What a start!!!

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Our trip started with driving up with Matt’s Dad, Ross, to Sydney. When the trip was booked back in March, the only flight available at the time we wanted to go was on AFL Grand Final Saturday. Following the stellar performance of Matt’s beloved Hawthorn Hawks, he knew from the outset of the finals that they would play at the Grand Final. As it turned out, we couldn’t watch it at the airport as the Grand Final finished at our earliest check-in time. We couldn’t stop at a pub, as Ross had to get back to Canberra for work. So the solution was found to stop at an airport hotel to watch the Final. We found a room which we could use for the day at the Hotel Ibis near Sydney Airport.

We watched the game. Emma watched Matt nearly have a heart attack on numerous occasions. We had to check out before the game finished, so Matt asked the shuttle driver to put the football on the radio. We listened to the final siren, with some poor Portuguese guests being completely flummoxed at Matt’s singing of the club song in the shuttle when the Hawks won. (Matt says: “See! I told you Hawk would eat Cat today!)

We arrived at the airport and got on the plane to Honolulu. It was an evening flight, so we were looking forward to some sleep. We watched one movie, and attempted sleep. However, a mother was travelling with her twin toddler boys a few rows in front of us. They screamed all night. So Matt was the lucky one, getting about 2 hours sleep, with Emma getting less than that.

We landed at Honolulu and caught the shuttle to our hotel. We got a free upgrade to a nice room with a balcony over the marina at Waikiki. The first afternoon was pretty low key with some shopping and sleep.

The next day we took a drive around Oahu. This was a case of the journey being more important than the destination. We hired a Chevy Corvette for the day which was very fun. We got another free upgrade, as we had only hired a regular Corvette but got a special Z-HZ Corvette convertible in bright yellow with a black racing stripe - almost matching Hawthorn colours. When we picked up the car, a lady walked by saying, “Gee…I wonder how many miles to the gallon that gets?” Matt replied, “Who cares, it’s a Corvette!” (Don’t worry, all you Prius owners out there…it was actually quite fuel friendly at a touch over 12L/100km). We drove around Honolulu and saw the famous Waimea Bay, a famous surfing beach. We got lots of thumbs up with the car, mainly from bikers and kids. Matt also discovered his new favourite music from the Corvette…2nd gear in the Pali tunnel near Honolulu.

(The car is testament to America’s litigious society…the warning label, warning about airbags, on the sunvisor reads that the safest place for children is in the back seat. Problem is, there is no back seat.)

The next day we checked out of our hotel and got a tour out to Hanauma Bay. This is a volcano crater which has filled in with water and has a coral reef with lots of fish…ideal for snorkeling. We tried it out. Emma enjoyed it immensely and took photos of the fish with a disposable underwater camera (hasn’t been developed yet, so no photos here). Matt was faced with two choices ... wear his glasses and be able to see the fish, or take off his glasses and swim blind. He soon found out that glasses and swimming masks don’t work too well and the mask filled with water pretty quickly, so he decided to instead watch from the beach. This was quite boring, as people watching on a touristy American beach is akin to watching an entire pod of humpback whales beach themselves.

Once we finished up at Hanauma Bay, we had dinner and went out to the airport. Another night flight. Thankfully no screaming toddlers this time, but the seats weren’t designed for sleeping in. When we arrived in LA, we caught the shuttle straight to our hotel and slept.

To be continued…

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Photos

Our view in Honolulu
The view from our room...pretty good except plenty of sirens going by.

The 'Vette
Here's the Chevrolet Corvette Z-HZ.

Matt and his Breakfast Burrito
Matt had been counting down until this moment.

Comments

[Michael Tooler]

Sights to see
Hey guys go to the polynesian tourist centre. The locals know the discount clothes store also for cheap levis etc. There are some cool night shows and dinner cruises too. Have fun, Michael

[Mat]

Ha Ha Awesome! :)