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Today is
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This page was posted on October 23rd 2004 |
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Nils' Daily Journal of our 20th Anniversary Trip to Kauai, Hawaii |
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This is Nils perspective of the trip, he wrote a journal each day (which I put into this web version - MY added comments are in italics and a different colour) it shows HIS perspective, you can read mine HERE - it's amusing to see the difference! |
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Saturday Oct 2nd Well I have put the TOADIE gear away and Alice and I are packed and ready to go celebrate our 20 yr anniversary in Kauai, Hawaii. As goes tradition, we went out for dinner and we took Howard our hired chaffueur (good friend) with us. We went to our favorite Sushi Bar that Howard had recommended several months ago - SUSHI BON. We had a wonderful meal, but I think we had too much Wasabi as our tummies were not very settled when we woke up at 2:45am. We had to be at Miami Airport by 5am and we were a bit early. Our flight to Houston was all good. except for Alice twisting her back as she put her backpack up in the overhead. No more lifting for her. I have already got in some good studying time for my paramedic state test that is at the end of this month. We are awaiting take off from Houston airport and the next stop is Honolulu. |
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Saturday Oct 2nd - continued We finally got off the ground an hour late. I have now looked through all of the booklets that the B&B lady sent us. My wish list of activities would be the following: Helicopter Ride, ATV tour, LUAU, Golf, Hike in the woods, bike ride, waterfall trip, whale watching and of course a good surf everyday. Getting ready to land from the big 9 hr flight. Did not sleep at all and my back hurts. Hope I get in the water today and loosen things up. |
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Sunday Oct 3rd Well I think I am going to try and write about the day before. No that won't work I will just try and jot it down as it goes.....Let me start with the rest of yesterday. I did not manage to get in the water but we did have some excitement and it wasn't all good! First we had to deal with not having our main suitcase and my surfboard show up at the airport in Kauai when we did. So we took care of the car rental and as Alice was getting to the point of headache from not eating, I took her to our B&B. I dropped her off and set off back to the airport. The place looks awesome with lush fruit trees and constant chime of different birds in the background. Alice wants to move here already. OK, back to my return to the airport. As I am driving, my cell phone rings and it is Alice, she asks me, "Where is my laptop?" and I say, "Oh boy it is on the plane still." I had put it up in the overhead but I did not put it back in her backpack (like she specifically ASKED me to) so it got left on the plane. Now I am starting to see the Holiday go down the pooper. Alice is thinking that she is going to get fired for losing her laptop and she would get NO severance package and life was just going to come to an end. Now *I* am still concerned about getting my surfboard (naturally) and now this!! I took it in stride, prayed a little and did what I needed to do at the airport. Fortunately for us everything turned out fine. I tracked down the laptop, my surfboard and our suitcase. I called Alice straight away so that she was at ease. When I got back to the place, I took a shower and we went out for dinner at the Aloha Girl. Wasn't too stoked (with the food or the atmostphere) After dinner we had to go back to the airport (#3 trip) to get the laptop. I know the area around the airport really well now! Got the laptop and made it home OK and crashed (by that he means crashed into bed asleep - MY journal describes how he almost 'crashed' driving home he was so tired!) |
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Sunday Oct 3rd - continued Slept very well and got up to chirpy birds, cool rain and sunshine and some killer french toast and fresh fruit provided by Ruth and Sandy the owners. Gonna head out to find Joe's house and a beach. till later.. Am back from the day's events and a good day in Paradise it was. We had to make some surf racks as my 'going light' on the packing is not paying off! I am already starting to rethink my strategy for my next distant surf trip. We took some floaty noodles and some rope and presto 'surf racks' so off we went to find Joe's house. It was pretty easy and we got there in about 35 mins. Joe was STOKED with the shirt I gave him. We got to the beach kinda late but that was OK. The spot was called "Rock Quarries" and some sizeable surf was starting to come in. I would say the size was head high to 2-3 ft overheard on the big sets. I sat in the water for quite a while and finally dropped in on a few waves and had some fun. Gonna try and get a much earlier start tomorrow. After the surf we headed into Kapaa for the annual Coconut Festival. We got quite a few gifts and T's too. It was very enjoyable. I had some shaved ice and Alice has some fried ice-cream. The time was getting to be 2:30pm so we thought we would have a late lunch at Bubba's, a local burger joint. Kinda like a Hawaiian Krystal Burger but better. After the food we went to the Hardware store "ACE is the place" and got some better rope for tying the boards down on the roof. After that we hit the SAVE-ALOT food store (BIG SAVE actually!) The name is kind of an oxymoron as we seemed to spend a lot! Prices are almost twice on most things. We bought some nice steaks for dinner and some other goodies as well. Time to study my medic stuff. |
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Monday Oct 4th Today did not start off well! I set off at 6:45am and it was not early enough. Especially when you get lost in the mountains! I took one wrong turn and Kablam I had no idea where I was! I wanted (read he promised me) to be back by 10:30am so time was scarce. I finally ended up at Joe's by 7:45am (1hr to do a 25min trip!) but we didn't set off to the beach for another 20 minutes because Joe had started some laundry and it needed to be hung up. So we both hung it up. Joe gave me a bunch of flowers and a special tool and taught me how to make Lei's. We got to the beach around 8:45am and the wind was on it (I think in this case that is bad!) so we checked another spot. A really tight right called Kalihiwai, but it was super crowded so we checked Rock Quarries and it was not working (that's definitely bad!) So now I was out of time and the wind was onshore so I headed home. I got back to the house by 10:15am and was bummed about the surf, and I was not very sociable to Alice (I'll say!) so she got upset (a SAINT would have been upset!) and it just put a big black cloud over the day. I tried to make up for things by making her a Lei and it might have helped a little bit. (it DID help, but I was still mad and not ready to show it!) After sulking for a bit (me that is) we headed south (to Poipu) to see the "Blow Hole" (actually it's called the "Spouting Horn") This was a place on the beach where the waves rushed under some flat rocks and pushed water up the hole. We found a couple of trails on the cliffs by the ocean and we took a little walk. Met a young kid that seemed to live on the street and I gave him a shirt that I had bought at Walmart. Oh Yeah! Walmart, I almost forgot. Before we went to the Blow Hole (Spouting Horn) we stopped at Walmart in Lihue and did some shopping. Got lots of stuff, like $250 worth of stuff. (Walmart in Hawaii is SO Hawaiian!! All the clothes, bikinis and T-shirts are in bright colourful flowery prints) OK back to the South Shore. We checked a couple of areas in Poipu so could plan out Wednesday. It should be a fun day. We want to do the Helicopter ride on Thursday and I am going to try and find some good surf really early tomorrow. On the way home we stopped and ate at "TomKats Grille" (in Koloa) The food was great, but the server was the worst I have ever had. He just seemed miserable with life. It's funny how the service can put a real damper on a meal. After our food Alice got some good icecream and I got an expresso coffee then we set off back to the house. We hit the rush hour traffic (5:30pm) and it was backed up pretty good for about 5 miles (from the airport turnoff into Kapaa.) We stopped at the lookout for the double waterfall (Opaekaa Falls) by the house and we checked the trail that leads down to the bottom and we have it figured out for tomorrow so we can hike down to the bottom. That about covers the day, and for a rough start the say still turned out AWESOME. Gonna get in the hot tub and do a little studying. |
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Tuesday Oct 5th Shakka on Today! It turned out to be the best day so far. I got up at 5am and made it to the beach by 6am. I was on dawn patrol, I went to a break called Kalihiwai. This was a spot Joe showed me yesterday but I was late and it was very crowded; Oh yeah, Joe hurt himself really badly yesterday. He collided with a long board and it hit him on his rib cage right over his heart. We saw him in the evening and he was doing much better. back to my surf. This break is a point break right off a rocky cliff area where really really rich people live $Millions!. The paddle is a good one, but it is flat water so no getting pounded by the sets. The surf was solid overheard and 2-4 ft over head on the sets. The wave is a right and only right, to the left is Big Rocks and cliffs. I was a little intimidated by the break and I ended up sitting on the side of the pack hoping a wave would come my way and I thought I was being patient and staying out of the locals way. Well I sat for almost 2 hrs and I was starting to think I wouldn't even get a wave. There was this guy my age or older out in the water and he was paying attention to me and where I was sitting and he paddled over and asked if I caught any waves yet? I said NO and he said come on follow me. So I did and I was now in the take off zone. After that it wasn't long and a nice overhead wave came just my way. I paddled, made the drop and bottom turn and I was super STOKED. Have to put that wave in my top ten of my life book. Just went on forever. Didn't take many chances or maneovers and was very satified with some nice off the tops, roller coasters and cutbacks, kicked out at the end and headed back out for more. (I'm sure non-surfers are as confused reading that as I was typing it!) I caught 2 more nice waves today but the 3rd one took the cake. My confidence was up so I went for one of the bigger set waves. It was easily 3ft overhead and freight training. I made the drop, headed down the line and it just started walling up in front of me. I watched this wave a lot today and saw that it broke clean, but it still felt like I was gonna take a section on the head. I committed and held tight and WOO HOO. Only if I could of stalled a little, I would have gotten the perfect barrell. As it stood I felt like my way was made and from here the day just kept getting better. On my way home I stopped and got some cheese, crackers, wine and a sandwich for the journey to Opaekaa Falls by our house. We set out around 11am and started our hike to the falls from just off the road. We walked the pig trail to a flat open area just past a strong flowing creek. We were now at the top of the water fall and thinking this was as far as we were gonna get. We pondered for a bit and took some photos and decided we were not throwing in the towel yet. We looked around a bit and found what looked to be another cut trail so we followed it. This one was very steep at times and people before us had put ropes to hold onto as you descend. I was really impressed with Alice as she lead the way only being slightly concerned about getting her shorts dirty on the bum side. (I was NOT worried a bit actually!) We made it to the bottom in good time. I took video of the whole journey. We explored a little and went in a cave under the fall. The water was cool but refreshing. We set up lunch and just took in the beauty. Now it was time to head back up. We found it was much easier to go up than come down. On the way up I came across a very big rope and it looked like it could be a short cut, So I took it, Alice was way ahead of me at the time and she even stopped to wait for me. Well my rope got me to the very top quickly and I went back to the other trail to find Alice. She was fine and commented "Where were you? I've been waiting forever" All was good and we even came across another couple on their way down and we gave them the scoop on how to get down to the bottom. At the end of our journey we saw the couple and took some photos of them at the bottom from up top. Back to the house for a little nap. We relaxed till 3pm and then we were off again. We headed to the North end and stopped at several different beaches and shops. We also went to the Hanelei Fire Dept and they sold shirts so I bought one. It was starting to get dark so we started back home. We stopped in on Joe to see how he was doing and he was hanging in there. He should be back in the water soon. We met a friend of his Tom. They were going to a movie and we were gonna go to this really fancy restuarant called Pacific Cafe. The food was awesome and we enjoyed it immensely. what a day. We went home and collapsed in bed - Killer Day! |
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Wednesday Oct 6th No dawn patrol today, we are heading south. After another wonderful breakfast on the patio, we headed to Poipu Beach. We shot right by Walmart unintentionally as we wanted a couple of things. Maybe it was a good thing we missed it. Oh well there's always next time! We got to the beach by 10am and the surf was small but looked fun for a long board and of course I left the 8' 6" fun-shape that Joe gave me back at the house,. No problem I will just go rent one for the day. So I got a nice 9' 2" epoxy for a local shop and I was set. Back to the beach, got Alice set up to read and sun bake (well I managed that all on my own actually!) and I was paddling out to the 2-4ft clean surf. The waves broke over a very rocky bottom and after I caught 3 or 4 waves and went really shallow, I decided to go get my booties. I also forgot to put sunscreen on and I got my rashguard too. When I got out a guy on the beach wanted to know if he could use the long board for an hour or so and I said sure when I get back in again. I got right back out into the water and continued to catch some fun lefts. I took one right but it got shallow really quickly. Surfed till Noon and got out to eat. I almost forgot, when we got to the beach there was a Monk Seal right there on the beach. She had just finished weaning her baby and she was tired and sad and laid on the beach. She got in the water once to cool off and then back on the sand to rest. I gave the long board to the buy on the beach and he told me of a deli where I could get lunch, So I headed over. Made a couple cell calls to RJ, Rosen and Wilson to find out about PCS class. Scored a couple sandwiches and drinks and headed back to the beach. We ate lunch and Alice read and I studied for a bit. It was getting on 2pm and we wanted to go to the Waimea Canyon. As we were loading up, a group of local fishermen were celebrating their catch and I took the opportunity to video. They used a big drag net and it was full of 'goggle eyes' or in Hawaiian "Ahole." I told them that they are a very expensive live bait in Florida. He said they are good to eat too. Good video footage. Off to the Canyon we go. It was a nice drive and we came across the place we would eat dinner, I will get back to that later. The coast was nice and I came across another surf break that looked fun, maybe tomorrow. The trek to the canyon was a very windy and twisty, up-hill all the way, 18 miles in all. The view was pretty cool and we stopped at several different spots. Some of the spots had no rail and it was straight down for miles. Once again the local protected chickens gave us a little show. I decided to give them a few potato chips and man did they come out of the woodwork for that - more good viedo! We went to the very very top, but the clouds had moved in and you could not see the view and it was raining as well, We took a different route down thanks to our wonderful navigator Alice and it was much more scenic. At one point you could see the canyon and the ocean at the same time and we had a nice rainbow shining in the canyon as well. We came across some really cool mountain bike trails, maybe some day I will get to try them out. On our way to dinner, I wanted to check the ocean up close and we ended up in a little harbor that looked to be a seedy hang-out so we didn't stay long. We got to the Restaurant in good timing and the name of the place was "Brick Oven Pizza" We thought we had missed it but we didn't and it was very very good and we beat the rush. When we were leaving a lot of cars were waiting for a place to park. We got home at around 8pm and it put an end to another wonderful day. I am gonna do a dawn patrol at Kalihiwai (Ka-li-he-way) In bed by 9pm. Had to get up around midnight as the rain was really intense and my homemade surf racks were creating leaks into the car. (I might add that the leaks drip right in the middle of the front seats leaving then SOAKING wet - so your bum gets wet, even sitting on a towel! ) |
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Thursday Oct 7th Got up at 5am and headed north. Unfortunately the surf was not up and it was and continues to be cloudy and rainy. I watched it at Kalihiwai for 15 mins and no-one was out and it was nothing like it was the other day so I headed home. I took a couple of side streets to look around a bit on the way home. Had a pheasant fly over my car. Got home around 7:45am, ate breakfast then caught up on my journal. Alice and I decided on another hike to a waterfall. so we set out for the Wailua Falls which was to the south. We drove to the top and took some pics from the view sites; the rain was off and on but enough to soak the ground and slick up the trails. We found 2 different ways down and the first one was lined with ropes and on the steep side. As the ground was slick we thought we would check the other route which was about 1/2 mile away. We parked the car, took off our shoes (barefoot) and just went for it. I took video but more so along the creek. Getting to the creek was a challenge in itself as we only had roots, tree branches and rocks to hold onto as we made our descent. We made it to the creek with only me slipping once. Now that we made it to the creek, in front of us was a 1/2 mile walk along the rocky slick edge of the creek to the falls. This was much more challenging than the walk down as you can see in the video footage, but we persevered and made it to the end. Alice carved our initials in a big tree that had other carvings on it. We met 2 other couples that had taken the short route with the ropes (actually one had done the long route like us only 15 mins ahead of us) and so they showed us where the trail was so we could go up that way. The Fall was awesome and about twice as tall as the other one we went to (173 ft) Had a little rest, took some pics and video and headed up the roped trail. Up to the road in 10 minutes. Really glad we took the other trail down, it was much more adventurous. It was getting around 1:30pm so we decided to go to Poipu Beach. On the way we had lunch at a tennis club. The food was good and so was the service. I went back to the place I rented the long board and the guy let me have the board for free up to 4:30pm, so I got in an hour surf on the 2-3 ft glassy lefts (that means something to surfers!) Alice got some sun and read her book. We headed home to cook up the steaks we bought and watch Survivor. Alice has said that she doesn't miss the TV or the computer but she is not gonna miss Survivor. On the way home we hit Wally World again (Wal-mart for those not in the know!) for a pair of sunglasses for Alice (since she lost the pair she borrowed from Joe in the river earlier!) and another pair of shorts for me. I couldn't resist getting a few more T-shirts for the girls. In bed by 9pm and out like a light. |
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Friday Oct 8th Made another crack at the Dawn Patrol to Kalihiwai but it was smaller yesterday. So headed back home. Stopped and got some coffee at the local coffee shop and headed home for breakfast. Planning the rest of the day as the surf is all but gone, it looks like another adventure day. We decided to go to Nawiliwili (nah-wi-li-wi-li) Harbor which is the south. We went to 3 different spots and one was really cool. The first stop was at a bay called something Hawaiian (Kalipaki) anyway there were a couple of people out trying to surf on the 1-2 ft swell that rolled in every once in a while. We went over to a couple of little shops and went into a surfing history museum. It was cool but the guy did not want us to take pictures (which Alice didn't hear so she actually took one photo!) Next we went exploring a bit to the north. I wanted to look at the surf (ever the surfer's quest!) at the next bay over, so we just headed north and turned east when we could and we ended up driving right down the middle of a golf course and around the Lihu'e airport and at the end of the trail we were at a light house on some Hawaiian names point (Ninini) This was a cool find. We sat out on the lava rocks and watched the ocean and ships going by. We could see the harbor where a huge cruise ship was sitting, so after hanging out for a bit, we headed to where the cruise ship was. We got over there, but all we could do was drive by the ship so we took off. Went to some more shops and walked a bit. We decided to book the Helicopter tour, so I called Kauai Air and they were full for today but we are confirmed for tomorrow at 2:30pm. I hope it is worth the $400. We took off for Secret Beach which was close to Joe's house. It was a good hike and my video ran out of juice, so not much footage of that. We took some pics. There were quite a few guys out surfing at this spot and it looked fun, but of course I left my board at home.. Maybe tomorrow. We hung out for a bit in the pools (which was what we hike TO along the rocks FROM the beach); there were 4 other people there so we chatted. Next we headed over to Joe's house to say Hi and his sister Joanne was there too, so we ended up going to another spot called Queen's Bath. This was a good like hike and again we ended up on lava rock where a big bath tub like area was open and full of crystal clear water. Next we went to Princeville Bay to check the surf. You could see the swell and there is obviously fun surf somewhere close, but I just don't know where to go. Next time I come, I will hang with Joe for a least a couple of days as he has this place wired. I am going to try and hang with him on Sunday. Joe brought his dog Bud, who is what they call a Poi dog or mutt. He is part Pit and part Brittany Spaniel. He is Joe's buddy and they go everywhere together. Kind of like my old dog Nomad and me. It was getting dark and we were getting hungry, so we decided to hit the Foodland. But this is the one in Princeville so it is very spiffy like a Super-Walmart. They had everything and we went straight for the Sushi Section. All of us picked what we wanted out of the pre-packed portions and we were on our way. We had to stop every couple of minutes because Joe or Joanne knew every 3rd person that walked by. Got back to Joe's and hammered the food. We were all very full and we had a little left over, or so we though, as even though Joe said he was done, he caught a second wind and finished off what was left. That about covers the day, Only thing left was to go to bed. Only 3 days or actually 2 1/2 left. |
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Saturday Oct 9th Had a leisurely morning, got up around 7:30am and had a nice breakfaast. Did some studying and just relaxed. Went to an Indian Festival in Kapa'a. I took some vide of the dancing. Alice had a smoothy that she said tasted really good but smelled like puke (apparently it's the guava that makes it smell that way!) We went down to Nawiliwili to try and set up a Kayak/Hike/Zip-line/Waterfall tour but the don't do then on Sundays (it's actually only the kayaking that is not allowed on Sundays) It was getting close to time for our big Helicopter ride so we headed to the airport. We were airborne at 2:22pm and the house was cool and went by very fast., We saw the majority of the coast around the Island and the pilot was very informative. The sky was clear so visibility was very good. We got to see the countless waterfalls and a lot of them cannot be reached any other way. The canyons were really neat and at times we got pretty close to some off the cliffs and drop offs. I video'ed quite a bit but not sure how it will come out. The noise was loud and I don't know if you will be able to hear my narrations. At the end I put the head set up to the microphone so maybe I should have done that the whole trip. Landed around 3:30pm and did some more exploring. We came across a couple nice parks and an old fishing pier. (see Alice's jouirnal for details and names of these! ) We ate dinner at Aussie Tims Texas BBQ (in Kapa'a) and all the food was very good but it was a one man band except for a girl that helped with the service. I guess his name was Tim and he cooked everything from scratch. I had chilli and Alice had Quesadilla and some Mango cheesecake. I saw a neat T-shirt at the Christian book store but we will have to wait till Monday as they are closed on Sunday. Looks like we might spend some time with Joe and Joanne tomorrow, till then night night. |
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Sunday Oct 10th Slept till breakfast and I am gonna go study for my Medic test. Did a little studying and then we set off for Hanelei Bay Beach. We got there around 10am and the surf was small but worth getting wet. I took Joe's fun shape out. It was this narly OLD, and I mean probably his oldest 8'4" been sitting outside, delaminated old board. All his other quiver were on a rack in the garage...anyway it served its purpose and I caught a few fun rides. Surfed for about an hour and 1/2 and then we went into Hanelei (the town.) We shopped a little then met up with Joe and Joanne (cousins) and then went for lunch at the Hanelei Gourmet. All of us had burgers and they were very good, Next we set off for Lumahi Gardens which was going to be our Island of Kauai History 101 from my cuz Joanne (who used to work there.) She has this place wired as far as who is who and what is what. She gave us a guided tour of the garden and she had a plethora of info to share with us. It was a lot of fun. Joe and I kinda hung back a bit (both producing all sorts of 'air noises' - say no more!) but Alice took in all the facts with great pleasure. It started getting dark so we headed for the Lighthouse by Joe's house. It is called the Kiluea Point Light House. We couldn't go all the way down but we got close enough to see the Booby birds flying and we saw a couple of Geese too (Nene's) This spot was good for seeing Whales, Turtles and Monk Seals pending on the time of year. Albatross also freqent this spot but not today. We said goodbye to Joe and on the way home we stopped at Joanne's studio Apt to see it. It is right across from where they filmed Jurassic Park. It was a nice place and we stayed for a bit and chatted. We got all the latest scoop on the Finley Family. Headed back home after a long day and went to bed. |
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Monday Oct 11th Well it had to come some time and as much as I would like to stay a couple more weeks, we must begin the going home regime. We got up at 7:30am and had our breakfast and then we began to pack. Good thing we bought the extra 2 bags because we needed them. I stuffed a bunch of dirty clothes in my surfboard bag and Alice repacked the big red case and the 2 new ones (soft) we bought. We got everything packed and organized and then set off for Kapa'a to get some more stuff to pack! We had coffee at a nice coffee shop and walked around the shopts I got a Red Dirt Shirt, sold only on Kauai. It is satined with the rerd dirt fromt eh Island. We got ltos of cool stuff for the kids aincluding a Ukelele for Matt. OK we have enough stuff now, so we walked and window shopped for a bit more and then back to the house to load up and get to the airport. We now have about 14 hrs of travel to get back to Miami where Gary is picking us up, I can say that the trip was a totally awesome beautiful time and I cannot wait to return - END Please sign our family GUESTBOOK with your comments |
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