The Booys Down Under

Friday, 23 November 2012

Hawaii 40

For Darren's 40th birthday we decided to go somewhere special to celebrate - so we decided to go to Waikiki, Hawaii. The posts will mainly be photos because they describe it better than I could!

After a long night of travelling, it was great to arrive at the Sharaton in Waikiki! The hotel is massive with 32 floors and 11 lifts! The turtle sculptures in the foyer hinted that we would be able to see turtles from the hotel!

Our room was on the 10th floor - we knew we were getting a city view, but we could also see the sea!

Just arrived - still wearing the lei I received on arrival to the country

Baskin Robbins in the hotel meant two scoop sundaes every day!

Floating bean-bags in the infinity pool (the edge)

Looking for turtles!

Coffee and a parfait for breakfast

Japanese neighbour enjoying the sun!

Cheers!

Diamond Head (volcano)

Sheraton

'Over the Edge' - people Rapelling off the top of the building!

Ala Moana Shopping centre - the biggest open air shopping centre in the world!

The Hawaiian sunsets were amazing.........

The only organised daytrip that we did was to visit Pearl Harbour.

After seeing a short film about the attack on O'ahu, we caught a boat that took us out to the USS Arizona memorial. The USS Arizona Memorial is built over the remains of the sunken battleship USS Arizona, the final resting place for many of the 1,777 crewmen killed on December 7, 1941 when their ship was bombed by Japanese Naval Forces.

Universal symbol of the interconnectedness of all life on earth

Battleship Missouri

Signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, signalling the end of the second world war:

Captain's Quarters

Missiles!

One of Hawaii’s most famous legends is built around naupaka, a shrub found in the mountains or near the beach. The flower’s unique appearance—it resembles a half-flower, with petals missing—caused early Hawaiians to believe it was the incarnation of an ancient native separated from her lover.
Legend has it that there was a beautiful Hawaiian princess known as Naupaka who fell in love with a commoner, Kaui. Distressed they climbed a mountain and as they had their last embrace the rain fell. Naupaka gave Kaui a flower from behind her ear and she tore it in half. She then went to live by the beach, and he in the mountains

As the two lovers separated, the naupaka plants that grew nearby saw how sad they were. The very next day, they began to bloom in only half flowers.

This is why married women wear a flower behind their left ear (unmarried women behind their right).

When the two flowers are put together they form a whole

Hawaii 40 Part 2!

Aloha Friday - Darren's 40th birthday!!!

Day by the pool!

Banners and Balloons!!!

Champagne!!

Fireworks!

Dinner at the Cheesecake Factory!

Cake!

The day after Darren's birthday we went for dinner and were lucky enough to get a seat outside on the balony! Little did we know that there was building work going on, so this was our view!

We hadn't finished eating, but the waiter asked if he could present us with the bill. I'd only just got a glass of bubbly so I thought it was a bit rude! Anyway he explained that they had to close the restaurant because the Tsunami was due! Tsunami? That was the first we'd heard of it!!!!! We had thought that the streets had gone quiet, but thought that it was due to the shower of rain that we'd had - not realising they were evacuating the whole town! The waiter asked if we could get to high ground, which we couldn't, but he assured us that the Sheraton was a Tsunami safe zone. We got back to the foyer and guards were evacuating everyone to their rooms above the fourth floor, and warnings were displayed on the TV screens:

Messages were then broadcast through the intercoms in the rooms and everyone had to stay in their rooms with the countdown to the tsunami hitting on the telly. Sirens were blaring outside as the last of the residents were evacuated.

Anyway, it all came to nothing in Waikiki and at about 1.30am the warning was dropped to 'advisory' and by the morning it was as if nothing had happened! But it gave everyone a story to tell about how they 'survived' the tsunami. Thank goodness it was ok or this could be a very different story I'm telling.

It was Halloween while we were out there, and it's a really big thing in the US. Barriers were put up on the edges of the pavements to stop the thousands of people who turned out in every sort of costume you can think of pouring onto the roads. We were lucky enough to get a balcony seat of the Hard Rock Cafe so that we could look out on the madness!