Valentines Day - 14th February

We wake up after a huge wind storm. I had been up for hours during the night wondering if our cabin would still be standing.  We awoke and packed as we had a 2pm flight. So we knew it was a 50 minutes drive to the airport so a 9am departure for a 2pm flight we would have heaps of time to spare.  Right?

First stop to our favourite coffee shop. The only coffee shop in the North Shore with real coffee in Haleiwa. The line up is about to the door. We are not used to the weekend rush. We wanted coffee so we decided to line up.

Next stage – getting to the airport. Great we are in traffic. Going very slow. I still have to the drop the camera charger off which is about a 15 minute detour. Finally after going very slow we came to the source of the problem. A four car pile up.  As usual most of the stop and start slow moving traffic was a result of all the rubbernecks stopping on the way past for a gawk!

We drop the camera charger back. We have about an hour and a half. I tell Jas to go to the wrong spot to drop the car rental back. Ok, we are cutting in fine. Shortly after Jas finds the right spot. We get back to the Honolulu airport on the rental car shuttle bus. I can not tell you what a disaster this place is. We check our luggage in with an hour to our flight takes off. Self check in. We find out where we have to go to fly to Maui. We dropped our bags off to a man who was just stacking bags up. “I’ll be surprised if we see them again” I said to Jas. He put Jas’ bag right up the front and left mine there next to him. So then we jump in a line to show a girl our plane ticket to get through to the carry on bag check-in. Well there were people everywhere. Lined up outside the airport door. We jumped in the smallest line. After standing there for 10 minutes a airport employee tells me that we have to move as we are standing in the first class line. “We are going to miss our plane. I am not changing line”. So she comes back and tries to make us move again. The battle of the wills has started (part 1). Well for the people that know me would know that I am always polite but she and several others would have had to physically drag me out of the line. I was making this flight!

So we got through made it to our gate with 15 minutes left. Then our flight was delayed for 30 minutes. I was starving.  We got onto the plane. Only a 40 minute flight right, well 2 hours later we were still in the air. They had made two attempts to land but the weather was so bad they had to abort the landing twice. I thought this is it. I was in brace position due to the turbulence and the fact that I thought I was doomed.  We landed safely. Jas thanked the pilot on the way off the plane.

We collected our bags and got on the shuttle bus to pick up our hire car. So we get to the hire car place and the line is banked up a mile long with about a 40 minute wait.  We finally get our car and off we go to Kaanapali. Except the traffic was banked up again. Plus the guy in front of us was driving with his hand out the window the whole way to Kaanapali (40 minutes). I was experiencing road rage! I wanted Jason to ram his car. Luckily Jas didn’t listen to me.

We arrived at the hotel stressed out. Then the lady behind the counter tells us we can’t receive the AAA discount rate. But I have emailed and asked if NRMA is part of AAA and you guys said yes. The AAA logo is on the back of the NRMA membership card. Battle of the wills started again – Part 2.

Check in – “ yes but reservations are separate to us, we are check in, did reservations physically see the card when you made the booking?”

Me – “No but I have an email trace” How could they physically see it, I live in Australia.

Check in – “but your NRMA card numbers don’t fit into the place I need to put the AAA number in, we can’t do it”

Me – “ I emailed and asked and I was told it was ok”

Check in – “I will have to see my manager…. Ok as a once off we will give you the AAA discount”

Ok, but don’t act like you’re doing me a favour. This day was the worst.

Jason:- Babe I could see you were getting really annoyed with that lady, I’ve never seen you like that before!

On a high note the day got better. We had an amazing dinner, the best so far. I had slow cooked beef with homemade tagitelle, Jas had a steak that was cooked to perfection. Our entrees were calamari with fresh jalapeno and ricotta and corn ravioli in pesto sauce. We got sat at the front of the restaurant as it was Valentines Day. I just have to go back to this restaurant it was called, “Maui Fish and Pasta”.  Better still It’s located in a shopping Mall called the ‘Whalers Village’ about a two minute walk from our Hotel. It was too good.

We walked out of the restaurant and into a jewellery shop and found Jas’ wedding ring, which we both love. The ring itself is made up of titanium, Australian black opal and Hawaiian Hardwood. This ring is meant to represent the Earth and Sea. We are just going to think about it for a couple of days to see if this is the right ring as he is going to be wearing it for a long time!!!!!!!!.  After this we had a short stroll back to our Hotel and hit the fart-sack!  The end of a long day.

Also happy birthday to my favourite teenage nephew Will. Jas and I love you!

Last day on the North Shore - 13th February

Today we just wanted to relax and enjoy our last day on the north shore. We wanted to sleep in so we went for our walk in the afternoon up to Sunset Beach.  Surf report, about 12 ft, messy with cross shore winds, a few guys out at pipe and the world tour SUP still persisting at sunset beach!

We woke up and had breakfast and drove down to Haleiwa for coffee at the Gallery. I also bought a pair of thongs. They are so nice. I am actually glad that I lost my other ones. 

We decided to have an early lunch and went to Teds Bakery at Sunset Beach. Oh my goodness, the servings were massive and so cheap. That’s why the place is always busy. I ordered Katsu chicken, which came with two serves of rice and mac salad. Jas had a BBQ pulled pork roll with chips.  Plus Jas bought a slice of upside down pineapple cake for later.  Well, surprise surprise  I couldn’t even eat half of my lunch.  

It kept raining lightly intermittently so we decided to go back to our beach at Shark Cove so we had an escape route if it rained lots.  So we parked up in our double hammock on the beach. It was so relaxing as we watched and listened to the waves roll in.

There are rock pools at Shark cove so I jumped in the rock pool. Of course from what I have come to know about Hawaii, even a little rock pool can be a little dangerous. Before I knew it, one of the 20 foot waves had rolled in and flash flooded my rock pool. I jumped up once again fearing death. Jas laughed and then joined me in my little rock pool. It was better when he was in it because he sat closer to the waves. I started to get the idea of which waves would reach the rock pool and which ones would be ok.  I felt truly blessed to have found this rock pool as I haven’t had much swimming time in the North Shore because of the big waves and shore break.

 Around sunset we grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and watched the sun set and the many shades of pink the sunset had created.  It was amazing as there were also rain storms out to see and over the mountains behind us. What a great time we had had in this amazing location.

There was no dinner for us tonight as we had really eaten too much at Teds Bakery.  We had some left over BBQ chicken, dips and biscuits, so we ate them and watched the end of Dirty Dancing.  We also shared a few more beers and a bottle Pinot Grigio which was from the Californian vineyard of Francis Ford Coppola the movie director.  This wine was surprisingly nice as Jason or I had not tasted too many Californian wines before. It was truly a relaxing day.

The day of the lost thongs

Today we woke up at 9am again. I am loving holidays. We walked up to Sunset Beach. Walked past Pipe on the way through, Pipe was about 10-12 ft, pretty messy with only 4 or 5 boogie boarders out. Sunset was also about 10-12ft and pretty messy and lumpy. At the moment Sunset Beach is hosting a World Tour event for Stand Up Paddle boards (SUPS).  There were more boards being snapped in half than waves being ridden, very heavy testing conditions out there! Not sure if it is the same for all of Hawaii but their are wild chickens and roosters roaming every where on the North Shore. Just thought you might like to know that? We walked approximately 10 kms this morning. I was really feeling it. We went to the coffee shop after and ordered a large flat white. We love sharing our large flat whites now and as a bonus it works out a lot better economically (or are we just a couple of tight buggers).

We had our usual breakfast of muesli, yogurt and fruit with our shared coffee back at our apartment. Today we decided to go for a drive to explore the rest of the island. I just had to go for a swim. I had been here for four days and had not yet have a swim. I decided I would drive today. It was pretty easy. Mind you I was driving in a one car lane the whole time. Jason mentioned I was a little close to hitting some wizz bins at one stage but he does stretch the truth. We decided to head east. The scenery was amazing with huge shear mountains to our right and beautiful ocean to our left. Is was spectacular. 

First stop was Turtle Bay which is the resort just north of where we are staying. There are two beautifully manicured golf courses here.  The resort had its own beach which looked like it had been man made by building a break wall down one side and sand thrown in the middle along with a restaurant/cafe. Finally I could swim, it was a little bit cool just at that moment, so we didn't go in! The waves were flat and it was also a public beach. We thought lets keep driving and keep exploring. We walked around the resort. It was nice but really busy. The pool had a big water slide. Maybe tomorrow. 

We had a snack of corn on the cobb. So good. A good profit was made by the vendor I am sure at $4 a pop. I thought of you Bel!

We kept driving south down the East coast. I couldn't help but think that this is a poorer area.  I couldn't imagine a lot of employment in these areas and lots of signs were up saying that they did not want development.  We came across the first stop which was the most beautiful beach called Sandy Beach Park. The water was crystal clear, it looked perfect and very unassuming. Yes, I could finally swim, their was only what looked like a small shore break. I could do it. Off I run to finally have my first swim.

I swam out to get past the one wave. It was a little bit bigger than I thought. So I swam out some more. Yes perfect. Then I look around to see where Jas was. He was about 10 meters behind me, I was swimming out there with one other girl who also looked nervous  So I went to swim in to Jas. I wasn't going anywhere. I swam and swam but I was not moving. Goodness. The wave was also bigger than I had realised. Between 4 - 5 foot. Ok I knew what I had to do. Just get on a wave and worst case scenario get dumped on to the shore, better than drowning as it was really tiring. I went to catch a wave. It was so big but I had to do it. I moved a couple of meters on it but couldn't catch it in. Ok catch another, same thing it just moved me, luckily towards Jas but I couldn't catch it in. Then I caught another. I made it to Jas. So then all I had to deal with was getting back to shore. I ran out in-between waves but the current of the water dragged me back in. I then had to deal with the wave behind me. Ok this time I was not giving in. I was going to get to the shore. I did it. Jas told me later he wouldn't have let me drown. Good to know. Jas stayed in the beach for about 15 minutes. 

When Jas got out of the water he said that one of the locals told him that this was the No.1 beach in Hawaii where spinal injuries occurred due to the shore break. Lucky I didn't know that I would have really been panicked then. I was so glad not to have a spinal injury!

So we grabbed our stuff and walked back to the car. Jas had my thongs and put them next to me at the car so I could step straight in them. What a gentleman but I did not see them so I lost the first pair of thongs for the day. We drove off without them.  When we came back they were gone!

We drove to a national park called Hanauma Bay. It looked beautiful. You had to pay $7.50 to get in and it was 430pm by this time so we decided we will come back as it quite close to Waikiki. You can snorkel all day there. 

On the way home we stopped at some lookouts. All very impressive.

For dinner we ate from Giovannis food truck. They sell shrimp which is meant to be famous. We had the chilli shrimp (very hot, no refunds) and garlic shrimp with rice. Delicious. 

 Half way through dinner we realised the cars light was on. I borrowed Jas thongs and finally found the light switch in the car and turned them off. I walked back and finished dinner. We left to go home and when we got home Jas said he would go buy a few beers and asked me if he could have his thongs back. "What? I don't have them". Well Jas thought I still had them on but I left them next to him at the table so I lost two pairs of thongs in one day. It was about a 20 minute drive back to Giovannis and Jas said he wasn't going back as the shrimp truck was shut. I said I would go but he said he is not driving that distance for lost thongs that may or may not be there. He was gone for about an hour. Surely I thought he has gone to get his thongs. Luckily he did as they were still sitting on the ground next to the table. Regardless of my zest for losing thongs Jason has decided that he will look past this short coming and will happily spend the rest of his life as my side kick.

The day of the Polynesian Dance - Wednesday

Having such a great time. Today the weather is amazing. We woke up at 9am. Holiday bliss. We walked up to Waimea Bay. The waves were about the same size as the day before, about 15ft with no one out!  Still very messy and bumpy. On the way back we decided to get a coffee. Jas wanted to go to the same shop. He had to tell them how to make coffee. So Jas went in and explained to them that yesterday we bought cappuccinos and they were half full of froth. 

Barista "Yes that is what a cappuccino is". 

Me - "no a cappuccino is a little bit of froth with chocolate on top"

Barista - " no thats a mocha latte"

Hmm not convinced

Jas -  'We like our coffee with an expresso shot filled with milk.

Barista - "People are asking for something called a flat white is that what you mean".

Us - "Yes you got it" Over joyed. They were so confused by our conversation and excitement. Jas realised that in moments like this he was just like his mum.

So they make us two flat whites and we are short $2. I suggest we take the coffee and bring the money back later. But of course they were not having a bar of that. Then one of the shop girls suggested we just get a large and share it. So the large is the same milk, coffee and size as two smalls just $3 less, so if we purchase a large we have enough money. I think she just poured the two smaller cups into the large one. That is one thing I have noticed here as if you get a regular size the large is just a little bit more expensive. 

For the rest of the day we embarked on a cultural experience to the Polynesian Cultural centre. The town, Laie is a Mormon town (this is important for another story). There we watched Polynesian dancing for 8 hours. Yes that is right 8 hours. They covered New Zealand, Hawaii, Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji.  Someone recommended the day to me. So basically you would walk around and get different informative shows regarding each Polynesian country which was how people sung, danced and play the drums basically. They also did a canoe gala which was Polynesian dancing on canoes.  

We did try a few different types of food such as coconut bread. We have the recipe so we can make it with the kids. 

Then we went to a luau. So we were sat at a table with complete strangers, with no alcohol only soft drink to drink, while we watched more Polynesian dancing and a man sang some songs. The food was nice. A buffet or different meats, salads and taro. There was a pig cooked in an underground oven. The desert included taro bread and butter pudding. I don't actually like bread and butter pudding but this was delicious. 

Following dinner we went to another Polynesian dance show. Called Ha - the breath of life. This had Polynesian dancing and fire dancing. It was a great show but how much Polynesian dancing can you really do in one day? Apparently 8 hours is our maximum! 

Because of the amount of cordial I drank I kept having to go to the toilet. One time I came back and Jas was talking to a worker. We found out that he was a uni student. I thought this is my perfect chance to find out where does everyone drink on the North Shore. I haven't seen a bar yet. I thought there would be young surfers drinking beer and having burgers after their surf. I asked him "Where do you drink at, there are no bars on the North Shore". He said we don't really do that. We could go to Waikiki if that is what we wanted but we would prefer to do things like hikes and riding bikes! Then this 18 - 20 year old said his wife really wants him to go to Australia. The penny dropped. Its a mormon university as well. 

Another time I came back  and Jas was talking to some North Shore young surfers that worked in a skate board shop. They were so cool. There was a girl who was the coolest. She had wet blonde hair which she hadn't brushed and loved surfing and skating. She asked Jas about all his boards and skate boards. They then told him about a local spot to surf at called the gas chambers. He was in with them! When we left she said good bye and did the hang loose sign. I was so impressed by her. 

Finally we drove home exhausted by all that dance. I think Jas and I did the Haka in our sleep that night. If anyone would like Polynesian dance lessons let us know. Mean while we will be teaching Tom and Mel how to assist us in the Polynesian wedding dance.

To the North Shore

So we finally arrived in Honolulu.The flight wasn't too bad at all. Pretty empty actually. As we are flying into the airport we see turtles swimming. I thought "This place is going to be good". We picked up our hire car a red Ford Focus and Jas is driving like an expert. There has only been one time we really couldn't figure which way to turn down so we had to miss our turn and go straight ahead. Very weird indeed driving not only on the wrong side of the road, but in the wrong side of the damn car!


First stop to rent a battery charger for my camera. Success! The drive to the North Shore is about an hour. Lots of mountains and very beautiful especially along the coast line.  The first landmark Jason noticed was the church tower on the headland at Waimea Bay.  We had our first stop just up the road from Waimea for a quick look at Pipeline and Sunset Beach. We made it to our bungalow in Shark Cove, Sunset Beach which is situated between Pipeline and Waimea Bay. It is a two bedroom apartment with a garden view which just happens to be only a 50 meter walk to the beach. So we arrived and the hotel manager tells us we were not actually booked in until Tuesday but apparently everything in Hawaii works out and he had our room already available. I explained to Jas little mistakes like this is how come I became to be so resourceful.

So we put our bags down and went to the beach. Jas went for a swim and was bodysurfing with some young locals but it was too big for me. So I just laid around on the beach doing sudoku. We then went for a walk along the beach towards Pipeline and the wave formations had made lagoons on higher ground up on the beach like swimming pools.  I could swim in these. I wish I had my camera to take a picture as they were so beautiful. I was waste deep sitting down and if a really big wave came it would come through the lagoon like a rapid. I was glad to cool off.  We laid around in a hammock for a while and watched whales fully breeching from the water about 400-500 metres from the shore, it was incredible.

For dinner we went to a Mexican restaurant in Haleiwa called Cholos which was nice. Had a margarita each, but we knew we needed an early night. So came home to lay around and watch some tv. "Better call Saul" from breaking bad tv series was on. I think we both fell asleep several times during the double episode.

Today, Tuesday 10/02/15 we have woken up and went for an hour walk down to Pipeline and then back to one of the local supermarkets called 'Foodland'! We found a coffee shop called the Golden Bean and ordered a cappuccino. Aargh. Full of milk froth and only about an inch of coffee in the bottom. Jas is going to talk to the coffee lady next time to try to sort out which coffee we need to order.  After this experience we walked back home and had oats, granola, yoghurt and banana for breaky.  After breakfast we drove into Haleiwa and exchanged some aussie dollars, exchange rate 0.73 and an $8.00 commission, bugger! We then had our first shaved ice experience at Matsumotos. We ordered pineapple, lemon and coconut. Luckily we decided to share one.

 We stopped on the way home to look at Waimea Bay. The waves were bigger then yesterday about 12-15 foot and really messy with onshore winds! Very dumpy and big shorebreak.  The Waimea point was breaking but only just at this size, needs to be much bigger! Only one person was brave enough to swim, he looked like a local. We went to the supermarket to pick up lunch. We found the fried chicken section in the deli. We asked what some of the chicken pieces were. The lady kept letting us try all different types of chicken.  We were full by the time we left but still felt we had to buy some off her. This place is awesome. We are spending the rest of the day relaxing, maybe more beach and hammock time.

To Sydney airport

So we are officially on holiday. We left home and I quickly realised I left my engagement ring at home. Devastated. I had my toe nails painted red to match my plastic red ring that I cherish so much. It was too late to turn back, we were on our way! Then half way to Sydney I realised I left the computer charger back at home. There was really no turning back at this stage. So I googled and found a place in Honolulu which rents macs. All I could do is cross my fingers that they rent out chargers as well. As an added bonus they are 10 minutes from the airport. Also I could not find my camera charger and they rent them as well. So a quick detour is already necessary. But I did pack my undies so I never make the same mistake three times!!!

At first Jas could not believe I forgot the charger but really he didn't help me pack. I had to do it all by myself so really what could he expect. Of course I was going to forget stuff. However he still got me some vinegar in a cup for my chips so he has forgiven me. 

We arrived in Sydney safely. We had dinner with Geoff and Carmel at Coogee Bay Hotel. I had Caesar salad and Jas had fish and chips. Very big meals. Customs was very quiet and when I got my passport out to put on the conveyer belt I found my computer charger. Score. I was really happy and now thing I am an excellent packer.  So Jas and I are sitting in the airport. Jas must really like airport shopping because he got really excited looking at cameras and omega watches. Plus I lost him in the big duty free section for a brief moment. I thought "hang on buddy, If you buy a watch or electrical gadget before my real engagement ring we will be having some words". Luckily for him he didn't.

So we are looking forward to our flight. But first stop to the newsagents to buy some magazines.