUGE!!!! we spent $1000 per month on food for two adults and one toddler. most all organic and super healthy but still. our rent was $1600 for a bali house that had a loft and one big lower area with kitchen and that was not outrageous. maybe 750 sqaure feet? of the grid so we could not use haardly any power or we'd drain the batteries.

clothing, i hardly ever pulled out my sweatshirt and i never wore anything longer than capris. we lived on the wet side of the island too. i would ditch most everythign with full sleeves or legs, it's just too hot.

travel- aloha airlines is your best bet. i priced everything i could find and they were always cheaper. island hopping isn't terribly much but it's not cheap. there was supposed to be a super ferry going in when we left that would allow you to take the boat from island to island.

holistic medicine- there were tons on maui.

food- it really is that much more. you can buy local avos (i still miss the dark round ones, so creamy and yummy) apple bananas, mangos, pineapple, eggfruit (yuck), papaya, and pineapple. i was able to get in on a garden share from a local organic farmer too. fish is awesome there. really awesome. raw is awesome too, lots of hippies mean lots of raw foodies. watch out for the chocolate avocado pudding.... lots of times folks use really ripe avos and it tastes yucky.

however!! no local oranges, apples, grapes, pears, plums, blueberries, strawberries or anything not tropical. it got really old paying $8 for a small bag of grapes that were kind of old but all they had.

homeschooling- tons of resources on maui, i'm not sure about oahu, i know it's a bigger city type place so it might be different.

shipping stuff- don't ship any furniture or anything, we spent probably $1800 to ship and that was for three pallets. people leave the island all the time so there are always moving sales and you can buy stuff there. seriously. this was one of the biggest mistakes we made. if you HAVE to ship stuff find out about renting a shipping container. check horizon lines or matson, horizon was cheaper for us. we found someone on craigslist to split a container with us going back to the mainland and saved a TON of money.

your car- it depends. we brought our subaru and truck to maui and we returned with only the truck because we couldnt' afford to ship them both. about $1000 each way per vehicle. i'd say maybe if you are attached adn your suburban is in great shape. again, people leave a lot so there are often cars for sale there.

work- you will probably not be able to get a job. i just talked to a friend still on maui and she said that the help wanted ads in the paper are down to about 10-15 listings tops. she applied for a care-taking job and had 65 other people apply too. lots of native families work two or three jobs to try and make ends meet.

pet info- i moved with my dog and cat and it can be done, but you need to start now! depending on your records your pets will need a lot of rabies vaxes, if you google state of hawaii and pets you can find the state website that has a huge checklist for what you need to have done and how many days apart it must be. you can test out of quarentine by having all the vaxes done at the right time.

hawaii is extremely kid friendly. they love the keiki!! we did a native hawaiian parent participation pre-school that was awesome.

bugs- the centipedes will creep you out. seriously, they are bad. like six inches and they can crawl upside down on the ceiling and you can not keep them out. you have to check your bed every night because they can get in anywhere. and it hurts when they bite you. i used to dream about them crawling on me, it's almost three years later and i still thank god there are no centipedes on the mainland. and the mosquitos are huge and silent. at least there are no snakes yet.

google "hawaiian centipede picture" and you'll see why.

honestly? the hardest part for us was being haoles. we did not belong there and the bottom line is white people took those islands not so long ago. it's really sad to see the local people living in their grandma's house with their kids because tourists have driven up the prices of an apartment rental so much that they can NEVER afford to move out. it's not just a matter of saving their money or getting better jobs... when you have to work two jobs just to pay your bills life sucks. the guy that took our money at the airport parking lot told us it was one of three jobs for him.

and when your beach is covered in huge multi-million dollar homes that people use one month a year you start to get a little resentful. i spent a lot of time wanting to walk around and say, "i get it!! and i'm not one of those white people!!"

crystal meth is HUGE! for good reasons. lots of poverty and not lots of opportunity = drugs and the crime associated with it. ice is an epidemic there that isn't talked about a lot because of the tourists.

also, because the islands are in the middle of the ocean the currents are really powerful lots of tourist rescues. and shark attacks, in the year we lived on maui there were three attacks and one was fatal. the whales are beautiful though. you get to see mamas and babies it's like some national geographic movie.

if you love in florida i've heard the weather is the same-ish. humid and intense sun. like i could feel myself start to burn in five minutes.

i guess i have kind of a negative view because we lost a lot of money moving back and forth. we thought because we were making so much more that it would be wonderful... but even double our income left us treading water. i would think about it long and hard before you move. oh, and don't forget island fever. it happens and it's not pretty.

[Lileigh]

Thanks so much for the info!!!

The thing is that my husband getting hired by this company is a stepping stone. We have done some cost of living calculations and I think we will be able to do it just fine. We won't be able to save much or get ahead... but the company is getting him into a program that will get him certification in his career and make him MUCH MUCH more hire able/desirable of an employee.. it will open up so many possibilities! So the long run is worth it as long as we don't go crazy and we get that certification. It should take no more than 2 years.

So far my plan is to get rid of EVERYTHING that I can... keeping only the things handed down by family or that are super important to me. But we will keep them in storage here because we KNOW we will not be there forever... and if we are there over two years and decide to stay, then we will get it shipped over.

We have a dog and a cat and they are my biggest concern right now - they are just so much a part of the family and to think of them in cages for 120 days?!?!?! My heart sinks. I just don't know what to do about this. They haven't had shots since last year so I'm pretty well screwed. Hubs is supposed to be there on the 27th of this month, for a month trial, then we would all be moving over, it doesn't give me enough time to deal with the animals properly. Any advice?

I think we will probably end up leaving our car here. I'm going to check out craigslist and see what kind of used cars we could afford there since we should be able to afford something fairly cheap.

Again, thank you soo much for all of the tips - I really do appreciate it!

[PlayaMama]

nope you're not screwed at all about the pets!!!

have they had ANY rabies vaxes on record?

go here:

http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/ai/aqs/info

and look at the reqs for the 5-day or less quarantine. if your animal has had a shot 90 days before arrival they only have to stay until the 90 days is up.

this is ONLY if they've had one other rabies vax in their lives that you can document. get them to the vet asap.

they also need microchips and to get their titres checked, it's really easy and can be done in a week or two.

[Lileigh]

Thank YOU!!!

[AlwaysByMySide]

I lived there for two years (military move). My input is below.

Originally Posted by Lileigh

~Clothing - What will I need? Should I just ditch/sell all of the long sleeve and warm weather things?
If you are planning to travel to the other islands, you will need clothes for colder weather in the higher elevations. (You can snow ski on the Big Island. ) It does get cool at night sometimes, so while I would get rid of most of your long sleeved stuff, go ahead and keep some. Most of the year, you can get away with wearing a light jacket if you need something at night.

~Travel - Where do you find the best deals? What about island hopping? Is that expensive/worth it?
This was my favorite part of living there. I haven't been there for about a year, but there was plenty of airline wars going on, and the ferry was just starting up, so island hopping was starting to become cheaper. Go in the off seasons. Just watch for ads, and check the websites for all of the airlines and the ferry often for deals. And check out vrbo.com for vacation rentals; much cheaper than hotels. Ask for the kama'aina (local) price.

~Any chance for holistic medicine/dentistry?
I know that there are holistic places in the islands, but I have no experience with them.

~Homeschooling - any good info there? I have found the Hawaii Homeschool Association's website so I will learn more soon but any tips, hints, ideas or advice?
Again, no clue.

~Groceries, is it really twice the food budget? I looked at online weekly ads for FoodLand and for another local one and it seemed higher yes, but also pretty reasonable. Will I be able to pick fruit to help out (and YUMMY)? Will dh be able to fish for free/cheap? He loves to fish and we are trying to go to more of a raw food diet including seafood though, eliminating as much meat and dairy as possible.
We were military, so we shopped at the commissary. I would run to the grocery store for one thing and choke at the price, so I would definitely say to keep an eye on the deals. The good news is that the weather is perfect to have a garden, especially if you're going raw, and there's a great farmer's market at one of the college campuses there.

~Any particularly bad areas? Dh will most likely be working in Honolulu most of the time
There are bad areas both in and out of Honolulu. 75% of the island lives/works in Honolulu, and where you would live would also depend on WHERE in Honolulu he'd be working. (It's like saying he's going to work in New York City...that doesn't narrow it down much. ) The commute isn't fun, but the difference in housing cost could make it worth it.

~Any particularly good areas?
Again, depends on your price range. There are good areas everywhere, it just depends on what you are looking for.

~Should we ditch our car here or pay to have it shipped? We drive a suburban because of the family size and I would honestly like to keep it but I'm unsure of how much we will need it.
Pay to have it shipped. Not worth the hassle to sell and then rebuy in my opinion. It was $1000 for me to ship my car from Hawaii to Atlanta, and was worth every penny.

~I have heard good things about the public transportation so far, is it doable to use it as the main form of transportation?
Depends on where you live. But The Bus is pretty comprehensive all over the island. I think I rode it once the whole time I was there.

~Immunizations - I think I've figured out this one, religious exemption works fine for me

~Pet info & Quarantine... crap I wish I had more time to prepare. It's either keep the dog here for the rabies regimen of 120 days or else she gets quarantined for 120 days? Am I understanding that correctly?
They will backdate to when the titer is taken, if I remember correctly. Mine ended up in quarantine only for 30 days, because I didn't feel like waiting anymore! The people at the quarantine kennel are actually really nice. We left chairs and toys and all sorts of stuff in one of the dog's kennels, and they let us take one of our dogs and bring her into the other's kennel so they could play while we were there.

A lot of people will leave their pets with someone on the mainland until they pass the 120 mark, and they can be sent out as air cargo. (All pets have to travel to Hawaii in a plane's cargo hold anyway; none are allowed in the cabin of the plane.)

~Hopefully/ideally I will home with the girls during the days while dh works, what shall I do? In Florida we only actually made it to the beach like 4 times maybe because it was a pain to get to and there were only a couple that were NICE and close, and they were tourist infested... any hints?

There is TONS of stuff to do on Oahu. As long as you stay away from Waikiki, we never really ran into lots of tourists, and we went to beaches all over the island. There's also Chinatown, the North Shore, plenty of things going on.

~workIf I should need to work, do you think that finding something in retail or restaurants would be hard?
Shouldn't be hard - Hawaii is a tourist locale.

~Bugs - how bad ARE they really? I hated the fire ants in Florida, Oriana always managed to find a hidden hill and would get bitten/stung a LOT... to the point where she didn't want to go outside anymore! lol
It's the centipedes you should be worried about. (Although in two years of living there, I only saw one once, and it was the week before we moved.) I never had any issues with any other bugs (and I'm usually a mosquito magnet).


Really, just help me out with whatever pops out at you. At this point I'm just learning as much as I can about this new land as possible. I think our choice is already made.

So I'm being completely honest, I will say that I enjoyed the first year I was there, but I was over it after that. There were some extenuating circumstances for my change in opinion, but it's very isolated, it's cost prohibitive to come back to the mainland for visits (and everyone on the mainland will want to visit YOU anyway), and it's expensive. That said, there's also a lot to do there, and the weather is just heavenly. Like any place, it's got it's pros and cons.

Go to a bookstore or look online for the blue guidebooks for each island "Revealed" (It'll be Oahu: Revealed, Kauai: Revealed, etc.) At least get the one for Oahu, but if you are going to visit the other islands, they are the BEST books I've found.

[MangoMommy]

Originally Posted by Lileigh

Aloha! I guess I better get used to saying that huh?
My dh was offered a job on Oahu and now we are just digging in to learn as much as we can since we don't know the area and it was a total fluke that he got that job. We applied for it thinking "Hey, there's a job in your field in Hawaii, let's try for THAT!" As we laughed...
So - it looks like we are headed there. Dh will be there in about 10 days for a month of work to figure out where to live and if the job is something he likes well enough to move us there.
We have 3 daughters moving with us and we homeschool.
I have a list of questions I'm sort of posting all over the place to get a better idea of what to expect and prepare for... If someone could help me out with these I would REALLY appreciate it! :

~Clothing - What will I need? Should I just ditch/sell all of the long sleeve and warm weather things?
We wear shorts and tshirts/tanks most of the time, but this winter was wetter and chillier so you will want a few pairs of long pants and keep a jacket around too. It does cool down at night quite a bit, especially around the water. Plus you'll want some lightweight pants for hiking,etc. I honestly never wear pants but I do keep a cardigan in the car because I get chilly easy. Anything below 78 is chilly to me LOL.
~Travel - Where do you find the best deals? What about island hopping? Is that expensive/worth it?
We subscribe to Hawaiian Airlines email thingy, they run specials fairly often. Also you'll see commercials for Kama'aina specials, or see ads in the paper,etc. Kama'aina are for residents. Island hoping is SO worth it, Big Island is our favorite, because we love the volcano.
~Any chance for holistic medicine/dentistry?
There are some on the island but we are military related, so my kids see a ped dentist and I see a midwife.
~Homeschooling - any good info there? I have found the Hawaii Homeschool Association's website so I will learn more soon but any tips, hints, ideas or advice?
I don't homeschool, sorry. But this is a great place to do it...learn about sea turtles...go to beach to observe sea turtles LOL!
~Groceries, is it really twice the food budget? I looked at online weekly ads for FoodLand and for another local one and it seemed higher yes, but also pretty reasonable. Will I be able to pick fruit to help out (and YUMMY)? Will dh be able to fish for free/cheap? He loves to fish and we are trying to go to more of a raw food diet including seafood though, eliminating as much meat and dairy as possible.
Ok, it's not twice as much to me. Get a Costco membership. They have the best price on gas, plus lots of organic and natural items too. We also have a Whole Foods, watch their sales. Otherwise, for Foodland, Safeway,etc you just need to watch their ads and stock up accordingly. I think the ads come out on Weds. If you are lucky you'll have fruit trees in your yard or your neighbor's and they will share. I have friends whose DH's go spearfishing and they do eat what they catch. There is an awesome Farmers Market on Saturdays, plus there are other farmers markets around the island too, mostly on Sats, though on Thurs night there is one in Kailua. The other poster is right, our growing season is year round, so you can grow your own stuff here.
~Any particularly bad areas? Dh will most likely be working in Honolulu most of the time
Hmmm you can tell the bad areas by the amount of homeless hanging around, but I don't know specifically what the areas are called. There is a big homelessness problem here, especially at the parks in town at night. It is urban, so 2 streets over might be nice while the one you are on isn't.
~Any particularly good areas?
I'm partial to Hawaii Kai, Kailua/Kane'ohe, and the North Shore area but some of those areas aren't conductive for a job in Honolulu. Hawaii Kai isn't far actually and Kailua is do-able, but the North Shore area is too far.
~Should we ditch our car here or pay to have it shipped? We drive a suburban because of the family size and I would honestly like to keep it but I'm unsure of how much we will need it.
From CA it's about $1200-1500, I'd bring it if you need it for size. Gas is more, BUT the island is small so you won't be putting as many miles on it, at least that's our experience. Plus if you want to explore the island, like hit that Farmers Market up on the North Shore in Waialua, you'll need a car.
~I have heard good things about the public transportation so far, is it doable to use it as the main form of transportation?
The Bus is great. My DH takes it to work everyday. It's $40 a month for a pass. Totally doable to use it as main transportation but I'd still want 1 car. We have 1 car and it works fine for us, he takes the bus to work, I have the car for errands.
~Immunizations - I think I've figured out this one, religious exemption works fine for me
We do vax, so I can't help there either
~Pet info & Quarantine... crap I wish I had more time to prepare. It's either keep the dog here for the rabies regimen of 120 days or else she gets quarantined for 120 days? Am I understanding that correctly?
We adopted on island, sorry
~Hopefully/ideally I will home with the girls during the days while dh works, what shall I do? In Florida we only actually made it to the beach like 4 times maybe because it was a pain to get to and there were only a couple that were NICE and close, and they were tourist infested... any hints?
The beach is everywhere and for the most part, just incredible. I am also from FL and we hardly made it to the beach but it's so pretty here, MUCH lower humidity and the water isn't as salty. We go to the beach every weekend. Most beaches aren't tourist infested, though Waikiki can get crowded but we avoid Waikiki in general LOL. Most tourists stick to Waikiki. Otherwise, we have a cute/nice little zoo and the annual pass is dirt cheap, plus there are lots of cultural events year round, SeaLife Park, a small aquarium, Bishop Museum, a water park,etc.
~workIf I should need to work, do you think that finding something in retail or restaurants would be hard?
Right now it's tough to find a job. We recently had 2 Targets open on the island and they held a job fair that was just NUTS. Maybe check the paper online for job ads to get a feel.
~Bugs - how bad ARE they really? I hated the fire ants in Florida, Oriana always managed to find a hidden hill and would get bitten/stung a LOT... to the point where she didn't want to go outside anymore! lol
We get a few different types of roaches, mosquitoes, giant centipeeds, and sometimes cane spiders,etc. I've really only encountered sugar ants in my house and roaches of all sizes. Some are small, beetle like and some are INCHES long, much bigger than I ever saw in FL. I don't think we have fire ants but I'm not sure.

Really, just help me out with whatever pops out at you. At this point I'm just learning as much as I can about this new land as possible. I think our choice is already made.

I'd check out a few books on HI, the culture, the history,etc so you can appreciate the internal struggle that goes on here, in terms of native lands, native peoples, the state government,etc. There is some resistance to mainlanders but if you come with a open mind (which I assume you have LOL) and aren't quick to judge, I think you'll love it here. I know we do, we have been here 2 yrs and probably about 4-5 more yrs.

Rent is high here, start looking on Craigslist to get an idea of what things run. Ewa Beach is the most affordable nice area but FAR from Honolulu, over an hour drive in traffic and traffic is pretty dang bad on the island.

[BookGoddess]

Originally Posted by MangoMommy

I'd check out a few books on HI, the culture, the history,etc so you can appreciate the internal struggle that goes on here, in terms of native lands, native peoples, the state government,etc. There is some resistance to mainlanders but if you come with a open mind (which I assume you have LOL) and aren't quick to judge, I think you'll love it here. I know we do, we have been here 2 yrs and probably about 4-5 more yrs.

This is so true. :
Hawaii is not like other states. It's very different. I'm sure people in other states think their state is different but trust me this place isn't like any other state and that is both good and, at times, not so good. The struggles the native people and the asian immigrants brought to work on the sugar cane plantations still impact relations, politics, etc. It's good to understand what happened then to understand how things are now.

Originally Posted by Lileigh

I have a list of questions I'm sort of posting all over the place to get a better idea of what to expect and prepare for... If someone could help me out with these I would REALLY appreciate it! :

My answers are in bold
~Clothing - What will I need? Should I just ditch/sell all of the long sleeve and warm weather things? I wear mostly shirts and jeans/pants or shirts and shorts. Tank tops, sleeveless tops, jeans, shirts are fine. It's pretty casual here. But please don't bring any gaudy aloha shirts. We don't dress like that. I see tourists wearing really garish outfits and I think they think they're blending when in fact they're standing out.
~Homeschooling - any good info there? I have found the Hawaii Homeschool Association's website so I will learn more soon but any tips, hints, ideas or advice? I know there is an active homeschooling community here. My SIL homeschooled all three of her kids and the boy just got accepted into a good college in California. : I see homeschoolers with their parents at a weekly gathering at a nearby park. The kids take some art classes together from the City. It looks like they're having so much fun. Makes me a bit jealous that I can't homeschool.

~Groceries, is it really twice the food budget? I looked at online weekly ads for FoodLand and for another local one and it seemed higher yes, but also pretty reasonable. Will I be able to pick fruit to help out (and YUMMY)? Will dh be able to fish for free/cheap? He loves to fish and we are trying to go to more of a raw food diet including seafood though, eliminating as much meat and dairy as possible.
I think you can fish for free and cheap but just be sure of where you fish. Some areas like say around Pearl Harbor are plain bad for fishing because of the contamination. My friend's husband goes spear fishing. My FIL goes fishing. So there's definitely a fishing culture here.

I'm not sure about picking fruit to help out but we grow a lot of stuff in our yard. We also shop at Costco, farmers markets, and Foodland. The food cost isn't twice the cost of the Mainland. I have relatives in northern California and honestly the prices there are somewhat the same. I suppose if you compared Hawaii to like Iowa then maybe it would be twice the cost.


~Any particularly bad areas? Dh will most likely be working in Honolulu most of the time

Honolulu is ok but avoid Chinatown at night. The Mainland has inner cities with gang problems but we don't have anything like that here. There aren't any "bad" areas per se but in general the Ewa/Leeward side of Oahu doesn't seem as safe to me as the Windward or Honolulu side.


~Any particularly good areas? Windward side - Kailua, Aikahi, Lanikai, Kaneohe or in town - Kaimuki, Manoa, certain parts of Nu'uanu/Pali, Niu Valley, Hawaii Kai, Kahala.

~Should we ditch our car here or pay to have it shipped? We drive a suburban because of the family size and I would honestly like to keep it but I'm unsure of how much we will need it.

We use both public transportation and our car. I wouldn't ditch the car. The bus is the only public transportation here. You will need your car. And if you decide to live on a neighbor island please know there is no public transportation.

~I have heard good things about the public transportation so far, is it doable to use it as the main form of transportation? It's doable if you don't have to make too many connections. I used The Bus (yeah, that's what it's called ) for 12 years to go to school and to work in Downtown. It was great. But if you live in a place where you have to make two or three connections, it sucks.

~workIf I should need to work, do you think that finding something in retail or restaurants would be hard? The economy is bad but people are still hiring. It might take a while to find something but there are jobs. Look at Craigslist and the newspaper to get an idea of what's out there.

~Bugs - how bad ARE they really? I hated the fire ants in Florida, Oriana always managed to find a hidden hill and would get bitten/stung a LOT... to the point where she didn't want to go outside anymore! lol

I honestly don't know why people ask about bugs. I grew up here so it doesn't seem like we have some bug problem. There are roaches. You have to accept there will be some roaches no matter what. They come in from under the doorway from your neighbor even if you keep your home spotless. There are geckos which aren't bugs at all but these lizard like creatures which stick to the wall. They're harmless. I haven't seen any centipedes where I am. On the plus side, we don't have snakes, foxes, cougars, wolves, bears, or any predatory animals.

Really, just help me out with whatever pops out at you. At this point I'm just learning as much as I can about this new land as possible. I think our choice is already made.

I'll think of some more stuff but now I have to get off the computer.

[bigeyes]

They killed the superferry one of the PPs mentioned, but Go airlines and one of the others that I can't think of at the moment run specials all the time so you can island hop fairly cheaply.

The superferry would have been nice though, because you wouldn't have had to rent a car once you got where you were going. :