Monday, January 31, 2011

Hawaii

Yesterday - I fell in love. I first met her 30 years ago and liked her then, but perhaps I didn't see as much of her then as I did yesterday or perhaps I didn't fully appreciate her beauty. Of course, I am talking about the island of O'ahu in the Hawaiian Islands. The Weather and Travel gods were again very kind to us and the day could not have been more perfect - mid-winter temperature of 25C, clear blue skies. We took a shore tour called "Coastal Explorer". It was supposed to be of  4 hours duration - but took 5 hours (which was good). We covered quite a
bit of the southern area of the island outside of Honolulu, including the beautiful coast and also crossed the very rugged central mountain range. Afterwards, we took a shuttle bus to the huge Ala Moana shopping
centre - and also walked to Chinatown (only to discover that the one day we were in town coincided with Chinese New Year's celebrations - how fortunate was that? !!!!) So all things considered - we got a good idea of what both Honolulu and O'ahu are all about - and we were IMPRESSED!. After traveling 3/4 of the way around the World, we finally found a place that we will DEFINITELY come back to. A plan is formulating slowly in our minds already. As we came into Honolulu Harbour, we were preceded by the "Spirit of America" - which we have been told does 7 day cruises through the Hawaiian Islands. This, combined with a stay in Honolulu would be an excellent start to a future adventure. Actually, I have to do it - because I had planned to have a beer in the Royal Hawaiian hotel on Waikiki Beach, but didn't have time (this time).

2 comments:

  1. Now I *AM* jealous! I always wanted to go to Hawaii!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You might like to combine one of the repositioning cruises to and fro Hawaii from Sydney, each year in April and September, with a Spirit of America 7 day cruise.

    We love all the Hawaiian islands and their people.

    ReplyDelete