Hawaii - Day 9 - Saturday April 27, 2013 - And So It Ends

The moon greeted us early on our last morning.

We said farewell to our hosts and travelled as a group to the airport. The ten of us were the next to last of the total group of 37 to leave - trust the Queenslanders to stretch it as far as they could! The ten hour flight took forever and ever......and then, when we landed and once we'd cleared immigration (very quick and easy with an e-passport - you do it yourself) and customs, there were my babies waiting on the other side of the sliding doors!! In a nice change of events it was the kids greeting the parents after an overseas trip rather than the other way 'round.

We arrived home about 9pm Sunday night (after the time difference adjustment - we'd left Honolulu at 10.10am Saturday!). It was an awesome time away and we came home relaxed and refreshed and ready to face whatever the next few months throw at us.

Hawaii Day 8 - Friday April 26, 2013 - Cruising

Thanks to L&D we hired a car and spent the whole of our last day driving around the island (Oahu). L drove and did a great job; it's certainly not something I would have attempted (and I wouldn't have let Gibbo drive either; he's bad enough driving in Oz). We drove up the middle (roughly), across the top and then down the right hand side. It was one of those things that you imagine yourself doing but don't really think you ever will! We saw several iconic Hawaiian sites, including the famous Pipeline (that was actually more like a trickle on the day)! We put the top down and just cruised, with the sun shining down and the wind whipping our hair! It was great.

Putting the top down.

Back seat driver.

Back seat navigator.

More navigating.

Driving on the right (wrong) side of the road!

A pic out through the roof.

The first beach.

Beach 2 - apparently turtles come out of the water here to sun themselves and lay their eggs - but not the day we were there.

The famous Pipeline. It was a kitten!!

Smashed the Pipeline!!!!!!

Giovanni's Shrimp Truck!

Garlic Shrimp.

Lemon Butter Shrimp.

Beach 3 - I fell asleep here while the other guys swam.

No, we don't have matching togs. It just looks like it.

The view from The Crouching Lion.

He talked with an American accent!

More cocktails.

That night we went to a very swank Italian restaurant; Gibbo had more shrimp (!) and I had the beef/pork/veal tagliatelle bolognaise.

Hawaii - Day 8 Friday April 26, 2013 - The Walk to Diamond Head

We were up early and caught a taxi to the base of Diamond Head, the hill that you can see that overlooks the ocean in many of the photos. We started early so as to avoid the heat; plenty of others did the same.

That's our destination - the top of that hill!

You can just make out people walking the zig zag trail.

You can just make out the Sheraton in the distance near the little bit of pink.

Close up of the Sheraton, next to the pink building.

There were plenty of bunkers, relics from WWII.

Inside one of the bunkers.

The view out.

Cardinals.