First 2 days.

Well, it's a good thing that breakfast is included in our stay, as well as a managers free drinks happy hour because at least we won't go hungry.  We've put a nice dent in our spending money, shopping, shopping, shopping!!
Yesterday we had a good look around Beachwalk, the shopping area below our accommodation.  The shops are gorgeous, but definitely meant for the more financial shoppers ;)

Gorgeous area though!

Then we jumped on the Pink line trolley and headed over to Ala Moana shopping centre for a few hours.  We finally returned on the trolley with our hands full of bags (no pics, sorry girls.  That would ruin the surprise)


We were rather hot by that stage so it was definitely time for a swim in the pool.

View of the pool from our room.

The Embassy suites is fabulous in that it has 2 hrs of complementary drinks and nibbles each night.  We had to have a mai-tai and a blue hawaiian.  Yum!!!

Sunset from our room

After that we headed to the beachwalk for dinner.  Then it was home to skype the girls and off to bed.

Monday 21st

We woke up to a rather muggy but overcast day.  The light drizzle was actually a blessing as it cooled us down slightly.  To be fair, we haven't found the heat a problem...it's lovely but slightly more humid than we're used to.

After breakfast we decided to walk into Waikiki and have a look at the shops. We had a look at Duke's marketplace and bought a few hawaiian goodies and then we went over to have a drink at Duke's, a famous bar in Waikiki.

Had to put this here for the girls'.  Haven't been here...yet!

Had to take a pic of this for Bryan.  It was on the counter of Seattle's Best Coffee.  Bry is hopeless with US money!

Bry sitting in Duke's having a glass of their finest ale.

On the way back to Embassy Suites Bry stopped off to buy me a lei....before you all go  "Ahhhhhh, isn't that sweet"...I told him too ;)  The smell is just divine.

Just what I wanted...gotta love what the humidity is doing to my hair- it's so wavy

We decided that we would jump on the trolley and head to walmart...Bry was sure he was going to see "A Walmart shopper" but unfortunately we didn't.  We then walked for about 15mins to find a Sports Authority (where we didn't buy anything!).  By this stage we had rather sore feet so decided to wait for a bus.  Unfortunately it was going to cost us $20 each to ride on the one we came across, but the lovely driver felt sorry for us and let us jump on for nothing.  Aloha!!!

We dumped our stuff in our room and headed down to get a drink (it was free drinks time again!)  We tried a Hawaiian punch this time.  We thought that because the drinks were free, they would be watered down.  Hell no!!!  If anything, they were stronger than they should have been.  We decided to order our dinner to eat beside the pool....other than coffee and water, we hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast.  Still, we should have ordered 1 meal between us because we certainly didn't finish either of them.  Bry got the sliders and I got the pulled pork.  Each came with a fresh coleslaw that was filled with pineapple.  It was so good.

Yes, I also had another Blue Hawaiian

We thought sliders were mini-burgers...not here!

Full happy belly now

It was nearly 6.30 by now so we thought we would head down to the beach in time for the sunset.  Unfortunately it was a little cloudy so we didn't really see the sunset, but Bry did decide to go for a swim.

Looking towards Diamond Head

Testing the temperature

He's in!!

So, now we're back in our room and I've just done the exciting task of laundry.  Soon it'll be off to bed as tomorrow we've rented a car to drive around the West side of the island.

xxxx

We're here!!!! :)

I'm sitting in our room at the Embassy Suites waiting for Bry to get ready for breakfast so thought I'd write a quick blog entry.  Fingers crossed- the wifi seems much better here than previous hotels.

Anyway, we had an uneventful flight over.  Getting up at 4.30am from home to get to the airport on time was a bit of a sacrifice, but one we were quite happy to make.  Our flight was delayed an hour from Auckland- someone on the previous flight had to be stretchered out and with oxygen (a little freaky to know).  The flight was 8 hrs, so just long enough to watch a couple of movies, have a catnap and eat lunch and dinner.  It was beautiful flying conditions- we flew right over Tonga and could see the buildings quite clearly!

Again, immigration getting into the USA was quick.  We had organised for a shuttle "GO 808 EXPRESS" to pick us up.  Thoroughly recommend them.  Our driver was hilarious and fill of great tips.  It was 11pm local time by the time we checked into our hotel but there was a huge difference in the temperature we had left...it was so lovely and warm :)  Our check in at the Embassy suites was quick and easy and make even better by the fresh cold guava juice we were given.

Then it was off to our room in the Hula tower, a quick Skype to the girls and then off to bed...airconditioning on full.

Anyway...off to have breakfast and then to Waikiki Beach!! Back later.

Hawaii here we come!!!

I'm sitting here on Wednesday morning and we're on to about day 8 of rain.
However, in 4 more sleeps, Bry and I will be winging our way to Oahu, Hawaii.  Wahoo!!!! Lauren and Taylor are off to Invercargill to stay with Mum and want us to blog each night.  So stay tuned....Hawaii to come :)