Random thoughts on the 14 days we spent in Hawaii

Yes, this is the flag of the 50th and last state to join the the Union,

which is what many US citizens call 'Merica.

Honolulu has ~400,000 locals and, to me, they looked like they all work in, or in support of, the service/tourist industry.

That's it for facts, figures and flags.

Now, for those random thoughts based on not much other than personal observations ......

Tiz makes travelling easy, enjoyable and memorable.

She is tolerant beyond words, supportive at every turn, grateful for every moment and extreme fun to be with. 

I am eternally grateful for her companionship and love.

Hawaii was comfortably warm, 24°C to 31°C whilst we were there in their summer and it is between 19°C to 26°C in their winter, in January. 

It's very easy to live with as there is very little humidity.

As easy as it is to wander around we had the air-con on and blasting away 24/7.

I also managed to get 2nd degree burns in very little time out in the sun. 

"Our" Aussie sun obviously isn't the only one that will fry you in no time quick. 

The ocean water is warm. What a pleasant change from our Arctic chilled ocean waters.

We did most of things we'd planned and did a few things we hadn't planned.
C'est la vie!

The ridge/mountain/volcano, or whatever that really high thing is in the middle of the island, that separates the north from the south, has a very odd effect on the rainfall. 
The north gets 250 inches (that's over 20 feet or nearly 6.5 meters)  every year whereas the south only gets 50 inches.

When I get back to work I will ask our resident meteorologist, Kevin Parkyn, to try and explain that to me.

There is always a little wave to enjoy no matter which beach you are at.

Waikiki is a lot like Surfers Paradise. 

All manner of humanity are drawn there. 

It is simultaneously entertaining and sad.

A really quick way to get rid of anyone pestering you to sell you tours or real estate or "What are you after?" is to ask them for "A big fat blunt?".

I did that hoping get the reaction I did, which was for the guy to say "No! NO, NO, NO, NO! We don't do that here!" and then do a 180° turn and sprint the other way.

In fact we discovered later that local Hawaiians can indeed be prescribed what they refer to as a "blue card"  to allow them to obtain medical marijuana, which comes with a proviso.

The proviso is that if you have ever had a "blue card" you are excluded, in perpetuity (forever), from ever working for the state or federal authorities. Period.

What a great way to make sure that the system has minimal abuse.

There are a lot of homeless people and they tend to get herded away from the main tourist areas, but they don't seem to be harassed by the locals or the law. 

There are a lot of Christian based churches in Hawaii.

Sugar is a major industry on this island but I doubt that it produces enough for the local consumption, given how sickly sweet everything is.

We saw local Kona coffee being sold for $120/kg! Yes, $120/kg, no mistakes. 
I can buy civet coffee (look it up) for far less that, out of Vietnam, and it (the civet variety) is exquisite.

Food is expensive, in both the supermarkets and in restaurants and cafes.

Alcohol is cheap, in supermarkets and takeaways etc. of which there are an abundance. 
Alcohol is not cheap, and actually the exact opposite when there is service attached to it, as in a bar or restaurant.

Service industry employees get paid near what I would call slave wages.

Everyone other than the employer loses with this "You must tip because workers do not get paid much." scam.

I know I've already had a rant on this blog about this but you need to know that if something is advertised for $100 you need to add $41.72 (State Tax) and then you need to tip between, in reality, between 15-20% which makes it $120.43. 

Then you need to do your conversion on our every decreasing Australian dollar which means that the US$120.43 actually cost you AU$172.04 (that a real conversion rate and not an internet rate via XE Currency or similar.)

Gas/fuel/petrol, of the regular unleaded variety, with all the conversion done as of Saturday 8th, costs AU$1.20 per litre. A little cheaper than Melbourne but not much. 

That's an awful lot of money for a cheapish meal and a couple of drinks for three people, when you work out the real (advertised cost + State Tax  +  gratuities (which should be called extortion or blackmail) +  conversion) cost.  

Almost all Hawaiians are friendly and curious of the land down under and make you feel genuinely welcome.

If you ever go there please go and eat at Hy's Steakhouse in Waikiki and Mama's Fish House on Maui. 

It will cost you quite a bit but you will walk, or waddle in my case, away knowing you have eaten some of the best sourced, prepared and served food on Mother Earth.

Portions must have decreased considerably over time as we did not come across any serving, with perhaps one or two exceptions, that would have given any credence to most of the stories we had heard. You must have heard some, like "Oh my God, there was soooo much food. We should have ordered one serving for the four of us!" Yeah ....... nah. I call "Bullsh!t" on that one.  

The sun in Hawaii burns you as fiercely and as quickly as the sun here. It was news to me, as I looked at my near blistering flesh the morning after a short bout of sunbathing. 

Vehicle laws in Hawaii seem to be even more lax than some of the most relaxed state on mainland USA. 

Renting a car is quite cheap, compared to here in Australia.

Please don't rent a convertible Camaro if you go there. 

Riding a motorcycle would be a lot of fun around all the twisty roads. 

There are a lot, and I mean a lot, of patched bikers in Honolulu. 

What do they all do, if even 1% of the stories you hear about outlaw bikers is true? 

Maybe they come over, with their bikes, from the mainland for holidays?

If you go to an equivalent of our DFO, of which there is one in Waikele on Oahu, you can buy cheapish clothes etc. But don't expect to save all that much.

I think it might more likely that canny females would do well. 

A case of "Hi darling, I saved $5000 today." You know the rest of the gag.

I'm glad that we went with Greg, who is now in L.A. and about to jump on a Harley to do Route 66, in reverse. Check out his trans USA transport

 Yes, it's a Harley. Shut up.

Yes, I am more than a little envious,
but we could not justify going with our mate.

Yes, we hope it's the ride of his life

 and that he comes out the other end safe 'n' sound. 

Vaya con Dios, amigo!

From Tiz -

I have been lucky enough to visit Waikiki, Honolulu before. I arrived at the docks of Oahu in April of 2011 with 4 other single women on an 18 day cruise out of Sydney. 
That trip was all about the Polynesian Islands, cocktails and shopping.

Waikiki has not changed at all in the 4½ years since I've been here, except for the amount of people and traffic. 
The tourist numbers have definitely increased; there are people out and about at all hours of the day and night. Great to see! 

As for the traffic, it is no different to peak hour on Hoddle Street or the car park known as the Eastern Freeway exit onto Hoddle Street. Marino did an amazing job of driving especially as they drive on the wrong side of the road here. 
The food was as good as I remember it, though the portion sizes have definitely decreased while the prices have increased. 
The variety of alcoholic beverages, especially Mai Tai cocktails, can vary greatly both in size and cost depending on the venue at which they are bought. I must say the best Mai Tai I enjoyed was with Marino at Hy's Restaurant on our last night in Waikiki. 
The atmosphere, service and food was exceptional. A great way to end our holiday.

Maui, I thought was the more scenic of the two islands. 
Never having been to Maui before I did not know what to expect. I had heard that it was less commercialised than Oahu and less touristy. 
However I can honestly say Maui has some of the most beautiful beaches, sunsets and views I've seen. The people here are extremely friendly and helpful but the best thing about Hawaii is the reliable weather. 
The temperature ranged from 28°C - 32°C  during the day and 24°C - 27°C  at night. 
If it rained it was a slight drizzle for a very short time then it cleared up to glorious sunshine again. There is such a place as the perfect paradise!!

As with all the previous trips which we have blogged, I have been privileged to have shared them with the one I love and that is the reason they have been so memorable and enjoyable. Thank you, Marino, for being the best travel companion ever.

I also would like to thank Greg Spice for sharing this holiday with us. I hope the remainder of your travels will be as enjoyable as these past 2 weeks, Greg.

To everyone that has been following the blog, thank you.  
I hope you enjoyed reading about our experience in Hawaii as much as we enjoyed living it.

Finally, I'd like to say to all the grossly underpaid people 

in the tourism and service industry in Hawaii

~ Good job. Woohoo. *Clap clap* ~

      

Out of Oahu and into Melbourne - Saturday 8th / Sunday 9th August

After ringing the concierge twice, around midnight, to complain about the party in the room next door we got a reasonable sleep.
I didn't want to start any rumours but it sounded like there may have been drugs and ladies-for-rent in there.
We were very happy to hear it all come to an abrupt end.

We got to the airport at ~8:30am and the place was almost empty. 
It looked eerie. 

We had a tasteless Starbucks product and headed off to Gate 31, of 80.
An hour later we were on board and on our way home.
Some good noise cancelling headphones and some emergency exit seat, albeit in "cattle class", made the trip quite OK.
Not Business Class, like we had grown to know and love, but OK.
We arrived on time, 5:30pm on Sunday, to our beloved Melbourne and 10°C.

Melbourne, My Town , which I hope you enjoy but also take with a grain of salt as large as the one that Red Simons does.

One final post on the holidays with some thoughts on the whole trip coming tomorrow.

Maui to Oahu - Friday 7th August

We got up just after the sun.
This was our last wake up in Maui and we had planned to have breakfast at the Kihei Caffe.
It's a very popular place and starts to get busy around 7am and becomes passable (as in "Look at the queue! Let's pass.") at 8:30 'til 10:00am.

Here it is.

Pop in for a really good feed and then whip out the back for some ink

This is what Greg had.

A pretty good feed for ~$8.

Tiz and I had one of these each.

It's a very large cinnamon roll with lashings of macadamia nuts 

stuck on top with either caramel or coconut icing.

Cheap for what you get.

The coffees are good, which is a rarity.

To make them even better 

they serve them with ice cubes made with coffee. 

Now there's an idea we should all pick up on.

We had our breakfast and left just as the crowds started to arrive.

The drive to the airport was uneventful and went without a hitch.

Fifty minutes after boarding the plane in Maui we were landing in Honolulu.

We had chosen to stay at the Waikiki Gateway Hotel, located at the end of the main Waikiki tourist strip, and decided to book a cab to take us there instead of the shuttle circus we used last time.

The cab driver was a really nice bloke so we booked him to take us back to the airport tomorrow morning.

After  checking our bags into the hotel we took a walk down to Dukes for a drink and a bite to eat.

Coo-ee! We're baaaack!

What you see above is the easiest way to spend US$70 (which, nowadays, is about AU$3,542,979 ;-) ) that I know of.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing a little shopping and having a wee nap.

For our last night in Oahu we had planned something special.

Ros Thieme had told me about a wonderful old time restaurant called Hy's Steakhouse and how the waiters wear suits and the decor was elegant dark wood panelling.

Go here to take a look at their site. 

Our meal, the service and our waiter, Paul, was beyond expectations.

I did notice that their "Shoes and collared shirt" dress code is somewhat flexible. 

I dressed appropriately, to meet the code, but some of the other dinners thought that Nikes and a polo shirt met the code equally well. 

To me it showed a lack of respect that a wonderful place like this should not tolerate.

Hy's Steakhouse is not the sort of place one should be taking pics of the food, but let me say that the food was amongst some of the best tasting, and presented, food both Tiz and I have ever had.  

Tiz had seared sea scallops with a pistachio and herb crust, served with a blood orange hollandaise and I had a fillet mignon with foie gras and baby spinach.

Anyone that goes to Honolulu should not miss this dining experience, albeit a little expensive.

Maui, nearly a memory - Thursday 6th August

I woke up this morning to our last full day in Maui, and feeling tender and tired.

I didn't sleep much as during the night the burning belly flesh felt even more tender than the day before, making sleep difficult. 

I went downstairs, collected Mini Me and posed for a pic.

As you can see below, Mini Me has taken his time to tan up.

Wise little Buddha that he is.

As we had not gone any further south than 200-300 meters beyond the apartment we thought we would drive south for a little while and take a look at whatever there was to look at.

We drove past a few large condos and holiday apartments until we reached the edge of Wailea.

That's where the south of Maui changes. 

It goes from being ..... nice, to being ..... over the top.

Mainly gated communities for some very, very large and opulent looking places.

We took no photos because large gates and high walls don't make for interesting blogs.

                                        

As we drove around the coast we saw a Camaro!

It must have been one of those tourists from the north of the island 

that had lost his way. 

We drove on to Makena Beach State Park.  

In the middle of Big Beach looking north 

In the middle of Big Beach looking south

The Makena Beach State Park is near the end of the useable road at the southern end of the island.

It is gloriously wide and clean and overlooks various shades of deep blue ocean.

The shore drops away rapidly at the waters edge and reminds me of Gunnamatta (a beach back home) with its treacherous undertow.

Here are few pics we took at and around the beach.

During our way back from the beach we saw a couple of areas that had groups of eateries.

One of those groups had a place called Paia Fish Market 

which we in Oz would call a fish 'n' chip shop.

We decided on this cheap and cheerful place for dinner.

What you see above costs US$45.73

Mmmm ..... food in 'Merica is expensive, 

even if, very occasionally, the serves are large-ish, 

which in this case they weren't. 

A small tub of Maui's excellent Kona Coffee ice cream, some semi-final packing and a movie saw the night to an end.

Today, some high hopes turned to disappointment - Wednesday 5th August

I rose late again today.
I'm getting quite used to having a lay in 'til 10. 
Isn't that what some holidays are about?!
Greg and Tiz are always up much earlier than me and I'm wondering what's wrong with them. 

Given that none of us want to do much travelling over narrow, winding roads to get to anywhere it limits us to near bugger all of the island. 
After a coffee and a banana smoothie we had a pow wow as to what and where we were going to do today.
Tiz offered that she had not seen anything that she would like to buy yet, so, if we could go to the advertised "outlets" she would be happy.
There is an "outlet" quite close to the apartment so we scheduled that as the first stop.

I also remembered that the Not Quite Nigella blog had had an article on Leoda's Kitchen & Pies so we should call in there for lunch on the way to the other "outlet" in Lahaina.

We left the apartment at a few minutes to midday and arrived at the first "outlet" a few minutes after midday.

OK, you may be wondering why I have been referring to the purported outlets as "outlet". 
That would be because, at least on Maui, they are not a collection of many stores in one large undercover area selling their wares for considerable discount compared to the normal retail store.
In Maui it is one store that sells many brands, and trinkets, at near normal retail price, which here in Maui is generally much more than our home city.

We looked, we left disappointed.

Next stop was Leoda's Kitchen & Pies about 20 minutes down the road.

Lorraine Elliot had raved about all the food in this place so were really looking forward to it.
When you enter you walk straight up to the counter and make your choice from the blackboard behind the counter, which is the same as the laminated one on the tables, we discovered later.

Here is the laminated menu shown to you by our shy model Tiz

We ordered a pork hoagie, at rear, and a savoury mushroom pie, forefront.

Both struck me as smallish, especially with all the stories we'd heard about the over-the-top large portions. 

I'm holding the condiments, which include Rooster brand sriracha, a very popular brand of hot sauce back home and in Vietnamese eateries in particular.

The pork hoagie was OK at best and mediocre at worst.

The savoury mushroom pie was deep fried and not very mushroom(ey). 

It did have a mountain of cheese in it, however.

    

Because we all know that man, and woman, do not live by bread alone we bought some drinks -

a Natural Brew Outrageous Ginger Ale, which was very good

&

 Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar Ale

with Natural Hazelnut Flavour,

which tasted like beer that had no hazelnut flavour 

and that you would buy again

Coconut Creme Pie

Outstanding & the saving grace of the whole experience.

In the afternoon, after coming back, 

Greg went to the supermarket and snapped a pic of this.

It's a Honda Ruckus. 

A very popular little scooter in the USA which lends itself well to modifications, and a form of transport I quite like and wish we had in Australia

 After we, Tiz alone if the truth be known, prepared dinner 

we walked down to the beach to watch the sunset

A couple of blokes looking west, longing for distant and familiar shores

where a tip is considered a bribe, cars get driven on the left hand side of the road, the temperature is currently in single figures and is measured in centigrade, our politicians use taxpayer money to fly by helicopter completely unnecessarily, the advertised price of something is what you pay and does not need to be multiplied by 4.172%, as a tax, and then by 10 to 20% depending on how not poorly you were served.  

Looking east from the same spot as the two pics above.

You can see the mountain tops poking out above the clouds.

A very strange sight.

This, truck with the tyres protruding past the extremities of the bodywork, came along whilst we were at the beach.

It is an example of a large Hawaiian, and perhaps US wide, trend that seems impractical and rather odd looking to me.

Here is the shade of the skin on the front of my body, today.

It seems even more red than yesterday.

Hankering for Hana - Tuesday 4th August

We had wanted to go to Hana today.
The reason we did not is best depicted on this, apparently humorous but deadly accurate, T-shirt , which omits to tell you that the 56 bridges are all single lane  

"Let's go to Hana!"

" ...... yeah ....... but nah ......."

So we went to the beach just nearby instead

where we found a shady spot

 but then it got windy

and crowded

so we came to the pool in the apartment, where we swam

 and I read a book out in the sun, to get a bit of colour into my pale skin 

Do you think I overdid it?

This picture brings two sayings/comments to mind -

Happy Buddha

and 

Beached as 

(click on it and have a laugh a the expense of the Kiwi's, and stay th watched "Sausaged As")

Both of sayings/comments are references to my less than healthy size.

If you've recently had something to eat, or were about to -

 SORRY 

North by north west on Maui - Monday 3rd August

As I said in the last post we headed off late morning towards Lahaina and onwards to Napili and finally to the big dollar golf resort in Kapalua

***

Lahaina

***

A rare good cheap coffee shop in Lahaina

It doubles up as a scooter rental place

It's called Cafe Cafe 

***

Kapalua

***

Napili

***

On the way back 

Beautiful Proteas and Crab Claws being transported by Proteas by Ken

A Camaro. 

One of a multitude of Camaro's cluttering up the roads in Hawaii.

A sad looking Cadillac in our car park.

I'm not sure what vintage it is.

Yet another Camaro.

One of hundreds, maybe many thousands, on the Hawaii Islands. 

This one is in our carpark.

From my observations of the people that drive these things, i.e. top down convertible Camaro, whilst on holidays in Hawaii I can conclude that some or all of the following apply to them -

 ~ Generally not young ~

~ Grey army member or balding ~

~ No kids or kids long flown the coop ~

~ If young, definitely trying to impress the passenger ~ 

~ 80% chance of passenger hair colour being blonde ~

~ Said blonde passenger has augmentation, ranging from little to too much ~

~ Questionable or no taste in cars ~

~ Places form before function ~ 

~ Would be driving a Mustang if they understood anything about cars ~

The observations above are not a criticism 

but rather an airing of my jealousy 

at people that can reach a state of blissful joy 

with something so common and ordinary.

May God bless them in their automotive ignorance. 

Tonight Tiz and I went for dinner at Mama's Fish House

An utterly amazing dining experience is the best way to describe it, in a culinary sense and just plain excellent in every other sense.

I managed to inadvertently bypass the valet parking guy as I drove in , which really annoyed him and made him be quite rude when he eventually caught up with us.

In my defence, I have never had my car parked by a valet, that I can remember, so I didn't realise that it was not optional.

Anyway, we got that sorted out and headed to the front desk.

I had booked online and managed to book for next Monday, not tonight. D'oh!

The girl said she would try her best to get us a table tonight and quite promptly told us we would be seated by 9PM at the latest.

We were welcome to sit at the bar until our table was free.

The "good night" started right there and then.

I had a Maui Margarita and Tiz had a Tropical Fruit Colada. 

Served by a warm and friendly bartender and both absolutely delicious. 

Within 20 minutes our table was ready.

We chose an Ahi sashimi entree for two and the Mahimahi stuffed with crab and lobster.

That doesn't read like anything spectacular but you need to understand that the menu is printed daily so that you, the customer, know who caught which fish and with which boat. I kid you not. 

And if there was any doubt about the authenticity of the freshness of the fish the sashimi put it bed right away.

The sashimi shone. You do not get tuna, known as ahi here, this fresh in Japan.

In Japan they bid on good, or great, frozen tuna as if it were THE BEST.

Let me tell you, from experience, the Japanese stuff pales into insignificance compared to what we ate tonight.

Then came the Mahimahi dish.

Yet more excellence washed down with a Tahitian beer and a Mai Tai.

We finished with a heavily liqueured coffee and the best coconut ice cream I have ever had.

Our waiter, who's name I did not get, was in great part responsible for turning an ordinary start into a great night.

He was knowledgeable, cheerful, helpful and had a good sense of humour.  

We weren't the last to leave but we came close. 

Here is some proof, in colour.

BEDEEP BEDEEP BEDEEP THAT'S ALL FOLKS!