Those who have traveled with me before will look at this photo and probably either laugh or shake their heads. These are my planning books for our family holiday in Hawaii. We are leaving tonight. Some may imagine us spending 3 weeks lounging around on the beach. You don't need planning books for that!Exactly twenty years ago in 1997 I graduated from University in Hawaii, after having lived on Oahu for 4 years.
While I was there, my younger brother Levi graduated from high school in Tonga and came to join me at age 16. He immediately became a stand-in younger brother to all of my room-mates, and we spent a lot of time together. We had one idyllic summer together, which we used to explore the island from top to bottom. Even now, 20 years on, I look back on that summer as one of the best times of my life.
Many months before this, Dallas and I had booked a family holiday to Hawaii because some really cheap Jetstar fares had come up. Unfortunately this holiday was booked for March 2007, and we quickly got to the point where we needed to make a decision. None of the doctors or nurses could tell us whether Levi would last 2 days or another month, so after much agonising I made the most difficult decision of my life - I said my goodbyes to Levi, told him to let go and come fly over the waterfalls with us in Hawaii, and we left.
I am telling you all of this so that you will understand the significance of this trip for us. For me, I am anticipating a fair amount of nostalgia as I retrace my footsteps of 20 years ago, and also revisit places that I visited that summer with Levi. I hope this will be a much more enjoyable experience for the entire family.
As I usually do on long trips, I will post updates and photos for those that are interested. I hope you will enjoy virtually coming along with us.
Day 1: An Endless Monday
Our flight from Brisbane to Honolulu was at 10:30pm on Hawaiian Airlines. They now say to arrive 3 hours early. I thought we would be the only crazy ones doing that, but when we arrived there was already a very long bag drop line that was barely moving. It snaked around all of the self check-in machines and it was difficult to see the end. We joined that line but could see a couple of counters that said "Web Check in Bag Drop", however we couldn't figure out where the end of that line was. Megan went for a wander and discovered that this was a much shorter line, so we gladly moved over to it. Lesson: check-in online and definitely get there 3 hours early.They have ditched the outgoing immigration forms, so leaving was much easier than it used to be. After a couple of hours hanging around the international terminal we were on our way.
I was so tired and couldn't wait to go to sleep, but I knew they would be doing a snack service before turning the lights down, so I forced myself to stay awake. The snack was a bag containing a cookie (yum), an apple (never got eaten) and a still half frozen chicken wrap (quite tasty but a bit frosty). As soon as that was done I took a sleeping pill, donned the eye mask and ear plugs and tried to sleep. I didn't feel like I got a great sleep and woke up frequently, however I also didn't feel like it was an endless flight that would never end, and when I woke up properly there was only about 1.5 hours left. Dallas said it was the same for him.
Breakfast was not that tasty - a sausage, some eggs of strange consistency, and flavourless potatoes. It came with fruit and a muffin so all was not lost.
Overall I'd say Hawaiian Airlines was OK. The seats were comparable to Virgin and the airline attendants were all friendly and helpful, but the food was average. I did like the plane configuration - 2/4/2, so we had 2 sets of 2 seats and no-one next to us.
On arrival in Honolulu Reid decided to have his obligatory international flight "I've been up too many hours watching shows and I'm way too tired" chuck-up but he did it so quietly that no-one even noticed. Luckily he is older now and could tell he was not feeling well and asked for the sick bag.
Immigration and customs were fairly fast. One thing that I thought was interesting was that they did not take Reid's photo or take his fingerprints. The lady said that until they are 15 their fingerprints and facial structure are still changing and are therefore not helpful for biometric identification.
I thought Hawaiian could have done a better job with flight transfers. We had to get our bags to go through customs (this is normal), but then instead of there being a bag re-drop like there is at other airports, we had to drag them outside and around to the inter-island terminal. Once there, there was one line for the bag drop, then we had to go join another line for security. I thought security was strange this time as there were signs everywhere with the usual notes about taking out laptops etc but as we started to do so, the lady said "we're not doing that today". Honolulu Airport does NOT have free wi-fi like every other airport we have ever been through, so we felt a little bit lost, not being able to look up any information that we needed.
The flight from Honolulu to Hilo is only about 50 minutes long, but we had a great bird's eye view of the other islands on the way. The kids entertained themselves by taking selfies.
Hilo Airport was surprising. I thought that with the number of tourists that must come through that it would be bigger and more modern. It is a very small, sleepy little airport that is mostly open air. You walk out of the gate into a corridor that is completely open to the air on one side. The advantage of a small airport is that it is not very busy and it did not take us long to get our bags and pick up our rental car.
As we were leaving the airport we hit our first traffic jam. It took us longer to get out of the airport than we spent in it.
Our first stop was a local T-mobile store to pick up our tourist SIM cards so we do not feel completely cut off. There was a Walmart next door where we bought some breakfast food and snacks. Reid made a surprisingly semi-healthy choice with frosted mini-wheats (I thought for sure he would go for the Lucky Charms). Megan picked up some Fruit Loops. I said "You can get those at home". She replied "No I can't, because you won't buy them for me". Fair enough.
We headed towards our VRBO rental home in Hawaiian Beaches and were starving by the time we reached Pahoa. Reid was keen for Subway but as we pulled into Pahoa I spotted an L&L Hawaiian Barbecue store. I convinced them that we should try some local fare, and there appeared to be plenty of locals eating there, so they agreed. I told Reid that I thought he would like Chicken Katsu.We took our food to go so that we could get to our rental home. We started down some rather narrow local roads that had Reid a bit worried. Later on he asked if Kona is more touristy. I think he was expecting something a bit different.
The house was very nice and well stocked. We got straight into dinner. Reid thought the Katsu was OK but I think he was just keen to get into his cereal. I did think it was not super fresh. Megan's BBQ chicken burger was not what she was expecting but she liked the Chicken Katsu. I had some of the Katsu and some Chow Mein which I enjoyed. Dallas had a pork dish.
After dinner the kids found the games cupboard and we settled in for a hilarious game of Apples and Apples, which may have been more hilarious due to how tired we all were.
Day 2 - Volcanoes National Park
We left our holiday rental home in the Hawaiian Beaches area just after 8am and headed towards Volcano, which appears to be the name of the small town just outside the Volcanoes National Park.I had previously purchased and downloaded an app called Shaka Guide - Big Island which has an audio tour of Volcanoes National Park. It detects where you are via GPS and plays the appropriate audio for your location. It was awesome. It started talking on the way to the National Park and gave us information about the park and the volcanoes before we even got there.
We learned that in Hawaiian legends, Pele is the goddess that essentially is the volcano and the lava, and there are many stories that incorporate her and her siblings to explain the formation of the islands. Many of them are quite violent! As we went through the day, this Shaka Guide gave us so many interesting tidbits as well as advice about which stops to make and which ones to skip. I highly recommend it.
Just before entering the park we stopped in Volcano Village to pick up some sandwiches for lunch. Inside the convenience store we found Big O's subs to go, where you each take a slip of paper and order your sandwich by highlighting your desired options - white or wheat, which meat, which salad, and which dressing. It was $6.95 per sub.
You can pay $25 to enter the park for the day, or you can pay $30 and get an annual tri-park pass that will also cover a couple of the other parks that we want to visit, so we took that option. Note: you are supposed to sign the back of the card. They will check it at Haleakala.
Our first stop was the visitor center, where we arrived just in time to hear a park ranger talking about how it would be possible to see surface lava if we wanted to. One option was an 11 mile hike from the bottom of the national park. Another option was to go all the way out of the park, back towards our rental home, and all the way down to the ocean, and then do a 4 mile hike or bike ride. We left that decision for later in the day.
From the Jaggar museum we saw the Kilauea caldera which is massive, and we could see the crater inside it that contains the lava lake. At this time we could not see any red hot lava, just a lot of steam and fumes.
The first real adventure came as we stopped and did the Thurston Lava Tube and Kilauea Iki hike. The Shaka guide recommended the short version of the Kilauea hike. We started in the lava tube, which was fascinating. This is where lava used to flow but retreated, leaving the long tube like caves. Across the road from here was the beginning of the Kilauea Iki trail. The short version just goes down to the crater floor, and then turns around and comes back again. Reid sped off ahead of us and I hoped he was reading the signs warning us to "stay on the trail".
We got to the crater floor and could see that people were walking all the way across to the other side of the crater and couldn't resist doing that. We took a quick break to eat our sandwiches and then set out across the crater. It was huge, and windy, and hot. The thing that I found the most interesting was looking at the different types of lava as we walked. It changes depending on how fast it flowed, how bubbly it was etc. Some still looked like molten metal and even sounded like walking on metal. Others looked like sponges and were extremely light to pick up. We even found one piece that had green glass inside it.
After walking all the way across the crater, it seemed as though it would make more sense to continue on the trail rather than backtracking, so we completed the 4 mile trail (6.6km) by climbing up approximately five thousand stairs (maybe a small exaggeration) and then walking back along the rim of the crater towards the car park. Although this was difficult and tiring, we were glad to have done it for the perspective that it gave us of the crater floor that we had just walked across. From the top rim we could see where the core of the volcano had been, and how the lava had flowed. There is even something called a bathtub rim effect, where the lava sort of filled the crater and then settled a little.
As we were walking across the crater, we saw some trees that we found interesting because the flowers look very much like Australian native flowers. Once we got back in the car, our Shaka guide told us that these are called Ohia Lehua trees, and are only found in Hawaii. It is interesting to me that such a similar plant can develop independently in two completely different locations.
We did another quick walk along Devastation Trail, which is the back side of the Pu'u Pua'i 1959 eruption that created the crater that we had just hiked through. The lava from that eruption went higher than the Empire State Building. That would have been a sight to behold.
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| Showing where to stop to go see Devil's throat. Pull over behind the boulders. The path is across the road to the right of the sign. |
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| Devil's Throat |
I really enjoyed the Mauna Ulu Eruption fissure hike. Here the lava was more like molten metal, and we were able to see some lava trees and unusual formations. This eruption started in 1969 and went on for four years.
Around this time our Shaka guide informed us that we were halfway through the tour. Since it was after 4pm we weren't sure what to make of that!
By now we were all exhausted, but we arrived at the Petroglyphs hike, and I really wanted to see them. Megan was not keen but did it for me. It was a 40 minute round trip hike. Reid started out calling them prescriptions, but I think he managed to remember the name by the end of the walk. You pretty much walk straight out through the lava for 20 minutes and then come to a small boardwalk which is set up around the Petroglyphs. These are carvings made in the lava by the ancient Hawaiians that used to live in this area. I know they are just pictures but I really wanted to see them and I was glad that we did it. For me it helps me feel a connection with the ancient inhabitants and a desire to learn more about them.
It was past 5pm by the time we made it back to the car and there was one more sight that we needed to get to before the sun went down. We made it to the Holei Sea Arch just in time to get some shots as the sun was setting.It was getting dark as we were driving back up to the park entrance, so I asked if there was interest in going back up to the Jaggar museum to see what the lava lake looked like at night. The ranger had said that you could see the red glow in the dark. Well we saw more than a glow and were so glad that we went back. We could see lava erupting up from the surface of the lake, which was exciting for all of us. Apparently it hasn't been like this for the last week or so, so we picked the perfect day.
Starving and exhausted, we left the park and headed back to Pahoa. Reid was loudly voting for cereal for dinner, but Dallas wanted a sit down meal. After consulting TripAdvisor, we made our way to Kaleo's in Pahoa. Great choice - the meals were delicious. Megan and I shared a basil pesto, and Dallas declared that this was the first time that he had eaten a marinara that was better than his own.
We are all completely wrecked but we had an awesome day full of adventure and discovery.
Day 3 - Mochi and Mantas
We decided last night that we would leave around 8am so that we could visit the Imiloa Astronomy Center before heading over to Kona. Apparently we are all a little jet lagged, and despite being exhausted, none of us slept well, so we were a bit slow getting started. We didn't leave until after 9.
Given that the kids were falling asleep in the car on the way to Hilo, I figured the astronomy center would be too much for everyone this morning, so instead I navigated us to Rainbow Falls, just on the outskirts of Hilo. These falls were beautiful and lived up to their name, with a beautiful rainbow visible in front of the falls. Five minutes up the road we also saw Boiling Pots, which is a turbulent series of pools fed by Pe'e Pe'e Falls (incidentally, the GPS called this road Pee Pee Falls road, which we thought was amusing). Apparently at least one person dies in this section of the river every year, despite the numerous warning signs.I took a few minutes to call the rental car company about the incident from the day before. They were excellent, took all of the details and reassured us that there would be nothing for us to pay. Finally that extra insurance paid off.
From here I suggested a visit to a small shop that I had seen highly recommended called Two Ladies Kitchen. It is a Japanese sweets shop. I had actually also been telling the family that I wanted them to try Mochi while they are here, and had not been able to adequately describe it to them. I didn't realise that the Japanese sweets sold by the shop were Mochi until we were there!
The ladies were so nice and we each tried several samples. The kids were very impressed. Reid's favourite was the pear one. I think Megan took a fancy to the brownie one.
When I used to work in the university library there was a Hawaiian lady who would frequently bring Mochi in as a treat, and I loved it. Hers did not have fillings like strawberries, brownies or pears though so this was a new twist for me.
We each chose 2 flavours and they were packaged up into a box for us to take away. While we were waiting a number of locals came in to make their selection. One lady commented that she wasn't going to come until later but when she saw that the line was not out of the door she had to come in now.
Back in the car we decided to head for Kona and got into our mochi selections. Dallas had chosen one called Poha berry that was labelled as an extra special treat in the shop. He looked like he had eaten lemons after biting into the berry in the middle :) It seems to be an acquired taste. I had a bite of Megan's brownie one. That one was most decadent.
As we drove towards Kona, we drove through a very sparse and dry landscape. There were many lava fields along the way and interestingly shaped hills.
Megan has been hanging out for Taco Bell, so this was our first stop in Kona. We had tried to go to the one in Annerley at home, but the line was way out the door and up the path so we didn't bother back there.
Reid had already demolished a gallon of milk in two days so we detoured through the supermarket for some milk, bread, cheese and bananas, made a quick stop at the dive shop so Dallas could make sure he had enough diving toys for his dive tonight, then made our way to our new home for the next two days: Holua Resort.
At Holua we have a two bedroom townhouse, and it is perfect. Downstairs there are two bedrooms, one with a king bed and the other with twin beds. They are all covered by beautiful Hawaiian quilts. Upstairs is the kitchen and lounge area. I should start a blog critiquing hotel shampoos. The ones here are so nice: white citrus and lime. They smell divine.
We chose one big (translation: expensive) activity for each island. The choice for Big Island was a Manta Ray snorkel and dive. We chose Kona Honu divers as they are recommended as a company that tries to actively protect the marine environment.
We arrived at the harbour at the appointed hour, received our safety briefing, had Dallas' diving gear all set up, collected some snacks and settled in on the top of the boat ready to go.... and the boat wouldn't start.
The captain apologised profusely but there was nothing he could do. As we disembarked I called The dive shop to see if they could reschedule us for tomorrow, but they only had one spot left. While I was in the phone to them, they must have been frantically calling other boats, as they were able to find another boat that was willing to take the snorkellers out. One of the crew talked to Dallas and found him a spot on another Blackwater dive leaving in a couple of hours.
Dallas' new dive was around the other side of the harbour, so I had to drive him there. There may have been some tension as I was getting accustomed to my first drive on the right hand side of the road in a while, and he was trying to give what he thought was helpful advice.
I drove back to where the kids were waiting and after a short wait our new boat arrived. Two of the crew from the original boat came with us to be our guides. They were excellent.
We sat out on the front of the boat as we headed out towards the mantra ray site, 1.5 hours after we were originally supposed to go. The sun was setting behind a large cruise ship and the horizon was absolutely stunning. It was breezy and we wished we had taken our jumpers out there with us, but I didn't want anyone falling in trying to climb back around to our bags so we dealt with it.
At the dive site they gave us our wet suits, at which time I wished I had been a tad less optimistic about my weight. It was hard to get on! We also received our mask and snorkel, then jumped into the water.
They have specially designed surfboards that have had circles cut out of them and downward facing lights fitted into the holes. You hold onto the side of the surfboard and assume the superman pose, looking down into the water through your mask. The water was quite balmy and I was not cold at all.
When we first arrived they talked to the other boats that were there and learned that no manta rays had arrived yet. Our guide, Sandy, pulled us around for a little bit and pointed out a few different fish and eels. She had just dived down and collected some sea urchins for us to feel when the word came that a Manta ray had arrived. She dragged us back over to the main area, where we could see the ray swimming beneath us. It was way bigger than I had expected. Afterwards Sandy said she thought it was about 8 feet wide. Sadly, it did not stay long, and no others came. We spent quite a bit longer looking at other fish in the hope that more rays would come, but they never did.
The interesting thing is that some of the earlier boats that went out had already left by the time that single ray arrived, so they saw nothing. Because we went out so late, we were able to see it. I would like to have seen more, but one is better than none! It was a fun and unique experience for the kids and I, and I am glad to have done it.
Getting the wetsuit off was easier than getting it on, and I enjoyed a warm rinse from a hose at the end of the boat. Reid took full advantage of the on board snacks on the way back to the harbour, and decided to load up his pockets with pretzels like a chipmunk loads their cheeks, enough that he was eating them most of the way home.
I had to drive us back to the resort as Dallas was still out doing his dive, but it was fairly uneventful. Reid wanted to sit in the front, and I told him that meant he had to help navigate. His interpretation of that sounds something like "you do three swerves and then a turn", in between eating pretzels.
Hot showers and toasty cheeses really hit the spot, and it is time to get to bed again. Dallas will get an Uber back when he is done with his dive.
Day 4 - Heiaus and Honey
Now I will have to think of a fun name for every day, won't I?
I struggled to get them all out of bed this morning. It seems they were all up until around 1am. While they were snoozing I looked at some possibilities for the day. It can be a little tricky travelling with teenagers - you have to strike the right balance between getting them out to do things and giving them some down time so that everyone is happy.I picked out three stops that I thought they would enjoy, with the plan being that we would come back to the resort for a swim after those stops, then head north in the afternoon to explore the Kohala coast.
Our first stop was Big Island Bees, where the owner gave us a few honey samples to taste and also had a large wooden frame full of bees to look at. She was full of interesting information about the bees and the honey and clearly is passionate about the subject.
Three of the honey samples that we tasted were O'hia Lehua honey, one on its own, one with cinnamon, and one with vanilla bean. This was the tree that we noticed on the volcano that had flowers like the Australian bottlebrush trees. I mentioned this and she said that they have a common ancestor about 50,000 years ago.
We bought a small jar of the O'hio Lehua vanilla bean honey while Reid played with a millipede on the floor. It is good to support these local businesses as a small way of giving back to the community while on holiday.We drove along a very long and rather narrow road to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau historical park. This was a site of refuge where people could go to get absolution from a priest after breaking kapu. There is a path with numbered stops and a guide map pointing out old and new Heiaus, places where the Ali'i (chiefs) would rest, watch hula, play games, raise fish, or have bones buried. There is a small bay where we saw a sea turtle swimming. One of the most astounding things was a wall that was 12 feet high and 18 feet high, and 950 feet long. It is built from lava rock with no mortar.
On the shore side of the site is an outcropping of lava that contains many rock pools. We explored those for a while and saw a variety of different fish, and were even treated to seeing a sea turtle right up close. Of course the boys wanted to go right to the edge where the waves were crashing against the lava. This made me nervous, especially when the waves started getting larger. I have heard all the stories of people getting swept out to sea.
The historical parts of this park were definitely interesting but the highlight was exploring the rock pools and watching the sea turtle.
The last stop for the morning was St Benedict's Painted Church. This church was built in the 1800s. The priest could not speak Hawaiian and had scenes from the bible painted on the walls inside the church to assist with converting the Hawaiians to Christianity. Depending on your perspective this may or may not have been a good thing, but it was clever nonetheless.On our way back out of this church we saw a long skinny furry animal run across the road. I had read about a pest called the Hawaiian mongoose, and later looked it up to confirm that this is what it was. These were imported during the plantation days to eat the rats in the sugar cane fields, but have since become a danger to native species such as the Hawaiian Nene goose. We Queenslanders can relate to pests, although our cane toads are not as cute as the mongoose. Later in the afternoon I saw another one running through the resort.
It was now past 1pm and I was pretty sure that there would not be any more outings for the afternoon by the time we got back to the resort and had lunch. I do struggle a little with not being able to see everything that I want to see, but I remind myself that the whole reason we chose a resort instead of an Airbnb for this section of the trip was so the kids could make use of the facilities.
It was more toasty cheeses for lunch and then off to the tennis court. Using the court before 5pm is free but you have to pay $5 to rent a tennis racket. Tennis was fun but hot and I could see why there was not a great demand for the courts through the day. Our tennis skills were dubious. We won't be entering Wimbledon any time soon.
The pool looked pretty good after playing tennis in the sun, so we changed into our swimmers and took the underwater camera out to the pool. Two toes in the water was enough for me. It was icy! The other three played around for a while and I watched from the spa. I reflected that I would like to have seen the Hulihe'e Palace, but this was fun too and they needed the down time. Tomorrow we fly to Maui.
Dinner was back in Kona at a place called Ultimate Burger. It was excellent. They promote themselves as an organic burger joint. Everything seemed very fresh and was definitely tasty. I had the vegetarian option - a mushroom burger - and it was also delicious.
Somehow they were hungry for dessert, and there was a Dairy Queen a few shops down. They ordered frappes, not realising that here they have coffee in them. So Reid has now had 2 sodas and a coffee infused drink, and is quite literally climbing the walls.
My back has been killing me since our day at Volcanoes national park - not sure what I have done. It could just be the long stretches in the car. I think we may have less of those on Maui.
Megan left her Pandora ring on the boat that we were on last night. She bought it for herself so would be sad to lose it. We have been trying all day to get hold of someone to help track it down as we are pretty sure it will still be where she left it. We may have to do a quick run past the harbour in the morning to pick it up on the way to the airport.
Day 5 - Check-ins, Check-outs and Chickens
Last night I spent some time clipping coupons out of Maui magazines in preparation for the next few days. In some ways it seems silly to try to save a dollar or two here and there after spending so much to get here. I did find a $5 coupon for Maui Ocean Centre though so that could be useful.We heard from Captain Mike that he had found Megan's ring and was leaving it under the pretzel container on his boat. That meant that we needed to leave extra time to collect it on the way to the airport.
We left the Holua Resort at 8am and went straight to the harbour. As we pulled out of Poipu we could see everyone standing on the beach and pointing out at something. It turned out to be a pod of dolphins swimming around not far from shore.
Megan and I went down to the boat to collect the ring. He had told us to grab the rope and pull the boat towards the dock so we could jump on. Well we were pulling and pulling and it felt like a mighty current was pulling back the other way, and we couldn't get it close enough to jump on. I texted Dallas who was in the car telling him that we needed muscle. While we were waiting for him to come down, another guy asked us if we needed help. We learned that we didn't need muscle, just the knowledge that the boat was moored in the front as well, which explained why every time we got it just about close enough, it sprung back from the dock again. He collected the ring for us and we were back on the road to the airport.
We arrived at the Kona airport at 9. The flight was at 10:27 and their rules said the check in cut off was 30 mins before, and boarding cut off at 10:12am.
I had already checked us in online, so we were looking for the bag drop. There were lines going everywhere. We asked a worker what to do and he directed us to a line where the lady appeared to be printing bag tags.
This line took forever to get to the front, and when we got there, the lady said that we were supposed to check in on the self check in machines, even though we had already checked in online. I told her the other guy told us to get in this line and asked if she could just print the boarding passes as we had been in line for ages. Luckily another worker swooped in and ran off to get our printed boarding passes and bag tags. Lesson: for ALL of the inter-island flights, you go to the self-service check-in machines, no matter whether you have checked in online or not.
From here we had to take our bags to another line to drop them off at the scanning area. Finally at 9:40 we made it into the security line.
For some reason Megan managed to be TSA approved, so we sent her off through that very short line. Our line was barely moving despite not having that many people in it. As we got closer and closer to the TSA officer, the time was edging closer and closer to the boarding cut off. At just after 10 we finally reached the first TSA check. Then we had to go through the usual rigmarole of taking shoes off, emptying bags etc. That also took time as there is only one line.
At 10:10 we were jogging shoeless across the terminal to the gate, where Megan was waiting, very stressed.
All's well that ends well but my hot tip after that experience is that you should allow a lot of extra time in Kona airport for waiting in very slow lines. It is a small airport and I think perhaps it is a bit overloaded (note we did not have these issues in any of the other airports). After all that, the flight itself was only 30 mins and we were soon landing in Maui.
I have to just point out this amusing sign that I found in the bathrooms in the airport at Maui.
The first thing I noticed in Maui were the chickens. Even at the car rental pickup there were roosters and chickens running around everywhere.
At the Thrifty desk I was not impressed when they told me it would be $13 a day for an extra driver. I asked why they were charging this now but not on the Big Island, only to become even more unimpressed to find out they had added the extra driver charge on the big island without even telling me. If you've ever seen a rental car contract you will know they are confusing and full of codes. The code for extra driver is AAO just so you know.
We ended up with exactly the same car as we had just returned - a Dodge Journey. I called to find out if we could check in early and the apartment was ready so we headed straight to Kihei.
We have a condo in the Luana Kai complex in Kihei. It is on the top floor which was not fun for getting the bags up there, but we do have awesome high ceilings.
Reid was hunting for the WiFi code before we even made it through the door. With a 4 device limit at the last place he went without.
The condo has the kids bedroom and living areas on the bottom floor and a loft master bedroom. The balcony has gorgeous views out over the ocean and swimming pool. It also comes with snorkel gear, beach chairs and boogie boards.
After getting organised we headed back towards Kahului to find some lunch. We spotted a Whole Foods store and could see people eating out the front, so we decided to give it a go. That place is fantastic! It is a grocery store but then it has a huge section for pre-made food like salads, sandwiches, soups and pizza, as well as a buffet of sorts where you can make your own salad, or select from a large variety of hot food. They charge these by the pound. It looked like they were also making fresh stir fries. We each selected something and had a quite satisfying lunch.
We had previously decided not to do the entire road to Hana drive again, but I thought it would be good to do the first section, so we made our way to Ho'okipa Beach Park, where we watched the surfers do their thing for a while. Reid found this most boring and was keen to get going to a waterfall where we thought we might be able to swim.
Twin Falls waterfalls is on private land so the owners make good use of its popularity, selling $6 coconuts and other treats. There was a lot of water in the falls and the current was very strong. That and the water temperature made a swim a bit less appealing but we had a good explore around the area.
We remembered the painted forest (the rainbow eucalyptus trees) from last time, so we drove a little further down the road to see those again. The road got very narrow and windy and we had a few near misses with people hurtling back from the other direction. There were plenty more chickens along the side of the road.
Coming back through Paia we stopped at a small store and got Paia bowls (acai bowls) and ate them while walking back past the beach. They were delicious. I even got Reid to eat one.Our day ended with a complete failure at the self checkout at Safeway, the local grocery store. We just went to pick up supplies and thought it would be fastest to go through the self checkout. First of all we were trying to figure out how to scan the paper bag, because the last supermarket charged 5c per bag. Turns out they are free.
Then we had a series of issues where the machine wanted the manager to come and check because there was an issue with the weight. You can't put the bag down and then put something in it, you have to put the item in the bag and then put both down. You can't move items around in the bag. You can't move the bags themselves around. The poor manager had to come and help us five times. It was embarrassing but that machine seemed way too sensitive. One thing I did like was that the receipt is itemized into grocery, frozen, produce, deli etc. We had found a Safeway club card in our condo and it saved us about $12 (note - you can sign up on the spot for your own card).
Day 6 - Smooth talkers and snorkelling
I got up earlier than the others this morning and went for a walk along the beach outside our condo. It is not the most gorgeous beach ever but I watched the surfers for a bit.Today we headed for Lahaina with plans to explore there and then continue around to Iao Valley.
Instead we stopped to enquire about renting snorkel gear and ended up deciding to get the gear just for today, explore Lahaina and the head back down south to Ahihi Bay for snorkelling. We got gear for both kids for $12.50.
We spent some time in Lahaina looking around, buying Hawaiian sandals for Megan and recreating some photos that we took last time we were here.
As we were on our way back to the car, Dallas saw a tourist ticket place and wanted to enquire about helicopter rides. Almost two hours later we finally escaped with tickets more than 50% off and a contract to go back on Tuesday and let them tell us about their "website". I wasn't too impressed with the situation but the helicopter ride will be fun. The company was "Tickets for Less". Use them if you choose, but be aware of what you are signing up for (see description of events as they occurred on Tuesday).
By now it was almost 2pm so we headed for Ahihi, doing a drive through Carls Jr on the way.
Watching Dallas try to take the kids snorkelling was painful, like when he took them fishing. I swear they spent the first 30 mins continually adjusting fins and masks. Reid's mask did not fit well at all. He came back after not too long and was then being a pill about wanting to go back to the car park to get his dry shorts while I was wishing I had gone in to snorkel. He insisted on going back to the carpark to the portaloo by himself which I was not happy about, but neither could I leave our pile of belongings unattended. He managed to go and come back without getting kidnapped.
When Dallas and Megan came back, Dallas offered to go back in with me. It was 4:45 and the carpark was closing at 5:30 so we had a quick snorkel. It was magical. We saw a huge number of different fish and even a turtle. As soon as I put my face in the water I could see that I was surrounded by fish. We spent about ten minutes looking around before it was time to pack up and get back to the car.
Snorkel Bob gear can be hired at one location and returned to another, so we returned the gear to the Wailea store and admired the beautiful Grand Wailea resort with the entry having all of the trees completely wrapped in lights.
We are having dinner in tonight, so I have cooked us a chicken pasta dish from the frozen section at Safeway, along with some frozen garlic knots. There are no oven trays in the unit, so I improvised with the box and some coffee filters, with Megan watching worriedly to make sure it did not set on fire.
Early night tonight as we plan to see the Haleakala sunrise tomorrow.
Day 7 - Sunrise and Snacks
3:50 am - the alarm went off and I was up. Despite much preparation and discussion the night before, Reid seemed to think he was going to have an hour to have breakfast and get ready, so he got his breakfast out and started eating. Meanwhile I discovered that although I though I had started the dryer the night before, I had not, so the pants he wanted to wear were still wet.Despite these small dramas we were rugged up and out the door before 4:25 am. I wore leggings under my jeans, a t-shirt, 2 long sleeved shirts and a warm jacket, as well as a scarf. It was actually too hot to put all of this on at the apartment so it all went in the car, along with some thick beach towels that we found in the cupboard.
As you approach Haleakala there are numerous signs reminding you that you will not be allowed at the summit at sunrise without a reservation. I had downloaded another Shaka guide for this trip so I got it started. The guy can be a bit cheesy at times but he also provides a lot of great information about the Island, the wildlife, and the park.
The entry fee is $25, but we had purchased the tri-park annual pass for $30 when we went to Volcanoes national park on the Big Island, so we did not have to pay. The total for all three parks separately would have been $55. It pays to research and plan. This point is where they wanted to see that we had signed the card. They let us sign it on the spot. I suppose this is how they stop a tourist from buying a card and leaving it in their holiday apartment for others to use.
Reid slept most of the way up and we hoped that the second time he woke up he would be in a better mood.
We reached the top just before six. Sunrise was scheduled for 6:50am, but we could already just see the sliver of red on the horizon. We shivered as we watched the light slowly expand. Except for Dallas, who was wearing shorts and sandals, but still had one of the beach towels around his shoulders.
As the light grew, we could see that we were well above the clouds, which draped themselves around the mountain below us.
A ranger came out to the viewing area, and as the sun peeked over the horizon, she started a Hawaiian chant, and had us repeat phrases at a couple of points. She ended with a couple of Aloha' s, and then it was over. It really was amazing and I am glad we got up early to experience it.
Afterwards we spent some time looking around the crater and the visitor's center. The guide had said that the crater is full of cinder cones, and that the tallest one is over 1000ft tall. He also said the island of Manhattan could fit in the crater.
We did some more photo recreations and had a quick look at the information in the visitor's center. Megan bought a shirt and Dallas got us a fridge magnet. Apparently I stole a certificate saying we made it to the top of Haleakala. There was a whole A5 sized pad of them on the windowsill with a date stamp, so I grabbed one for the kids, but did not see the "suggested $1 donation" box. We bought other stuff so I figure we are all good! Reid told me I am a thief.
I am going to mention here that for some reason my family seized on the word "Haleakala" throughout our entire trip, and every now and then, one of them would yell out "Haleakala!" and then the other 2 would respond with "Haleakala!".
As we came out of the national park, we embarked on the "eating our way through Maui up country" portion of our day.
We had a delicious breakfast at Kula Lodge. After a quick stop at the iconic Holy spirit mission, where we remembered that it is Sunday and therefore people were actually using the church, we then selected a pastry each at the La Provence Bakery to eat later. Our last stop was at the Surfing Goat Dairy, where Dallas and Megan tried gelato and I tried a goat's cheese caprese salad, which was also excellent.
We could have continued on to Makawao for more sightseeing but decided everyone was ready for a rest, so we returned to the unit for a break before heading to the airport for our helicopter flight.
While resting, we received notification that the flight had been cancelled and moved to Tuesday. Instead we went to get some groceries and to try to find some reef safe sunscreen for tomorrow. That was ridiculous. They had none at Safeway or the surf shop next door. A girl happened to be standing outside who has done research about it and she said Snorkel Bob's would definitely have it. They didn't but sent us off to Foodland, and said if they didn't have it then Hawaiian moons would definitely have it. Finally we made it to Hawaiian Moons where I found one reef safe sunscreen.
Tomorrow Dallas is doing a scuba dive and the kids and I are doing snuba.
Day 8 - Snuba and Snorkelling
Yesterday ended on a bit of a sour note with more messing around with the helicopter flight booking. Hopefully it actually happens.I got up just before 5 today, woke the kids, then dropped Dallas at the bus stop in Kihei so he could get to Lahaina for his dive today.
Just before 6am the kids and I left to head to our Snuba/Snorkelling trip. We made a pit stop at the Sugar Beach Bakery for some fresh malasadas first. They were quite delicious. We arrived at Ma'alea Harbour around 6:30. Parking was $4 for 7-8 hours, which is not bad at all, however they seem much more keen on paid parking on this island in places that seem like they are just taking advantage of the tourists, such as the harbour where the tour boats go out and the helipad.
The crew of Aqua Adventures were professional, friendly and fun from the very beginning. We checked in and signed the waivers and were on our way. After giving us fins and masks, we were free to enjoy the on board breakfast, which was a variety of bagels, muffins, cakes and fruit, with either water or juice.
We headed first for Molokini Crater. On the way we were given a lesson in how to do snuba diving, during which Adela, the instructor completely lost our attention as we saw a number of whales breaching along the way. This was most exciting but we had to drag ourselves back to class once the bonus whale show finished.
A wetsuit was $5 for the day, so Megan and I opted in to this. They were the short legged, short sleeved wetsuits. When he gave me mine, I told him I was flattered but I thought it was a bit small. He said I would be surprised. I wasn't and ended up using the one he gave Megan, and Megan needed one a little bit bigger as she is way taller than me. I did think they should have sprung for the wetsuits as part of the cost of the trip, as it was not a cheap one.
We were in the 2nd Snuba group, so we did some snorkelling first while the first group was doing their snuba. Molokini was incredible. The water was crystal clear, and we saw a huge number of different fish. There were many boats out there but it did not feel crowded. One of the crew stayed with us for the first little bit, then we explored for a while on our own.
Before long it was our turn to Snuba. We were fitted with harnesses and put in pairs next to floats that contained our oxygen tanks. One by one Adela had us practice breathing underwater with the regulator and then had us slowly descend, equalizing frequently on the way. She was an excellent instructor and took every care to make sure we were ok and having a good time. I had a small moment of panic on the bottom where I wasn't sure I was OK, but I took a moment to breathe and then was fine.
Once we were all on the bottom, we followed Adela as she pointed out different fish and wrote their names on a small board that she was carrying. I was having trouble staying down, so she added more weight to my belt. The photographer was following us around, taking photos of us and what we were seeing. I don't know how long we were down there. Before we went she had indicated it would be about 25 minutes. It was pretty awesome. If I am honest I loved it but was also ready for it to finish by the end as I was finding the regulator was tugging backwards and I had to keep holding it in my mouth. The kids loved it and although I was not sure how Reid would go with it, he was totally fine. Afterwards he also mentioned that the regulator had been tugging on his mouth.
Back on the boat after the dive, we had some more snacks and drinks as the Captain headed back to Maui towards Makena, to the place they call "Turtle Town". We spotted more whales along the way. We spent quite a while sailing up the coast, and I assumed he was looking for a good spot. I asked Adela later and she said that the water was green, which meant it was not good visibility, and they wanted us to be able to have a better experience.
We ended up heading towards the Lahaina coast, and stopped at a spot he called Coral Gardens, only accessible by boat. The Captain talked to us before we went out again about turtles. It was kind of funny because he said that if he can give up eating Turtle Soup for 40 years, we could go without touching them for an hour. It is a federal offense to touch them as they are federally protected. He said there is a girl on Oahu finishing a 12 month term for riding one.
The snorkelling here was fantastic. The water was again so clear. We all thought it was a bit colder here but they said it was just because our body temperature had dropped after the last dive. As we pulled up we had seen a turtle on the surface a little way out, and not long after we got in the water, we were able to see 2 green sea turtles swimming around underneath us. We spent about 40 minutes exploring this area before it was time to pack up and go.
We had the option to Snuba here for $40 extra, which was not mentioned when booking the trip or before we left. For one person that may not feel like a lot extra, but for 3 it was prohibitive, especially once you consider the exchange rate. I felt it was a little misleading actually branding it a snuba trip but it is actually Snuba Molokini and Snorkel Turtle town (or where-ever you end up).
This boat also had a fresh water shower hose, which I used, however the water was cold, so I sort of ran towards the bag storage area afterwards to get my towel, and ended up smacking the last 2 toes of my right foot on one of the seat supports. The little toe is a bit sore and swollen now.
On the way back to Ma'alea Harbour they put lunch out, which was the makings for sandwiches and a combined macaroni and potato salad which was quite delicious.
We discussed what to do next, and decided we would go back to our condo to shower and then make a decision. The decision ended up being that we sat down after showering and didn't get up for about 4 hours. Megan and I both fell asleep. It was a much needed rest after 2 big days.
For dinner I ordered pizza for the kids, which we picked up along with more milk, because Reid has already ripped through the carton that I got last night. We timed it to also pick up Dallas from the bus, and he and I got our dinner from Maui Tacos, which was very tasty but massive.
Dallas said his dive was also fantastic out on Lana'i, so we all had an excellent day.
Day 9 - Holiday clubs and Helicopters
We had agreed to attend a 90 minute presentation from Worldwide Travel Experts to get almost 60% off the price of a helicopter flight. Although the guy at Tickets for Less dismissed it as "just having a look at their website", we knew what to expect as we have done these before.We left just before 7 to get up to Lahaina in time for our 8am appointment. Megan has a sim in her phone so we sent the kids off to roam Lahaina for a couple of hours. As an aside, the lady at the presentation seemed a little horrified that we had done this. Reid is about to turn 13 and Megan is about to turn 16. We knew they would be fine and much happier than sitting in the kids room that was provided.
On arrival they had us fill out a short form about income and contact info, and then our sales lady Kim took us through to the presentation room. We were told to use the facilities before it started. It felt like when we go to the movies and I make the kids go before the movie starts. I think Kim saw me making fun of this to Dallas as we went into the facilities.
As I came out of the bathroom Kim said she felt that I didn't want to be there. This was 100% true, but I had previously made up my mind to behave and keep my mouth shut, so I would bet money on them having info provided from the guy that sold Dallas the tickets who was under no delusions about my opinion about the whole thing.
She asked why I was there and I told her it was because my husband wanted to do a helicopter flight.
In the presentation room there are a number of small tables with two seats on one side facing a large screen, and one chair on the other side for Kim.
Kim put a card on the table that had her name on one side and our names on the other side that faced the screen. This was so that the clown who came in later to present could see our names and pretend he knew us.
She then launched into a bit of a lecture about how she was just doing her job and we had agreed to be there and were receiving a big discount for doing so. This was directed at me as she had already determined that I was not a fan of the whole thing, however she obviously did not realise that this made my feelings towards her and the experience significantly worse. I told her I got it and she could get on with it.
After going through some questions about where we have been on holiday, where we want to go, and what we usually spend on holiday, the ringmaster arrived. His name was Shae, and he was something else. He was responsible for doing the big sales pitch complete with powerpoint slides, stories, actions, sound effects and impressions. If there was ever anyone who liked the sound of his own voice, it was this guy. Afterwards we told Kim that this style of presentation really doesn't go down well with Australians, but I have to wonder whether it goes down well with anyone. The ticket guy had assured me that people come back to find him to tell him how much they loved the presentation. I was pretty sure I would be going back to find him, but it wouldn't be to thank him.
Shae told us that he was going to tell us the price up front because no-one else does that. $10,995. Then he spent a great deal of time badmouthing other companies, coming perilously close to slandering Disney characters, and showing us "actual prices" from their website, although it was clear to anyone with an ounce of technical sense that these were not live searches on their website.
He finally got to the point with the actual details of the offer, and then we were left with Kim again, who, with her supervisor did their very best to convince us that this was a membership that we had to have. I would have to say that this was possibly one of the more cost effective clubs we have seen, but despite being offered several different options and a discount in consideration of the fact that our exchange rate is not great, we told them we would pass.
I told Kim that she would have had a better chance if they told the pricing up front and then let me sit in front of a computer seeing how much our next holiday would cost using their website. She said we could still do this, but we were done.
I don't have an issue with having to learn about their product to get a huge discount, and I don't have a problem with learning about a travel product in general, but I hate that ra-ra style presentation, the huge amount of time wasted, and the way they bring in the closers to get you to sign.
Anyway, we left and found the kids, who had been up and down Lahaina and had been skimming rocks at the beach. We headed up to the outlets so Megan could look for some swimmers, and ended up being charged $8 to park there, only to find that half the stores were closed due to some maintenance that was going on. I thought that was quite bad form.
However, the morning was saved by a fabulous lunch at Kimo's restaurant on the waterfront. I had a delicious salad, Dallas tried fish tacos (and loved them, despite being somewhat dubious), and Megan had a Paniolo burger. Reid opted for the hot dog - big surprise. Our waitress asked us if we would like to try their famous Hula Pie, and once she described it, we knew we had to give it a go. It was plenty big enough for all of us and was quite amazing.
After Lahaina we made our way to the Iao Valley State Monument. It was here that a famous battle occurred between Maui and King Kamehameha I, and one of the signs talked about how there were so many bodies in the river that they effectively dammed it.
From Iao Valley we headed to the heliport for our helicopter flight with Air Maui. After a short video safety briefing, we were given our emergency life jackets and were guided out to the helicopter. We were seated 2 at a time by the ground staff. An elderly couple were given the 2 front seats, and we sat 4 across the back seat. Reid and Megan had the window seats. Our pilot was Cameron.The flight was awesome. We flew over the West Maui mountains and saw the Wall of Tears, which is the side of a canyon covered in a number of very tall waterfalls. We went all the way across to the coast above Lahaina, and then across to Molokai. He flew up and down the Molokai coast, and the water was so clear that we could see Manta Rays and turtles swimming around the reef below.
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| Tiny black spec is a manta ray |
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| Wall of tears |
On the way back he flew further up the Lahaina coast and did some fun turns where he lifted the nose of the helicopter and then swung around sharply. I think Reid really enjoyed those. He also pointed out some of the old pineapple plantations that are no longer in operation with the economic downturn.
Too quickly the flight was over and we were hunting for dinner. Dallas told us he thought he could get back to the shopping center right near our condo without a map, so we gave him a challenge and said if he couldn't, he had to go back to L&L's for some local food - say spam musubi :) He made it and was able to have Maui Tacos for the last time.
Now we are packing up to fly to Kauai tomorrow.
Day 10 - Wildlife Attractions and Traffic Distractions
We had a shaky start to the morning when we realised that all of Reid's cereal was gone. He was not in favour of eating a banana or toast instead. Luckily after he tried a spoonful of my granola, he decided it was acceptable and kept the bowl to finish it off.After the close call at Kona airport, we were not keen for a repeat, so we left heaps of time to get to Kahului airport, return the car, check in, drop bags and make it through security. Despite the longest scrutinisation of several of our bags in the scanning machine in TSA history, we were still through and ready for our flight more than 1.5 hours early. The Maui airport is more modern than the Big Island airports, but is still quite small.
This flight from Kahului to Lihue only took 50 minutes. Here the rental car building is again away from the terminal and we had to get a shuttle to pick up our rental car. This time we got a Nissan Rogue because we asked for something different than a Dodge journey. The boot is slightly smaller but it has slightly better controls. It is obvious that they buy the cheapest possible model with none of the bells and whistles.
We took a short road trip first to Wailua falls, which is a set of two waterfalls crashing into a large pool below. Despite signs saying "no hawking", there was a guy selling coconuts and another lady selling banana bread. The most interesting feature was possibly the dead pig that was placed along the railing on the side of the road near the waterfalls. Not sure what that was about.Safeway was the next stop to pick up some more groceries, including much needed cereal. I signed up to the Safeway club on the spot. Some items are 2 or 3 dollars off for club members.
We headed south towards Poipu and our accommodation while on Kauai. The traffic slowed to a crawl for quite a while, and then a couple of police cars came past with lights and sirens from behind us. Eventually we found the cause - a four car pileup that looked pretty nasty. Not long after that was our turnoff, but there was a police woman on that road motioning us onwards - that road was closed too for some reason. In the days of printing out directions we would have been in trouble, but HereMaps redirected us and we took the long way around. Shortly past the turnoff, a police car came tearing up our side of the road with no sirens, and we came very close to a head on crash with them as they flew around the corner. Several more fire trucks, ambulances and police cars followed soon after.
We were very happy to get to our accommodation at the Nihi Kai villas in Poipu. The villa is awesome and we will be very comfortable here. We took a short walk down to check out the pool and tennis courts. The pool is directly across from the ocean, so we crossed the road to explore the rocks only to come across 2 Hawaiian Monk seals baskiing in the sun on the rocks. Someone must follow them around and put signs up warning tourists to keep their distance. Despite the signs we saw one lady getting mighty close to take a selfie. "Did you see the seals", she asked. "Did you see the signs", I wanted to ask.
While Dallas cooked some dinner and I did some planning for the next few days, the kids watched some paranormal hunters tv show, which resulted in Megan refusing to be alone in any room after dark.
Kauai is beautiful and we have already been admiring the mountain ranges in the distance. It is easy to see why they like to film movies in Hawaii.
Day 11 - Caves and Celebrations
I woke at 5:13am to the sound of roosters crowing. There appear to be more wild roosters and chickens roaming this island than on Maui.I stayed in bed until around 8, which is a novelty for me.
Today is Reid's 13th birthday. We were telling him yesterday that it was his birthday at home, but he insisted that it was not. Today we were allowed to wish him a happy birthday.
I also tried to tell him that perhaps the reason he needs 4 bowls of cocoa pops to fill him up is that there is nothing to them, but that fell on deaf ears.
First stop today was Spouting Horn, a blowhole not far from Poipu. The waves were not very big so we did not see a lot of action, however we did see a turtle swimming around on the point.
On the way out of there we passed the Prince Kuhio birthplace monument. I read out the story of Prince Kuhio, who sided with the monarchy when the US government overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy, and was thrown in jail for treason. Later he spent many years representing Hawaii to try to obtain land rights for native Hawaiians.
Our next stop was Makauwahi cave. This was quite the adventure. Let's not tell the car rental company about the unpaved, very bumpy road. The cave is on a privately owned farm that is only accessible by this long dirt road. There are no signs until you are almost there. It is worth the trip though.
The first thing we saw when we arrived was a regeneration area that was using giant tortoises as lawn mowers. You can walk into the enclosure and get right up close. You know Reid is enjoying something when he wants to take a selfie.
From the car park it is a short walk to the cave entrance, which is rather small. What I was not expecting was that after you crouch down and crawl though the small opening, you stand up to find that you are standing in the middle of a huge sinkhole.
We learned that it was once a sand dune that over the course of 400,000 years has turned to stone. At the far end of the sinkhole was a large cave, where a volunteer waited to tell us more about it.
He used a torch to point out areas of interest in the cave. Along the sides were alcoves where the Hawaiians used to place the bones of their dead. At the back is a series of tunnels where the blind spiders live. And right up the top us a chamber where they found the coffin of a great kahuna, with the bones sitting in the remnants of a civil war uniform.
There was also a birthstone, which Reid no longer wanted to stand near once he knew what it had been used for.
After the cave we walked down the short path to the beach, then back to the car park and drove all the way back along the bumpy dirt road.
Next up was the Menehune fish pond, which is over 1000 years old, and we heard another guide say it was like a Costco for ancient Hawaiians. We learned while on this trip that it pays to stand next to other tour groups - you can learn all sorts of things :)
We had been trying to call the local cinema since last night to find out about getting tickets to see the new Star Wars movie tonight for Reid's birthday. They were not answering so we stopped by.
The doors were all locked but we could see people inside, so I tried calling again. I could hear the phone ringing and see people moving around but no-one was picking up! Eventually a guy came out and asked what we wanted, and let us come in to buy our tickets. $9 each cash only, doors open at 6pm.
We had lunch at a nearby shopping mall which was a ghost town like the outlets we went to in Maui, then off to the Kauai museum. Somehow I had not realised it would cost us $50 to get us all in, and we decided it was not worth it.
Twenty years ago when I was here as a student, I really loved the Hawaiian heritage rings, but could never afford one. We walked to a small local jeweller to look at some but I didn't find quite what I was looking for. Back to the car and then McDonalds, because you know, bottomless pits.
We had 4 hours to kill before the movie, so we visited a few spots along the coast north of Lihue. It was crazy windy today and the waves were huge, crashing over the sea wall. Reid wanted to skip some rocks so we delegated supervising that to Dallas, and Megan and I retreated to the warmth of the car.
Dallas wanted to get some more Lara bars so we stopped at Walmart for those. My back has been playing up and Reid had a headache, so we laid down in the car to wait. It got a little warm but it turns out that if you lock the car and then open a door from the inside, the alarm will go off. The good news is that Dallas left the keys with me. The bad news is that I had dropped them down the side of the seat and they were difficult to extract.
Reid chose KFC for his birthday dinner and then it was time to head to the cinema. It is an interesting setup. They were playing Star Wars on all 4 screens. It looked like the doors opened well before 6 as we did not have to line up to get into the cinema, but there was a massive candy bar line.
I think they are quite clever as instead of playing ads for us for an hour, we watched the original Jumanji movie as we waited for Star Wars to start.
Day 12 - Fast Zips and Road Trips
We saw the Last Jedi last night. I thought it was OK but Reid seemed to quite enjoy it and it was his birthday outing. There were clearly some super fans there. The lady on the end of our row was really getting into it. The movie ended up starting about 40 minutes after advertised. They let Jumanji finish, then played some of the special features on the Jumanji disc. I think they may have been waiting for the candy bar line to somewhat subside. The seats were interesting - they reclined back a bit, but it was not stadium seating. Things are a bit different on a small island.This morning we were out the door just before 9, heading to Kipu Ranch for our zip line. This zipline is the longest in Hawaii - 4000 feet long. You climb a tower that is 50 feet tall to be launched into space in a sling, travelling between 35-55 miles per hour. It was actually very smooth. It definitely got fast - even with my sunglasses on I had water streaming out of my eyes. And no, not tears of terror!
After the zip line we headed north, using our trusty Shaka guide app for directions and interesting information.
The first couple of stops were beaches. They were beautiful and somewhat wild, with the waves being at their winter peak. It made me very sad however to see huge amounts of rubbish washed up on the shore. We also saw some massive birds that we later found out were called frigate birds.
The troops were starving but luckily we came across a gas station that contained a subway. Dallas didn't want subway but the rest of us gobbled down lunch.
Kilauea Lighthouse and wildlife sanctuary was another excellent stop. If you go to Hawaii and find it hard to find a Nene Goose, you will see piles of them here. We even saw a family with little chicks.
The lighthouse is high on the north shore cliffs, with amazing views up and down the coast. We stood and watched the ocean for a while, marvelling at the force of the waves as they crashed into the cliffs. The light rain added to the atmosphere. We could even see a turtle swimming around in the water below.
By now Dallas was starving and pulled into Julio's beach burritos, a food truck on the side of the road. He loved his burrito and Megan went a taco but said she still prefers taco bell. It looked very fresh and tasty to me.
We headed further north, stopping at a few more lookouts and beaches and watching those winter waves.
One of my favourite stops was the Maniholo cave. It has a wide opening that is taller than a person, but as you walk further in, the ceiling gets lower and lower. It gets to the point where it is so low that you can't get any further, but with a torch you can see that the cave keeps going further back.
That cave was a dry cave. Further up the road is a wet cave, but it is completely cordoned off with warning signs.
We made it all the way to the end of the road - as in you hit He'e Beach and you cannot go any further.
From here we struck out on the Kalalau trail. We considered wiping mud up our legs to make it look like we had hiked the whole 11 mile trail (22 round trip) but we only did the first half mile (1 mile round trip) so that we could get to the point of seeing the Na Pali coast. It was a magnificent sight. I do have to say that it was almost the longest half mile I have ever walked, possibly with the exception of Mt Maroon.
Our Shaka guide kept us entertained with stories of history and legend on the way back to Kapa'a. We are heading home for showers and a dinner scrounged up from whatever is in the fridge. After a stop a Walmart for more milk of course, as Reid is using it crazy fast.
Day 13 - Tissues and toaster waffles
Today was a rest day for three of us. Dallas had a scuba dive that we thought left locally but ended up being 45 minutes away. That meant he needed the car.It turned out just fine as I have woken up feeling the beginnings of a cold and spent the day resting.
The kids enjoyed having a down day too.
On the plus side, we tried frozen Eggo toaster waffles and those things are GOOD!
Day 14 - Chills and Canyons
I spent in bed with a fever. The others went up to Waimea canyon. Megan wrote an excellent summary of their day:Today's post is by Megan who was the navigator and note taker today given Cassie was in bed sick. We missed having Cassie with us and it was a shame she wasn't able to see the amazing sites. Cassie had been to Waimea Canyon in the past so she did have an idea of what we were in for and didn't want us to miss out on this. Post by Megan below.
Today we set off just after 9am for the ‘Grand Canyon of the pacific’, Waimea canyon. We used the shakka tour (app) as our trusty companion again and it was very beneficial.
Our tour began on the kaumauli highway, the highway that takes you to Waimea and the Canyon Drive. Before we got to the canyon our Shakka tour provided us with some interesting stories about the history of Kauai. First we stopped at what remains of a Russian fort (Fort Elizabeth) built by a Russian named Georg Schaffer who was in the area trying to recover lost goods off a vessel that ended up in chief Kaumuali'i's possession (the chief/ruler of Kauai). Kaumuali'i wanted to break away from the rule of king kamehameha and Schaffer ended up in the middle of this division and built Fort Elizabeth to help protect against Kemehameha who ruled the remainder of Hawaii after violent battles across the other islands.
After a brief glance at the Russian fort our next few stops were lookouts at the beginning of the ascent through Waimea canyon, which provided stunning views. we couldn’t wait to see what the other stops would hold for us.
These last couple of days have been so exhausting that for the first couple of stops we didn’t want to get out of the car, we were satisfied with taking a couple pictures from our seats, but when we got to the overlooks of the canyon we couldn’t help ourselves but get out and take pictures.
Like our trusty Shakka tour guide said the view only continued to get better and better.
Next we pulled over to explore some waterfalls on the side of the road. It’s so strange because on one side of the road you have the lush green canyon and the other this harsh desert looking landscape with red iron rich soil. Then in this dry exposed soil is a waterfall.
As we left this spot our Shakka guide told us that there was a stop approaching with a couple of hikes and listed our options. We easily opted for the short third of a mile hike compared to the 3 or 6 mile hike. Again, our breaths were taken away by more views of the canyon and even spotted a couple helicopters flying around. We also saw more chickens roaming the area. If someone tells you there are chickens everywhere on Hawaii, they mean everywhere.
The next couple of miles consisted of more lookouts where you could get better views of waterfalls and rivers in the canyon. We may have also skipped a couple hikes suggested by our shakka guide.
After we left the museum dad looked at the fuel level and told us all we were almost empty. We were about 5 mins away from the end of the road and decided we would continue on and hope we didn’t run out. We made it with petrol to spare to the Kalalai lookout where we finally got to see the southern end of the napali coast. The views were amazing and if we had to stop there because of petrol shortage we would have been satisfied.
When we got back to the car I had a look at our shakka guide and we were 2 minutes from the very end of the road where you can get the best views of the coast, so we decided to continue further and see how we go. We made it to the end and got to enjoy a better view of the napali coastline with petrol still in the tank.
On our way back, we were enlightened on how captain cook died. Captain cook was the first westerner to discover Hawaii and his timing was his downfall. Native Hawaiians were very spiritual people and around the time captain cook arrived was declared makahina (agricultural) season where the god of agriculture was meant to come down and visit the people. When captain cook arrived the Hawaiian's thought that Cook and his crew were the gods they expected to see. Cook took advantage of this enjoying the wonderful reception from the Hawaiian's and a month of parties/feasts. One of his crew got sick though and died and the Hawaiian people started to get suspicious thinking perhaps Cook wasn't the anticipated God. They thought if these people can die just like us maybe they aren’t gods after all. Cook realised this and started to flee but was forced to return to the island to repair the boat. when cook and his crew returned it was no longer the agricultural season so this confirmed their supspicions as they knew this god would not come outside the mahakina period. A fight broke out between them and cook died as a result (early 1779). Some claim he was stabbed, others say he was hit in the head with a rock. They then burnt his body and buried his bones.
We made it to Waimea without running out of fuel where we filled up both the car and us. Subway for Reid and island tacos for me and dad. Dad tried to convince me to try the fish tacos but I was not swayed. I love salmon and don’t mind most fish but fish and tacos to me just shouldn’t be together.
After a pit stop our shakka guide took us to menhune Ditch and a swinging bridge. I’m not sure what the history of the bridge is but the ditch is supposed evidence of the past existence of tiny ancient Hawaiian people called the Menehune. In the time they roamed these lands it is believed they created this ditch to deliver water to their settlements further away.
On the way home dad and Reid stopped for a photo with the captain cook statue and our last stop was at another swinging bridge in Hanapepe.
The reason There are so many chickens in Kauai is because the Asian's brought them to Hawaii when they migrated but were controlled in chicken farms. However a hurricane ravaged these farms and the chickens went free making them uncontrollable. Apparently they breed like rabbits.
After we got home we headed down to the beach to snorkel but the waves were so big that we ditched our snorkel gear and swam.
Tomorrow we leave Kauai to travel to Oahu, the last island we’ll be staying on in Hawaii. Then it’s home back to Brisbane for us on 24th Dec.
Day 15 - Travelling day
I woke up feeling better than yesterday and tried to start getting everything packed up and then crashed halfway through breakfast. Still was not feeling so good.I dosed myself up right before we left for the airport so I would be good for the flight and did get through it and the ensuing car rental drama pretty well.
We have been frustrated with the car rental companies here. I am sure it must have been in the fine print but it costs an extra $13.50 a day for an extra driver. This doesn't sound too bad, but start multiplying it out and then do the exchange rate and it was not something we wanted to pay for throughout the whole trip.
On the second island when they told us it would cost extra and we asked why they didn't charge it on the first island, they looked through it and determined that they had charged it and just didn't tell us. On the third island they let us add me for just a day, but had to fill out a special form. Here, on the busiest island, they said they don't have that form and if I want to drive for just a day we would have to come in to see them on that day. (This is only an issue because Dallas will be going scuba diving on one day)
After that drama the lady said she was going to give us a car that was bigger than what we had on the last island. This turned out to be a Jeep that our luggage did not have a hope of fitting in. Eventually they decided to upgrade us to a Pathfinder and ran off to find it.
As they backed the Pathfinder into the waiting area, we stood up to start loading luggage, because the license plate number matched our paperwork, but the lady got out and handed the keys to another man who was waiting. Somehow the keys were given to a guy who was about to go home, who handed them to a temp, who thought it was a return and put the keys back, where another agent grabbed them and assigned them to the other guy.
Finally we were able to leave with a car and all of our luggage. Our Airbnb is in Kaneohe and is another local number. It reminds me a bit of uni housing as we have the upstairs and the family that owns the house lives downstairs.
We met my cousin Tammie and her kids at Kailua Beach Park. Such a beautiful beach but it is clear that a lot of erosion has been happening.
We had dinner together at California Pizza Kitchen and are heading back for an early night as we have an early morning tomorrow. Hoping I will feel closer to 100% tomorrow.
Side Note:
Hawaiian roosters are
a) blind and therefore do not know when the sun has come up, so they crow all day and night just in case
b) immortal aliens that do not require sleep and they want everyone to know
c) actually incredibly intelligent and they have organised a roster system
Day 16 - Movies and Memories
The house that we are staying in has 3 bedrooms so I decided to separate my germs from the rest of the family and sleep in the spare room. Dallas will be diving in a few days but not if he gets sick.We were heading to Kualoa Ranch first for a movie set tour at 8:45, and we received an email a few days ago telling us to arrive 1 hour early. We were not so impressed at this, and even less impressed when we arrived and were given our tickets straight away at the check in desk, then told to hang out until 8:30. i would say though that they appear to do a huge number of activities and there is only one check-in desk, and when we walked back past it at 8:25 to go to our bus, there was a huge line.
The movie set tour was excellent. Not only did we see spots where various movies like Jurassic Park, Kong, Jumanji and many others were filmed, we also learned a great deal about the history of the ranch. There were many bunkers that were used during the war when the ranch was an air field, and I learned that when they filmed Lost, they used the bunkers for filming. At the top of the hill they had fitted out one large bunker with props and information about many of the movies. The guide said that usually the contract with movie companies is that they return the land to original condition when they are finished, but sometimes they will ask them to leave things that they can use on tours. An example is field where they've left a bunch of dinosaur bones. You can see the remains of the footprints that they dug out for Godzilla, but they had to mostly fill those in as it is a working cattle ranch and the cows were falling in.
Somehow all of the kids were starving by the time this finished shortly before 11. We decided to head to Laie and seek food at the shopping centre there. Being close to the university it would likely have cheap food options rather than tourist prices.
It did not disappoint, with Subway, Taco Bell, and several other food joints all in the one spot. When we met back at the outdoor tables, the chickens were our lunch companions, watching us hopefully.Driving up towards the university campus was a bit surreal for me. Things seemed familiar but different. We drove past my off campus house, and up into the little circle where all of the flags are displayed. Jaylen wanted a jumper so we headed into the Aloha Center to find the bookstore. I don't think he ended up finding one but Megan scored an $11 T-shirt from the sale rack. My 10% alumni discount pretty much covered the tax. I really wish the US would start including tax in their advertised prices.
At the end of the Aloha Center is the post office. I had the photo handy of me at my PO Box from 20 years ago and wanted to re-create it. Sadly in this era of email, the PO Boxes are mostly gone!
We wanted to get to the PCC while the weather held, and I knew we were coming back through in a couple of days, so I left further exploration for then and we headed over to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was fun but the weather was not on our side. It was not raining as the canoe pageant started, but by the time it finished it was pretty wet. We had retreated up under the trees for shelter but Jay was soaked through.
Tammie took Jay back to her car to get changed and we headed to the canoe ride where we met them for a leisurely canoe ride from one side of the park to the other. Our guides were from Russia and Korea. I was very interested to hear their commentary to see if it had changed. Some of the jokes were different but some were the same. I had a moment of nostalgia as this was Levi's job at the PCC.
At the other end of the park, we saw the Iosepa (the replica of an Hawaiian cataraman type boat), got Fijian tattoos, and made it into the Tongan show. Now this show seemed mostly the same as it was 20 years ago! But still hilarious. Just before the show started, who should I see walk across the front of the room but Alamoti Taumoepeau, who I attended Liahona High School with many years ago. After the show I asked a few of the workers where I could find Moti. I think they were a little confused at first at a palangi tourist asking for him but when they learned I went to Liahona they were most helpful and took us to his office. It was great to see him and we had a quick catch up and took some photos.
After a stroll through New Zealand and Samoa the kids were once again starving, so we headed to the dinner buffet. The hall that they do this in is absolutely incredible. We had purchased the "most economical option", so the buffet was not as incredible as the hall, but it was still good. The mashed potatoes were particularly delicious and the rolls were obviously all freshly cooked. They also had a salad/fruit buffet and a dessert buffet that contained the famous pineapple bars and some mochi.
We still had an hour before the night show, so we drove out to Laie Point, which was cold and windy, so we did not stay more than a few minutes. Reid wanting to go climbing on the rocks in the dark was also good incentive to leave.
We then made a quick stop at the Hawaii temple visitors center where we recreated another photo from 10 years ago.
The night show at the PCC was great. It has changed and is more of a story now that they have written to incorporate dances from all of the different islands. At the end the fire knife dancers came out and they were awesome. Even Reid was impressed, and he had spent most of the evening critiquing costumes.
By the end of the show I was fading fast, had a raging headache and couldn't wait to get into bed. We made plans with Tammie to meet at Swap meet in the morning and headed home. I had a bit of a sad moment in the car as I remembered the last time we drove back from the PCC.
Day 17 - Ships and shopping
We had agreed to meet Tammie and her kids at 10am at the Swap Meet. This never happened for a few reasons.First, as we headed towards the Aloha Stadium, police cars had blocked off the main highway that we were planning to use to get there. Our map redirected us to another road which was the really long way around.
Speaking of a map, Dallas asked Reid this morning whether he was bringing a backpack and he said "I'm not Dora, I don't need to take a backpack everywhere".
This longer road also turned out to be riddled with roadworks, and we arrived at the Aloha Stadium at 10:40. We arrived with approximately 5000 other cars, which meant that we quite literally drove around the entire stadium before finding any empty car parks. By this time we thought it was not worth going in for 5 minutes so we continued on to Pearl Harbor. Apparently there were also an unlimited number of entrances so it is unlikely that we would have met at the same entrance even if we had made it there. It looked a lot bigger than I remembered it.
At Pearl Harbor I think we sounded a bit looney in our car as we attempted to find a park. "Quick, stalk that family" "quick, indicate" "no, that's our park, don't you dare!"
We found one eventually and went into the ticketing area. You cannot take any bags at all into the Pearl Harbor precinct, so you have to carry your wallet and phone and then any of the tickets and papers that they give you, so if you go, wear something with pockets.
We had prebooked tickets, which I highly recommend, and also had paid $7.50 for the self guided audio tour, which was awesome. If you do it, I would recommend starting the audio tour about 1.5hrs before your actual booking time.
The audio tour gjves you extra commentary as you go through the two sort of mini museums, which cover the lead up to the Pearl Harbor attack, the day itself, and the aftermath. I found it quite enthralling and learned quite a bit. One thing I learned was that most of the civilians that died were killed by friendly fire - anti aircraft fire that landed in Honolulu. I was also interested to learn that a radar picked up the aircraft but sadly it was discounted as incoming American planes. I think they also said that there were 150,000 people of Japanese descent living in Hawaii at the time, and their lives changed drastically afterwards.
We did the USS Arizona tour, which consists of a movie and then a short boat ride out to the memorial. This is a white structure from which you can look down at the ship on the water. Small amounts of oil still leak from the ship, and you can see this on the surface.
There was an information sign showing that even after the war, when men died who had served on the Arizona, they could choose to have their ashes deposited in the ship, to be with their ship mates forever.
I remember last time I came wondering what it would be like to come here as a Japanese tourist. I felt this time that they did a pretty good job of presenting a balanced account of what happened, and mourning the dead without creating a super villain out of an entire country. I did think it was interesting that a small part of the museum dealt with how life changed in Japan after the war, and there was even the story of the girl who died of Leukemia after Hiroshima who made all of the paper cranes.
Unfortunately the rain did not let up today, so our planned hike of Diamond Head was discarded in favour of shopping at PearlRidge shopping center - a mall so big it needs a monorail to get between buildings.
I found the Hawaiian ring that I have been looking for (from Royal Hawaiian Heritage Jewellery 30% off), Dallas found new sunglasses that he has been hunting for, Reid hit the games shop and Megan got lost in some clothes shop called pac sun. Tammie got Cinnabon to share and there was much rejoicing.
We are hoping for better weather tomorrow as it is Tammie's last day and Tiara really wants to go surfing. The north shore in winter is out of the question, so we will try one of the south shore beaches.
I picked up some tinned soup for my dinner tonight as I was really feeling like something simple and warm. It has hit the spot. Reid had cereal and Dallas and Megan have gone searching for their supper. Tonight will be the first night since I got sick that I won't need meds to kill a monster headache at bedtime, so that is a big step in the right direction. Those who I showed my med kit to laughed, but it has paid off.
Day 18 - Sights and Surf
I woke up at 2am this morning and had to take more medication. Getting tired of whatever this is. Luckily I got back to sleep.We were up again at 6 getting ready to go. We needed to allow an hour to get to Diamond Head where we were meeting Tammie, Jay and Tiara at 8:30am.
It costs $5 to park at Diamond Head, or $1 per person if you walk in. I recommend getting there early to get a park and beat the heat. Even today in the middle of winter and before 9am, we were quite warm.
Diamond Head is a volcano crater that now contains a visitor center and the beginning of the walk to the crater rim.
The beginning of the walk is not too bad, but the 0.8 mile trail ends in some killer stairs. I wasn't sure how I would go and near the end I was hoping that I wouldn't need my ventolin puffer. We made it to the top and were rewarded with a spectacular view up and down the coast. I thought it was also interesting that they used some of the old war battery tunnels as part of the trail.
After a rest on the top enjoying the view, we headed back down. Just like Reid had to rush up to be first to the top, he and Tiara powered ahead of us on the way back down.
After a stop at a running shoes shop for Tiara, our next objective was a beach where Tiara could surf and the others could have a play with the boogie boards. After driving up and down Waikiki we stumbled on Kahanamoku beach at Ala Wai harbor. It looked like a lot of locals were surfing there, and there was an enclosed lagoon right behind it in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
There happened to be a guy there that seemed to be sending beginner surfers out and he had a huge pile of surf boards, so Tammie was able to get boards from him for Tiara and Jay. The break was quite far from the shore, but the water was reasonably shallow. They headed out and Reid paddled out in the same direction on the boogie board.Jay and Reid came back after a while and went with Megan to swim in the lagoon. Tiara was clearly enjoying herself as she stayed out for quite a while. I am told that the hike and the surf made this the best day ever. I am very glad that the weather cleared for their last day here.
Of course everyone was starving when they finished in the water, so we found sustenance at the Kahala Mall.
To finish off the day, we drove out east along the south coast. It was too late in the day to snorkel but we stopped for a look at Hanauma Bay. It is as gorgeous as ever. We couldn't figure out what was with the wild cats roaming around though.
On the way we saw the trail up Koko head. Reid thinks he is keen but I am not sure I would survive that one while still sick.
The last stop for the day was the Halona blowhole. More like a hiccup, it was a bit disappointing, however just down to the right is eternity beach, which is stunning and contained lots of rocks for Reid to channel his inner mountain goat.
There was also a cave, which I assume is a lava tube, and we made it almost all the way through before the ceiling got too low. It contained some lovely island sized cockroaches.
This was the end of the road for today, and for our few days with Tammie, Jay and Tiara. They were heading back to their house to pack as they have an early flight tomorrow morning. It was great to spend this time with them. The kids all got along so well and ours at least enjoyed some new travelling companions for a few days.
As I write, we are heading back to Thrifty so they can add me as a driver for tomorrow while Dallas goes diving. So inconvenient, they really need to improve their systems. I think it will be another night of soup and early to bed for me.
Day 19 - A Glimpse into Hawaiian History
The original plan today was that we would all get up at 5:30 am, drop Dallas at the harbor for his dive, have some breakfast and then spend the day in town until he was finished.What actually happened was that I woke up at 2, took more meds, couldn't sleep until 4:30, so when he woke at 5:30 I told him to just take the car.
When I finally felt like getting out of bed, I decided to take TheBus as it is called on Oahu to town to see the Iolani Palace. Megan was keen to come but Reid wanted to stay behind. He was still in bed when we left.
We used Google maps to locate the bus stop. What passes for a bus stop is a picture of a bus nailed to a tree. There are no bus route numbers etc. It was also raining, which made it extra fun when the bus was late.While we were standing there waiting, one local drove past with his window down and wished us happy holidays. When we could finally see the bus coming up the street, another local put her window down and asked if we were waiting for the bus, because this was not a stop? Nothing much we could do by then as the bus was 3 cars behind her. Either she was wrong or the bus driver was nice to us, because he stopped. $2.50 gets you a one way fare, which in this case was a one hour trip into town.
We spent the trip watching Cheapest Weddings on Netflix on Megan's phone.
We managed to disembark in what appeared to be one of the more dodgy parts of town. Had to give Megan the full local experience!
Iolani Palace was great. I am glad I finally made it there. $15 entry gets you an Audio tour which is powered by an iPod. It shows you a numbered floor map and directs you as you move from room to room. Before entering you also have to put on shoe covers to protect the floor.
The palace was built in 1882. Most of the furnishings were removed when it was later used as an office building but they have done a lot of work in retrieving, restoring and re-creating furniture, fittings, carpets, drapes etc. I loved the level of detail in everything, even the etchings in the door hinges.
The throne room was sumptuous, and the dresses on display were amazing. I found it very interesting that there was not a lot of evidence of Hawaiian culture in the furnishings, rather there were huge portraits of European monarchs and lots of medals etc from other countries. Apparently this was how relations were promoted between countries - trading portraits and medallions etc. There was also a room talking about how the monarchy joined the freemasons to build better ties with other countries. I got the impression that it was very important to the Hawaiian monarchs to be accepted by the other monarchs of the world.
Something else of note was that they were very progressive, and had the palace electrified before Buckingham Palace was even electrified. They also built in indoor plumbing. I heard something about an invitation to Edison but can't remember exactly what they said.
Upstairs is the bedroom that Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned in after the monarchy was overthrown.
In a stroke of excellent timing Dallas finished his dive at the same time that we were finishing at the palace, so he came and picked us up and we headed home, where we found Reid still in bed at 4:30pm!
Day 20 - Circle Island Adventure
What a beautiful day we were lucky enough to have on our last day here.Months ago I had booked a family photo seasion with Levon Basso. He asked us to meet him at Lanikai beach this morning before sunrise.
This meant getting up at 5:30am and hitting the road by 6:20. Lucky we left early as we ran into yet another road closed by police on the way and had to detour. This seems to happen frequently here.
With the photos being on a beach, we encouraged Reid to ditch his shoes but he was not in favour of that idea, so he came out onto the beach boots and all.
The tide was in when we arrived so we had to sort of run the gauntlet along the sea wall in between waves in order to get to the dry sand.
We spent half an hour posing for photos as the sun slowly rose. It is a gorgeous spot and I am looking forward to seeing the photos.
The plan for today was a circle island tour.
Back in my student days we would catch the 55 bus which was also known as the circle island bus. Today we were driving with our trusty Shaka guide.
We headed north past Kualoa ranch and Chinamans Hat which we had already seen, and spent a couple of hours roaming around Laie, which is where I lived for 4 years.I had a couple of emotional moments, reliving memories and imagining things we used to do. My first dorm was Hale 5 and it has been renovated and turned into a boys dorm. Hale 1 is units with kitchens. It still looks the same. I was able to sneak a peak into my old unit through the kitchen window. They have replaced the kitchen but otherwise it looks the same. I remembered how Levi used to come to my bedroom window here to see if we wanted to hang out.
We also drove past the house that I used to live in off campus.
Hukilau beach was another spot that brought back memories. Dallas was hungry and the food trucks all started shortly after Laie but the lines were huge.
As we went further north we saw more and more surfers, stopping at Pounders, Sunset and Pipeline beaches. At one beach just before Laie we saw a Hawaiian monk seal. The erosion is so bad at sunset that they have had to cordon off the walkway for fear it will collapse. Pipeline had the most surfers and we watched them do their thing for quite a while. We could also see a whale breaching in the distance.
We made a stop at an old heiau where they used to do human sacrifices, then drove through Haleiwa which was pretty much unrecognizable to me. We used to drive up there for pizza. The traffic now would make that a painful drive.
The last stop was at the Dole plantation, where we enjoyed a delicious dole whip each. Reid was keen to tackle the maze, but it was already 4:30.
After a quick stop at the house to change we went to Windward Mall for dinner and to see Jumanji. This is another of my old haunts that I do not recognize at all!
We ended up at Regal cinemas where every seat in every theatre is a luxury recliner. Best cinema ever!
Tomorrow we head home. This has been an awesome trip and I have very much enjoyed revisiting so many places from my past, and showing them to my family. I think I will always feel a connection to Hawaii and hope to return again.
You will have such a great time, we loved being back! Levi was a wonderful little brother to us all. I so appreciated all of you - it helped so much when I was far away from my family. Have a wonderful time, enjoy the memories and enjoy the times with your kids!
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