Blogs from Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii, United States, North America

So when we left off I was just getting back from Cairns, Australia. The last few days in Australia were laid back. We went to the plastic surgeon again on Mon (and again learned so much! He's a master at his craft). After work, I went to the Queensland museum in south bank. A very nice (and free) museum! Learned all kinds of cool things: The Solomon islands are close, and back in the day (1800s), that's where some of the forced labor came from; there were many crops imported, so not all the exotic foods here are native; one example is sugar cane, which grew extremely well, and brought an increase in mice, which led to an increase in taipans (snakes); the sex of baby sea turtles is determined by the temperature of the sand ... read more

Today we were up and at the grill for breakfast before heading down the windward coast which is on the East of Oahu. We have heard so many good things about this area and we weren't disappointed. Almost immediately as we drove the road from north shore to East, we were met with some of the most beautiful landscape I think I've ever seen. The mountains were towering green, whilst the beaches golden and the sea a clear blue, just breathtaking. En route we passed Kualoa Ranch http://www.kualoa.com which is where Jurassic Park and a few other movies were filmed. Had we had more time it would of been an interesting place to stop. We wanted to get to the beach and on recommendation headed for Lanikai which has consistently been voted amongst the top beaches ... read more

Day Four Today we were heading out of town, to see a bit more of Oahu than just Honolulu/Waikiki. We walked back just beyond Fort Derussy Beach Park and picked up a rental car. We could have got one closer, but the hire companies in Waikiki charge a lot extra, even if you get a deal through your hotel. We headed back to the hotel to pick up our gear and from there we headed down the other end of Waikiki, past the aquarium and zoo, and up to Diamond Head National Park, where we were going to climb Diamond Head Crater – it was quite cool because the crater is large, and you go underneath one side of it by tunnel, and all the car parking and massive picnic grounds and stuff is in the ... read more

Aloha! Tuesday 2nd October – Maui to Honolulu to the Northshore, Oahu We landed back from Maui at 9.30am and after collecting our bags got the courtesy bus to the Budget rental pick up. I’d really wanted to hire a car and drive around Oahu so was looking for it. We got upgraded to a nice SUV and as much as I’d loved our ‘piece of s*i*’ on Maui this Dodge was a much nicer drive. And the air con worked! Jonny navigated us out of the airport and then we went wrong, the signposting in Hawaii is really terrible. We ended up coming off at a junction that without realising it took us into a military base… we were in the queue to enter (we could see them stopping to check ID and search vehicles ... read more

Well, it's countdown to our trip to Europe: 4 days to go...it's still a little surreal, except for all the prep work that goes into a big trip like this. I am not used to being concerned about gypsy pickpockets and ordering foreign currency. I have to carry a security purse with steel reinforced straps and a steel mesh bottom. It's surprising that shorts are considered beach wear in Europe, so I don't plan on bringing more than 1 pair. Paul and I are not looking forward to the long flight which begins Friday night to LA, next leg to JFK, last leg is to Rome. We arrive in Rome on Sunday morning, June 12 at 11:00 am. It will be 11:00 pm, Sat. June 11 here. Europe is definitely a lifetime experience. It is impossible ... read more