These were taken a couple of days after our wedding anniversary as we were on a boat on the actual day. We went down to Hanalei beach first thing as the forecast rain came by lunch time and it poured for the rest of the day so it was a good job we did. Derek is a soppy romantic really and wrote our names on the sand and then I took a photo of him on the spot where we married as there was no-one around to take us both except for the not very nice selfie we took. We are so glad we were able to do what we promised each other all those years ago and come back. Happy days xx |
We flew out to Oahu on the Wednesday with Air NZ and because they are 23 hours behind us and we had to cross the date line, we arrived before we left on Tuesday night! We had a mad dash across the terminal as our plane was late and had to get to the Hawaiin Air terminal for our onward flight to Kauai which luckily wasn't too far - we ran and made it in time for the last flight out. Phew!!
So we arrived in a very hot Kauai after the 30 minute flight, got in a taxi and headed for our hotel which just happened to be the wrong one, similar name though!! So then the nice lady at the desk said if we hang on for ten minutes the security guard could take us to the right hotel which we passed on the way when he got off work at 11pm which he did. So thank you very much to them both and we finally arrived at the Aston Aloha Beach Hotel, on the Kuhio highway near Kapa'a where we were staying for two nights before we could go in to the Time Share in Princeville.
So the next day we walked in to the nearest little town to catch a bus back to the airport at Lihue to pick up our hire car for the week, it was too late to get it the night before. There is also a Walmart so we went in there too for beach mats, shampoo etc!
As we were coming back passed the lighthouse at Kilauea (you pronounce every vowel as it sounds in Hawaiin) we went for another look. It is also a National Wildlife refuge so is full of birds, tropical white birds, boobies, kittiwakes etc and their state bird, the Nene goose which was nearly extinct and now building in numbers. Like NZ they have no native mammals just the introduced ones so they have done a good job with these birds.
The next morning we booked up some activities to do for our stay at a welcome breakfast, they give you breakfast and let you know what is available which is good. At the Hotel the word of the day in Hawaiin was 'Lush' wish I thought was funny.
Here it is - can't imagine that over the doors of the famous Poole based company can you?
The only thing it didn't have was air-con but had huge ceiling fans in every room which kept the air moving a bit - nights at 24 degrees is something we didn't mind after our sub zero temperatures at home. It was very comfortable and really well done, we loved it. So we settled in to let the holiday begin proper. |