Hawaii 2017 - Day 8

Day 7 – Pearl Harbour & Dukes Restaurant

We had to get up early today for our Pearl Harbour tour today. Who knew? They have great sunrises as well as great sunsets!

 

After our early breakfast we waited for our tour mini-bus at the designated spot and were picked up by Christie our entertaining tour guide. With only about 10 others, we headed out to the Pearl Harbour Memorial site. We had some time to wander around the site and take some photos in the walk through museum before we joined our tour of the USS Arizona Memorial. This consisted of a 25 minute film of the background of the Pearl Harbour attack on 7 December 1941, why it occurred, and the aftermath. One of the bombed ships, the USS Arizona, sank with over 900 personnel on board. In 1960, it was decided to build a memorial on the spot where the ship still lay. After seeing the film, we were taken by boat to the memorial which was very moving.

    

It is 9/11 today and all flags were flying at half-mast – all in all, a fairly sombre experience but one worthwhile experiencing. I was really glad we went.

 

After the tour, on Carly’s recommendation, we headed to Duke’s Restaurant at the Outrigger Hotel to sample their famous Hula Pie. I’m getting very used to these cocktails too! The food and the pie were fabulous – Gary has voted it the best meal so far. 

    

I knew I was good at “putting the mock” on things, but I didn’t know I was this good! After my discussion yesterday about the perfect weather here in Hawaii we had our first experience of precipitation today … but we were so lucky. The first heavy shower occurred while we had our late lunch at Dukes’. While we walked back to the hotel it cleared up and then within half an hour of getting back to the hotel it started pouring again. That put the kaibosh on our plans for an afternoon swim, but hey, that’s OK. We started our packing instead – that’s right, it was our last day today and we fly out tomorrow. 

Should be a quiet evening tonight with maybe another DVD. By the way Meagan Leavey, last night’s DVD, was pretty good – it was about a US Marine dog handler – can’t beat a war story … except with a dog story … or a war with a dog story!

It’s been a fabulous holiday – met all my expectations and I would thoroughly recommend it. I would be happy to come back and maybe one day I will!

Hawaii 2017 - Day 7

Day 7 – Diamond Head

There is one thing I don’t think I’ve mentioned at all and that’s the weather. That’s because its always the same! Every day by about 8am it’s 28 degrees, it hits a high of 31 or so in the early afternoon and then drops to about 26 when the sun sets at about 7pm. Occasionally there are clouds but we have not seen much of them - today was probably the cloudiest we have seen. Apparently Waikiki is known for its low rainfall – the other side of the island get rain, but not much here. I’m certainly not complaining about that. It is very hot at times though and one of the disappointments of the resort is the lack of shade at the pool. I only lasted about 5 minutes on the sun lounge and then it was back to my lovely shaded (in the afternoon) balcony. You can buy shade at the pool … but, really …? Buy shade? They have these little private cabana things that you can hire … I don’t think so.

Today after our usual breakfast feast we headed off on our Green Line adventure. This was the trolley to Diamond Head – an extinct volcano located quite close by, at the end of Waikiki Beach really. Our balcony overlooks it. We had a couple of scenery stops and then entered the Diamond Head State Park where the trolley drives you into the crater, via a tunnel. At this point, you can hop off and hike up to the top of the mountain – suffice it to stay we happily remained on the trolley … maybe next time! The trolley also took us for a tour of some of the nicer neighbourhoods where film stars live.

    

Gary wanted to go back to the Ala Moana shops but I couldn’t face another bout of shopping so he changed trolleys and headed off while I went back to the hotel and more reading time out on the balcony. I think the main attraction at the shops was a Citrus Kick drink he discovered in the food court that has just the right amount of ginger – he’s missing his daily ginger tea. 

  

After a fairly lazy afternoon, with another book finished (that’s three now), we decided on an early dinner – we hadn’t really eaten since breakfast and I was starving. We had been eyeing off an Italian Restaurant underneath the hotel but it always had a line of people out the door. We even had a short wait at 5.10pm but it was worth it – very yummy pasta and pizza, and Gary seemed pretty happy with the tiramisu!

   

A short walk to take in the sunset, and we headed back, grabbed tonight’s DVD (that we are about to start watching) – Megan Levey … never heard of it … so, who knows?

 

Hawaii 2017 - Day 6

Day 6 – Royal Hawaii

Another day, another breakfast. How will I cope without my pineapple juice, freshly made omelette, waffle with syrup and cream, and plate of fresh tropical fruit? Can’t say I’m missing the old corn flakes!

  

Today’s adventure was to catch the Red Line trolley to downtown Honolulu to see the sights. We had a great driver – Candice – who was fabulous and took us all over, giving informative explanations of the various buildings and sights. We hopped off at the State Capitol building and the Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the US. We did an audio tour of the palace and learnt quite a bit about the Hawaiian royal family and that period of history where basically the Yanks took over and, of course later, made Hawaii first a territory and then a state. I still feel pretty ignorant about the history of Hawaii – I might have to do some googling!

    

When we got back on the trolley, we caught up with Candice again and she took us around some back streets where they have lots of murals on the buildings and then took us through the Ala Moana Beach Park which was also great. It’s where the locals go for a swim and a picnic. Oh, and we saw where the SS Minnow left the harbour for its 3 hour cruise! Didn't see Gilligan though... however, we did see Hawaii Five-O being filmed in the street - book 'em Danno!

    

We called in to the Ala Moana shops again – the biggest outdoor shopping complex in the world – and grabbed some more smoothies and lunch. Our main purpose was to go to Target as Gary had seen something advertised on TV and discovered it was available at Target … I recalled seeing Target on the complex map, so off we went. Unfortunately we discovered that Target is so new it hasn’t opened yet! Oh well…we must have been the only people leaving that shopping centre with no bags, no purchases ... yep, I think we're shopped out.

The trolley ride was packed on the way back – people everywhere – I was happy to get back to the room for a brief moment of relaxation before we headed over to the beach for an hour or so – very nice and refreshing – the pink ring got another workout. A quiet night in tonight and the DVD chosen was Jackie … hmmm, a bit strange. Does that Natalie Portman only do strange? But the funniest moment of the day was when I yelled at Gary to stop until I grabbed a camera - he had forgotten where he was and stepped out onto the balcony - I managed to get the shot for posterity!

Hawaii 2017 - Day 5

Day 5 – Coastal scenery

Another sluggish start saw us finally put in a breakfast appearance at about 10am. This was not a problem as my afternoon tour had been cancelled due to lack of numbers.  I had received an email late last night informing me of this upsetting news and had spent some time wondering how I would replace this activity. 

I continued to ponder as we walked towards the main shopping sector of Waikiki. We bought some more gear – amongst the items, another hat for Gary - and then, while Gary went back to search for his lost hat from yesterday, (mourning period clearly not yet over), I searched on my phone and decided the Waikiki Trolley was the way to go. So we, (Gary still minus one hat), hightailed it to the Trolley office and purchased a 4 day pass. This will be our ticket, yes literally our ticket, to adventure over the next few days.

After a quick light lunch back at the hotel, a quick swim for me at the pool, and another hour or so of reading, we were back on the move to catch our first trolley adventure, the Blue Line. This took us for a two and a half hour ride up the coast, with some brief photo stops. It was one of those double decker open buses and it was a great way to check out the scenery outside of Waikiki.

    

We arrived back a little after 6pm and, after a brief rest, we were back at the poolside bar for Mai Tais and beers, great live entertainment and a bite to eat. There was even fireworks at one point! A very pleasant experience indeed – great end to the day. The DVD for this evening was Going in Style with Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine … hmmm, I wouldn’t be rushing to see it if I were you.

    

Hawaii 2017 - Day 4

Day 4 – Magic of Polynesia 

Now this was a great day! After staying up until past midnight, we got off to a slow start, arriving at breakfast at about 10am. I had my usual yummy omelette, obligatory waffle, and token healthy fruit. We then took a stroll up the street, visited a few shops, bought a few souvenirs and Gary procured some tablets to battle his hay fever that has started playing up. 

We decided to have another rest day so I lay on the balcony and read half a novel, while Gary watched a bit of TV. I asked him if the tablets were non drowsy and he said he wasn’t sure … my question was answered a little later when I heard snores coming from the room. There was no need to go out for lunch as I still had left overs from last night’s dinner at the Cheesecake Factory- yum. The ultimate lazy day ... didn't even make it to the pool or beach.

We had booked in to see a show so we found ourselves back at the Cheesecake Factory for more smoothies and a light dinner – couldn’t fit in any cheesecake, maybe tomorrow. 

  

The Magic of Polynesia show was just across the road and we got there early to get good seats. Gary ordered a Volcano Cocktail and I got a glass of white wine. I think this may be the worst wine I have drunk since I was in Egypt many years ago – it was undrinkable! The Volcano, on the other hand, was very nice Gary said. The show was great – a mixture of magic and Polynesian dancing. The illusionist was very good and there was a fantastic display of fire stick twirling. All in all, a good night.

  

After the show, Gary realised he had left his Gazman hat at the Cheesecake Factory and was devo! He went back to see if anyone handed it in and when he came out hatless I knew it had not ended well. He scanned every hat in the street, hoping to catch the thief. When I suggested it was a good opportunity to perhaps buy a hat here in Hawaii he admonished me sternly and asked to be allowed time to grieve. Fair enough. We found him a nice hat ten minutes later – mourning period over.

Hawaii 2017 - Day 3

Day 3 – Taking it easy

Ahh, now this is why I didn’t think I would need to blog on this trip. Today we decided to take it easy and relax – that is why we came here after all. I felt a bit guilty … but not much. This morning, after our humongous breakfast, I spent a fair bit of time reading on the balcony and we also watched some trashy US game shows on TV. I was joined by some very friendly birds - pigeons, I guess - they didn't fly away when I was out with them ... just wandered about. Quite strange!

  

I did finally unpack our shopping from yesterday and I’m sorry if I have disappointed the ladies who may have been excited when I mentioned shoes … but if you know me at all you know that there were never going to be heals. I love Sketchers and Gary & I got 2 pairs each – I have converted him to the most comfortable shoes in the world.

  

We did do a bit of planning today for upcoming activities and I have booked a couple of tours and a show so it wasn’t a totally non productive day. Also, after lunch we hit the beach for some more fun – now new and improved with an inflatable ring that cost $3.99 or $4.99 if they inflate it for you. Gaz got me a pink one – inflated, of course. Gee, that man spoils me! He even towed me out near the wall and then abandoned me – its not easy to swim with one of these big rings! (I must say the whole rubber ring experience brings back memories that involve a 5 year old me, a reliance on my rubber ring when swimming, and an unfortunate incident in the Lambton Diving Pool circa 1966 when the plug of the ring dislodged, the ring deflated, and it and I sank to towards the bottom. Thankfully, due to my brother, Stuart, I am here to re-live that day once again as I floated towards Tahiti!)

  

This evening we made our way to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner where we stuffed ourselves with food (thanks Carly & Rhys for the voucher). It was fabulous and I’m sure we’ll be back to try more cheesecake – this time I had Lemon Meringue Cheesecake and Gary had Banana Cream Cheesecake – they have so many to choose from!!!

  

We picked up another DVD tonight – we get unlimited with the package, so thought, why not? Tonight was The Circle with Emma Watson and Tom Hanks – about social media and where it’s heading – wouldn’t say it was a great movie, but thought provoking none the less.