Aloha

Lava flows
see more photos »

We had a surprise Lei welcome from Paul (Lizzi's brother) when we arrived at the airport, a Lei is a tradition necklace of flowers presented as a gretting or worn at feasts or special occasions.   And a very welcome dinner cooked for us too which saved cooking with jet lag! Our first hostel was right by the university where Taoata (our sister-in-law) is studying unforunately our first few days greeted us with a lot of rain!  Due to the mountains it can be dry and hot  in one area and wet only a few streets away in Hawaii.

cinder cone on Mauna Loa
see more photos »

First to excape the rain we explored Diamond head an extinct volcanic crater which when you climb the steep ascent rewards you with good views of Waikiki.  Next day was a trip to Pearl Harbour and the Arizona memorial.  If you ever go there don't bother with the audio tour we both found it really irritating and repeated everything that you saw in the introductory film.  We followed that with a trip to the aquarium which was very good and has the rare monkseal,  we hadn't finished looking by closing time!

The coldest place I have ever been..... it was pretty hot!

lizzi resting on our 7 hour hike...
see more photos »

Day 3 was our christmas present from Ian we got up at 4.45am to drive to the west of the island and catch a boat to snorkel with spinner dolphins.  These dolphins can only be found in the wild and literally jump and spin out of the water, it was pretty awesome.  Unfortunately we didn't spot any whales we spent too long on the dolphins so instead we were taken to another bay to snorkel and spotted 5 sea turtles!!  Not tired enough by that we hiked up to Manoa falls playing at being in 'Lost' along the way.

...through this sort of terrain
see more photos »

Saturday Taoata used her contacts!!  To get us all into the Polynesian Cultural Centre for free, if you ever go to Oahu definitely splash out on this place.  You experience dances, and traditions of Polynesian cultures from New Zealand, Marqueses, Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Hawaii all topped off with an evening show with dance and fire.  We learnt how to open a coconut and make fire with it, dance Tahitian style and Hula, play games and music. After that Sunday was a day of rest we went to church had sunday roast with Paul and Taoata and chilled on the beach and watched Hula in Waikiki.

paul (lizzi's brother)before he lost his wedding ring
see more photos »

Day 6 Taoata introduced Lizzi to the best shopping which later became our place to moach around and do nothing on our chill out days, by the end of the trip we knew where to get a free massage and where to get the best freebie tasters or cup of tea.  We all went out for chinese but as Lizzi didn't have her ID she wasn't allowed a drink even though the waiter thought we were all about 30??!!

After all that chilling we needed to burn some energy so Nick planned a 61/2 hour hike over 2 mountains.  The ridge along the top was beautiful and the scenery was constantly changing due to the various climates on each side of the mountain.  We even had a couple of show and tells from some primary kids along the way who wanted to show us what they had learnt about the plants.

Taoata finds the ring!
see more photos »

Day 8 we visited Kailua bay which is a lovely white sand beach and kayaked along the beaches and to some off shore islands, thus completing our full body workout! Day 9 we rested and day 10 we went to the Bishops museum which is dedicated to all things Polynesian and also has some Kiribati artefacts. The next weekend Paul and Taoata joined us in staying at a guest house on the north east shore of Oahu.  We spent our days doing more  hiking.   Paul was pretty miffed that  the trails that we wanted to follow were closed.  On the second  hike  Paul  lost his  wedding ring swimming  in the river  after  1/2  hour  of  trying to fish it out  superwoman  Taoata  dived down  and fished it up.   There were more mosquitos  than we'd ever seen in our life before they made loads of noise and Nick was swollen and red all over as they love his blood.  But it was worth it for an excellent nights sleep! Our last week in Hawaii, we took a trip to the north shore to sunset beach and Waimea bay and falls, this is where you have all the massive waves and the top surfers surf, its too dangerous to swim here but the beaches are great.

Nick takes his trousers off
see more photos »

We also took a 2 night trip to the big island of Hawaii.  The first day was spent on the observatory tour, we went to the top of Mauna Kea above the clouds  where the top state  of the art telescopes  in the  world are located.  It was  the coldest place we have ever  been in our lives, winds with a -50 degree wind chill factor, but excellent for star gazing.

The second day was brilliant we started off by eating a big breakfast american stylee in a booth, then went on the volcano Mauna Kilauea this volcano is ready to blow any time soon, its a slow flowing volcano so it won't be spouting up into the air or throwing ash.  We trekked over the old lava flows first to an open lava tube where the yellow lava was flowing through fast (2100 degrees farenheit).  We then left the slower members of the group to rest and we went with the guide and one other man almost jogging to search for fresh lava flows.  It got pretty hot but it was worth it.  The red lava cools to 900 degrees farenheit when it comes in contact with the air, we watched it ooze and flow covering over where we were walking.  We got stuck inbetween 2 fresh flows so had to hop skip it pretty quick back.  We managed to take a layer of rubber off the bottom of our shoes!  At night where the lava flows into the sea it lights up the night sky, we finished off with a walk through an old lava tube in the dark, it was like going on night hikes at camp! All this activity and still no surfing?  Well on our return we visited one of the prettiest beaches on Oahu, Hanuma bay where we went snorkelling, you can see pretty amazing fish in shallow water and Paul and Taoata joined us in the evening for a new restaurant concept for us, a Japanese BBQ where you cook your food (even your dessert) on a little grill in the centre of the table. Yes on our final day we had surfing lessons on Waikiki beach, and we both managed to stand up.

Dragonfly, cool eh?
see more photos »

Hawaii gets  the thumbs up but Waikiki was a little too touristy for us.   If  we  were to return a trip to Maui  would be  good  and we felt  we had done most  of what we wanted to do.  I don't think we would come back unless Paul and Taoata were still here.