Advertisement
Published: April 8th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Luau on the Big Island
Prakash Uncle, Auntie Thalia and us After having to return back to Auckland we did a real quick trip to Rotarua and back and had the best buffet we have ever had in tourist type place, the Maori Hangi traditionally is cooked in the ground but in Rotarua having access to the power of the geothermal hot springs by the bucket load they cook using steam. A complete selection of cold starters followed by steamed (and then maybe roasted/smoked a little) chicken, lamb and pork with kumara and stuffing. There was a huge set of desserts including NZ pavlova and some lovely icecream with nuts in. After that lot, we were taking by a little tram to watch the geysers erupt and have some hot chocolate. Luckily for me doing the haka on stage with a bunch of people worked up an appetite, unfortunately the camera had run out of batteries so Shabana was unable to capture my fearsome visage and warrior poses.
We finally leave NZ to return for a 5 hour layover in Sydney airport which appeared to be mostly under construction and had sod all to do or eat. A 10.5 hour flight later we arrive in the morning in Honolulu to be
Aloha Dude
On the black sand beach grilled so intensely by the surly immigration officer who was either confused by the fact that people can take 6 months off to travel or couldn´t believe that we had been to so many dodgy countries that we were not dangerous. We were the last people left in the whole hall! After getting our duty free stolen by the security people during our transit through Sydney we were meant to get some more on our exit but after all that we went through we totally forgot.
After checking into our hotel we headed straight out to see what Waikiki was all about, the first thing we did as always was check out the food. The first place we saw virtually was the Taco Bell that she had been craving for the last few months so it was in for a starter of bean burrito and a soft chicken taco. In the little food court we were in there was all sorts of food stalls, so for main course we settled on a korean barbecue with some tasty garlic roasted potato salad and sweetcorn and at another stall some orange chicken which is Shabana´s brothers favourite which we thought we
The lava toob
Like the Dartford tunnel but with more Japanese tourists would try. Unable to eat the huge American portioned we wrapped up our leftovers to eat later and headed for the beach.
After experiencing mostly quiet places in the far east, Aus (Bondi excepted) and NZ, Waikiki was a bit of a shocker. It was rammed to the gills, about 6 inches between people lying around and surrounded with high rise hotels. The water was a lovely blue but the the atmosphere was a little too hectic for us so we just wandered around the town and called it an early night as we were heading for the Big Island the next morning to see Shabana´s uncle.
Big Island was hugely different, acres of black lava strew the landscape and nothing like the number of people. We were met with fresh flower leis by Prakash uncle. We didn´t do much over the next few days except rest up, although i did manage to get in a 2 tank dive early one morning, and i have to say this was the most professional dive i have ever been on. Complete briefings with photos of what we could expect to see and the calls signs for each. I saw loads
Chili and Pepper
Shabana´s new best friends, they like shoe laces. of different types of morays and my first nudibrancs.
After that we went to see the lava tubes, huge tunnels through the earth made by fast moving lava, once again our luck wasn´t the best as the sulphur dioxide levels were too high to allow us to get to see the live lava fields. Boo again!
We spent the rest of our time in the Big Island maxing and relaxing in the countryside with family, 3 dogs, 2 puppies, 2 cats, and 12 chickens.
We wanted to experience another island in Hawaii so we spent a couple of days in Kauai, the garden island. Much quieter again, but the rain wouldnt hold off so our beach time was curtailed. We did drive around the whole island though.
Finally back to Ohahu and we got a chance to visit Pearl Habour, the huge waves of the pipeline and a sunset on Sunset Beach. Shabana´s chinese food cravings led us to the Honolulu China Town and some more food. Almost 3 and half months without a curry and the next 2 weeks at her Mum and Dad´s she had her whole Indian food menu written down and ready to go, no room for Chinese in there. Next stop San Francisco.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.198s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0516s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb