Aloha from Oahu!

Well we are now on Oahu. On the last day in Maui we managed to go for a bit of a swim in the pool, pack up all our things and even pop by the huge K-mart to check it out (esp. for Dave - it was huge and even sold firearms, very scary!), before we jumped on our plane to Oahu.

Day 1 Oahu - arrived in Honolulu. Hired a car again, and made the mistake of driving down the freeway to the Sheraton in Waikiki, took us an hour for what would normally be a 15 minute drive in non-peek hour traffic. There were even 4-5 lanes going each way and it was like a parking lot! Met up with Julie and Leslie, and went for our first dinner in Waikiki at the California Pizza Kitchen. Really great food at great prices. Waikiki really comes alive at night, we had fun even walking back to the room. We got some mermaids made out of balloons for the girls, from a cool chinese dude, and got pictures taken with Elmo.




Day 2 - A day at Waikiki beach – we all got a little bit of burn. We got banana lounges (only $3 each) and coasted around the shallow water with the girls. Jas had a ball and spent most of the day on a lounge. We had lunch at Hyatt on the Beach, huge burgers and fries and fresh lemonade, then we headed further down the beach towards the pink hotel and went canoeing in the surf – we road the waves in on a huge canoe it was such a blast. Even saw a giant turtle while we we out there. At about 3ish. We took Eliza (as she was starting to look a little red) and went shopping for a while. Had Icecreams with mix-ins – Dave had cake batter icecream with cookie dough mix in and I had the Sweet and Tart with Strawberry and Raspberry mixins. Meet up with Les, Julie and the Jasmin back at the hotel, after they had some more time at the beach and pool. Off to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory – mammoth menu I had the Shrimp Scampi (Garlic Prawns) Dave had the Cajun Chicken. Jas and Julie got beads in their hair as well.

The View from our room on the 23rd floor of the Sheraton:


Having fun in the pool with Les and Julie:

Banana Lounges in the water at Waikiki:


View of the beach and diamond head and a turtle swimming by, from our canoe out in the surf of Waikiki:



Chillin out with Dad and a nice big icecream:

Day 3 - Dave and I hiked up to the summit of Diamond head while the girls went to the beach with their Uncle Les and Aunty Julie. It was a decent walk:
... along winding paths

... up staircases

... through dark tunnels

... and more dark tunnels

...Up winding staircases

.. and more flights of stairs

To finally get a view of the crater (pretty Ho Hum), and a great view of Waikiki and the coastline:




After the crater walk we joined the others on Waikiki Beach, walked down to the Cheeseburger Place, and had planned on walking down and looking at the Zoo except Eliza fell asleep. So she had a bit of a kip, and Dave went off to the Ala Moana shopping centre via the Waikiki Shuttle to do some shopping, while the rest of us spent the arvo at the pool. Girls didn't get out for 3.5 hours! They swam around with Uncle Les wearing $4 life vest and $1.40 arm floaties (so cheap here!), while Julie and I enjoyed some cocktails by the pool. Jas also got to toast a marshmellow by the pool which she ate between two brownies. After swimming we walked down to Planet Hollywood for dinner. I will insert some pics later on of the pool, as Julie has some on her camera (Dave had our little camera with him).

Aloha from Hawaii - Island 2 - Maui

After 2 flights from Kauai to Maui, and then one hour drive from the airport, a stop at the local safeway supermarket for supplies, including prepackaged veggie platter with sour cream/ranch dressing dip (Yum), fresh sweet strawberries, we finally arrived at the Kaanapali Resort Area where we are staying at the ResortQuest on Papaeka Beach - great one bedroom apartment with a king size bed (thank God!), and a decent sized kitchen.

Day 1 - Maui

Great view from our balcony of the landscaping, pool and oceanfront of the resort. To the pool for a while for a swim and hot tub. So proud of Jas as she can swim half way cross the pool underwater. Then off to Lahaina to Front Street to look at all the shops (there were a lot of them). The girls loved playing in the huge Banyan tree in the middle of the park. We enjoyed lunch at the Oyster Bar, I had a beautiful meal of Macadamia Crusted Ona with Lobster Skewers with a tropical fruit relish. Dave enjoyed a Teriyaki Burger, and the girls enjoyed chicken fingers and fries. We finished shopping at about 6pm, after enjoying some icecreams in the park. We were all exhausted from dragging, running after and carrying Eliza around the shops! Another swim in the pool before dinner, and then we all went to bed early after an exhausting day!









Day 2 - today we did the huge drive to the Haleakala Crater - over 10,000 feet above sea level. The drive took a couple of hours both ways. We went so high that we were above the clouds. The views of the Maui coastline were amazing, and the crater was fantastic as well - almost like a moonscape. So cold up there (silly mummy forgot our jackets!). We also went to another Lu'au last night at the Hyatt Regency - The Drums of the Pacific. Really entertaining and great food once again. The girls had fun learning some Hula steps - and Eliza loved dessert so much she ate it with her fingers!

















Day 3 - A swim in the pool, a trip on the Sugar Cane Train from the station near our resort down to Lahaina and back again. Then we drove down to Whalers Village. We had a lovely lunch on the beachfront at the Hula Girl Bar and Grill, and then did some shopping at Whalers Village. We checked out the Whaling Museum (Jas was so funny, joined a Japanese tour group to listen to the tour guide - she couldn't understand a word he was saying, but was transfixed). Back to the resort for a huge swim in the pool. Jasmin can now dive down and retrieve things from the bottom of the pool! She made a little friend called Maggie (from Oregan) while there and they played for ages together. Missed the sunset by a couple of minutes, will have to try and catch it tomorrow. The sunsets are beautiful on Maui.








Day 4 - Today we stopped at a lookout on the way to Ma'alaea Harbor to check-out the Maui Ocean Center. We bought little bracelets for the girls from a local designer. The Maui Ocean Center was a nice sea life center. No shows and bigger animals like Sea World, but aquariums containing tropical fish, sea horses, a turtle display area, sharks including hammerhead sharks, and a little tidal pool where the kids can touch star fish and sea urchins etc. The girls really enjoyed themselves. After lunch we drove to the Lao Valley. Such a beautiful place, not far past surburbia - would be a lovely place to live. After the Lao Valley we drove to Kihei, and spent some time on a beach, after being stuck in traffic for a good hour, as they closed the highway due to fire on one of the estates. We stayed to watch the sunset before heading back to the resort.














Aloha from Maui!