Sunday On O'ahu

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Aloha from a very warm and muggy Honolulu at 10.30pm on Sunday night. Believe it or not, it has just rained here. A passing shower I suppose you would call it but it seemed to have cooled things down just a little.



Not really too much to tell about today. It turned into another ‘shopping day’…….my all time favourite way to spend time as most of you will know…….NOT. However I was good and drove Joy to the malls she wanted to visit and carried all the clothes etc. around the stores as she gathered them up!!!!



Anyway, better start at the beginning I suppose.



Didn’t hurry out of bed this morning….it was Sunday after all.



We had a very leisurely breakfast of cereal, fresh fruit, yogurt, toast and tea sitting out on the ‘lanai’ (balcony/deck) as the day started to heat up and then into the showers.



We then decided to get into the big beast and drive to the Waikele Outlet Centre. We visited there the last time we were here in 1998 and at that time had seen nothing like it before.



We eventually found our way there after getting a bit lost due to not having an actual address for the Centre to put into the GPS and it didn’t come up in the Points of Interest on it so we took a guess with a shopping centre that I thought was it but of course it wasn’t.



Did the only thing one could do, stopped at a McDonalds in some township, the name of which I can’t remember but it was where we turned off the freeway after realising we were not in the right place. They, of course, have free wifi and it was a good fast connection so we bought a cold drink, googled Waikele and got an address for the GPS, downloaded our latest emails and then headed off on the freeway again BACK the way we had come to Waikele Premium Outlet Centre.



Off course all this driving was done in the big blue beasty with the lid down!!!! Great fun folks. Cruising the H1 and H2 freeway at between 45 and 55 mph, depending on the speed limit, with the breeze blowing the hair????



And that reminds me of something I have meant to make comment about that has arisen from our driving in the good ole US of A. No one, except me, goes anywhere near the speed limit!!!! In NY state it appears they just drive at whatever speed they like!!! I, as is my usual custom, stuck the cruise control on the speed limits that applied and stuck to them. I had huge big semi truck and trailer units constantly overtaking me like I was standing still and that was even on the freeways where the speed limit was 65mph (about 110kph). I didn’t see a lot of enforcement in NY State, an awful lot of signs warning drivers of the consequences of speeding, things like double fines applying in 65mph areas or in road works areas, but it didn’t seem to make a jot of difference. I suppose, at least, no one honked their horn at me for going too slow, or should I say sticking to the limit. Judy had given me a bit of good advice….just make sure you wave back with all five fingers if anyone toots at you…..



Anyway in Hawaii it seems no different. The highest speed limit on the freeway appears to be 55mph (about 90kph) and I stuck to whatever was on the signs. In their built up areas over here it was only 25 mph (about 40kph) so I was being overtaken by everyone!!!



Enough of that, it was still fun driving the Mustang on the freeway with the lid down.



Waikele didn’t really excite us this time. It was tiny compared to the massive Woodbury Premium Outlet Centre we spent the day at north of NYC and they had a lot of reconstruction going on so it was a bit messy. We wandered around a bit, contributed to the turnover of Skechers Shoe store (again) but then headed for another big shopping centre we had been told about by a local called Pearlridge. Found that on the GPS and headed there.



Talk about big!!!! It was massive. So big that it was divided into 2 sections, Uptown and Downtown, and you could get a monorail to travel between the two sections. Unbelievable!!!!!!



Joy found a good supply of clothes that she liked at a Sears store and did some more shopping. One of the items was another new case required to carry all the extra gear in on the plane home. Just as well Hawaiian allow 2 x 32kg cases each on their flights.



We wandered around Pearlridge for a fair old while, had some lunch at a Subway, and finally headed back to the condo around 5pm. I was shopped out by then and I hadn’t bought a thing!!!!!



After catching our breath and having a cold drink we headed on foot down to the Waikiki CBD and wandered along and through many of the shopping areas…….. just looking!!!!!this time.



We ended up at Hard Rock Café, just happened across it in a completely different location to the last time we were here, and had dinner, got the Tshirt to add to Joy's collection, before walking back to the condo.



I was then on laundry duty and headed down to the basement to do that while Joy caught up on the planning for the next few days.



And that’s Sunday.



Tomorrow we plan to head out in the car again and explore the North and West of O’ahu so that should be fun.



I’ll try to publish this on the condo internet access now but tomorrow we will go to a McDonalds again and try to put some photos from the last few days up on the blog….hopefully.



Aloha.

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