Big Breakfast, Grommets and Barneys

We headed out the door nice and early for an American breakfast; omlettes with a side of pancakes, crabcakes with a side of potatoes and waffles and pancakes with enormous towers of whipped cream.  Delicious but impossible to finish..

After that we walked over the road to Waikiki Beach.  Scott, Holly and James decided to get their first surfing lesson.  A gnarly bronzed instructor who looked like he'd been surfing for the last 40 years was their instructor.  About 10 mins instruction on shore and then they headed out on their long boards.  They all managed to get up and ride the waves and had a great time.

Middayish we headed back for lunch, afternoon passed with packing for tomorrow's flight home and the daily swim in the pool.  Hamburgers on the deck for our final meal in Hawaii.  We have our limo booked for 5:45am tomorrow so it will be an early start.

Its been a fabulous 10 days and we have loved Hawaii. 

A Very Lazy Day

Holly writes:

Today was just how you would imagine a holiday to be. Waking up when you felt like it, eating breakfast, lounging around, putting on your togs and lathering up in sunscreen. A quick walk to the beach before immersing yourself in the warm water and letting the waves drift over you. But after a couple hours our stomachs began to grumble and we packed up and left, treking sand through the streets of the city.

Peeling off wet clothes, we sat down on the balcony with lunch and ate staring out across the city. A couple chapters of a book and a snooze later, the warm air and slow breeze had dried our togs. Down at the pool the water flickered as the light bounced off it and the cool depths beckoned us. It was a  welcome break from the humid air.

We swim, we play games, we relax in the spa pool. Once it is over we go back to apartment and get ready to go out. Our holiday hobby is happy hour hunting. Today's restaurant of choice was Maui's Brewing Company. A brand that Dad has enjoyed drinking while we have been staying here. We eat chips and tater tots and pork belly bao.

Once home we watch a few episodes on the complimentary Netflix and hug each other good night. The end of our holiday looms, but its OK, we still have one more day. 

Hanauma bay for the day!!!!!!!!!

Emma Writes

 Today we went to Hanauma bay. Hanauma bay is the most popular snorkelling bay. They allow up to 3 thousand people a day! The fees for getting a park is 1 dollar but you have to pay more to get in the bay. When you get in you have a time on your ticket and that is the time the movie. The movie is about how to protect the bay.

I did not go snorkelling because I was scared that one of the vicious sea creatures would hurt me.  But the others all went out and they said it was great.

After swimming we had lunch.  There were lots of weasels at the beach. When Mum and I  went to get my clothes on we saw a cat. Once we finished lunch we had to climb all the way up the hill to get to the car park. Right at the bottom we saw two fluffy kittens and their mother. On the way up we saw  people on the tram. Holly James and I wished we were on the tram.  The fees for the tram is $1.25 per person.  In total for all five of us  it would have been $6.25.       

That night we went out to dinner at the Yardhouse.  James and I had pizza and Holly had mac n cheese.  For dessert we had ice cream and James had a oreo and rice crispy pudding.  After dinner we saw a hula show which told stories about the king and queen of Hawaii and had two men doing dances and two women.                                                                                         

Awesome day at wet and wild

James Writes


Today we took a hour trip in the car to go to Wet'n'Wild. When we got to the gates we payed over 200 american $ to get in. We worked our way around 12 rides. Our favorite 3 rides were the volcano ride wich is where you ride down a bendy slide racing each other. Our other favorite was the tornado you go down a big drop in a four person in to a swirling cone of water. Our other favorite is the shaka witch is where you drop down a 7 meter  nearly vertical drop.

 After lunch we just chilled at the water playground for the rest of the day.

 For dinner we went to the roof and had hotdogs. We wanted to see the fireworks on the beach but they were hidden behind a building so we could only see part of them.

Pinapple Plantation Exploration

Holly writes:



I took a deep breath, the sweet aroma filled my nose and my tummy grumbled. I opened my eyes to a sea of yellow. We were at Dole's Plantation of everything from pineapples to cacao to avocado. The air was humid and warm and we were eager and ready for today's adventure.



Through the gift shop we were offered a sample of fresh cut pineapple. As we munched we lined up for the train ride. 20 minutes learning about the many foods in their different stages of growth. The train, dubbed ‘Pineapple Express’, even had its own theme song written by a local artist.



After we got off the train we found the maze. It is the Guiness World Records Book as the largest maze in 2008. It had eight different boards inside the maze each explaining one of Hawai’i’s unique islands. For the average person it took an hour but we aced it in 43 minutes.



We jumped back into the car and headed for the north side of the island. It was rumoured to have the best waves and the best shaved ice. We picnicked beside a beach and almost got changed until we saw a very interesting sign.



‘Shark Spotted’ it read. We put our belongings in the car and went to investigate. There were many people on the sand but none in the water. The only people were those jumping off rocks into the water and quickly getting out again.



We got back into the car and drove along the coast. Unfortunately all of the beaches we considered had the same sign up. Not exactly ideal mode for a beach swim so we settled with a quick look at a scenic beach and headed into a small town.



In the town a shop called Wili Wili’s sold humongous shaved ice, and for much less than it was on the water front. We savoured the delicious flavours and drove back home.



As per every day in Hawai’i we went for a swim in the pool before dinner. We dried off after 45mins and headed up to the apartment. The wind was blowing more than usual, so we traded a barbeque on the roof for udon noodles at the restaurant down the road.



They had those airport dividers up as though they were expecting a line. We were only lined up for about five minutes before we ordered and picked up our meals. By the time we were finished eating, the line stretched the length of the building and then snaked back again.



We stopped on the way home at an ABC store. These shops are so frequent you would not be surprised if you saw more than one on the same block. We each picked out a souvenir item and a gift for a cousin whose birthday may be coming up…



Just like every night the temperature was about 24 degrees as we strolled home. We sit on the balcony every night and gaze at the lights of the buildings framed against the night sky. This is where I sit as I write this, the warm breeze drifting its way round the island and the yawns of sleepy explorers who need a good night’s sleep.

The Day America Joined The War

James Writes:

Today we had to get up super early and hop into the car because Mum wanted us to get to Pearl harbour when it opened so we were bound to get tickets. The first thing we did was go and queue up for the movie. once we got inside we sat down and wached a 30minute movie with some footage of WW2 bombing in Pearl harbour.

When the movie was over we went to see the SS Arizona memorial and all the names of the 1,177 people that died on the USS Arizona. When we got back to mainland we went and looked at all of the types of missiles and torpedos after that we took a fascinating audio tour around a submarine. Imagine sleeping above some torpedoes!!!!!

When we finished that we went to the museum the museum was super boring. Once we were finished with that we hopped on a shuttle and went to see the USS Missouri the ship that the Japanese surrendered on.

When we got back from that we went to a man made lagoon at Ko Olino and went snorkeling and had a swim for 2 hours. We drove back to the apartments and we went for a quick swim to rinse off our salt, when we came back home we had pizza and watched a movie.  For dessert we had apple pie with cream.

Shop Till Ya Drop WOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Emma Writes

Today Dad went out with Holly to get the car we are renting for 5 days. The man said Dad coud not have the car because Dad had no ID or Licence. In the end Dad had to go back to the apartment and search for his wallet. When Dad finally found his wallet Holly was to tired to go all the way back and Dad was alone. POOR DAD:( :(  When Dad finally got the car we went all the way out to the Waikele outlet store. The car was a black beauty. It had super nice air conditioning and had that screen that was in the car and it showed you what was behind you without having to look backwards. AWESOME SAUCE!!!!!!!!

It took ages to get to Waikele outlet store. We went shopping for clothes. Dad bought 3 t-shirts,1 pair of shorts, two pairs of jeans,1 pair of shoes,3 pairs of undies and 2 sweatshirts. In total Dad got 10 bits of clothes.I bought 1 pink , sparkly skirt, 2 tops, 1 pair of pjs,2 pairs of shoes , 2 pairs of leggings and 1 pair of grey sparkly tights. In total I got 10 bits of clothing. Dad and I got the most bits of clothing.

After shopping we went and had lunch. We had chinese. The serving was big enough for 2 people. The drinks were MASSIVE. Mum and I had Fruit Punch which actually tasted like candy pop and dad and James had Sprite. Holly got her own drink which was Apple Juice. Holly got her own drink because she does not like fizzy and her drink was small. Later we went and got ice creams from Mcdonalds. James got a caramel frappe but it turned out the frappe had coffee so James did not want it so Mum had it. Dad got a small vanilla soft serve. I got a chocolate sundae. Holly got a banana and strawberry smoothie. To me banana and stawberry smoothie sounded gross.

For dinner we went up to the roof and had burgers. On the roof was a mini kitchen with a mini fridge it did not have food in it. If you walk a bit you will see 2 bbqs we used one of them to cook the meat patties and the burger buns. While Dad was cooking dinner Holly James and I played interviews. one of us would be the interviewer and the others were the contestants. First one of them would come and the interviewer would interview them and see if they could be their butler.  

That is what we did on 26 th of September