Hawaii, Thursday 12th September 2013

Aloha.
Tonight is our last night in Hawaii. We have had a great holiday, although it was hard leaving Joe and Bev, but over the last few days Joe has been put on new medication and when we rang Bev we   could have a conversation with Joe. We were so relieved and felt we could relax a little over the last few days.

We will spend the day here tomorrow but will leave the hotel about 8.00 pm for the airport to catch the 11.00pm flight on Air New Zealand NZ9 which arrives back in Auckland at 6.15am.
Of cause we hope to get back home in time to watch the yacht racing. It will be touch and go but I am sure we will make it. Will have to have a quiet word in the pilots ear to keep the bird moving.

Looking forward in seeing the family and of cause Joe and Bev.

Today just took a few more photos around here for our last memories.

 

As we walked out of the hotel this morning this massive limo was waiting (not for us) but PT decided to walk in front of it as I took the photo

 

 

We walked all round the marina past all the boats. Looking back at the Ilikai. We are five floors down from the top on the left wing room 2008. We felt that it would have been one of the best positions in the complex. Would definitely  take this unit again if we come back here.

 

 

This photo includes the Ilikai Marina condos left building where we have stayed a couple of times before. Ilikai Hotel on the right where we are now.

 

 

As we were walking around boat harbour we saw this old scooter which looks like it was on the bottom of the ocean for some time.

 

 



 

The beach just behind the lagoon where we swim every day. Diamond head in the background. PT lying on his side in the middle of the beach.

 

 



 

Waters edge

 



We were sitting on the balcony having our last drink in Hawaii watching the sun go down.

 

 

These two photos taken just before the above sunset. Trying to give the effect of our view looking out from the left then the right if you can imagine the two joined together

 

 

 

 

Hotel foyer all

 

 

Friday September 13th.

 

 

Didn't get this posted  last night as computer went dead just before I was about to post.

Tried again this morning and it stated up again. We are not sure what happened.

 

 



 

 

This is what we woke up to this morning. Apart from a few little showers yesterday we haven't had rain. All perfect days. Maybe it will clear up later for our last swim.

Will be leaving about 8.00pm for the airport. 



Hawaii 9th, 10th and 11th September. 2013

 

Monday 9th September

 

Another nothing day. Watched the final of the American men's tennis final. After we took off to Walmark to pick up a few things then over to the super market for our final supplies. Not a lot more except our usual afternoon swims. Cooked dinner in  tonight.

 

We enjoy eating in and just relaxing with the amazing view and sunsets.

 

Message from Bev to say that they have sorted Joe's medication out and they have got on top of his pain. He is talking now and watching the Americas cup.

 

 

Tuesday 10th September.

 

 

Another quiet day. The people we met and had over for drinks a couple of days ago asked us back to their unit for drinks then after we went down to the Red Lobster for dinner with them. Pete and I had island fish with shrimps but the fish was over cooked and very dry but the company was good. Lots of laughs.

 

 

 

Our dinner at the Red Lobster with Jane and Tony Enders.

 

enders77@xtra.co.nz

 

 

Wednesday 11th September  911

 

 

Woke up to a few  jet fighters flying along the coast  and navy boats off shore protecting us from 911.

 

We were up here 2 years after 911 and it was full on then with a lot of jet fighters protecting the coast as well as 2 aircraft carriers out on the horizon. A little tame now. Then I said to PT I don't feel safe 2 years after 911 but he said to me we are probably in the safest place with all this coastal protection.

 

 

Got the bus down to Honolulu this morning. Stopped of at Aloha Tower down on the harbour. Last time we were there it was a real buzz, lots of shops eating places pubs all alone the water front. Now it was like a ghost town, only a couple of shops open and the rest were all empty, and a couple of drinking places. So its not worth a visit now, don't know what has happened. What a waste.

 

 

Entrance to Aloha Tower

 

 

 

Walked through the complex of the Aloha Tower out to the harbour. Upstairs to the right we took Jen and her friend to lunch but now just a empty space. A shame as it was a nice area. We also had lunch around the corner, another year  with Joe and Bev. 

 

 

 

We then went for a stroll through Downtown Honolulu

 

 

Ditto

 

 

Ditto

 

 

Went through China Town

 

 

 

China Town markets

 

 

 

China Town Food market. We brought lunch from Jackie's.

 

 

Sat outside to eat lunch

 

We were having our dinner on our balcony watching the sun go down but unfortunately not much of a sunset. We haven't had the really bright orange skies this trip. Not enough clouds.

 

 

 

This is the outside lift that goes up in the corner of the Ilikai Hotel. The only access to the Top of the I  restaurant where we went for our 40th Dinner. This shot is taken leaning out from our balcony on the 20th floor.

Hawaii, Sunday 8th September.

Our 40th Anniversary today and just got back from a really lovely dinner at the Sorento Top of the I which is on the roof of the Ilikai Hotel where were are staying. Great meal, great service and what a view looking over the boat harbour along Ala Moana beach to the airport. We would have been about 29 floors up and our table was right beside the ceiling to floor window and PT coped really well with the height and just to make it harder for him we had to go up in an outside glass lift.

Photo taken by me as we walked along the hall way.

Photo taken from the outside glass lift as we went flying passed our room.

That box shape on the roof of the Illakai The Sorento Top of the I where we had dinner.

View at the top taken from our table.

We both started off with a Calamari entre then this was my main veal shank on risotto.

Petes main fillet mignon with crunchy macaroni  cheese.

Waiter took this photo. The view I showed you was behind us. You can see how close to the glass we were. Right on the edge.

Little surprise at the end we were presented with this wishing us a happy Anniversary. PT had mentioned it to them when we booked.

We had a lovely evening and were well looked after.

1. The rest of the day this morning we watched the America's cup yachting then the women's final of the tennis on TV then we went down for our usual afternoon swims.
2. Another great day in paradise.



Hawaii, Friday 6th Sept, --Saturday 7th Sept.

 

Friday 6th September.

 

 

The next two days were nothing days. Got out early today as the car had to be returned at 9.45am and we wanted to do super market shopping while we still had the car. Much easier than walking back with it all. Came back to the unit to watch some tennis. Went down for a few swims in the afternoon  and that was it for the day. Ate in. After dinner went down to the fireworks display which is now on Tuesdays and Fridays. Used to be only Fridays.

 

Adam and Daniel, Pop took a video of the massive fireworks so we can show you when we get home. Daniel they are very loud so don't think that you would want to be here at the time. But they will be O.K.on the video. They do them really well.

 

We rang Bev for her birthday and to check up on Joe. Although her birthday is on the7th which is our 6th. Joe not good at all no response from him  now. We told her to talk to him as you just don't know how much they can still hear. Bev Txt us back and said they tried that and he open his eyes for awhile so looks like that works. For those  who don't know Joe is now in Hospice and Bev is sleeping there with him.

 

 

Saturday 7th September.

 

 

Bev's birthday in Hawaii.

 

Busy day in today, tennis mens semi finals and also the Americas cup. How exciting, go the Kiwis. We thought they weren't going to have the race on TV as we were told that the Americans aren't interested, they are over it. They will be more over it now. We were lucky scrolling through all there hundreds of channels we found it on channel eight. Tennis channel 7 so lots of tooing backwards and forwards between the two channels.

 

Went down to the Ala Moana centre after lunch thought that we needed some fresh air. Back for several more swims then at 5.00pm had some people in for a drink that we meet last night at the fireworks last night. He is an Aussie  and she a NZer and they live in Christchurch.

 

After dinner we got a txt from Bev to say that Joe isn't responding to them at all and Mark ,Kim Scott and Nicole had been with him all day and were just leaving to go home for dinner. Poor Bev we wish that we could be there for them all. Our timing of holiday couldn't have been worse. We can't stop thinking about them all.

 

We have even made enquiries as to bringing our flight forward to be told Mondays flight is all booked out and looks like Wednesdays is going that way too. We can't change our fares. Would have to buy new ones at the last minute prices like double. We will see how it all lies on Tuesday  to decide what we will do.

 

No photos last two days nothing to take.

 

 





Hawaii, Thursday 5th September 2013

Were going to leave early, set alarm  for 6.15am but as we had a problem with the draining of the kitchen sink had to wait for owner to arrive. He said he would be here between 7.30am and 8.00am. We really wanted to get away early to climb Diamond Head before it got too hot. He hadn't arrived by eight so we rang and said we couldn't wait any longer. He was caught up in traffic so told him to let himself in.

We still had the car for today so off we went to do the big climb. It was nine by the time we started walking and it was already too hot but got on with it and very hot later made it.

Towards the top you have the choice  walking up the stairs outside or up stairs through the tunnel which go straight up .We decided to take the outside route which wasn't there when we last went up

Looking towards Waikiki



 Looking down in front of the mountain

Looking down at the car park where we started our walk. Looks a long way.



PT in the pill box at the top

. Last set of stairs we came up around the outside not through the tunnel. East coast.

Stairs we came down inside the tunnel. Very steep and dark.Although it looks light that is just my flash.

Coming out of the tunnel . 

After we came down from the mountain,,hot as we did the coastal drive around to the east coast on highway 72 then cut back over the mountains on highway 61 back to the coast coming out at the back of Honolulu town then back to base. Tired.....and very hot.

Drove out to see Koko Head. People run/walk up this track which Joy told us about. Took one look from a distance and both said not for me. Especially after we had just finished climbing Diamond Head.

To get to the top which is 196m high, you have to climb 1048 stairs/railroad ties which were originally built over 60 years ago to get supplies to the military bunkers at the top. The stairs are very steep and quite dangerous in places. I am now sorry I didn't get a close up photo of how the stairs are made. Go onto Google it is interesting.

Further along the coast some spectacular coastline above and below. Halona blowhole.

A  little further on looking down over Sandy beach park. As you can see the water was crystal clear. The strip down the middle was so clear you could see the sandy bottom. Just beautiful

Makapu'u beach park.

All along this coast is called Ka  iwi State  scenic shoreline. Really beautiful.

As we crossed over the mountains back to the South coast this was taken from a lookout spot. Highway 61

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One of our small sunsets taken from our balcony

Hopefully we will see a better one before we leave. Need more clouds. We have seen really spectacular ones up here on previous trips.





Hawaii, 4th September. 2013

Full day today. Decided to rent a car for today and tomorrow. By the time we organised a car left Waikiki at about 9.45am.

We started off by going up to the Punch Bowl. The war memorial cemetry for the  2nd world war when Pearl Harbour was attacked on December 7th 1941 as well as other US servicemen who have lost their lives in more recent wars.
Walked all around to the top and the views were great although we have been up there before ten years ago it is a beautiful spot to visit again.

Punch Bowl memorial

Lookout from Punch Bowl. Diamond Head just to the left of PT'S neck and the back of Waikiki behind us

 



Headed out to the east coast via highway 63 through the Pali tunnel onto highway 83 which took us up the east coast to the North Shore. We didn't go round the south east coast as we will do that tomorrow after we climb Diamond Head. Thats why we cut through highway 63.

 

 

Our  first stop over on the east coast was Kualoa Regional Park. Nice sheltered bay.

 

 

 

 



The bay has high steep hills behind it.

 

 

 

Then on to another sheltered bay called Kahanna

 

 



 

where you can free camp under these trees.

Further on we drove out to La'ie point with its rugged coastline. Above two photos.

Onto Turtle Bay Resort. Huge resort at the tip of the North Shore. Lovely beach and complex. It was so hot, just melted. The weather man  last night said that the trade winds were dropping over the next few days making the humidity a lot higher and boy can you feel it. Hope it doesn't last too long as we are going to climb Diamond head tomorrow. We will have to get out there early. We have climbed it twice before but I guess its something you always have to do.

 

Turtle bay resort

 

 

 

Beach at Turtle Bay Resort

 

 

 





On down the north/east coast to  Sunset beach the start of the surfing country. Big swells coming in but this time of year don't get the big surf that it is well known for. Along the coast a little there is The Pipeline area below where they surf under the roll of the waves.  The beach drops steeply away with big swells rolling in.

 

 

 

Down to the famous Waimea beach. A lot of people around using these areas. All these beaches have beautiful white sand.

 



Down the coast a little and turned inland down highway 99 quick stop at the Pineapple factory but too busy with tourists so got out of there quickly.

Continued down to base . We get a free car park with this unit so that's a bonus as most units charge $25.00 a day for a park. Up to our room for a cold drink and a coffee. It must be a very hot day as our unit is a lot hotter than it usually is.

Although we were hot and tired we didn't go down for a swim as it was too hot to walk any further!.

 

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