Sunday, 25 September - Honolulu!

David and I rose early this morning and lined up downstairs at the brekky restaurant, 'Eggs n Things'. It was good being up early because the last two days have been really humid, so feeling constantly wet and 'sloppy' is how I could best describe it!

We took the purple trolley on the Pearl Harbour route but we took one stop more to the football stadium - where they have the 'Aloha Stadium Swap Meet & Marketplace'.  It only happens on a Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.  We'd been last Wednesday but had heard that it was bigger (if that's possible) and better on the weekend!  Our trolley driver said Sunday was the best day, in her opinion.  Someone on the trolley asked her what they sold there - her answer was that the rent on business premises in Waikiki and the shopping malls is prohibitive and there are many business people who are looking to offer their products at a more affordable price and so they regularly attend the swap meet.



Located in Central Oahu, the Aloha Stadium is Hawaii’s largest outdoor arena, home to the University of Hawaii Warriors football team and the annual NFL Pro Bowl game. In addition, the Aloha Stadium hosts a multitude of events attracting visitors from around the State including soccer matches, concerts, car shows, fairs and the ever popular Aloha Stadium Swap Meet & Marketplace.

We were more than pleasantly surprised when we spent some time there today.  More stalls than on Wednesday.  Different products.  2nd hand tools, machinery, bric a brac and miscellaneous items - David had a ball!  He spent time looking around the tools and found some items still in their original packaging, made in the USA and the stall owners engaged in haggling for price!

I found items I was looking for in the general merchandise and the prices were very good!  Glad we were on a time limit!

We took the trolley back to Ala Moana for lunch and then back to our hotel room.  It was another humid and hot day.  We wanted to go for a final dip in the Pacific outside our hotel - so glad we did, it was cooling and so relaxing - a really great way to end our day!

After our showers, we decided to walk to Siam Square Thai restaurant, where we ate with Jan & Oliver earlier in the week.  Great meal once again!  Walked the streets 'people watching' before deciding to head back to our hotel room to enjoy dessert and wine before the packing begins......

Early pick up tomorrow, headed for the airport and back home.......

Saturday, 24 September - Honolulu!

Had a little sleep in then set off down to our favourite brekky haunt, the 'Rainbow Drive-in' for eggs, bacon and pancakes and rice!

Walked back to our hotel and readied ourselves to watch the Aloha Parade!  Police and council workers closed Kalakaua Road in front of our hotel.  People were lining the streets, taking position.  There was a live television van set up just up from us.  Very busy!

We sat on our verandah with the fridge just inside with a bottle of champagne and orange juice.  Drank mimosas whilst watching the parade!






One of the Princesses of the Hawaiian Islands...




Loving the view on this beautiful Saturday morning!

Founded in 1946, now in its 70th year, the annual Aloha Festivals Floral Parade in Honolulu, Hawaii, is a celebration of the rich traditions of Hawaiian culture, and continues to share the beauty, pageantry and spirit of aloha with thousands of people from around the world. The one-day event features a colorful parade of Hawaiian horseback pa’u riders, dozens of floats adorned with Hawaiian flowers, folkloric hula halau dance troupes and marching bands playing an eclectic batch of traditional island music.  

Seventy years ago, Aloha Festivals was known as 'Aloha Week', an event started by the Jaycees Old-timers of Hawai'i in 1946 who wanted to honour Hawai'i's heritage with a large cultural celebration. This year's event has the theme of "Hali'a Aloha' - Treasured Memories".

Aloha Festivals events are free and open to the public with events at various locations.  

After lunch, we opted to alight the pink trolley and go out to Ala Moana shopping centre for a Philly Cheesesteak lunch, a quick visit to Macy's and Walmart and then back downtown so that we could have a birthday dinner at 'The Cheesecake Factory'....


A couple of beers and a delicious Parmesan Herb Chicken dinner, with a takeaway 'Linda's Fudge Cake' - we were happy!

Friday, 23 September - Honolulu!

Had a little sleep in before rising and going for a swim!  Beautiful blue ocean, clear water!  Walked down to our favourite brekky haunt then into Galleria to hop on the red trolley.  We've now done all the colours of the Waikiki trolley routes!

Red trolley took us to see Honolulu's cultural, architectural and artistic past.  It takes approximately 100 minutes.  We went into the CBD area, past the Honolulu Museum of Art, State Capital building and Iolani Palace - the only official state residence of royalty in the US.  Iolani Palace was the official residence of the Hawaiian Kingdom's last two monarchs  - King Kalakaua, who built the palace in 1882, and his sister (and successor), Queen Lili' uokalani.  Next was Izumo Taishakyo, one of the few Shinto shrines in the US, visitors can ring the Hiroshima Peace Bell and purchase omamori (traditional good luck amulets).

The next area was Chinatown, where we alighted.  Walking through was very similar to the Chinatowns in other place that we've been to.  We walked about a mile-and-a-half to find Lowe's Hardware (kinda like Bunnings), right next door to The Home Depot (another hardware store) and the Dole Cannery (pineapple cannery).

Had a cold drink at the Dole, it was so hot!  David went and found what he wanted.  Enjoyed lunch.  On our way out, we decided to have a look in a jewellery manufacturing store and met a fellow who wanted to chat to us because he and his wife are planning to have a holiday in Australia.  Another man in the store told us he lived in Charleville in the early 60's and that his family ran a French restaurant!  Talk about co-incidences!

The customer from the jewellery store offered to give us a ride back to the shopping mall.  We had dinner at our favourite place, 'The Cheesecake Factory' and then walked down to the Hilton Hawaiian Village where the free fireworks happen every Friday night!






Starting my Birthday celebrations (Australia time) - having a Margarita!

Thursday, 22 September - Touring Hawaii!

Today we walked to the Rainbow Drive-In to have breakfast.....  2 eggs, bacon and rice;  David had 2 eggs, Portuguese sausage and rice.  Great coffee!



We walked back along the canal and into Seaside Street then across to the Galleria in order to find the Blue Trolley.  Had to line up and the bus ended up being close to full.  The blue trolley is a 2.5 hr panoramic coastline tour of south-eastern Oahu.

First stop was Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve.  It's a marine life conservation district which is bordered by white beaches and coral reefs, home to over 450 species of fish and sea life.  A great area to snorkel!


It was also interesting to see chickens roaming in the park area!



Next stop was the Halona Blow Hole - a natural wonder formed thousands of years ago by molten lava tubes running from the ocean.  Crashing waves push water through to create a spray as high as 30 feet.  On a clear day, you can see the islands of Maui, Molokai and Lanai.







Next stop was a place called 'Sandy Beach' - one of the most popular local beaches on Oahu, known for its excellent bodyboarding opportunities due to waves that break very close to the shore!



The Hawaii Kai Lookout gives an astonishing view of Hawaii Kai - largely developed by the famous industrialist Henry J Kaiser on lands that began as ancient Hawaiian fishponds and boasted freshwater springs.



Returned back to Waikiki....


This is the statue of Duke Kahanamoku...  Descended from Hawaiian Royalty, Duke was named after his father, who was named after the Duke of Edinburgh.  He was the first person to be inducted into both the Swimming and Surfing Halls of Fame.  In 1911, Duke set three world records in freestyle swimming.
Kuhio Beach is where the famed Waikiki Beach Boys got their start in the 1930's.  Today, they are professionals licensed by the State to teach surfing or canoe paddling and must be regularly qualified in life-saving techniques.
People cover Duke Kahanamoku in leis often...



Lunch - we went to 'Eggs n Things' restaurant - there are few of them in Waikiki.  David decided to try a truly local dish - called 'Loco Moko' - rice covered with a meat pattie and gravy, topped with 2 eggs cooked your way.  He said it was typical 'man food' - and bloody delicious!

Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, you can see free performances by some of Hawaii's finest hula hall at the Kuhio Beach Hula Mound across from the Hyatt Regency Waikiki (just across from our hotel)...  It opens with torch lighting and traditional conch shell blowing between 6.30-7.30pm.


We enjoyed the sunset at Kuhio Beach whilst waiting for the performance.


The ceremony was opened with traditional conch shell blowing!


The band.


One of the hula dancers.

The evening was excellent!

Wednesday, 21 September - Pearl Harbor!

The trolley ticket seller told us that we should get the first purple shuttle (@ 7.04am) to the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument (USS Arizona Memorial) National Park.  It would arrive at 8.15am and we would need to get in line and try to obtain one of the free tickets passed out on a daily basis....   Simple enough, we thought....

A mistake we made was that we didn't do our own research.  So lesson learned here:
You can made a reservation on line for tickets in to the memorial.  We should have done this.
You can't take a bag into the park - we both had bags.  This made us very uncomfortable because we had passports, cash, credit cards, my medication in our bags.  There is a secure bag minding service complete with video surveillance for a price of $3 per bag.  So we did that.

We then had to line up for tickets.  At 8.30 in the morning, they were handing out free tickets to the 1.30pm tour.  We were grateful to receive them!  But - it was 8.30 and we had 5 hours to fill in!  Luckily, the bus driver had told us that at the football stadium a short distance up the road, was the flea market - operates Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.  So we walked up and managed to walk around slowly, enjoy the weather and have a look at some stalls.  It was a fairly hot day but we managed.

At about midday, we walked back to the National Park and spent some time looking at the little museum and reading about the history of the Japanese entry into World War II and the lead up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

1.30pm - our tour began with a 23 minute orientation movie in an air-conditioned theatre - taking us back in time and telling the story.  We then exited the theatre and went out to the shuttle boat, operated by the Navy.  They took us over to the memorial.  It sits right on top of the hull of the damaged USS Arizona.


Hospital ship (present day) in the harbor...


Approaching the memorial....


The entrance....


Names of all servicemen killed on 7 December, 1941....


Oil still escaping from the ship after 75 years....


USS Battleship Missouri - recently de-commissioned (Cher performed her music video on this one!)


Submarine USS Bowfin

The USS Arizona Memorial, located at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed on USS Arizona (BB-39) during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 and commemorates the events of that day. The attack on Pearl Harbor and the island of Oʻahu was the action that led to the United States' direct involvement in World War II.

The memorial, built in 1962, is visited by more than two million people annually.  Accessible only by boat, it straddles the sunken hull of the battleship without touching it. Historical information about the attack, shuttle boats to and from the memorial, and general visitor services are available at the associated USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, which opened in 1980 and is operated by the National Park Service. The sunken remains of the battleship were declared a National Historic Landmark on 5 May 1989.

The USS Arizona Memorial is one of several sites in Hawaii and elsewhere that are part of the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument.


Too bright in there for me without my sunglasses on!



Our visit was a time for remembrance and reflection.  The tour guides were insistent that people switch off phones, pokemon apps and any other distractions, so as to remember where we were and why we were there.  We enjoyed our visit.

We were able to return on the purple shuttle and were back in Waikiki by about 4pm - in time for lunch/dinner!

Tuesday, 20 September - Honolulu - Diamond Head!

Poor Davo is a bit sick and has a head cold.  We didn't get home from dinner until about 10pm last night.  On the walk home I was feeling really dizzy and couldn't work out why.... until I was so tired and had to get into bed - realising that yesterday was an almost 20hr day for us!  We had a good sleep in this morning!

Brekky at IHOP.  My favourite.  Walked down.  Tried a few places to find a brekky but all had long queues.  IHOP didn't at 8.00 in the morning, so that was a bonus!
Bought our trolley tickets - there are several different loops (all different coloured names) and you can get around pretty much all of the island, Oahu.  $70 for 10 days unlimited trips.  Beauty!

We decided to go to Diamond Head today.  Chatted with Lesley and Jim on the phone (they've just returned from Italy) and it was just after midday before we left.  David had really wanted to go to Diamond Head (extinct volcano) and see it.


Lighthouse at Diamond Head


Scenic lookout on the coastline.  The trolley driver was so cool - he just parked the trolley and told everyone to get off for a photo - he even offered to take them for people!






This is the trolley stop in the Diamond Head National Park - $1 entry fee.  You can hike to the top
of the crater!


Trolley at the stop.

It takes 60-70 mins to complete the Diamond Head loop on the trolley.  Multi-million dollar homes on this side of the island.  You basically have to be a million/billionaire to afford to live there.  Very beautiful!  Big shopping centre, schools etc.

We then returned back to Waikiki area - had lunch, bought some supplies etc - time for a rest!

Monday, 19 September - leaving Phoenix!

We had to be up at 4.30am in order to leave by 5.30....  bags packed and weighed.  Checked out and gave the GPS our instructions to take us to the airport.  About 15 mins later we realised the GPS had failed us and although we were in the vicinity of the airport - we were not at destination!  Had to work quickly and try a few different commands before we lucked on to a road sign pointing to rental car returns!  Managed to arrive and return the keys.  Took the courtesy bus to the terminal and checked in for our flight with about an hour-and-a-half to spare.  Time for brekky!  Airports are nice and quiet at 6am - we should do this more often?

Our flight to Honolulu took 6hrs 8mins.  Somehow the plane was different from the last one and even though we had booked the same seats, we didn't have a window :-(  ...  and really wanted to see what was going on because we were in a queue of about 8 planes waiting to take off!  It was amazing hearing the ones in front of us taking off!

The flight attendants announced that there would be a breakfast 'service' of an egg sandwich and your choice of juice or coffee/tea.  Company policy no soda pop served at breakfast.  I looked in the menu in our seat pocket and saw that they also offered 'champagne splits and vodka shots'....  Thoughts of Lesley Casey came to mind the morning they offered us Bloody Mary's at their house for breakfast - LOL!  People were asking the flight attendants for soda pop and they were getting annoyed....
So when she came to us, I asked what a champagne 'split' was - she replied, a half bottle of champagne and your choice of juice.  Bingo!  We were pleased - we asked for champagne splits!  She then said we would have to pay for those - no problem we said - and she said she would be back with the little machine for us to be able to pay....

We gained 3 hrs on that flight - so it took off at 8am and arrived in Honolulu at 11.15am local time.  Brilliant!  We were picked up by our transport and arrived at our hotel, named the 'Aston Circle Waikiki Hotel'.


It's the only circular hotel in Waikiki....  Our room is on the second floor, that's our verandah
on the left of the blue sign!  Ocean view!

The clerk at check-in said he had no rooms of our requested type available, however, he could upgrade us to an ocean view for an extra $10 a night - no problem we said!


Above and  below - our view from our room....



Jan and Oliver happened to be on the same flight leaving from Brisbane (3 weeks ago), as us!  But we didn't see them, Jan saw me but in the rush to board, lost track of where we went.  They went through to Vancouver, Canada whereas we stayed in Honolulu then went to the mainland.  Jan contacted us through Facebook and we arranged to meet for dinner as we'd both finished on the northern continent and we are all headed home.  So we went to dinner Monday night to share stories of our adventures!

Saturday/Sunday - 17/18 September - Phoenix, AZ

Arrived late in the afternoon to our airport hotel in Phoenix.  It was hot - 104F and we were tired.  We were given a great room with the a/c already on!  A quiet evening indoors to settle.

Sunday, we slept in late!  It was a day for a little touring around, catching up on a final few shopping items.  Found a Cheesecake Factory for lunch - accidentally! - and enjoyed our meal.  Again, a hot afternoon and we found refuge anywhere air-conditioned!

Saturday, 17 September - Kingman, AZ to Phoenix, AZ!

Had a great sleep – I think all this travelling is catching up with us!  Good brekky with excellent coffee!  Headed now on the 93 south to Phoenix for our last two nights before flying to Honolulu on Monday.


Entertaining ourselves with a selfie taken using the reflection of the sparkling tanker in front!




Drove through the Joshua Tree National Park as we headed toward Phoenix this afternoon!

Friday, 16 September - Las Vegas, NV to Kingman, AZ!

We’d organized a late check out.  Hotel brekky average so we toddled off to Denny’s for eggs & pancakes before arriving at the outlet mall North.  This is by far the better outlet of the two and of course, we found a couple of trinkets to buy!


Lake Mead...

Checked out and started the drive to Kingman, Arizona.  David’s turn to duel on the six lane highway with the speedy drivers!  Saw an Alpaca shop in Boulder City and stopped for a look.  Met a very nice store owner, Kevin, who had beautiful items for sale.  Crossed the state line.  Arrived in Kingman mid-afternoon.  We were starving so we lunched at Cracker Barrel.  Our hotel was on route 66 with a couple of motels which still had their 60’s signage!  Loved the fact that our hotel had an indoor pool and took advantage of that!  Fairly uneventful evening. 

Thursday, 15 September - Flagstaff, AZ to Las Vegas, NV!

34F in Flagstaff this morning – jeans and jackets!  Left early because it was a 4hr drive on the I-40 west bound.  As our friend, Jim, says: ‘East bound with a west bound attitude!’  Fairly uneventful trip across the desert, which in places, looked like something out of Mars landscape.  Very dry and lots of red dirt and mountains!  Crossed the Colorado River via the new bridge which goes past Hoover Dam and Lake Mead.  The lake is very blue, a lovely contrast to the red dirt!

The view of Lake Mead...



I drove the last hour into Vegas on the 93 and the 215 west bound.  That was a thrill – six lanes and mad drivers changing lanes at speed without indicating.  Thank goodness David navigated, reading the GPS and I just had to avoid everything else!

Too early to check in to our hotel so we went to the outlet mall on the South side.  We were starving, so stopped at ‘Five Guys’ burgers and fries.  Have never eaten there before – all freshly cooked, made to order burgers.  The regular was enormous!  Luckily the server let me change my order to a ‘little hamburger’ – LOL – about the size of an Australian Big Mac!  Best fries ever!  We didn’t have to wait long for our food.  About 15 minutes later, the place was overrun with men (a lot of them tradies) lining up for burgers – we were surprised at how many there were – then we looked at the clock and it was midday – of course!  We knew then that the food was GOOD!


Surprised David with a photo in Five Guys...

The outlet mall was ok – very, very busy with Australian tourists!  Left and checked in to our hotel, which was across the road from our former favourite hotel, it was called the ‘Las Vegas Hilton’ now called the Westgate Hotel.  Right across from the Convention Centre (monorail stop) and 2 blocks from the strip!

Checked in and then dressed for adventure out & about!  Took the monorail three stops to Bally’s/Paris casinos.  Very busy places!  I didn’t make it out of Paris casino without a pair of shoes – which David spotted in a window!  Bless him!  A few things have changed on the strip since our last visit in 2009.  More casinos and beautiful gardens.  Still as many people as ever but it was pleasant and had a festive atmosphere!  Wished we’d booked in to see a show, but maybe next time!  You never get tired of seeing the lights and people watching….  Not so many ‘card slappers’ (the people handing out the ‘girlie’ cards) and the ones that were there, were glued to their phones!  I just love watching the gondolas,  musical fountains, the opulence of the casinos, the beautiful clothes and shoes….




In Caesar's Palace casino....


On a street corner - this was the view!


Treasure Island Casino behind us...


The Venetian Casino complete with gondolas...